Episode 20.3

During their trip, the first thing Lecan did was asking Nike to help him inspect <Necklace of Intuador>.

The results were astonishing.

First of all, the necklace is capable of storing a slightly higher amount of mana than Lecan's present mana pool. Since there's no real need to fill it full in one go, he would simply pour an amount of mana he would recover in his sleep before going to bed, doing so will fully fill the necklace in a few days.

That much mana is usable at a moment's notice. It's tremendously functional.

Next up, the one filling the mana doesn't have to be the user as well. The mana Nike supplied was usable by Lecan without any issue. As did Lecan's mana to Nike.

Eda could also use it. Even mages who don't know <Drain> will have their mana replenished by <Necklace of Intuador>. In such a case, the wearer's mana will be automatically replenished once it falls below a certain threshold. But having <Drain> is better if you want to refill a lot of your mana in one go whenever you want.

The necklace nullified every magic attacks of all kinds Nike tried to shoot. Lecan had no idea the majority of Nike used since she didn't even recite the spellname, but the necklace was effective regardless of magic types.

It couldn't stop <Dehydrate>. Lecan thought he was going to die when he took this magic. The damage was simply that severe on his body. He was saved because Eda immediately cast <Purification> on him. According to Nike, she merely cast a mere speck of <Dehydrate>, but against living beings, this magic is capable of inflicting an outrageous amount of damage.

However, it blocked <Sleep>. It even nullified a <Sleep> Nike seriously cast. That one cast ate up the majority of the necklace's stored mana though. Even Nike was surprised by this.

"This necklace is amazing. Never thought it could even stop my serious <Sleep>."

Even more surprising was the fact that it didn't nullify <Recovery> and <Purification>.

"Uun. I wonder how this thing even works. It repels <Sleep>, but not <Dehydrate>, I get why. Since <Sleep> is activated by sending out your mana at the target, you can repel it if you block that mana. And since you have to touch your target for <Dehydrate> to work, it goes past the necklace's effective range. But <Recovery> and <Purification> are both spells that send out mana. Why aren't they nullified then?"

Nike came up with two hypotheses.

First, the necklace puts up a barrier around the wearer which distinguish mana that get past it, if the necklace deem the mana dangerous to its wearer, it will nullify the magic.

The other one is that <Recovery> and <Purification> possess some kind of distinctive traits that are unlike other magic, and the necklace has been preset to let only these two specific mana to pass through its barrier.

After carefully inspecting the necklace during its activation, Nike concluded that it's not the former.

However, you can't conclusively say that it's the latter either.

"This is pretty much an unsolvable problem until we find out the special characteristics of <Recovery> and <Purification> mana. Think about it."

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Lecan had no interest in complicated theories.

By wearing this necklace, <Recovery> works, offensive magic don't. It even nullifies mind magic. And since it even stops Nike's serious <Sleep>, Lecan is now virtually impervious against all kinds of single-hit magic except for special types like <Dehydrate>. Knowing that much is enough.

"Nike. Are there other magic like <Dehydrate> where mana don't get sent out."

"With Perception type, all of them besides <Appraisal> and <Analysis>. Spatial type would be <Exchange>. As for Special type, there are other spells than <Dehydrate> with similar characteristics, but <Dehydrate> is probably the only one used by human mages. <Exchange> and <Dehydrate> are especially dangerous among these, but you simply need to move out of the way the moment you heard the spell name casted. Then you won't get hit."

"What if they're far enough you can't hear the spell name?"

"Then the spells won't reach you."

In other word, Lecan is nigh impervious against magic attack with the necklace on.

"This necklace isn't actually that handy to ordinary mages. First of all, a mage can't fill it with mana unless they know <Grant>. Thus every time its mana storage is used up, you need to go back to a <Grant> user and have them refill it."

It's not rare for mages who delve in dungeon depths to know <Drain> but not so with <Grant>.

"It's got quite a powerful magic defense for sure, but the necklace will lose its stored mana if you keep getting hit by magic. So the mage wearing this probably gets protection from their comrades so no magic attack get to them, they would only use the necklace as a mana pot when push comes to shove."

By doing so you can afford shooting magic capable of finishing off mighty foes several times. And if you make use of blue potions along with it, you can use many more spells than before.

"Of course that doesn't negate its usefulness in protecting the wearer from ambushes by magic."

But the situation sees a complete reversal with Lecan in picture.

"You can drain mana off magic stones without casting even while getting bombarded by magic, continually refilling the necklace's mana. You're pretty much invincible to magic attacks as long as you have magic stones with you."

Lecan had shown Nike that he could drain off magic stones without casting, as well as filling mana into magic stones and jewel without casting during the testing. He believed there was no point in hiding them anymore. Nike didn't look surprised by it either.

"But don't let your guard down now. Even that necklace will get emptied by one shot of ritual magic. If you get assaulted by several powerful mages in that moment, not even you could get out of it unharmed."

That can also be interpreted as Lecan being able to stave off a shot of ritual magic if he's got the necklace on.

However, this necklace unfortunately is inactive unless one wears it on their neck. Its Graces won't work when put inside a pocket. Hanging necklace is a hindrance in battle. But this is solved by wearing it under a shirt.

The expedition to Dungeon Ninae bore so many juicy fruit in unexpected ways.

This is the reason why Lecan can't stop exploring dungeons.

Lecan practiced harder on <Lighting> after the inspection and managed to learn how to hit multiple foes within a specified area. Thus concludes his acquisition of <Lightning>. And if he manages to refine his control of it even further, he can snipe only at the enemy during a chaotic battle.

He gave up trying to learn mind magic knowing he had no aptitude for it, so he decided to learn Special type <Acceleration> instead.

At first Lecan thought the magic was for raising battle speed, but that wasn't the case, it's a spell that speed up specific movement after every specific period of time. By having this magic cast on you, you will gradually accelerate after every specific period of time, and maintain that speed without using up physical strength much. In other word, it's a spell that makes you run very fast without burdening your muscles much. An extremely useful spell for traveling.

Thus 20 days elapsed, spent on gathering herbs and magic training, the three returned to town of Vouka on the 10th of month seven.