Leo had a smile on his face as he watched his soldiers and Ash celebrate their victory over the Queen ant. Leo was a little worried though, as he still couldn't move from where he fell. In fact, Leo hadn't gotten hit once by the Queen yet his entire body felt like it couldn't move at all.
Ash noticed that Leo wasn't able to move and quickly ran over to him, asking,"My lord, what's wrong!?" Ash's voice sounded seriously concerned and aggrieved as he checked out Leo's condition.
Leo chuckled, still unable to move and said,"I honestly don't know myself, after I launched those final killing shots, my body suddenly lost all strength and I fell to the ground unable to move."
Leo watched Ash's face turn from one of confusion to one of understanding all at once. Ash quickly called over a Green grade soldier that was relatively uninjured. Leo heard Ash tell him,"Go and grab one of the crystals that are hanging from the webs of string in the cave. Quickly, the lord has fallen."
The soldier saluted and ran out of the large room back into the tunnels that lead the group here. Leo was slightly confused as he still didn't know what was going on. He asked Ash,"Ash, what's happening? You seem to know what is wrong."
Ash nodded his head on the side the Leo was looking at, saying to him,"Yes, you are experiencing what is commonly referred to as mana exhaustion."
Leo didn't read a lot during his time in his other world, however even he knew of that phrase, 'mana exhaustion'. It was a common way for authors to handicap their characters so they weren't so overpowered they blew through every challenge.
Leo asked Ash,"I didn't think I used that much energy, but I guess I did considering what happened. Is there a way to be able to stand again?"
Ash then explained to him,"Yes, Lord Leo. Mana exhaustion is very common, and often happens to young elementalists who don't know their own limits. They often fire off spells and attacks without realizing their own mana pool limits, and soon their bodies become weak without the proper energy to support it."
Leo wanted to nod his head in understanding, but still couldn't. So he simply responded,"And the elemental crystals will help me recover?"
Ash confirmed his theory and said,"Yes, you simply pull the energy out of the crystal to restore your own energy."
Leo, still waiting for the soldier to return, then asked Ash,"I guess it makes sense, I did come up with two new attacks pretty much on the spot, and they were both pretty large and destructive. Still, I feel like I need to know, is this normal?"
Ash nodded his head and replied,"Yes, it's perfectly normal. It's easier to explain like this, basically every person has their own mana pool to draw energy from. They attain this amount from the first day they are born, and it only grows when they move up in grades, such as going from White to Green grade, generally the pool is doubled in size."
Leo let out a slight sigh and said,"I guess that makes sense."
Ash then had a face of realization and asked,"Wait.. My Lord, what is your cultivation level in the element of water?"
Leo asked the same question to the system within his mind and the system responded quickly.
[Lord Leo currently has two affinities. Lord Leo's water elemental grade is 8% of the White grade and his poison elemental grade is 0.3% of the White grade]
Leo took in the information and responded to Ash,"My water elemental is White grade and is at 8%"
Ash had a confused and dumbstruck look on his face, mouth fully hung open in complete shock. Leo saw his reaction and asked,"What? What's wrong?"
Ash slowly replied in a very confused tone,"My lord, this entire time I assumed you were at least high Green grade. The amount of attacks you were using, along with the amount of energy you were expending would only make sense if your energy was at that high of a level!"
Now it was Leo's turn to be confused and asked,"So? What does that mean? Is it a bad thing?"
Ash shook his head furiously and excitedly said,"No! In fact you could call it a blessing! The gods have blessed you with a mana pool nearly 100 times larger than any other elementalist in history! You have been truly gifted a boon of the gods!"
Leo was stunned when he heard this proclamation, and he had a hunch on why his mana pool was so large. Just as Leo was about to check, the soldier finally came back with an elemental crystal in his arms. It was a bit larger than the ones Leo had seen so far, and Ash took it from him, placing it in one of Leo's hands.
Ash then said,"Ok my lord, the process of energy cultivation is relatively simple. I have placed the crystal in your hand, all you need to do is focus on the energy within the crystal and pull the energy from within the crystal into your own body. Try to pull the energy into your chest area, this is what we call the first gate, and it is the first gate you need to open to expand your energy."
Leo did as he was instructed and focused on the crystal in his hands, closing his eyes to further hone and focus his mind. Leo could feel the crystal in his hands, and as he focused more and more on the weight of it in his hand, Leo started to notice the peculiar energy that it was emitting.
