Elaria had yet to step inside the ring and face the goblin lord officially and perhaps due to the monster's twisted sense of honour it refused to attack her until she did, despite the fact it had entered that strange berserk state. Without any real way to treat Luna’s wounds the wolf would surely face a tragic demise if they remained stuck in the dungeon, hence the only way to find a solution was for Elaria to bring down the big boss monster herself. It would be an extreme challenge if the mana disruption circle was powerful enough to resist even another mana overload, but she felt it shouldn’t given the average level of the monsters thus far and the sheer magic might that came with absorbing and converting the natural mana to her own will.
Compared to the rather sparse earth affinity mana that had been readily available in the caverns above, this final room was abundant in not just earth mana, but also a smattering of other various subtypes such as rock, light and even a solid chunk of water affinity mana; Elaria presumed an underground river was flowing nearby as the water mana felt fluid and sharp rather than serene and peaceful as it often was in natural water sources like lakes and ponds.
In the past she’d often singled out or been called to by natural mana of a singular affinity, such as the excitable mana of fire which had led to her explosive initiation into the school of magic, or the resonant magnetic mana that had allowed her to battle with the various monsters of ore and stone present in the Farrowhill Caverns dungeon. This time she had no reservations when she made the call, greedily sucking up every iota of mana she could sense.
The goblin lord had been observing her the entire time, curious about whether the little girl would take up its challenge or not. It didn’t seem to have much magical ability, judging from the fact that its very own duelling arena was formed by a formation circle that disrupted the internal mana of anything that entered, but even so it was able to feel that Elaria was doing something strange, the very dungeon itself trembling as the source of its power was devoured by a girl of no more than ten years of age.
Largely due to her massively increased reserves of mana stored in her Mana Skeleton, she didn’t feel much pain when the first trickle of mana started to pour from her mana well, but the sheer concentration of mana she was converting would soon start to flow. Within seconds the trickle turned to a steady flow, then a wave, then a torrent and soon an unstoppable deluge of pure mana flooded through her mana veins, bringing with it the familiar yet still excruciating pain of her body being stretched and contorted by a power out of her control.
Another beneficial side effect of having the Mana Skeleton was that at least a portion of the raging mana would be diverted to increase its level, at the same time bolstering the amount of mana she would be able to store. In the current moment that would be a tiny percentage of the overall amount she was required to control, but if through some miracle she survived this battle then Cloudvale would soon be introduced to one of, if not the strongest ten year old mage to ever grace the lands of Teron.
Mana Skeleton Lv.29 > Lv.30
Mana Skeleton Lv.30 > Lv.31
Mana Skeleton Lv.31 > Lv.32
Mana Skeleton Lv.32 > Lv.33
Mana Skeleton Lv.33 > Lv.34…
Her mind was teetering on the edge of consciousness, the constant ringing of notifications from the Chain combined with pain unlike any she’d ever experienced before leading to an almost meditative state. The world around her faded from view, the only sensation she could focus on being the swelling of her engorged mana veins, which had nearly double in size from the amount of mana that had been pumped into them from her mana well, which was still happily spewing more and more mana like some sort of infinite source.
Elaria felt as if she was going to die, though in a perverted way her mind no longer cared about such mortal fears like death or pain. At a certain point there was no way for the pain to feel more intense, hotter or to derail her thoughts. Like those buddhist monks of her old world who often used pain as a way to discipline themselves in the search for nirvana, true enlightenment, the overwhelming feeling of her body being destroyed from the inside out had transcended her mind beyond the limits of humanity.
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She idly noted the evolution of her Mana Skeleton as it reached Lv.100, transforming into the ‘Advanced’ variant as many of her skills seemed to do once they passed a set threshold. For a brief moment all the overloading mana was drained from her mana veins, reminiscent of a full sink when you pulled the plug. It didn’t take long however, for her mana well to fill her back up to bursting. Despite all this, she’d barely converted a third of the natural mana in the cavern, with the rest hovering around her in a sort of queue, the individual particles of mana jostling and barging each other for the opportunity to enter first.
Taking the time to inspect her body while her mind was in this extraordinarily focused transcendent state, Elaria dug deep into the composition of her mana circulatory system, wondering if she would be able to unpack the secrets behind this mysterious energy that wasn’t present on Earth, her old world. She’d never studied much physics, but at the very least had a rough knowledge of the basics and with the increased intelligence that her stats had provided her mind was far sharper than it had ever been despite her being in the body of a child.
