Chapter 193: In Check

"Get the fuck out of me," Ned said, gasping for air as he kept on clutching his gut. Sweat forming beads on his forehead. And as if he said something he doesn't, Ned looked up to see the hunter. He formed an invisible barrier between him and the pain gurgling inside his stomach. He must battle whatever inside him, the pain  was blazing, yet he felt cold. "Not you," he said eventually. "Hunter Ja, thank you for reminding me," Ned said and left the confused hunter.

He cut between an alley beside the manor. There, he curled on the side like a baby inside a womb. "Rassus?" He muttered. Rassus! His thoughts wandered. "Rassus!" He bellowed. 

[Ned.]

[Energy is rapidly decreasing.]

ICE prompted with a voice that of caring.

[Ned. You are overwhelmed with the energy of negative features.]

ICE's concern was immediately followed with dark mist oozing out his very pores. Eyes leaking of mist. Ned felt powerless. He could barely shout, his limbs becoming noodles.

'Let it go,' the voice said. It was as if someone had whispered behind Ned's ear. 'Devour to let go.'

"Rassus!" Ned said, launching a punch against the wall. Flesh against stone made a twacking sound, like a lump of meat bitten by a club.

[Ned.]

[Remember how Rassus used the skill Devour?]

ICE notified, hinting something of an idea.

"What—ah!" Ned couldn't finish the words he was about to utter. "Not now! I need to Devour with—"

[Ned. Focus.]

"I'm trying," Ned said, clutching his stomach. "What about Rassus?" Saliva leaking between his teeth.

[He doesn't just Devour.]

[He Devour to absorb the life force of its victim, to supplement his own. The one that he lacks was replaced by the life force that he was absorbing.]

Life Force was the energy that makes the living. Any being without mana or mana was used until nothing was left, could still live. But any being without Life Force was considered dead. This was also the reason why Occultist, Necromancers, and forbidden magic users could easily tap into the dead creature's Core by supplementing them with their own Life Force and reanimate them. This was also the reason that Rassus kept on Devouring. To supplement his own Life Force with others, making him fully living. But Rassus's mana and Life Force were too complex and vast he needed constant feeding.

[Yes. To keep it simple. You needed Life Force to elevate the pain and the urge. That is why the Rassus—or what is left of him, was urging you to Devour Cores. And Core is where and what Life Force is.]

"But," Ned said, gritting his teeth. "I had enough of the killings. And—ah!" Ned turned over to find an angle that would help him lessen the pain. The warming sensation now traveled to his limbs and joints. Needles were prickling his skins. "We both know it, I had already one on my list, and I don't want to add more to it."

[Precisely. Life Force is the life of all living creatures. In order for you to have one, means to kill one. Unless someone voluntarily gives it to you. Then, killing is out of options.]

"Options?"

[Yes.]

ICE's voice was a glimpse of light inside the darkness.

"Tell me."

[Absorb mana.]

[For now. It won't keep out the curse Rassus has given to you. But, it would lessen the pain. Now, instead of Core, you just need mana as a substitute.]

[For how long?]

[We will find out with more data.]

Then, I need more mana. Ned thought, directing it to ICE.

[Currently, you have a lot of available mana to absorb.]

[Be aware, the mana you needed is more than necessary. It will fill the Core, but not necessarily your reserve. Still, it wasn't a waste. I rather have you absorb all the mana into this world if it means to keep you sane.]

Ned knew what ICE wanted him to do. So he forced himself to stand—he couldn't. Instead, he knelt on one leg, flicked his wrist, and mana stone appeared out of thin air. The dark alley was dimly lit with the hue of blue. Ned focused and absorb the mana inside the stone.

Ned had seen what the stones can do. Back when he was with the Time to Loot crew, he saw how Wind Mages used the stones to supplement with the loss of mana as they constantly used their Wind Spells to increase the speed of the ship.

