One of the key rules of magic was that mana will influence surrounding mana. The most practical application of this rule for me had always been that focused mana filled with intent would influence and modify mana in the surrounding area.
The other application was that sufficiently large quantities of mana given form can occasionally cause a chain reaction. This would occasionally happen when sufficiently powerful creatures would use their full magical might. I had never heard of any human causing a strong enough surge of mana to cause a cascading effect before.
It was understandable that I hadn’t considered such an event to be possible while building my array.
It was, in fact, entirely possible.
Even with my hands over my eyes, the light was still unbelievably intense. I could somehow see the outlines of the bones in my hands past my closed eyelids. The heat was similarly extreme and I was certain that without the stone table and the warding runes, I would have died instantly.
I couldn’t hear anything past the dreadful roar of the magic tearing through the world behind me. Not even in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined wielding such outlandishly powerful magic.
If the titan had made a sound as my array unleashed the power of over a hundred copies of the system, I didn’t hear it. Nor was I able to feel its twisted, vile mana past the torrent I had somehow unleashed upon the world.
As the heat and light washed over me, I waited helplessly for my spell to end. It only seemed to grow more powerful as time passed, before suddenly starting to fade away.
The next few moments after the spell ended passed in a confused blur. All I knew was that I was in unbelievable pain, and I needed to escape.
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When I finally regained my senses, I was in a shallow pool of water. Looking around, I found that I could only make out extremely blurry shapes. It looked like I was probably in one of the large buildings that flanked the town square.
I was not sure how I had gotten there. With a groan, I tried to stand, but couldn’t quite make my limbs work. I felt even worse than I had after fighting the monkey.
Not quite sure what happened after I activated my array, I pulled up my interface.
Name: Kyo —-----
Class: Novice Mage
(3/10, 98%)
Mana Pool: 30/100
Codex: 72.46%
Boons:
System Initiate: 10
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Novice Mage: 3
Emergency augmentations: 2
Environmental Conditions:
Extremely high mana levels detected
Seek shelter immediately to mitigate mana poisoning
Life threatening injury detected
MR:243
TPEL:30
Evidently, I had severely underestimated the power I was dealing with when I made my array. I could barely see, and I couldn’t move. If it were not for the unbelievable amount of pain I was in, I would have suspected I was already bound for the realm of shades.
Judging by the fact that the titan hadn’t killed me, it looked like my array had successfully driven the monster away. It was a small consolation, as I knew there was no way I was going to be able to flee if something else came after me.
Curious what sort of emergency augmentation my most recent brush with death had netted me, I called up my list of boons.
System Initiate:
10/10
System interface
System codex
Mana Pool
Interface Status
Codex Recording
Interface Customization
Codex Map
Codex Identification
Codex Link
Class Selection
Novice Mage:
3/10
Codex: Mana form recall
Physical enhancement: improved mana control
Physical enhancement: improved mana perception
Emergency augmentations: 2
Physical enhancement: improved regeneration
Physical enhancement: improved regeneration
It wasn’t anything new, but I was not going to complain about my regeneration being improved further. I was going to have to figure out how much faster I could heal at some point, but that could wait.
I was having difficulty remaining conscious. After a short time, I gave in and let oblivion take me.
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I was still in a world of pain when I next awoke, but it was at least manageable. My vision was significantly clearer, though not perfect. I once more had a flashing purple symbol to deal with, but that could wait.
Looking down at my body, I was taken aback. My dark skin was a mess of blisters and burns. If this was what I looked like after giving my regeneration time to work, I really didn’t want to imagine what I looked like before.
Pulling myself up from the shallow pool, I almost blacked out. It took me a while, but I slowly crawled outside. After so long trapped in the dark, I welcomed the light of day like a long lost friend.
In front of me was the decaying remnants of the grove that had once grown in the middle of the town square. The titan’s aura had clearly been far more than the plants could handle.
A little unsteady, I looked around. To my left was the path I had walked days before as I explored the village. To my right was the town hall.
What I saw there was simply impossible.
Lying upon the steps of the building was the unmoving remains of Valgrix the Devourer.