Leo focused his mind and attempted to hone in on this energy, feeling the energy within the crystal more and more as time went by. When Leo felt like he could truly feel the energy coming from the crystal, he started to 'ask' the crystal to share its energy with him. To Leo's complete surprise, the crystal actually listened to his request, and he could feel the energy coming out of the crystal start to flow up his arm and into his chest area.
Leo cultivated the crystal for a few minutes and as more energy entered his body he could feel his strength returning to him. Leo, with his eyes still closed and his mind still focused, sat up and put the crystal in both of his hands, doubling the speed at which he was extracting the energy.
Leo cultivated the crystal for a long time, until Leo could feel that the energy within the crystal was running out, emptied by him. As Leo finished off the last remnants of energy, he slowly opened his eyes, seeing that the cave, which used to house the corpses of a few soldiers and the Queen ant, was now completely cleared.
Ash saw that he had woken up, and said,"Welcome back my lord, did your cultivation go well?"
Leo nodded and said,"Yes, I was able to pull all the energy from the crystal and return to my peak form. Tell me, how long was I out for, and what happened to all the corpses of our soldiers and the ant Queen?"
Ash replied,"I had asked the carpenters to make me some wooden carts to haul back the ant corpses and our fallen brethren to the city, and they are about to transport the last few ant corpses in a few minutes, as well as the last few crystals that were sitting in the webs. As for the other question, you were out for roughly 3 hours, which is about double the normal, but I guess with your mana pool size, that would be the normal for you."
Leo stood up and stretched his limbs, saying to Ash,"Well Let's go home, we need to count our rewards and see if we can use these ants' bodies for anything useful."
Leo and Ash exited the cave with the rest of the soldiers who had collected the last few bodies and crystals from the ant nests and headed home. As soon as the last soldier left the cave, the system's voice sounded in his head.
[Quest 'Crystal Hoarders' has been completed!]
[Rewards: 2 Stone chests]
[Innate skill Midas Touch activated!]
[Rewards: 2 Iron chests]
Leo smiled as he and the rest of his soldiers headed home, finally done with this nightmare of a day.
When he and the troops got back to the city, most of the citizens were waiting near the center of the city. As Leo, Ash, and the rest of the soldiers walked up, they all started to cheer, celebrating the successful raid on the Crystal Hoarders that would have become a problem for them sooner rather than later.
Leo was feeling a bit emotional and he realized that it was the evening now that he had gotten back from the Crystal Hoarders nest. He gathered the citizens and the soldiers in the eating area and told the two chefs to bring them all a feast to celebrate the victory.
Leo was smiling like a fool as he and the workers and soldiers all ate the delicious food. Leo was in a state of bliss at this moment, he hated having to kill to survive, but in this moment, surrounded by his people, he suddenly felt like it was all worth it. He had protected those that he cared about, and monsters be damned he would do it again.
After the feast Leo went to his room in one the recently completed houses, and beamed the Iron chests in front of him. Recently 4 of the 5 houses were completed thanks to the increase in workers to help with construction, so everyone in the city had a home to return to at the end of the day.
Of course, Leo was having the barracks built so his soldiers could live and train there in the future, but for now he felt like his soldiers would definitely appreciate his kindness in letting them stay here.
Leo then asked the question that he had been holding off since the moment Ash had explained the mana pool to him. He asked the system,"System, is my mana pool bigger than normal?"
[Yes, Lord Leo. Your mana pool is affected by your innate skill 'Midas Touch', causing it to be 100 times larger than normal, and allowing Lord Leo more freedom in launching elemental attacks]
Leo, knowing that such a thing would never come without a proper price then asked,"Does that mean that I need 100 times the amount of crystals in order to ascend in the color grades?"
[That is correct Lord Leo. With your expanded mana pool, you will need much more elemental crystals to expand your affinity and immunity]
Then another question popped up in Leo's mind and he asked,"Well, how did I gain 8% in the water element? I have never absorbed any water elemental crystals."
[You are using a Blue grade water element spear. Since Lord Leo is able to cast water spells, your affinity with the element will naturally go up as you continue to use it.]
Leo nodded his head, finally understanding. It seemed like he truly did get lucky with his first ever weapon. Being able to use elemental magic so quickly was probably helping him create bigger spells that had more impact.
Now that Leo thought about it, he had subconsciously been making his attacks harder, faster, and bigger ever since the first fight with the two wolves. He had barely defeated those wolves, then later in the day he defeated a Green grade poison bear. Finally, there was today, where he surpassed his limits, coming up with new spells to save his soldiers, making the spells more lethal as time went on.
Leo smiled as he looked at the two Iron chests, excited to see the rewards he would gain from his hard fight.