Chapter 393 - Dome (Patreon)

Even while working on the circle, Niall continues talking, “For someone with a Potency upgrade, it is simpler to stop our external mana from being taken over or disrupted. You Amplifiers have to work harder for it. Looking at the modification she told me to make, you seem to have experience, a skill, or a trait that allows you to change the frequency of your mana. So just experiencing it could help you.”

I can already sense more work ahead of me. All of these things introduced to me will take years to grasp properly, and I can't focus on them currently because of the death sentence if I do.

Damned Lissandra and her requirement for me to get five skills to level 50. She is straight up crazy; just three would be too much.

“Let me guess, within the dome, it will become more and more difficult to manipulate my external mana as time passes,” I say.

“Obviously, it will. But at a certain level or against some opponents, it's something you must deal with. There are classes, skills, or traits that can cause you massive pain in the ass otherwise. You might say you will switch to melee range then, but that's where they would want you. And I'm sure you know there will be some people you won't have a chance against if it goes their way.”

To that, Tacita comes to mind. If I wasn't able to use my external mana, it could end up being… interesting.

“Can you declare me Champion candidate?” I ask.

That makes Niall falter, and just for the shortest moment, her mana wavers before she continues.

“Fuck, you are shameless. Are you always like that?”

“You seem to be the type who prefers this kind of communication, so I'm using my opportunity.”

“It's not like you are wrong, but damn. A few decades ago, I would splat you against the wall for that. As for declaring you a candidate, nope. In the future, if someone doesn’t kill you for being a pain in the ass, you will learn how rude the questions you ask are. Then you will appreciate the beautiful Champion Niall who used to be courted by hundreds of the finest young men.”

“Well, I appreciate that even now,” I say, and I mean it. I don't think most of the Champions I might meet in the future will be like her.

It's much better now, but at times I still instinctively want to rely on [Focus] to dampen my emotions, but that skill is not there. Of course, I blame Cockroachsandra.

For now, I decide to stay quiet again. I have noticed it with most of the powerful people I met. They often don't mind honest answers; they prefer it over lying, fake behavior, or ass-kissing. But in the end, they are used to being in control, so asking too many questions or trying to lead the conversations slowly annoys them to the point where they push back. Such pushback can mean a slap, burst of mana, or being splattered against the wall.

I'm quite proud of myself for this observation. For an extrovert class tutorial attendee like Tess or Gareth, it might be simple, but I, as with many other things, learn through my suffering.

Niall pauses her work and turns to me, “I can see that cheeky light in your eyes and you are opening your mouth like a fish. I won't answer, but I'm curious, what questions would you ask if I allowed you? Be honest; I promise not to punish you no matter what questions you mention.”

I observe her for a moment, and she seems to be honest to my eyes, so I decide to say it.

“What level are you? How old are you? How long did it take you to become a Champion? What did you get from becoming a Champion? What does being a Champion candidate entail? What traits do you have? How did you split your stats? What effect does the second stage of your attribute have? How high level is Absolute? Why can there be only one Absolute? How do you become an Absolute? Being Absolute seems to be special, so what does it have to do with a planet? What is planet awakening? Are you from the 1st Generation? What happened during your 1st Pairing and what does it mean to win or lose the Pairing? Who decides the pairings? What happens to the losers of a Pairing? Why do planets have to fight if they're Pairing? Do they really have to fight? What else did you learn about the Veil? Who caused your wound? At what levels do you get body strengthening? At what levels do you get primary class upgrades? What is your subclass? How do subclasses work? What are the differences between subclasses…”

“Enough, enough, enough.”

I shut my mouth immediately.

“I know I said I won't do anything, but I really feel like…” she gestures, a swing with her arm. “Well, anyway, I'm done here. It's all simple; I will activate the dome, and it will stay up for five hours. I made it so it constantly disrupts mana inside in the way that woman wanted. It's not in an efficient way, but in the one that abuses huge amounts of mana, so it should be easier for you to endure it.”

Well, now it makes sense why Lissandra couldn't do it. It uses too much mana on purpose, most likely to mimic huge area fields like that, maybe even domains.

“There are three things the dome will do. First, it disrupts mana in a similar way to some domains. Second, it imitates the pressure a weak Champion could generate. It's not concentrated pressure, and I weakened it a bit, but it's enough to cause you trouble. Lastly, and that's what that woman wanted, the longer you stay in, the worse the disruption and pressure will become. Five hours should be your limit after which it becomes too dangerous and you might die.”

It looks like Niall misunderstood Lissandra. It's clear as night that this is a challenge to me, to stay there as long as possible. It's not something akin to getting out in five hours like Niall thinks.

“How do I get out?”

“You need to touch the wall of the barrier, and it will disappear.”

“So it's easier to do at the start when the pressure is lower and becomes harder the longer I stay in?”

“Yes, the higher the pressure, the harder it is to reach the wall of the barrier. At some point, it becomes quite deadly. Kind of fucked up, but you can guess whose idea it was.”

“Got it.”

“I will come back in five hours.” She waves, and then the dome activates.

The dome covers an area the size of a street block.

