Chương 39: From Within the Chains (2)

The first thing Rowan felt when he woke up was pain. It, along with what he'd experienced just before he'd blacked out, eclipsed anything he'd felt before. His entire body cried out, but two spots screamed louder than the rest. His arm and his head. His right arm was mangled, the bones shattered and ligaments torn. But there were no visible injuries on his head. Whatever was ailing him was deep within his mind. But for now, there was nothing he could do but wait.

— As time marched onward, Rowan endured wave upon wave of excruciating pain. But, slowly, the throbbing in his head began to fade. And soon, it had dropped to a level where he could think properly, if by the thinnest of margins. In that moment, still assailed by unrelenting waves of agony from his arm, he searched for something, anything, to anchor him. And he found his mana. He watched as the collection of it in his chest slowly grew, energy trickling in. He tried to manipulate it, but the pain was just too much.

— Rowan was drawn back to reality by the sound of bloodspawn. Cracking his eyes open, he pushed through the pain and tried to concentrate on what he was facing. A lone humanoid was making its way toward him. But it was limping, its leg already injured. His mental state had recovered enough to somewhat manipulate his mana, so Rowan began to compress the energy within his pathways. The bloodspawn continued to close the distance, but he waited, letting it grow ever closer.

It was only once it was already bending over to attack him that he let his mana loose. The burst of energy struck the creature's head, snapping it back. A crack rang out, and the beast spun backward, flying through the air. Then, it collapsed. [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 5] Despite how his mind was recovering, with how exhausted it already was, the simple manipulation of mana had still been more than enough to drain him.

So he turned his attention back toward the now slightly depleted store mana gathering in his chest, watching it grow. — Still observing the swirling mass of energy, Rowan used its growth to measure time passing. Soon, though, he wouldn't be able to do that for any longer. His mana pool was nearly full. He couldn't be sure, but that meant he had probably spent a full day just lying on the stone floor, unable to do much more than breathe.

A single creature had stumbled upon him during that time, but other than that one, he'd been able to rest in peace. In a way, he thought he ought to thank the presence. Despite everything else it'd done to him, it had moved his body far from his destination, far enough away that there were few bloodspawn. If the being hadn't moved him, there would've been a much greater chance of other bloodspawn stumbling upon and killing him. With that simple action, it had likely saved his life.

That meant it'd done so twice now. But he didn't care. Even if it had saved him, it wasn't for his benefit. Whatever the being was, it had its own agenda, and Rowan did not like it. It had tried to take over his body, and that was unforgivable. If he was being honest, it hadn't been until his freedom was about to be stripped away from him that he realized how much he valued the agency granted by the System. He still wasn't fully free, though.

After all, not only did he rely on the System for his rations, but it was also the source of his power. But while it wasn't exactly fair, unlike his bosses and most of the people in control back on Earth, he hadn't seen it acting in its own self-interest. He could live with it. When he'd first arrived in the Tutorial, he'd harbored resentment against the System, st had forced him into Apocalypse Difficulty, nearly killing him time after time. But since then, his views had changed.

Despite all of the risks that came along with Apocalypse, there was also opportunity for more power. He would've gained strength in the other difficulties, too; there was no doubt about that. But as much as he had here? Rowan doubted that. And if he knew how humans worked, he knew that even with the System, not everyone would be able to do what they liked. Most would still be insects beneath those who were truly powerful. Insects to be crushed or used or any manner of other things.

And those insects would have to rely on their rulers just to live. But after everything, all they could do was hope that those above them didn't decide that their time had come to an end. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He didn't want to be one of those insects. And Apocalypse Difficulty had come with more than just hardships and opportunities for power; despite the moments of despair or loneliness, Rowan had found himself genuinely enjoying himself.

Even when he was fighting with his life on the line. Especially when he was fighting with his life on the line. If someone had gone back and told the him from before the Tutorial this, he would've called them crazy. He wasn't sure how long he'd spent in the caves, but it couldn't have been longer than a couple of months. And still, he'd changed so much in that short span of time. Or perhaps he'd always been that way, and the arrival of the System had simply brought out the true him.

So, in spite of everything, Rowan really had no hard feelings toward the System. Now, though, he was bored. The incessant pain in his arm remained, but it'd dulled to the point where it didn't dominate his every thought. That came with the downside of boredom. And Rowan didn't have much to do. He wished he could've moved around, but while there weren't any obvious injuries on his body—aside from his arm, of course—that didn't mean that it'd remained unaffected.

