Chapter 153

[Asrahan Heart Technique Skill Option ⑤ : Rapid Recharge has been activated.]
[Absorbing a large amount of mana from nearby random sources.]

Kiiiiiiing!

Lloyd’s eyes closed.

His consciousness drifted away.

A transformation began in his heart.

The three circles surrounding it started to spin.

Slowly at first—

Gently. Calmly.

Then faster.

Violently. Fiercely.

They rotated at their limit. Then beyond it. They shattered it.

All restraints were gone.

All hesitation vanished.

Distinction disappeared.

And at last, everything around him became defined as one thing—

Something to absorb.

Kyaaaaaaaaah!

The three circles screamed.

They raged outward, exerting their influence.

Within a seven-meter radius of Lloyd—

A fourteen-meter-wide space turned into a ferocious vortex.

Everything entering that area began to have its mana devoured.

Kwahhhhhh!

Moisture on the ground evaporated in an instant.

Ants underground, nameless beetles,
flies in the air, even mites in the dust—

Everything inside the range of [Rapid Recharge] was drained of mana instantly.

Their flesh shriveled, their blood dried up, and their cores crumbled.

Even the husks that lost their essence turned to dust.

The undead mastodons charging toward him were no exception.

“Groooargh!”

The leading undead mastodon let out a guttural roar.

Murder gleamed in its dull, clouded eyes.

But the moment it took another step—

Its eyes began to change.

“…Groooh?”

Kyaaaaaah!

The first part of its body to enter the range was its head—

And the eyes, still retaining moisture, were the first to collapse.

“Groh!”

Pop!

As mana drained away, all moisture evaporated.

Its half-rotten eyes caved in and shattered.

Then its mouth and ears twisted grotesquely.

Crunch! Crackle!

Its insides boiled.

The cells holding together its decayed flesh tore apart as moisture vanished.

“Groooaah!”

Its hide and muscles split open.

Tusks and horns crumbled into dust.

Joints and marrow collapsed.

The seven-ton body crashed to the ground.

At last, unable to endure any longer, it triggered its final phase.

The necromancer’s last malicious spell—

[Corpse Explosion].

Fwoosh! BOOM!

The mangled corpse of the undead mastodon exploded violently—

Barely five meters from where Lloyd sat.

There was no barrier, no protection from the blazing fire and shockwave.

Or so it seemed.

But Lloyd was unharmed.

Even the explosion of [Corpse Explosion] was completely absorbed.

Kyaaaaaah!

Lloyd’s mana circles roared louder, spinning greedily, revealing their voracious hunger.

The flames that reached for him, the shockwave that tore through the air—

All of it was seized by [Rapid Recharge].

Even explosions didn’t matter.

In fact, magical ones like [Corpse Explosion] were welcome—

They gifted him with even more amplified mana.

Kiiiiiiiiiing!

The explosion was consumed in an instant.

In front of Lloyd’s closed eyes, messages appeared one after another.

Ding-dong!

[Massive mana absorption detected through Rapid Recharge.]
[The absorbed mana has exceeded the capacity of the Mana Heart.]
[The Mana Heart is forcibly expanding.]
[Skill experience acquired.]

Crack! Snap!

The natural mana of the mastodons.

The undead energy the necromancer had infused.

The explosive magical power of [Corpse Explosion].

All converted into pure mana—
and absorbed at once.

Naturally, it strained Lloyd’s Mana Heart.

But that shock became the catalyst for growth.

[The level of the Mana Heart skill has increased.]

Ding-dong!

Had Lloyd been conscious enough to read it, he would have cheered with joy.

[Skill Name : Mana Heart]
[Stage : Sword Expert (Lower) Lv 3]
[Physical Enhancement Rate : 340%]
[Skill Options : ① Shock Nullification ② Poison Immunity ③ Trance]
[RP Required for Next Level : 400]
[Current RP : 2,870]

“Kh—ugh!”

The rapid growth of the Mana Heart was too much.

Lloyd’s upper body jerked violently.

Meanwhile, the rest of the undead mastodons kept charging endlessly.

“Groooargh!”

As undead, they had no real thought left.

Even as their companions turned to dust or exploded,
they charged without hesitation.

Endlessly.

Relentlessly.

One after another.

Each had its mana drained, dried up, and twisted—

Until they too exploded.

The power of each explosion failed to spread, devoured completely by [Rapid Recharge].

“Cough! Gah!”

Massive amounts of mana surged into him.

Every time it did, his upper body convulsed as if struck by a storm.

This was unlike anything he’d felt before—
not even when he absorbed Queen Alicia’s mana back in the capital.

‘Guh… gah!’

Queen Alicia’s mana had been pure.

Refined, compressed, immaculate.

It had been easy to absorb—
just too dense for his capacity back then.

So it merely expanded his Mana Heart.

But this?

This was the opposite.

“Kh…!”

Spat!

Blood splattered from his mouth.

The undead mastodons’ mana was foul, murky, and violent.

“…Khrrgh!”

It wasn’t the mana of the living.

It was the mana of death, rot, and decay—
tainted by unholy necromancy.

The filthiest mana imaginable.

His body suffered deeply as he absorbed it.

Crack! Grind!

Even in trance, Lloyd clenched his teeth.

The pain was unbearable—enough to make his entire body convulse.

He endured it.

He held the absorption.

The more corrupted mana he took in, the more his body experienced death itself.

Thump!

His heartbeat became irregular.

Ventricular fibrillation.

Heart muscle spasms.

A suffocating tightness in his chest.

Then, barely, his heart steadied again.

His lungs too—

“Gasp… cough!”

His bronchi constricted violently, his breathing ragged.

