Chapter 274 - We are leaving (Patreon)

I diligently observe my body and my upgraded construct while I slowly let more mana trickle into the pathways I created or upgraded. The heart that Gigachad Nathaniel from the third floor created in his moment of genius, or stupidity, slowly activates.

The name is simple: Thermokinetic Mana Heart, so I hope when I upgrade it for the next time, it will be a bit cooler. Not like it would change anything, but it would surely be nice.

Thankfully, the heart can do everything I wanted it to do. It can compress mana, which should make my skills stronger, and it can generate kinetic and thermal energy using my heart as a medium to do so. There is no way it can compress mana to the point of creating black mana, but even a bit is enough as it will allow me to practice and prepare for the future.

Checking on my still sleeping disciple and observing the quiet forest around, I decide to test it a bit. I change the setting on another construct I have, Mana Regulator, and allow my heart to start compressing the mana it generates.

As expected, the generation of mana slows down, but the mana it creates feels different. It's of a slightly darker shade of blue that is still transparent, and when I use it to power my skills, I notice a small difference.

I decide to change the setting again and it starts compressing it even more, the shade of mana becoming even darker. The current compression seems to be fifty percent of what the heart is capable of, so I stop there for now.

Right away, I can tell that I won’t get even close to creating black mana, but this also feels somewhat reasonable. If it was easy to imitate the Potency upgrade of mana, everyone would be doing that. Well, at least I think the black mana is something akin to a Potency mana attribute upgrade. Maybe it is something else.

The black mana that I'm capable of creating feels a bit like cheating, and I'm capable of it because of my [Focus]. I once again start thinking that the skill is much stronger than I initially thought.

As expected from my most treasured skill. Hopefully, it will get to the point where I can start making fun of Lily's [Disintegration]; that would be nice.

Next, I decide to test my thermal energy generation. Up until now, I had to transfer kinetic energy into thermal, so it was kind of annoying. Getting it directly should reduce waste and improve the speed I create it at.

When thermal energy flows through my body, I notice the difference in its strength. The last remaining wounds from upgrading the construct disappear nearly immediately, and when I force thermal energy out of my body, it looks more golden than the usual yellow.

I watch as the flame flickers over the palm of my hand and control it carefully. It wouldn't be good if the heat it releases would kill my disciple. I never got used to fully controlling my powers as people around me grew with me. The little bit of heat I release can be no problem to someone from group 4, but would most likely burn any human from Earth alive.

Even the pressure of my fully released mana could be capable of killing normal people from Earth.

It's a scary thought. My body itself is turning into a weapon, and if I don’t control it, even walking around without controlling my mana could kill people with lower levels. Or it could kill this disciple of mine. I wonder if it's also the intention of this floor, to learn to control my powers around much weaker beings.

After putting out the flames, I generate kinetic energy, and it fills quicker than before, and even its quality seems higher, the same as thermal.

It's already decided that I will delve more into my Primordial energies on this floor. I know I'm terribly lacking, and I use them in the simplest way, and I'm sure there is more to them. There is just so little time and so many things I want to work on.

“Master?” the little half-demon says in a weak voice.

Our eyes meet, and once again, I admire her red eyes. It might be my childish side, but I find them cool and, with the combination of her light brown hair, they look even more striking.

“Disciple, why don't you use 'nya' after every sentence? I heard about an ancient half-demon that did it, amazing its foes and companions, as well as getting respect from everyone else,” I use the oportunity.

My good mood is showing, as always when I'm successful in improving myself. The upgraded construct is a huge success.

“Is the master making fun of me?” she asks carefully.

That simple sentence allows me to judge her of higher intelligence than the entire race of cat people.

Half-demons 1, Lynthari 0.

“Only a little bit, is there anything you want?”

“Can I eat some of the food you gave me to answer your questions?”

“It's your food; you don't have to ask me,” I answer.

Well, it's obvious she wouldn't trust me after only a few hours and might expect me to go back on my word.

I watch as she gets from under the blanket and carefully fixes her clothes, “I’m sorry, they got dirty. I will make sure to clean them before returning,” she says. Her old clothes are still carefully folded in the pile next to her. Rather rags than clothes.

“It’s fine,” I answer.

Then I watch as she takes a bit of the food out and slowly eats it. She is still shaking a bit, so she puts the blanket around herself, but she looks better now. Something shown by her getting hungry.

I stand up and pick a bottle of water from my pile of things and hand it to her.

When she hesitates, I say, “I will be asking more questions later.”

Only then does she nod and, opening it, takes a few sips.

Bored and waiting for her to get better, I send my senses towards the sky. Ever since the start, I felt something weird in the air and had trouble identifying it. When using my trait, I'm able to see faint mana lines that don’t seem natural, more manmade. Yet another mystery to uncover. Finding out what happened to this world, finding out what the “Mirror” is, locating survivors, and even the Floor quest. Plus, there is plenty of information to be collected from other difficulty Communities.

