Chapter 56
To stay longer in the time-accelerated Pocket Dimension, Keith faked being sicker than he was, feeling a little guilty as he did so. Four days passed, during which he formed three more Mana Cores. He now had four Mana Cores in total.
In a moment of need, he could choose to manually release the arrays holding the Mana Core in place to gain a million points of attuned mana.
That was the biggest advantage Mana Cores had over Mana Battery.
When Keith transferred mana from his Collection Grimorie to himself, it was unattuned. Attuning mana was something Keith still didn’t understand, but he knew that it was a process that eroded his consciousness. Since Mana Cores were already attuned, Keith could use them without worry.
As for the Mana Core Technique itself, Keith thought long and hard about whether he should release the information for free or sell it to the military.
In the end, he decided to sell it.
A few hours ago, Keith sent Yara a lengthy message over the magic network detailing the exact process. It was only now that she replied, confirming that the technique indeed worked. As for its exact value, she would let him know in at most a day.
On another note, the Mana Reactor Keith had collected was generating far more unattuned mana in his Collection Grimoire than he expected. It was equal to 50 divine grade Mana Gathering arrays. For the foreseeable future, Keith no longer needed to constantly spend money on Mana Gathering arrays, which broke down after a week of use.
After faking sickness for so long, Keith reluctantly decided to leave the time-accelerated Pocket Dimension. With there being limited space, it was a vital resource for injured people to recover, and Keith couldn’t selfishly hog it.
In the outside world, a day had gone by, and the next monster horde would arrive in less than six hours. With Frod departing to fight demons, Keith had to look for another tutor to teach him. He sent a message to Adeiv, knowing the well-connected man would find someone faster than he could.
Adeiv answered after a few minutes, saying, “I can find you a tutor, no problem. But did you forget I can contract a talent from one person to another?”
Keith scratched his head, replying, “What if my talent is already pretty good?”
“It can’t hurt to try.”
With that said, Adeiv asked around, finding an expert swordsman with a Sword Mastery skill level of 745 who was currently injured and needed to recuperate. At the Blockade, where people got stronger daily, it wasn’t likely for them to give up their talent unless there was a special circumstance. An injured person was the perfect candidate.
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An hour later, Keith welcomed Adeiv into his home, asking, “Is it done?”
“Almost. Sign this, and Edlin’s swordplay talent will be yours for a week,” Adeiv said, conjuring a glowing scroll with the snap of his fingers.
Keith looked over the terms of the contract. Once he confirmed everything was in order, he wrote down his name. After that, the contract dissipated into motes of light that flew into his body, making Keith feel a tingling sensation.
“Is that it?” Keith wore a befuddled expression.
Adeiv chuckled, explaining, “A concept like talent is intangible by nature. You won’t immediately notice any differences.”
“True,” Keith rubbed his chin.
Adeiv went on to explain who Keith’s new tutor was, and when his appointment with them would be. He left shortly after.
With the monster horde arriving soon, Keith spent the next few hours browsing the magic network before heading to the Blockade, where he then fought monsters for several hours. Today went better than yesterday, with nobody asking him to reinforce another area.
There were a few times Keith wanted to use a sword, but he thought better of it. He couldn’t afford to be careless when fighting monsters way above him in level.
Following the battle, Keith met up with his new tutor, a middle-aged elf who specialized in wielding dual shortswords. As soon as the training began, Keith immediately noticed a difference.
Whenever he shifted his weight or angled his wrist – it sometimes felt awkward.
Keith couldn’t accurately pinpoint as to why.
All he knew was that it was wrong.
And so, Keith went with his gut, adapting his movements until the feeling went away.
Sword Mastery promptly gained several levels, astounding him that such small changes could make such a big difference. Keith’s tutor was equally amazed by his progress, thinking that Keith was a genius.
They didn’t know that Keith had temporarily taken the talent of one of the best sword masters from the Innate Nation.
By the time the session was over, Keith’s Sword Mastery skill leveled up to 389.
Previously, Keith’s progress was slowing down, yet after his talent increased, it once more sped up. It wouldn’t take more than two or three more days until he breached the level 500 threshold.
***
Meanwhile, a million troops belonging to the Innate Nation arrived in the northeastern region of the Grandsky Realm. Led by Ska’dur, they engaged the invading demons who were spread out across a dozen zones. Although the demons excelled in guerilla warfare, the Innate Nation’s Skyships proved invaluable in chasing them down.
Within the first few hours, the Innate army stabilized the Elemental Nation’s heartlands, and together with the Elemental Nation’s reserve troops, they forced the demons into a retreat.
However, that was all.
The moment the demons fell back to the Elemental Nation’s borders, they utilized prebuilt tunnels and secret bases to elude the Innate’s army. From there, the two sides engaged in numerous small clashes, with each battle involving no more than a hundred people.
The fights started quickly and ended just as fast.
Even when the battle was going well, if the demons took too long, they scurried away nonetheless. The tactics utilized by the demons were something the Innate army hadn’t trained for.
Thankfully, Ska’dur had experience in guerilla warfare back when he was a youth, and he didn’t take long to pass down orders, splitting the Innate’s army into smaller, swifter groups.
While the shift in strategy helped, it didn’t remove the advantage the demons had in pure stats. With their higher levels and equipment, they held the initiative to advance or retreat when necessary.
And so, a protracted battle against the demons began.