Book 1. Chapter 8: Mana Core

Book 1. Chapter 8: Mana Core

The two went through their usual morning ritual, and Jake checked out the newest dungeon.

Dungeon Information

Dungeon:

Skeleton CemeteryNew novel chapters are published on

Time Left:

14 Days, 9 Hours

Goal:

Kill Skeleton Mage

Level:

4-9

It looked like they were fighting undead again. This time, it was no longer a beginner dungeon. In addition, it was no longer zombies, but skeletons. Jake found the level disparity quite odd, considering the previous dungeon he completed was only level three at the maximum. They had two full weeks to clear this dungeon, a cemetery this time. Jake was a little worried: a spear is not a great weapon against skeletons, especially if they are armed. Not only that, but the boss was a skeleton mage, and again still their level range was much higher than the zombies he had cleared.

Jake would read the [Alliance Wiki] on skeletons before they headed into the dungeon, if they did at all today. Jake was resolved to try to complete his spiral today. For that reason, he skipped the usual spear drills and settled in on his training area, to which the demoness joined him, touching his chest near his core.

He began his usual efforts to set his core spinning, trying to draw and hold the channels that allowed the mana to flow freely. From what Jake could tell, the goal was to make a never-ending spiral that would draw mana into itself from the surrounding area, and that same mana would keep it spinning in perpetuity. Tighter and tighter he used his will to keep the shape of the spiral while keeping the center of his mana spinning, while the demoness helped smooth the edges of the channels as the vortex extended outward outside his actual core.

The speed of the spiral increased and increased, and Jakes focus and determination on completing this task had reached higher than it ever had. It was like he had dozens of mental hands holding and drawing the mana into the shape that he wanted, and he kept adding more and more, along with the demoness. Eventually, it was like something snapped, and the speed of the spiral increased even further. Jake almost stopped what he was doing, but a mental prod from the demoness urged him to continue and redouble his efforts.

The speed would increase every few seconds of him smoothing out the edges, and he could just feel the inner section increasing in density. Jake learned that the denser the inside got and the faster it spun, the more it would draw in the energy from the surrounding area. With that, he began doing his best to spin the inner circle further, focusing on that and allowing the demoness to focus on smoothing the rest of the spiral.

Eventually, he could feel satisfaction from the demoness, and he could tell that she was no longer smoothing out the outside of the spiral. His actions on the inside of the spiral made things faster, but letting go, he could see that it would continue on his own. He stopped looking inward, and tried to look at the demoness, but found she was gone.

She came flying back into the area of the living room, only she hadpom poms? Made of shredded tissue paper. She did a dance, and spelled out JAKE using her body, and jumping up and down. It looked like she really wanted to celebrate their success. Jake cheered as well, but it took him a moment to realize where she had even seen a cheerleader: an old show where they had to save the cheerleader in order to save the world. Jake was ecstatic at their success, but he checked the notification in his menu.

Core Formed:

Mana Core Spiral Lv. 1

You have formed a metaphysical mana core, in the form of a spiral. Mana cores hold large amounts of mana, and the path to your soul.

Effect:

+50% Maximum Mana

The demoness had an amused smile on her face as she looked at the picture and Jake, but she shook her head no.

You sit in this cart, and it slowly rises to the top. For most people, this is the highest they have been off the ground in their lives, beyond some high building where there is no way to look down like you can on this thing, feeling like you could fall out. When it goes down, it moves really fast like you are falling, and everyone screams like they are. It goes through twists and turns, and you can feel the wind in your face, since you are moving so fast. Well, it might not be as big a deal for you since you can fly, but for me it was pretty fun."

The demoness laughed at this, and pointed at another ride she saw in the background.

Ah, thats a Ferris Wheel. Its for sightseeing. You can see everything from up there, even stuff way outside the amusement park for miles. At night in the city, you can see thousands, or even millions of lights. Its really pretty.

Jake got so engrossed in telling her about his life and places that he had been and where they could hopefully go someday, to things perhaps similar at least since they wouldnt be able to go to Earth: that he hardly realized that it was getting quite late. Still, he had fun, and she seemed to enjoy his stories. It was great to relax and not think about the dungeon for a few hours. They headed off to bed; tomorrow, they had some skeletons to kill.

