Chapter 691 - Severe mana deficiency

"This will have consequences, Morwag," Hela says.

The demon only shrugs, ignoring her completely, and continues wiping blood from the lumoran man’s face.

"Consequences," Morwag mutters, then shoves the bloodied handkerchief into the lumoran’s mouth, forcing it closed. While staring at the man, he continues, "You say it like it is a bad thing."

As he turns toward Hela, the lumoran spits out the handkerchief and starts vomiting, which Morwag ignores. "We have been challenged, Hela, and we will respond without being bound by the rules others set to control the powerless."

"Don’t tell me. You know I do not care. I’m only in it for the items."

"I guess you are. But is it good enough to risk your life for?"

"The rumors are already spreading, so I can tell you. The Eternal Court found an ancient armory on the 4th floor, filled with high-level arcane items, some even pristine. It is incredibly old, and may have belonged to one of the Ruler’s companions or the earliest Beyond explorers. Half the guild died just to bring out a few pieces."

"Why not sell them or bring them out of the tutorial instead of wasting them to hire people to start a guild war?"

"There is a pristine item, a strong one. It requires many demon hearts, powerful ones. The guild master is desperate to use it. Which means you are the ones being hunted now."

"I can imagine you are not the only one hired."

"Not at all. The Eternal Court are already in talks with other guilds to help explore the armory in exchange for a share of the items. I think they have contacted Bloodline and Frontier, especially." She nods toward Luan.

The thylarin next to Sophie keeps his face unreadable, but Sophie’s expression makes it clear she did not know at all.

"Good. I will let you leave this time," Morwag says with a smile.

Hela just snorts. I think she shared this information because she does not care, and also because she knew Morwag would "reward" it. She does not seem afraid of him, but she feels like the type who prefers to be prepared before getting into a fight.

"The trip... the twins?" she asks, and the two lumorans twitch at once.

Morwag thinks for a second before waving it off.

In the next moment, Hela grabs them by the arms and pulls. With one step, the air in front of them twists, and all three of them vanish.

"Luan, you sneaky, sneaky thylarin bitch," Morwag says, though Luan’s expression remains calm.

Without waiting for a reaction, Morwag heads out of the restaurant.

I tear apart my connection to Sophie so it cannot be used for any sort of tracking, then follow closely behind Weslin and Morwag, who does not even seem to care or hurry at all. He strolls through the streets while curiously looking around, sometimes at the shops, sometimes at the people passing by.

After a few minutes, he is the first to speak. “Weslin, are you able to detect Hela?”

“I cannot,” Weslin admits. “At most, I can keep up the field around me so I know when she comes nearby, but it would not be very useful against her.”

“That is true. Well, do your best, or you will die. Do not think she will hold back just because you went on a few expeditions together. Her skill allows her to warp her presence and body. It can either look like she is in a different place than she actually is, or it seems like she is not there at all. She can also use it for teleportation. That oaf of a woman even kept leaving the restaurant when I tried to scare her a bit, and half of the time she only seemed like she was there with us.”

“I thought it worked like that, but she improved it quite a lot.”

Morwag snorts. “Child’s play. Relying on tricks instead of fighting properly, but I guess it is good for birthday parties, and cowards.”

“I guess. But I wanted to ask. What if, because of what you did, the Black Tower master allows the guild war to go into a second or maybe even third stage? What if Luan decides to help them, uses the opportunity to join Hela, and fights you?”

“Weslin, in that case, I would kill them both.”

“You can do that?”

“Yes.”

“You are bullshitting.”

Morwag laughs and puts his arm around Weslin with a bright smile. “I am not. You think Hela’s skill or Luan’s fragment scare me? Me?”

“I think not being scared and winning are two very different things. But let’s say you would die. What then?”

The demon seems to give it some thought and then smiles unapologetically. “You guys would have a big problem, wouldn’t you?”

***

The moment we arrive at the guild branch, the security lady vyssari is already waiting. This time, no words are directed at me at all. Instead, they instantly throw dozens of questions at Morwag, with some complaints too. The entire guild is on full alert, defensive arrays activated, and guards tripled. Some less secure parts have been entirely evacuated, and people gathering in safer zones.

Yet people from the guild do not look panicked, more like they are shifting their behavior to fit the situation. Many of the demons even look excited, and without asking, I can bet some are already using Beyond stay tokens to extend their time here so they do not miss out on the fun.

Soon after, a vyssari man arrives at our branch. He does not look that strong, yet the branch leader immediately shows him respect, greeting him as a servant of the Master of the Black Tower. That vyssari wears a plain white suit with a brooch shaped like a black tower, a copy of the one in the middle of this outpost.

