My breathing began to rapidly increase from excitement, but soon, everything came to a stop despite the skill still being active.
[HP: 100/100 MP: --/-- SP: 55/60] - Above Human
"Holy shit… I really do have infinite mana," I smiled but knew there were some quotation marks around such words.
It did take some of my stamina, but it was very little, and there was a limit to the radius of the absorption since absorbing the entire world's mana would be way too overpowered… I would essentially be a god.
"But with this, I've definitely leveled up… I have to go find Lu Bu."
…
For quite a while, I could not find the flying general as, for some reason, he had left town just yesterday for an emergency escort mission.
I felt a bit lonely and lost all alone in the town, so I spent most of my day on the top of the same hill where I had previously trained with Lu Bu.
The previous scratches and slash marks were still there from our previous session, which made me smile just a bit before continuing to work hard, also attempting to utilize this new skill to its fullest.
But, if I had to be honest, this skill almost seemed like a downgrade in terms of mana capacity as I was limited to the small radius around me.
I thought it was tons of mana, but in terms of my system, it was probably only around twenty points, meaning I had to constantly be moving around in order to make full use of this skill which I had thought was broken.
It almost put me off of it, as when I attempted to use my throne world, I literally couldn't because it used about thirty mana points from my mana pool.
So, most of my skills were essentially locked off until I upgraded the skill or some divine intervention actually assisted me.
"*sigh*... Shit," I muttered through gritted teeth, laying my sweaty back on the prickly grass and raising the tip of my spear into the air, pointing towards the dark rain clouds slowly making their way above me.
I was a bit curious as to how time works in the god dimension as no time passed when I was with Ares, but clearly, they do watch into the mortal realm, which has time.
On top of that, even though this is a fabricated dimension, gods are still looking into it, as signaled by the previous panels I had.
Drip… Drip… Drip… Drip… Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip Drip
Rain began to pour, coating my face with a thick wet aura that just hung above me, my mana slowly directing it elsewhere.
With this new skill, I was able to form a thin film of concentrated mana wherever I wanted to, but it's not like that wasn't possible already with [Miasma Infused Presence].
"Fuck… How do I upgrade this skill? Use it a lot? Maybe pray to one of those assholes up there?" I gritted my teeth yet again before rolling onto my side, tossing the spear away, and closing my eyes.
I had a lot on my mind, and the pitter-patter of the rain was just enough to lullaby me to sleep.
…
When I awoke, it was the dead of night, and it was pouring even harder, sending a cold chill down my spine that forced me to stand up and run back toward town.
But in the dead of night, a few figures were seen scaling the wall with a rope, their silhouettes highlighted by the small flashes of lightning that cracked above me.
It was almost impressive how skillfully they scaled the wall without being some kind of superhuman… so I decided to get closer and check it out, seeing how they seemed a bit desperate as they slid against the slippery stone.
There were two things… either they were fugitives running away from somebody or something or just desperate travelers who were locked outside during the downtime for when the town allowed people in.
It was a pretty good system that they had here, and with the emperor directing way more funds into it, the protection of this town skyrocketed.
On top of that, the poor had gotten a bit rich while, of course, the rich only got richer, but at least the poor had something to eat everyday.
There were no bad houses in this small bubble of economic demand, but there was tons of tension between tons of different merchants and companies.
If Lu Bu didn't return soon, a large civil war could break out, and the Mongolian leader could immediately snatch the entire town away or maybe add fuel to the fire, burning it down in hopes of getting back at us.
There was just too much going on within this city that I barely had the time to think… though as a soldier who is kind of on a short vacation, it's none of my business.
I didn't come here to save a trading town but learn the martial arts of the flying general… and still, he hadn't come back yet.
"Ugh… alright, well… it's none of my business…" I rolled my eyes before walking to the bottom of one of the ropes and seeing where it trailed up to. "The east part of the city… maybe they're spying on the merchants… so it's already begun, huh?"
Clearly, these were spies sent to investigate the tension within the town, which honestly had the potential now to expand into a city under the financial support and guidance of the current Chinese Emperor, who I have yet to know the name of.
Even knowing what time period this was wouldn't have helped since figures all across time within Asia were here, battling it out right now.
It made me wonder if I could find others who may be able to teach me something else… or possibly another amazing martial artist that can teach me their arts.
"That would be nice."