Kai sat cross-legged in the middle of the training field, the marble-like pillars surrounding him like a formation. He didn’t bother to put away the sword and weights, nor the dummy staring at him mockingly. His focus was on the bag he held between his hands. It had nine mana pills and nine life force pills. Both of his legs shivered without pause whilst his entire body quivered. I can’t believe I’m doing this… I really must have gone insane… However, this short moment of clarity quickly faded as he brought the bag to his mouth and… swallowed all eighteen pills. Each pill immediately melted in his mouth a few seconds after initial contact, which allowed him to ingest all of them in the span of a few breaths.

He held back a scream as immense amounts of energy flowed through his body, crashing against his flesh and bones. It merged into his blood and condensed into a thin stream as the pressure created by his body compressed the intangible energy into gas and then into droplets. However, unlike before, Kai’s mana veins were now acting as actual veins… except they weren’t a closed system, but instead an open one. That meant that if Kai wasn’t careful, much, much more mana and life force would infiltrate into his bloodstream, leading to unknown consequences.

His veins and arteries started glowing from within, making them visible from the outside like the stars in the night sky. Groaning, he curled up into a ball. Clenching his fists, he focused on the rampant energies, controlling them the best he could with the technique. However, despite his best efforts, more and more droplets fused into his bloodstream, cycling around through his heart and brain. Sharp bouts of pain spread throughout his body like small needles passing through his bones. Tears dripped down his flushed face, along with blood that seeped through his skin. Come on… I can do it… I will do it…!

Each time the mana and life force completed a full cycle, Kai felt his mana veins become sturdier as they broke down and instantly healed. Although the pain created by physical substances felt ten times worse than its counterpart, its efficiency couldn’t be questioned. Five minutes… ten minutes… twenty… An hour passed as Kai grit his teeth and endured the pain. The moon neared its midpoint in the sky, and its rays turned harsher and harsher. They scorched and marked his back and arms as the moon rose into the sky, however, the external pain couldn’t be compared to what was happening inside his body. He had only used twenty percent of the mana and life force he absorbed, of which about two percent had integrated with his blood. Small cracks covered his blazing skin, which only became wider and wider as time went on. The amount he healed during the hour remained unknown, however, one thing he was sure about - the microscopic cracks and holes in his veins completely disappeared. The life energy stuck inside them in the form of droplets, which then hardened as the mana washed over them.

His mental energy had reached an all-time low, however. With a blurry vision and faint heartbeat, he could barely control the rest of the energy. A muffled set of footsteps echoed in his ear, along with a familiar, yet faint voice. It wasn’t long before a hand, cold compared to himself, reached out and placed him on his back. The expression he wore resembled that of a dead man’s, his dry lips pointing toward the sky as the dried spots of blood on his face hardened like mud. His wide, unfocused crimson pupils resembled a dark abyss as they twitched each time a bit of foreign energy cycled his body.

Terrified and anxious screams rang in his ears, however, the only thing he heard was a sharp, continuous ring as he did his best not to lose focus. A dark green light washed over his body, cooling it down and relaxing his mind at the same time. At the same time, a lighter shade of green surrounded his skull, which amplified and added to the calming sensation. His mental energy slowly replenished, and he subconsciously took advantage of the opportunity and exercised greater control over the mana and life force in his mana veins. His body tensed up as he picked up the pace, rapidly advancing the healing process at the cost of greater pain.

…

Hours passed in this fashion, and the three women surrounding him began to grow weary with fatigue. Euphridia washed Kai’s sweat, blood, and tears off his body as Elizabeth and Aina each took care of him. Elly healed his body, fixing the cracks as soon as they appeared, however, she wasn’t able to completely get rid of the scars. At the same time, Aina did her best to replenish his mental energy and aid him in guiding the energy in his body. However, even as the moon began to set, Kai showed no signs of stopping, nor did the energy show signs of depleting.

Their anxious expressions mixed with fatigue as their eyes began to close, and the mana within their body depleted faster and faster.

“At this rate… we’ll last at most one more hour.” Aina said in a voice barely above a whisper.

“No… we… we have to… more! we can… can’t…” Elizabeth’s fatigued voice broke as sweat droplets covered her body. “Need… last… more…” She panted as her trembling hands leaned on Kai’s chest, unable to hold them up anymore. The speed of her healing slowed down, and more and more cracks appeared on his body. Blood seeped out of them, which Euphridia did her best to clean and isolate to avoid infection, however, even she began to feel the toll. Tension built up in the air as the first rays of sunlight hit the three of them, who did their best to protect Kai from its pain. However, despite their best efforts, they weren’t able to stop some from landing on his skin.

The sound of sizzling flesh and the smell of burnt meat permeated the air, sending shivers down the three’s spine. Elizabeth, in a bout of hurry, stopped the healing process. Taking out her wand and, it lit up as she cast a simple spell, using up a good amount of the little mana she had left. The earth trembled as it rose, completely covering them and shielding Kai from the sun. She put it away with heavy breathing and started healing his body once again. I should have thought of it sooner! Damn it, how could I be so stupid? The wounds created by the sun covered Kai’s body, and they seemed to slowly spread, completely ignoring Elly’s healing.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“What’s going on?!” Euphridia asked, her eyes filled with panic as her eyes landed on Kai’s body, illuminated by a light crystal that Aina pulled out of her ring.

