"Alright, alright."

Gabriel paced around; the weapon breaking down to his Mana was definitely a bad thing.

"It doesn't mean that injecting Mana tainted with the idea of corruption does break all weapons. Maybe it's about the quantity… or maybe I need to exclude the weapon from receiving the effects of my Mana. But how am I to do that? What if I use it on a bound weapon, Liz? What do you think?"

Liz, sitting on the floor in a dog position, turned her head to the right, looking at something on the ground by the bag.

There was his bound Sk'rayr spear on the ground.

"Not gonna happen."

She whipped her tongue once again.

"Don't even think about it!"

Liz shrugged, giving him her back.

Did her- oh my… her color is finally changing! Look at that!

Her scales had started tainting. They had become, barely, but darker at the pointy ends.

She's gaining the color of the Dark element. I wonder why.

"Come on now. We have to think of a way to solve this!" He said, shaking his head.

Gabriel started to module his Mana input to do the minimum amount of damage to the broken blade and hilt.

He finished his Mana and renewed it four times over, consuming all his remaining Mana potions.

Every single one of his attempts revealed to be useless.

He was sprawled with his back to the ground in defeat. A light burning in hands, not only on the palms but as much on it the whole of it, he had no idea if it was muscle, veins, bones. He knew not how Mana worked; what he knew was that he hadn't managed to gain an ounce of knowledge about how to make weapons survive his tainted Mana.

Only dust remained of his shortsword and the semblance of what could have once been a hilt.

If there was just one positive aspect to his endeavor, his Epiphany Skill increased by two whole Tiers, the Affinity boost increased his Mana and Spirit regeneration to over twenty-eight points per day.

However, having used all of his potions meant that he could only count on his normal regeneration now.

He would have to rely on using the Mana from inside of the Tyrant's soulscape. Gabriel had no idea if he would be able to use his newfound Magic directly during his training or if Epiphany could only be used to trigger the visions.

He had to try.

With a sigh, Gabriel sat up.

Oh, hell, no… I broke the only decent weapon I had to… cut myself up.

His gaze wandered toward the spear. But the weapon was not meant to cut like that. Handled as a sword, the Sk'rayr spear with its jagged blade would only bring him pain. There were the knives too, and even those were not good enough of a tool to cut away parts of-

Gabriel realized at that moment that he had another alternative now.

Let's see how really effective it is.

He looked at his hand, and then opened his Anchor Page.

Gabriel Walker

Race

Human

Level

26 (60.58%)

Class

Striker

Class Level

19 (70%)

Spirit

Spirit of The Lizard

Spirit Level

14 (81.7%)

Pools

Life

Energy

Mana

Spirit

10/10

20/20

1/60

20/20

Attributes

Body

Spirit

Final

Affinity

28.5 (19)

4

32.5

Alacrity

18

7

25

Power

12

8

20

Recovery

18.2 (7)

4

22.2

Resilience

20

10 (5)

30

Stamina

15.6 (12)

7

22.6

His Affinity, which thanks to Garena and later to Olive, he knew affected his Mana and Spirit regeneration rate while at the same time, the primary strength of his Magic, was quite a bit higher than his Resilience.

Maybe I should simply do it like that. I doubt it will not affect my own body if I wish it to. But I can't be sure without trying.

Gabriel decided to give himself a few more hours, resting to regenerate some of his Mana.

It was hunger that woke him up.

That's it, he realized, shooting up.

"Liz!"

Without even looking at his total Mana, Gabriel enveloped his right hand in corruption-tainted Mana, raised his left arm forward in front of him, flared the Energy contained into his Meridians, and with a Burst Attack empowered hand-cut, he struck the elbow crease.

Unfortunately, he tightened his muscles and forgot that his Meridians empowered his Resilience as well as his strength.

What he managed to do was break his elbows.

Fuck.

Gritting his teeth, Gabriel increased his corruption output, wishing for it to sharpen; it was something that he had already tried, but that barely functioned, alas, had no effect on himself.

Liz intervened right away. She trampled over him and started furiously biting the place he had struck. It took her a bit of effort using her own Burst Attack to empower her biting power, finally succeeding to tear it out.

Gabriel helped her by being as firm as possible.

The whole mauling took not more than three seconds. Then he quickly cast Helping Hand on himself and took a big breath; the initial stage of Helping Hand somehow worked by obstructing his pain receptors, quickly freeing him of most of the pain.

The man quickly calmed down and got as still as possible. The less blood he lost, the faster he would recover, not counting that Liz would have to suck some of it sooner rather than later.

