My Mana is Increasing!
My mana was increasing!
SR - Mana Absorption (Trait)
Absorbs the mana from mana stones or any object containing mana.
The absorbed mana permanently settles within the user.
This was the real jackpot.
The Mana Amplification I’d handed over to Ha-eun last time was ultimately just an item that raised mana by a fixed amount.
But after reading the description for Mana Absorption, it looked like I could keep increasing my mana indefinitely by using mana stones.
And there was one most important point.
Thanks to Song Eun-chae today, I’d brought back a massive haul of mana stones. And since she dropped me straight home after we left the gate without settling the accounts, I still had every last one.
In other words, I was currently sitting on a ridiculous pile of mana stones!
I opened my bag and pulled out one of the average-sized mana stones. Since it came from a C-rank gate, it was subtly larger than the ones from D-rank gates.
I gripped it in my hand and willed it to be absorbed.
Mana Absorption initiated.
Ooh. Ooooooh!!
I could feel it. The mana inside the stone was flowing straight into me!
Mana Absorption completed.
It took roughly two minutes to fully absorb a single stone. The amount my mana had increased was about double what I’d started with.
Even a mana stone from a C-rank gate gives this much?
Sure, double sounds impressive, but the actual increase wasn’t that huge. My original mana pool had been pathetically small to begin with. Doubling something the size of a rat dropping wasn’t going to create any dramatic difference.
At this stone’s size, it was more accurate to say it had simply added the same amount I already possessed.
But I still have plenty of mana stones left.
If the efficiency was bad, I’d just brute-force it with quantity.
I had dozens of stones on me right now. Plus there was the extra-large one that dropped from the boss.
I diligently absorbed the stones one after another.
After about an hour, I had absorbed every small stone except the boss drop.
My mana pool had swelled considerably. It was now equal to what I had when I converted roughly thirty percent of my stamina.
Jackpot. I can harden my entire body now without using Mana Conversion at all.
It was on a completely different level from before. If I added stamina conversion on top of this, the intensity I could output would be in another dimension.
The massive stone looked about five times larger than the regular ones. I began absorbing it.
An overwhelming power surged through me. The mana racing along my circuits was no joke. My dantian grew so hot it felt like it would explode.
Thirty minutes passed like that.
Mana Absorption completed.
Good. Let’s check.
I immediately began meditating.
And then—
Whoa… what the hell is this?
The amount now sitting inside me was even greater than when I had converted ninety percent of my stamina.
Does absorption efficiency rise exponentially with the grade of the mana stone?
A single large stone was far more efficient than absorbing dozens of small ones combined.
Still, it’ll be hard to expect this kind of luck again… right?
Today had only been possible because Song Eun-chae let me have the C-rank gate boss’s mana stone. There was no way I could have managed that alone. And even if I entered a gate with other people, I couldn’t expect them to hand every stone over to me.
Realistically, from now on I would have to gradually increase my mana by absorbing the small stones that dropped from D-rank gates.
Well… it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that I can keep getting stronger bit by bit.
This alone was an incredible achievement. And since the path to growing even stronger was now open, I felt extremely satisfied.
With this, my current skill level should definitely be upper C-Class.
Through my spar with Song Eun-chae, I had been able to objectively evaluate myself. At my current level, I calculated that I could handle C-Class cadets without too much trouble.
Hehehe. The next rank match is going to be fun.
It was Tuesday.
My rank match still hadn’t been scheduled.
Probably because I’d ended up covered in blood during the fight with Nam Yeon-woo last time. They must have taken that into consideration and pushed my next match to Thursday or Friday.
Today was the day of Ha-eun’s first-year rank match.
She had lost her match last week, so she absolutely needed a win this time. Plus, watching a match let me legally skip a class once a week, so I came to cheer her on and kill two birds with one stone.
And the other person sitting beside me was—
Nam Yeon-woo, who was currently summoning his Shiba Inu and petting it.
…….
Ever since our rank match, Nam Yeon-woo had been subtly sticking close to me. He’d strike up conversations during breaks and coincidentally follow me when I came to watch matches like this.
