Chapter 491: Artificial Mana Veins II

The thickness of the new mana vein was incredibly thin. The walls of the veins were so thin it almost looked like it barely existed.

Once that whole system was formed to the point where these thin veins could move mana to most of the body, another layer of mana was pumped out from the heart. This secondary layer thickened the walls and made them slightly stronger.

Then, all of the mana inside the heart was consumed. The process wasn’t completely finished, but the second layer was partially done. The smoky, gaseous state of the mana that was still in the form of a tube slowly began to condense and form a pseudo-solid structure around the blood veins.

The video paused and the screen moved to the side while another screen popped up next to it. On this second screen, there was another diagram, but this one was slightly different.

It showed the arteries and veins that moved regular blood. But the mana veins were completely separate on this one. They had their own separate, standalone pathways that didn’t wrap around the blood vessels at all.

Adrian looked between the two screens. The first one was the baby, where the mana veins were literally glued to the blood veins. The second one belonged to a natural mage.

Adrian nodded slowly.

’Okay,’ Adrian thought. ’So the mana veins of someone who is born with them naturally is like a completely separate nervous system. While the mana veins of someone who doesn’t have them since birth... they basically create their own artificial veins by using the regular blood pathways as a mold.’

[Affirmative.]

[There is another major difference between Natural Mana Veins compared to Artificially Created Mana Veins. Natural Mana Veins can evolve. It is hard to strengthen them and evolve them, but it is possible.]

Adrian nodded. He was a prime example of that, and Serena was too since he had helped upgrad her F-Rank veins too.

[Artificially created Mana Veins are solidified and too rigid. They are not adaptive, and they cannot change their structure. There is a very small window after the first step where it can be evolved slightly. But as the child grows older and the veins harden, it gets harder and harder. After just one year, it will be physically impossible to rank up the artificial mana veins.]

’Okay,’ Adrian thought. ’So it’s basically a permanent cap. But even if it is impossible to rank up later, that is just a drawback for someone who has limited resources. What happens... Run a simulation and tell me what happens when a person drinks this mana water when they are a fully grown adult.’

He tapped his chin as he thought about it.

’Because when they are an adult, they can drink a hell of a lot more water than a baby, right? So what happens when they drink a lot more? Will all of that liquid mana translate to a higher ranked set of mana veins instantly? Or are there other things that we need to consider? And on top of that, will there be a difference between a child and an adult when they drink this water? Like let’s say, maybe the adult might just naturally need more mana compared to the child to form the veins?’

[Apologies. These variables can only be determined by real-world testing. They cannot be accurately simulated since I have zero prior information about this phenomenon.]

Adrian let out a soft sigh. ’Okay, fine. Got it.’

He thought for a bit.

’Yeah,’ Adrian thought to himself. ’If I need to actually test this thing and record the details safely, I will need to go back to Oresfall. Because almost every single adult here in these tribes is someone who has probably gone through something similar as a baby. They already have these rigid mana veins.’

He frowned. "And like you said, since they are using a method like this, they probably cannot use the same method to upgrade anymore. But is it worth a trial?’

[No matter how old a person becomes, the artificial mana veins are permanently rigid. They will not change or get stronger.]

’Okay, okay, got it,’ Adrian thought. ’But there should be a few native people who must have awakened natural mana veins, right? Statistically, someone has to have them. What would have happened to them if they drank this water? I wonder what happens.’

The system gave the exact same response. It did not have the answer.

’Right, of course,’ Adrian sighed. ’Wait. You should be able to see what is going on if we bring a bunch of random people in here, right? Like, let’s say they were actually born with natural mana veins. You should be able to find out about that.’

[Among the tribal people that were recently brought into the dungeon, not a single person had natural mana veins.]

’Okay, fine,’ Adrian said. ’I will try to bring a few others inside if I can find them. If not, we’ll see how it goes.’

He shifted topics.

’Also, about the hidden dungeon that’s somewhere on this continent. You said that it can spot me if I go over certain limits of what I can do here. So I just want to know how it actually finds things out.’

[All of the ambient mana in this entire region is directly connected to that dungeon. Since there is no natural gaseous mana in the air here, it can instantly spot mana fluctuations whenever foreign mana enters the area. Whenever you bring things out or send things in, there is going to be a fluctuation of mana.]

[Usually, due to the help of Dungeon Link, every bit of mana that is used for the transportation of items and people is directly absorbed back into your dungeon core. However, the mana is still going to appear and stay out in the open for an instant. This singular instant can allow the foreign dungeon to sense you.]