Vell was on his knees, coughing up blood. Pain shot through his chest. His cores, already cracked, felt like they were about to break completely. The pain was worse than anything he'd felt before. His fingers dug into the dirt, body shaking as he tried to handle it, but it kept getting worse.
[Master, hurry! The cores! Take one!]
His vision was blurry, head spinning. He looked toward the pile of dark stones, but they were too far away. He couldn't reach them. He tried to crawl, but the effort sent another wave of pain through him, and he collapsed, face hitting the ground.
Yenna saw him go down and freaked out. "Hey, what's going on? What should I do?"
His shaking arm slowly pointed toward the cores. She didn't need him to explain. She scrambled to her feet and ran, her own injuries forgotten.
'Crap, crap, what is happening? Did he fight when he left the city? Is he still injured? Is this my fault?'
She grabbed as many dark cores as she could carry and started running back, worry all over her face. She was so focused on him that she didn't watch where she was going. Her foot caught on a root, and she went down hard, twisting her ankle with a crack.
'Why now, of all times?'
She looked at him, still on the ground, groaning in pain. Ignoring her own hurt, she picked up the scattered cores and kept moving, limping now, pain on her face. She finally collapsed beside him, relieved that she made it.
"Hey, I got them."
She pushed one of the dark stones into his hand. He stared at it for a moment, vision swimming, then without thinking twice, put it in his mouth and swallowed.
"Hey, that's not—"
She stopped mid-sentence. The mana leaking from his body suddenly stopped. His breathing, which had been ragged and shallow, stabilized. But her relief didn't last long.
He let out a scream, a raw sound of pure pain that was so loud Yenna covered her ears. His body twisted, back arching off the ground, unable to bear it. His veins bulged, visible under his skin, and a dark, almost black color coursed through them.
"Oh no," she whispered, eyes wide with terror. "The Niks' mana is infecting his body. He consumed the core directly. We don't have any elixirs. What should I do? Maybe Wren could help?"
She wanted to run and get Wren, but just as she started to move, he went silent again. This time, the strange, glowing runes on his skin began to pulse with a soft blue light. The light spread across his body, and as it did, it neutralized the dark, corrupted mana trying to consume him.
'What in the world? His body actually rejects corrupted mana? So what he said back then... it was the truth?'
[...what the hell.]
Even the system seemed shocked. It knew his body could reject corruption because of his pure mana, but what he had just done—consuming a core directly and surviving—should have been impossible for any human.
[Haha... you keep surprising me. How did you do that?]
He didn't reply. He was too focused. He could feel a massive amount of new, raw mana coursing through him, and he had to do something with it. He guided the energy, wrapping it around his shattered cores. He began to compress it, pushing the broken pieces back together.
[...]
He then fused the new mana into the cracks, repairing them, sealing them, and filling his cores with the leftover energy. But this wasn't just a repair job. The corrupted mana, now purified and integrated, had made his cores bigger, stronger, more potent than before. This was something no one had ever done.
He opened his eyes, let out a long, slow breath, and pushed himself to his feet. Not with a struggle, but with a smooth, effortless motion. He felt good. Better than good. He felt powerful.
"Whoa." Yenna was captivated. She'd seen a lot of strong players in her time, but none of them had ever caught her eye like him. This was the third time he'd completely surprised her.
He did a quick flip in the air and landed softly, exhaling once more. He looked like a hunter, a predator, and to Yenna, he looked...
'Hot... he is so hot.'
He slowly turned his eyes to her, a small, confident smile on his face, and she felt her cheeks burn.
"Hm, you okay over there?"
She coughed, quickly regaining her composure. "Yeah, but more importantly... how did you absorb so much corrupted mana?"
"I improvised. Nothing special."
"Oh." 'What do you mean, nothing special?' she thought, deciding it was probably best not to ask any more questions.
He walked over to the remaining cores and examined them before popping another one into his mouth. He chewed it for a second, then spit it out.
'It'll work, but I need to be careful. These have too much corrupted mana. I need to eat them and absorb the energy while I'm not disturbed. Well, there's plenty of time. No need to rush.'
[Beast.]
'Huh? What are you going on about now?'
[You are a beast. There isn't any other explanation for your methods. It's not humanly possible.]
'Well, I have a theory that it has something to do with Resonance, at least the part where I absorb corrupted mana. But that's just a hunch.'
[...That's actually not a bad thought. Considering how Resonance works, maybe it is having some side effects on you. A freak becoming even more of a freak. Interesting.]
'Yeah, yeah. I'm more surprised that you don't know how your own skills work, even though you gave them to me.'
[...]
He looked over at Yenna, who was staring at one of the dark cores, a thoughtful expression on her face. 'Would I be able to absorb the mana like him?' These were dangerous thoughts, and he could see them written all over her face.
"Be careful," he warned. "Eat that, and you will die."
"...Hey, about the corrupted mana in my body," she asked, her hands tightening around the core. "Can you really remove it?"
She looked up at him, her eyes full of desperate hope. "I'm weak. I awakened as an apprentice and have been stuck at the same level ever since. No matter how much I try to level up, it never works. It's the same for the others too. The level you awaken at is the one you stay with forever."
He knew nothing about this, so he had to check with the system. 'Is this true?'
[No, that is obviously not true. It's clear why they're not able to move on to higher ranks; the corrupted mana in their bodies is preventing any pure mana from entering. Unless that is fixed, they won't evolve. Humans are made up of pure mana, so it's only natural that they need that same mana to grow stronger.]
'Just what is the Association up to? And how has no one ever noticed? You mean to tell me no player has ever been to other major cities?'
[Huh? Is that a trick question?]
'...'
[Do you really not know how dangerous it is outside the city zones? Once you leave their safety, you enter dangerous territory, full of monsters. I'm sure you're aware that monsters are not only found in dungeons; this world is full of creatures that could wipe out humanity. It's not a place to be taken lightly.]
'Wait, then are we still in the safe zone?'
[Yes. A few more miles and we will exit the zone. You need to be very careful out there.]
'This sounds risky. Are you sure it's worth it? I mean, we could just hide out in the small towns, live a secret life or something.'
[...I know it's risky, but trust me, Master. If you make it to the next city, your life will be changed forever. In the best way.]
'How do you know so much, anyway?'
[Ah, that... I don't know. I just somehow know.]
'That is suspicious as hell. Whatever. Let's deal with Yenna for now. I'll remove the corrupted mana from her body.'
He turned back to her. "You want to get stronger, right?"
Her face lit up, a determined look in her eyes. He liked that passion.
"Yes! Please help me."
"Good. Then die."
"Huh?"