Chapter 202 - Fresh Hell (Patreon)

Jiran scratched the annoying itch on his arm, his gaze locked on Mayalyn and Olive who sat side-by-side at their desks in front of him. Their heads were together and they were whispering about something he couldn’t quite hear. They were in a new lecture hall that Jiran didn’t recognize, but that was fine. The most important people in his life were here and it was going to be another blissful day of delving the secrets of mana, density, and the malleable physics of Madra.

Niya leaned back in her chair next to him, yawning and stretching her arms above her head. She glanced his way and said something he didn’t catch. Jiran frowned, knowing she was within his aura so anything she said, no matter how faint, should have been easily heard. Now that the thought had burrowed into his skull, he noticed he couldn’t hear what Olive and Mayalyn were whispering about either. He flexed his aura but it felt like he was trying to force a wet noodle to straighten with only two fingers.

Alarm bells rang, which turned out to be the announcement that class was beginning. Professor Cameron walked through the door, wearing his typical stylish, scholarly robes and followed by a bevy of attractive young women. Niya hopped up and gave him a deep kiss which was the last splash in the face Jiran needed to pull himself from the insane dream.

He groaned as a sharp tug on the skin of his arm was followed by a slithering ache that crept up his bicep. Swirling currents of concern cycled through his chest at the invasive feeling of foreign substances inside his body. He tried to open his eyes to see what had bitten him, only to find that his eyelids refused to cooperate with the mental command.

Again, his aura should have already revealed the source of his current troubles but his thoughts were sluggish, his body unresponsive, and even worse, something was interfering with the connection to his Manabody. He could sense there was nothing directly wrong with the field of mana-packed soul-stuff permeating everything within a thirteen-meter radius of him, he simply failed to integrate his thoughts with it as normal.

Instinctively, he moved his other arm to scratch at the annoying sting, which resulted in a feeling of weightlessness followed by a much sharper pain in his arm. His eyes opened wide and his brain finally slammed to full wakefulness when his face crashed into the floor. He felt nothing from the impact. Either it couldn’t hurt his density-toughened body, or his awareness was too focused on the slithering metallic serpent latched onto his arm. Three, thick fingers extended from where its face should have been and they were wrapped firmly around his limb. A trickle of Jiran’s blood leaked down its length, its source was a wickedly long and thick needle that extended from the base of its three short appendages.

The connection with his aura stabilized and Jiran used it to grab the metallic serpent made of telescoping, prehensile segments. The needle came loose in a spray of fluids and the stubborn thing writhed in his grasp, surprisingly, strong enough to resist the crushing strength of his aura. Quick as thought, it retracted into the floor panel it had elongated from, which promptly closed and sealed itself with a hiss of displaced air.

“What in the Father’s was that?!” Jiran lay perfectly still, his breathing heavy in the panic felt as one wakes to find their current reality nothing like what was expected. He scanned what he could see of the room’s ceiling, and simultaneously, his Manabody revealed additional details of his prison.

He was completely naked, on the floor of a white-paneled room, the same as he had encountered before each challenger arena, though with one significant difference: The walls and ceiling were streaked in blood, dark crimson, recently dried blood that could only belong to one person. The instincts of his evolved Remalonian race kicked in, dampening his emotions, and for once, he didn’t fight them. This was no time or place for panic. Thinking rationally and understanding his situation needed to be his first priority.

With clarity of emotion, came clarity of thought. Jiran quickly determined that with the disappearance of the strange serpent, there were no other direct threats to his person in the room, other than his own ludicrous strength which had thrown him across the room once already. His Manabody filled the space entirely, attempting to worm its way between the panels and finding them impenetrable. Meanwhile, the aura inside him tracked the fluid the mechanical arm had injected.

It moved through his veins with each beat of his heart. As it passed muscles, they greedily absorbed the fluid and any discomfort he felt in those areas vanished more rapidly than he could detect it had been there in the first place. There was one particular agony suffusing his body that didn’t evacuate with the appearance of the fluid, and it was his muscles, bones, and organs feeling stuffed to the brim with density. He understood on an intrinsic, cellular level, that if he acquired even a drop more of the stuff, he would likely explode.

