‘TOBS! DON’T YOU DARE! YOU KNOW DAMN WELL HOW SHE WILL OVERREACT!’ Screaming in his mind with fear gripping his heart at the backlash he would receive from his Tsun-Tsun girlfriend, Cynrik reached up and wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.
-Keep making me watch you flirting with Dolores Umbridge, and I would rat you out in a heartbeat, Cynrik. I have access to ALL of your memories. Including all the books and movies that character comes from; as such, I am horrified and disgusted by what you are saying. If I had a stomach, I would be emptying its contents right now.-
‘Ugh, don’t make me go into my SOC just to Bop you,’ feeling at a loss for words, Cynrik blurted out the only thing he could think of, but even that was useless.
-Go for it; your hand would phase right through my HOLOGRAM body, ?(????).-
The smug emoticon was enough to leave Cynrik speechless as he imagined the scenario of his hand passing through Tobs like she was a ghost.
Pushing down that thought, Cynrik finished organizing the piles, pulled down his hood, and met the eyes of Professor Morningdale.
“Alright, I think I am ready.” Using a strand of Dark Mana, Cynrik picked up the ingestible resources and let them hang in the air at arm’s length from his face.
“Woah, hold on a moment, Student Ivar; I forgot to mention something; before you begin taking the resources, you need to saturate the room with your Mana. Although I can help with Fire, Wind, and Lightning, I do not have the Dark Affinity. So you need to introduce it to the room ahead of time.” Sitting forward in her chair, Professor Morningdale halted Cynrik’s actions.
“Hm, so what? I just need to flood as much Mana as possible?” Allowing the Ingestable resources to fall into his lap, Cynrik rolled up the sleeves of his uniform and waited for an answer.
“Ideally, you want to use around 2-4k of each Mana type. The reason is simple; two things will occur when you do so. Due to the room being entirely made of Cachint, it will absorb every Mana particle and store it. Once there is a stable amount of Mana housed in the stone, the Runic Inscriptions will activate, allowing the stored Mana to flow into the circle in which you are sitting.”
“The Circle, which is a Tier-3 SAG Inscription Formula, will actively bombard your body with all the stored particles, expediting the Advancement process significantly, on top of tempering your Body, Mind, and Codex.”
“Think of it as creating the Perfect environment for you to Evolve unhindered personally.” Smiling and waving her hand towards the inscriptions carved into every inch of the room, Morningdale nodded, giving Cynrik the OK to explode forth his Mana.
“Don’t worry about overloading the Cachint either because the Tier-3 rooms can store well over 10 Million MP worth of Mana, a figure you won’t be able to get even close to meeting.”
Hearing Professor Morningdale doubt him put a sour taste in Cynrik’s mouth as he double-checked his current MP.
: Mana 41,790/41,790 :
‘Tsk, 41k, let’s check these Affinity Stone Pieces.’ With the knowledge that Affinity Stones house a massive amount of MP, Cynrik wanted to mark off all the boxes to ensure that he wouldn’t “accidentally” break the alleged 10 million limit of the room.
Using [Inspect], Cynrik gathered how much Mana each stone held, and after running the numbers, he made the judgment call that things should be fine, albeit closer than initially expected.
: Fire Affinity Stone Piece = 250k MP of Fire Mana Particles. :
: Wind Affinity Stone Piece = 250k MP of Wind Mana Particles. :
: Lightning Affinity Stone Piece = 500k MP of Lightning Mana Particles. :
: Dark Affinity Stone Piece = 550k MP of Dark Mana Particles. :
: Neutral Affinity Stone Piece = 250k MP of Affinitiless Mana Particles. :
‘Hm, 1.8 million MP total. I should still be fine.’ With the numbers crunched, Cynrik took control of the Mana in his Codex and separated it into 4k portions of each element before letting it leak out of his pores.
Focusing on his breathing while monitoring his MP dropping rapidly, Cynrik activated [Mana Sight] after coating his eyes like before with Dark Mana and watched the gushing waves of particles surge out of his body before being absorbed into the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room.
However, he soon realized that he had slightly miscalculated and looked over at the surprised Professor sitting in her chair.
“Cough, Professor Morningdale, may I know how much Fire, Wind, and Lightning Mana you released into the room? I need to compensate for the lack of Dark Mana to balance everything.”
“OH, you must be pretty sensitive to Mana to notice. I released around 5k of each type.” Feeling embarrassed and astounded by Cynrik at that moment, Professor Morningdale addressed his question and continued watching as her student released an adequate amount of Dark Mana, which leaked from his body like an Inky black cloud.
‘This boy’s control of Mana Particles is so fine-tuned that he could even give me a run for my money. Plus, his MP is so high that he doesn’t even look drained after quickly releasing enough Mana to knock out an average Tier-2 being.
