3x Cloning System: The Fleshmancer's Undead Army is full of Heroes-Chapter 35: Confusing Arcana
[Yes, that is correct.]
[You’ve leaped past the Devout Apprentices Realm of Mana, likely when you killed those hundreds of men a few hours ago.]
’By the Gods,’ He held his breath in, ’I assume it’s more difficult to ascend through the Realms of Mana when one bears Dark Mana, then? I’m not a genius when it comes to numbers, but I’ve taken the lives of many men, many prominent Mages, so shouldn’t I have ascended to the third, or fourth Realm by now?’
[I cannot give you exact details, but let’s assume that the quality of mana improves based on how you use your Branch of Magic.]
[You killed hundreds of men, yes, but you did so by pushing a couple of basic abilities sown down to Fleshmancy, to the limits. You shouldn’t even have ascended to the second Realm, if we’re being honest, but your use of the Life Draining Mist was so extensive, that it pushed the quality of your mana upwards, by at least a Realm.]
’I think I understand,’ He nodded, and sighed.
However, his anus tightened for the second time, when he looked at the page, and was reminded of the second, and more confusing inconsistency within the page, which was Mana Quantity. It was a whole new number that he barely had any idea of how it worked, or how it could be implemented within the rest of his abilities.
Likewise, he asked her about it, ’Why do I have so many Mana Points? Thirty-one hundred seems like a lot... it shouldn’t be that high, should it?’
[Well, we’ll have to assume that this is where Fleshmancy gets complicated.]
[Your two abilities, the only ones you know of, and know how to manipulate, which are the Demon’s Kiss, and the Life Draining Mist, appear to be exclusively linked with your Life Essence Points, otherwise known as the points that kept you alive so far, and the points you accumulated by killing the hundreds of men.]
[The point being, you don’t need Mana to use them, so the amount of Mana Points within you have accumulated over time. Life Essence, being a type of Essence itself, is far more useful than your Mana to you right now. It has its own category.]
’If it has its own, separate category, as you say, then how come I ascended through an entire Realm of Mana Quality?’ He asked, ’You did just say that the two are unrelated.’
Clayton was putting the entirety of his IQ into use for once, and he felt that he asked a great question, but the system came back to piss in his drink once more, by proving that she was smarter.
[Mana and Essence both fall under the grasp of your base Branch of Magic. In this case, Fleshmancy.]
[I don’t have access to information in regards to Fleshmancy, as it got locked away the moment I became part of your body, but the principle is the same across all Branches of Magic. It doesn’t matter if you use Mana, or Essence, as they all fall within the base Branch of Magic you were born with.]
[Odds are you developed this Life Essence over time, or it could be the basis of an introduction to Fleshmancy? We can’t know for sure, but we can assume that your violent use of Life Essence seeped into your Mana Pool, and therefore ascended your Mana Quality, as they both fall to accommodate Fleshmancy.]
Clayton felt stupid again. He was lost in the topic, indefinitely, but then he spent a few minutes processing all of the information that the system threw at him. Working with speculative information was a lot harder than working with solid information, as he had to piece a puzzle together in order to get an answer for himself.
The glaring morning sun pierced through his pupils, and he was quite irritated by it, but at some point, as he walked through the forest with the black book in front of him, the sun, and everything else in his surroundings managed to help him focus. He did not think that it was possible to use irritants in order to focus, but in this situation, it was exactly the case.
At some point, he repeated the foot-note that the system gave him, and continued, ’So everything falls within Fleshmancy? What if I buy the option from you that would give me normal Mana, and then bought the ability to shoot fireballs? Fireballs are quite typical amongst users of Blue Mana, if I remember right, but would the Branch of Fleshmancy within me influence the Fireballs in any way?’
[Now that’s a different topic, but you’re getting the hang of it.]
[I do offer the option to dual-cast blue, and dark mana, and in that case, Dark Mana would take up a portion of your Mana Pool, depending on how many relative abilities you have, and in that case, the Fireballs you’d shoot would not in fact be influenced by your Branch of Fleshmancy.]
[You’d bear two Branches of Magic.]
[Fleshmancy influences your current abilities, and whatever other ability within the reach of Fleshmancy you’ll come to discover yourself over time.]
Clayton fell silent again. Well, he was already silent, but he stopped talking to the system in his head for a moment as well. To his dismay, there was even more information to process now, and it took him a while to do so, but at some point, he caught up with at least half of what she said, and continued the conversation.
’Alright, so Dark Mana and Life Essence are separate,’ He repeated, ’And I haven’t yet figured out how to use my Dark Mana yet?’
[You haven’t learned an ability where your Dark Mana could be put into use. Necromancers use Dark Mana to raise the undead, and Summoners use it to summon beasts, for example, and with that said, you just have to figure out what Dark Mana can be used on in the Branch of Fleshmancy.]
’Aah,’ He sighed, and a bell rang in his head as if he was a Chapel bell, ’I understand now. Thank you, system.’
Clayton was a bit upset that the system couldn’t help him much when it came to Fleshmancy, but he could appreciate that she was direct about it. She didn’t make him any empty promises, so the overall trust he had on her increased by a little bit.
The mysteries of Fleshmancy were amongst the most confusing, or perhaps undiscovered within the Dark, or Arcane Arts of magic all together. Just like anything related to the Arcane, one had to study it, and it wasn’t something that he could learn within a day.
He was happy that he understood some of the magic within him now, and at this point, he hoped that he was a better Mage before he made it to the City of Fik. Spamming the Life Draining Mist was fun, but if there was a more advanced, nay, more efficient way for him to inflict harm on the enemy, then he wanted to figure it out!
