Chapter 837 - The boys remain undefeated
I catch Weslin looking at me, but being the good boy that I am, I stay quiet and sit in my corner under my tree just as Lady Sandra the Cockroach ordered. The only thing I might be missing are the snacks in the form of crayons to nibble on. I wonder which color tastes the best.
Of course, Myrra won't leave me alone. She is already there, sitting behind me, and even though I don't have very long hair, she begins attempting to make a ponytail for me, or perhaps multiple of them. Whatever it is she is doing.
It feels weirdly relaxing, almost like a sort of head massage as she tugs on my hair and weaves it together. So I just stay quiet and go over my status, checking for my favorite passive that I found to replace my subdermal combustion.
Sometimes I wonder how many attendees actually get low pristine passives. I could have three of them if I wanted. Not that long ago, I was so happy with just one, but now it feels common and almost like it isn't enough. I want more and greater rewards. There are attendees that would cry bloody tears if they heard my thoughts.
Screw them.
I risked my life many times to get where I am. I deserve to just enjoy the fruits of my labor before some sugar-hungry ants come in and steal a good part of it.
Shaking my head again to stop the distraction, I then immediately get distracted as I glance at this place that should be the twelfth floor of Beyond. A singular thought forms in my head.
Then I quickly go and check the exploration rankings.
Exploration Leaders
1. Nathaniel Gwyn (12th Floor)
2. Morwag (12th Floor)
3. Brichant (12th Floor)
I pause there and look towards Brich. Did that guy use his only chance to change his tutorial alias just to change it to this? Wait… I thought you could change your alias, but only to your real name.
WAIT, WAIT… Did… did he maybe ask for help with that while talking to Diligence about his rewards? Did he unlock some new "change-your-alias-to-whatever-silly-name-you-want" token?
What a… out of nowhere, I weirdly find myself thinking better of Brich. I find this sort of silly behaviour endearing. What a guy.
Then I continue to go through the rankings.
4. Weslin Kharn (12th Floor)
5. Savant (12th Floor)
6. Christoph (7th Floor)
7. Adrian (6th Floor)
8. Nyssa Volare (6th Floor)
9. Voss (5th Floor)
10. Orion (5th Floor)
…
And the rankings continue for hundreds and thousands of more names, but I don't care about those. The boys remain undefeated. The dhampir threatening to erase all of Beyond is stopped thanks to us, and now we are on a deeper floor of Beyond than possibly some of the Rulers.
This will cause a lot of commotion in Beyond. Hell, I bet that once we are allowed to leave, we will be visited by a certain black ant, provided he hasn't already tried to force his way in. But so far, that doesn't seem to be happening, so maybe Lissandra and the wyvern did something? The wyvern, whose revival ceremony the Rulers sped up so it could start fighting Liss to stop her from messing with Beyond's main defensive array, now just lies there.
Many, many questions swirl in my head, and I am sure some of them will be answered if I do what Lissandra told me to do, but there is time for that.
Myrra tugs on my hair harder, causing me to lose my balance and lean back a bit as I narrow my eyes at her.
“Sorry! You are just so delicate and weak!” she says, tapping my head before continuing to mess with my hair.
Meanwhile, I finally look at the four healing passives I am a fan of.
Blood-thermal Restoration (Low Pristine) - The user’s blood is infused with a passive combustion frequency that purges infections and other negative effects. Upon injury, the blood at the spot of a wound reacts by triggering a localized heat burst that forges replacement tissue and bone, ensuring the user's physical integrity is never compromised for more than a moment.
This one could be interesting, mainly because I have no idea how it would react to my Empyrean Ichor. I don't think it would change the ichor, I consider my trait to be of a higher tier than this sort of passive, even if that trait isn't strengthened much. Mana dense ichor could clash with thermal energy spread through my blood, or the two could somehow work together, which might allow me to try to improve my [Weave] by weaving together mana and thermal energy.
