14 Ji
A single entity's mana fluctuation won't affect anything. A beast going berserk's mana fluctuation distorts mana in their immediate vicinity.
Four different beasts going berserk at peak strength, suffice to say that just getting within Vin's vicinity might prove fatal.
Compared to modern humans, beasts kept their instinct and their only law.
The law of the jungle.
In a group of a single species, the strong lead the pack. But what happens if they gain wisdom while maintaining their innate sense?
The strong extorts the jungle while the cunning controls it. Creating their own social construct with the uncivilized standards, these beasts surrendered to the strong and cunning.
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A 10-meter snake is currently coiled up in a tree that is as tall as a three-story building somewhere deep in the forest.
Random parts of its skin are exquisite and clear while some parts look like it's dead and shedding, but perfectly stuck to the snake.
If Nathan were here, he could tell that the snake is a whole level higher than him. However, the fluctuations being released by the snake were incredibly erratic as if forming waves in the vicinity.
While this has been great for some of the beings near the snake, such as the humongous tree, the snake itself keeps losing more and more of its energy. Its deformed source has already shrunk 13% of its supposed size.
Fortunately for it, it can still absorb the tree's energy forming a cycle. Unfortunately, it's a cycle where the snake loses.
In a clearing nearby where the snake rests, black sludge is scattered around the environment. The foliage in the area has begun to wither. In the middle of it all is a shattered crystal in the form of a snake.
A couple of days ago, in this exact spot is a snake going through its third ecdysis in less than a month. Mana spiraled towards the coiled-up snake as it attempted to break through to the level beyond Nathan's current one.
Within it is its spherical source slowly contorting as it split into two. The second source didn't form into another orb, it slowly turned into an 'S' shape before the head at the tip formed.
Then the original source opened up as it began to swallow the snake crystal. But before the two sources were able to fuse, three spikes made of earth pierced the snake.
The snake had already used up all of its white orbs, but due to its dependency on it for gaining power, it forced the snake-shaped source to protect it. This forcibly stopping of the breaking through resulted in its source expanding with a big hole for the fusion.
As the snake opened its eyes, it saw three humans. The two men at the side of a single woman were casting spells of the fire element.
The snake felt that the spells they were casting were weak. However, it was already enraged with bloodshot eyes as it used the forced-out crystal to cast its own fire spell.
The three level-two humans weren't able to keep up to the speed that the snake cast and got burned in a fiery beam that shot out of the snake crystal.
As the humans got turned into ashes, three white orbs fell on the ground along with their skeleton. The fire spell cast with 100% mana capacity of a level three being completely obliterated the weak flesh of the humans.
Strangely, the environment was not affected, aside from the heat.
The snake's eyes slowly returned to its sharp black hue as it assessed the events that transpired.
It fucked up its breakthrough.
Half of his body is covered in level three skin while the rest are withering but are still adhered to as if glued.
How about its source?
The one inside him is deformed like a balloon that just got popped, and the air is about to rush out. In its case, its mana kept inside the source is leaking at a rate of 1% per second.
What about the other one?
Without knowledge and experience, the snake thought that the second source was a special kind of white orb as it was glowing white when it decided to throw it out.
Realizing its mistake, the snake hurriedly grabbed the snake crystal that dropped on the ground.
Before it was about to touch the crystal, the snake felt his source wanting to fuse with the crystal. But he felt that the crystal was already empty and doesn't seem to be absorbing ambient mana like its source does.
When he got close enough, its source began to forcibly siphon the crystal. The snake's brain began to think fast.
"If that dead source fused with my source, won't I be half as weak as a true level-three snake?" It thought.
"Fuck no," it asserted.
Lifting its tail end, it swung the snake crystal away, chipping it as it dropped down the sludge.
Looking at the white orbs that were dropped by the humans, the snake decided to try and fuse with those.
"Aren't these the orb of god? If I fuse with it, won't I turn into a god?" the snake imagined.
With a newfound determination, the snake rushed to devour the white orbs in the ground.
To its dismay, it was just the same white orbs that dropped from the others. Seemingly useless.
With a spat, the snake began to look for a tree to absorb energy as it felt that its mana leak.
For a total of 30 seconds, the snake went from its post-battle into the tree, losing 30% of its mana. Absorbing the tree's energy and the ambient mana, it actually was able to absorb more than it loses.
As time passed, the snake began to feel mentally tired. But the moment it stopped absorbing to rest, its mana began to leak.
In a hundred seconds, its source will die. What happens to the snake if that happens? It doesn't want to know.
Thinking about its predicament, it began to absorb once more.
After contemplating for the rest of the day, it thought of a possible solution with very high feasibility.
Rustles in the bushes sounded. "This scent..." the snake thought as it realized who was the one approaching it.
"Rem!" The snake commanded to the brown monkey that just arrived.
"Boss Ji!" the monkey named Rem answered.
"Find someone who's about to breakthrough! Make sure to get a shaped crystal and bring it back to me. You have one day," Ji commanded.
Not knowing what happened, Rem immediately felt the pressure released by Ji.
"On it, boss!" Rem replied helplessly as he scurried away. Not noticing the anxiety of the snake boss.
Back on the present.
Ji began to sense a massive mana fluctuation. This kind of fluctuations can only be produced by genetically modified animals as they get enraged.
While its incomplete level-three body should be able to stay up for a week without rest, his cognitive functions are slowly deteriorating.
Completely desperate, Ji began to slither from tree to tree towards the fluctuations.
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Borrowing his past experience on games, Nathan thought of building a maze. [Earth Manipulation] only moves the earth, thus requires less mana to use. In contrast, [Earth Spike] requires precision, which increases mana usage considerably.
Having [Arcane Track] constantly activated, Nathan immediately noticed the shift in mana. With his heart trembling, he invoked four [Earth Manipulation] and eight [Earth Spike].
The [Earth Spikes] were hidden underground in pairs while the [Earth Manipulation] is used as a cover for the spikes.
The remaining beasts that are watching from afar are closely watching the changes in the area. The more aggressive ones tried to probe how much mana Nathan has left.
Within the last few days, Nathan had been practicing hard. His life literally depends on it. Due to the amount of boost he gave himself, he did develop tolerance. Still, he also gained permanent enhancement to his will.
Afterward, he drank river water down to the last drop, which recovered his mana at a rate of 10% per second.
Shifting the terrain more while fortifying the already existing walls, Nathan transformed the dome into a labyrinth at the cost of mental exhaustion and 63% of his mana after recovery.
Nathan didn't dare to call out his last white orb. One theory they have made is that the white orbs are extremely condensed mana from souls that failed to transmigrate and that only their knowledge remained. Probably coming from the universe before their last universe whose reached the end of the lifespan of their souls.
There are too many things to worry about, right now this is all he could do.
23 minutes left until Vin successfully breakthrough.
