A mage?

The only thing standing between Ray and Porter was a flimsy wooden door.

He had to make some noise to get up the house, so Ray knew Porter was aware of him. So, he stopped masking his presence and rushed Porter as quickly as he could.

He planned to kill Porter before he could give a proper reaction. Otherwise, who knew what spell Porter would cast?

If Porter escaped now, there was little chance to acquire an easy magic core in the future. Ray had to capitalize on the chance while he had it—no mistakes could be made!

While he was running up the stairs, he recited the techniques to active overclock. He knew it worked once his body temperature raised to a frightening 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. If he tried using this technique before reaching the second stage, he had no doubts that his body would incinerate itself within a minute.

Just before he leaped through Porter's door, Ray activated singularity with all the energy he could use. The combination of overclock and singularity was the strongest attack he could muster—if this didn't work, nothing would.

Ray's figure exploded through the door, tearing the door straight off its hinges.

When Porter saw Ray's figure coming at him, only shock could run through his mind.

'Wasn't the Tiefling back at Red Bandit Mountain? What is he doing here?' Porter wanted to scream to himself.

He didn't have time to panic for long, since Ray was a second away from crashing into his shield. The memory of their previous fight remained fresh in his mind, so he didn't dare to take Ray lightly.

Once Ray's finger touched the shield, cracks immediately started forming around it.

After half a second of intense pause, Ray's figure burst through the shield. Unlike the previous battle, Ray wasn't knocked back. Only Porter's body was thrown back, which saved his life since Ray's finger would have pierced through him.

Porter exploded through the wall, falling two stories into his garden.

While he fell to the ground, a mix of emotions raced through his heart.

He felt fear—true fear, for the first time since he was a homeless child.

While the battle at the mountain was scary, he didn't take it seriously since he could always retreat to the safety of his home.

However, when your home is no longer safe, and the enemy attacks you without warning, where else could he go and feel protected?

His heart raced, but he forced himself to calm down and recite the chants to teleport to safety.

He had no intentions of fighting to the death with a random demon. Instead, why not use the method that already proved effective? If it worked once, it should work again.

However, his heart turned cold when he saw the Tiefling jump through the hole in the wall.

A ruthless look flashed through Ray's when he saw Porter making those familiar hand movements.

He may have been wary last time, but he learned his lesson. The movements for teleportation were ingrained in his memory; he wouldn't retreat as he did previously.

Ray's figure gunned toward Porter. He used most of his capacity to break Porter's shield, so he was relying purely on his physical prowess.

Porter knew he couldn't cast on time once he saw the doped demon speeding toward him.

He tried switching to fireball, but it was too late.

'BAM'

Ray's fist landed on his face, punching through his skull.

The impact from the attack destroyed most of his head to an unrecognizable state, but his body was kept safe.

Ray immediately tore Porter's chest apart in search of his mage core.

It wasn't too hard to find: an organ-sized crystalline structure that looked similar to a sphere.

Ray heaved a sigh of relief once he compared it to the mage cores in his memory. He tore the mage core out of Ray's chest and gripped it tightly, getting a good feel for it.

'This… this is a mage core?' Ray thought to himself.

After staring at it for a few seconds, Ray realized he didn't feel a hint of energy coming from the core. If he didn't just pick it out of a mage's body, he would have thought it was an ordinary item.

As curious as he may be, he didn't dare to perform any tests. Just repeat the process printed in the book, and everything should be fine.

He also took a habitual glance at the orb. He knew he had to leave soon since his orb would soon raise the ki density, which would be a tell-tale sign of its existence.

'But first…'

Desire was written all over his face as his eyes ran back to the mage's core.

The first step involved expending all the mana accumulated by eating mana seeds. Why did he have to do so? Ray didn't know.

All he knew was his innate trust in the book. To him, it seemed impossible for the book to lie or trick him.

Ray focused inwards, then tried interacting with the mana within his magic core.

The connection felt sluggish, but it was certainly there.

Once he started moving the mana out of his core, he felt a searing pain that almost made him stumble. Fortunately, he kept his head cool and continued the process.

The process felt long and agonizing. Every time a drop was extracted from his core, he felt as if he lost a small part of himself.

However, other than the initial pain, Ray could handle any bout of pain in exchange for a magic core. It was only the surprise factor that caught him off guard.

After a couple of minutes, all the mana was drained from his core. Every moment that passed by, he felt like he was going to die at any moment. It was as if he was sucked dry; like a lake drained of its water.

He grabbed the core and hurriedly stuffed it in his mouth.

The core wasn't near small enough to fit in his through, but he choked it down regardless. A flesh wound was nothing compared to extracting his mana.

Once Porter's core was nearing his own, Ray let go of his mana at once, letting it crash into his magic core.

His core was already limp and lifeless, so once his mana striked, it immediately shattered into countless pieces.

'Now!'

Ray's eyes glowed, and his focus multiplied by a few factors.

With utmost precision, he moved Porter's mana core to the exact location of his own.

Porter's magic core started gobbling Ray's mana, regaining its colorful look.

It also started rekindling connections to organs around it, which were previously severed when Ray's core was shattered.

After seeing the core adapt to its surroundings, Ray breathed a sigh of relief.