Chapter 56: Side Chapter: Soul Void
Chapter 56: Side Chapter: Soul Void
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[Experience Points have reached the required level!]
[Individual ‘Rank’ has increased from level 1 to level 45!]
[Furthermore, the Individual’s ‘Job’ has increased from level 65 to level 100!]
[The Levels of the [Parallel Thought Processing; Level 1] and [Surpass Limits; Mana Usage; Level 1] Skills have increased!]
[You acquired the [Fast Speed Thought Processing; Level 1], [Increased Mana Recovery Rate; Level 1], and [Alchemy; Level 1] Skills!]
In these two days since his father changed Jobs to Warrior, Ervas had been working relentlessly.
He had been constantly pushing himself to his very limits and breaking them through the ‘Surpass Limit’ Skill coupled with the ‘Hardworking’ Skill. To this point, he had also reached greater heights of thought processing thanks to the skill with its same name and by abusing ‘Memory Retention’, to the point that he had managed to create multiple flows of mana that even reached the outside of his house, which he connected with a large part of the forest.
By using ‘Mana Drain’, he constantly drained the mana of the plants, and by ‘Mana Transfer’ he gives it back to them, in a constant cycle. And when his father came back home, he would also do the same thing with Jason and with the surrounding flora.
Ervas had also practiced how to enhance his crafted equipment with his own magic spells, giving them greater properties such as better endurance or a bit more sharpness, ultimately learning the ‘Alchemy’ Skill all out of a sudden.
And because of the constant train on his Mana, his Job, ‘Mana Nucleus’ reached max level.
“I suspect that I reached the max level of this job so fast because it is all about using Mana, and because I use mana crazily, it leveled up to 100 in the spawn of a few days… well, time to change jobs,” said Ervas, his father was already taking care of the crops outside, today was a rather peaceful day, with the sun shining brightly above the sky.
Gaia had grown a bit more now; her former green bean body had disappeared completely and now she was a vibrant green branch with two plump leaves. She floated around Ervas while feeding on his exorbitant Mana, which seemed endless.
“Ervas, change jobs?” she asked.
“Yeah, time for a small powerup… Hm, you’ve learned how to talk very fast… and you are now a branch… could it be that my Mana is nurturing so fast? Is it that delicious?” asked Ervas.
“Yes! Ervas! Mana, delicious!” said Gaia, dancing through the air.
“Well, I’m glad I am feeding you well, I feel like you’re my little sister by now…” muttered Ervas with a mild smile, finally glancing at his Available Jobs.
[Jobs Available]
[Apprentice Spirit Caster], [Apprentice Farmer], [Botanist], [Life Spirit Mage], [Spiritual Half-Demon], [Mana Source] (New!), [Gray Wizard] (New!), [Hollow Life Specter] (New!), [Mind Dweller] (New!)
“And there are more Jobs now… four new ones, all of them have names I’ve never seen before. Truly, this third life is really unique by itself to be given so many unique Jobs… Well, let us check them all” said Ervas, using Appraisal on the three new jobs.
[Mana Source]
A Job Unlocked by someone who had previously changed Jobs to ‘Mana Nucleus’. By constantly transferring, absorbing, using, and regenerating mana, the user had become an almost endless source of this mystical energy.
This Job shall open the void within the user’s soul, an act of heresy that no mortal should step on.
This Job represents the source of Mana that the user has become to others and himself.
This Job can strengthen the user’s Skills related to Mana and helps with the acquisition of the ‘Mana Source’ Skill.
“Wait, heresy? I think the one working on the system must be exaggerating. And Mana Source Skill…? This Job is just all about Mana, Mana, and more Mana, the more source of this energy I have, the more spells I can cast, so it’s very crucial… even if it does not bring any increase in offensive capabilities…”
[Gray Wizard]
A Job unlocked by those who had an advanced comprehension of the void of no attribute mana. A Gray Wizard is an entity that does not possess any attribute affinity, and can only manipulate the purest source of mana. However, in this pure form, mana is unstable and devoid of nature, a hollow power that is capable of bringing destruction even to other attributes if wielded by talented hands.
This Job strengthens the user’s ‘No-Attribute Magic’ and ‘Mana Control’ Skills.
“The description is scary… yet cool, I have to admit it”
[Hollow Life Specter]
A Job unlocked by a being possessing a soul that both enshrines the hollowness of the void and the fruitful life of nature. Like a specter of such powers, the soul mutates and strengthens itself to new heights.
This Job strengthens the user’s ‘Soul Form’ Skill and grants the ‘Soul Materialization’ Skill.
“I… am a specter? But I’m such an innocent child…”
“Ervas, innocent?” asked Gaia.
“Yeah, I don’t think I am really an innocent person… But I strive to be good, I swear! Or maybe not…?”
