The morning air in Magnolia was crisp and clean. Lucky stretched in his apartment, his mind still swirling with the implications of yesterday's talent card.
Mana Thief. A Tier 5 Talent.
He'd barely scratched the surface of its potential, and already he had multiple of ways to change everything.
Today was testing day.
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Lucky leapt down from the bed, and rushed to take a shower then went for a quick breakfast then within minutes, he was beyond the town border, heading straight for the forest training ground.
The clearing welcomed him like an old friend. Birds chirped above, unaware they were about to witness magical abuse.
He cracked his knuckles. "Let's see what happens when I break my own limits."
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Lucky summoned his first clone. The process consumed 2,500 MP, and in an instant, the duplicate stood before him, arms crossed.
"Testing again?"
"Yep," Lucky said, activating Hunger Domain with a flick of thought. The faintest ripple spread through the air.
Nothing changed visually, but Lucky felt the flow.
He mentally flagged the clone as an enemy triggering the mana drain. His MP bar began to tick upward slowly. +20 MP/sec.
The clone sighed. "So I'm a battery now."
"You're me. I'm just charging myself."
"It's weird, you know? Feeling my mana leaking into you."
"It's mutual spiritual growth," Lucky said with a grin.
Then he paused, tilting his head. "Wait... do you have the ability too?"
The clone smirked. "Yeah, but only 35% of it. The range is smaller, and the drain is weaker. Still works, though."
Lucky nodded in approval. "Interesting..."
He quickly summoned six more clones. Each one blinked into existence with a gray smoke.
Seven clones in total.
Each one flagged as an enemy. Each one producing ~20 MP/sec due to the passive effectiveness of the Hunger Domain.
Together, Lucky was gaining 140 MP/sec, a steady stream.
He leaned against a tree and smiled.
"This is absurd."
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After around 2 minutes, Clone #1 frowned.
"Running low. Down to 100 MP."
"Alright," Lucky said. "Step out of range and start recovering."
The clone complied. As it exited the domain's radius, the drain stopped.
Lucky summoned a new clone in its place.
"What's this? Tag-team battery duty?" the new clone asked, arms already crossed.
"Exactly."
"Unbelievable."
As the first clone rested, Clone #2 reached its limit and stepped out.
Lucky repeated the process, maintaining seven active clones at all times.
MP: 20,000/20,000.
He wasn't just maintaining mana he was re-cycling it.
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Satisfied, Lucky made his clone stay away and turned his attention to the real test.
Summons.
He opened his inventory and pulled out a card: Iron Golem (Level A).
With a pulse of magic, the golem burst forth from the card in a flash of metal and dust. Its towering form stood over Lucky, steam venting from its joints.
A-level summons required massive magical reserves to function. The Iron Golem had a minimum requirement of 1,000,000 MP stored within its frame for base functionality.
Lucky flagged it as hostile.
The result was immediate.
+20 MP/sec.
He stared.
"Hooooly—"
The golem stood idle, not attacking, simply existing within the domain. And Lucky's MP was skyrocketing. He pulled out another summon: a pack of Wind Wolves.
They emerged, a lot and in formation.
Another flag.
+180 MP/sec.
Lucky dropped to his knees, laughing.
"This... this is beyond broken."
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He summoned every beast he had.
• Wind Wolves • Spirit Fox • Fire Salamander • And the new one Trent
Each flagged. Each feeding him mana.
He checked his status.
+780 MP/sec.
With only minor effort, he could infinitely cast spells or use lucky draw.
"Forget potions," Lucky muttered. "I have enough mana for now."
One by one, he rotated the summons out to prevent overdrain. The wolves grew tired after a few minutes. The fox stayed longer, being a higher-tier summon. The Golem... barely flinched.
He even tested a theory: cast a spell while draining.
Solid Script: FIRE.
A giant burning word ignited and flew through the forest.
MP: 19,500 → 20,000 in seconds.
However, Lucky frowned.
"Not all of them fit within the 20-meter radius... That's going to be a problem."
He sighed, already calculating his next step.
"I need to increase my mana limit. Fast."
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After an hour of experimentation, Lucky was convinced.
"I'm not just a summoner anymore."
He sat cross-legged, eyes closed, surrounded by his beasts.
The Hunger Domain pulsed quietly.
This was power.
He eventually recalled all summons, allowing them to rest. Even they needed recovery.
Lucky stood and dusted off his coat.
"later, I test this in combat."
After resting and fully recovering, Lucky looked around and grinned.
"Let's go big."
He looked at the 200 clones he has summoned, which consumed 500,000 MP though out all of this time .
His eyes widened at the sea of identical faces.
He looked at them, placing his hands on his hips. "Alright… start grinding."
The clones all turned their heads toward him slowly.
Dead silent.
Then—
"We'll start to grind, alright," one of them muttered darkly.
Another clone: "We can Grind....."
Another: "But what Exactly....?"
They all stared
The synchronized glare from 200 Lucky clones was terrifying.
"Ahaha… okay! That's my cue."
Lucky instantly summoned his golden eagle, leapt on its back, and soared into the sky.
As the eagle carried him up and away, he laughed nervously, waving down at the furious army of himself.
"Work hard, guys! Love you!"
A rock flew up from below and nearly clipped his ear.
"Damn," he muttered, still chuckling as he flew back toward Magnolia.