Bro, I'm not an Undead!

"Oh, a new skill? I didn't expect that," Skullius said while looking at the new notification. However, he couldn't bring himself to focus on this new addition just yet as a peculiar yet familiar sensation pervaded over his core, absorbing a vast amount of information from the surroundings!

[Advanced Mana Manipulation] cradled his core like a new-born child.

His senses became so focused that he noticed the finer details in the mana, being able to tell apart his own mana and the raw mana in the world from sheer detail alone.

'Beautiful...' Skullius thought, breathing in subconsciously.

He still held the small ball of mana and his activation of [Advanced Mana Manipulation] told him the complexity and flaws of this compressed ball of mana in a more simplified manner.

"I see now. Is this what it means... the different core colours. Being able to produce more compressed mana naturally...?"

It seemed to make sense now. The blue and purple cores he'd seen so far. They were an expression of compressed mana with a better quality!

Only such a quality could be used to activate higher level skills; special, super and supreme.

A grin etched itself on Skullius' face. He had found out one truth on his own.

Now...

[Luminous Healing]!

A burst of uncoloured energy streamed through his body, clearing the cosmetic flesh and healing the wounds he had sustained during the battle against the Cursed Knight, which he had ignored until now!

Instantly, all of Skullius' fatigue was washed away, leaving him feeling exceedingly fresh and new!

It was insane!

Casting this skill from the compressed mana brought about such a quick and effective result!

"Kek..." Skullius cackled. "Now..."

~~~

[Mana Blast | Lv.1]

Naturally produce a sphere of highly condensed mana.

-There is no limit to how much mana can be packed into the sphere-

Mana Requirements: ---

Duration: ---

Cooldown: None

~~~

"Once again, I get a very basic description. It's cool, I guess," Skullius said dispiritedly. "I can imagine what [Advanced Mana Manipulation] says... aaaaand I'm right."

Naturally, the description for [Advanced Mana Manipulation] was as bland as he imagined it to  be with the word 'advanced' replacing the word 'basic' in the previous description.

Skullius couldn't say he was disappointed however. He was actually pretty happy with these results. He could discern mana from a distance of over 300 meters while also being able to draw mana from a radius of twenty meters, unlike before.

Such a huge and profound change was definitely worth it.

Between this and the revelation he had gotten about [Evil Darkness], Skullius felt ecstatic.

While he was within the cloud of darkness, the guidance field had notified him of something ridiculous.

[All basic stats are increased by 5%]

Within the enclosure of darkness, Skullius would gain boosts to his stats!

It was insane when he considered that he had barely scratched the surface of this unique power!

This wasn't even a skill!

Furthermore, he had yet to hear Red Rage's account of how the darkness rejected his entry!

"If I keep increasing the level of [Evil Darkness Production], I should be able to produce a large amount of darkness without having to condense such a ridiculous amount of mana. When that happens, I'll be able to handle battles better."

This was indeed true. Skullius had no doubt that he would be the only one receiving such a boost within the cloud of darkness and this was just a basic function.

What about when he would be able to actually do damage as long as enemies were in the cloud of [Evil Darkness]?!

This thought brought on the idea that he had to level up his Discount Human form as his current mana capacity was pathetic.

"I'll really need to fulfill that Task or whatever soon. But anyway, I can't wait for what comes next!" Skullius rubbed his hands maniacally. "If this worked for one skill, it must be effective with others. Let's see now..."

Since condensing mana continuously produced such grand results when using it to activate a skill, Skullius decided to see if he could attain some boons from doing the same with [Mana Bolt] and [Bitter-Sweet Hell's Inferno]!

As he now felt refreshed, the Discount Human began condensing mana and using it activate the two skills interchangeably.

[Mana Bolt] had a cooldown of five seconds while [Bitter-Sweet Hell's Inferno] was five minutes which made the task somewhat easy in terms of interchanging cast.

Time flew, the morning sun rising while Skullius was still repeating this process nonstop, activating [Luminous Healing] when the going got too tough.

As the light kissed his being, Skullius' 'sweaty' face showed the boredom that plagued him because of the monotony.

The results when not too bad as after going on for a few more minutes, [Mana Bolt] was ready to evolve.

With his consent, the mana skill evolved into [Manassault].

~~~

[Manassault | Lv.1]

Pure and refined mana is concentrated to form a quick and dangerous projectile which manifests as a streaking light that is capable of doing intense damage to the target as well as disrupting their core.

Mana Requirements: 150 Mana Points

Duration: ---

Cooldown: 30 seconds

~~~

"Not bad. It seems really strong," Skullius said before he collapsed on the ground.

The hot sun had returned, threatening to intensify his fatigue.

Skullius decided to take a rest.

[Bitter-Sweet Hell's Inferno] was only two levels from evolving but he had a feeling it wouldn't be so easy to evolve the skill within the next few minutes.

Rather, he called out to Red Rage who promptly rushed to his side.

"Let's keep going. I'll rest for bit," Skullius said.

Red Rage nodded and carried Skullius behind his back. He then held the map and ran in the direction of Genhuis city.

As Skullius was piggy backed, his vision slowly darkened as a sensation he hadn't felt before washed over him.

Sleep.

Fake sleep.

The journey as Red Rage sped ahead was meant to be a long one, but the two finally entered a new region with a terribly unforgiving weather, a few settlements visible in the far distance...