Reddish heat spread across his face.

The alveoli in his lungs necrotized, then barely regenerated.

And that same process repeated across his body.

His stomach convulsed, ulcers forming.

His gallbladder rapidly produced stones that blocked the ducts,
causing bile to flow backward into his liver.

Bilirubin flooded his tissues.

Jaundice set in. His liver began to deteriorate and fibrose—
a rapid onset of cirrhosis.

Muscles spasmed and broke down.

His bones suffered osteoporosis and arthritis.

His blood became corrupted.

His lymph reversed flow.

His nerves frayed.

His cartilage eroded.

Lloyd’s body was half-dead in real time.

Then his body retaliated.

His Mana Heart activated at full force—

Repairing torn tissues. Restoring his body.

Destruction and regeneration.

Death and rebirth.

Over and over, like endless tempering.

That brutal cycle became an unintentional form of training.

“Kh… ugh!”

His body trembled like a leaf.

His ragged breaths struggled to contain the agony.

Even in trance, the pain was unimaginable.

Yet that very suffering became training.

That is the nature of training.

The goal of training is not to grow stronger—
nor to improve or advance.

True training is about facing discomfort.

That is why monks endure hardship,
and ascetics embrace torment—
because they confront discomfort head-on.

Physical discomfort.

Mental discomfort.

The discomfort of breath, of thought, of memory.

To discover discomfort each day.

To face it directly.

To acknowledge it.

To accept it.

To embrace it—
and make it one’s own.

Then, to begin again, seeking the next level of discomfort.

That is the true purpose of training.

Strength, progress, and growth—
they are only byproducts along that path.

And so, today, Lloyd—
without any intent of his own—
underwent true training.

He endured the most extreme, radical discomfort imaginable,
and overcame it, again and again.

“Kh… urgh…”

Raspy breaths escaped him as he embraced the pain.

Had he been conscious,
had his mind been awake,
it would have been impossible.

But one of his skill options made this superhuman endurance possible.

Ding-dong.

[Mana Heart Skill Option ③ : Trance has been activated.]
[For 60 seconds, you fall into a trance state, focusing blindly on one goal.]

It activated just in time.

From that moment, Lloyd’s expression grew calm.

He endured the agony and continued absorbing.

He accepted the filthy, corrupt mana of the undead—
and made it his own.

At the same time, his Mana Heart expanded further.

Ding-dong!

[The level of the Mana Heart skill has increased.]
[Skill Name : Mana Heart]
[Stage : Sword Expert (Lower) Lv 4]
[Physical Enhancement Rate : 360%]
[Skill Options : ① Shock Nullification ② Poison Immunity ③ Trance]
[RP Required for Next Level : 450]
[Current RP : 2,870]

The level of [Mana Heart] rose in an instant—

And it didn’t stop there.

It was only the beginning of its explosive growth.

One message after another flashed before his closed eyes.

The skill level skyrocketed.

From 4 to 5.

5 to 6.

6 to 7.

7 to 8.

8 to 9.

Then 10—

Breaking past the upper limit.

Ding-dong!

[Skill Rank Up!]
[Skill Name : Mana Heart]
[Stage : Sword Expert (Intermediate) Lv 1]
[Physical Enhancement Rate : 600%]
[Skill Options : ① Shock Nullification ② Poison Immunity ③ Trance]
[RP Required for Next Level : 800]
[The rank of the Mana Heart skill has advanced to <Sword Expert (Intermediate)>.]
[Through trance, you have successfully assimilated the most corrupted energy. This unique experience grants your skill a new special option.]
[Skill Option ④ : Unde—…]

At that moment—

A sudden emergency message overrode the system.

Ding-dong!

[Asrahan Heart Technique Skill Option ⑤ : Rapid Recharge duration has ended.]

Kiiiiiiing…

The raging mana circles quieted.

Their wild spinning slowed.

The ferocious absorption ceased.

Fwoooosh—

Wind swept through.

The seven-meter-wide absorption zone around Lloyd was now littered with dust.

The wind blew it away.

Just five minutes.

In that time, dozens of undead mastodons had been reduced to powder and dust.

But beyond that cloud—

A sinister silhouette emerged.

“Groooargh!”

More than a hundred undead mastodons still remained.

The canyon was too narrow—

Only one could charge at a time.

Five minutes wasn’t enough to devour them all.

“Groooh!”

The ones untouched by [Rapid Recharge] burned with murderous rage.

They thundered toward the still-sitting Lloyd.

“Groooooar!”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The ground quaked.

The four-meter beasts charged without pause.

Even now, Lloyd sat calmly.

No shield. No barrier.

No sign of moving or fleeing.

At least, not until he slowly opened his eyes.

That was when—

“Ppodong! Ppodong!”

Sensing danger, Ppodong moved.

He remembered Lloyd’s warning never to approach—

But he couldn’t help it.

He would be crushed if he didn’t act.

Without hesitation, he charged forward, ready to ram the undead.

Or he would have—

If Lloyd’s voice hadn’t stopped him.

“Ppodong, that’s enough.”

“…Ppo?”

A calm voice.

Ppodong froze.

Lloyd had opened his eyes.

He simply gazed at the undead mastodons ahead.

And then—something strange happened.

“Grooh?”

The undead mastodon charging forward suddenly stopped.

All it took was meeting Lloyd’s eyes.

It froze—

As if struck by lightning.

Or seized by a bottomless fear.

Not just one.

“…Groooargh!”

Starting with the leader, the entire herd halted their charge.

At that moment, a new message appeared before Lloyd’s eyes.

[Skill Option ④ : Undead Domination has been activated.]