“The sun is much more deadlier than the moon… I have no idea how long he’s gone without blood, but I assume at most half a year. It’s not deadly, not yet at least… however, his natural weakness to sunlight is getting worse with each passing day.” She said, her voice breaking as she struggled to keep healing Kai’s mental energy. “His skin is too weak, the wounds are eating away at his body… he needs to hurry before it gets worse.” The sense of urgency in her voice stood in bright contrast to her weakening tone, and her breathing turned ragged as sweat dripped down her forehead.

Kai remained unaware of what happened around him due to having to control the energies with exact precision. By this point, almost fifty percent of the energy he ingested had been used up, and his veins started healing faster and faster as time went on. With the microscopic holes now filled up, and with the new trick he discovered, Kai simply split his attention. Controlling the two great parts of energies as they cycled his body, he also took out a portion of life energy and used it to fill the bigger holes. It took several cycles for it to harden and integrate with the veins, but this was much, much faster than before. Out of all his five veins, the four he focused on the most had been collectively healed for seventy percent, and that number only rose.

The reason Kai only focused on his limbs was because the mana vein leading to his neck was too risky to attempt in his current state. However, despite all this, he couldn’t feel the wound from the sun burning his flesh, eating away at his vitality and spreading without pause. His back had several dark spots, where blood seeped through.

Aina grit her teeth and pulled out two silver pills, handing one to her daughter and immediately swallowing the other. Elizabeth followed suit. The pill immediately dissolved in her mouth, its cold feeling followed by a burst of energy as her core greedily swallowed the mana. Her pupils constricted, and she upped her healing output. Much to her surprise, the wounds from the sun seemed to be spreading slower, and she let out a sigh of relief knowing she could at least prevent any further damage. With a flick of her wrist, several blue, purple, and transparent vials appeared in her hand. Her mother’s pupils widened, however by the time she could take action it was too late. Elly swallowed all three mana potions, her face reddening and her mana veins visibly bulging as she let out a low grunt.

“You fool!” Aina groaned, shaking her head. However, Elizabeth didn’t pay any attention as she upped her healing output once again, causing the sun's wounds to stop spreading altogether. Although this kind of output was impossible to keep up with potions also, Elizabeth persevered and did her best to stop any further damage.

The wounds, however, unable to spread any longer, began digging deeper and deeper into his already damaged skin, revealing the flesh underneath along with some bone. Aina, Elizabeth, and Euphridia all sucked in a cold breath of air as panic manifested on their faces. “Impossible…” Aina whispered with trembling pupils, her heart skipping a beat. Despite that, she remained as calm as she could, and never once lost focus on healing Kai. Elizabeth’s spell on the other hand began waivering, and the wounds took advantage of this opportunity to spread and eat away at his flesh at the same time.

“Aina what’... what is this?!!” Euphridia’s lips trembled, and her blood-stained hands could do nothing to stop the horror happening before her.

“I- I don’t know! I’ve never seen this kind of wound before, it’s too bizarre! I’ve seen it spread before, and even that is rare but… it’s almost like it has a mind of its own!”

…

Back inside his body, Kai finally began to feel his body getting eaten away. His mind shook as his heart skipped a beat, causing a bit of energy to inflate his circulatory system once again. Damn… it…! He groaned internally as he peered outside, and he let out a scream as he finally felt the pain. The three startled women jumped, their anxiety reaching a peak as sweat dripped down their foreheads. Kai’s horror amplified as he realized that the unknown wounds managed to eat to his bone in a short amount of time. With his attention now split, the mana and life force began slipping from his grasp, more and more energy infiltrating his bloodstream. Not good!

Despite that, he couldn’t ignore the pain spreading all over his body, nor could he take control back in time. Panic washed over his body, however, he tried to remain calm as his mind raced looking for solutions. What… the damage… the wound, is it from the sun?! Damn it! I… I took too long. This is… bad. Think… think! I need to stop it from killing me further, and I need to stop the energies from killing me! Think! What can I use to resist rampant energies and… corrosive magic! He almost let out a cry as he remembered his final fight with Haniard. Although blurry, he remembered seeing his hands and body covered in some sort of silver scales, which barely budged under Haniard’s dark magic. That…! If I can access that weird form. But Grandpa said to never use it again, however, if I don’t I will die anyway! Besides, how do I even activate it?

Rivers of sweat and blood ran down his body as the seconds passed, which then turned to minutes, and eventually… Kai shivered. His flesh began burning and his eyes gleamed slightly as the teeth turned to fangs. The places where the sun had eaten away at his body began to regenerate at a speed visible to the naked. Soft, silver scales grew out of these spots, eliminating the corrosive power.

The three women’s bodies trembled as they distanced themselves from Kai, fear visible in their eyes, which were fixated on Kai’s transforming body. Gulping, they steeled their resolve and kept on healing the boy, even as their hearts raced and mana cores trembled. A weird, extremely faint feeling washed over their bodies, one that told them to worship and kneel before Kai. Looking at each other, they let out a collective, heavy sigh and stood their ground.