Chapter 414: Predicament

[ WARNING! ]

[ WARNING! ]

[ Amount of mana entering Host's body is incredibly high ]

[ Mana Heart is getting Damaged ]

[ Warning! Mana Heart Deterioration Progress 0.001 % ]

[ Host's life is in threat ]

Asher could see the notifications but even without, he recognized that he was in danger, after this feeling wasn't exactly unfamiliar to him.

'Mana Poisoning' Asher thought in his head.

The black dots that were forming around his body, were due to the mana poisoning that was happening due to the presence of mana that didn't belong to his own Mana Heart, finding its way inside his mana veins.

But unlike the one he had in his previous life, this time it was happening at an incredibly fast rate.

Asher's body was like an empty body in a space filled with insanely dense mana, and it made it so that all that mana was forcing itself to fill the space.

Asher's eyes started twitching as the pain was on an insane level. Any normal person's mind would have been broken with the amount of pain that Asher was feeling right now.

The pain was akin to an immeasurable amount of needles piercing your entire body, from your head to your eyes to your skin.

Even if Asher wanted, closing his eyes now wasn't possible as even moving a single muscle was quite difficult.

The situation he was in was close to being petrified alive.

The count of warnings from the System was increasing, but Asher couldn't do anything about them.

At one moment he was standing in the fog, then he solved the riddle and met an unknown man whose power he couldn't measure, and the next moment he was stuck here.

Thinking in this situation was an impossible task as when one would experience extreme pain in a single, thinking was out of the question.

But, for Asher that wasn't the case.

'Trial...' Asher thought.

It was a trial that meant, there was a way to clear it.

Asher started channeling his mana to an extreme limit, as veins around his body started to pop up.

He had dealt with this kind of pain before, the pain of foreign mana constantly invading his body due to mana doping technique that ultimately resulted in mana poisoning.

'I need to change its direction,' Asher thought.

Suddenly his aura started fluctuating forming a shield that was getting damaged but the highly dense mana space.

But Asher purposefully made holes in that aura shield to make way for that mana to enter at a specific point.

"Hmm, he is not panicking," The overseer appeared far from Asher in the same space.

The strange golden eyes observed Asher as if they were trying to find out about something.

"But that's not enough," His golden eyes stared at Asher.

And he was correct, what Asher was doing was only slowing the process and reducing the pain.

The problem remained, but it was part of Asher's plan.

All he wanted was to buy some time for him to do a certain thing.

Asher started channeling the mana around his mana heart while radiating his aura all around him.

Slowly, he was able to move an inch, and he closed his eyes to feel all the mana around him.

Stuck in an insanely dense mana, spreading his mana sense here was something no sane person would do, as the mental burden it would put was insane.

But Asher was confident, after all, he only needed to a split second.

A single moment to change his predicament into something fruitful.

"Hoh, is he trying to use this mana to rank up," The overseer muttered.

But his gaze was still fixed on Asher or exactly the strange energy on his body.

"Hmm, I was wondering what it was, so it was a living rune," He muttered.

Even Asher himself didn't want to do it in this place, but he had no choice right now.

If he had his original bloodline ability, he could have done something different but the only way to counter this insane pressure that his body was feeling was to create enough mana pressure inside his own body.

A normal person wouldn't have been able to rank up in such a situation where the man wasn't entirely under their control, but Asher was very close to reaching the next rank.

The only thing he needed was a push, and his mana heart would gather the mana needed for sustaining those mana rings around the mana core on its own.

But there was a problem, that Asher knew he was going to face.

It was something he had no control over, but he had no choice but to go ahead with it.

And Asher did it, he pushed the bonds of the mana rings around his mana core, and channeled the mana he was gathering to his mana heart.

Veins started appearing around his head and neck as he was focusing on making sure that the mana that was entering his body remained under his control.

A single mistake and his mana heart would burst.

At this point, Asher was questioning whether this trial was truly an illusion as he could feel stress on his mana heart.

"Unlike what I thought, he realized all of this real,"

"But that thing, I wonder what will it show you,"

The overseer snapped his finger once while continuing to keep his eyes fixed on Asher.

'Move,' Asher commanded as he pushed the mana rings away from his mana core.

He started pushing the threads of mana toward the mana core, and he was controlling the speed of mana absorption while also making sure that his mana rings weren't damaged.

Asher's mana was already comparable to a B Rank hunter, at C Rank, so the bonds between his mana rings and mana core weren't weak.

To push those mana rings away while forcing mana directly into his mana core.

Asher right now was putting his own life in danger.

But he wasn't worried about his mana heart right now, he was thinking of what would happen after he ranked up.

After all the situation after this wasn't in his control at all.

Soon enough, Asher was slowly crossing the boundaries of C Rank. He only needed a slight push, so it happened soon enough.

His vision started becoming dark, as another System Notification popped up.

[ Rune of Eirdin is Activating ]

[ Rune of Eirdin has been strengthened ]

[ The Overseer's Gaze is increasing the effects of Rune of Eirdin ]

[ Warning! Rune of Eirdin has reached Rank A ]

Asher barely saw these notifications as the mana started circling his body at an insanely high speed making a shield.

It was because of the fact this mana core was now taking in the mana through the holes in his aura shield, it created small whirls in the still pool of mana.

On Asher's right hand, a tattoo materialized as Rifir appeared as he opened his mouth and revealed his fangs.

"Hmm?" The Overseer noticed Rifir.

Rifir's body started pushing the mana towards him as its eyes were glowing.

"Why is that thing still working?" The Overseer muttered in confusion.

The golden eyes started shining as he could see the blue floating texts in front of Asher.

Rifir created another vacuum as he started devouring the mana that was trying to force its way into Asher's body.

Snap!

With the snap of a finger, golden chains appeared around Rifir separating the space between Asher and Rifir.

Rifir noticed the overseer and revealed his fang once again.

"Your instincts must be telling you about me, still baring your fangs against me,"

"Quite a courageous beast you are," The Overseer commented.

"But this trial is his to compete, nobody can intervene in this," The Overseer spoke as his tone changed for some reason.

"I made sure that 'thing' was available in this space, but seeing those texts, something has changed," The overseer commented.

Rifir's rage started increasing the black energy started running rampant around its body.

"Quite a loyal beast you are, if you want to help your owner so much, why not go see what he is seeing, but from a different perspective?" The overseer said as he snapped his finger again.

"After all the creator of that damn 'thing' has an annoying habit of keeping what he observes," The overseer spoke as Rifir disappeared along with the system notification.

"Let's see what you truly are," The overseer spoke as he disappeared from this space as well.

Leaving Asher alone in this darkness while mana was still spiraling around his body making its way towards his mana core.

The Rune of Eirdin, a powerful ancient rune that Nathan bestowed upon Asher, granted him the ability to harness the power of the space element without enduring severe consequences typically associated with its use.

Nathan was not overly concerned about the potential adverse effects, believing that Asher would not suffer significantly from the Rune of Eirdin's penalties. For Nathan, Asher was merely a 14-year-old kid raised under their care.

Given Asher's personality, Nathan was convinced that the repercussions of wielding the Rune of Eirdin would not be overwhelming.

But at this moment, Asher had succumbed to a deep slumber, ensnared in memories he neither wished to see nor remember.