Or, maybe, my ichor would not allow that sort of healing to work. I have no illusions about the fact that I can fuck anything up this way. The latest example of how much certain changes can cost is the body that Blackie is now controlling: a demon champion with some sort of kinetic reflection trait. While alive, that demon likely had to constantly control it, otherwise, just a simple bump would have killed most of the demons around him.
Well... he was a demon, so maybe he didn't control it at all.
The second passive I like is:
Heat Resonance Restoration (Low Pristine) - When the user stands in high heat or channels heat, resonance spreads through their body, triggering healing that scales with temperature. This resonance allows the user to heal from severe injuries as long as there is a thermal source nearby to jumpstart the heart and regenerate the body.
This one mostly seems like a simple upgrade to my current mid arcane passive. I noticed it before, but sometimes descriptions of passives sound similar, just allowing you to pick up on certain changes or weaknesses. The main thing to look at while choosing a passive remains the rarity. It is honestly a bit like an item in a shop having a higher price tag. Just in this case, this doesn't mean some corporation is better at marketing cheap crap to you for a high price.
At least, that is what I hope. I also really like the part about “resonance”. I could work with that.
The last sentence of the passive is also interesting and makes me wonder if it is possible for me to be near death and unconscious while some random nearby volcano starts healing me, not requiring me to generate heat from my Ignition Heart.
Well, with my Constitution, maybe just a simple fireplace would be enough. That could be useful. At least if my hard to replace blood doesn’t mess with it.
It also seems to reward pyromaniacs, but that is just the usual system for you.
The third option is:
Kinetic-Thermal Stitch (Low Pristine) - The user’s body converts the friction of movement and the impact of incoming attacks into focused thermal combustions. Each hit taken creates a flash of intense heat that "welds" the user’s body back together and heals it, making them harder to kill the more they are attacked.
This one is interesting. It likely means the passive would activate only under friction and attacks, so would there be no more regeneration out of combat?
As if. I have already thought of multiple ways to cheat it. The passive sounds weak since it only works on friction and the impact of attacks, but there are no specified types of attacks, meaning mana, heat, primordial energies, and everything else should be included. It being restricted to being so reactive also likely means the burst of healing is quite powerful.
I could attack myself, hoping it counts toward activating the passive, even if there is a chance it won't. After all, would the system classify my actions as an attack? I think it might. And, hell, reading the description, even a quick movement could activate it. It is an interesting one.
Lastly, there is this one.
Volcanic Endoskeleton Array (Low Pristine) - The user’s internal temperature is raised to volcanic levels by using mana or primordial thermal energy. This extreme heat creates a sterile internal environment where no foreign particles can survive, while simultaneously keeping the user’s regenerative factors in a permanent state of overdrive.
Interesting, but it seems restrictive in a similar way to the kinetic reflection trait Blackie is taking over, even if I could take that heat and use it. But I already have Ignition Heart for that. I just like it because of the description talking about a permanent rise in regeneration. Maybe there is a chance of modifying one of my traits to do something similar.
Taking a break, I lean back and ask Myrra after looking into her golden eyes, “Why does Lissandra have a pet wyvern now? Didn't she kill it? How are they friends now?”
The lynthari nods. “She did! And she almost killed it again, but then the wyvern started talking, and they made some sort of deal. I don't know, she never bothers to explain things, she just said that together they spatially semi-locked the 12th floor away from the other Beyond floors.”
“Ehm, isn't that a big deal?”
“Is it? Feral one, I might have lost my ability to have common sense after watching what Master Lissandra does. I mean, she does things so easily that I think, ‘Oh, maybe all Absolutes can do something similar!’ And then the Ruler of Envy appears, I blink, and the Ruler of Envy is gone after getting his ass kicked.”
“I feel you,” I say, watching as Lissandra takes a few steps to stop in front of Savant.
The Cockroach simply reaches out her hand and says, “The Sword.”
Savant doesn't even try the well proven excuse in style of: “I don't have it anymore, my dog ate it.” Instead, he pulls the Sword of Aeons out of his arm to hand it to her without a word.