Still, he never showed up during lunch. From the circumstances, it seemed he didn’t want to interrupt the sweet time I spent with Ha-eun. And I was genuinely grateful for that consideration.
These days I sometimes caught myself thinking that Nam Yeon-woo had become my friend.
Of course, I’d never said that out loud. I didn’t know if he felt the same way. Having been alone for so long, I’d become a bit cautious about things like that.
Feeling strangely awkward, I ended up snapping at him.
Nam Yeon-woo flinched and hugged Mochi tightly.
Luckily, it seemed Nam Yeon-woo had managed to revive Mochi after I’d beaten it half to death during the last rank match. He apparently went through a lot of trouble to do it.
Anyway, the guy didn’t have a single scar left from the previous match. He got matched again on Tuesday and luckily faced a lower-ranked D-Class cadet, scoring an easy win.
While I was talking with Nam Yeon-woo, Ha-eun’s match had already begun.
Her opponent was a male first-year E-Class guard.
The moment it started, he raised his sword high and charged at Ha-eun.
But—
Clangclangclangclang—
Ha-eun instantly deployed a barrier to block him, then shouted.
Whoosh—
“Graaaagh!!”
The guy was instantly engulfed in flames and rolled desperately across the floor to put them out.
Ha-eun declared victory in a firm voice as she looked down at him. At first he refused to accept it and tried to jump back up, but after looking around he finally nodded in defeat.
The fire on his body had been extinguished, but fire pillars were already surrounding the arena. If he hadn’t accepted the loss, they would have swallowed him again.
Ha-eun’s rank match ended quickly.
So the efficiency of meditation changes in proportion to how much mana you have?
My own mana had grown to the point where it couldn’t even be compared to a few days ago. Did that mean the breathing technique that had done nothing for me before might finally produce results?
But somehow I doubted it. It was just a gut feeling, though….
Ha-eun left for home with her friends without even eating lunch. Since Yeon-woo and I still had afternoon classes, we had to stay at the academy.
After eating with Nam Yeon-woo and chatting briefly, we headed to the classroom for the remaining afternoon classes.
Ha-eun’s mentality really is solid. I wish I could do the same….
Of course, if Ha-eun and I fought a hundred times, I would win every single match. Her mentality might be good, but her raw power didn’t look that strong, and I far surpassed her in both strength and combat sense.
But the only tool I had was Hardening. It was a good skill for a guard, but the complete lack of any long-range options was a problem. If I ran into a cadet with proper skills, I could end up in serious danger.
And honestly, after absorbing those mana stones yesterday, I had spent a lot of time trying to manifest my mentality as a skill.
But nothing happened….
No matter what image I tried to picture, it refused to manifest.
So I came to one conclusion. It seemed my ability simply didn’t work that way.
Raising basic stats like stamina is one thing, but for actual skills, the gacha and achievements are the only answers. I don’t think mana breathing will work for me either.
In the end, the only thing I could do was hunt monsters, collect souls, and spin the gacha.
The next day, during roll call—
Ding-dong—
A notification arrived on the cadet app.
Cadet Yoo Ji-min’s rank match opponent has been decided.
It’ll definitely be a C-Class cadet.
Although rank match opponents were supposedly random, they weren’t completely random. The system gradually raised or lowered the opponent’s rank based on the evaluated categories from previous matches.
In my case, after I completely crushed the D-Class Kwon Si-hoo, I immediately got matched with the C-Class Nam Yeon-woo.
And after I beat the weakest C-Class cadet, the next opponent should obviously be another C-Class. Since I had struggled quite a bit to win against Nam Yeon-woo instead of completely dominating him, there was no way I’d get matched with a B-Class right away.
Honestly, B-Class and above is still too much for me right now.
I could more or less gauge my current level now. And I knew full well that the upper-class students possessed strength on a completely different dimension from mine.
They had reached a high level of technical perfection that let them manifest their mental images directly. Even if I had increased my mana a lot, the naturally gifted upper-class cadets had vessels that couldn’t even be compared to mine.
Still, I can definitely beat C-Class. I wonder who I’ll get to crush this time?
With that expectation, I checked my opponent.
2nd-Year, Class 3
Yoon Seol-ah (A-Class)
What the fuck?!