Chapter 458 - The Arm Collector (Patreon)

The twins continue to use their [Connection] in front of me with the goal of connecting to my simple mana orb and taking over or changing the settings on it.

I made it as simple as possible, with two modes: floating still and spinning. That is something I have “coded” into it.

Later, we will try it with different skills as well, but for now, I watch how they do so.

On my hand, I also have the echo gauntlet. It has allowed me to copy that weird blood skill of that leader on the 1st floor of Beyond before, so I want to copy their skill and, in doing so, test how it feels to use it.

I’ve even done so a few times already, but as with multiple skills before, there is no feedback. The glove just allows me to use that skill—not as well as the original, but with decent oomph.

There are some skills it can’t copy, such as Lily’s [Disintegration], but I was able to copy her healing or the twins' [Sensory Deception].

To be honest, I do realize how strong the glove could be or how helpful in certain situations, but I don’t like it.

So I just think I will take it apart sooner or later. Observing how its inscriptions work and what connection of materials allows it to have such an effect will probably bring me more. Items just can’t be overly relied on or trusted.

What if some asshole comes around and steals it? The kind of guy that takes everything not glued to the floor. That kind of maniac.

Still, even though I complain and trash the glove, I decide to test it a bit more. With my eyes on and straining my mind as much as possible. Then it can be used as a secret weapon before I take it apart.

I like the plan.

My orb that was floating still starts spinning around, then it stops, then starts spinning around again.

Both of the twins are extremely happy, running, jumping, and calling my skill trash.

There are even some challenges thrown my way.

I let it pass, as I also know that sort of excitement and happiness of taking yet another step.

When we regroup with the rest of the band, I will tell Maya a few more interesting things I have heard from them.

***

As I sit to the side, I watch as Lily and the twins spar. Two blonde boys attacking the black-haired girl.

Even holding back and taking plenty of damage, Lily is winning.

They get some hits in, but unlike them, she takes it like a champ. She doesn’t blink when cut, she doesn’t hesitate, she doesn’t get careful because of the pain caused to her.

I have learned that she made plenty of fake organ-like things inside her body and continuously uses them as sacrifices. Each of these artificial organs is as big as a marble.

They can’t even be compared to what she would get from a real organ, as both of us think the importance of the sacrifice influences its power. But these organs are also her flesh and overall gain her more than what they consume to be sacrificed and turned into mana, strength, or anything she needs.

Aaron and Dennis place multiple illusions of themselves that move around quickly, but it’s no trouble for Lily.

Does she smartly locate the originals and ignore the fakes?

No way in hell.

Lily boosts her body and passes through them, slamming against copies with her shoulders.

I bet the twins are sweating, knowing that if she tackles them like that, it won’t end well.

They also smartly place illusions in front of trees or bigger boulders, intending to cause some indirect damage to our petite healer.

But Lily once again cosplays a bulldozer, smashing through those. It’s so similar to her fight against Tess that I probably should get angry, but I notice differences.

She uses much less mana and doesn’t waste loads of it to heal herself, often only boosting the healing process a bit and then letting her natural regeneration take over.

And damn, is that natural regeneration strong.

Out of group 4, Lily probably has the highest Constitution, even using her attribute upgrade on it. Something akin to Mana Potency, but for constitution. Once she gets a body upgrade at 250, it will improve even more.

But as she said, the stronger her body is, the better [Sacrifice] works, which is very versatile. She mentioned that she goes 4 parts Constitution, 2 parts Mana, 2 parts Strength, and 2 parts Dexterity. She might change it up later, but currently, it seems to work.

As for the twins, they go for 4 parts Dexterity, 2 parts Constitution, 3 parts Mana, and 1 part Strength. It’s also something they might change later. Both of their subclass is Diligence, and they seem happy with the choice.

Sensing something flying my way, I step to the side, and Dennis crashes into the boulder I was leaning against. He spews a bit of blood, but his wounds start healing quickly, a skill shared with his twin, even though much less effective than Lily’s.

I move to another side, and where Dennis stood, Lily crashes, dust from the exploded stone covering her.

She disappears again, Aaron slamming against her from the side while Dennis attacks her leg in perfect synchronization.

Letting my thoughts waver once again, I think of Mana Cycling, the mana technique Lissandra gave me so long ago on the 3rd floor. Something that should help me handle my mana.

So far, I have seen nothing like it. Not in the mana stones I found on the floors, not from the natives, not even when I asked during the tournament or in Beyond. But the more I use it, the more I make smaller changes and improvements, the more I’m amazed by how much more complex the technique is, especially after the improvements left to me in that mana stone.

It doesn’t only help my body handle my mana, but it also helps me hide that mana and improve my control over it. And now, with the improvement, I think it influences my body as well.

I don’t know what to think of it yet, as it is still wayyy too early, but it behaving that way is the main reason why I haven’t picked Mana Pulse Circulation passive and instead went for Mana Fortified Mind.

The description of Mana Pulse sounded similar to Mana Cycling, just a little bit, but enough for me to not pick it.

