บท 62: Mana

Sophia falls down on her butt, frightened by the demonic black flames. A cold sweat ran down her cheek as her expression quickly turned to excitement after checking her status once again.

Walking up to her, I decided to call off the match since I wanted to see her new mastery in action. I wasn't able to suppress my jealousy as my face didn't change from an annoyed expression.

"We'll stop here since I want to see your new mastery. Make a new whip made of the plants but try and make it stronger and denser since you have the time now," I say.

"As you wish," she says getting up, then walking towards one of the plants in the training room.

As she placed her hand on a plant that looked like a vine, the vine slowly wrapped around her wrists. A green glow then started to envelop her hands and the vine she was touching which seemed to form a connection with her.

Sophia started to whisper like she was talking to the plant before it quickly slithered up her arm and tied itself around her bicep. It then started to coil down her arm until it reached her palm where it started to wiggle around.

The part of the vine that was left hanging at the top of her arm seemed to form the head of a snake that could open and close its mouth. Its tongue was just like a snake and it also had razor-sharp fangs. The eyes of it were an emerald green that resembled the jewel itself.

『Status』

[Name: Sophia]

[Race: Amazonian]

[Status: Servant]

[Level: 49/100]

[HP: 150/150 MP: 10/10 SP: 80/80]

[Strength: 25]

[Defense: 20]

[Magic: 2]

[Speed: 20]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 10]

[Skills: [Body Enhancement] [Contortion] [Berserk] [Intense Focus] [Forest Magic]

[Mastered Weapons: [Plants] [Whips (Partial)]

[Soul Equipment: [Emerald Snake Sleeve]

[Body Modification: [Natures Tattoo]

[Titles: [Chiefs Daughter] [Servant]

…

*sigh*

"... I'm not even surprised anymore. How did you even figure out how to do this?" I asked Sophia.

"Well, this snake here was always in that plant. Even though it looked just like a vine I was able to notice it when I activated [Forest Magic] in here. The reason why it turned into soul equipment probably has to do something with my race or my tattoos," Sophia said excitedly from acquiring another new thing.

"That thing looks just like a vine, I probably could have spotted it if I didn't forget to turn on my new assimilated skill,"

"[Heightened 5 Senses and More]," I muttered.

Suddenly I feel a wave of nausea overcome me as I drop to my knees covering my mouth. The world around me spun, as waves of blue light flew through the air. I could sense anything within a 2-mile radius, no matter if it is a bug crawling on the ground or a blade of grass moving in the wind.

It took no more than 30 seconds to fully adjust, as my nausea went away but the blue light that flowed with the wind stayed in the air. I reached out with my hand but it connected with nothing, just flowing through the blue light.

My wives looked at me in confusion after seeing me go through multiple emotions.

"Arpious? Are you okay?" Kumo asked.

"W-WHAT! O-oh sorry... it's just this new skill, allows me to see this blue light that flows through the air. The only problem is that I don't know what it does or if I can use it," I say.

"WAIT, WHAT! You can actually see mana!" Kumo says, surprised.

"This is mana?" I ask.

"It should be, if I'm going off what you just described, what you can see is mana. If you use a skill it should provide you with more information," Kumo says excitedly by this new discovery.

I guess I can try out some of my new skills…

[Weather Manipulation: Wind and Rain]

The blue light was sucked into a vortex towards the center of my palm and then shot up towards the sky. The sky around us darkened as it didn't just rain but it started to pour hard. The wind picked up around us, as the people around me started to float up slightly.

The rain somehow started to pour harder than before, to the point that each rain droplet that landed on me felt like getting hit by a bullet. I only felt the impact but no pain… I can't say the same for the people around me though.

They all took cover inside the castle so as to not feel like they are getting abused by a volley of tiny water bullets.

I tried to control the wind and rain but nothing happened as I just looked like I was trying to grab the sky.

"What's the point of this, if I can't even control it?" I muttered to myself.

Deactivating the skill, the clouds disappeared into nothing as if they were never there to begin with. The wind calmed down as the rain stopped instantly once the clouds disappeared.

"I'll just try all of my newly assimilated skills," I muttered to myself.

[Mystic Arm]

The mana around me converged onto the top of my right arm where it showed a type of purple shadow that hovered above my arm. At the end of it, where my hand is, is a huge purple claw that seemed like it came from a wolf.

Swiping once with the arm I tore a huge claw mark on the side of my training room. The spectators which were my maids, wives, and Sophia all awed at the sight of my newly acquired skill.

Deactivating the skill, the arm slowly disappeared as the mana in it dispersed into the air and I decided to skip [The Art of Sex: 3] and move onto [Blood Craving Army Enhancement]. Before I activated the skill I decided to inspect it since I was slightly suspicious about it because I assimilated [Berserk] and [Demonic Berserker] with it.

[Blood Craving Army Enhancement]

[This skill gives you the stats of both berserk states combined with an only 50% chance to be affected by the berserk state. You are also able to spread this boosted effect towards an army that you recognize as your own. Your army will receive a much different reaction as they will be consumed by bloodlust and kill anything that you, yourself, recognize as an enemy.]

This is a nice buff. It still has the chance of the berserk state affecting me though. If it happens again then I don't know what it will do to me since I already have the mark… whatever let's just try it. If something goes wrong, I'll just use [Ichimei].

Activating the skill a read aura envelopes my body while the mana around me doesn't move an inch. It's almost like mana is so afraid of me that it doesn't even move with the wind.

The white of my eyes turns black while my pupils disappear leaving the X and Diamond in my eyes. Both of them turn an ominous shade of red that seems to peer into the soul of anything I look at.

Insane power swells from within me but unlike my evolution, it stays inside of me as if it can burst out at any moment. My body shakes from the amount of power kept within my body while I feel something corroding at one of my organs.

Wanting to test it out quickly due to the bad feeling I was having, I pulled a twig from one of the plants next to me. The people around me were confused at why I didn't get a real weapon but I was paranoid about how much power I would use. If it is so powerful that I wipe my castle from existence, then I'd rather use a weapon that will not let me achieve that.

Swinging down with the stick, a gust of air devours the room blowing most things away. Shielding my eyes from the wind I then look back up, to see a slash mark the size of a regular sword on my castle walls.

A grin crept onto my face as I deactivated the skill before the corroding at one of my organs was too much.

The red aura seeped back into me while the mana around me slowly crept it's way back towards me, unsure if it's safe anymore. My eyes also reverted to their normal state which I will say is almost as creepy as the berserk form.

Walking over to the slash mark, I touch it and feel the clean-cut that was engraved into the stone wall. I couldn't help but think of the possibilities if I used a regular sword because even this slash mark was made by the wind pressure from my swing.

Moving onto another new skill, I activate [Lavas Will].

Suddenly, information flows into my mind as I stumble back a few steps. Seconds later I was able to process most of the information which was the location of lava within a 1-mile radius.

All of the lava that I sensed was below me as I felt a connection with it. Moving 2 fingers up I hear a rumble from below and then,

BOOM