Morwag, fully uninterested, leaves for the basement to hand the Doc whatever item Nyssa sent him. The branch leader nearly panics while apologizing to the vyssari in the suit, calming down only when Weslin joins the conversation and begins explaining what happened and the background behind this war and the already broken rules. At first, I listen, curious about what will be said, but it quickly turns boring, so I sneak away.

As I walk down the hallway, I wonder what kind of item needs demon hearts and why the Clown Council would pursue it this way. Could the guild master not get some from the tutorial? Or from some lonely attendees? How many does he even need? Ten? A hundred? A thousand? Maybe he is on a floor where demons do not exist, but in that case, could he not post quests for others to gather them in the tutorial and bring them to him without starting a war?

Is it possible that demon hearts from the natives of the tutorial are not as good as those of attendees? Could it be that they discovered the armory months ago, he already tested the item, and with no other options and greed pushing him, decided to take this path so he could use it before the tutorial ends? It is not like he needs to be remembered as a nice guy in Beyond once he is back on his planet with dozens of different problems.

If I were a cowardly, greedy, weak man, I would probably hire Bloodline or another top 5 guild for protection. I would offer them items from the armory in exchange for help exploring it. Then, if I were an asshole, I would start a war. But that item would have to be truly something else. Still, it being pristine, an item Champions might use, is very possible.

I can imagine him staying in Beyond for the rest of his tutorial under the protection of a powerful guild. He would get the item working and then return to his planet, likely becoming the top dog there, securing his position as an Absolute for a long time.

Laid out that way, it makes a little bit of sense, doesn’t it?

There is also the chance that Hela twisted the truth, and the heart he really wants is Morwag’s or Nyssa’s and not any others.

Another option is that the item requiring demon hearts is not meant to strengthen him directly, but to be used for something else entirely.

Ahhh, so fun, isn’t it?

Near my room, I run into Talon waiting for me. He often does this when something happens, hoping to gather information. In exchange, he usually helps me with annoying tasks or shares some of his own information.

As I tell him what happened, his face turns sour and he curses multiple times. A few dozen counts as multiple, right? Most of those curses come when I mention that Bloodline or Frontier might be involved in this mess, along with possibly more powerful attendees for hire.

"You do not realize one thing, Nathaniel," he tells me after I share most of it. "If that armory really holds a pristine item, this mess will be huge. You don’t care about items that much, but fuck, some assholes here would murder you for a low arcane. If it is as Hela said and the rumors are spreading, the 4th floor will be a fucking disaster of a mess. I wouldn’t be surprised if people from the 5th floor rush there too. Eternal Clowns members will be hunted down, all of them, tortured to try to force the location of the armory out of them. The top 10 guilds will form coalitions if it is true, and Bloodline will cut a deal with the Eternal Clowns. Everyone will want a piece of it."

"I mean, pristine items are nice and all, and you can make shards, but in the end, it’s just items," I counter.

He stares at me without blinking. For a moment, I think he might pull that black bow off his back and try to beat me with it, but instead, he just sighs and walks away.

What a weirdo.

Finally alone, I head into my room and drop onto my bed, staring at the burned section of the ceiling. While I study the charred wood, I think of ways to locate Hela. I pull from memory what I had seen her do and compare it to how Ruby used to teleport, since it feels similar, as well as other abilities I have seen with similar effects. In some ways, it resembles Ruby’s warp-type teleportation, but likely mixed with a skill like [Projection] or [Replacement].

I still find it fascinating how different people find their own ways to grow powerful, even though we all started from nearly the same point, just two beginning skills, with everything snowballing from there.

While I think, I continue to accumulate mana in the halo over my head. So far, it is the simplest and easiest shape to maintain. I can make it look like a crown, but right now, that is less efficient and requires more effort. Still, once I improve it, I will.

My new skill also lets me store primordial energy in the halo, but so far, I have only used mana. Mana can be turned into kinetic energy through my heart, and my Ignition Heart can pump enough thermal energy into me to kill me, so there is no need to accumulate it there.

But mana? I need more. I am starving.

I'm literally suffering from severe mana deficiency.

I let my mind wander while focusing on the shape of the burned ceiling. At the same time, I form a few evil pyramids that float around me as I continue with my daily mana-shaping exercises.

I bring up my status screen and reread the description of my newest passive.

Mana Wave Predation (Unique Arcane) - You become the natural predator of all mana. Your body and senses are refined to predate upon, seize, and bend all wavelengths of mana you can perceive to your will. The passive’s strength is directly tied to your mana usage, and the more you channel or consume, the stronger the effect of the passive becomes.

I really need more mana.

***

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