Chapter 28: Pain as Fuel
After returning to his residence, Elliott locked the door and sat down.
He dropped onto the floor and took out one of the bottles of Budget Mana Gathering Pills from his Spatial Pouch.
The moment he removed the lid, a sour yet faintly sweet smell drifted out.
"They kept boasting that this new version has better absorption. I hope that part, at least, wasn't a lie."
Despite his grumbling, Elliott tossed a bean-sized pill into his mouth.
Gulp.
The pill slid down his throat and began dissolving inside his stomach.
Heat did rise near his Mana Core.
However, it did not feel like clear water flowing through a peaceful valley. It felt more like a muddy current filled with gravel forcing its way through his blood vessels.
'As expected... it feels filthy.'
Elliott's brow tightened.
His Mixed Mana Roots were already as inefficient as a cracked jar. Nearly half of the medicinal power dispersed before it could be absorbed.
To make matters worse, even the remaining half was filled with impurities. He could clearly feel the residue clinging to the walls of his Mana Channels like grime.
'What a mess.'
Elliott circulated his Mana, forcibly suppressing the turbid energy churning inside his stomach and gathering what little medicinal power remained.
The Mana of a One-Star Adept, Second Stage rose by a tiny amount.
In exchange, a heavy pressure spread beneath his chest, as though his stomach had been packed full of stones.
'Is this the side effect?'
As the throbbing pain in his abdomen worsened, the fog covering his mind began to disappear as if it had never been there.
[Painforged activated.]
[Physical pain is being converted into Mental Power.]
The toxicity and side effects of the cheap pill had paradoxically become fuel for his training.
"Not bad."
Instead of clutching his stomach, Elliott stared into the empty air with brightly shining eyes.
He raised the index finger of his right hand.
The Mental Power sharpened by pain began controlling the complex Mana flow of Intangible Sword without the slightest deviation.
His body struggled to digest the inferior medicine while his mind sharpened the blade.
It was a bizarre form of training, but it worked.
+++
A single blade of grass shifted without a sound.
In a shaded corner of the dense forest beyond the city, a beast lay flat against the ground, holding its breath.
It was twice the size of an ordinary wolf, and its back was covered in dense spikes as hard as iron.
Its eyes shone blood-red with hunger.
It had not yet reached the level of an Arcane Beast, but the savage aura contained within its body placed it close to that threshold.
The creature was watching its prey.
Several steps ahead, a shabbily dressed man crouched beside a stream with his back completely exposed.
The sound of splashing water continued as he washed his face.
Grrrr...
Thick saliva dripped from the wolf's jaws.
Its instincts whispered to it.
The faint Mana coming from that man would be the perfect meal to fill its empty stomach.
An opening.
The muscles in the wolf's hind legs swelled like a drawn bowstring.
Whoosh!
With the sound of wind being torn apart, the wolf launched itself into the air.
Its sharp claws flashed toward the back of the man's neck.
At that moment, the man did not turn his head.
He did not panic or rise to his feet.
He merely shook the water from his hand behind him.
As casually as if he were chasing away an annoying fly, he flicked one finger.
Shhk.
A short, transparent line cut through the air.
Pshk!
The wolf's body stiffened in midair.
It could not even release a proper cry before crashing to the ground.
Thud.
Dust rose as its heavy body struck the earth.
A hole the width of a finger had been pierced directly between its eyes.
Not a single drop of blood had splashed onto Elliott.
It was a clean and fatal strike.
"Attacking from behind... how cowardly."
For a beast, it was rather clever.
Elliott slowly stood and turned around.
A faint distortion still flickered at the tip of his finger, forming an invisible blade of Mana.
Its length was roughly three inches.
"It has grown quite a bit."
Elliott quietly examined the Mana Blade at his fingertip.
Two months ago, he had been delighted just to produce a one-inch blade no larger than a nail trimmer.
Even then, swinging it a few times would drain his Mana and leave him gasping for breath.
Now, things were different.
After training day and night, his proficiency with Intangible Sword had risen dramatically, improving the efficiency of its Mana consumption.
He had also forced down one inferior pill after another and raised his Realm to One-Star Adept, Third Stage, giving his Mana Core a much larger reserve.
However, the greatest change was something else.
'I already knew it was there.'
Elliott tapped the space between his eyebrows.
Two months ago, near this same river, he had nearly been ambushed by a group of unidentified hunters.
It had been a misunderstanding, but the incident had taught him something useful.
Using the excess Mental Power provided by Painforged, Elliott had developed the habit of keeping his Arcane Sense spread around him at all times.
Day and night, an invisible web of awareness surrounded him.
Because of that, he had noticed the wolf long before it crouched behind the bushes, salivating and preparing to leap.
Elliott approached the corpse and began skinning it.
"With this much meat... I won't have to worry about food for a while."
Adepts still needed nourishment.
Food remained necessary.
The hide could be sold.
The meat could be eaten.
'Perhaps hunting Arcane Beasts wouldn't be such a bad profession.'
After storing the hide and meat inside his Spatial Pouch, Elliott turned and began walking back toward his residence.