For a few moments, Lissandra's face softens just a tiny bit. “I still remember the day I gifted the original to Tristan.”
She moves her hands, taking the sword in a way that seems like she is about to break it, just snapping it like some old dried up branch, but she stops herself. Lissandra then tilts her hands, making it slide down and fall to the ground with a loud thump. The sword doesn't even bounce, it just lies there as if glued.
“Little pup, what should I do with it?” she asks uncharacteristically, still looking at the weapon.
“Savi isn't a bad guy,” I say simply.
Lissandra looks up at the mentioned guy, and I’m sure she reads him and his abilities like an open book. She then waves her hand, and from one of Savant’s bags, a metal shard with a mana stone in the middle flies out and thumps into her open hands, where she crushes it. A tiny bit of her mana flares, and the dust of the crushed metal shard rains down on the sword.
After that, she doesn’t look at it anymore, and Savi seems to be happy, but in his place, I would be careful. If the sword is too good, the Rulers will shamelessly confiscate it.
My attention turns back to myself. I sell my passive and then, using the token, I choose Heat Resonance Restoration. Even if applying passives isn't as bad as applying traits, I close my eyes and do my best to ignore the pain that feels like thousands of ants digging through my body. Lily will be angry and likely invent an even better healing mark just to show off how pathetic my passive is, but that is for future me to deal with.
Funnily, with my second strengthening of Empyrean Ichor soon to be fully applied, the boost I get to healing lowers immediately. But it was still needed, and I should test the passive later, and see how well it can replace blood.
I allow myself to slide down to lie in the grass, but Myrra grabs me and adjusts me so my head ends up on her legs. I look up, slightly annoyed, and see her fangs showing in her smile. She tugs on my hair again and continues with her very important work.
This time, I forgive her. She seems to be having fun, and I consider her a friend. I guess I'm just glad to see her alive.
Lifting my hand, I grab and push my mana out, forcing it into the shape of an orb between my fingers. As I have many times before, I slide into that deep state of [Focus] and use the skill, as well as my ability to channel and compress all that mana quickly and tightly. As always, there is that feeling of resistance, that sticking point, and like so many times before, I stop there.
I like mana, and I have since the moment I made it move for the first time. I like it for what it allowed me to do and how it changed my life. There likely haven't been more than a few hours since I gained this ability that I haven't been using mana, experimenting with it, or training it. But my ability with black mana still remains a mystery, at least partially.
Why I can do something that only very few can is a question I thought about a lot in the early days. It is likely a combination of many factors: the fact that I got to attempt it within the healing aura of a Saint that made me near immortal, my [Focus], my mindset, my effort, my talent for channeling mana. My connection to Biscuit and his extension to primordial energy surely played a part. Yet, even with the bond to Biscuit gone, my ability remains.
I push a bit further, and a huge amount of mana channels and compresses, creating a tiny black orb.
The huge wyvern shifts again, raising its head high and looking down at me. The vertical pupil widens slightly in that pale golden eye as it focuses on the black orb. The one-winged wyvern then lets out a series of loud, deep sounds that stretch into long noises. Most of all, it sounds... sad. Like mourning.
And looking at that tiny black orb, I ask quietly, "And a fragment of what god are you?"
Comments (65)
Ohhhh shitttttt we’re in the god game now.
WHAT!?‽ What!!? 😯 What!?!? 🤯
Ooooooh, so hypothetically, black mana could be the ancient form of divine mana/mana that the gods used.... and hypothetically, the system is in place to give mortals the opportunity to grow more powerful than gods. Whether this is true because the system makes quests to hunt down and kill those who threaten it, or partially true due to the oldest system users being part of the murder and dismantling of the actual gods, is unclear at this time. However What if all mana hearts are system-granted constructs modeled after the decompressed version of black mana/divine hearts that produced it? What if everyone connected to the system can theoretically condense black mana, given the right settings to do so safely? Because mortals shouldn't technically use black mana. Also, it does show rampant dominance and absorption of regular mana, meaning it is above it on some unclear classification scale. So, nat being able to use black mana, and calling it a fragment, is true- but because every system user has the selfsame fragmented mana already structured inside of their own hearts/mana organs. So it is a fragment.... and this also means he can mess with his mana heart and make it a black mana heart let's gooooooooo
Me, hundreds of chapters ago, making a joke: " Who is Eternal Fire and why is he fragmented?" Me, last chapter: "Huh, who is Eternal Fire? And why was he fragmented?"