The little half-demon keeps carefully checking me and trying to get to know me and read my behavior. She seems to know that her survival is tied to me and that I seem to have some incentive to keep her alive. Plus, there is the voice that told her I will be her master.

“Tell me, that voice that told you about me. Do you know what it is?” I ask her.

She shakes her head, “I know it's something very powerful and…” she hesitates, “I think I can trust it and...”

And maybe I can trust you. She doesn't say these words out loud, but it's clear.

Well, the system does system things as always.

I open my mouth to ask more, but that's when one of my anchors I shot far in the distance gets destroyed. The moment my connection disappears, I feel another connection using my cut-off link to track me and it locates me before I can destroy the link.

For a short moment, I feel goosebumps rise on my skin and far in the distance, a deep growl sounds.

The presence I sensed for that short moment felt terrifying.

“We are leaving,” I shoot up from the ground.

Without hesitation, I grab my disciple and as many bags as I can, according to how important things they contain. Right after, I use [Tether] and transport us to another anchor.

The little half-demon sways and throws up what she ate just a moment ago, a few wounds on her body.

I tie another anchor to my mana projectile and shoot it as far as I can, it disappearing, boosted quickly by generated kinetic energy.

In that short moment, I know that that thing has reached the place near the lake, and I feel it tracking the remains of mana that are in the air and the point where we are. It locates us, and a feeling of overwhelming pressure touches me.

As quickly as I can, I generate a small black mana orb and leave it in the air before teleporting us again, hoping it will absorb mana left by my skill and stop the tracking.

After reappearing, I notice a few more wounds on the body of my disciple. She doesn't say anything, but I notice how she is clenching her teeth. I tried to make transport as smooth as possible, but she might be way too low level for that.

Instead of teleporting again, I leave another black orb on the ground and, taking her on my chest, lift-off high into the air.

After reaching a certain height, I use [Regalia] to form a pointy barrier in front of us so she doesn’t get hurt by the pressure and boost us away.

Gradually and while observing her, I boost my speed more and more, my heart overflowing with kinetic energy. I also start radiating a tiny bit of thermal to keep her warm.

Even while flying away, I can hear a deep growl behind me and do not stop for an hour until we are far away. Only then do I slow down and gently land back on the ground.

Immediately, the little half-demon falls to the ground, her small hands grabbing the grass, and she shakes. But she then forces herself to stop and with clenched fists, she stands up. Taking a few deep breaths, she takes a moment and when she turns to me, her face is once again calm.

Not knowing what to say, I just nod and start examining where we ended up. What surrounds us are trees that are much taller than they should be, with some of them crashed against the ground and covered in moss. The area is colorful, full of vibrant green grass, colorful leaves, and colorful flowers that are all around.

This place is weirdly calming, and I gesture to her, and we walk under one of the fallen giant trees where we find some shade. It's illogical as something like that would barely offer some defense, but the primitive part of my mind tries to lie that we are safe.

And another piece of my mind I silence with [Focus] because it keeps telling me to get angry and to go and mess up whatever that thing was.

I know I might be getting too careful at times, but there is a difference between being too careful and not suicidal.

Even during that short connection, I felt the danger. If that thing is not a three-question mark, it's goddamn close to them and without preparations and while having to protect my disciple, it could end up badly. I could even end up killing her myself by releasing too much mana.

So, I push these feelings away. For now.

“Master?”

“Hm? What?”

“It hurts.” After saying that, the red-eyed girl falters, and I grab her before she falls, “I’m sorry, but it hurts.” Tears appear in her eyes.

Is she trying to gain my sympathy, is this some sort of a trick?

No matter how much I look, she doesn’t seem to act. Her mask cracks up, and tears fall down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, I will endure, I promise, please don’t throw me away,” she continues to mumble.

Not knowing what to do, I just grab and pull her closer to myself.

At first, she freezes in my hug, her body stiff and her heart beating like that of a scared little bird.

“I will be fine, I promise,” she says again, “just a few hours.”

I hug her a bit tighter and examine her body.

She is thin, beaten before she even came to this floor. Then she got poisoned, and hurt by my teleport, and then she had to fly at high speed for a long time. She is so low-level too.

It's my fault, isn’t it?

I don’t have a healing skill I could use for others, and trying to use my passive could end up terribly, and I could burn her alive. If it even worked.

So instead, I use something similar to what Sophie did to me back on the third floor after I almost died because of two mage hunters that followed me. I infuse the tiniest bit of my mana inside my disciple and move it, trying to strengthen her body and alleviate some pressure and pain.

It's difficult, very much so. Most of my skills are to be used by me and on me. But I try and continue to do so even as I lift off to fly again. The barrier surrounds us, and I release a bit more thermal energy, and then, slowly, I fly towards the ruins of the city I see far in the distance.

There are tall, skyscraper-like buildings covered in vines, and greenery, most of them cracked, and plenty fallen. The city is of architecture unlike any I saw in my life and even I can see that it's lifeless for most likely tens of years.

The system said there were survivors, so I will find some, and they better be able to help.

***

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