"I told you not to call me master, and I can dispense with the sarcasm as well."
I go back into my meditation before Ruby can respond and focus my attention on the mana inside the ice. After studying a bit, I can tell that there are two different types of mana and they are fighting. One is trying to keep the demon locked up, which means the other is the demon's mana. If he can use mana, this will be an even tougher fight than I thought.
The problem is that the mana is constantly moving, there is no fixed structure that he can disarm. The only thing I can think of is to try to absorb the mana little by little until it weakens enough for the ice to break. I just have to figure out what to do with all that mana so my head doesn't explode or something.
Well, first I should empty my mana so I have room to absorb some of what I take from the ice. Maybe now would be a good time to finish working on my mana veins, I've been meaning to do that for a while now.
So, I focus inward and look at my body. Right now, my mana veins are going in all directions without any structure. After what I've learned from enchanting weapons, I need to rework most of it to be more like a tree sprouting from my core, with large branches in some areas and then small branches breaking off from them.
I get to work quickly, what I didn't expect is how much it hurts to remove the old veins. I struggle through the pain and work until my mana reaches zero, then I switch my attention to the ice and reach over, grab a small piece and push it into my body.
The mana tries to resist me but my will proves stronger. As soon as the mana enters my body the pain shoots through my entire being.
- Core enhancement progress: 6 %.
'Ouch, that hurts!'
I quickly burn some mana by adding it to my mana veins and, after a while, the pain stops.What happened? When I extracted the mana, about ten percent of it disappeared and somehow my main enhancement improved.
But I didn't feel the mana entering my core, and why would mana entering my core improve it? I wake up from meditation and look around, I see Ruby off to the side practicing with her swords.
"Did you just get a mana download from me?"
Ruby stops and says, "No, I didn't feel anything, why?"
"Some of the mana I drew from the ice disappeared and I'm trying to figure out why."
Ruby says, "Well, I know your sword is glowing."
I quickly unsheath Blitz and take a look, sure enough the blade is glowing. So the sword absorbed some of the mana I took? I return to meditation and take a close look at Blitz's core. So the sword's core can also improve, that's interesting.
"Is it normal that a weapon core can be upgraded?"
- Base HP increases from 250 to 500.
With that my mana veins are full! I stop and come out of my meditation and look at Ruby.
"How are you feeling?"
Ruby says, "I'm pretty tired, to be honest."
-Yes, me too. Let's get some rest and continue tomorrow.
Ruby says, "Okay, but at least we're making progress."
"Huh?"
Ruby points to the ice and, after looking at it for a minute, I notice it: a small trickle of water. The ice has begun to melt.
Ruby returns to the amulet to rest and I make the long trip back to camp to eat and sleep. I return the next day after breakfast, but before I summon Ruby I think about what else I can do with all this mana now that my veins are full. I can work on improving my core, but I could also do some enchantments.
The problem is that I don't have anything I can enchant, my armor isn't of high enough quality, and I don't have any more armatite to do anything with. So I guess working on my core is my only option. With that decided, I wake Ruby up and she quickly sits down with me in front of the ice.
"Okay. Same as before."
Ruby says, "Yes, master," and takes my hand in hers.
I enter my meditative state and look at the ice from the inner world. I take a piece of mana and force it across into my body, channel what I can't handle into Ruby and then start working on my core with the rest.
- Core enhancement progress: 10 % MP +100.
'A hundred more mana? That's a nice bonus!'
So, if I fully upgrade my core, I get at least a thousand more mana. I could become a decent mage at that point. I stop thinking about meaningless things, take another chunk of mana and repeat the process. After four more times, I get to fifteen percent.
- Core upgrade progress: 15%.
All goes well, the ice weakens and I upgrade my core. Then I make a mistake, I don't pay enough attention when I'm taking mana and I catch a chunk of the demon's mana towards my body.