Chapter 158: Mana Stage 1/3

Chapter 158: Mana Stage 1/3

So, for my next class upgrade, I'm pretty sure I will be offered a class called "Advanced Body Pillow."The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.

Also, what the heck, am I making a friends? Sure, I knew Tess from before, but our relationship is quite... well, complicated.

But here, I've noticed that I've started looking after Lily already, and it's not only because she's a healer. There's no love or anything; it's just that I'm weak against people who are nice to me without expecting anything in return.

Maybe Lily is doing it on purpose?

I squint my eyes and look at her. We're still alone, sitting in the hideout, and she continues to sniff and tries to dry her wet, red eyes. She's even blushing more so when I look at her.

"This is so awkward..." she complains, "I don't know why..." She then shakes her head.

I guess not. She's too silly to trick me like that, but I'll have to be careful! I already know how devious little Isabella is, even though she looks so cute.

Lily could be the next one.

Other than her, I also somehow take care of Kim. Not because he's cute or super nice to me, obviously. To me, he just looks like a puppy left outside in the rain, looking for a place with some warmth and looking for some people he could befriend. Desperately so.

How can I treat someone so pitiful badly?

Weak, so weak!

I reach out and pinch Lily's small, cute nose.

"Phwat are u toing?" she says with her nose blocked, looking at me with her big eyes.

I pinch a bit more and then let go, not forgetting to flick her forehead.

"Owch," she complains, but I already feel slightly better.

"Crybaby," I say to her, and her face becomes red in an instant.

"You... you!"

"Anyway, feel free to push yourself. Losing some limbs is fine if you can restore them, but be careful, okay? Talk with Tess; she's good with this kind of stuff. You can complain to her for hours, and she'll continue to listen. Bully Biscuit a bit, tease Isabella."

After each sentence, I poke her cheek; it's not quite as soft as Isabella's, but it's also fun.

"There's no need to be all serious and gloomy all the time, and there's no need for the fake-ass smiles you've shown, okay?"

I'm quite good at this, am I not? Maybe I could be a psychologist or something.

"What about you?" she throws a question at me.

"What about me?"

"C-can I talk with you, to complain?" Lily asks.

Isn't that obvious? "Nah, just annoy Tess; I'm super busy." The look on her face as I say so immediately tells me that it's not the answer she expected, and I pinch her nose again, "Only sometimes, okay?"

System? Any hints?

"..."

Yeah, I thought so. Screw you.

But there are more hints: the stages! Obviously, after I pick an upgrade, I will be at stage 1, but stage 3, its name, could be a hint.

For Amplification, it's Limitless Mana, and that's something I really, really like. For Restoration, it's Unending Mana, and more questions arise. How does it compare to Limitless? So annoying! And what the heck is Supreme Mana, other than just sounding cool?

Whatever, I already know what I will do.

I will pick Amplification, get more mana, and then I will come up with ways to increase the regeneration of my mana. I already created a construct on my heart. The next step could be to create a construct that would help me regenerate more mana. Hell, it sounds difficult, but it's nice to set high goals, right?

As for Potency? It's also something I should work on my own, through my skills. I have one theory I want to try, and if it works as I think it should, it should be quite similar to Mana Potency, probably. Plus, I already have tricolored mana, don't I? It's probably something similar.

As someone smart said, you need to have strong basics before you start building. It's totally not only because I want to have more mana.

Okay?

Okay.

"Pick, Mana Amplification," I say and then close my eyes, ready to fight against the pain. And oh boy, it comes, and the world around me blacks out.

When I open my eyes and check the timer, I learn that it's a few hours later and my body, now slightly healed, still hurts. My mana pool feels bigger now, and I start examining it while turning my eyes to the item on the floor.

"Thanks for keeping watch," I say to the abomination lying on the floor of the room. A thing made from my flesh and bones with an imperfect imprint of Lissandra.

The fleshy abomination is quiet, probably too haughty to bother answering.

I open my status and immediately blink and stop with my mouth open.

Hehe, probably some bug.

My mana starts to move more and more, and the pressure of it on my body starts increasing. Something I haven't felt for a long time. Something that kept bothering me on the first floor and part of the second floor.

When I look at the status again, it's still there.

Okay, one more try. I close it and open it, and it's still there.

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 369 + 369

Plus 369. What the hell? Are attribute upgrades maybe much more important than I thought?

"I'm surprised you went with Mana Amplification, little pup. I personally went with Potency."

I listen to her only in the back of my mind and feel my constructs and passives work at full throttle, dealing with my doubled-up mana. I actively start taking control of my mana and help them to deal with a sudden and massive increase in mana pool.

It reminds me of the good old times.