“Muh,” said Gaia.
“You don’t even believe me anymore? Sigh…”
[Mind Dweller]
A Job unlocked by those who are capable of dwelling in and meddling with the minds of others, inserting new thoughts, memories, and experiences. The user is capable of dwelling inside the mind of a subject and changes its structure, for better or for worse…
This Job gives the acquisition of the ‘Mental Encroachment’ Skill while strengthening ‘Thought Processing’-related Skills.
“This one is… interesting… ‘Mental Encroachment’…? Isn’t that skill…? Will I be able to brainwash others? That is incredibly useful… But I doubt it will be useful as of now, at such a low level, I have to prioritize becoming stronger, not to meddle with other people’s minds… though I will most likely pick it up after this Job Change. Anyways, time to choose… More mana, stronger No-Attribute Magic or the strengthening of my soul?” Ervas wondered.
“Mana, Mana, Mana!”
“I have a ton of Mana as of now, but more Mana doesn’t sound bad. You never have enough Mana after all. It is good to strengthen one’s foundation in Mana. Also, the more Mana I have, the more I can attack, so it directly increases my combat capabilities” Ervas analyzed, selecting the ‘Mana Source’ Job.
Ding!
[You changed Jobs to [Mana Source]!]
[The Levels of the [Automatic Mana Recovery; Level 1] and [Increased Mana Recovery Rate; Level 1] Skills have increased!]
[You acquired the [Mana Source; Level 1] Skill!]
Flash!
“Ah, there is the skill- Hm?”
The moment Ervas acquired the ‘Mana Source’ Skill, he felt something deep within his soul open, a strange void, where mana leaked out.
It filled him with it as if he had become a battery for mana production, endless mana production.
“What is… ah, this is awkward…”
Ervas checked his status but saw no ‘infinite’ number or whatsoever… however, the Mana number increased exponentially… and it kept increasing, and increasing…
“Will it ever stop?”
Ervas Mana reached a point where it began to acquire less and less, but it seemed to never stop increasing its maximum value.
“It feels as if I am constantly training my mana at an incredible speed but without actually doing anything. Did I always have this latent ability or is it my own insanity that reached this point?” Ervas wondered.
What Ervas had reached was something that he did not know he had… but that it was present in his soul since his past life when he was one with his other split soul and known as Anastacia.
At that time, the God of Light and Righteousness decided to kill him by splitting his soul in half.
However, because of Anastacia’s unique Samsara System given to her by a different entity, her split souls were reincarnated instead of evaporating.
Seemingly, both damaged split souls were worse than before… but the wound caused by a ray of divine energy from a God ended up creating a deep wound, which in result created a void that could not be easily filled. So, mana began to leak inside of it, trying to fill the void created by the wound.
“It seems that the wound caused to me by that god… it wasn’t all that bad… but this conclusion, is it even realistically possible? Could this Job had awakened this ‘void’ which in a result give me an immense mana capacity? This is hard to believe, but the things are happening right before my eyes… Well, this is not bad at all, so there is no point in getting all sad- already one million mana…?”
Ervas glanced at his status screen in shock… though he was expressionless, so his ‘shock’ was perhaps his eyes a bit more opened.
[The Skill [Mana Source; Level 1] has been integrated into the [Soul Form; Level 2] Skill!]
[The [Soul Form; Level 2] Skill has awakened into the [Soul Void; Level 1] Skill!]
[The level of the [Soul Void; Level 1] Skill has increased!]
“Oh damn”
As Ervas tried to digest these events, the Gods of the world of Kritias felt a strange entity awakening within the Continent of the Humans.
Bestellen, the God of Light and Righteousness, Chief of the Bright Gods awakened from his self-induced slumber for a few minutes and glanced at the surface from within his Divine Realm.
“That Mana… A God?” he muttered.
The Gods serving him were bewildered as they noticed his presence awakening.
“Master Bestellen!”
“Master Bestellen has awakened!”
“Call the Bright Gods!”
“Silence!” shouted Bestellen, mildly annoyed.
The gods then completely froze in fear and stood still like statues.
“Has any of my siblings raised a human into a god recently?” asked Bestellen, his voice was that of an old, annoyed yet wise man.
“No, Master Bestellen,” said a god.
“The last time someone did it was two hundred years ago, Master Bestellen,” said another.
“Should we call master’s siblings to make sure?” asked the other.
“Hm… No, there is no need, I do not want to bother them any more than I have already done. It must have been my imagination… the source of such Mana is too weak; it cannot compare to God at all. It might be a talented human, or perhaps one of their magic artifacts? Well, I must rest, so I can one day exert the tasks given to me by our great father, Anir,” said Bestellen, going back to his slumber.
When the three gods finally felt that Bestellen went back to sleep, they sighed in relief…
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