Gabriel pacified his mind; during the whole ordeal, he hadn't shouted once. Actually, it had been days since he last lamented for the pain. Even during the times the enemies in the soulscape got him, he would not scream anymore. Gabriel would fight back until he was too troublesome to try to tame and torture him.

When he stopped bleeding, it was the moment he realized that there was something concrete he had gotten out of this failure. If his own Mana could not damage him, it was possible that the Sk'rayr spear, which was a bound object, wouldn't as well.

He did not want to damage it, but he had to try.

After Liz had her feel, he waited for his Recovery to heal him entirely; with a boost of 450%, he gained the five Life points he had lost in one hour and a half. Then he tested his theory.

With trepidation and a little fright, Gabriel took the Sk'rayr spear in hand.

Looking at the marvelous spear, he couldn't help to feel awe.

Her dark frame was shiny. Yes, he decided, it would be a she. Her beautiful leafy head and her complex butt hid secrets he had yet to discover. He could feel it; even the central grip and her unusual flexibility made the weapon a marvel yet to be fully appreciated. The two metal wires which were part of her had been bound to him as well.

Gabriel had regained some Mana, barely enough to do a test, but if he could damage it, he would do it right away. It seemed that the corruption-tainted Mana worked really well with objects, he had yet to try it against real-life bodies, but he doubted it would fail him even then.

So he took a breath and started injecting.

The spear tightened. Her frame enveloped in a barely visible dim dark glow.

Gabriel managed to lessen the flare to one-fifth of its initial power output during his testing with the shortsword. This way, he could successfully use it for longer; every five seconds, the weapon would suck up roughly one point of Mana. He guessed his control was related to his current Tier 5 Epiphany. Maybe at maximum Tier, he hoped, he would cut the flow to one-tenth.

Anyway, time passed, but the damage to the spear was nonexistent. The shortsword started eroding right away, losing particles of it or even chunks if he increased the flow of Mana, but nothing of the sort was happening to the spear.

Yes, there was still the chance that it was just a measure of resistance, it had so he decided to reach his maximum output and check for himself.

Quickly the spear glow increased to almost twenty-five inches, and his Mana reserves utterly disappeared. But the aftereffects of it would soon be seen.

He attentively looked at his spear; he could see its grain with his enhanced sight if he focused.

The alloy was perfect, not even the remote trace of imperfection on it, though, yes, the damage could be internal. So Gabriel slammed the spear on the ground, its malleable form curving as he did.

But nothing happened. The spear was perfectly healthy.

Gabriel let out a sigh of relief. Thank god…

I think I'm a douche, he realized after a while.

There had been one thing he had wholly forgotten, something he had never even remotely thought to do. Use Analyze on the spear.

Gabriel slapped his forehead and shook his head. He would do it once he came back from the training.

So they once again departed toward the center of the chamber, to meet the Tyrant.

***

"I see you made some progress, young human. But there's still a long road ahead of you. Tell me, did you master your corruption?" The monster asked.

"You tell me," Gabriel answered, grinning.

The armored monster laughed, a dark echo pervading Gabriel's chest as well as the chamber. "I say you're not even close. But at least you noticed that what can be intended as corruption has many forms; erosion is one of them." The mayor said, waiting for him to reply.

Gabriel snorted, "So useful, my master. I'll figure it out by myself anyway. Thanks for your interest."

"I will bring changes to the trials, just a little bit, but only to push you. The Mana at your disposal will be exactly twenty-four points. No more unlimited Mana. You are at more than fifty percent synchronization rate after all, are you not?"

Gabriel's grips tightened for a second. He realized that it meant that he could not cast the vision effect of Epiphany. He would have to use the Mana points at his disposal only to fight off his two dozen enemies. One point of Mana per man.

"Good, I would have asked you the same. I'm much stronger now, no?"

The Tyrant chuckled, "Wait until the last party to say so, my apprentice! Now go, make me proud!"

The giant instantaneously reached with his clawed fingers, grabbing his shoulder.

Gabriel found himself in the clearing once again.

But they were ready. Liz, at their right, stood up. Her eagerness to devour, pushing them to face their adversities even more.

They stepped with one perfectly timed and practiced jump, on the central rock, disappearing.

***

Death had been stalking the wolf for almost two days now. Darte saw everything she saw; even in the darkness of the silent night, they had full vision of their target.

It had been hard to pin down. Her sister's Bond Spirit was smart, just as she was. But Darte was above that.

After the first day of stalking, Darte knew that Death, his panther, had been noticed.

