My Bugged System Made Me Too OP!-Chapter 79: Golden flash
He knew that Yuan and the others would be waiting for "Mr. White" to check on the prisoner. He would have to maintain the charade, even while his body was still recovering from the massive strain of the day.
Noah took a deep breath and focused his mind.
’Status,’ he thought.
The familiar blue screen flickered to life in front of his eyes, displaying the cold, hard numbers of his current existence.
[Supreme Magus System$&@?!]
[Host: Noah Whiteheart]
[Level: 14]
[EXP: 20/100$&@?]
[Rank: High Magus (high)]
[Elements: Ice, Lightning]
[Mana: 1600/1600]
[Health: 400/400]
[Strength: 24]
[Agility: 25]
[Stamina: 24]
[Endurance: 23]
[Sense: 28]
[Supreme Points: 0]
[Skills and Abilities $&@?]
[Icicle (level 1)]
[Lightning Ball (level 2)]
[Aura Mask (level 3)]
[Limit-breaker (level ???)]
[Frost Blast (level 1)]
[Lightning Chain (level 1)]
[Freezing touch (level 1)]
[Ice hold (level 1)]
[Lightning Arrow (level 1)]
[Ice Spear (level 1)]
[Ice Mirror (level 1)]
[Glacial Spear (level 2)]
[Thunder Step (level 1)]
[Electric Overcharge (level 2)]
[Static Bolt (level 1)]
[Ice bite (level 1)]
[Lightning Clone (level 1)]
[Cryogenic Pulse (level 1)]
[Glacial Crash (level 1)]
[Heaven’s Strike (level 1)]
[Static Devastation (level 1)]
[Plasma Slash (level 1)]
[Diamond Ice Armour (level 1)]
[Thunder Roar (level 1)]
Even though he had leveled up twice from the encounter, he didn’t feel happy about it.
The numerical growth felt small and insignificant compared to the absolute power he had just tasted.
He stretched his hand out toward the ceiling, his fingers twitching as he remembered the sensation of being an Arch Magus.
He remembered the powerful ice star he had summoned with a mere thought.
He pictured the massive ice mountain that now stood as a permanent scar on the landscape, a monument to a power that was currently locked away from him. The sheer scale of it was haunting.
’Those skills... to think I was the one wielding them...’ he thought.
Noah pushed the thoughts of limit breaker to the back of his mind.
He knew that dwelling on a power he couldn’t currently sustain would only breed a dangerous kind of impatience.
He needed to focus on the resources he actually possessed in the present.
He slowly shifted his weight and moved toward the far corner of his bed.
There was a slight, unnatural bump beneath the heavy fabric of the sheet.
He reached out and pulled the edge of the cloth back, revealing the mysterious black egg lying within.
It sat there in the dim light of the room, its surface dark and inscrutable, looking like a smooth stone plucked from the bottom of a forgotten lake.
He reached for it with both hands, feeling the weight of the object as he pulled it closer.
He took the egg and placed it carefully between his legs.
The shell felt cool to the touch at first, but as he settled into a cross-legged position, he could feel a faint, rhythmic heat emanating from its core.
It was a pulse that felt almost like a heartbeat, slow and steady.
He placed his right palm flat against the top of the egg, and the familiar connection he always felt with it surged through his arm.
It was a tether that defied physical logic, a spiritual bond that had only grown stronger since he found it.
He closed his eyes and began to channel his mana. He pushed a steady stream of energy from his core, directing it through his arm and into the shell of the egg.
He found the process surprisingly smooth and easy.
He wasn’t even sure what made him try this, he only felt he should due to the connection between he and whatever laid within the egg... like it was what it needed at that moment.
The egg suddenly lit up with a network of glowing golden lines, tracing across its surface like lightning.
It was the same visual phenomenon that occurred back when the egg sucked out every drop of his mana, leaving him drained and gasping. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
Now, however, the experience was fundamentally different.
He didn’t feel his mana getting aggressively or violently sucked away by the egg.
Instead, it felt like a controlled exchange, a conversation between two different sources of power that had finally found a common language.
As he continued to channel his mana, he felt the connection between them deepen.
The tether grew into a thick cord of energy, and for a moment, he could sense the consciousness stirring within the shell.
