The Lone Wanderer

Chapter 163: Mana conversion

Percy had decided to look for a mana conversion spell as an alternative solution to his problem.

He needed a lot of soul mana to lure the mysterious entities from much further away, and he only had two possible sources to tap into – his own recovery, and Micky’s ability to devour souls. He was already planning to bolster the latter using the preservation rune he’d recently bought, but he was hoping to improve upon the former too.

While he could regenerate soul mana very rapidly using Synchronization, it also led to a lot of wasted pure mana that he didn’t know what to do with. If he could find a way to convert some of that into soul mana, it would give him yet another potent source he could rely on.

‘And there’s no better place to browse for the right spell than the Vault.’ he grinned.

Strictly speaking, mana conversion wasn’t some esoteric art – it was something all living beings passively did with every breath.

After all, ambient mana was a mixture of many different affinities. This meant that only a fraction could be taken in directly. Of course, this fraction was the most significant by far, as it could be absorbed without losses. This was why a mage’s recovery greatly depended on their environment. For example, a water user would struggle to refill their core in a desert, but they’d have a much easier time doing so in the middle of the ocean.

However, that didn’t mean the rest of the ambient mana was useless. Among their many functions, mana cores could also convert other mana types into their own – albeit at an abysmal rate. That said, some conversions were easier than others, and there were also two very special cases:

The beast affinity, and the pure affinity.

Beasts could be considered “universal recipients” to an extent, because they could convert other affinities to their own more efficiently. This was, in fact, what they owed their ridiculous advancement speed to. Of course, it wasn’t smooth sailing for them either. Ambient mana didn’t contain the beast affinity, so they only had their higher conversion rate to rely on. This was why they still struggled to regenerate mana the conventional way, having to keep devouring cores instead. It was also why Micky’s version of Circulation gnawed at his body, draining his stamina.

‘Maybe I can find something slightly better here than what we have on Remior...’

In the end, Percy spent some more time browsing through the database for anything suitable. He wasn’t that surprised to learn that the system had even more on this topic than the runes he had searched for the other day. After all, the pure affinity was the most common in the universe, and this was a somewhat well-known application of it.

The only reason he hadn’t asked Baldy for something of the sort back when he was still at home, was because it wouldn’t have helped him much at the time. His second core had been a grade lower, which meant it would have given him almost nothing. Even now, he didn’t think this would be a particularly useful ability to have in the midst of combat – he was better off just fusing his two affinities into the teal mana.

However, it would certainly help a lot in some niche applications such as the very problem he was currently facing.

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‘Let’s see… Cube, which books have we singled out so far?’

“Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. User has bookmarked a total of 6 items: ‘Universal donor – The advantage of pure mana’, ‘The 10 most efficient mana bestowal spells for beginners’, ‘Affinity-specific mana bestowal’, ‘Absorbing pure mana for non-pure users’, ‘Tips and tricks for soul users’, ‘Fundamentals for new mages’. Total cost: 340 credits. Current balance: 520.”

Percy wasn’t particularly happy with this. Apparently, books on spells – even Crude ones – were several times more expensive than those on runes. He guessed that this disparity was artificially imposed by the gods in charge of the Vault to make magiscript a little more accessible, or to push people working on the combat challenges to try harder.

Worse still, he’d found multiple books that interested him, as there seemed to be a little more to the spell he wanted to create than he’d initially expected. As it turned out, mana conversion could typically be broken into two parts: Mana bestowal and mana absorption. As the names implied, they differed depending on whether one was the bestower or the recipient of the pure mana. The former was arguably the most important, but learning how to absorb the mana more effectively would make one a ‘better patient’, or so to speak. Furthermore, each conversion worked a little differently, so it was possible for a pure user to get better at supporting, say, fire mages, if they practiced a lot with them.

‘I mean… I don’t have to buy all of them…’

Percy could just get the first spell he found, and it would still do alright. His conversion rate might not be great at the start, but he should be able to hit the target 20% after some practice. However, he felt it would be a waste of his talents if he didn’t strive to do a little better. After all, he was in a unique position in that he was both the bestower and the recipient of the mana. He even knew what affinity he wanted to convert the mana to. That meant he could probably work out a very specialized spell that performed a lot better for him than anybody else.

‘That’s so many credits though…’

Percy wanted to cry. He’d suffered through so much crap to amass this much, and he’d have to spend nearly two thirds of it on this. Not to mention how unpleasant the next few days promised to be, assuming his broken body even lasted that long.

He sighed.

‘I’m sorry buddy… We’ll have to soldier through the pain for a little longer.’

The parrot groaned in protest. Percy could tell how much his host missed his carefree days in the beach. But it couldn’t be helped. If the preservation rune didn’t get him enough soul mana to attract the creature, it would mean he’d wasted this entire trip.

“Cube… buy all six books. And please narrate them for me too… I’m not in any condition to read.” he smiled bitterly. “Also, do you have anything to dull my pain for a few days? User ID: WANDERER.”

“Authorization granted. Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. WARNING: Books may be purchased in audiobook format free of charge, but an additional charge will be added in the future if you wish to re-purchase them in a different format. Proceed anyway?”

“Ugh… What a stingy piece of shit you are… just do it.”

Percy generally preferred holding a physical copy of his books, but he’d just have to forget about these ones later. No way he was spending more of his hard-earned credits than he had to.

“Confirmed. Deducting credits. New balance: 180.”

“Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. ‘Simple painkillers’ are valued at 1 credit per 30 pills. Each dose is effective for 18000 rits. Proceed with purchase?”

Hearing the cost, Percy wanted to swear. He was starting to see how Gabe had turned so stingy. This wasn’t a problem with his friend – it was just what this place did to people. After all, each credit cost so much blood and sweat to earn…

Ultimately, he decided to pay the price, however. He could try gritting through the pain to save himself the credit, but it would just affect his ability to understand the books. Honestly, spending a credit to spare himself a week of agony wasn’t that bad a deal.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Fine.” he spat with a heavy heart.

“Confirmed. Deducting credits. New balance: 179. Delivery in 6 rits.”

It only took a few second for the pills to be delivered, Percy eagerly tossing the first one down his throat as soon as he could. Then, he asked the cube to begin narrating the books for him, hoping he’d get to the end before his body gave out.

‘I think I’m gonna take a break from the Vault for a few months...’