When the being that'd possessed him had slowed down time and forced him far beyond his limits, his right arm had borne the brunt of the force. But not all of it. His entire body had been behind the punch, and it'd been hit with its fair share of backlash as well. For a while, he lay there looking down the long tunnels beside him. Every few minutes, he saw a blur of motion, and while they were mostly too far away for him to properly make out, Rowan soon realized what they were: ants.

He hadn't seen them in ages, but he did know that the colony was at war with the bloodspawn. Perhaps they had recently won a battle near here? Maybe that was why no bloodspawn had stumbled upon him while he'd been unconscious. They'd been occupied with the insects. He waited for a while longer, but no more ants appeared. With a sigh, Rowan decided to practice his [Mana Manipulation].

He wasn't too enthused about it at first, but the moment he thought about the skill, he remembered what he'd observed his possessor doing, and his motivation spiked tenfold. But first, he checked the System messages he'd received during the fight. He'd know they were there, but the pain had been too much for him to check them until now.

[Mana Manipulation lvl 16 → Mana Manipulation lvl 17] [Chain Manipulation lvl 10 → Chain Manipulation lvl 11] [Chain Manipulation lvl 11 → Chain Manipulation lvl 12] For a moment, Rowan just stared in confusion. He'd gained three skill levels? Just from observing and trying to glean something from what the being had been doing? Just how advanced had its techniques been?

His anticipation for practicing his mana control only grew as he realized that whatever the presence had been doing was enough to boost his [Mana Manipulation] forward a whole level just by observing it. Taking a deep breath, Rowan began to concentrate. He drew a bit of mana into his pathways, compressing it. As he did so, he tried to mimic what the being residing in his chains had done. He twisted and manipulated the mana, copying what it'd done.

But despite how the presence had done it in a split-second with far more mana than this, it was too complicated. For now. With nothing else to do, Rowan gritted his teeth and kept practicing. — Time after time, Rowan repeated the process, attempting to recreate what he'd seen. At first, every random twist or turn of the mana had felt unnecessary, like a waste of time. But now, as time ticked on, things were beginning to make sense. With each attempt, he felt his control, his understanding of the technique growing.

And yet, he was still so far away from what he wanted to achieve. In the end, he realized that there was no way he would be able to recreate something like what the being had done. Its abilities were simply beyond him. But he could still take something away from it. If he could just use what little of the technique he'd managed to master and incorporate it into his [Mana Manipulation], that would be enough. So he kept practicing, and finally, after hours of effort, he had it.

The technique he'd made was a mere shadow of the presence's, but it was still far beyond anything Rowan had had before. He could already compress mana slightly faster than ever, but he knew that it wasn't the extent of what his new ability could do. With a thought, he began moving the small dot of compressed mana through his channels.

He'd observed the being moving the energy through his body as well, and while he would've liked to try and learn that as well, it could wait; doing so would take hours, and he wanted to first see the practical applications of what he'd already done. He continued moving the mana through his body for a while, getting a feel for it. Then, he forced it out. Shifting so he could get a better look, Rowan watched as the blue energy emerged from his arm.

He immediately took control of it, fearing that it would explode with just as much or more power than usual, but it didn't. It didn't even expand at all, retaining a stable form. Frowning, Rowan released his hold on the small orb of mana. As he'd expected, it didn't burst outward. It just remained, unmoving. It had even retained the form he'd made it into while still in his body. This would undoubtedly be useful, allowing him to form weapons of compressed mana far faster than usual.

He could technically do this with his old method, but it wasn't anywhere near as efficient, since he had to take hold of it before it exploded and dispersed. Even then, the mana normally just came out as a burst of sheer, unorganized energy. But the orb before him had come out like that, maintaining its form from within him. But that couldn't be all it could do. It may have just been a pathetic imitation of what the presence had done, but Rowan thought there had to be something more to it.

Or perhaps this truly was all he could do, and he simply didn't understand how powerful what he'd created was. With a sigh, he focused his senses on the orb of mana. Then, his eyes widened, and he hurled the orb away with all of the force behind his skill.

"SHI—" His words were cut off by a deafening explosion as the now unstable sphere exploded in the distance. For a moment, the cave itself shook, but a moment later, silence returned. Yet, before Rowan could even register what was happening, he heard something in the distance. The screeches of bloodspawn.