Greed I

Noir headed east to the Great Mushroom Forest by walking. He hunted the monsters that appeared along the way without his Resonance to preserve his stamina for later.

Also, he collected only the solid essences, leaving the soft ones to disappear after some time or be retrieved by a lucky passerby.

However, as solid essences rarely appeared, Noir could only add 9 more to his bags by the time he arrived at the border between the Wafer Roll Forest and the Great Mushroom Forest.

Once the orb numbers reached a hundred, he crushed them to increase his progress.

After that, he brought up his progress panel by saying [Resonant Progress] purposely to open it. Because if he didn't say the command with the intention, it wouldn't open.

//Ascension Progress 6.35%

Class (Soft Essence) 73/1000

Soul Depth (Solid Essence) 27/500//

Satisfied, Noir closed the panel.

"Not a bad progress, I guess."

Looking ahead, Noir saw a darker and more humid forest.

"Still, if only more monsters were on the main path..."

It required him almost two hours to get to the border. Not to mention, the monsters he encountered on the road were fewer.

It was no wonder the yield was only just that.

Sighing, he approached the creek, the border between the two forestry areas.

Before continuing, Noir decided to have a little break. He rested on the wafer-looking log near the creek, staring at the muddy water.

Upon closer inspection, it was actually chocolate.

Snickering, he said:

"Of course... it's a wonderland."

Despite having a hostile creature that took the shape of a candy, a wonderland is still a wonderland.

No matter in what era Noir lived, even with its advanced technology and supernatural powers, the logic of the wonderland was still something that could twist the 22nd-century Earth's logic.

Noir dipped his finger into the chocolate river. Pulling it, he licked the cream on his finger.

"Um! It's good!"

Noir dipped his finger again, tasting it over and over for a solid ten minutes.

Using his clothes to wipe the chocolate, Noir stood up. It was time to go.

He couldn't keep wasting his time with the chocolate river.

Time is money.

Moreover, he had to worry about the effect of the Elixir of Transformation, which had been reduced by a quarter from its original time.

Even so...

"I swear this is the last time."

Noir dipped a finger into the river, pulling it and tasting the chocolate.

Returning to the road, he crossed the wafer rolls' bridge.

"Let's go!"

After crossing the bridge, the temperature dropped drastically. Not to the point Noir would be frozen.

But it was enough to make him shiver, hugging himself.

Like the Wafer Roll Forest, this area had only one path.

Looking right and left, Noir found many large mushrooms growing close together, blocking light from entering the forest.

Fortunately, there were small glowing mushrooms under the larger ones, giving enough vision for passersby.

Those were useless for Noir, though. His vision was different from everyone else.

And it seemed the glowing mushroom must have been formed from magical energy because Noir saw it as mana, unlike the others.

Utilizing his vision, Noir searched for the closest monsters.

"Found them," he grinned.

After locating their position, Noir ran immediately. As he ran, he equipped the gauntlet that had a similar pattern to a cobweb.

'It'd be a waste of money if I didn't use this.'

Pulling his right arm with an open palm, Noir was ready to throw a slap. But his distance from the monsters was still far.

Why would he do that? And why a slap?

Clenching his fist, he swung his hand.

At that moment, the gauntlet's knuckle shot something long. Wires. It was so thin and translucent, like a spider web.

Stopping in his tracks, Noir focused on controlling the wires.

'I'm a bit skeptical when they said I could only control it if I had mana, but it looks like I won't have to be worried now.'

Mana. It was a magical energy that came into this world on the night of the Nightingale Terror a century ago. But only people with a magic-related Resonance could harness its power.

Other than that, it was also the energy that formed a monster. That gave it a life.

According to the literature, except for monsters and magic-related Resonance, anything else didn't have mana.

That was what the people back then believed until they found the existence of Curio and other magical objects like the glowing mushroom.

Then, a few decades later, someone discovered that humans, too, had mana within them.

Yes. That someone would be Noir Teundre, who accidentally found it with the Fox Mask Curio just today.

It would be a great discovery for civilization if Noir were to spread the word to the world.

People would get stronger. If people were strong, the world would be safe. And if the world was safe, Noir could finally rest assured and enjoy his life.

Shaking the thought away, Noir focused on his opponents.

His control over the wires was okay. Thanks to his observation and the mage boasting about his magic, Noir learned the basic knowledge of mana control.

'Still, if I discovered this earlier, I would have taken the Magic Control class.'

The wires, connected from mushroom to mushroom, trapped the mushroom-looking monsters in the cage. Yet, they didn't realize that.

While they were still unaware of their situation, Noir transmitted the electricity through the wires.

In an instant, he created an electric cage that trapped them. From its 4 corners, a lightning bolt formed and struck the mushroom monsters.

Six monsters were down in a blink of an eye.

Approaching the remains, Noir collected six green orbs.

Feeling the surface against his skin, Noir dropped his jaw.

"Five solid essences in one go..." he murmured. "Fvcking yeah!"

Overly excited, Noir accidentally crushed the essence but brushed it off.

"Well, who cares if I absorbed it right away?"

Noir opened his progress again.

//Ascension Progress 7.45%

Class (Soft Essence) 75/1000

Soul Depth (Solid Essence) 37/500//

Grinning, Noir said.

"Oh no... I think I'll break some rules today."

Who cares about the fine when you have money?