Mana Stone

After teaching Noir some important history of this world, the two siblings of the Stargazia household got changed before going outside to have a friendly sparring session. For Alice, it's been a couple of years since they had last fought against each other, back when their father was still in good shape. When the lessons stopped Noir immediately quit learning how to use a sword, but Alice continued learning due to her wish to protect her older brother.

As such, she was feeling a little uneasy about being serious with him. He's only recently started to make an effort to gain strength and didn't want to shatter his confidence if he lost to his younger sister.

'He might've gotten strong though. It's big brother, after all, he might have some tricks up his sleeve.'

With some hope in her older brother, the two of them stood against each other and into their fighting stances. Alice was using a wooden rapier while Noir was holding a wooden longsword.

The spar had already begun with a short countdown but Noir wasn't willing to make the first strike. He was still new to everything and wanted to see how Alice is in a fight, who soon realised his intentions as she made her first strike.

Easily closing up the distance between them, Alice made a simple strike to gauge how much power her strikes should contain. Her movement was practised and precise, without wasting any energy on added movement to her strike. A clear indicator of how many years she's spent practising her craft.

*Kluk*

But what she wasn't expecting was for Noir to easily block her attack. He had a small smile on his face for reacting and thanked himself for spending time blocking and dodging slime. Thanks to that he was able to somewhat read Alice's attack.

'I knew it.'

With a pleasant smile on her face, Alice didn't stop her attack as she made her next strike with more power weight behind it that her frail arms seemed to conceal.

It was enough of a surprise to make Noir sweat a little as he shifted his body to the right to barely get grazed by her thrust. He could feel the area instantly scream at him for getting hit, but he didn't pause as he used the momentum from dodging to plant his right hand to the floor before kicking towards Alice.

It may seem dirty, but he warned Alice about it earlier and she seemed fine with it. She was able to block it with her sword, but Noir used that to kick back and create some distance between them.

"What was that movement?"

She looked at him in confusion about what just happened. She never saw someone move like that and the last person she expected that from was Noir of all people.

"Something I've been working on for a few days. By the way, don't try holding back. Treat it like a real fight. Otherwise, there's no point in this."

Noir lectured her in a somewhat arrogant tone with her sword resting on his right shoulder. He was half true with his words, and the other half wanted to see what made her tick if he was being honest.

It was a habit of his from trolling in games. He prefers riling up people before attacking them and looking for any opportunities to exploit them. Though this time was more out of habit than with ill intent.

"I agree."

Fortunately, his sister was the type of person to easily forgive him for his misgivings so his attitude didn't affect her much.

'I knew he had it in him,' In fact, it motivated her further knowing that the person she looked up to is much stronger than she thought he was.

'Looks like this will be worth it.'

As for Noir, he was happy to know that his sister is a lot stronger than he expected. He didn't know how strong she was in the anime after all and wasn't a big fan of the damsel in distress trope. Knowing this fact made him feel a whole lot more reassured.

But that doesn't mean that he wouldn't continue to make her stronger.

>\/<

"Let's call it a day. Dinner should be soon."

After an hour of sparring and picking up a sweat, Noir ended the spar early once he noticed a pleasant smell coming from the kitchen.

"Phew, that was intense. Since when did you get good at fighting, big brother?"

Upon hearing Noir end the session, Alice immediately sat on the ground as she tried to regain her breath. Her hair was in dismay as she tugged on her shirt to fan herself. It was the first time she took sparring so seriously and for so long that she could already feel her body failing her while trying to cool herself down.

The feeling was completely different from the spars she had with people her age. Not to mention that she felt as time went on Noir had more leeway to try new things against her.

'I felt like he was improving every minute. As expected of my big brother!'

Although it made her work harder in return, she was still happy to see Noir improve at a visible rate. There was some kind of indescribable feeling of superiority knowing that he was getting better by the second. As if it was a teacher looking at a student saying "I taught them".

As for Noir, he also felt good seeing his progress so far. He finally felt like he was making some progress in his physical strength.

"Leave a man alone for a few days and you'll see him change."

With a toothy grin, Noir raised his chest in pride as he took a sip from his water bottle. The sweet relief of water made him feel even better.

"Is that so? Well, you look cool when you're fighting!"

