Infinite Mana - Chapter 168: The Hunger (Thank you for your support, adam1!) (Patreon)

Sometimes one million Fireballs would work. Sometimes making the enemy smell sewage until poison destroyed its organs would work better.

Sieghart approached the corpse carefully with Magic Vision still active, following the remaining concentration deeper beneath layers of thick flesh. The core was substantially larger than those taken from smaller earthworms.

Its brown glow remained dense and steady despite the death of the surrounding monster, and Sieghart could already feel considerably more mana contained inside than the twenty-Experience cores collected earlier. He smiled while looking at the enormous corpse and remembering how effortlessly the creature had devoured his magically created ice before he understood what was happening.

“If you actually give me some version of Magic Absorption, I might forgive you for spending the last several minutes trying to eat me,”

Infinite Mana meant he had absolutely no need to steal energy from opponents. However, if the System interpreted the creature’s ability as resistance or immunity against hostile magic instead, that would be another matter entirely.

Sieghart looked toward the corpse one final time before approaching the place where Magic Vision showed the core buried beneath its flesh. Whatever the System decided, the fight had already been worth staying behind for. Sieghart approached its enormous corpse and tested the flesh with several Wind Blades. Without the creature actively reinforcing itself, the compressed air cut through the pale hide considerably more easily.

The first blade opened a deep line across one segment, releasing dark poisoned fluid onto the sand. Sieghart stepped aside before the liquid reached his boots and fired another blade through the exposed muscle beneath it.

Finding the core with Magic Vision was simple. Reaching it was considerably less pleasant. The dense brown glow remained buried several meters inside the enormous body, surrounded by layers of muscle, organs, and structures Sieghart preferred not identifying. He continued carving carefully, using Wind Blades to separate sections before moving the loosened flesh aside with Telekinesis. The process resembled dismantling an especially disgusting magical machine whose components occasionally leaked poisoned fluids onto the floor.

The monster's corpse might normally have been valuable. Its hide resisted magic, its internal organs probably possessed useful alchemical properties, and somebody would certainly pay for material taken from such an unusually large dungeon creature.

Unfortunately, Sieghart had spent the previous battle filling nearly every part of its body with poison. Purple and green discoloration already covered most exposed tissue, while dark fluid continued leaking from damaged vessels.

Selling that seemed irresponsible. Probably illegal too.

“Waste of money.”

He looked around the cavern instead. The dungeon contained mineral deposits, exposed crystals, and unusual stone formations that might be valuable without requiring anyone to purchase meat contaminated by his personal chemical warfare. There would be other opportunities to make money. The dungeon was clearly rich in resources, and Sieghart had already noticed several mana crystals during the rescue operation that nobody had bothered collecting.

Eventually, another Wind Blade opened the final layer of tissue. The core became visible. It was considerably larger than the small earthworm cores he had collected earlier, fitting comfortably between both hands instead of disappearing inside one palm.

Dense brown mana swirled beneath its hard surface, occasionally producing faint ripples of pale light that reminded Sieghart of the magical absorption channels he had observed around the creature's mouth.

Sieghart carefully pulled it free. The remaining corpse sagged around the empty cavity. He stepped away from the poisoned flesh and wiped one hand against the sand before examining the core again with Magic Vision.

No dark-red coloration. No corrupted streaks. No unstable foreign mana twisting around the interior. Nothing resembled the Dungeon Guardian, Orc King, or Chimerian cores that had previously changed his mana and flooded his mind with disturbing impulses.

That should have been reassuring. It was not.

Sieghart stared at the core for several seconds while an uncomfortable feeling settled somewhere beneath his ribs. There was no logical reason for it, but his instincts kept telling him absorbing this one might become troublesome. He had experienced enough unpleasant surprises to respect that sensation now.

On the other hand, the monster's ability remained extremely tempting. It had dismantled magically created ice simply by biting through it, converting active magic into something harmless before his next combination could develop.

If the System interpreted even part of that principle correctly, Sieghart might gain resistance against hostile spells. Infinite Mana could keep him attacking forever, but surviving powerful enemy magic remained an entirely separate problem.

Sieghart exhaled slowly.

“This is probably stupid.”

He tightened his grip around the core.

“That hasn't stopped me enough lately.”

Sieghart sat down on relatively clean sand before beginning. If another mental effect overwhelmed him, he preferred collapsing while already close to the ground instead of cracking his skull against dungeon stone. He started absorbing the core.

Brown mana flowed outward almost immediately, leaving the hardened shell before entering Sieghart through his hands. The energy moved through his body and disappeared into the endless reservoir that normally swallowed monster mana without difficulty.

For two seconds, nothing happened. Sieghart almost relaxed. Then his stomach cramped.

His entire body folded forward before he understood what was happening. One hand struck the sand while the other released the emptying core and immediately pressed against his abdomen.

Hunger hit him.

Not ordinary hunger.

It felt like somebody had removed everything inside his stomach and replaced it with a bottomless cavity capable of swallowing an entire banquet without becoming even slightly less empty.

Sieghart's mouth became painfully dry. Thirst followed immediately. His throat burned as though he had crossed a desert without water, while every part of his body suddenly demanded food and liquid with an intensity that made rational thought difficult.

