Chapter: 26
Henetta couldn’t close her mouth as she watched the scene unfolding before her.
“What… is this…”
An Ice Golem.
A man-made monster created over 6,000 years ago, the year Henetta was born.
“Absorbing mana directly from the core of an Ice Golem… How is that possible?”
Over 6,000 years ago, the Mage Kingdom ruled the world.
The Ice Golem was a monster created by the founding king of the Mage Kingdom.
Its core was so complex that even Henetta couldn’t fully comprehend its structure.
Not only did Zian make perfect contact with this intricate core, but he was even absorbing the pure mana it contained.
“For now, it’s certain this boy has eyes that can read mana.”
Not only could he read the mana inside monsters, but he also had eyes capable of reading mana itself.
At this point, Henetta’s doubts vanished completely.
“Judging by his eyes alone, they might even be better than mine.”
As mentioned, Henetta couldn’t fully grasp the structure of the Ice Golem’s core, while Zian was able to understand it at a glance.
By this measure alone, Zian’s eyesight could be considered superior. Of course, this might only apply to analyzing internal structures, so other abilities would need to be tested for confirmation.
Ssssssshhh…
The air around Zian and the Ice Golem rapidly chilled.
The pure freezing mana radiating from the core instantly transformed the interior of the colosseum into a wintry environment.
However, it wasn’t extreme cold, more like a fairly mild early winter.
“The mana loss rate is absurdly low… He’s absorbing all that dense mana completely?”
This meant that very little mana was being lost during the absorption process.
If even 10% had escaped, the temperature would have dropped below minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Judging purely from the temperature, Zian’s mana loss rate was at most 5%. In other words, he was absorbing 95% of the mana perfectly.
“Where on earth did this guy come from… Wait a second.”
While Henetta was smiling faintly at Zian’s astonishing ability and overwhelming talent, she realized now was not the time for admiration.
“No way he can absorb all that vast mana with such a small body!”
The mana within the Ice Golem’s core was far beyond what a normal human could contain.
Absorbing all that mana like this would inevitably trigger a mana overload and cause an explosion.
“Stop! You’ll die if you absorb any more!”
Henetta rushed toward Zian, placing her hand on his shoulder. She tried to pull him back forcibly—but then…
Zzzzzzt!
Her hand froze the moment it touched Zian’s shoulder.
“My mana barrier… frozen so easily…”
It had pierced through Henetta’s magical resistance and frozen her arm instantly. The mana density must be unimaginable.
“I’ve already been halfway consumed by mana. This won’t do. I need to forcibly separate him!”
Henetta melted her frozen arm using mana and prepared telekinesis to pull Zian away.
Fshhhhh!
With a blast like a flashbang, a whirlwind of cold swirled around, as if a snowstorm had erupted.
“…Huff.”
A sound of deep breathing could be heard. Zian seemed to be consolidating the mana he had just absorbed, repeatedly inhaling and exhaling deeply.
As the breaths continued, the snowstorm gradually subsided, revealing Zian’s figure.
“You… absorbed all that mana?”
The Ice Golem Zian had been touching was completely still.
Like a fallen soldier, it slumped, arms and legs dangling, head bowed.
There wasn’t a trace of mana left in its core.
This meant that Zian had absorbed every bit of mana that made up the Ice Golem’s core.
“Huff…”
Zian exhaled deeply, like a sigh of winter.
“…I really thought he’d die.”
With that exhale, the mana consolidation was complete. Zian breathed out in relief.
“No, this can’t be. There’s no way he could absorb that much mana in such a short time.”
Henetta stared intently at Zian.
She focused all her mana, scanning both the inside and outside of his body.
“There must be some damage somewhere in his body.”
Surely, some part of him should have been affected. She meticulously examined his body.
“…He’s fine?”
To her surprise, Zian’s body was in perfect condition, as if nothing had happened.
Even the most talented mages would usually feel the effects of absorbing such an immense amount of mana.
Absorbing external mana normally tears mana veins inside the body…
“But instead of damage, he’s become stronger.”
Zian’s mana veins had become more robust. With that much forced mana intake, the veins should have been nearly destroyed.
“This is impossible.”
It was an abnormal phenomenon beyond Henetta’s understanding.
She focused intensely, inspecting his mana veins.
“Not just his body—his mana veins are stronger too. Like a well-trained swordsman’s mana veins… Wait. Well-trained swordsman’s mana veins…?”
A flash of realization struck Henetta.
“Weak mana veins compared to a well-trained body… This is the trait of someone born with a special vein configuration.”
Special vein configuration—born with weak or blocked veins, or any anomaly in the mana veins. Henetta classified all these conditions under special veins.