"Haha, thanks, Alice. Your movements looked elegant."

Noir gave Alice a head pat as he was in a good mood. He was still gloating in his work but quickly remembered that he wanted to ask the Great Sage some questions later.

"Oh, by the way, Alice, do you mind coming to my room later? I want to ask the Great Sage some questions about these things."

What he showed her was one of the Slime Cores he had on him, the Water Slime Core. He figured it would be worth something for the family as a potential source of income and wanted to see if both Alice and the Great Sage would know how much it was worth.

But he wasn't able to get the answer when Alice tilted her head at the Core.

"Hmm? What Mana Core's that?"

Her face had question marks all over it as if she was looking at something completely unknown to her. She was a top student at her school and knowing about monsters and their materials was a necessary course at her school because of the value it has to the kingdom, but even she didn't know what that was.

"I got this from Slimes I fought yesterday. I thought it looked different from the others so I wanted to see if the Great Sage knew anything about it and anything interesting," Her lack of knowledge about it was a surprise to Noir, but he quickly came up with an excuse.

"Hmm? I've never seen a Slimes Mana Core like that. Was it a Variant Slime?"

"I think so."

"That's amazing! I heard variant monsters are tough but you were able to beat one easily!"

Alice celebrated his victory as Noir inwardly thanked how gullible his sister is whenever she's around him. If it was his mother or Emma instead, he would've been questioned on where he fought the slime and then gotten an earful about it.

It wasn't uncommon for Slimes to overpower and destroy overconfident rookie adventures after all, much less a variant slime.

'Looks like asking her first was the best option after all,' If he went to a vendor or somewhere that buys these kinds of goods, they'd probably ask too many questions for Noir, especially considering Noir has over 100 of these back at the cave. If he tried selling it in bulk it would probably cause some kind of uproar.

'That would've been annoying to deal with, but I guess I got one thing right about the Slimes. So it's either they're all variants or maybe higher levelled,' The latter was most likely considering how rare Variants, or abnormals, are. But that would also make Noir sweat slightly for going into a dangerous location as a low levelled newbie.

'I may have dodged a massive bullet. Before I go to the next floor I'll have to make sure I'm at a decent level.'

But without anything to check his level, Noir could only guess whenever he felt like he levelled up. Maybe all he needs is a day in that place to feel comfortable.

"Well, I'm gonna go take a bath now. See you later."

"Bye-bye."

After briefly thinking about how lucky his entire situation was, Noir went to the bath to cool himself down. He then spent some time resting on the sofa and massaging his muscles until Alice finished her bath and the family had another unusual yet normal dinner made by their mother.

Once night fell was the fun part.

>\/<

'Hmm, I wonder if I'm taking things too quickly?'

Once dinner was over, Noir had some time to reflect on his progress properly. He's done a lot in the short amount of time he spent in the world and it felt weird to him whenever he recalls he wasn't able to walk just a few days ago.

Not to mention that he's fought against creatures he wouldn't have seen in his old world, probably a tenth of a floor in some kind of conscious dungeon and he's dating two girls at once with plans to increase that number.

The reason he questions whether he's taking things too quickly is because of the progress of the relationships. He's had a date with Emma, had many forms of sex with her, confessed to his sister, convinced both of them to get stronger and now he's waiting for said sister for something immoral.

It was a lot of progress when you think about how the old Noir used to behave, but it felt a little odd to the current Noir now and then.

'Well, I've already crossed some lines with her. Guess it's too late to change my mind,' He had some discomfort with his whole situation but he was adapting to it quickly. He liked taking things slow, but he had no choice considering he only had a few days until Canon starts.

Even then, he's thankful for the opportunities he has currently, but he feels lonely when he recalls his past life and what he achieved.

'I wonder if my viewers miss me? Or have they forgotten who I am as someone else took my place? I wonder how the media framed my disappearance. Maybe I might have some kind of conspiracy theory about me or a documentary in honour of me?'

He had a lot of questions about his past life as he started feeling lonely about losing it all. He ultimately couldn't easily forget his past life. He had a hard restart in his life when he lost his legs and now he's experiencing another one in a completely different world.

'I'll get over it soon I guess. I have some people I miss, but I guess the more people I interact with the sooner I'll be able to finally accept the situation I'm in and let go of longing for that world.'

