[Congratulations, your mana quality is now at level three! This level is otherwise known as Pit Mana, and it too has a very descriptive name, because now you have a far bigger mana pool to fill, hence it being a pit.] The system beeped, she was very efficient at explaining the levels that he was on.
“Let me guess, I need 400,000 mana points to fill this one?” He asked, and he was getting nervous.
Instantly, the system answered. [520,000 mana points, actually. This pool is big, it’s way beyond what the common mage is used to. Hence, it's labeled as a pit.]
“Well, fuck me! That's a lot.” He sighed, “I guess we won't be getting out of this mana realm anytime soon.”
[The pit is massive yes, but still, either of you can accumulate that mana in a month, you can naturally regenerate it, assuming that you won't go through any expensive battles throughout the month.] The system beeped.
Timothy did not want to wait for a month or more for another level-up, and he certainly didn't want to endure the pain that came with it. At this point, it seemed to him that flash-upgrades were the only way for one to progress! It was very effective, though uncommon because of how rare mana roots were. He even started feeling depressed.
“I'm gonna need to figure out how to make a portal that'll get us to the bug world, it's our best shot to level up quicker. We'll hole up in the castle, and accumulate.” He said.
Originally Timothy would be beyond content if he just escaped the God's Punishment Realm of mana, that was a fact, but now he started to become very hungry for power. The roots kept feeding him this grand, euphoric feeling that he couldn't get enough of, as getting thousands of points certainly encouraged that euphoria! He felt like the king of the world, and a king needed to eat luxuriously, which was why he didn't want to let go of this feeling.
Anyway, a moment later, Arvena leveled up once more! She was now at level four in the Fintelus’ Apprentices Realm, so she was just a level ahead of the people around her, and she managed to progress quicker this time, because her pool was sucking in double the points in comparison to a few minutes ago!
In a way, it was good that she was harvesting more mana now, considering how deep her recent mana pools were, the pools felt bottomless. Her progress had been slower in comparison due to that latter reason, but now that her mana intake doubled, she had the greatest chance of leveling up once more!
“Lucky bastard,” Tim grunted, as the light that his friend emitted once she leveled up, made him a bit jealous, though he didn't want to nurse such feelings for long, so he then complimented. “Jesus, she's above us even when she's not being sneaky and greedy! Some mages are just meant to be stronger, and she's one of them! Good for her.”
Timothy tried to be enthusiastic, and amongst that he was feeling a lot of other things, things that may not matter much. He felt overwhelmed, so his recent train of thoughts had distracted him quite a bit, which in this case was problematic. He was supposed to be patrolling the area in case of any danger, and yet for a minute he forgot all about that, he was aloof!
When that blue light erupted around Arvena, it didn't only catch his attention, but he also got a better glance of what was in front of him. This, in turn, helped him spot a strange woman that was standing very close to the patch of roots where Arvena and Skendus were laid at! He had been too distracted to notice her.
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Timothy almost defecated his breeches when he saw this woman, though simultaneously, he got into attack-mode, and was a blink away from blowing this woman's head off with a thunderbolt! He was about to shoot this unknown goblin right away, but something about this approach didn't feel right.
“She looks as old as those fucking dinosaurs above us, so… Why isn't she scared of us? We haven't seen any super powerful grannies recently, most people suffer from mana quality brackets, so powerful old people shouldn't be too common.” He muttered.
These were great questions to ask, they were perhaps life saving too, because he then figured. “She’s either retarded, or as powerful as a retard. Maybe I should talk to her instead of fighting her?”
Timothy didn't want to attack out of impulse alone, he wanted to be calculative for once. It was best to approach this woman peacefully, and he did exactly that.
Along the way, he split open a few more mana root arms, to harvest even more mana per second. This was important for two different reasons, and he thought about them as thoroughly as he could.
Firstly, all of the root arms that they had sliced before, were withering. Each of them disappeared as soon as they were depleted, and considering that the roots he had already been feeding on were only a foot wide right now, he knew that he would need more active roots if he was to fill his mana pool.
In this case, he sliced fifteen roots open, and although this was a bit of an overkill, he could feel that it wasn't dangerous to him or his friends. They'd swallow these roots up in no time, he was sure of it!
The second reason behind his decision, was that he wanted to meet this old lady while his mana quality was at level four. He figured that if a battle broke out, he'd at least be a bit more capable of inflicting unholy damage!
[+19,500 mana points]
[+34,000 mana points]
[+36,100 mana points]
[+66,040 mana points]
[+52,900 mana points]
Timothy's intake of mana was through the roof, he absorbed more after every step he took, and unsurprisingly, by the time he walked over to this lady, he experienced another flash upgrade. In terms of mana quality, he was now at level four in the Fintelus’ Apprentices Realm of mana, surely, the most powerful he had ever been! Better yet, the points kept coming, and he couldn’t be happier about it.
“We mean no harm, but can you tell me who you are? Who are you, goblin lady?” He finally managed to ask her, “What are you doing down here? Purpureus Mundi Aqus is pretty desolate, so I doubt that you're a part of a tribe or something.”
“I am Gentosamee the Planter, Genta for short. What are you doing in my field, degranus goblin?” She was very direct.
Timothy didn’t know what to say first, he had so many questions. Instinctively, he now wanted to befriend this old woman, but he wanted to do so without getting on her nerves.
Firstly, to appeal to her, he decided to feed on her curiosity, so he answered. “We came here looking for a castle of sorts, but I must've opened the wrong portal, because ain't no way that there's a castle here. Those fish that are swimming above us look as old as the sea, so I'm figuring that this is a different time period of Purpureus Mundi, hence, I have to add Aqus in its name before I open a portal.”
“It was you who opened the portal, eh? I'm glad to see your stupid face, then, kiddo. No one has teleported here for over fifty years, I've been stuck here all this time…” She followed along.
With her answer, he managed to determine that Genta was friendly. He was very excited about that, and considering that she was eager to get out of here, he wanted to use the portal above their heads as a bargaining chip. He wanted to get some information out of her.
“I can't imagine what brought you here, but you can walk through the portal whenever you please. It's still active.” He said, and then he asked. “You mentioned that these were your fields, so please tell me, ma’am, was it you who planted these mana roots?”
“No, the fish planted them.” She remarked, sarcastically.