Chapter 193: Greed Almost Bring Disaster

Red did what he needed, patrolling. He didn’t go that far, just near the border. He did it to ensure no King of Jungle or kobolds were waiting for an ambush. The village was safe for now, and he returned.

The six hobgoblins still stared at him. He thought of asking them what they were looking at. That was just a genuine curiosity, but the hobgoblins might interpret it differently. He gave up and went back to his house- not really, but the one he picked before the awakening.

The Chief held his words so as not to let anyone bother him. Not that he was grateful for it. It was more like he deserved the treatment considering his contribution to the war.

Red thought of starting to make new arrows, putting his skills to use. He quickly put the idea aside. There was something better than making an arrow. It was his new Tier 5 Skill, Heradin’s Mana Circulation and Body Forging.

He finally found a solution to balance out his stats. As long as he had enough mana, he could increase his stats. He recalled the way the Heradin sat in his awakening, then he copied it.

He sat cross-legged on the straw bed, put his hand close to his knee, and closed his eyes. Then he started the Heradin’s Mana Circulation and Body Forging.

He reminded himself to slow his mana flow when it reached the channel in his head. He was following what he saw and didn’t plan to change it. There must be a reason they slowed the mana when it reached the head. If he had to guess, it might be because the head, especially inside the head, was the most fragile part.

It took him a little over thirty minutes to finish the first cycle. That was longer than when he was inside the dream. Maybe he was being too careful, which was why it took longer for him to finish the first cycle.

[You have finished Mana Circulation. You converted mana into Essence Mana! You gained 25 Essence Mana]

[You have finished Mana Body Forging! You have gained 0.25+ Strength, 0.25 Endurance, 0.25 Vitality, 0.25 Dexterity!]

A smile formed on Red’s lips as he saw the notification. Everything was real, and he was gaining stats from a skill. Even after checking his Status, there was a lingering fear that everything might not be real.

Red opened his Status, checking the mana. The same as when he did inside his awakening. It took 500 mana per circulation. He had 4600 now because of his trait, meaning he could use the skill nine times without stopping.

With his current mana regeneration, he might be able to do it eleven or maybe twelve times in an hour. If he did it twelve times, he would gain +3 to all his Might Stats.

"There’s also Heradin’s Essence Forging. It’s the same skill, but this one consumes Essence Mana instead. I need 500 Essence Mana to try it..."

The sky was still dark; there was no reason to stop. He might reach level 28 by the morning if his Mana Regeneration could keep up. This time took him less than half an hour, around twenty-nine minutes.

[You have finished Mana Circulation. You converted mana into Essence Mana! You gained 25 Essence Mana]

[You have finished Mana Body Forging! You have gained 0.25+ Strength, 0.25 Endurance, 0.25 Vitality, 0.25 Dexterity!]

His smile got wider as he heard the notification. He didn’t open his eyes and continued the Heradin’s Mana Circulation and Body Forging. He only stopped after finishing another four circulations. The reason he stopped was that he needed to check on his mana.

He needed to be careful of running out of mana. His eyes widened in surprise when he checked his Status. It was not because he was close to running out of mana, but it was actually the opposite. His mana was full: 4600 mana. That didn’t make sense unless his Mana Regeneration could cover what he used in those twenty-five minutes.

Red had reduced one full circulation down to twenty-five minutes. He didn’t dare to go faster than that, and yet his mana was full. He had finished six circulations, meaning he used 3000 mana in about three hours, yet he recouped the consumed mana.

That got him to grin ear to ear. The discovery was important. It meant he could use more mana for Heradin’s Mana Circulation and Body Forging. Just like how he added more mana to his fireball, he thought of adding more mana to his tier 5 skill.

He was being greedy, wanting to reap more results. He expected to gain more stats as well as more Essence Mana if he used more mana. The greed got into his head, which triggered Levelheaded.

Red calmed down and reconsidered the idea. Would there be a consequence from using more mana than the skill intended? This was different from Fireball. The mana left his body when he used Fireball. There would be no consequence to his body, but it would be different for Heradin’s Mana Circulation and Body Forging.

He remembered how he needed to slow down the flow of mana when the mana reached the channel in his head. What if he used too much for the head? He imagined how his head would explode if something went south.

Death was the worst outcome. Another consequence was that he might damage the channel inside his body because he used too much mana. What would happen if he damaged the channel? Did that mean he could no longer use mana? Or did that mean his skill or spell would become weaker? Could the damaged channel recover?

There were so many unknown things that might happen if he forcefully used too much mana. His knowledge about this channel was shallow, after all.

"Let’s play it safe, and maybe leveling up the skill is the better choice instead of adding more mana for the circulation..." He muttered.

He looked at the window. It was still dark outside, meaning he still had time.

Red closed his eyes and did the mana circulation. There was no experiment; he did it as he was instructed.

[You have finished Mana Circulation. You converted mana into Essence Mana! You gained 25 Essence Mana]

[You have finished Mana Body Forging! You have gained 0.25+ Strength, 0.25 Endurance, 0.25 Vitality, 0.25 Dexterity!]

[Heradin’s Mana Circulation and Body Forging have reached level 2!]

He opened his eyes and smiled when he heard the notification. It was quicker than he thought. Now the skill was level 2, so he immediately tried it again.

This time he had his Status open for a moment. He activated the skill and saw his mana was reduced by 600. Heradin’s Mana Circulation and Body Forging level 2 used 600 mana.