However, the notifications didn't stop.
[Unique Skill: Resistance, activated]
[Skill: Intimidation Resistance Lv0, acquired.]
[Experience gained]
[Skill: Intimidation Resistance Lv0->1]
Skill: Intimidation Resistance Lv1->2
[Experience gained]
[Skill: Pain Resistance Lv3->4]
[Experience gained]
[Skill: Pain Resistance Lv4->5]
[Experience gained]
And that's without counting the new skill Nando had acquired during his last desperate and furious attack against Drake.
[Skill acquired: Accelerated Regeneration Lv0]
[Extreme skill: Recovery combined with natural skill, accelerated healing.]
[Combined Ability: Accelerated Regeneration Lv0]
[Accelerated Regeneration ability adapted to the user's body.]
[Acquired Ability: Vampiric Regeneration Lv0]
[Ability: Vampiric Regeneration Lv0 -> 1]
[Ability: Vampiric Regeneration Lv1 -> 2]
At an impressive speed, Nando's body began to recover, although it would likely take a long time for him to be 100% again. However, considering the state he was in, any recovery at all would be a miracle.
His clothes had been, basically, obliterated. Leaving mere tatters, that barely covered some parts of his severely injured body.
His arm, with which he had made the blood blade, had been almost devoured by the magic itself, and the other, with which he had held onto one of the teeth to stay inside Drake's mouth, had no trace of skin and the bones were easily visible beneath the flesh. The entire arm was destroyed, precariously attached to the body by the ligaments least affected by Drake's attack.
Thanks to the "improvised armor" of leather and thicker clothing, his torso and legs were slightly better. It was also easy to see spots where Nando's bones were visible; the difficult part was finding any place where the skin was intact, except in a few places on his back.
Without skin, the body cools down and it becomes more difficult to stop bleeding, easily increasing the chances of death. Add to that an unconscious state, and you have the perfect recipe for a certain and painful death, but not necessarily agonizing, if you are alone.
Key words: If and alone.
Shortly after Drake fell and disappeared, Impeto got up and went towards Nando. Even though he didn't exactly like Nando or the situation he was in, Impeto had to admit he admired his "master's" tenacity and resilience. Even though all this mess was his fault, he still took responsibility and ended up in a state very close to death.
Impeto knew he couldn't let him die for various reasons, but at that moment the main one was: he simply didn't want Nando to die.
As soon as he reached him, Impeto tried to use his fire to burn him, but stopped soon after seeing Nando's flesh burning easily under the heat he had sent. Impeto found it strange, since before this level of damage had only been achieved when he had used his strongest flames, but now he wasn't even using them.
Neither of them knew, but since waking up, Nando had been constantly using mana to strengthen his own body and filter (in a minuscule amount) the factors that weakened him. This wasn't reflected in Nando's status window or mind, not because it wasn't an ability, but because it wasn't his ability or a "complete" ability. It was something like a byproduct of Mari's ability [Beloved by Mana].
Mana is not something with consciousness, but it wasn't exactly an immobile and immutable force (like gravity); it had certain preferences, both in terms of where it gathered and in the people who could sense and "use" it.
In this sense, mana could be considered a semi-conscious energy, and as such, it would have preferences regarding the type of person it favored, which was reflected in abilities such as [Loved by Mana], [Favored by Mana], [Mana-enriched Body], etc.
And what does this have to do with Nando using mana unconsciously?
Basically, Nando's ability was the result of a proximity effect. The ability [Beloved by Mana] allowed Mari to almost freely mold mana, although she herself doesn't know this yet and it will still take time for her to fully master this ability. Added to this, Mari's new race is a Pixie, essentially a nature spirit that produced an aura of mana around her.
With exposure to both the aura of mana and the individual highly favored by mana, the result is a pseudo-ability that allowed Nando to use a minimal amount of mana (something between 0.1 and 0.5) to strengthen and protect himself, as well as allowing him to alter the amount of mana used in magical abilities, and partially alter the properties of these spells.
If it were any other human, orc, elf, etc., attempting the same it wond't work. Only and maybe, when they were at level 80 or had spent several years studying the nature of mana, magic, and the internal circuitry that allowed it to be channeled (although it would be much easier to just reach level 90 than to go through all that work).
And that's why now that he was unconscious and with his mana completely depleted, only the heat of Impetus was enough to injure Nando's body, which was already weak against heat, even more so in his fragile state.
[HP: 4/180
MP: 0/145]
He was clinging to life by a thread, thanks both to the blood he had ingested from the Drake and to his new ability [vampiric regeneration], basically a waaaayyy more potent version of the passive healing that was already a natural part of his physique.
Seeing that he wasn't helping, Impeto was momentarily frightened. If Nando died, he believed his fate wouldn't be fair, unlike the smaller female who could be just as terrifying as her master. Considering that the heat from the burning root wall wouldn't be good either, Impeto did the only thing he could in this case.
"Krrrooo kkooo kkkoooooo." (Heyyyy, come help me here!!!)
"""""""""""'"
Lumi had hidden among the rubble a little away from the burning root wall to escape the smoke after Impeto swooped down. But he still kept watch against any straggling kobolts that appeared.
With his keen sense of smell, he could distinguish the kobolds in the smoke when he concentrated, although he didn't like doing that. After all, he didn't like fire itself, much less the smell of smoke.
He was astonished when Impeto had rushed over, setting everything ablaze, and soon after, he was also irritated for the reasons mentioned above.
But that didn't change the fact that he have to protect the large and irritating creature and the flaming bird, he have to strictly follow the orders his "mother" had given him: to take care of the other large, irritating creature and the flaming bird.
Even though things had turned into chaos, this was his objective, and he would fulfill it to make her proud, to receive more of those crunchy and delicious things (magic stones) and rub them on the snout of that brat who couldn't stop bragging about always helping their "mother" more.
When he heard the crash behind him, he believed things were finally over, but soon he felt an intense murderous intent coming from both behind and in front. Following his mother's orders was paramount, and in this case, it meant not letting any of them get past, and that's what he did, no matter how tired he was.
When his energy (mana) was about to run out, he heard another loud bang from behind, but the murderous intent from behind vanished, and at the same instant, the murderous intent of those in front also vanished. The few who were still trying to get past the wall or fighting against it turned their backs and fled, much faster than when they were attacking.
Lumi didn't quite understand why, but he understood that his work was finished. He returned to his hiding place and as he was about to settle down—
"Krrrooo kkooo kkkoooooo krooo kooo!!!" (Heyyyy, I need you to come help me here!!!)