The Regressed SSS-Rank Water Mage Wants To Live a Calm Life-Chapter 27: Into the Red Valley [2]

Vin’s eyes widened, and his lips parted to speak—

Grraaaarr––!

Unfortunately, he was cut off by a deep and loud, guttural roar that caused him to close his ear on instinct.

Maxwell frowned, looking back at the red valley beyond the barrier.

There were three beasts. Brown and large, with slender builds. Their faces, shapes and ferocious tempers gave them a feline edge. They looked as if they were large, brown cats. Although Maxwell couldn’t recall any cat family that had two large and sharp horns at their foreheads, and possessed crimson cores. He could even feel the corrupted mana radiating from them through the barrier.

The beasts, Mirators, had drools dripping from their mouths as they growled, exposing a jagged, glistening set of deadly teeth. They kept slashing at the invisible barrier with their claws, as if it would do any good. Their eyes were locked on their prey.

That fact annoyed Maxwell. He was no one’s prey.

"Begone–" Maxwell outstretched a hand, so that his open palm, from a distance, aimed at the ferocious beasts who kept leaping and hitting an invisible barrier. Through his soul-link with Frilo, Maxwell circulated mana to his pathways, "Foul beasts."

The water elemental mana manifested as streaks of warm azure energy that split in the air. And like deadly projectiles, they sliced through the air, rippling the surrounding pure mana and air particles around them as they made their way to the beasts.

Pew–!–Pew–!-Pew–!

Three skulls were pierced, and in an instant, the beasts dropped dead without another sound.

An effective mana blast. It wasn’t even a spell.

Seeing the dead beasts, Maxwell’s smile returned, and he turned to Vin.

The middle-aged mercenary was already sitting on the ground with crossed legs. A lotus position. His mouth was open.

"This–" Vin stuttered. "You were right, Max, I– I can feel it. I can feel pure mana moving within me in my pathways. Within me, Max. Within me! My pathways feel... free."

Maxwell nodded, smile never fading.

"But of course. You had a unique disability, after all. One called ’pathway blockage.’ Your pathways were twisted and knotted in ways no human could untangle, making you unable to circulate or store mana in your body cells. In fact, you couldn’t even absorb pure mana actively or passively because the twisted pathways acted like a mana repellent. That’s how bad it was."

Vin blinked, surprised.

"Y–yes. You’re correct. I didn’t know the exact details. Didn’t even know my pathways were clogged; I just assumed it was a disability to absorb mana, a skill issue on my part. It hurt harder because I could practically feel the pure mana in the atmosphere and in other people; I could even differentiate elemental mana and sense it in people. But– they always say the first step in advancement is to feel the ambient pure mana, which most people can’t feel, in the surroundings. Once felt, we can gather it and... and... I could feel it, but–"

"It’s okay," Max interjected, raising a hand to calm Vin down. "You can gather mana now."

Vin closed his eyes. Took a deep breath in. Then out.

"Yes."

Frilo, still sitting on Vin’s hair, looked up at Maxwell.

Maxwell winked at Frilo, and Frilo nodded.

The stubborn old god was planning something again.

Whilst his eyes remained closed, Vin began to recall all the countless assimilation techniques he’d learned and mastered back in his youth, when he hoped that at least one would allow him to gather mana. It never did.

The man began to recall; Mana gathering was divided into two.

Mana breathing for mages, and Mana assimilation for the core bearers.

Mana breathing required the tedious process of inhaling pure mana through the nose, filtering it and changing it to the mage’s attuned element. In essence, mana breathing required mana conversion.

But to the core bearers, who couldn’t bear wasting so much time inhaling mana through the nose, it was a dumb technique. And most of them didn’t have affinity to any element, so mana conversion wasn’t really necessary. That was how mana assimilation came about.

A more painful way of mana gathering. It required accepting and consciously absorbing as much pure mana as one could into their body without filtering. It occurred at a fast pace and tired the pathways easily.

But in essence, both techniques were still mana-gathering techniques. After all, humans always found ways to tweak things, just like those high noble families that discovered precious, more efficient ways to breathe and convert mana and thus created their own techniques. Or the greatest core warriors that discovered better, safer ways to harness and assimilate mana.