Ned was different. For the Wind Mages in the pirate crew, one mana stone was more than enough to keep them going for nearly half a day. But the result of their skills wasn't even on par with Ned's. Since need only uses and absorbs pure mana.

"Since when?" Ned said, voice rebounding at the walls of the alley. The his right was the wall of the manor; to his left was also a wall of some kind of armor shop with the plates, and mails hanging outside the shop.

[Just now.]

ICE responded immediately after Ned absorb his 20th mana stone.

The pain hasn't dropped. Ned felt worse as he tried to hack his wits through the pain. His body was different, that every time he absorbs mana, it rapidly discarded the impure ones and kept the pure one to a tiny amount.

Ned didn't gave up. He flicked his wrist then a handful of mana stone rolled and clinked over the ground. If someone saw Ned's way of handling mana stone they would surely be in awe, perhaps jump over to stop Ned from wasting his mana stone. But he wasn't wasting, he was trying to keep himself in check.

[After I recognized a massive fluctuation both on your mana and energy. Here.]

Ned absorbs the last of the mana stone on the ground when his display came into view. His body was turning red all over in the 3d representation. His heart rate went spiking high and low, it was as if he ran the tallest mountain just so that he could get back to the starting as soon as he reached the peek. The mana bar remained constant to the lowest. After he fought Jerra and Farm-boy, he used most of it and stayed at a mere 13 mana points out of 4, 000. Once again he gritted his teeth and shook his head.

It was the energy that concerned him. He could live without mana, but his energy was the fuel of his Overclock skill. The mana bar was rapidly decreasing. It only stopped every time Ned absorbs more mana stones.

Ned was at 500 mana stone when he felt that the pain started to decrease, the beads of sweat started to evaporate as his body temperature started to become normal. Even though bars of sun shone across him outside the alley, yet the wind blew as if it came from the North.

Ned heaved a breath. But Prime Evolution wasn't over yet. Tha pain inside his gut, the burning sensations in each of his joints, and the needles prickling his skin kept him pressed against the wall. He now sat with legs wide open. Black leather dimmed under the shadows of the alley.

He was at 900 Mana stones when he felt that the end of his joints started to loosen up. He could feel muscles started to relax. And surprisingly, his mana points went up to 80 without him noticing it. He scoffed. I'm nearing a thousand mana stone and all I get was 80 tick.

Ned felt the pain loosening. ICE was right, instead of Cores, he could absorb mana stone at a very rapid rate. But now, he has a new predicament.

Ned closed his eyes, focused and his thoughts went inside his Core. Glassy, transparent Core in front of his naked body. He frowned. "Bullshit," he said. The curse echoed inside the dark space. He heard it on all the boundless sides, and only stopped when Ned tried to flick the core with his fingers. It vibrated like an empty glass.

The Core was leaking black mist, like dry ice, the mist overflowing down the space. Nothing changes, even after he absorbs 900 Mana stone. The count on Prime Evolution remained the same.

Prime Evolution:

[Level 0: 251/1,000]

[749 Cores are needed to evolve to the next level.]

Space echoed as Ned punched the Core. The black mist inside it stopped swirling, then continued afterward. Now, jumping, as if happy to see Ned with frustrations painted all over his face.

Minutes passed, and Ned's mana rose to 600. In return, his mana stone was depleted by thousands. He tsked as his thoughts hovered inside his pocket dimension and feeling the mana stones midair.

Now, Ned was left with 36, 991 mana stones. Too much for the others, but for him, it was merely a stone if used only to absorb the mana.

But Ned felt relieved as he started to crawl up and stand with a little less nauseating.

He shook his head, wiped the remaining sweat, and proceed back to the manor.

The guards let him passed without unnecessary questions, as they saw Ned came on before. The outside guard thought that Ned was a Companion.

Ned was approached by the team in the manor's entrance. Twali wore his black suit and walked toward Ned.

"Master Ned," he said. "It's time."