Some kind of nutrient and healing fluid? I always assumed these rooms were designed to rest and adjust before a trial. To think they would have something that could keep you fed and healthy, too.

Looks like my plan worked. That bastard and the insane collar he put on me are both gone. Did he die? The last time I tried to drag a beast corpse into an arena with me, the red sea dissolved it. The system, or Madra, can’t let her precious challengers cheat in their death matches after all. Looks like the formations in my suit weren’t acceptable either. I wasn’t sure it would be able to get those bones out of me, but wow am I glad they’re gone. Having them burrowing through my neck and chest was about the third worst thing I’ve ever experienced. 

Enough thinking about him, I’m much more concerned about the others. Were they able to hold off the Graymin? Or were they forced to retreat through the portals? Did the emperors succeed in stopping the King? Did the rankers allow any higher tiers by them that our combined army would be helpless against? Were there more tier nine’s from the church? I’ve got to get out of here, at the same time, I can’t afford to rush or be distracted. These arenas are way too deadly. At least I left them with tons of formations that can basically do everything I can to a lesser degree. So long as one of those worst-case scenarios didn't happen, they should be fine.

Frustrated at himself for always jinxing everything, Jiran’s palm gently smacked the floor, the movement sending him nearly a meter off the floor. Landing was a strange mix of muted sensations; almost like being hit in the back by a breeze so gentle it could be a figment of the imagination. At the same time, even a gentle poke to his density-stuffed body sent ripples of discomfort washing through him.

Wow! Just how much stronger did I get after absorbing three metric tons of challenger density?

Normally when he closed his eyes, there would be a few scrolling notifications to sort through before seeing his status, this time, those messages failed to appear and he was brought directly to his status.

They must have come when I… did whatever I did to get blood everywhere. Better make sure to never absorb that much all at once again, unless I’m one hundred percent certain it will be enough to pull me into an arena.

NAME: Jiran of Madra

RACE: Remalon

AGE: 0 > 1

WEIGHT: 4258 kg > 12.8 T

My weight tripled?! But I feel so light! I was joking about the tons of density, guess I wasn’t that far off. Densoon season started again which was enough to advance my age by a season, even though I was technically only reborn a couple weeks ago.

ACCLAMATIONS: Remalonian Constitution / Scion of Mana

TIMER: N/A

TIER: 4

EXP: 200/200

GROWTH: 37.03% > 200% 

Thank the Fathers it stopped at two hundred. I’ve only been gaining half a percent of growth per tier seven and my formations going off must have killed several thousand. That could have easily brought me to a thousand percent Growth! Nice to get confirmation that challenger density stops being absorbed once you reach two hundred, I guess. With how full-to-bursting I feel, that's a seriously important failsafe. Honestly, I was more concerned about exploding from over-absorption than anything else when I put that insane plan into action.

MANA: 54 > 75

CONCENTRATION: 18 > 27

STRENGTH: 246 > 540

AGILITY: 256 > 540

ENDURANCE: 244 > 540

DURABILITY: 243 > 540

WISDOM: 242 > 540

INTELLIGENCE: 249 > 540

CHARISMA: 80

Expected to see it, but wow, that’s some crazy boosts. Not only did my attributes double, my Concentration jumped by nine. With my attributes multiplied by Concentration, they are essentially at fourteen thousand five hundred and eighty each! A regular Earthling has around ten so I’m nearly one thousand five hundred times stronger, faster, and more durable than an Earth human. No wonder a simple slap sent me flying. I have to stop using Earth references to measure my power. The numbers are getting too ludicrous. Currently, I’m three-quarters the strength of a maxed-out tier six. Yeah, that sounds much better.

SKILLS:

Mana Confluence: 79

Elemental Castigation: 48

Mana Omnis: 23

Enthralling Touch: 33

Identify: 24

No new levels in a while. Castigation is so close to fifty I can taste it, yet getting there seems impossibly far away. Will I earn a subskill? Mana Confluence didn’t. Without an epiphany on the fundamentals of what exactly elemental mana is, or guidance from another Remalon, it won’t be easy. Another Remalon… Yeah, no thanks.