: Mana 20,326/41,790 :
With a slight glance at his MP bar and his Stats, Cynrik stopped releasing Dark Mana once his overall MP dropped below half and smiled bitterly.
“That was uncomfortable, haha; I’ve never released so much MP for virtually no reason.” He said while turning his neck at a 45-degree angle and popping it.
“Student Ivar, if you don’t mind me asking, how high is your MP? To be able to release so much into the air and still seem full of vigor. It must be quite high. I also noticed that each time you did so, there was a visual effect indicating your Mana is of high quality.” Professor Morningdale stated with shining eyes.
“Hm, well…I currently have around 41k when my tank is full, so just now, I burned….”
“Around 21k, what you say is very impressive for someone still under Tier-3. My Mana Pool didn’t reach that level until I was well into Tier-3.” Cutting him off mid-sentence, the look in Professor Morningdale’s eyes turned from astonishment to greed.
If she could get her hands on such a promising student like Ivar, there was no doubt in her mind that she would be able to advance her research further at a much quicker rate.
The glint in her eyes didn’t go unnoticed by Cynrik, who instantly regretted showing her the level of attention he had up until this point. Exhaling shakily, Cynrik tried to focus on the task at hand and not the wolf-like gaze he was receiving from the toad-like hag sitting across from him.
“Professor, may I please see the contract you signed with the Headmaster? There are some things I need to verify before I continue my Passing Down and Advancement.” Putting on his best poker face, Cynrik extended his hand toward Professor Morningdale, pulling her from her thoughts and startling her.
“The Contract? I am not opposed to showing you, but I am inclined to ask why you wish to see it.” Raising an eyebrow as she narrowed her eyes, Professor Morningdale retrieved a bright blue sheet of paper that appeared to move like liquid.
“I need to inform you of some confidential information, but I need to verify that the contract is in order. If not, I will be forced to abort the Passing Down Ceremony and request a new chaperone.” Without missing a beat, Cynrik responded, drawing a sharp breath from Morningdale, who handed over the strange sheet of paper to him.
The last thing she wanted to do was burn bridges with such a prodigy; if he wanted to read the contract for peace of mind, so be it.
When his fingers touched the light blue paper, Cynrik’s pupils constricted, and he felt a strange sensation run through his body, starting from the tips of his fingers.
‘Woah, what the hell is this made out of? It has a high elasticity yet feels like water while being solid.’ Amazed by the strange material the Soul Contract was formed, Cynrik didn’t let himself be distracted and carefully read through the contract in its entirety.
*Party A cannot reveal any information learned or displayed by Party B to any other creature, beast, being, or entity alive or dead under any circumstances.*
*Party A cannot use any information learned or displayed by Party B for any reason whatsoever and is only present to aid Party B in the form of a Chaperone.*
*Party A cannot betray Party B in any facet so long as this contract exists.*
*Throughout the Passing Down Ceremony (PDC) and Evolution Advancement, Party A must aid and assist Party B to the utmost of their ability.*
*Party A is banned from causing physical, mental, or spiritual harm in any way, shape, or form to Party B before and after completing the PDC and subsequent Evolution to Tier-3. This clause will be held in effect for one week, 168 hours.*
*If Party A is found to be in breach of this contract, their wealth will be instantly handed over to Party B, and Party A’s soul will be destroyed entirely, along with their mind and body.*
‘Woof, that’s a heavy contract…still, it falls in line with what I assumed. I should be fine revealing the existence of my Turning Point Quest. Personally, I would never sign this thing. Party A represents Professor Morningdale, and Party B is me; the only issue is it has my Nickname instead of my real one.’
‘Tobs, that won’t cause any issues, right?’ Flicking his eyes toward the ceiling, Cynrik asked.
-Since the name Ivar Ragnarsson is officially your Nickname and referenced in your Status, it is counted as a real name. Thus the contract applies correctly and is binding.-
‘Got it, anyway I am no lawyer, but I can tell this is no different than a fucking slave contract, especially the clause about how she can’t betray me; there is no end date on it, so effectively, she will be at my mercy if I wanted her to be.’
With that thought in mind, Cynrik handed the contract back
“Thank you, Professor; I have completed the requested saturation and read through the contract; I will now move on to absorbing the proper resources and beginning my advancement. Professor, I will be in your care. Oh, and if I suddenly blank out at the end of this event, it is because of a particular cultivation skill that allows me to consolidate my strength, so don’t panic if I suddenly seem to drain all my energy. If this occurs, and I appear injured, I will require you to use healing skills or materials on me.”
That said, Cynrik ignored her response and began consuming all of the resources handed over by Headmaster Rivia.