It was a vast, ancient presence that seemed to acknowledge him as its provider.
The golden lines on the egg pulsed in time with his own heartbeat, glowing brighter with every passing second.
Soon enough, he felt a strange sensation in his palm.
A different kind of mana began to flow back through him from the egg.
It traveled upward through his arm, spreading into his chest and circulating through his own mana channels.
It was an influx of energy that he hadn’t expected, a reciprocal gift from the creature inside.
The mana flowing through him from the egg felt similar yet different from his own.
It was richer and even thicker than the energy he was currently channeling into the egg. It felt ancient, saturated with a density that made his own High Magus mana seem thin by comparison. It was like comparing a stream of clear water to a river of liquid gold.
Like this, he entered a state of perfect equilibrium.
He was feeding the egg with his own mana, nurturing the life within, and at the same time, he was receiving a refined, potent mana back from the egg.
It was a cycle of constant refinement, a loop of power that seemed to soothe the lingering aches from his earlier backlash.
He sat in the silence of his room, the golden light of the egg casting long, flickering shadows against the walls.
’What sort of creature is inside this egg?’ Noah thought.
He had never read of anything like this in the most ancient of books aboit mana beasts, nor had he ever heard such a phenomenon taught in the magical academy.
This reciprocal cycle was a complete anomaly that defied the natural order of magical biology.
He wasn’t complaining, though.
The discomfort from the earlier backlash was being steadily washed away by the rich mana he felt flowing through his veins.
It was a dense, nourishing energy that seemed to repair his mana channels on a molecular level.
He leaned into the sensation, his breathing slowing as he synchronized his internal rhythm with the glowing shell between his legs.
He could feel his own mana reserves rising steadily.
The rate of growth was astounding, almost as fast as it did when he was deep in the heart of the forest, absorbing the raw, untamed essence of nature itself.
It was as if the egg were acting as a high-grade refinery, taking his standard High Magus mana and returning it as something far more potent and concentrated.
He concentrated even more, focusing his will on the bridge of light between his palm and the shell.
’This is good...’ Noah thought, a sense of satisfaction blooming in his chest. ’I’m only feeding the egg, yet I’m gaining more mana and completing my quest at the same time!’
[Daily Quest: Channel your mana through your mana veins]
[Status: Completed]
[Reward Granted: 20EXP]
A few moments later, another notification appeared, overlapping the first.
[Daily Quest: Channel your mana through your mana veins]
[Status: Completed]
[Reward Granted: 20EXP]
The notifications started blinking before him as more time passed, the rewards accumulating in his experience bar.
His lips curled up slightly, a small smirk forming on his face as he realized his thoughts were actually correct.
The system recognized this shared circulation as a form of mana channeling, allowing him to farm experience points while simply sitting on his bed.
*
Several minutes later...
Noah slowly opened his eyes, and a sharp golden light flashed within them for a split second.
He felt refreshed, his senses sharpened to a razor’s edge, and the fatigue that had plagued him since the battle was completely gone.
"That’s enough..." he mumbled, his voice sounding resonant in the quiet room.
He could sense it from the egg that it also had enough.
The connection had reached a point of saturation, where the egg could no longer absorb his energy without overflowing.
He slowly pulled his hand away from the shell, breaking the physical contact, but the golden lines did not fade.
Instead, the egg was still pulsing.
It was no longer a slow, rhythmic heartbeat. The vibrations were becoming faster, the golden light flickering with an erratic intensity that made the air in the room feel heavy.
It kept pulsing more with each passing second, the frequency rising until the bed beneath Noah began to tremble.
Noah ignored the notifications still floating in front of him.
He pushed the system windows aside, his entire focus locked on the strange reaction from the egg.
He had seen it glow before, and he had seen it take his mana, but he had never seen it react with this level of volatility.
He sat back, his blue eyes wide as he watched the phenomenon unfold.
The golden lines on the surface slowly began to expand.
They widened until they covered nearly the entire black shell, the intricate patterns merging into a single, blinding sheet of radiance.
The egg suddenly flashed with a bright golden light, one so intense that it illuminated the whole room, washing out the shadows in the corners and turning the walls into mirrors of pure gold.
