The Two Week Curse
Page 57
Not only were her veins filled with Mana crystals, her gates were crystalized as well!
He watched the thread of Mana with his Simple Organic Scan as it touched the Mana crystal. He felt a tugging sensation as the Mana gate pulled on his Mana. He continued to let out a small amount. The Mana gate seemed to become more refined. As her Mana channels swelled, Qin’er let out a low hiss of pain.
Erik pulled his Mana back as he looked at her. Her legs were shaking and there was sweat on her face.
Her Mana channels swelled as if they were trying to draw the Mana in. The crystal seemed to crave it. It almost looks like when someone has a punctured lung and it separates inside—you need to bleed out the air or else they can’t breathe.
He had seen the same when someone was wounded and he healed them: their body wanted that healing energy.
The same thing went for the crystals.
Having an idea, Erik turned to Rugrat. “I need you to make a needle that can pierce skin and bone as well as Mana gates. I want it to be able to hold Mana. Like how we attack them from the inside, this’ll be from the outside,” Erik said.
Rugrat nodded slowly. “Okay, I can make basically a shard of metal that will be Mana conductive. I don’t have the skill or the smithy to work on anything in-depth here.”
“That should be enough,” Erik said.
Rugrat put the armor to the side and then he sorted through his storage rings. “Where are you?”
While Rugrat searched around, Erik looked to Qin.
“It looks like you have a special constitution, one that has changed your Mana channels and gates. What I want to do is open a small hole in one of your Mana gates. This should allow Mana to pass into your body, equalizing the pressure inside and out,” Erik said.
“O-okay,” Qin said with a pale face. She had a weak body, with the constant pain being in places that had high Mana. By remaining at home most of the time, her body was incredibly weak.
Still, she was stubborn and she had endured through the pain, covering it over so that her father and brothers wouldn’t worry.
She sat down on a chair offered by Erik as Rugrat finished up with the needle.
He cleaned it up with some fire and gave it to Erik.
Erik took out Wraith’s Touch and put it on Qin’s wrist.
He focused on the needle. He poured Mana into it, finding that it circulated easily. It was a rough-looking needle, more of a metal shard that Rugrat had knocked off a piece of ore.
He would have never used this back on Earth; now he wasn’t so worried.
He built up more and more Mana in the needle until it glowed blue faintly. “Rugrat, I need more!”
Rugrat moved over, holding the needle as well, and poured in more Mana so that it was showing blue lines. The light of the needle was brighter than that of the lights in the room.
Erik jabbed the needle into her Mana gate. The sudden blast of direct Mana didn’t break open the gate but it drilled a small hole through it.
It was as though a vacuum had been opened. Mana in the room rushed toward Qin; it slammed into that opening and rushed into her Mana channels. The crystals in her channels started to change. They seemed to almost liquefy; her Mana channels grew bigger and turned into crystal. As Mana passed through her Mana channels, it was refined repeatedly. Her Mana system seemed to come alive as it reached down into her dantian, being sucked in by the crystal there.
“Look at the Mana gate,” Rugrat said.
Erik moved his scan back to see that under the influx of Mana, Qin’s Mana-deprived body was drawing in a massive amount of Mana. The Mana was like water rushing through a mud wall; chunks of the Mana gate were being torn apart as it was forced open. The Mana in the room only picked up speed as her entire body underwent a massive transformation.
The crystal in her body started to dissolve and integrated into her Mana channels.
The crystal in the middle of her body was condensed multiple times over, pulling in the neon-blue Mana.
That pure white crystal started to take on a blue hue, becoming more vibrant as it condensed further and further.
“Core Compression stage,” As Rugrat focused on the Mana Gathering system, he could identify what was going on inside of her body.
The now pinky nail-sized sphere started to rotate slowly within her dantian.
Qin’er let out a gasp as the Mana running through her body stopped moving. The rush of air settled back down. The disturbed dust and letters that had been on a nearby desk floated back to the ground.
Qin opened her eyes. They looked like aqua-blue pearls.
Erik, who had been using Simple Organic Scan, noticed the blue channels that had been glowing brightly now dimmed down slightly. He broke out of his daze and looked inside her body.
“It looks like the crystals are actually refining the Mana as it passes through her body. When it reaches her dantian, it is naturally accumulating. With such purity, the Mana gathers naturally instead of needing to be forced together,” Rugrat said, explaining what they were seeing.
“This must be like the modifications that Mana Gathering cultivators use to improve their abilities,” Erik said.
“Right, to break through into the compressed core stage in one shot, leaves one jealous,” Rugrat said.
“Umm, what happened?” Qin asked in a daze.
Erik and Rugrat let go of her wrists and looked at her. She was just a girl, a little lost with everything that had happened.
“You opened your first Mana gate. You had a lot of pressure inside your Mana channels. We opened one of your Mana gates so that the pressure would balance out. You’ve got a high talent for Mana,” Erik said.
“I only have one Mana gate, though? I thought one needed more Mana gates to be stronger?”
