"How do you expect to heal yourself by consuming glass moss roots and the blood of a poisonous ant?" Old Garen watched Lucius closely as he cooked something in the kitchen of the ruined house.
He couldn't wrap his head around the idea that two poisonous things could heal someone. But Lucius looked confident, so he began to doubt his own judgment.
Lucius chopped a root into pieces small enough to make a paste, then tossed them into a pot with the blood and began stirring.
"It's called Silver Marrow Elixir," said Lucius. "Although to you this is toxic garbage—because it is—the reality is that thanks to its toxicity, it has powerful stabilizing properties. The powerful often use it to stabilize the cores of beasts they wish to tame."
"Tame?" Old Garen raised his eyebrows in shock. "That's a supreme technique…"
"Yes, only the most powerful in the Rankings use it."
"How do you know that?"
Lucius shrugged and didn't answer. He'd already told him that he was The Mage; if they didn't believe him, it wasn't his fault.
He continued stirring the mixture, which gradually began to take on a whitish-green color.
The whole process lasted an hour, until Lucius finally turned off the stove.
"No matter how you look at it, that's not edible." Old Garen grunted, seeing the toxicity wafting from the smoke. He immediately had to cover his nose with a damp cloth and watch from a distance.
But Lucius inhaled that toxicity and laughed. "Wimp." He let the mixture cool for 15 minutes, and once it reached the right temperature, he poured it into a glass container he'd stolen from old Garen.
Finally, he poured exactly 100 milliliters into a glass and downed it in one gulp. The taste was awful; it made him grimace.
"The only problem with this is how addictive it is; it's the strongest drug out there, capable of changing your perception of its taste with every sip." Lucius sat down on the floor to process it all. "Go do your thing; I'll take some time."
After saying that, Lucius closed his eyes and looked inside his body at the mess of a Fractured Core…
It was just like a normal core, except that it was in pieces. The mana, instead of being inside the core like water in a container, was on the outside, sticking to it like tape.
At a glance, you could tell it couldn't hold any mana inside. Even so, the cracks had a peculiar golden hue, something unusual for a low-level core.
'A core that glows gold is the reflection of an S-Rank Core, similar to the one I had in my past life. Why does this one glow gold too?' Lucius couldn't figure out the mystery.
With the help of the energy provided by the Elixir, he began conducting tests to see if he could repair it.
He tried gluing the core together to cover the golden flashes… and it worked only partially.
For a brief moment, the fractured core managed to return to its original shape, and mana flowed into it, as if returning to its natural course. Suddenly, Lucius felt a sudden surge in his power that alarmed him…
Boom!
An explosion of mana erupted within him.
"Guh!" Lucius spat out a mouthful of blood in that instant and lost control of the core, which returned to its natural state.
"Hahh…" He gasped for breath, clutching his heart.
'This is… superhuman power. I clearly shouldn't have it right now.' His eyes shone with a peculiar golden hue that shouldn't exist in him.
It's Mana Symbiosis!
'Maybe my core isn't defective. It's like this so I can use this legendary ability.' He was now convinced that this body was magnificent.
Although the pain he had to endure caused several blood vessels in his eyes to burst, filling them with blood.
His heart raced and his blood boiled with excitement. He grabbed the two mana marks he had obtained to examine them.
'I wonder what kind of Mana Mark I got?' he thought, curious, and checked the system.
[Mana Mark – Rank F]
Mana Mark of a Heavy-Load Ant.
Type of Magic Contained: Active.
[]
[Mana Mark – Rank F]
Mana Mark of an Erratic-Flight Dragonfly.
Type of Magic Contained: Active.
[]
'Two active types.' Lucius nodded. They were good marks for his current strength.
Besides, if the symbiosis is what he thinks it is, those types of magic will be the best for him.
He focused all his attention on one of them and closed his eyes.
He tried to connect mentally with the Mana Mark, sensing the magic that enveloped it. The essence was that of a beast; it roared constantly and uncontrollably, making his frail body tremble.