Since the king on the third floor recognized it, it must have been a pretty ancient God considering kindness is one of the oldest Rulers. Creates loads of questions and hopefully we can at least find out how Nat can basically create the fragment.
Anthony would hate Brichant lol
I can't believe I've become attached to Lissandra. So easy to hate at the beginning is now a tragic, doomed mentor to Nat. I hope he adopts her, convinces the system that she's Sandra Gwyn, and she survives the tutorial. She's made of Nat therefore she's an Earth native right?
Isn't she amazing? I'll say these exact words even if she's gutting the MC for his mana heart in the next chapter. Lissandra is the best!
This last week of chapters has been Just amazing
Ok, my guess is that the black mana is primordial mana. But I thought to use the energy from a Fragment, you had to possess a Fragment. We've seen multiple characters who possess a fragment. But no fragment shows up on Nate's character sheet. He doesn't have it marked on his body anywhere.
maybe hes the fragment dun dun duuuuuuuuuun
Savi has run into this version of Liss before, but none of the other boys have - right? I'm trying to remember the details of the tournament arc where she was 'training' Nat and had him stomp over everyone. With that said, did she have any interactions with Savi during that tourny period?
She killed him in round 1
Something tells me a certain black ant is going to be captain no fun and fix the scoreboard
Antsolutely
Does this mean Brichant did get a sample from Diligence? Is it possible Dilly spat on Brichant?
Thank you!
Thank you for the chappie!
Lissandra is a bit too... kind recently. She might grab one of them just to get a proper mana heart from an attendee, after all, she needs one.
She doesn’t really need one at this point. Especially from an attendee. Like sure she is missing hers but she’s done perfectly fine without one up to this point, so she doesn’t really need one.
Nat has made comments before about how his thermal energy seems different from Izzy's flame skill/fragment. I would guess that the system recreation doesn't manipulate heat so much as reproduce the effects using mana. However, my main speculation, and the part I feel like Nat keeps on overlooking, despite there being several references to this effect in the early days of his using thermal energy, is that he should also be able to manipulate cold. He can locally remove or transfer thermal energy away from something to make it freeze. Thermal energy isn't just about generating heat energy, it should also involve the inverse effect by removing it!
Yes, you’re correct. Nat probably could use the reverse but, it isn’t worth it. Because he can slow down or hold some with kinetic energy, which is what the freezing would do.but what if he just want to make someone in a popsicle and then break them. Melting or burning them to crisp gives him the same effect. Another interesting fact, to take the heat away, he needs to store it, which to me, it’s just better to just produce thermal energy then storing it. Overall, it would be cool to see nat freezing a continent.
Interesting reveal that black mana is dragon related. The way that Savant describes Nat in last chapter is almost exactly the same as the way Nat describes the Wyvern on the 10th floor. I thought that was just a parallel, since the wyvern couldn't use it, but it was foreshadowing!
could also be that the wyvern knew the being that black mana is a fragment off.
All this playing Myrra is doing with Nat. Has she forgotten that time on the 7th floor? His retaliation will be devastating 😂
Nya!
Fragment of the Wyvern god. That's why this wyvern is sad. Or some other god that killed it. Thaumaturge god, or whatever the name of that species was?
Since wyverns share blood with dragons, it'd probably be dragon god.
Will be amusing if there is a future pov of Beyond attendees speculating that the surface has a shortcut to floor 12. Time for intrepid explorers to start suiciding to the surface.
