Chapter 168: Dark Mage

In the Fenwatch Crossing, Pascal was seen meditating in the room of the most popular inn in Fenwatch Town.

He was currently absorbing the pure mana in the surroundings.

When the pure mana entered his body, it was instantly refined into a dark property, proceeding towards his mana core.

His mana core contained an extreme density of dark mana, which was constantly being contained by a seal to prevent the dark mana from leaking.

Pascal was sweating, but a smile was forming on his face.

He was finally at C-Rank. At the moment, he didn’t know what class title it currently held, but the voice in his head only told him he was a "Dark Mage" with limitless potential.

The voice in his head promised him that as long as he continued absorbing the vitality of other humans, especially those with a lot of potential, they would be absorbed by the seal and the seal would constantly break the limits placed upon him by his fate.

For example, he killed five humans in total before his mana core was formed.

Pascal could still remember the time when his mana core was formed. At that point, he could now consciously perceive the state of his inner body, catching the appearance of the seal.

At first, he was taken aback and horrified. The seal gave him an ominous feeling. It was made out of a language he could not read.

Thankfully, the voice in his head assured him that the seal appeared just to contain the dark mana his mana core could store, which was his primary source of power to cast spells.

Even before his mana core was formed, the voice in his head already taught him a spell—Vitality Absorption.

It allowed him to absorb the vitality of the humans, converting them into a dark mana, causing his mana core to be formed.

After his mana core was formed, the voice in his head taught him two other spells to protect himself.

Dark Augmentation and Dark Concealment.

The Dark Augmentation increased his body’s durability, allowing him to withstand offensive physical and magical attacks ten times than his normal body.

Dark Concealment, as the name suggested, would conceal his presence. The prerequisite was that the place should be hidden in the dark.

Once Dark Concealment would be activated, his presence was completely erased, not even his body smell could expose him.

The Dark Concealment was the main reason he managed to get away by killing others without exposing himself.

At the moment, now that he was at C-rank, he was excited to learn other spells from the voice in his head.

[Impressive. You are progressing a lot faster than the other seedlings.]

When Pascal heard of the other seedlings, he frowned.

He was already aware that the voice in his head was raising other seedlings, but being reminded by them, he couldn’t help but feel displeased.

After all, now that he gained a lot of powers, he believed he was stronger than anyone else, he felt he was irreplaceable.

The voice in his head was his master, and his master reminding him that there were still other disciples which might have the ability to surpass him, he couldn’t help but feel upset.

The voice in his head seemed to be unaware of his emotions.

[As a reward, I will grant you three more spells this time.]

Pascal beamed a smile. He was thrilled and couldn’t help but anticipate the rewards, completely forgetting the fact that he still has other brothers and sisters to compete with.

Pascal was unaware that due to him affecting the Authority of Salvation by being a cancer, the voice in his head, Malveris, had already managed to form a contract with other thousand humans—all NPCs.

They all targeted the players.

The sudden appearance of the players alarmed him, especially when they continued to appear out of nowhere and showed a lot of potential.

Of course, due to their potential, Malveris became greedy.

The more his contracted humans killed and absorbed the vitality of the players, the more the Authority of Salvation diminished.

The dark mana was like a cancer to the Authority of Salvation.

The Authority of Salvation specifically targeted the demonic mana that demons possessed.

Demon doesn’t possess dark mana—only those humans who were demonized were.

During the Godhand of Salvation’s ultimate sacrifice, demons that have contract ability didn’t appear by then.

As a result, demons continued to adapt and produce races that could bypass human territory and consume them.

If it was not because of the threat of the monsters’ appearance, they would have done so long ago.

The Four Demon Sovereigns were at war with each other, allowing humanity to breath from their full force assault.

For Malveris, the Empire was a feeding ground for him.

He wanted to become a Sovereign.

For that to happen, he must consume every human being inside the Empire.

At the moment, in the Mirefall Province alone, he has ten Dark Mage stationed in different towns.

In other provinces, there were less than ten of them as he was currently focused on the Mirefall Province.

Malveris’ momentum was unstoppable. He didn’t try targeting the other towns that has B-rank and above guarding it.

However, he was more wary at the individual who made Pascal ran away from his order.

Pascal was also traumatized by that specific individual.

It became the primary reason why Pascal wanted to grow stronger as best as he could to return the humiliation he received.

At the moment, he couldn’t recognize the identity of the individual, much less his face, but he was assured that the voice in his head had already marked him.

What he didn’t know was that... Malveris hid what he learned from that individual.

Pascal could never defeat him.

But Malveris was determined for his conquest of the Empire.

For that, he must start by eliminating the individual who possessed the seeds of an Authority...

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