Chapter 45: Adept
[Ding!]
[Level up!]
[Host has reached level 10!]
Jaden looked at the screen before him with expectant eyes.
Another message appeared right after.
[Host has reached one of the milestones.]
[Host is being rewarded...]
[Rank Advancement: Initiate → Adept]
[Confirm | Deny]
His lips stretched into a wide grin as he responded.
"Confirm."
Just as he said, nearby elementals began to swirl and enter his body at a swift rate. The elementals were absorbed and sent to the mana core before it began circulating within his mana veins.
’W-wonderful.’
Jaden could feel all of this, and his body was heating up because of this; beads of sweat began to appear all over his body.
He didn’t say anything during the process because he didn’t want to do anything that could cause failure, even though he didn’t know if it was possible to do so.
Time continued to pass, and Jaden stood at the same location with an uncomfortable expression. The heat had become unbearable. Right now, his mana was being melted and forged into a smoke-like substance, which was the form of mana for an Adept.
At Adept, mana becomes smoke-like; at Expert, it flows like liquid; at Elite, it nears solidity. Right now, he was undergoing that very transformation.
A few low grunts and groans slipped from his lips now and then, but he used all his will not to succumb to mere heat.
[Enhancing body...]
His mana had turned smoke-like, and now it was time to enhance his body using his mana.
"Huff... Is it going to be painful?"
He questioned after exhaling, and the system answered by giving him first-hand experience.
"Argh?!" He let out a pained scream as the mana veins all around his body were being ravaged by the new mana. He felt like ants were running inside his body while biting at it.
Jaden was so deep in excitement about the rank advancement that he had forgotten where he was and how treacherous that place was.
Earlier, there had been two C Rank, which normally wouldn’t remain at the outermost perimeter, but because of the umbralfang and seraphyx, the other F to E Rank starbeasts or nightmares had left the area—and now they were no longer here, and Jaden had failed to consider that.
Suddenly, he heard the sounds of flapping wings. He sharply turned his head towards the sound, and his eyes fell on an owl with black feathers... its eyes gleamed with malicious intent as it stepped towards Jaden.
"S-Stay Away!" Jaden exclaimed with a pained look on his face.
The owl stopped in its tracks and looked at Jaden with its tilted head before spreading its wings and sending a heavy gust towards him.
Jaden tried to use his sword as a hold, but his grip slipped. He slipped and fell from the branch.
He tried to grab the thick vines dangling down the tree, but his grip wasn’t sufficient, and the constant pain of body enhancement was running wild in his body, stopping him from exerting all of his strength.
’Was this all? Another dumb death?’
Jaden thought as he closed his eyes and waited for the hard ground; however, it didn’t come. Instead, he suddenly felt like drowning.
He opened his eyes, and his vision was red... He had fallen into the dead body of the Seraphyx.
Looking around, Jaden forced himself to move, but he stopped as a sharp pain ran throughout his spine.
He slowly lowered his head and saw a sharp bone piercing through his body from the location of his martial core.
His eyes widened, and the blood of the nightmare started to choke him. He called out to his grimoire, but a blunt headache struck him.
His eyes rolled from the sudden headache, and his vision began to darken as he read the red screen before him.
[Error! Error! Error!]
[Insufficient mana. Attempting to absorb mana from the vicinity.]
[Error! Error! Error!]
[Unable to absorb mana from the vicinity.]
[Finding other solutions...]
[Ding!]
[Solution Found.]
[Absorb mana of the nightmare creature?]
[Note: It can lead to mutation upon mana usage.]
[Confirm | Deny]
The screen stayed like this, but Jaden had already gone unconscious. A few seconds passed, and new messages appeared before him.
[No response from the host.]
[Checking host’s condition...]
[Host is unconscious.]
[Confirming the task independently.]
[Absorbing mana from the nightmare creature.]
The seraphyx’s body shook as its blood began to swirl and enter Jaden’s body, as the mana within it was being absorbed to assist Jaden’s breakthrough.
Suddenly, Jaden’s body began to turn pale white and small pale white scales began appearing all over his body.
[Preventing Mutation.]
The scales began to fall from his body, and colour returned to it.
The same process happened multiple times before, and most of the blood was gone as the system absorbed enough mana from the seraphyx’s body.
[Advancement Complete.]
[You have obtained 10 slots.]
[Unlocked Feature: [Quests] ]
[You have obtained 5 available stats.]
The blue screens continued to appear and notified Jaden about his advancements and rewards, but he was still unconscious.
The screen flickered for a few moments before it dismissed itself.
Jaden lay covered in the blood of the seraphyx as its bone pierced through his abdomen.
Time passed, and his fingers trembled slightly before his hand shot towards the bone piercing him and landed a [Shattering Punch ★].
The bone burst into fragments, and Jaden fell into the shallow pool of blood.
His body shook slightly before he looked up and opened his eyes; his pupils appeared like slits before they turned into his previous bright blue.
"What happened?" he muttered in a husky voice as he stood up. He tore the flesh of Seraphyx and stepped out of it.
Most of his armour was torn, and one of the two swords fell in the seraphyx’s blood pool.
He looked around, and his eyes fell on his camera, which was covered in blood; strangely, it was completely fine even after everything Jaden had gone through.