The Cockroach simply reaches out her hand and says, “The Sword.” Savant doesn't even try the well proven excuse in style of: “I don't have it anymore, my dog ate it.” Instead, he pulls the Sword of Aeons out of his arm to hand it to her without a word. 🤣🤣
I thought Nat still had a bond with the best corgi ever? Just weakened. Thanks for the chapter!
Nope, severed at disappearance.
When your guild leader says he's going on a boy's trip and suddenly ends up on the 12th Floor. All of the Primordial knights are probably collectively shitting themselves.
I think you mean planning to party/fight him when he returns
That passive is crazy considering his heart was still producing heat after its old owner died so logically it should do that if nat dies as well
Im putting my money down on Black Mana being the fragment of the God that created the system. We know that mana is only accessible through the system, and that the system wasn't always a thing. Therefore it must've been created somehow, and whoever or whatever created it is by extension the source of all mana. Black Mana's assimilating nature is probably it restoring mana to its natural state, or perhaps mana itself is made from the God's body and Black Mana is the God's body trying to heal itself.
Nice theory. 👍
So since entering the 12th floor of Beyond via getting kidnapped did count towards the Exploration Leaders chart, it wouldn't be much of a reach to think that the achievement also counts towards Nat's Class Upgrade at lvl 450 right? Occupying the undisputable top 5 spots, the boys are now certified legends. Biggest Dick Energy in the Beyond.
I can imagine Nyssa seething a little over the fact that Nat just skipped so many floors while she's spent so long grinding to get higher
Nyssa could have been there with the boys, she chose to move on her own power and that's a brave choice.
Christoph is on the 6th place! And only reaching 7th floor 🤣😂👍
s-six s-s-seven?
I can’t remember has Nat used black mana against Christoph? Does he know about it
Yeah, there were multiple instances he used it against him. In the tournament he infused his manifested vessel with black mana and mainly fought defensively against Adrian to complete his Absolute Candidate quest.
This chapter had a lot of initial information; congratulations to the boys for being so far ahead in the dungeon.
Even if we never get to learn black mana’s original name (shoutout Redacthaniel), I’m glad we’re finally going to learn more about it. Hopefully he’s able to extract some more concrete information about it from Lissandra. Black mana being a fragment… honestly know idea what that really means since I don’t fully remember the explanations for how fragments work, other than the latest revelation that they’re basically parts of dead gods. Does this mean that Nat, Kindness, and anyone else who has black mana has always had this fragment inside of them? But then how does that reconcile with his thoughts in this chapter, about him being able to create it because of various factors? Is it like if you meet some unknown requirements anyone is able to tap into this fragment/power of this god? Rather than a fragment being something you obtain like his nameless tree.
Divine mana?
Seeing as the wyvern has become Liss's pet, and Liss is a noble lady, the insults about mana manipulation might not have been as bad. The relationship between Black Mana and Mana is quite interesting. Is Mana a mere derivative, with Black Mana being the fundamental quantity? Is Black Mana an enhancement of Mana, like Mana+? Or is it merely Mana in a different state?
To answer your questions:- probably none of your hypotheses is correct.
How is his experiment going with the epic passive he took though? If were on the subject of passives anyway
He probably hasn't had enough time to do much with it yet
Man I truly do not like Savant
Why not?
I hope Lissandra can also grab Nyssa. I wonder if the other guys are upset that they are not on the surface.
I fucking knew it! It IS a fragment. Not a primordial fragment but a fragment indeed
So when did he collected this fragment and from wher
That chapter is fucking awesome. I so love Brich. The fact that he changed his alias made me laugh. And the "black mana" revelation ! Can't wait for tomorrow. Thanks Cerim !
Oh so black mana is a fragment interesting
Is it actually a Fragment? Fragment of True Mana
TFTC! Dragon Mana, huh.
Pov beyond: sees Exploration Leaders 1. Nathaniel Gwyn (12th Floor) 2. Morwag (12th Floor) 3. Brichant (12th Floor) Collective wtf.
Even better that they just basically did a public parade up to floor 1 lmao
Thanks for the chapter
TFTC
TFTC!!! Can't wait for more black mana lore!!