“And if absorbing pure freezing mana strengthened his veins…”
Zian was male.
Men are usually born with strong yang energy.
Although not fully examined yet, if the issue Zian had was due to this strong innate yang energy…
“Then absorbing the Ice Golem’s mana and strengthening his veins makes sense.”
The powerful yin of the pure freezing mana neutralized Zian’s strong yang energy.
This hypothesis explained how he absorbed all that mana in such a short time. The massive force consumed the massive yin energy voraciously.
“Then, the special veins Zian has would be a type of strong-yang special vein—or a derivative.”
Henetta recalled previous patients with special veins and organized her thoughts.
“Um… Principal Henetta…?”
About three minutes into her contemplation, Zian, having fully consolidated his energy, cautiously called out to Henetta.
“I’m sorry. I… stopped the Ice Golem from moving…”
Zian assumed Henetta was upset because he had immobilized the Ice Golem, so he bowed deeply in apology.
Henetta was strict with those lacking manners but forgiving with genuine mistakes. A proper apology would suffice.
“Principal…?”
“……”
However, Henetta’s expression remained unchanged. She wasn’t angry with Zian; she was simply lost in thought.
If she was considering the type of special veins she suspected, absorbing the Ice Golem’s mana might have caused another issue. She must have noted this somewhere—perhaps in the Rare Library?
Henetta was so deep in thought she didn’t even hear Zian’s words.
“Did I… mess up?”
Unaware, Zian could only nervously sweat as he watched Henetta’s serious expression.
“I’ll just step out for a moment.”
“You can leave this as it is.”
“Take it if you need it!”
“Also, the verification was enough just now. You don’t need to worry anymore!”
Henetta rushed off, leaving the underground prison.
Alone, I stared blankly at the Ice Golem, now lifeless and drained of mana.
“I didn’t mean to, but… absorbing mana from the Ice Golem’s core proves my ability.”
Even Henetta and the world’s mage tower lords hadn’t fully understood the Ice Golem’s complex core.
And I absorbed the driving mana from its core, making it entirely mine. This was only possible with eyes that could read mana.
“This solves the secret vault issue safely.”
Henetta would no longer think I was the vault thief. A sigh of relief escaped me.
“Now the problem is why Zeraon’s mana was detected in the Ice Golem’s core, and how I absorbed it all.”
I pondered as I looked at the Ice Golem, now a shell without its mana.
“Was this part of Zeraon’s plan?”
One of Zeraon’s objectives was “regaining power quickly.” Perhaps he had prepared some mechanism to let me absorb the Ice Golem’s mana.
“But does that make sense?”
The Ice Golem was stored separately in Henetta’s Rare Library. Would Zeraon really risk infiltrating the Rare Library just to absorb its mana?
“The benefit of absorbing its mana would be, at most, a one-rank increase in mana status.”
Would he risk infiltrating the Rare Library for just a one-rank mana boost? It didn’t add up.
“Was there a reason to destroy the Ice Golem? Or maybe he took advantage of the infiltration to set something up?”
Since his mana was detected, Zeraon clearly had some scheme—but the reason remained unclear.
“In any case, my mana has increased by one rank. That’s a gain…”
But knowing Zeraon was involved left an uneasy feeling, like a poisoned chalice.
“Anyway, the primary goal, reaching B-rank mana status, is complete.”
I checked my updated stats and froze.
“What the…?”
[Status]
[Strength: B-]
[Agility: C+]
[Stamina: C]
[Mental: EX]
[Mana: B]
I expected only my mana to increase by one rank, but…
All my stats had risen by one rank.
“Why did my physical stats increase?”
Absorbing mana from the Ice Golem’s core should only increase mana by one rank. Yet strength, agility, and stamina also increased.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
I had absorbed pure freezing mana countless times before. Never had any stats besides mana increased.
“What happened? Maybe the system log will explain.”
I checked the system log for clues, hoping I hadn’t missed a message while concentrating on absorbing the mana.
[Absorbing pure freezing mana.]
[An ‘element’ reacts to the pure freezing mana.]
[An ‘element’ dormant deep within the body slowly awakens.]
[As this ‘element’ awakens, the body evolves one stage.]
[All stats increase by one rank.]
“…”
Unexpected messages appeared in the log.
[The dormant ‘element’ within the body fully awakens.]
[The element stabilizes in response to Mental EX rank.]
[New race value confirmed; system message’s ‘race’ field updated.]
I quickly closed the log and checked my status screen.
Next to the race category, a new word appeared beside “Dragon.”
[Race: Dragon, Ancient Spirit, ???]
A new race designation: Ancient Spirit.