“They do and they don’t. There’s a lot of theory and information about it all,” Rugrat said. Even he hadn’t been able to understand it all and he had access to the gnomes’ records.
“Qin, what do you want to do in the future?” Erik asked.
Qin was kind of struck with his question. “I…umm.” She looked kind of lost for a few moments but gathered herself.
“Well, I guess I can do a lot now, but I’m not really good with fighting. I don’t want to hurt people and I wouldn’t want to run the business—too many meetings and stuffy old men.” Qin scrunched up her face, making the other two smile at her expression.
“Talking about this with anyone else will break your oath.” Erik pulled out an emblem. This emblem was something that Rugrat and Taran had made together. It was an invitation. It was nearly impossible to fake. The idea was that the person with this would go to the Wild Reaches Trading Outpost, hand this to a contact there, and then be taken to Alva Dungeon.
Qin wasn’t well suited for fighting and she didn’t want to run a business, but she was smart and she could think quickly, as Erik had seen already. The sects and other schools would ask for her to fight. Kanesh Academy would be a place that she could grow her talents.
She could learn to make different things, or build on current theories. Erik was also being selfish. Right now, she had just awakened her magical abilities. If he could open her other Mana gates that were still sealed with crystal, just what would the result be?
Qin’s attention was focused on Erik and the simple-looking piece of metal.
“This is an invitation to a place that you won’t have to fight, to a place that you can learn more about your abilities, about crafting, growing your skills and other pursuits, where you can find a path. If you are looking for an option, try this one out.” Erik passed it to her.
“How does it work?” She turned it around in her hands.
“Go to the Bloody Ram in the Wild Reaches Trading Outpost at dusk and look for a person wearing this on their clothing,” Erik said.
She nodded and looked at the piece of metal. “Thank you,” she said, honestly.
“Get some
rest, little one, and take your time getting used to your changes. Only tell your father what has happened.” Erik saw the way that Elan Silaz looked after his daughter; he would know the correct thing to do.
“Could I be a healer like you with this?” Qin held up the invitation.
“You can be whatever you want.” Rugrat grinned.
Erik nodded and looked to Rugrat.
“Your shoulder should be fixed now,” Rugrat said.
Erik pulled his armor back on as Rugrat checked everything in his storage rings.
They left the room. Elan, Wren, and the elusive Yui were all there. As the door opened, they looked behind Rugrat and Erik into the room. Seeing Qin there, they couldn’t help themselves and rushed forward.
Elan slowed his steps and looked to Rugrat and Erik. “What can I do to repay you?”
“Two coppers, please.” Rugrat smiled.
Elan froze, before he pulled out two coppers, a confused look on his face.
“Have a nice day,” Rugrat said as the copper disappeared into his storage ring.
Erik and Rugrat walked away.
Elan had been willing to give up his trading house, everything he had built, but they let it go just like that?
“Father.” Qin’s voice reached him.
He turned to see her smiling there. She had hidden the signs of pain before, but now he could see her truly relaxed expression. He couldn’t help but feel burning hot tears fall down his face, seeing his daughter healthy and not suffering anymore.
***
Erik and Rugrat walked through the streets of Chonglu. It was late afternoon and people were moving through the low light, heading home, getting drinks with friends. It seemed almost peaceful.
They both wore cloaks, hiding their appearances and their armor.
People moved out of their way as they headed through the city.
“Did you hear about the Healing Moon House?”
“Grandmaster Eri—tossed from the highest window. I didn’t like him, but isn’t that kind of overboard?”
“Haven’t you heard the announcement by Lord Chonglu denouncing Grandmaster Eri and laying his crimes bare? Healer? More like crook in flashy robes!”
Erik turned a deaf ear to it all as they entered the largest square in Chonglu City. In front of them lay Chonglu City’s Ten Realms totem.
They walked up the steps toward the totem. No one moved to stop them but people watched them in interest.
“Are they going to try ascending?”
“I want to ascend too!” a young boy said.
“It’s dangerous going through the realms! You’ll scare your mother, talking like that!” his mother berated him.
“But I’ll bring back a princess and make you a queen!” the boy said, living in his heroic fantasies.
Somehow I doubt it’s going to be that easy. Erik looked up at the totem as they paused in front of the massive pillar.
Erik and Rugrat looked at each other.
“Teleported into the unknown—sounds familiar,” Erik said.
Rugrat laughed. The two of them had gone through life and death, but from it, they still wanted to venture more, to see what these Ten Realms had to offer. They had people in Alva Dungeon relying on them. Their path might not be easy, but they could take it one step at a time.
A screen appeared in front of them
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You have reached Level 10, meeting the requirements to ascend to the Second Realm.
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Do you wish to ascend?
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YES/NO
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“Second Realm, here we come!” Rugrat yelled, selecting the YES. A flash of light enveloped them.
“Another two off to try the Second Realm.” A man drank from his mug.
“I wonder if they’ll make it back?” one of his friends asked as the sun started to dim and the moons rose over Chonglu.
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