It was the last bit of identity of his old world and name that he was clinging onto. He was able to deal with it so far because of his habit of hyper-focusing on other things, but he was still far from getting over it.

For the time being, he tried meditating to calm his mind of this feeling.

"Big brother?"

After about 15 minutes of ruminating over his thoughts, Noir heard soft knocks coming from his door as Alice's voice rang out.

"Yo, come inside."

Sitting back up and performing a light stretch, Noir gave her permission as Alice walked in wearing her usual pink pyjamas. Her face had a beaming smile from ear to ear as after she closed the door she jumped onto Noir's bed

"Hehe, big brother invited me to his room. It feels like we're about to do something immoral."

Her smile shifted into a mischievous one as she tried teasing him, but Noir could easily tell that she was forcing herself to say that. The truth is, she was shaking from nervousness.

Seeing her like that, NOir wanted to calm her down a little with a little joke.

"Well, you're right. How angry do you think mother would get if she found out?"

She might've been thinking that Noir must've wanted to do something spicy after having the confession, which isn't wrong, but he wasn't in any rush this time. He wanted himself and her to feel comfortable after all and doing it too soon could be a bad idea.

"Hmm? I don't think she'll get angry. She seems to like it when we're close to each other."

But unlike what he was expecting, the joke didn't land with Alice as she responded with a somewhat serious expression.

'I can't tell who has more screws loose? My mother or my sister?' Noir was startled by her response. Although it would make things easier for him, it just came as a shock how weird his household is. His mother already has her unique diet after all…

"Haha. You don't have to worry about it. Anyway, let's get started with the questions."

Alice chuckled after seeing Noir's response as she felt she regained some confidence back and started taking the lead.

She began by rubbing Noir's knees and thighs, dragging her fingers up and down as she inched closure to his stomach and chest. She intended to play with him for a little bit but she ended up engrossed in feeling his abs and chest that she went tunnel vision as her face had a light shade of red.

She had completely forgotten about the kiss as Noir simply smiled at her airheadedness before leaning in and blowing her ear.

"Ehmmm?"

"I can't just sit here on the receiving end, you know?"

For a moment, Alice blushed for a deep shade of red as she snapped back into reality. She made an embarrassed smile at what just happened then stared at Noir's crotch for a couple of seconds.

Noir didn't know what she was thinking, but seeing her with a serious look on her face staring at his lower member caused a tent to form. It was only after a few more seconds after that, and after siking herself up that Alice finally jumped onto him and sat on his lap

Her face was beaming red at this point as she looked at Noir with damp eyes. There was a bit of hesitation to continue with the mood, which Noir didn't mind as he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a gentle smile as if telling her it was alright to take things slowly.

Once she got past that barrier, she eventually placed a kiss on Noir's lips and the two of them shared a passionate kiss where Noir activated his skill once more.

'Oh Great Sage, what's the skill to absorb Mana from the Mana Cores called and how rare is it?'

[The skill is called Mana Core Absorption. It is a secret technique from an ancient evil cult that was used to raise monsters for tameable purposes or mana extraction for their ceremonies. Even among their people it was a difficult yet achievable skill to obtain.]

'Is that so? That cult sounds interesting,' Noir wasn't expecting the skill to have such an origin, but it also worried him slightly knowing that it was from an evil cult.

'What's the ancient evil cult called and how many people still know of them?'

[They were called 'The protectors of Algarath' and only 16 people including yourself know of their existence]

'That low? I thought there would be more. Just to be careful, I should only use the skill in private just in case.'

The only reason Noir was worried about it was because of the possibility of the kingdom getting rid of him if he learns it. Evil cults aren't liked by most kingdoms after all and who knows what they could do to him if they learn that he knows one of their skills.

There were more questions he wanted to ask relating to the cult but he had to pay mind to his question counter.

'Anyway, Great Sage, how do I learn Mana Core Absorption?'

As such he asked more about the skill itself.

[To be able to acquire the skill, you must pour your Mana into the Mana Core and through that, you must pull the mana from the core and subdue it. Once subdued, you need to integrate the mana into your body and through that, you will be able to use the mana to replenish or increase your reserves, among other abilities.