Is there a chance Mana Cycling is a somewhat active version of that arcane passive? Will the technique do something similar to the passive at a higher stage? Why are the names similar too?

Caius, from his deep prison hole, said Lissandra left a mark on me, calling that mark an extremely archaic and ancient thing. Something Absolutes and Champions of old used to do. He said it with a certain disdain as if considering such ways old school, worse than what they have currently.

Liss would kick his ass if she heard that.

Mana Cycling reminds me of the mark Lissandra left behind—an archaic technique that Champions and Absolutes now might consider obsolete. But I like it. I like how much it demands from me, what it does, and how it punishes me every time I slip up, letting my own mana harm my body.

***

A week remains until I go to Beyond, curious if I meet any humans from Earth from the message I left on the board. Tess hasn’t done her 3rd trial yet, and Lily started later than her. Sophie even later. So it will be me alone again.

I asked Tess before, so I’m sure she mentioned it in the Beyond Community for other Earthlings.

There's only one guy who could join me, and I bet it would be annoying. Actually, two—though with the first Beyonder never speaking, I sometimes forget he’s even there.

My goal is to spend three days in Beyond and reach the checkpoint. I will also bring white sand with me that I will have to seal somehow, to get some quick cash.

I'll check if I can enter the first floor of the dungeon on my own. If it's manageable, I'll go in solo a few times.

Later, I'll save stay tokens for the expedition with Tess and the others, where we'll hunt some lurkers on the first floor and show them the ropes.

I don’t think we have enough time to do body modification with Lily, but she should be able to leave a few marks on me.

We also start cutting off my left arm, so she can use it for [Sacrifice] if needed when I’m gone.

Doing a few tests, sacrificing my cut-off left arm gives her an even bigger boost than before.

I would be angry if it didn’t. It’s the arm of a Champion candidate, someone close to level 300, and someone with an arcane passive. It better be good stuff.

With fascination, I also watch as Lily brings out a big bag and packs my arms into it. It seems it will be able to fit a few more, and then she will… well, I don’t want to know what she will do with the rest. She can bury them underground, she can put them into another bag.

What I find creepy is that she starts cutting my arm apart and testing the level of boost and asking questions. How much boost will my hand give? How much from a single finger? How much just from bones?

I’m getting more and more worried about her future.

I can already imagine a necklace around her neck made out of my fingerbones or something.

So while we prepare arms for her, I also give her a mini quest: to observe how my arm will behave over the 7 days I’m still here and then when I leave. I suspect my arm won’t change much, and it won’t decompose or start rotting. Still, I’m curious.

Would my body stay in near-perfect condition even a after year? Ten years later after I died? Would it be possible to get my traits from it? Would my heart be useful?

If I died because of a destroyed heart and my head stayed untouched, would it be possible to get me some new fancy heart and then kickstart my brain again, even years later?

These thoughts are very fascinating to me, and Lily seems to share the sentiment. So as we talk and theorize, I ignore the twins and the looks they are giving us.

I don’t deserve such looks from them.

***

A day passes.

I train, I spar with the twins and Lily. I work on improving my [Resonance] by observing [Connection]. It feels like I’m close, yet something is missing, but I don’t dwell on it. I just put in more effort.

The twins are doing surprisingly well with my training and seem to enjoy parts of it. They are also getting better at close-range combat.

My style of letting the enemy hit, so I can hit back twice is what I’m teaching them. It won’t be their main way, but I’m someone who likes to be flexible, so it will be another weapon in their reservoir.

Over time, I notice that they are getting more and more comfortable around me. I think there was always a bit of tension from their side, and I don’t think it will ever fully disappear.

Lily, lord have mercy on her soul, runs around with my arms and sometimes bones from the arm. She does some body modification testing, and sometimes these bones explode violently.

Would be a shame if something like that happened to my spine while she tries to modify my body, right?

I try to ignore it as much as possible. It still surprises me how easygoing Lily is about some things that would make plenty of people throw up. I don’t think a normal person would so casually take a human arm apart.

I also watch with great interest when she trains her [Disintegration], Dennis and Aaron often joining as well.

Projectiles made of that gray mana, weapons made of that mana, mostly smaller ones, threads made of it.

She is handling it much better now, and it doesn’t seem to strain her that much.

We also test it against my highly compressed mana, which she tears through easily. I even attempt to disrupt [Disintegration] but to no avail.

At one point, I use a large chunk of my body’s mana to materialize a finger-length thread of [Ley Line], and her gray projectile collides with it.

And my beautiful new skill resists. A goddamned beautiful thread of whatever material it is resists that gray mana.

Lily, not as pleased as I am, attacks again, drawing more from her reserves and taking it more seriously.

In the end, after multiple attempts, the thread gets destroyed, eaten up by that evil gray mana.

That single exchange feels like a fight between me and Lily, and both of us competitively stare at each other.

I’m sure Lily’s skills will become much stronger, but the same goes for mine.

***

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