Before I have a chance to think why the domain had to be so big, something pushes at me from all around. Creating a feeling of constant danger. My mana senses are gone, every bit of mana out of my body torn apart to the tiniest particles. It affects even the mana left on my skin, in my hair, leaving just the one inside my body.

The pressure then starts increasing, a disrupting effect and that feeling of constant danger that feels like it's twisting my insides.

To test it, I send mana out of my body, but it gets destroyed as before.

I walk for a bit and stop in the exact middle of the spherical dome. For now, I observe the effect it all has on me. My senses get affected by the dome.

To test it, I try to create a dagger from a single piece while using [Resonance] to change frequencies. The dagger that appears looks terrible, and it's hard to keep up even now.

Niall said the field mimics the pressure of a weaker Champion. She probably meant the pressure of released mana combined with some sort of domain.

She probably expected me to react worse, but so far, it's not that bad. It was just for a short moment, but not that long ago, I felt the pressure of Lissandra’s Avatar. I also still vividly remember the 2nd floor, even though it happened nearly one year ago.

So this is nothing. I have multiple ways to fight against it.

***

One hour passes.

The pressure increases, gradually getting closer to the level Niall mentioned.

I find it fascinating that something like this is usually something warriors or mages go through if there is a chance they will face a Champion or Absolute. Just to get used to the feeling a tiny bit so they know what to expect and don't panic.

***

Two hours pass, and I sit down in the middle of the dome. Everything beyond the blue mana walls is blurry, and the ground I sit on is very smooth. Polished by Niall's mana to create a surface for inscriptions. I examine them for a while, remembering some of the interesting twists.

When I try to locate the power source, I fail to do so. For the next thirty minutes, I attempt to find it but to no avail. Even my eyes do not help.

[Resonance] levels up once as even now I keep trying to keep the dagger from getting disrupted. At this point, it's just a short blade more reminiscent of a nail.

Another unrelated thought comes to my mind. Back then, I thought black mana was the second stage of Potency mana attribute upgrade. But as I got to see Lissandra’s Avatar and sense Niall’s mana, I think I was wrong, and black mana is entirely something else.

***

Three hours pass, and the dagger I kept up until now flickers and finally disappears. At a high cost to my mana and concentration, I attempt to activate it again.

I repeat it over and over again.

A tiny bit of mana forms in the palm of my closed hand that I open only for the mana to get disrupted.

But I do not stop.

Again.

And again.

[Resonance - lvl 47 > Resonance - lvl 48]

Then, a few minutes later, it becomes impossible, and I feel that pressure amplifying around my body but not reaching inside. Yet.

***

Six hours pass.

[Mana Domain - lvl 40 > Mana Domain - lvl 41]

[Mana Domain - lvl 41 > Mana Domain - lvl 42]

[Infusion - lvl 29 > Infusion - lvl 30]

[Perception - lvl 47 > Perception - lvl 48]

***

Seven hours pass

[Mana Domain - lvl 42 > Mana Domain - lvl 43]

***

Eight hours pass.

My domain is gone, and I'm unable to activate it at all, not even if it reaches only hair-thickness away from my skin. Not even if I use it with resonating mana. The pressure at this point is strong enough that I'm sure if Niall didn't exempt it from passing inside my body, it would be a lot of trouble.

There isn't a single wound on me, but I'm sure if I stay just a bit longer, something bad will happen.

I stand up and take a step, immediately falling to my knees. When I push myself up, it happens again.

Amusingly enough, I catch myself being annoyed at not knowing what causes it. The dome? The simulated domain? The disrupting effect somehow?

Unable to get on my feet anymore, I start crawling. The questions and annoyance flashing through my mind. It's funny.

It takes me five minutes of crawling, and I'm halfway to the dome's wall when the pressure increases. The disrupting effect starts seeping through my skin, ignoring my Mantle.

Of course, it makes sense someone at the level of Champion would be able to do that, but it once again reminds me that there are still a lot of people more powerful than me.

It’s just one year since I started, so it’s not a surprise. There is still a long way to go.

But I will get there.

***

Thirty minutes later, I finally touch the wall, and in a blink, the dome disappears. The sounds of nature around come rushing in, and I feel a soft wind on my skin. The pressure is gone, and I finally grab control of the mana inside my body.

This time there are dozens of wounds, small and large. Disrupting my control over mana inside my body proved to be quite an effective attack. I have to constantly use Mana Cycling to keep it under control because of my stat imbalance. Having it run wild reminded me of the good ol’ days.

Catching my breath, I lay on my back and send thermal energy from my core through my body.

I reach my hand towards the sky, and from my torn finger, a drop of blood falls on my cheek as I watch the wound close.

“You are one crazy motherfucker, aren’t you?” I recognize Niall’s voice from somewhere near me.

“I dozed off in there; the pressure was too weak.”

“Cheeky little shit.” She sits on the grass near me.

“Did anyone tell you your language is kind of…”

“Many times. They tried to beat it out of me when I was younger. But it’s hard to do, and I can still blame having five older brothers I grew up with.”

“Sounds like a good excuse. Can you give me ten minutes? I should heal enough to walk by then, and we can leave.”

“You can have half an hour.”

***

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