But after pulling the mana, you must allow it to travel around your body and not keep it stuck in one spot otherwise, in the best case you will feel pain and it could end in failure or in the worse case it could be the death of you for trapping so much mana that your body is not able to process or release it]

'Now this is sounding like a cultivation story,' Hearing the words cult and their name, along with hearing certain key terms like "Subdue" made Noir inwardly roll his eyes as he recalled some stories.

But all jokes aside, he's both excited and scared of this information.

'One wrong move and I could die. Why's that a common trope for getting power? Well, I guess it makes getting the ability a lot more worth it,' There was some charm to getting the ability that has some danger to their acquisition. Even if they're annoying to get.

'What's the format to let the mana travel and how many attempts will it take?'

[Have it travel from your arms to your chest, then split the mana to both your stomach and your head. From your head, have it flow through your brain, eyes, ears, nose, throat etc. the same with your stomach, but with the extra step of splitting halfway again for both your legs.

Make sure that every part of your body gets an equal amount of mana to refine it, otherwise, the gains could be unequal and could lead to forming weak points across your body.]

'So it'd be like an Achilles heel…' Noir recalled the tale of Achilles and swore to avoid something as unfortunate as that.

[As for the time it takes, for the higher-ups that had both resources and tutors so it took roughly 6 months to acquire the basic usage of the skill.]

'Yeah, that doesn't surprise me.'

In this world, skills are not only ranked by their strength but by how rare they are to acquire. Unique skills are separate from this category even though in some cases they are intermingled with each other.

'But if I wait that long, I would've gotten Olivia's skill by then. That kinda defeats the purpose of me getting this skill,' He only wanted the skill so he could find it easier to go to Olivia's floor. His current tactic of hit-and-run uses a lot of mana. Although he gets a dump of exp for simply participating in the battles, he has to take an hour just to regain half of his mana pool.

'Are there any shortcuts?'

[There are ways to accelerate the progress with alchemy, but it requires a high-level alchemist and someone who already knows how to use the skill to guide you. Otherwise, you could try swallowing a core whole and forcefully absorb the mana through that, but the chances of surviving are slim and you would experience some negative side effects for doing so.]

'Yeah, those two ain't options I'm willing to take. At least not currently,' He wasn't going to swallow a Mana Core any time soon unless he gets a skill that could help aid in digestion for it.

'Any safer methods that can speed up the process?'

[Having someone of the same elemental affinity could help out initially to grasp how to absorb the element, but most of it is up to your comprehension.]

'Guess I'll have Emma help out with the Wind Core, huh? Too bad.'

There wasn't much he could do about his situation, even if the skill seems like a useful asset to him, he was still sure of his methods so far to get to his goal in a reasonable amount of time.

By now a small headache was forming and he was starting to get tired from kissing, so Noir asked his final question.

'From easiest to hardest, what are the difficulty rankings to learn the Mana Core Absorption for the four basic elements?'

[it depends on the affinity of the person, but for the mana-less or affinity-less, the easiest to learn would be the water core. Followed by the wind, then the earth and finally fire cores.]

And with that final answer, the two of them stopped as Noir was experiencing a headache, but nothing too painful for him to deal with.

"Thanks, I got most of my answers now," Noir thanked her as he rubbed his temples slightly. He asked one too many questions and was now paying for the price.

"No problem, rest up first. What are you going to do with that thing?"

Alice could see that Noir was putting up with the pain and felt a little bad that she was enjoying her time while he was in pain. She tried having him rest in his bed but he was too stubborn to rest just yet.

"I'm gonna try absorbing the mana from it. The Great Sage said it's possible to try it."

He held the water core in his hand. It was shining under the small lamp light they had and looked like it would be good for an ornament or decoration for the room, but Noir didn't think about that right now as he was more interested in the potential of learning a new skill.

"Really? As expected of big brother!"

Even though she wasn't too familiar with the concept of mana extraction, Alice knows that there are magic items that do something similar to that. If Noir could mimic that process then he'd be able to carry around mana batteries that act like a small top-up.

"Alright, I'm gonna try it. Step a few feet back."

"Okay."

He wasn't too sure how well his first attempt was, but he wanted to be safe. He took some time preparing his mind and recalling the wisdom of the Great Sage before trying out the method.

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