CHAPTER 149: DEMONIC APPLE

He planned to spend those 505,000 EXP on skills so he would be completely without EXP. Because there was a possibility that he might die in the test and he didn’t want to throw 505,000 EXP into the trash just like that.

[Swift Cascade lvl: 1 - level 2]

[Poison Layer lvl: 1 - level 2]

[Fire Lance lvl: 1 - level 2]

[Fire Lance lvl: 2 - level 3]

Flain was left with only 30,000 EXP which couldn’t be put into anything anymore, so Flain was ready. He clicked [Yes].

The space around darkened and he found himself in darkness. At the same time, all around him in the ground were various weapons stuck, from pitchforks to gigantic crossbows the size of an elephant.

[Please choose a weapon.]

Flain stood in the middle of the darkness, around his feet the blades of weapons stuck in the ground gleamed. The air was dead, only the silence of his breath interrupted the deep quiet.

He walked among the weapons until two caught his eye — two big swords, exactly his style.

The weapons disappeared and from the ground four pedestals grew, each holding a different apple. The first apple was normal, the second was golden, the third was rotten, and the last looked like it was literally made of human skin.

Flain had learned a new ability during those 10 months, he could feel mana from the surroundings. When Flain was outside, there was normal mana everywhere around him, but for example, when he was in the forest he saw natural mana around the trees. Around corpses he sensed death mana, around fire — fire mana, and so on.

At the academy, in one magic class, Flain learned that it’s dangerous to absorb a different type of mana during training than normal. For example, if someone trained near a corpse, there was a high chance they would die because their body would absorb death mana during training. Or if someone trained near a tree and absorbed natural mana, their mana core could become overgrown with plants and get damaged.

But of course, this only applied if someone trained regularly near a certain type of mana. If they trained there only a few times, nothing bad should happen.

The only exception was that if, for example, an individual who had the highest fire affinity trained long-term near fire, it could have good effects like improving the mana core and similar. But there was still a pretty big risk that something bad could happen, so even that wasn’t recommended to practice. Only if someone had to get strong very fast even at the cost of risking their life.

Flain sensed a different kind of mana in front of each apple. From the first, normal one, he felt natural mana; from the next golden one, he felt light mana; from the rotten one, he felt dark mana; and from the last apple, he sensed a strange mana he had never felt before — demonic.

[Choose one apple and eat it.]

Flain thought — he was a skeleton, if he eats it nothing will happen to him. There was quite a lot of mana in the apples, so if a human ate it, something bad could happen since their body would absorb the mana from the apple.

Maybe the mana in the apples wouldn’t influence anything, and Flain could choose any apple.

But then it wouldn’t make sense why those apples are filled with mana.

Flain thought for a moment, took an apple made of human skin, and bit into it. Inside was pulsing flesh that looked as if it were breathing. When Flain finished eating it, red strands began merging with his pale-blue aura, turning his ME pink. Flain broke through to Mid Stage 3.

[You have eaten a demonic apple.]

[Strength increased by 10, agility increased by 7, vitality increased by 20]

Flain smirked. So not only would he get a better class, he would also gain a significant boost. The feeling of power was even sweeter than before it had been sealed—it was such a sweet sensation, as if Flain were drowning in honey.

Before, he had loved power because it helped him move toward revenge.

Now he loved it for its own sake.

But the boost had its downside—now his ME surrounding his body was dark pink. Flain had never seen anyone with a different ME except for Itai, whose was slightly darker. Probably because he had trained a lot with undeath in the dungeon. And there were a few individuals who had a slightly lighter or slightly darker ME. But no one had it in a completely different color than Flain.

Even animals and monsters have light-blue ME.

Death mana is almost the same as necrotic mana, except that Death mana cannot occur naturally in the world—something must create it, like a necromancer. Another difference is that just a little necrotic mana can resurrect corpses, but for Death mana to resurrect a corpse, an admirable amount is required.

However, for now, it didn’t do much to Itai, because he doesn’t train directly near corpses—but sometimes Death mana reaches him.

When they met a month ago, Flain had pointed this out to him, and Itai promised to be careful about it.

Mana with a specific type can be depleted, unlike normal mana. For example, if someone trains too much near a tree, the tree won’t be able to replenish natural mana fast enough, and over time it will wither. So the Death mana that reached Itai fortunately ran out.

When Flain ate the apple, figures emerged from the darkness before him. A trio of figures stood before him, cloaked, their faces hidden under hoods.

The first figure opened the cloak with a hand. Its voice was deep and dry.

"Flain," it said. "We see your magical energy. We know what you ate."

Flain didn’t see any instructions from the system.

"Who are you?" he asked after a moment, while searching in his mind for every possible option for what he should do.

The second figure replied.

"We are three. Do not call us by the authorities or by names you know. We are those who judge border anomalies. We came to respond because your magic has turned into a color we do not like." The voice was precise, emotionless.

"Heh, and what will you do about it?" Flain said, tightening his grip on the sword handles even more...