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Path to Prosperity - B3 Chapter 39
🕑 Added 2024-12-06 11:00:08 +0000 UTCThe Succubus’ purple eyes stared empty at Percy. They were once bright and full of life, but now all that’s left is emptiness. Percy’s chest heaved up and down heavily. Even though he’d been healed by the Healing Potion merely minutes ago, he was injured again. His body was covered in moderate and deep gashes inflicted by the desperate Greater Demon.
The Succubus had been powerful, but once he evaded her bladed shadow whips and spikes, Percy could easily remove the threat. All it took was a single slash.
Percy’s legs caved in, and he slumped to the ground. His eyes drifted to the Mutant corpses across the hall, and a heavy sigh escaped his lips. A red vial appeared in Percy’s hands at some point. He removed the cork and moved the vial to his lips to drink the viscous liquid. It stirred something within him, but Percy couldn’t focus on it.
How did the Demons build such a large cavern system? I must have been fighting Beth and her little horde of Demons for quite some time now, but nobody has reached me yet. It isn’t even like we’ve been fighting silently.
He ruffled through his hair in frustration and used [Consume] to devour the Mutants and Beth. Prosperity skyrocketed, and his Tier was once again close to ranking up. That was no surprise, given how many Demon corpses he’d consumed in the last few hours. Demon carcasses nourished his Tier more than the average objects or monster bodies, but the Mutants, inflicted with Devil’s Touch, were even better.
In fact, Devil’s Touch bodies were several times more valuable for Percy’s growth. The Abomination consumed and digested the power the Devil had granted to the Mutants to grow stronger. It wasn’t a massive improvement, but Percy noticed a clear distinction compared to before. The Abomination was easier to control, which was also owed to their earlier discussion, yet it was also far more efficient and provided him with more Prosperity.
The Abomination’s bond with the Ego, or me, has grown stronger. Is that also why the conversion to Prosperity is higher now? Devil’s Touch bodies are already worth a lot more than the norm, but it feels like I’m gaining more as the Abomination consumes more of the Devil’s power.
That was great, but Percy was still exhausted. The Demon bodies were no more, leaving Percy alone in the massive cavern hall. The silence was confusing at first, but he relaxed for a moment. Maybe the others were struggling to reach the deeper parts of the cavern network, but Percy was already deep down. All he needed was a few deep breaths to cleanse the exhaustion taking root in the deepest parts of his body, and he would be fine.
At least, that was what Percy hoped when he consumed several different potions to push his body back to peak condition. It didn’t work as expected, leaving Percy’s body in great condition, but his mind and soul were beyond exhausted.
Maybe this will help a little.
[32.365.921 Prosperity has been consumed.]
[Your Tier increased by one rank.]
After consuming close to a thousand Demons, mostly Elites, including various Mutants, and a handful of Greater Demons, one could assume it was time to rank up, but his Ego was not up for it. Fortunately, investing Prosperity directly in his Tier was still possible.
His pores opened to mana, ready to take in the purest mana in the surroundings – it wouldn’t absorb impure mana because it never did – but nothing happened at first. Percy grunted as he got up from the ground and looked around.
“Do I have to search for pure mana to take in now? I didn’t expect this to turn into a treasure hunt,” He snickered, trying to ease the situation but failing miserably. His body screamed for pure mana, yet nothing was nearby. The Mutants had already tarnished most mana around the cavern hall.
Fortunately, not all of it. Percy discovered traces of pure mana at the other end of the lengthy hall once [Hawk Eyes] was active. It drained the bits of mana his potions had replenished, showing him everything he had to see.
What is that? This doesn’t seem…normal…
Percy’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits. He ignored his mental exhaustion and approached the other side of the cavern hall. His dried-out body attracted traces of pure mana, his mana reservoir twisting his insides to increase its pulling force. A wince escaped Percy’s lips at the discomfort, but he moved onward, allowing the traces of mana pulled into his mana reservoir to transform into a steady flow.
As he reached the other end of the cavern hall, Percy’s mana reservoir was still not full, but several steady streams of mana entering his body had formed. There was no impurity in the mana either. That was a little unexpected since his body demanded the purest mana. He almost expected his body to start cleansing and purifying the mana in the Demon Lair, no matter how pure it seemed at first.
There had to be imperfections in the mana here. After all, they were in a Demon Lair, The Lair of a Demon Lord, to be precise.
That confused him, stirring doubts within Percy’s mind even though he was exhausted. His mind didn’t work as fast as before, but his gut feeling supported Percy’s confusion. He activated [Hawk Eyes] again and maintained the Augmentation for a few seconds with the mana he’d just absorbed to unfold the mystery.
And there it was, at the end of the hall. Three cavern tunnels, one of them overflowing with mana.
There is still lots of tainted mana in the hall, altered by the devilish torches and the Demons’ presence, but how can there be so much mana in that tunnel? There is a lot more mana in one place than… Even the Moonlight Forest doesn’t have that much mana, even though there is a mana vein. Then again, the Beastlands’ surface isn’t much different from the Moonlight Forest.
Percy’s mind cleared up as more mana entered his reservoir. It stopped pulling a senseless amount of mana into his body when the reservoir was filled to the brim, but there was excess mana nonetheless. Percy infused it into his mind.
Now that I think about it, I have never experienced what the mana vein in the Moonlight Forest feels like. All I got to experience were the remnants, the Imperial prospects’ leftovers.
The pieces were slowly together.
The Beastlands, even its borders, were mana-infused, just like the Moonlight Forest. The underground cavern of the Demon Lair was overflowing with mana, just like the mana vein in the Wintermoon Estate ought to be.
“A mana vein is underneath the Demon Lair,” Percy murmured, his eyes widening slowly.
“There is a mana vein!”
Percy didn’t remember reading much about mana veins, but he knew they were rare. It was difficult to discover mana veins, but it was even harder to gain access to them. One sign of a nearby mana vein was high mana density. That might be obvious at first glance, yet other phenomena also led to regions with high mana density. Even if there was a mana vein, it didn’t mean it was stable enough to be accessed directly by other beings.
But that was possible in the mana vein underneath the Demon Lair. At least, that was what the pure mana oozing from the cavern tunnel in the middle suggested. The mana wanted to be absorbed, and wanted to be used. It didn’t shy away from Percy. On the contrary, Percy had to conceal his body to block the mana once his mana reservoir was filled to the brim.
The mana vein underneath the Demon Lair could be accessed easily. Percy was sure of it.
“It’s similar to the mana vein underneath the Wintermoon Estate,” He swallowed hard, understanding the situation very well.
“The Demons didn’t attack the Wintermoon Estate to eliminate the Imperial prospects and some pesky noblechildren. That was a nice side-effect of their main priority,” Percy murmured. “They wanted the mana vein.”
His face was drained of all its color.
“Just like the Demons in the Beastlands. And they succeeded.”
Their initial plan succeeded. Nobody knew how long the Demons had been accessing the mana vein, but if they used the excessive kidnapping of Beastmen's children as a starting date…it had to be months.
The Demons must have been accessing the mana vein in the Beastlands for months now.
But what was the next step in their plan?
What’s going to happen now?