All techniques were techniques. This was what Vin had come to understand after years of buying countless mana-gathering technique scrolls.

Frilo, on top of Vin’s hair, closed its eyes and raised an arm. Immediately, the atmosphere trembled as pure mana found its way to Frilo’s open palm like a black hole. The winds shifted, causing Vin’s hair to dangle wildly against his closed eyes.

It felt as though a whirlwind had occurred. Even Maxwell had to enter a more defensive stance; the current of the wind was too strong, reminding him of the Celestial King’s vestige.

All the pure mana Frilo gathered, it sent Vin’s way, channeling it through his head to the rest of his body. And Vin kept absorbing and assimilating it.

Vin entered an absolute trance, gathering every single pure mana and cycling them through his pathways and storing them in his body cells.

His rate of gathering was so high that Maxwell felt the man had gathered mana equal to a 3rd-core’s.

Normally, before a warrior could form their first core, they’d need to train their mind and their body to be able to withstand the strain of the cores. They’d also need considerable experience and a required enlightenment that was always the bottleneck for advancement to higher tiers of any path, whether mage or weapon user.

The thing was, Vin had trained for years. He had gained numerous experiences, and he was proud to say that there was no enlightenment that he hadn’t gained on the battlefield. The man had trained amongst core bearers all his life and had trained his basics to absolute perfection.

He was ready.

Vin condensed every single bit of mana he stored in his body cells, just as he’d learned years ago.

And he finally did it.

Whoosh––!!

A bright light shone from the man’s body. The light was so brilliant and so bright that Maxwell had to shield his eyes.

Max gazed at the light-enshrouded figure.

’I knew he had potential but...’

A pillar of light ascended from Vin’s body, soaring high to the clouds, and piercing that one wavy cloud that reminded Maxwell of Rita.

’...this is just excellent.’

Maxwell smiled, removing his hands from his eyes. He gazed directly at the blinding lights that covered Vin now.

Maxwell walked closer to Vin as the intense heat radiating from the mercenary’s body kissed his skin. He sat down opposite the mercenary to bear witness to his advancement.

Frilo, away from Vin’s hair, perched on Maxwell’s shoulder, curiously gazing at Vin.

After about fifteen minutes had passed, the lights slowly began to fade. And twenty minutes later, the light completely dulled.

Vin Ralenzo opened his eyes, and he stood up anew.

As he gazed upon Maxwell, his eyes shone a brilliant silver hue, and the aura and presence around him were unmistakable, manifesting physically as a silver energy that corrupted the pure mana around him.

Vin breathed out.

Maxwell nodded, grunting as he stood up.

"It is done."

Max didn’t need to be told. He could feel the five major heats of pure, refined mana revolving around Vin’s heart.

A 5th-core swordsman.

Maxwell turned toward the direction of the red valley.

"We can go hunt now. Test out that new strength of your–"

Shing–!

Vin drew his sword.

Maxwell paused, frowning as he looked back at Vin.

However, his frown dissolved as he watched Vin get down on one knee, planting his unsheathed sword on the dried, red ground.

Under the brilliant rays of the afternoon sun, tears of joy dripped from Vin’s eyes to the ground as he bowed.

These tears, however, did nothing to hide the firm and resolute will radiating in Vin’s voice as he spoke:

"The lands of Cryst bear witness. The god of light, Hubolt, bears witness. I, Vin Ralenzo, will remain indebted to you, Maxwell, until the day I die. Whenever and however you need me, I will be there. And if you ever so need me to take away my life... I will do so. And I swear upon my soul that I will never take your goodwill for granted."

Maxwell blinked, taken aback.

But once Maxwell regained his composure, he didn’t question or reprimand Vin. Instead, he said:

"Stand. Let’s go hunt."

Maxwell outstretched an arm to his friend, smiling.

Vin raised his head, teary eyes widening as he looked into Max’s eyes. He wiped away his tears, chuckling as he grabbed Maxwell’s hand and stood up.

"I sure hope I won’t need to die, though. My wife will be sad, haha."

Maxwell shrugged, chuckling.

"You won’t."

They walked into the red valley.