Mana Mark

The Megiddo Carmlan rumbles the earth with each stomp, its eerie screeching sends a shiver every ten seconds as if it wails in pain. Countless tentacles bulge out from its back, increasing its size and complexion by twice.

All is fine and dandy as long as you don't emit any killing intent for the beast to perceive, even the slightest would aggro the titanic monster. Lues manages to control her pressure really well despite her hot headed tendency. But how come a newbie like you is able to desensitize your own intent?

Simple, you're not.

"Pitka, I think you should really get your treatment right here and now, ahahah."

You used the throbbing pain by letting it all go and thinking of nothing, your mind is empty, there is no such thing circling or processed inside your tiny brain. Sometimes you wonder if you're able to free yourself from all kinds of mortal pain. It seems like the chances for you to be able to do that is close to how Lues is able to be nice to others except you.

White, and black, well, there is nothing actually, so don't think much about it.

Lues cast a temporary barrier after absorbing quarters of your mana unknowingly. Wet drool falls from the edge of your lips. Too much in pain to even bother with what she did to you while you're unconscious. Perplexed, you then shift your gaze upon the great thin wall of transparent red.

Despite the look of the barrier being visibly thin, it managed to isolate the Megiddo Carmlan from the marching army of monstrosities behind it..

You wipe the suspicious saliva on your mouth that isn't yours before asking, "This is the first time you took that much amount, how strong is the barrier?"

"My Golden Core nourishes the mana I took from you by 40 times in quality, do some simple imaginary math and you could see how strong that barrier was," Lues says as she wafts around playfully with her usual cocky grin intact.

"The resistance there looks fierce, are you sure it won't break?"

"Abso-bloody-lutely."

And just like that, your first task of isolating the fearsome Megiddo Carmlan is done. The numerous shrines radiate massive amounts of crippling substances to the Calamity, despite the great quantity that can choke you to death rather quickly. Needless to say, it does little to the towering monster.

The arcane towers with giant crystals cradled on top of them began to blast solid plasma beams one by one and continuously onto the Megiddo Carmlan. Together with the shrines, it can be estimated that it would deal damage with the forces akin to the zombie ape's full blown smash thirteen times per second. You feel like watching someone playing a tower defense game. Kinda brings the hidden nostalgia within your lost memory.

"I lowkey want to be able to do such a feat." You standby your Chi of Decidit in any case of sudden crisis. "So you want us to keep it like that?" you say, as you gesture to the barrier.

"Of course not, my love. I do promise to commence something that will enhance your artifact more. But before moving there, you need a lot of mana, like, a lot."

You look a little bit up to see Goyang ontop of her, his goofy eyes awaken your brain cells.

Despite your mind being high from the progressing pain tolerance, you notice something about the Golden Core and mana transfer.

"Lues, tell me anything about your Golden Orb, and how you're able to produce 40 times the amount of energy you took from me."

Tilting her head as her hands caresses her chin, Lues grinds her teeth as she explains, "A rather troublesome info dump to do in this kind of situation. But Golden Orb is a phase where you condense a specific kind of nourishment material and high amount of mana into a Hollow Orb after you create the shell. The composition, the formula, the place, the time, the traits of the mana sea will determine the quality of your Golden Orb."

She then gestures her forefinger with a nonchalant expression.

"After reaching that stage of cultivation, all of the mana you convert from then on will be amplified and processed by the orb into a higher quality of mana! Even your mana lake full of elemental essences can go beyond, heh."

So constructing them takes time, you need a faster way to get high amounts of mana. "Lues, the mana that passes through your Golden Orb, can I convert it again into mine?"

Ignoring the massive wave of Calamities scratching and sabotaging the barrier, Lues frowns a little bit. "Nobody relies on that method, because each strain of our converted mana is already a part of us, there is a mark from our soul that permeates that very existence of energy. To override that mark, it takes a complicated process where you need more preparation than the beginning of your Golden Orb construction."

"Then how are you able to override mine?"

"My Golden Orb is those of a higher rank, and your very existence is connected to mine, wait—"

"What if I keep connecting my consciousness on the mana while it was processed through yours?"

The whole doppelganger and soul linking are the concepts needed to be explored. If the mana you two converted were a part of each other, then Lues and you would have the same mark due to having a similar wavelength like how the Oni back then told you that Lues and you look more like twins, siblings than a different person. There is some cryptic stuff lurking around that mirror that awakened the crimson devil.

Lues shrugs. "It is certainly a possible feat but are you sure you want to do the process—"

With the severe headache still in the very bone of your being, your critical thinking is degraded and upgraded at the same time. Like how a drunkard begins to dance as if she knows how, you place both of your hands onto Lues' shoulder and try to speak out the corrupted mind that is embodying your whole instinct right now.

"Lues, do the kissing again."