“What the—”

Another cramp twisted through him. Sieghart fell onto one knee, fingers digging into his stomach while cold sweat spread across his forehead and back despite the warm dungeon air. His mind filled with extremely simple desires.

Eat.

Drink.

More.

Anything.

He suddenly remembered every ration stored inside his carriage. Meat, bread, dried fruit, preserved vegetables, water containers, emergency supplies, and several things purchased only because traveling merchants had recommended carrying them. The thought of eating all of it did not seem sufficient.

He could imagine reaching the surface, emptying every storage compartment, then walking directly into Greymill and purchasing enough food to clear several market stalls.

Water sounded even worse.

His throat demanded rivers.

Lakes.

Anything wet enough to swallow. Sieghart clenched his teeth and forced himself to remain still, recognizing the pattern despite how different the sensation felt from Wrath or the Chimerian core.

“This isn't mine.”

The words came out weak. That distinction mattered. The desire felt attached to his body, but it had appeared too suddenly and completely to belong naturally to him.

His actual stomach had eaten recently. His body was not dehydrated. The sensation was artificial. A foreign principle translated into instinct. Sieghart closed his eyes and concentrated on that fact while another wave of hunger twisted through him hard enough to make his hands tremble.

The Orc King's core had taken anger already inside him and removed restraint. The Chimerian core had twisted bodily improvement into disgust toward his own flesh.

This one was simpler.

Consume. Everything. Fill something that could never actually become full. The realization did not stop the sensation, but it gave Sieghart something solid to hold onto while his body continued sweating and shaking.

He breathed slowly.

Once.

Twice.

The core kept dissolving.

Then, almost as suddenly as the hunger had appeared, the pressure began weakening. Sieghart remained crouched over the sand, breathing through his mouth while the terrible emptiness gradually retreated from unbearable to merely uncomfortable.

Several seconds later, his throat stopped burning.

The stomach cramps faded. His hands stopped trembling last. Sieghart stayed there anyway. He had learned not to stand immediately after something strange entered his body simply because the worst symptoms appeared finished.

Eventually, the remaining shell crumbled between his fingers.

The System appeared.

[SIN MAGIC has unlocked a compatible conceptual branch.]

[Gluttony unlocked.]

Sieghart's expression flattened. That explained the hunger. He had hoped the creature's magical consumption would become something clean and practical like Absorption Magic, Mana Devouring, or possibly another defensive branch. Instead, the System had apparently looked at a monster eating magic and decided the correct interpretation was one of the seven deadly sins.

The next notification appeared.

SIN MAGIC — Level 1

├── Wrath

│ └── Fury — Level 1 [SEALED]

└── Gluttony

   └── Magic Resistance — Level 1

Sieghart blinked. Magic Resistance. That was considerably better. A final description formed beneath the spell.

[Magic Resistance — Level 1]

Weakens the effects of magical attacks against the user according to the spell's level. 

Sieghart reread the description several times. It was not Magic Absorption. He could not swallow Fireballs or replenish mana by consuming spells, which would have been pointless anyway considering his mana pool already refused to decrease meaningfully.

This was arguably more useful. A passive or maintained reduction against hostile magic could protect him from attacks that bypassed ordinary physical defenses, especially when combined with Protection and Mana Shield.

Sieghart immediately became suspicious. Useful results had fooled him before. He remembered Mira standing inside Lunar Arc and warning that visible normalization did not prove everything inside him had returned to normal.

The System translating something into a convenient spell did not automatically mean the underlying principle had become harmless. His stomach gave one final uncomfortable twitch. Sieghart looked down.

“....”

Gluttony was not getting unrestricted access just because the reward looked excellent. He inspected the new branch carefully, searching for anything indicating continuous hunger, consumption requirements, or another behavioral condition hidden behind the description.

Nothing obvious appeared. That meant almost nothing. Fury had looked useful too. Zombification had sounded useful until emotional knowledge convinced him resurrecting his grandparents as corpses was somehow reasonable.

Sieghart considered sealing Magic Resistance immediately. Then stopped.

Unlike Fury and Zombification, the spell itself did not appear to create the dangerous impulse. The hunger had occurred during acquisition rather than remaining active afterward. Testing mattered, though.

He could activate the spell later against controlled magical attacks, preferably weak ones he created himself or something another cooperative mage could produce without attempting to kill him. If hunger returned whenever Magic Resistance activated, the spell would become another sealed curiosity.

If nothing happened, it could become one of his most valuable defensive abilities. Sieghart slowly stood. His legs remained slightly weak, though that appeared mostly caused by cold sweat, stress, and crouching awkwardly rather than actual physical damage.

He checked his stomach again.

Normal.

Mostly.

He was genuinely hungry now, but after everything that happened during the night, ordinary hunger felt almost comforting.

“That wasn't as bad as the others.”

Sieghart paused.

“Still annoying.”

The Chimerian core had left him questioning whether his arms deserved replacement. The Orc King had nearly convinced him that every existing resentment justified violence. Compared with those experiences, several seconds of impossible hunger seemed almost merciful.

That did not make it safe.

Sieghart looked back at the giant corpse.

The earthworm's ability made more sense now. It had not merely been resistant to magic. Something about its body consumed or neutralized magical structures before they could cause full damage.

The System had apparently stripped away the consumption aspect and preserved the defensive principle instead. Gluttony translated into resistance through consumption.