I ate it; Naked?;

As such, several months passed. Kerren was completely focused on external power and marketing. He didn't even use all those potion and fruits he had, since it would cost him time.

He was selling 3 KB1 sets each week! More than that, he also sold some KB2 from time to time! His pricing policy was extremely unfair, but it gave him lots of room to grow!

However, he grew bored of such a lifestyle and decided to end it. He already had more than 40 KB1 sets and 7 KB2 sets in stock, so crystals weren't a problem for the time being.

Other positive side of such a lifestyle was practice! He had 80% success rate in making those!.. What do i even mean by that? Let me explain real quick.

When one makes armor or a weapon using mana it's basically the same as making it normally with just one little "but" hidden somewhere... it MUST be injected with mana all the time.

If one failed to maintain the constant flow or disturbed it somehow... the item would be corrupted and the materials couldn't be used again. What do i mean by corruption?..

Well, since i can explaing things for too much time i'll just say that - they're unstable, they could or could not do their thing if used, that should do it.

You dont want me to explain what corruption really is, how to fix it, prevent it or even use in your favor, do you? Good.

Now, lets talk about Kerren. He was now ingesting all the mana-increasers he had. Yeah, that was a bad idea as u've guessed, but did he really care?

Yep, that's exactly why he did it. It was another experiment - what if he tried to overload it? He wouldn't die if anything, so why not try it?

Thus, he decided to eat everything he had at the same time... The result of that wasn't what Kerren expected at all..

He thought that nothing would happen and his body will simply absorb whatever he ate, or reject it at the very least, but...

That thing inside of him ate it! His mana pool wasn't increased by a single drop! That, however, didn't make him angry, it made him curious!.. and afraid.

It was alive! Whatever it is - it could eat! Maybe he brought something forbidden along with him? It didn't matter that much, since Kerren had several more lives, but if it stole his body that would be a problem... He would need to make a new one! It was hard and it was boring!

Thus, he tried studying it, spending several days simply "looking" at it and trying to understand it. It didn't bear any fruit at all.

Whatever the things is - it's beyond his understanding. Yeah, it ate lots of good stuff, so what? It's not like he take it back and nothing happened after it, so why bother?

With that thought he decided to feed it even more... He wanted something to happen! Only by seeing what it really does he'll be satisfied!

...

Several days later he started regretting his decision. He ate all of his ores, half of his sets and some furniture.

It wasn't hard to do so, but it was painful... mentally.

However, that bore some fruit! That thing became bigger! Just by a bit, but Kerren was able to notice it!

He then ran several experiments on his body but all he could detect were just non-existing changes.

He also wondered where all this stuff went to, he ate so much that one could build a proper house using all of that!

But it simply dissapeared inside a tiny dot of... something.

-* Well, whatever it is... it's not trying to eat me, so we're good... for now -- that's the only thing he got after feeding it so much stuff.

Not the only one, to be honest, he also noticed that the amount of mana he needed to cast some spells lessened.

Since that didn't happen normally and could only be achived using artefacts or special buffs he decided that this thing was the reason.

Kerren couldn't link the thing to whatever he knew about. It wasn't an artefact, it wasn't a type of energy or even something alive, it seemed like it was... just there?

Something that was and is...

-* Right! The black ooze that i used in the purgatory! -- he suddenly realized!

It behaves exactly like mana but it's not mana! It's also really strange and feels different from everything else!

But how did it end up in his body? Was it a gift from The Tree or something? Or is it that it was an accident?

It didn't matter as he doesn't want to know. He couldn't use it now, because if he did and it somehow expended it, what would he do? Ask for more? From whom?

As he was lost in thought he heard a knock on the door.

- Kerren! -- girlish voice could be heard from behind the door -- Do you want to go to the dungeon with me?

- A dungeon? Which one?

- You know which one! I have a clue about the mission! I wanted to test it but thought that u'll be interested in it aswell!

- Oh? -- Kerren stroked his chin -- Fine, why not. Mind telling me what the clue is before we go? -- he said as he walked towards the door.

- Sure! I think that we're not looking in the right direction. Who said that the boss is alive? Maybe we need to focus on finding a secret room! I found one several days ago and wanted to investigate it, but i encountered a little problem you could help me with.

Kerren squinted his eyes as he heard it.

-* Hidden room? That's the first time i hear about that...

It really was! There were no records about it in the book he read! More than that, why did she even tell Kerren about it? She had enough strength to pass whatever trial it had in it...

Kerren didn't want to be weird so he opened a door. He saw Yusaya standing there... in a dress!

- Why do you look like that? -- he couldn't help but ask.

- What? Am i not allowed to wear girly clothes or something? -- she smiled as she looked at Kerren from above.

- Nah, it's just that you caught me by surprise. Change it, though, we're going inside a dungeon after all -- it's not like he was concerned about her safety, he was concerned about himself!

- Do you want to help me change?.. -- she added quietly, catching Kerren off guard!

- No. -- he said as he closed the door behind him. -- I'll be waiting at the dungeon's entrance.

- U're so boring... -- Yusaya said with a dissapointed face.

- Why would i help you? I already saw you naked. -- he added while being somewhat far away from her..

At first, she wanted to say something, but as she comprehended what he said...

- What do you mean you saw me naked!?