BXBX NOVEL 526 Chapter 526
"That won\'t make you the most powerful though. For that you need resources. Special stones, the core of monsters, or mystic items. Without those, your progress will stop at a relatively low level, just like ours did.
We are still stronger than regular humans by about three times, but that is as much as we could manage without resources." The newly arrived human tried to clarify.
"Sister Dimnys told me monsters sometimes have stones filled with energy inside their bodies here too. They have a lot of mana in them and people use them to help cast spells, could you cultivate them? I am sure my dad would bring me lots if I asked." Luna continued and the two men shrugged.
"Maybe if they are the same as the ones we are familiar with? I would have to see one to know for sure." The larger of the two men said hesitantly.
Luna gave Cain her best pleading look, making everyone smirk at her shameless begging, but Cain did bring out a mana stone from the crafting supplies. It was from a Fire Element Mythic Awakened beast that someone had harvested yesterday for its spicy meat.
"That is a monster core, and of the Fire Element, but the energy is very strange. How do you use them?" The man asked and Cain handed it to Luna.
"My mana is full already. Pull a bit to top yours off." Cain told the Lamia who drew a few mana to make up for what she spent summoning werewolf puppies to play with the Pixies when she got bored in the middle of the conversation.
"It is a waste since most creatures don\'t have them and one of them could serve as the main ingredient for twenty high-grade mana potions, but you can just pull the mana out like that," Cain explained and their eyes lit up.
"Might I test something? I have a cultivation mat. If we could put this planet\'s strange energy into it, maybe we could use it?" He asked with a glimmer of hope.
"Sure, these creatures are all over the Southern Continent. They\'re deadly but very tasty, so the stones come in fairly regularly. The Smiths powder the stones to enhance metals for armor creation and elemental bonuses on weapons, plus some inscriptions use them as well." Cain told him, handing over the stone.
The cultivator placed it in an intricate circle on his mat and the lines inscribed all over the tool lit up with energy, but after a few seconds, the man frowned.
"The mat isn\'t changing the Mana to something I can use, though it is releasing it, I can feel that much. If I had an Elemental technique I might be able to use the Fire Energy. It might have the same problem though. If only one of the Elders was here, they know a lot more and might be able to do something."
Duke Chen would be overjoyed. He really wanted to be reincarnated as a cultivator, and even with the Class System, he would likely still jump at the opportunity to try.
While they talked, the quiet half of the human pair was deeply engrossed in thinking about ways that he could make the energy work for him. Suddenly he stood up and pushed his friend off the mat with a muttered "Shove over, I have an idea."
He sat down in the same position and pulled the mana into himself then did something that caused it to flow through his body. It looked incredibly painful, but a half second later his eyes went vacant and Cain saw a status appear for him.
[Species] Human
[Class] Fire Monk
[Level] 1
"Ha, I did it. It isn\'t possible to cultivate here, but you don\'t have to. You just need to have enough of your own mana in your body and the system will activate. My cousin doesn\'t seem compatible, or maybe he has too low of a Fire Affinity, but once I let the energy soak into my body, I saw the interface you described." He gloated, then coughed a ragged breath as the lingering effects of his attempt caused him more pain.
That would explain why Cain had never seen a dragon or Pixie without a system, they naturally had a lot of mana. It didn\'t explain other species that had innate magic and no class, but it did give Cain a bit of insight into how the System actually worked.
The Pixies that Luna had called cast healing spells on the man as the others talked, being the only ones paying enough attention to realize how the attempt had taken almost all of his health.
"It left behind two debuffs that we can\'t dispel, [Mana Poisoning] and [Burning]. I think the energy is still toxic to humans." One of the Pixies suggested.
"Try using all your mana and see what happens. Now that you have a class it should regenerate on its own. I\'ve heard of people trying a lot of strange things to activate a system before, and a few that might have even worked." The farm wife whose home had been commandeered for this conversation suggested.
She had been around the local beastkin children a long time, and they tended to get impatient when they were wanting to activate their system, so more than one had injured themselves in unexpected ways while trying to force an activation.
At level one, he didn\'t have much for skills but he had [Flaming Strikes] that used mana to enhance his unarmed physical attacks. With his martial arts training, the skill was completely natural to him, and it didn\'t take him long to exhaust his mana and then collapse into a pile on the ground.
"The mana use really takes it out of you. But I feel much better now." He explained.
The debuffs were gone now and his mana was slowly recovering on its own. To Cain, this meant the technique was a valid one, if someone without a system could merge mana with their body from a Mana stone and not die they would probably gain a system.
It was just that "and not die" part which was going to prove to be a hindrance to getting more people to try. People might say they would do anything for power, but they usually weren\'t suicidal.
"I have more elements of stones, as well as some that don\'t have an elemental aspect to them. Do you want to try what your Cousin did and see if it activates a System when you find an element that you are compatible with?" Cain suggested.
He had only known these two for a few minutes, and it was entirely of his own free will, so a little push to test the theory wasn\'t out of line. At least that was what Cain thought as he made the suggestion.
The Echoes and Watchers all agreed, though most of the Companions insisted that there was a flaw in that logic somewhere.
"I have always been good with Wind Skills. Do you have a wind elemental stone?" The other man asked hopefully.
"I do. It is a fair bit lower grade than the fire stone, but it should still do the job I think. We will keep you healed as you try if it starts causing physical damage." Cain agreed, finding a wind elemental stone.
Wind element monsters were much harder to capture, so they weren\'t hunted as often, and the best stone that was in the Guild Bank inventory right now was Epic Quality. Cain handed it over, and the Cultivator switched the stones on the mat and handed the Fire Element one back to Cain. Cain thought about the process for a moment and realized that they had missed the most obvious step.
"Wait, before you do that, try equipping this piece of armor. That\'s how youngsters in this world usually activate a system if they were born with the ability." Cain suggested, handing him a low-level cloth robe suitable for the Monk Class.
The man slung it over his shoulders and his eyes went blank as the farmers and Cain sighed at their oversight. The other cousin probably didn\'t even need to go through all that work and danger. If he had the affinity, simply putting on a piece of gear would have done the job. Though he was a Fire Monk, and that wasn\'t a default class selection like a regular monk was, so maybe there were some benefits.
His time in the character selection screen seemed much longer than usual, so Cain suspected that he had activated the default screen the same as anyone else who triggered it with a piece of equipment.
Finally, the System updated and the man opened his eyes. Bright red eyes, that no human should have.
[Name] Mick Jagger
[Species] Vampire
[Class] Monk
[Level] 1
"Hey guys, is it normal for it to let me pick a new name and species?" He asked while the rest of the room stared at him in shock. Of them, only Cain had ever had that option, the full character creation screen that was normally reserved for Transfers.
"No, normally if you are born here, your appearance and species are set. Only Transfers that are chosen by the Gods and directly transferred here to reincarnate here usually get the option to pick a whole new appearance." The farmer explained, looking over the new form of the strapping young cultivator.
"That is insane. I only got one class option, and my appearance was set." The other cousin complained, envious of the new physique his partner had gotten to generate.
[We need more test subjects. But have them try on various types of armor before trying the Mana Stone trick. We might be able to build our numbers just by putting hats on the people we like.] Cain ordered his Lesser Watchers and Echoes.