CHAPTER 48 (Patreon)

To my great delight, I was still alive when I woke up. I had been confident that the centipedes were mostly ambush predators, and would stay still instead of prowling around. I pushed the rocks aside and emerged from my alcove. I looked at the massive vein of gemstone pulsating with rich mana and smiled to myself as I stretched. I had some dried fruit in a satchel, so I munched on them and created some water to drink. Then I approached the corpse of the monster I had slain. I had no interest in getting close to it, with its massive barbs potentially still deadly. I retrieved the core from the awakened beast using kinetic magic. It shot from the corpse and clattered on the cavern floor. It was covered in nasty ichor and I used some water magic to wash it. I tried picking it up, but it was larger than my head, and so heavy that carrying it would be annoying.

It was easily the largest monster core I had seen so far and my mouth salivated at the chance of using it for my cultivation. 

I went to check up with the expedition crew so they knew I was okay, and then I got to work.

Cultivation took a very long time, but it paid off greatly. 

[Meditation II level 24!]

[+1 Perception]

[+2 Focus]

[Arcane Body Art — First Layer: 6.8%]

I grinned to myself. My thumb was now fully enveloped in the blue magic of Arcane Body Art. I had almost doubled my cultivation with this single massive monster core. Fortune truly favors the bold. 

I played around with my increased cultivation. The Water Bullets were getting deadly. I could now choose between shooting two high speed ones infused with kinetic magic that would kill lesser mana beasts, or I could shoot a rapid-fire volley of seven projectiles that would cause injury. This felt like a milestone. I now had enough mana reserves and power in my Arcane Body Art, that I could keep a really strong structured barrier on my person, while also having deadly force.

Sure, I could manage that before, but now I didn’t have to spin several plates while doing it. This was a substantial speed and defense increase for me in actual combat.

This was a capacity I now wanted to increase even further, because fluent and instant casting would be critical. These beasts, intelligent as they were, were still beasts. They let me prepare and cast massive spells with initiative. I'd had every advantage against the centipede, and I still almost died. 

If I had to face intelligent opponents who wouldn’t let me cast spells freely, I would need more power.

Naturally, I turned my attention to the bulging mass of gemstone in the back of the cavern. 

The glow was beautiful and faintly warm. It pulsed periodically and released free mana particles to dance around in the cavern. For a while I just watched it and admired its beauty. I had no idea what this was, but I was certain it was really valuable. It had several times more mana than the massive monster core I had just consumed.

How much could I increase my cultivation with this? Maybe even take it so far that the magical sheen would cover my entire hand? If I consumed all of this mana, I would emerge from this cavern stronger than ever. I was certain this would be enough to defeat Ranok.

Thanks, idiots.

The problem with Ranok was the same I had noticed I would have against all of the martial fighting styles. These warriors were really fast. So I needed to be fast too. Or create a defense that could absorb their blows. And cultivation helped exactly with that. I could start a fight with a strong continuous barrier, and keep the enemy off my case while I prepared another structured spell.

I really liked that idea. I felt like all of my battle experience was now converging on a clear style I wanted to develop.

I couldn’t wait!

I sat down in front of the gemstone of mana like a kid on a Christmas morning. I was so ready to tap into this massive font of power and drain it dry.

I really was a greedy little baby. Hell, gotta embrace who you are, right?

I sat in a cross-legged position and put my hand on the gemstone. It was warm and I liked the little tingling that I felt. I closed my eyes and started absorbing the mana.

It was thick and luminous. If Elder Piraka’s refined mana had been liquid like water, this mana was a viscous sludge. It shone like water in moonlight and I pulled long strings out of it into my solar plexus. I drank it greedily and transmuted it to be compatible with my cultivation.

Using this rich mana for cultivation was easier than the monster cores. The monster cores already seemed to have a starting state. Like the mana had taken a form inside the monster and it required me to persuade it to become something I could use.

This mana from the gemstone was pure. It molded to my will really easily, and was already close to the purified state I needed to transmute it to. I was so distracted by how easy it was to absorb and manipulate, that I had to play with it.

Indeed, I took a chunk out of the gemstone and cast a water bullet. Naturally, I was already getting very good at creating the spell formula, but I still noticed a clear difference in how easy it was to make with this mana.

Premium mana! 

Just how valuable was this cave I had stumbled into? Were all of the monster lair-caves above such hidden caverns? I had a lot of questions, but since there was nobody to answer, I decided it was just best to cultivate.

I cultivated for hours and with the ease and fun I was experiencing with this new type of mana, I made great progress. 

[Mana Transmutation level 11!]

[+2 Magic Power]

[+2 Mana Flow]

[Mana Manipulation II level 24!]

