6. Parasite and symbiosis

Let's briefly talk about the parasite. Each of these parasites has a mana core and these parasites communicate with each other via signals in the form of impulses and hormones.

Their mana core is too weak to absorb mana from the air, which is why they depend on a host. In their mana core, mana gets purified. You can think of it this way. Mana from the environment contains many elemental impurities. It is like crude oil that needs to be refined into its component.

Each mana core is also responsible for this purification process and with a higher mage rank, the purification ability increases as well.

This parasite is known for its high reproduction rate, adaptability to changes in the environment and the host, as well as intercommunication among its kind.

Intercommunication is mainly used to communicate information concerning changes in the host.

Such changes can be in the area of nutrient, energy, or mana intake in the body, the discovery of a new host in range, stimulation and inhibition of the reproduction rate, and so on.

In Luz's body, however, the parasites drilled in and multiplied rapidly via asexual reproduction until there was at least one parasite in almost every cell of Luz.

Simon, on the other hand, reduced the addition of all nutrients as well as mana to Luz's body at regular intervals, forcing the parasite collective to change their tactics as there was no next host to take over.

For the well-being of the parasite collective, the host Luz had to survive, because otherwise the collective would perish with him, which is why the collective was also forced to reduce their mana consumption.

The hivemind also concluded to stop the invasion of the brain prematurely, because the takeover of these cells could lead to premature brain death due to the bursting of his synapses.

The mana core of Luz was the place where the mana concentration was the highest, which is why 5 parasites decided to settle in the mana core through its cracks, although there was no nutrient flow to it.

In the evening of the same day, Brian stormed into the Magic Tower and asked, "Where is Luz, my employee?"

After Simon showed him the Luz inside a tank, Brian grabbed Simon by the collar and said coldly, "I never gave you permission to do experiments on my employees, of which we don't even have known success rates. You'll pay a hundredfold if Luz wakes up with mental injuries and ten thousand times the price if Luz dies in the process."

"Isn't the price too high for a simple employee?" Simon stammered.

"You're not paying the value of the employee. You're paying the price for not asking my permission about what you're going to do with my employees. Oh, by the way, you're paying a hundred times Luz's daily salary until Luz wakes up. I hope the price was worth it to you, Simon," said Brian, holding Simon by the collar.

"I understand," Simon stammered.

Only after Brian left the tower did Simon begin to curse loudly, "Jodoc why do you always convince me of stupid ideas? I should have never listened to you. I have to give Brian almost 5 years of my hard-earned money. As punishment, we both will stay awake until Luz wakes up."

Jodoc shrieked loudly to make his outrage known before getting comfortable on Simon's shoulder.

Luz was lying in the tank for several days while several changes took place in his body. On the one hand, organ failure nearly occurred regularly due to the initially inhibited nutrient transport between the cells because of the parasites. On the other hand, the parasites, which had drilled themselves into Luz's Mana core, developed differently.

Due to the high amount of mana they came in contact with, their development was accelerated and these five parasites gained rudimentary consciousness. These five communicated with each other about how to proceed.

They also gained the ability to channel stronger impulses as well as more potent hormones through Luz's body, which allowed them to inhibit communications in the collective as well as prioritize their commands. One of their first orders was to increase the mana consumption as well as to give a 50% share of the refined mana to the host.

Luz benefited from the flow of mana with a higher degree of purity through his body. However, the command was released from the parasites in his Mana Core for selfish reasons, as they wanted to care less about refining Mana and more about controlling the collective.

What the parasites ignored was that this mana was also slowly healing Luz's mana core. The cracks of the mana core became thin enough that these parasites were trapped inside of Luz's mana core.

Panicking, they realized that if a new host was to be found, they would die with Luz. Communication with their host is a top priority in order to make future plans.

By now Luz was only physically paralyzed from the anesthetics, however, he was slowly able to think clearly again.

'Shit my whole body itches and hurts like hell. I feel strong impulses coursing through my body. The question is: when can I move my body again?' went through Luz's head.

'Eat!' Luz heard in the form of impulses and he only got more confused. Luz heard several voices telling him telepathically.

'Give food for high-quality mana.'

Heard Luz, while wondering about the identities of the voices in his head.

'So how can I help you guys? Or rather, how do you plan to pay your rent starting from today?' Luz thought.

'Biological matter,' Was the answer to Luz's question, which made him sigh in helplessness.

Meanwhile, Luz was able to move slowly and after lifting his head out of the water, he saw Simon staring at him with rings around his eyes. It took a moment for the latter to react and jump up.

"You're still alive. Well, well, well," the latter said excitedly.

"Food," Luz croaked.

"Okey," Simon said and increased the nutrient intake tremendously.

Luz now fell back into the pool due to fatigue and went back to sleep.

"Brian. Luz woke up for a short while before falling asleep again. Take a look at his measurements," Simon said as he showed Brian the measurement graphs.

"The cracks in his mana core became smaller. Well, a small step towards full rehabilitation, but wait... How does that explain the mana quality and the decrease in mana volume pumping through his body?" Brian muttered to himself while Simon just nodded for coherence.