Chương 229: Chapter 220

For a long moment he just meditated, aided by the system, and felt as the mana moved around in his body. It felt like it was churning and boiling as if some invisible power agitated and heated it. Usually, he was the one who moved the mana around in cycles, and while he wasn't doing that; the mana sat there and existed. Sometimes it moved when he casually cast a spell, but otherwise, it stayed still. And now it was just simply racing through his body, yet Sam didn't feel any discomfort.

The mana was part of his body, and his body was part of his mana, almost bursting at the seams, driven further and further by an unseen force. He couldn't help but smile at that. The game's solution to mana control was novel and interesting enough that he sometimes forgot that in real life he didn't have the ability to devastate a small hamlet with a tornado of wind blades.

The feeling the game developers managed to create between the players and the mana with the revolutionary solutions was one of the main reasons why the game became so popular with the populace. Once someone experienced the sheer exhilaration of actually controlling mana with their own mind, going back to the old games where they had to endlessly yell out attack names or make infinitely complex arm movements to use skills was just not going to happen.

Which led him to one of the most paradoxical pieces of information he inherited from his alternate self. The process he was going through – the first 'evolution' – was one of the most mysterious processes in the game yet at the same time one of the most documented.

There were a million-and-one people who researched the process, trying to create the most powerful or useful result to empower their guild (or sell to the highest bidder) but even when seemingly everything was the same, the results were always different in some way. There was not one 'good' way to do it. It was personal for everybody, at least when they took it seriously. Sam had to grin at that.

While the people's opinion about the game was changing and a lot of people were looking at the game and what it contained differently, there were still a lot of old beliefs – inherited from other games – that were held as conventional wisdom. Like reaching Level 100 being an important milestone. Probably why the developers set it to 101! The process, no doubt inspired by countless other media, was very simple in theory. So far, they only took in mana and used it.

Now it was time to form their own mana core and everything that came with that. It sounded mystical, but the process was mostly like a cutscene with the player, mostly able to interact with it at a superficial level. Of course, the developers didn't tell that to the players. They could naturally learn it from different NPCs but it needed some level of familiarity, as well as a little bit of luck in asking the right question. For some reason, no NPC volunteered the information freely.

Aside from some specific scenarios, it wasn't really possible to fuck up the process, as long as the person going through it was undisturbed. Which made the Temple of Anor a perfect place to do it. His name was no doubt already circulating through the net and as soon as his new status appeared on the top ten list, there were countless people dispatched to end him and to hinder him. While people already knew about the believers, not every location was known to the populace at large.

Thus, even if somebody wanted to hunt him down, it would take a while before they pinpointed his location through the wards that hid the believers of a god who took privacy very seriously, and he would be long gone. Sometimes, he just felt that while other players were playing tag, he was playing 4D chess… Also helped that the priestesses calling this abbey their home were indebted to him and would more than likely protect him if somebody managed to find him.

He refocused on the mana and watched as it flooded his body, suffusing every cell, then as the amount seemed to reach a critical mass, he felt a small pull somewhere above his navel and the mana began to stream there, slowly but surely. Sam took a deep, fortifying breath, then slowly with all the care in the world, reached out to his mana, and began channeling shadow, wind, and clean-attributed mana into the gradually growing whirlpool in his body.

Not enough to overwhelm the thing being created, but enough to make sure the mana would be part of it. Then, just to be sure, he also added a little fire, earth, lightning, and water-flavored mana just to keep the elemental wheel in harmony. He even felt Lucky's mana entering the whirlpool. Then, for a few minutes, he just watched as the whirlpool kept growing and growing, turning from a slowly moving one to one that swirled around with the speed of a racing car. Quite frankly, it was an amazing feeling.

He really wanted to experience it again… Then the suction force of the whirlpool sped up and Sam watched carefully as the mana in his body began to be concentrated into one singular spherical location. Once again, he reached out, and slowly but surely began to focus his attention on the mass of mana, trying to help shape it into the perfect sphere. The automated process would do it, but 'helping' with it increased the effectiveness. How it increased varied from person to person, but he was hopeful.

Using the skills he managed to gather during his many hours of manipulating mana without using incantations, arm movements or system assist functions, he surrounded the mass of mana with his 'will' and applied as much pressure as he could manage. Oddly, it felt like trying to form a perfect snowball with bare hands before the heat of the body melted the snow and then the cold of the environment refroze it into one solid block that was impossible to manipulate without breaking the entire thing.

Weird feeling, but not wholly unfamiliar… Sam kept up the pressure with his 'will' as before his mental eyes, the ball of mana took shape inside his body. After several minutes of this, the whirlpool vanished, and the ball was there in all its glory. But before Sam could celebrate, he had to prepare himself for the last phase. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The ball of mana – or rather core – let out a pulse of mana that raced through his body, through the same channels that he used to cycle his mana. However, this time there was some pain as his body was changed by the pulse. Then another and another pulse, each stronger than the last one. He just gritted his teeth and endured, knowing that the more pulses there were, the better the change was. There was no consensus about what the best number was, but he hoped for something significant.

Another two pulses quickly followed each other, locking up his limbs, preventing him from moving. One more and Sam felt clearly that the next one would be last, based on how much mana was being gathered in his core.

'Seven works…' he mused as he mentally prepared for the last pulse. The mana was released with a silent explosion, rushing through his body in a very familiar cycle, and ended with the mana returning to the core, completing the cycle, having spent all its energy. His body relaxed, though oddly exhausted, Sam watched as his mana, without his input, simply cycled through his body, starting from and ending at his perfectly spherical core.

Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Lucky as the loyal wolf lay on the ground in front of him, keeping an eye on him while gnawing on a bone. He even had a small bowl of water. Then the feeling of his body hit him, and he looked down. Once again, the procedure expelled all impurities in his body, coating him with sweat and all manner of disgusting things he didn't really want to think about. Purely out of instinct, he cast the Clean spell and was almost taken aback by how easily it came to him.

But the result was that he was clean again and Lucky threw the bone away, launched himself at him, and began to lick his face.

"Hahaha! Thanks, Lucky! I'm fine, I'm fine…" he responded with a smile and hugged the giant fluffy plush-replacement. After a few minutes, he had enough – temporarily – of Lucky's luscious fur and he turned his attention to the notification screens. [Your mana has overflowed and managed to form a core!] [Thanks to your actions during the core formation, you managed to form a Perfect Core!] [The process has cleansed your body!] [Thanks to this, your Cleansed Body, Pure Body, and Mana Tempered Body have fused and were upgraded!] [You gained the skill, Mana Infused Body!] [Mana Infused Body: Level 0/100 (0%) (Passive) Mana has been permanently infused into your body, cleansing and purifying it. Your aura has been also transformed, granting you a charming and mysterious countenance. Further increases your control over your body, mana, and the two together. The amount of mana your core holds affects your body, and the state of your body affects your stamina. Gives a flat increase of +10 to STR, AGI, END, and +1 to LUCK. Any incoming skill or spell that would negatively affect your body is decreased by 0, 50% per skill level. For every 100 Mana Points, it grants you 4 Base Health Gains. For every skill level, it increases Health Regeneration by 0, 3. For every 250 Health Points, it grants you +1 Stamina Regeneration.] [Thanks to your superb control skills and the process of forming a Mana Core, your Mana Manipulation skill has been upgraded!] [You gained the skill, Perfect Mana Core!] [Perfect Mana Core: Level 0 (0%) (Passive) Mana and you are one. Decreases the cost of mana skills by 40%, and increases the mana regenerated beyond what you have experienced so far. Grants you 0, 1% magic resistance per skill level. Your capabilities to hold mana have been enhanced. Increases mana capacity by a flat 20 per player level. The longer you channel, the more the cost of the spell decreases. For every 13 seconds of channeling, the cost is reduced by 3% for each skill level. Your Mana Regeneration is increased the more mana you are missing. Gain 0, 5 Mana Regeneration for each skill level per missing mana percentage. Increases your Mana Regeneration beyond what most beings are capable of. Gain flat +250 Mana Regeneration. (+(2+WIS/MAG) Mana Regeneration per skill level) [A/N: Currently: WIS: 55 / MAG: 50 = 1, 1 --> +3, 1 Mana Regeneration per skill level] Sam had to blink at that, then do some quick math. His health gained some rather giant increase. He couldn't wait for the next fight just to see the look on their faces. [Your experience granted you an enlightenment. Your Mana Unraveling, Spell Matrix, and Mana Construct skills have been fused.] [You gain the skill, Mana Architecture!] [Mana Architecture: Level 21/100 (41%) (Passive) You mastered the manipulation, creation, and destruction of mana constructs, granting you an encompassing awareness of any mana construct. You can build, analyze, and destroy. Complexity is no barrier for you. Layers upon layers you can build. Decreases the mana cost of your creations (and destruction) by 0, 5% per skill level and increases their effectiveness and power by 1, 5% for each skill level.] [Your body went through a qualitative change. Enhancing it is not enough. Mana Body Enhancement is upgraded into Mana Body Infusion!] [Mana Body Infusion: Level 0/100 (0%) (Active) Infuses the body with mana-enhancing physical attributes by 3% for each skill level (STR, AGI, DEX, END). Also, increases physical resistance by 1% for each skill level. Furthermore, your body is already accustomed to mana running through it, thus the physical attributes are each enhanced by 1% per player level. Thanks to your Perfect Mana Core, your loss when using this skill is negligible and there is a 100% chance you gain 25% of the mana you used to enhance your body back. Additionally, there is a 25% chance to gain 50% of the mana back and a 3% chance that you gain 100% Of the mana back.] Sam read through the main changes and couldn't help but feel satisfied. A very big increase in his power and endurance, as well as some more utility. Getting a Perfect Mana Core was a dream, but he was glad he stuck with his plan because the skill was awesome. In the other timeline, there were rumors about the skill but nobody came forward to share the details but everybody agreed that it would be amazing. [Thanks to your quick thinking and infusing your Mana Core with the basic elements, your Earth, Wind, and Lightning Resistance has been consumed and you gain the Basic Elemental Resistance!] [Basic Elemental Resistance: Level 21/100 (7%) (Passive) Thanks to your quick thinking and excellent skills, you gained resistance to the basic elements: fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning. Each level increases the resistance by 1%.] [Thanks to your transformation, you gained Physical and Magical Resistance!] [Physical and Magical Resistance: Level 0/100 (0%) The mana emanating from your mana core has enhanced the defenses of your body. Each level increases the resistance by 1%.] A pretty good gain, but then he turned his attention to the last set of notifications. [Congratulations! You managed to perform an almost picture-perfect Ritual of Ascension!] [Your instincts seem to be in sync with the world!] [You gain the title, Natural!] [Natural: It's either this or you are cheating. Gives you resistance to cheating allegations. For now.] Pretty on the nose, but Sam knew he had everything covered – or at least hoped so – with regards to the ritual, as he had read some hints in the Nowhere library about it, even though there were no concrete descriptions just some vague hints. He couldn't even imagine what the developers were thinking right now… Or what the world was thinking about as he clearly won the Race to the Top event.' I feel like lunch…'