Since it was nothing more than the essence of the slain beast condensed into an ethereal magic rune, it had no will of its own. But thanks to that, it was easy to connect with it. Therefore, Lucius was able to focus on the mana mark and began to absorb it.
Slowly, the mana mark began to imprint itself onto his core.
15 minutes later…
[You have successfully absorbed the F-Rank Mana Mark of the Heavy-Load Ant.]
[Slot #1: Heavy-Load Ant (F): Mana Overload.]
'A enhancement spell. Not bad.' Lucius turned his attention to the other one and began to absorb it.
[You have successfully absorbed the Rank F Mana Mark of the Erratic-Flight Dragonfly.]
[Slot #2: Erratic-Flight Dragonfly (F): Acceleration Overload.]
'Another enhancement-type one?'
After thinking for a brief moment, he understood.
Although in different ways, both beasts possess powerful or buff-granting abilities.
The Ant is powerful and can enhance itself with its own mana—hence its name. The same goes for the Dragonfly. Because it's so fast, the spells it typically grants are of the Overload type.
'Should I try a symbiosis?' He stood up after settling the surges of mana in his body, then left the room.
"What are you doing?" Lucius found Old Garen trying to replicate what he had seen in him using nails and screws.
"You…" Garen looked at him, in shock. "Weren't you going to absorb the marks? Why did you come out so fast?" He immediately put the tools away in his bag and stood up.
"I'm done, of course." He replied casually.
"Huh? You absorbed two mana marks in 30 minutes? Do I look like an idiot to you?" Old Garen growled.
Lucius shrugged and walked toward the door. "I want to try out some spells, so I'm going out for a bit."
"Hey, listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Old Garen followed him out, angry.
But Lucius ignored him. He looked out at the lonely road. Not even birds lived here.
'Man, only this grumpy old man would think of living in such a horrible place.' Lucius wrinkled his nose and stopped thinking nonsense.
First, he tried to activate the magic through conventional means.
According to theory, magic was activated by connecting the Core to the Mana Mark. You can train your control and improve your strength, but you can never change the form.
Therefore, a spell that looks like an X will always look like an X, since it is defined by the Mark, not by the mage or the Core.
That same theory states that, to use magic, you simply have to make it resonate with the core.
"I can't." Lucius frowned.
Inside him, the mana mark seemed to be the ribbon connecting his core to the mana. It occupied half of the fractured core. But it couldn't resonate, because the core was in pieces.
'Then I really have to use that technique to mend the core.' It was the only option he had.
But he had to grit his teeth to brace himself for the explosion.
'The mana in my body has grown, but it doesn't flow through my veins as it usually does. Any misuse could kill me, and I've already witnessed that.'
He couldn't make the same mistake again.
First, he calmed himself and took a deep breath. Then, slowly, he tried to "glue" the fractured core back together.
[Ding]
A gray system message appeared before him at that moment.
[Two Mana Marks Detected: Mana Symbiosis is possible.]
[Skill: Heavy-Load Ant's Mana Overload.] + [Skill: Erratic-Flight Dragonfly's Acceleration Overload.]
[Do you wish to perform the Symbiosis?]
[Note: A Symbiosis of Overload performed on a weakened body may cause an unprecedented explosion that could kill you. Proceed with caution.]
Lucius frowned as he read that final note and returned the core to its original place. The message was still there, and he could perform the Symbiosis at any time.
'My body hasn't recovered yet, and although the core has begun to stabilize, I still can't make too many drastic movements. I nearly died again recently, and I can still feel the internal injuries.'
'Besides, the Academy Entrance Exams are coming up in a few weeks. I need to stay stable and healthy until then.'
Although he was dying to perform that Symbiosis and finally see what this mysterious ability entailed, he held back for now.
Old Garen was taken aback when Lucius turned away without doing anything.
"What are you doing? Weren't you going to try out some magic?"
"I changed my mind." Lucius shrugged. "I'm going to the Upper District. Want to come?"
Garen looked at him, shocked. "What are you going to do in that place full of rich people?"
"Find what belongs to me, of course."