[+2 Mana Flow]

[+1 Magic Power]

[Arcane Body Art — First Layer: 7.5%]

After that I was feeling light headed and I took a break. I decided to walk back to the collapse and call out for my party. By now they had managed to clear out some of the rubble, because natural light was pouring into the darkness. Mother rushed to speak with me almost immediately after I called for her.

“Little gem! You are alive! Are you hurt? It has been a long time.”

Now that the party above had managed to move some of the boulders, the sounds weren’t so muffled anymore. Actually the collapsed tunnel provided pretty good acoustics.

“I’m fine, mom,” I said. “Sorry to make you worry.”

“I’m… yeah, I should get used to that.”

I chuckled even though she probably didn’t hear it. We talked a little more about what they had been doing. They were making rope and moving the rocks and guarding the cave entrance from Belator and beasts. So far there had been no problems.

“Luka, is that you?” I heard Veena’s voice. “Not dead yet?”

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

“Hmph! You’d better not be. I need you out of there so we can continue our sparring.”

I grinned. “I don’t think you’ll be able to challenge me anymore. I found something.”

“Found what?” Veena asked. “Tell me now!”

I told them of the beasts down here, and the massive awakened beast guarding the mana gemstone.

“You didn’t say anything about monsters before!” mother protested.

“Is this true?” Veena asked. “There is a mana vein down there?”

“I guess,” I said. “I don’t know what it’s called but it has a massive amount of really high quality mana. I’m using it for my cultivation.”

“WHAT?” Veena screamed in pure shock. “What do you mean you are using it?! House Salakin governs these islands! That vein— Do you have any idea how valuable it is?!”

“What is a mana vein?” my mother asked. Fortunately the acoustics carried their conversation to me.

“Something that shouldn’t exist on tier 0 islands,” Veena said. “It is a large deposit of natural mana condensed. It could be mined and refined with the right equipment.”

“Finders keepers, right?” I yelled out with a grin. “This belongs to my family, right? I can sell you the mining rights!”

“You little—” Veena said but controlled herself. “That’s not how this works.”

I shrugged. “Worth a try.”

Then there was a beat of silence, before Veena hurried to add:

”I will mention you in the report to the main family. Is that good?”

That would be good. All the favor I could get with the main branch of House Salakin would be useful. This kind of a discovery would likely mean that if I managed to protect the Salakin family’s claim on the archipelago, it would be that much more valuable to them.

“That sounds good, Veena.”

Veena continued. “And you’re… safe, right?”

I grinned to myself. “Worried about me?”

“N-no! I just need to know if we need to hurry the operation.”

“The rope is almost done, but there are a lot of rocks in the way,” mother chimed in.

“Who’s making the rope?” I asked. “It’s not Veena is it?”

“Hey!”

“No,” mother said and laughed. “I’m twining it, little gem. I have the Crafting Skill.”

“Okay good,” I said. “It was good to hear your voices. I’ll get back to training.”

“Love you little gem. Stay safe down there.”

“Don’t you dare drain all of the mana vein,” Veena said.

“Then you better hurry up,” I said. “Because it’s damn tasty.”

I decided I wouldn’t sleep tonight and would simply devote my full skillset to draining the mana vein. Not entirely out of spite towards Veena. Okay, but a big part of it was that. I just really enjoyed making her mad. She was too easy to tease.

In all seriousness, I likely wouldn’t get an opportunity like this for a while. I didn’t know what these mana veins exactly were, but Veena had made it sound like a big deal, and likely not something a single person should or could drain for their power. Most likely it would require some kind of a mining operation.

Naturally, I took that as a personal challenge.

I threw myself into absorbing and transmuting the mana with full abandon and resolved to make sure I would need to be carried back to the city like a wrung rag.

They would probably reach me tomorrow.

Which meant I had one night before responsible adults arrived and stopped me from trying to eat an entire mana vein.

Unacceptable.

So I cultivated and lost myself completely in it. I only took two small breaks to eat and close my eyes for a minute. Meditation helped me immensely, and I wasn’t surprised to see it level up. 

The act of meditation was intrinsically linked to the cultivation process. I had noticed substantial improvement in it during this expedition. I always engaged with it when I practiced deeply, but it was in the background. Maybe that was why I had leveled it so much in a short time? Because I had been making progress, but I hadn’t been deliberately training it.

Now I found new levels of concentration through transmuting the mana and letting my body absorb it. I was lost in the process and my whole soul rejoiced in it.

I was startled out of my bliss by a completely new System notification.

[Meditation II level 25!]

[+1 Perception]

[+2 Focus]

[Skill Evolution Choice Available!]