So their plan was clear, take on the wolf and fake losing tracks of him so that it would successfully think that he had left them behind. But the second day, in a much more cautious stalk, they had managed to retrieve, even if faint, the traces of the wolf they gained his location right away.

Having shaken them the previous day, they made sure that the wolf did not suspect anything. They could, given their Skills and Perks.

So they followed it the whole day long.

The panther was now following its target. The wolf had been running for a while now, headed in enemy territory, at the Turtle Island forest's extreme northwestern edges, where it connected to the mountain range. It seemed to go right beyond the lakeside.

There was a carefully hidden grotto in it. If one didn't actively look for it, they would not notice it.

Was that where she was hiding? Darte thought.

The wolf, his eyes glowing in the darkness, checked behind him, sniffing the air and carefully looking around to make sure he wasn't being followed, then he crossed through it.

Could this be a trap?

Darte knew that his Bond Spirit, born with a Bond of the Scout, had grown to become an Assassin, but he had turned it into a pure Assassin. There were not many survival Skills at its disposition, least of all, trap checking or deactivating Skills. He would have to deal with it personally.

So he used his Spirit Perk, Spirit Swap.

In a second, Darte was outside of the grotto, and Death, who found herself inside of the Division leader's tent, quickly shot out head toward him.

You won't be able to get here in time, but if things get sour, I'll rejoin with you halfway through the forest. The young man said to her.

Darte ventured thus through in the grotto. His figure, black leather light armor, shiny Dark Silver pauldrons, vambraces, and jambeaus dimmed until disappearing entirely in the shadows of the night.

The grotto was tight, suitable for a wolf of Crystal's dimension to take advantage of, not so much for him.

Pfft! Like I'd need to even plan my strategy to defend against Crystal. He thought, shaking his head.

He knew really well that his strength. If there was something he was confident in, it was his that with his current ability, he could annihilate his sister or her wolf for what mattered, whenever he wanted if he so wished.

Maybe I'd have problems if we fought by the Rapids. But out here? I could shut her up in two, three moves… make it four, Father would kill me if I killed her.

So, unwavering, Darte proceeded forward; his Perks and Skills compatibility allowed him to move freely forward at a steady place, no matter the absence of light.

After a couple of minutes of nothing, the grotto started opening up, revealing a rather big cave.

Moss and mushrooms emitted a dim azure light, signals of Mana presence, intense Mana presence, given that they were Dungeon spawns. A small river sprouted from the rocks, only to disappear back inside of it once more; it shone almost as much as them.

Interesting.

Beyond the river, the grotto shrank once more into a rocky corridor.

Darte threw a needle toward it. An invisible thread was attached to it.

The needle swiftly found the rock making absolutely no sound. Darte pulled the thread to him, making it fall on the ground, slowly dragging it over it. He injected Mana inside of it to try and trigger any possible trap. There were none.

He shadow-ported toward the needle with the strongest Sub-Skill given by his Alacrity bound Skill.

It took a lot of Mana, but it was incredibly worth it, and the only range it had, depended on his sight.

Had I known, I would have gotten Far Sight a hundred times over Meridians.

Not that Meridians was not useful, but his Power Skills were already monstrously strong, his Backstab maximized already his power output, Meridians use was thus redundant.

Darte's Sixth Sense started pushing toward his sense of survival. There was something ahead, something which was more dangerous than his sister.

He had never felt danger from Gaia. What could have changed in the couple of weeks since he had left the Cradle?

She's with someone or something dangerous, even for me... a Tier 5, maybe 6. A five I could take on, maybe survive long enough to escape back to camp, but not more than that. The little man knew his limits.

After another short corridor made only by darkness and rocks, though more prominent than the previous one, it opened once more, giving way to a descending staircase that opened up into one impressive chamber.

A vast hall, as big as their Earth's mansion, probably. He could see little statues of turtles popping up everywhere around the pavement of the chamber. They all had different colors; on the opposite side of the tunnel exit, where he currently stood, two massive turtle statues, the bigger one representing a water turtle, with paddle-like legs and all; the other a slightly smaller yet a land tortoise.

Two figures sat on top of the statues, one on each, they discussing in a stern tranquillity.

On top of the smaller one sat Crystal. Gaia was nowhere to be seen.

While on the tallest, one sat the culprit of the Herald disappearance, Olivia Wonderlust. But there was something different about her from the photo he had seen. Her eyes, they were green.

Well, well, well. What is going on here? Darte thought. His mouth opened up into one big smile.