Jake woke up feeling full of energy, perhaps a result of his new core. As he turned to look at the demoness, he found that the shadowy blurriness had decreased yet again. Before, he could not tell the color of her features as they were oversaturated with darkness, but now he could see much more clearly. She had black hair and her robes were red with gold trim. Her horns, tail, and wings all appeared to be the same bronze or gold-looking color. Like her elfin ears, her face also showed the same elf-like beauty that one might expect, with high cheekbones and narrow chin.

She had grown yet again, getting closer to two feet tall now. Despite her short size, he could see her womanly curves that lie underneath her tight robes. Ever since she started absorbing crystals at night, she would wake up a bit later than Jake. He browsed his [Menu] in his mind, looking up skeletons and skeleton mages while he waited for her to wake up.

It was recommended to bring holy water for difficult opponents or to save yourself in a pinch, and the skeletons were weak to fire. Low level skeletons were not usually much of a challenge. You could target their skull, their spine, or their mana core to get a killing blow, but usually could just destroy their joints and render them ineffective.

With Jake fighting Tier 0 skeletons, the entire bone structure could be destroyed by a single blunt blow. It wasnt until the skeletons wore armor that it could become much more difficult to target those weak-points, and you would get worn down by their overwhelming numbers and limitless stamina. When it came to dismantling, various bones and their core were worthwhile.

He would load up his gym bag with weird stuff once again. He found the ability to just drop the bag of loot and fight, leaving his valuable and potentially life-saving supplies in his backpack was the right way of doing things; if he had to run, deciding on carrying extra weight bogged down with loot and his healing supplies was not a choice hed want to make.

The demoness stirred, and Jake looked over with a smile. He was really looking forward to when the shadows were gone and the bond was repaired, he hoped there might only be a few days left. She awoke, to which he greeted her good morning and they set to getting ready for the day.

Now that the spiral was completed, Jake could focus his efforts on learning the set of spells that Fhesiah could teach him, and finish learning his stamina regeneration spell. The sort of force push ability would be quite useful when Jake was surrounded by enemies, and if he could make a large flame, it would be useful against the skeletons.

He finished his spear drills with the help of the demoness and moved on to finishing reading the book on stamina regeneration and to try to cast it. Reading the book, it turned out that this spell was not considered a spell-form, but a form of Framework-assisted casting.

Understanding the nature of the spell, having the prerequisite mana control, and using the appropriate amount of mana with the intent to initiate the spell and keep it going was enough. He would have to repeat this process and increase the mana regeneration required in order to effect additional targets.

After another hour of reading and practice, he finally managed it. When Jake finished the book and understood it in its entirety, it was like [The Framework] would then allow or help him in order to cast the spell. Framework-assisted spells were different, as they followed their own set of rules. They improved in various ways with each level [Mana Control], unlike Jakes [Lesser Spell-forms] or he assumed [Runic Magic].

Framework Spell Learned

Stamina Regen

You have learned the spell: Stamina Regen. Consumes mana from active mana regeneration to restore target's stamina. Requires small amount of Concentration.

This was Jakes first concentration spell, as well. It wasnt that the spell required focus, but rather Jakes intelligence and wisdom would create a pool of the resource. This pool was what limited Jake from adding stamina regen on hundreds of people, aside from the mana regeneration that it would reserve. Thanks to Jakes high intelligence and wisdom and the mana core, this was unlikely to become a problem until he was in much larger groups such as a raid group, or had more than five or six buffs he needed to give every single party member, for example. This was one of the several reasons why Jake couldnt learn every buff spell in existence, and instead had to be somewhat selective about what he chose.

The spell might have taken a large portion of his mana regeneration before he completed his mana core, but now it was easy to keep active for him and still be able to regenerate used mana. The effect of the spell felt like it would allow him to walk near indefinitely in regards to his body not becoming tired; of course, his mind would need rest, but his body would not.

If he jogged, instead of being able to jog for ten or fifteen miles before he became so exhausted that he would be useless, he could do more than double that, and recover twice as fast with a break. The spell made it so that he could take fewer breaks and fight for much longer, exactly what he needed. He planned on purchasing and learning the protection spell next, but for now he would learn the spells Fhesiah had to teach him.

They prepared and headed out. Jake decided he would keep the stamina regeneration going at all times, unless he for some reason ran out of mana and needed to recover quicker. They entered through the portal, and Jake once again found himself in a graveyard.