Bright light tried to enter a dark place. In normal situations, one would want light to guide their way or shine brightly to illuminate an area. But not this area. This place was meant to be dark, it was meant to ward off light and trap a person in temporary darkness.
Joren slowly opened his eyes as the sunlight beamed on his face. He could feel the warmth it gave off, relaxing his body. He was in a room, presumably one in an inn and there were some bandages wrapped around his body.
'Judging from the fact that I'm alive means we survived that explosion. Ughh, my body is sore all over.' He stretched to alleviate some of his soreness but his body was hurt badly so stretching didn't do much.
'That guy, Bill, he looked like a demon, or at least something along those lines. I've never seen a demon in this world and only can go off of depictions from my old world. If it wasn't for the divine energy, I would have been dead on the spot.'
Joren looked at the ring on his finger. He planned on saving it for later but he decided to use it now. 'Let's break through to the 2nd circle, I can't wait any longer.' He took out the two low-ranked mana stones and held them in each hand.
'Lenny and Pantera said I just need to absorb the mana from these as if I'm absorbing mana regularly.' He took a deep breath and calmed his mind. Getting in the lotus position he started cultivating. 'Let's do this.'
Joren's absorption rate of mana was way higher than normal, monstrous in fact. Anyone would be baffled by how much mana he can absorb at such a rapid pace. But the mana stones took it to a different level.
Even though he was using low-ranked mana stones, they were still mana stones. The mana in the stones were so abundant and dense that Joren felt his core tremble under the pressure of all the energy seeping into his body.
'Ugh! This is more than I expected. I feel like I'm going to break apart.' Mana kept rushing into his body, filling it up at a rapid pace, more than he could keep up. But that didn't deter him. He took all the mana in without backing down.
Allocating the mana to his circle, he quickly filled it up, breaking through to the peak of the 1st circle. Immediately after breaking through, he felt his mana starting to form another circle, his second circle.
Like before, he had to guide his mana, wrapping it around his heart, and connecting it on both sides. Because of the amount of mana, Joren was absorbing, connecting it was harder than normal. He had to balance out the ongoing mana rushing into his body and the mana rapidly depleting from his body to form the circle.
'Fuck, this hurts. It feels like I'm being ripped apart, like I'm about the burst.' Joren was feeling the effects of mana overload, where a person absorbs more mana than they can handle. 'No, I got this! I can do this! Come on!'
His second circle formed. The mana consumption died down a bit but there was still more mana in his body than he could handle, so he kept pumping it into his circle. He could feel his circle progressing past its initial forming.
From just forming his second circle to being in the early stage to then being in the mid-stage, Joren broke through three times in one sitting. He was now at the mid-stage the of 2nd circle. But that didn't prevent his body from being bombarded with mana.
He tried to stop absorbing it but even if he did, the amount of mana he had in his body was still higher than it should be. He couldn't keep putting mana into his circle either, in fear of hurting himself. He already pushed past what he should have done, he wasn't going to take any risks to jeopardize his future.
Without any options left, he tried expelling all the excess mana from his body, but as if acting against him, his body didn't allow it. In fact, his body kept absorbing mana against his own will, sucking the mana stones dry and still absorbing mana from the air.
'What's going on?! What's happening?!' Panic washed across his face. He didn't know what to do or what was happening to him. Everything he tried, his body would disregard his actions. He couldn't even stop meditating.
'Phew, okay. Trust yourself. Calm down and trust your body. Please don't kill me, me.' Without options left, Joren let his body continue to do what it wanted. Mana kept pouring into his body causing pain and discomfort, but he pushed through it, biting his lip to counteract the pain.
He felt like his body was going to explode but he put that feeling in the back of his mind. He concentrated on allowing the mana to flow properly without any problem while his body kept absorbing. Then, all the mana in his body started to swell.
'FCUK!! IT HURTS!!!' "ARHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" He cried out in pain as the mana was about to explode, but then, it stopped. The swelling mana calmed down the dispersed everywhere inside his body. He could feel the mana settling in many areas, his core included. But he didn't have any energy to check what happened.
'I'm never doing that shit again!' He then passed out, drenched in sweat.
...
Three hours later, Joren woke up still in his room. It was around noon and his body felt better. He concentrated on feeling where all the excess mana went as it scattered all throughout his body, but he couldn't feel anything, so he decided to get something to eat.
Arriving at the main area of the inn, he saw his companions sitting at a round table chatting away. he walked over to them and they all turned their heads facing him.
"Joren! You're awake!" Pantera ran to hug him, Derry copying the same action.
"How are you feeling?" Arnold's stern, deep voice asked, reverberating through the air.
"I'm okay. Just a little sore, but I'm feeling better now."
"Hmph, having all the fun to yourself! You didn't even have us tag along. That would have been the perfect opportunity for me to test out my strength!" Although Lenny was glad Joren was okay, he was still bitter that he couldn't fight. Anyone would want to test out their newfound strength.
"Oh hush Lenny, you would have been in the same situation as Glenn, and I if you fought that guy."
"I wouldn't have gotten knocked out like you Pantera! I would have at least put up a fight." Lenny fired back
"Nah, no you wouldn't. Infernal energy eats mana and corrodes it. I was only able to win because of the divine energy. I wasn't stronger than him or faster. Sure I was able to outmaneuver him slightly, but every time I was in his clutches, well, thank the Goddess I'm still alive." Joren spoke solemnly
"That's right. My fire was nothing against him. It didn't even leave a burn mark on him." Glenn clenched his fist in anger. 'How can I have my own Nephew protect me? I'm supposed to make sure he's out of danger, to make sure he's safe, not the other way around!'
"Hmm? Joren, you broke through?" Derry asked, her face close to Joren's
"Haha, yeah. This morning actually. I almost blew myself up. From the 1st circle late-stage to the 2nd circle mid-stage is not something you should do." He scratched the back of his head, dry laughing.
"WHAT?!" They all shouted
"You broke through to the 2nd circle? Not only that but you're already at the mid-stage? You're insane. That's some monstrous cultivation speed." Lenny almost fell out of his chair trying to comprehend what he just heard.
"Well, I used the mana stones." Joren tried to argue.
"Still. Mana stones or not, that's still faster than normal. Look at Lenny and Pantera. Lenny was at the peak of the 2nd circle so his breaking through to the 3rd circle early stage is normal. And Pantera was at the 2nd circle mid-stage and she was on the cusp of breaking through so he being at the peak of the 2nd circle is also normal." Glenn informed
"Congratulations Joren." Arnold patted him on the back.
"Thanks. Heh, I wonder how Grace would react when she finds out that I'm already at the 2nd circle, hehe." He rubbed his hands together, smiling smugly.
"I can't get left behind. I'm going to cultivate using the mana stone." Derry and Arnold agreed with Glenn and they went off to their rooms.
"So what's next?" Lenny asked.
"I'm going to purify this land. After that, we wait for the others to finish cultivating, then we leave." Joren explained
"Sounds good, let's go." They all left the inn and headed to the destroyed part of the forest where the corruption originated.