Mika cringed as she spent every Mana Stone in her backpack on 600 Nutritional Serums and 26 Healing Serums. She wanted to use her Early-Stage ones but needed to be stronger to access that part of the store.
“My mana stones…” Mika’s felt like crying but had no tears as all of her hard work went down the drain.
“Haaa… At least I still have 50 Early-Stage mana stones and the ones I received as a reward from the Mango Marauder mission.”
‘Wait…’
That’s when she remembered something crucial, and her eyes gleamed in excitement!
“The Mind Enhancement Mango!”
That’s right! Mika almost forgot about the most precious treasure in her possession–A treasure that could help her immensely in this situation!
“I feel like my chances of succeeding have just risen significantly!”
If before she felt a little reluctant about jumping into a pit with unknown dangers, now she was fully willing to do so.
Why?
‘There won’t be a better time to do this than now.’
Her Mana Cultivation was still at the 1st Stage of the Black Core Realm, and she hadn’t solidified her foundation yet. She didn’t know if obtaining an affinity after reaching Stage 2 would affect her foundation, but she didn’t want to take any chances. Logic said that it would, and until she found a reason for it not to affect her, she'll continue to act as if it did.
Because if it did, and she broke through without knowing the consequences, then there would be nothing left for Mika other than regret!
‘Eh? Wouldn’t that mean I have to obtain every affinity to achieve a perfect foundation?’ Mika felt a chill run down her spine as she didn’t think she had the patience or ability to do such a thing.
Fortunately, the System decided to clear up her doubts.
[No, Host, you do not need to acquire an affinity for every element. Remember, every element is made of mana. So, if you can master mana, you can master everything.]
‘Then, what about Spatial Mana? Didn’t you say it was higher ranked compared to Fire and Darkness?’
[And?]
Mika’s eyes twitched, but she understood what it was trying to say and felt stupid for even asking.
‘...Never mind, forget I asked.’
‘What I really want to know is if there’s a way you can store my backpack in the System Space.’
[Ye-]
‘With all the Early-Stage mana stones.’
[...]
‘...’
The two sat in silence for a few moments before Mika felt the weight on her back disappear completely, making her feel as light as a feather.
[This is a one-time occurrence.]
Mika outwardly nodded, but on the inside, she was snickering.
‘Hehehe. A one-time occurrence? There seem to be an awful lot of those.’
However, this time, Mika was incredibly grateful that the System agreed as having that extra weight would make her fall faster.
She could take it off and leave it on the rickety wooden planks, but then she’d have to waste a significant portion of her time looking for it after she finished.
“Phew… I suppose it’s about time.” She muttered as a smidge of anxiety crept into her heart. She dragged her foot on the wooden plank until she reached the edge and gulped.
“Ugh! Fuck! I wish I could at least see how deep the pit goes! That way, at least I’d know how much time I have until I splat!” She groaned but still took out the [Mind Enhancement Mango] and quickly consumed the entire thing.
[Optimizing the effects of the Mind Enhancement Mango.]
Almost instantly, Mika felt her mind clear like clouds dispersing from the sky. Countless thoughts flowed through her mind in what seemed like milliseconds, and she felt like she could learn anything!
Then, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, turned around, and fell backward into the abyss with her arms spread out!
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
‘Eh?’
However, the feeling of free-falling never came. Instead, it felt like she was suspended inside a massive black cloud.
‘How weird. Is it because I can’t see, or-ACK!!’
Mika flinched in pain as the skin on her arms and legs began tearing off!
‘Fuck! Is this what the System meant by Spatial Mana being incredibly dangerous?’
She gritted her teeth, took out a few Nutritional Serums, and downed them in a single gulp but didn’t take out a Healing Serum. Those were too precious to waste on such minor injuries. Her physique and vitality should be enough to handle these injuries.
However, the pain only worsened as time passed, and the violent Spatial Mana began ripping apart her flesh!
“URGH!!”
Mika grunted and couldn’t hold on anymore. She took out a few more Nutritional Serums along with a Healing Serum and inhaled them!
Immediately, her torn skin and flesh began repairing, but that didn’t mean the Spatial Mana stopped ripping her apart. Unfortunately, there wasn't any way to decrease the pain; she could only grind her teeth and endure it.
‘I need to begin absorbing the Spatial Mana!’ She shouted in her mind.
Doing her best to ignore the pain, she breathed in and began sucking in copious amounts of Spatial Mana into her Mana Pathways and leading it to her Core.
