I've traveled for weeks on end toward region 13 to meet with Anthem. The journey had the usual killing, me fighting demons every single day. At this point all my states are almost reaching the threshold of ten. Although going through battle to the death every single day, life can get boring when the demons are so easily defeated. While I don't want to fight the past Demon Lord whose skills are way above my own. I still want to fight something strong that gets my adrenaline pumping. Don't get me as a battle addict, anyone would develop the itching to fight when they spend millennia honing their skill in battle.
As if God hears my prayer for excitement, the once normal day turns into something else entirely. I can feel an overwhelming amount of mana to my right. The thickness of the mana made the air heavier, making it hard to breathe. While this phenomenon would make many retreat in fear that it could be a powerful demon. I actually have great expectations, from my extensive knowledge, when mana around an area thickens it means opportunity.
Phenomena that can cause mana to be dense are birth of a new spirit, birth of a natural treasure, magical fruit, and a powerful demon. While a powerful demon could be a possibility, it isn't. At the early stages of the trial, the most powerful demons are the region's strongest demons. There's no demon above that rank. Since the region's strongest demon is dead, the possibility of it being a powerful demon went to none. So that one down three possibilities with amazing rewards.
No matter which one it is I would take it without any complaint. At this point in time any of those possibilities can grow my power to the level of the Demon Lord of Pride. Of course I ran toward it like a starving lion hunting for its prey, it's a lifetime opportunity for god sake. I ran at a speed I couldn't imagine, my desire for strength drove my body with motivation I've never seen. The atmosphere changes from suffocating to calmness. I felt refreshed and attune to the world, feeling like I'm a part of nature itself. Vigor and vitality flow through my body, strengthening me, and cleansing all abnormality.
These effects are signs of abundant of life mana in the atmosphere. Life mana represents the living thing in the world, but that doesn't mean all living things can use life mana. It is counted as a representation of life because it originates from life itself. Life mana originates from living things, when mana makes contact with life it gets influenced by life. Since mana is like a blank paper, it replicates the essence of life to perfection, making life mana essentially a pure energy of life.
A treasure that releases such a massive amount of life mana can be expected to have one key benefit, extension of age. The weakest of such treasures give about a hundred years worth of life. However not many in the future value this property of life natural treasure or magical fruit. Since you can extend your life through many other means like bloodline, DNA fusion, evolution, gaining strength, eating future medicine, and etc. Dying of old age is the least of one concern in the future. The thing everyone strives for is strength to survive.
However, that doesn't mean it's useless. Since life natural treasure and magical fruit have one more property that most people are after. That property is ultra regeneration, a person that has a life natural treasure or eaten a life magical fruit. Will gain regeneration so powerful, that one can heal back from near death to peak in matter of seconds. Of course through the sacrifice of mana and stamina. Even with this massive debuff, no one can argue that it's one of the best life saving abilities.
If on the off chance that the source of the life mana is a life spirit then I've gotten the jackpot of jackpots. Life spirits are precious even in the future, being a loyal companion for all mages. The amount of strength someone can obtain by gaining a spirit is tremendous. Spirit is fundamentally a sentient mana. They are born when a mana merges with enough mana gaining intelligence. The question on why mana merging with other mana causing them to gain intelligence has always been a mystery. Since you really can't communicate with mana, the act of trying to communicate with mana is like a man talking to a tree. While spirits can communicate, they are like a toddler when they awaken they remember nothing of their past. There are theories and speculation, but that's about it. So far there's no definitive truth about the cause of awakening a spirit.
The strength gained by contracting a spirit, is absolute control over the specific element of the spirit. So gaining a life spirit would mean I can make forest appear out of nowhere without effort. I can heal, regenerate, give vitality, etc. However, that doesn't mean I have unlimited mana. Spirit is able to do this because spirits are like kings of their respective mana. When the spirit commands mana to do something they will do it without hesitation. Mana while eternal are also a pseudo living thing, they can get exhausted and tired after doing activities that exert them. So if I cast thousands of spells the mana around me would eventually become tired to the point that they won't respond to the command of the spirit. Still the amount of mana one can use is near infinite so getting tired with spirit isn't really common.
I cross my fingers hoping that I could find a spirit, and as if God is smiling upon me. Right in front of me is an infant life spirit. Hahaha, I've gained enough power to rival against the Demon Lords now, while not enough to kill them, still enough to fight them head on. Alright William you can't fuck up this part or else your life is screwed.
"Hello life spirit" I greeted it
"Who are you?" The life spirit asked
I answered "My name is William, man with 9 lives."
The life spirit in a questioning tone "9 lives?"
I answered truthfully again "9 lives mean that I can die 9 time without actually dying"
The life spirit asked again "What's dying?"
The back and forth of asking and questioning continues on for almost a day before the infant life spirit gains enough knowledge to understand most things I'm saying. I asked it to be my companion.
The spirit replied "If I were to become your companion, will I be able to stay with you forever?"
Hearing the spirit question I felt a warmth feeling, building up in my body. Is this what it feels like to be smitten by cuteness? My imagination goes wild with the responsibility I had, before I smiled and answered "Yes, we will stay together forever."
The spirit shouted in excitement "Yay, we will stay together"
From that moment I promise that I will protect my little spirit forever, even if the world goes against me.