With a theoretical understanding of his massively boosted attributes, and his aura firmed to protect him, Jiran ever so gently sat up. The pressure he had to exert with his Manabody to suppress his strength shocked him, and the further proof of his new physicality sent a wave of giddiness racing through him. He made it to his feet and moved through the stretches of the Soratta that Samris had taught him what felt like a lifetime ago. He continued to ignore the bloody streaks on the walls and their matching stains across his naked body as he rapidly gained mastery over himself.

Before evolving into a Remalon, Jiran had received an acclamation that assisted his brain with becoming accustomed to changes in his body. That ability had been fully absorbed into his Remalonian Constitution. Now, enhanced by the five separate lobes of his brain, each fully capable of sustaining his life, Jiran’s adaptation couldn’t possibly have gone faster.

Mana was packed in every centimeter of his body, he pushed and pulled on it with his thoughts, speeding up his movements as he transitioned to releasing punches and kicks that tore at the sound barrier. The small room was filled with a crashing torrent of noise that he blocked with a casual coating of mana inside his ears. He could have used his aura to split the air pressure as he moved, but that wouldn’t have been as much fun. The forces released from blasting through the ambient pressure constantly washed across his entire body, the sensation similar to a relaxing swim, a testament to how durable he had become.

Wondering why his blindingly fast movements weren’t making him dizzy, Jiran tuned into the portion of his aura inside his body. He discovered that the blood coursing through him had thickened. Yet, the strength of his heart had drastically increased as well, allowing it to easily pump the viscous fluid that no longer thinned when he moved too quickly. However, that line of reasoning was subjective. If he weren’t trapped in a relatively tiny box, Jiran was sure he could push himself fast enough to lower his blood pressure.

Last arena, I didn’t want to waste mana or blow myself up testing my Shaping inside such a constrictive space. Elemental Castigation allows me to convert the element back into mana though, so neither of those issues is a concern. Additionally, that mechanical arm feeding me proves these rooms are designed to sustain a challenger. So if I ‘accidentally’ incinerate all the oxygen, for instance, it should make more for me…

I better not waste mana on making new clothes though. I don’t have any material to copy, so the cost would be way too high when I don’t know what’s waiting for me. Somehow, I doubt the beasts I’m going to face will care what I look like, only how tasty I am.

Jiran hopped lightly, vanishing from the center of the room to appear in one of the corners with his back to the walls. He pulled a fraction of a single percent of his mana from his body and hovered it a meter in front of him. The energy responded at a speed that proved his Intelligence, Wisdom, and Concentration had equally boosted the potency and speed of his magic. Barely holding back a smile, he activated Elemental Castigation with a thought.

His will and desire extended through the framework—a spider web of density-filled cracks invisible to the naked eye that permeated everything on Madra. The minuscule mote of mana exploded into action, proliferating into a wave that near-instantly filled the room with elemental ice. The backlash of the ice’s creation sent a blast of frigid air washing against Jiran’s grinning cheeks. As quick as it came, the ice folded in on itself, compressing back into that single mote of mana with almost no waste.

Never thought about it before, but I can only activate Elemental Castigation within five meters, yet I’m able to re-absorb an element from much further away. So long as a portion of said element is connected to another part of itself that's within my five-meter range. I bet there’s a hint about how mana is connected with the elements inside that thought. Those last two points might not be so far away...

Mana Confluence took over, holding the tiny marble of potential three meters away from him with perfect ease. Jiran then spun it in a flat circle the size of his chest, forming a razor-thin chakram. Faster and faster it spun as he fine-tuned the control of his favorite technique. When the mana reached its maximum rotation without flying away or dispersing, he slowed it and turned it into highly compressed elemental ice. Immediately, blistering cold radiated through the room, crystalizing the breathable air. The mana that suffused his skin automatically created friction in an effort to protect him. Satisfied with his defenses, he repeated his rotation test, now utilizing Elemental Castigation to control the element.

He cycled through every element he knew, giving each incredibly dangerous chakram his complete attention. Satisfied that he could handle his own skills without killing himself, he returned to the less wasteful, physical and Manabody practices. Two hours of dancing, jumping, and stretching later, he smoothly walked without the aid of his aura to the screen on the wall that would let him out of this purgatory and into the fresh hell of the tier four challenger arena.