For some reason, doing this caused no damage to her Pathways, but she just chalked it up to her talent and Body of Mana(EX) title.
After absorbing a bit of Spatial Mana, Mika checked her core and sensed tons of specks of Fire and Darkness mana moving around it randomly. This didn’t seem that important, but Mika noticed it for some reason.
‘It must be the mango’s doing.’
When the Spatial Mana reached her Core, Mika wrapped it around the outer shell instead of absorbing it inside. She wasn’t trying to cultivate, after all.
As the Spatial Mana coiled around her core like a snake, Mika began integrating it with herself. Surprisingly, she had a flash of inspiration.
‘Should the Elemental Mana in my Core really be so disorderly?’
Shaking her head, she shelved the idea and focused on the task at hand.
When the first wisp merged with her Core, Mika suddenly felt a faint abstract connection to… something?
‘It feels like a door opening to a new world is in front of me, but to open it completely, I need to absorb more Spatial Mana!’
So, that’s what Mika did-
“ARRRGGGHHH!”
-until she was momentarily distracted by a bone-crunching pain! No, it wasn’t that the pain felt bone-crunching; her bones were literally being ground into dust!
“FUCK!”
She felt like she was about to pass out, but the pain was so bad that she couldn’t even if she wanted to.
Mika took out two handfuls of Nutritional Serums and two Healings Serums and shoved them into her mouth! Her mind worked overdrive as she controlled the influx of resources in her body to heal her body.
Thereafter, Mika experienced some of the worst pain she had ever experienced in both her lives combined! Her skin tore apart. Her muscles ripped to pieces, and her bones ground into dust. Then, the healing from the serums would kick in, and the pain would restart!
This happened over and over again.
However, she didn’t have the time or brainpower to care about the pain. Her life was on a time limit right now. She either obtained a Space Affinity and lived or painted the bottom of this chasm red.
Unfortunately, Mika didn't know how much time she had left, nor did she have a way to figure it out. She might only have a few seconds, or she could have a few minutes. It was impossible to know.
Realizing the situation's severity and urgency, she knew she could no longer be careful about her absorption speed!
‘More! I need more Spatial Mana!!’ She roared and latched onto every wisp of Spatial with her mind, then pulled them into her Mana Pathways, flooding them.
She directed all that mana to her core and began merging the two however she could, without even trying to do it in an organized manner.
Outside of Mika’s body, a cyclone of Spatial Mana formed around her, sucking in everything and funneling it into her body.
This allowed Mika to gather Spatial Mana faster, but it also came with a cost; it destroyed her body at a faster rate as well.
As Mika was too focused on obtaining a Space Affinity, she couldn’t be bothered to divert much brain power to the pain and just began shoveling serums inside her mouth.
Fortunately, nobody could see the current state of her body, or else they’d most likely puke in disgust.
Time passed slowly as Mika silently fell further into the abyss, and the cyclone around her became smaller and smaller. This wasn’t because Mika was growing weaker, but there wasn’t as much Spatial Mana to absorb as it had already merged with her Core.
After an unknown amount of time, the cyclone suddenly dispersed completely, and she heard a System notification.
[Congratulations, Host, for obtaining the Affinity: [Space(A)] and taking one more step on your path to godhood.]
However, Mika didn’t react to the System and instead, in a trance-like state, began practicing her swordsmanship.
After having her body destroyed and repaired over and over again, she was on the verge of breaking through to the Middle-Stage Absolute Sword Body. All she had to do now was ingrain the fundamentals of swordsmanship into her body.
As she practiced, there were still remnants of Spatial Mana in the hole that tore up her body, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was before.
While practicing, she chugged Nutritional Serums while occasionally drinking a Healing one, which was enough to keep her body alive.
*Boom!*
After an unknown amount of time, a muffled boom resounded from Mika’s body, and she officially broke through to the next stage of Body Cultivation!
However, Mika’s eyes shot open right after, and a feeling of dread washed over her body!
‘THE BOTTOM!’
She didn’t even have time to think about anything else, and whether it was instinctual or not, her next thought was, ‘TELEPORT!’
All the mana in her Core converted into Spatial Mana, flowed through all her Active Mana Pathways, and she disappeared from her position!
*Crack!*
‘Urgh! Fuck!’
Mika groaned in pain as she slammed into the ground, still carrying some of the momenta she had even after her teleportation breaking many bones in her body. She shoved another Healing Serum in her mouth and muttered,
“Haaa… At least I’m alive.”
With that, her eyes closed, and she passed out, with nothing around her but complete and utter darkness.