Mana Stones

The world of Elenoise was big, frought with danger and many mysterious and unknown secrets.

For the first time in Noah's whole life, he wanted to do something other than just living — it was to live alive. He wanted to explore this world not with just the goal of getting stronger to survive but also to trek this new world filled with danger and secrets.

Noah's heart beat fast.

'The world of Elenoise hah...' He thought as he felt a completely foreign feeling overcome him.

Unbeknownst to him, a smile had crept up to his face.

Noah flipped the last page of the book that he had read amidst the many that scattered on the table.

He raised his head and looked around, he wondered, 'How much time passed?'

Just then, as he thought that, the familiar voice and presence of Helen sounded.

"Whooa, it's only been five hours and you've finished all of them already." Helen arrived with her eyes beaming.

"It seems we have much similarities, I just didn't expect you to be such a book enthusiast on the same level as me. Hehe." Helen's playful tone fell to deaf ears.

Five hours?

He looked at the numerous thick and large books that scattered on the table. He had managed to read all this in the span of five hours? Something like this should be impossible — at least on Earth.

Noah had speculated many times before that perhaps his senses were directly connected to the amount of his mana. Now that his mana was significantly much larger, his senses naturally showed a dramatic increase and therefore he was able to read the books much faster and comprehend them much more easily.

The ability to sense and manipulate mana was dependent on your perception as well so there was no denying the two concept was connected.

Five hours had passed.

Noah stood up, "I have to get back to my room, thanks for the splendid books."

"Ohh, okay." Helen's eyes couldn't help but show a bit of disappoinment but Noah couldn't care less.

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When Noah arrived at the door of their room, he saw Lisa — Nulla's appointed personal maid.

Her aloof eyes landed on Noah. She stepped aside but didn't say anything. Of course, in response, Noah also didn't say anything.

He opened the door and went inside. It was already night time so the room was already dark, it seemed that Nulla was already sleeping and taking a rest.

Noah looked at the king sized bed and saw Nulla sleeping on the bed with a slight frown on her doll-like face and furrowed brows.

She looked distressed.

Noah couldn't blame her though, she was a weak and fragile girl that went through many experiences for a single day, she needed rest but even that seemed a luxury. Even in her dreams, the looming threat to their house still haunted her.

However, when Noah turned around and walked towards the other side of the room, her face relaxed as if she was finally able to take the proper rest she needed.

Noah sat on a chair as he pulled out the big pouch from his spatial ring, taking out a single mana stone, he held and inspected it closely.

The stone was colored bright blue and pulsated with mana. This was what he won in the bet in the spar, there were still 19 more in the bag, Noah wanted to test them out first.

With the stone in his hand, Noah felt the mana inside but there was also something else, it was heavy and impure. This was where the refinement came in. He had to separate the impurities in the mana stone in order to obtain the pure mana inside.

However, even though Noah didn't know how to do it, he had the gist of how to. He just had to slowly and meticulously manipulate the pure mana and separate it from the impurities, however it would definitely be very difficult since it needed a very deep understanding and control over mana.

Just then, the system came to the rescue.

[System has detected a mana stone. The host can pick between two options on how to use the Mana stone. A) Use it increase the host's mana pool, B) Use it to increase the systems level]

Noah looked at the panel that manifested infront of him.

He really didn't need to think that hard in choosing between the two options. Of course he picked option A, as much as how option B sounded very beneficial, right now, Noah really didn't need the system to upgrade.

Aside from the fact that he didn't know if what would come after the system upgrades, currently, he was doing just fine with the way it was. There was really no need to.

In the end, Noah prioritized increasing his mana pool in the end.

[System assisting host in successful absorption of the Mana stone]

Noah's eyes opened wide, a pleasant cool feeling invaded his whole body as he felt a miniscule increase in his mana.

Looking at the shattered stone on his hand, it seemed that the system made it's use once again.

With a smile on his face, Noah pulled out the other mana stones.

[+1 MP]

[+1 MP]

[+1 MP]

[+1 MP]

Each increase in MP costed Noah three mana stones, which, was for him an absolute win. How would he be able to easily increase his mana pool otherwise.

Still, the world was fair.

[The host has reached the limit. Anymore will cause the host's mana to rampage. The host's need to get adjusted and control his mana before he can absorb more mana stones again.]

Hah...

Noah could only sigh in disappoinment, he had already known there was a limit to just absorbing mana from a mana stone since Nulla had already said this to him in the carriage and he also learned some more additional information on the library.

But still, he had hoped that maybe this limit was nonexistent since he had the system...but guess not.

Still, for Noah, this was pretty much already. He was satisfied, but a little disappointed because he had expected more.