Especially interesting to her was the Mana Skeleton, at a glance it seemed very similar to a regular skeleton, though enhanced through mana and magic to be able to function as a mana battery of sorts. A close up look revealed that this was far from the truth, the internal composition of her bones was now vastly different from that of a standard human, even after factoring in the restructuring that came with the birthing ceremony. The skeleton itself was formed from a solid form of mana with a crystalline structure, ideal for conducting energy which presumably was what allowed it to store such large amounts compared with her own internal mana veins.
While the state her mind was currently in allowed her to focus intensely and see things she perhaps might ignore while bogged down with the distractions of the real world, the drawback was that her dulled emotions prevented her from taking precautions. Thus, yet another of Elaria’s highly risky plans started to come into fruition. Inspired by the makeup of her Mana Skeleton, she started to rebuild her own body, beginning with her muscles. It was a lot trickier than she’d expected to figure out how to maintain the springiness and flexibility of muscle tissue while in a crystalline form, but thanks to the adaptive properties of mana she was able to leave some of the particulates less solid, the sponginess providing great manoeuvrability without compromising on mana flow or strength.
After the difficulties with her muscles, she opted to leave her ligaments untouched, as they required much greater flexibility to function properly and she didn’t wish to end up as some sort of petrified person who was unable to bend their own joints. Her organs followed, perhaps the trickiest part of the entire process as the various moving parts had to be replicated to an incredibly precise degree. She did wonder if changing herself from a fleshy form to a being of mana, disturbingly similar to how monsters were formed, though her mind had little time to ponder such philosophical questions at the moment, would mean she no longer needed to eat typical food to survive, as her body could essentially run on mana alone.
Experimenting with her new form could come later, the first priority was finishing the prototype model and then defeating the goblin lord before it was too late to save her canine companion. The entire process of working so closely with the mana had given her magnificent insights into how it functioned, to the point that she felt she may even be able to heal Luna using her own skill. Holding her back was a nagging worry in the back of her mind that even the smallest chance of failing and allowing her closest friend in this world, besides Jacob, who she’d been dearly missing the past three years, to die.
The only part of her body which remained as a construct of flesh and blood was her brain. Elaria felt her knowledge was approaching the point where she might consider a rebuild of her own mind, but as it was the most delicate part of the body and she had yet to discover if the brain was the source of consciousness and the self or if in this strange magical world her soul was tied to her in some other way she felt unwilling to take such a huge risk. She was leaning towards the latter theory based on how she’d been reincarnated, but it would be silly to risk her own life having come so far purely for the sake of experimentation.
The final part of her reconstruction was the mana circulatory system. Previously it had existed as a sort of metaphysical layer inside her own body, separate from the physical flesh and blood but working in tandem with them. The connection was far deeper now that she’d rebuilt herself anew with a body of pure mana. Elaria dissolved her own mana veins, then reached out to the mana well with her mind, cutting through the near endless abyss that had previously been impenetrable to her. At the end of her search she found exactly what she was looking for, a strange ephemeral anchor which connected the mana well to her physical body.
A gentle tug was all that she required to break that connection and immediately her body began to shut down, the Chain spamming her with notifications about her rapidly draining health. Right on the cusp of death she achieved her aim, breaking apart her own heart and replacing it with the mana well, joining the anchor to her original circulatory system, which now functioned on mana instead of blood. The effect was immediate, her health pool shooting back up to full and every movement feeling twice as smooth as before.
Due to your actions you have earned a skill!
Existing compatible skills have been absorbed (Advanced Mana Skeleton Lv.14, Advanced Mana Sense)
Resonant Mana Body
Your entire being is one with the natural energies of the world, you can channel mana as if it were an extension of the self with near instant casting time and total efficiency. You no longer need to eat, your body runs on mana alone and you are able to convert mana into health when needed.
Her mana pool was now enormous compared to what it had been previously, so large in fact that all the remaining natural mana, which was only about a quarter of what had originally been there, most of it consumed in the production of the Resonant Mana Body, was converted easily and stored throughout Elaria’s body, every cell of which could act as a battery for her power.
Turning to the unmoving goblin lord, who now eyed her hungrily with a thirst for battle, impatient and wondering if its opponent would ever rise to the challenge, she took a step over the disruptive formation, which shattered instantly under the weight of her mana. It was time to end this.