Henry busied himself with inhaling the mana from the surroundings and preparing his body to advance to the Low-class. It was not supposed to be easy to advance from one class to the next.
Often, it required the supplement of external treasures such as the Mana Nectar. It was the best treasure to fill the body with mana, but it could only go so far.
The first Mana Nectar source in the mine was too slow to effectively help Henry. Thus, he thought of another way. A much faster one that would guarantee his advancement to the Low-class.
He still used this opportunity to familiarize himself with this class. He didn't have most of his memories, so it was like he was relearning.
After a few hours of work, Henry was able to understand this body. It was very different from his previous body. The locations of the mana channels were all over the place, and he could only detect a few.
The body would have a maximum of 100 mana channels. Discovering them would allow the magus to speed up the movement of mana within their bodies.
Someone who had discovered all of their mana channels could cast spells faster than anyone who hadn't reached their level.
The reason Henry was able to sense a few at the moment was because of his familiarity with them. He had a mental instinct that allowed him to sense them. Thus, he was able to perceive that this body was different.
Felicia entered the hut with perfect timing as Henry opened his eyes after finishing.
"Dinner?" Henry asked.
"Mm."
Felicia nodded her head and beckoned him to come. They ate dinner and aptly returned to the hut.
"We're going to sneak again later. There should be a small puddle of the mana nectar already," Henry told her.
Felicia's eyes lit up as she remembered the taste and feeling of the mana nectar entering her body.
"Yes." Felicia solemnly nodded her head.
The duo waited for midnight to arrive. Once they were sure the surroundings were quiet, they snuck out. Felicia cast her own wind spells and silenced her footsteps, and Henry did the same.
They arrived at the cave and stopped. Henry looked at Felicia and nodded his head.
Felicia nodded back and focused. She closed her eyes and imagined the fog that Henry had created in the past. She mixed in her own past experiences with them.
With a gentle wave of her hand, a mist cloud fell to the ground and created a fog that moved to surround the guard.
"Huh?"
The guard felt cold at the sudden fog and covered himself with a blanket.
Henry and Felicia went past him silently and entered the cave. They arrived at the mana nectar source and saw a small stream of mana nectar.
Instead of making a puddle, it created a tiny stream that headed deeper into the cave.
The duo followed it and arrived at the second mana nectar source. The Mana Nectar seeped into the cracks and entered the pool below the ground.
Henry's face darkened. He stamped his foot down in anger.
"You greedy fish!"
Henry's heart ached at the sight. Although the meager amount wouldn't let them reach the next class, every little drop still helped.
Henry marked his heart that he would fry this fish in the future. It was testing his goodwill.
Felicia stood at the side and looked at the lost mana nectar with a heartache.
"You can lick them all if you want."
Henry left Felicia there. He had no way to deal with the Nectar Demon at the moment. It was severely more powerful than the two of them combined.
If he recovered his mental energy, he could have probed the fish for its strength by using a Low-class spell. Unfortunately, he still needed four more days until he could. It was the consequence of overdrawing his soul three days ago when he accepted Felicia as his disciple.
Henry decided to head deeper. He was a bit pissed at this fish. It had clearly done something to make the mana nectar flow here and increase the volume of its pool.
He left the chamber and found himself walking beside hot rocks. It was unbearably hot, and he could feel his skin dry up. Henry walked for a few more minutes and finally stopped.
There was a vertical tunnel that looked like a vent heading for who knows where. Henry looked up and saw no light.
A constant rush of wind came from the surrounding cave passages and shot up the vertical passageway.
This was as far as Henry could reach. It was too hot for him to continue. The rush of wind was the only thing keeping him cool enough.
'What a weird cave…'
Henry was suspicious about this whole mine. It had three mana nectar sources, where the mana pathways of the world crossed, and additionally, there was a huge vent here that led to darkness.
His curiosity was very high, but his abilities were too low. He glanced at the passageway ahead and contemplated.
He could risk it and head deeper or he could come back later. Henry found it too hard to choose.
He was sure that he could clear this cave once he became a Low-class magus.
(Maybe it's your heart, Master. When I obsess over a goal, I become unable to do other things, and that makes me unable to achieve that goal.)
Felicia's words resounded in Henry's mind. His heart wavered. He gritted his teeth and took a step forward.
He waved his hand and covered himself in water, used wind magic to cool his skin, surrounded himself with dust particles, and healed his drying skin.
These elements were used in tandem as Henry forced his way through. The rocks became red hot and radiated immense heat.
The spells dried up fast as their mana was consumed abruptly. Henry kept waving his hand and replenishing the spells.
The heat became so hot Henry could feel his skin cracking and sizzling from the heat. The Simple-class life spell couldn't keep up.
"The world is not for the weak-willed!" Henry shouted.
It was a sentence from his previous master. He remembered it clearly and filled his heart with it to strengthen his resolve.
The faint silhouette of his master reappeared in his mind.
She was beautiful and kind, but he couldn't remember much of her at all! It was a pain that overshadowed everything that Henry felt at this moment.
Power erupted from Henry as he only thought of staying true to his long-gone master's words.
The heat continued torturing his body and cooking it. Soon, Henry's bone was also being cooked as the heat penetrated deeper.
The smell of burnt meat spread in the cave as Henry was roasted.
Even so, Henry steeled his will. As his master said, 'The world is not for the weak-willed!'
When opportunities come, one should take it with stride! Who knows if the opportunity would still be there in the future?
Time passed. For Henry, it had been a decade as the pain made him sense every moment passing.
When he reached the other side, cool air blew around Henry. It instantly dissipated the heat and the chill startled Henry awake from his focused state.