The Reverse Mana System - Chapter 9

Alex closed his system interface and headed inside the blacksmith’s.

” Hey uncle Dreron, I have brought you a new customer. ” Sheri said as she pushed open the door of a small wooden house.

“Hey, maybe I forgot to tell you, but I am broke.” Alex whispered.

” Oh don’t worry. I will pay for you this time, but you’ll have to return it before you leave the village.” Sheri replied with a smirk on her face.

” Oh, miss Sheri, what can I do for you today?” A hoarse voice called out. It was followed by a creaking sound which was approaching where Alex and Sheri were standing..

After waiting for a while, an extremely old man entered the supposed parlor. He was holding a hammer in one hand which seemed to be used recently and his other hand was used to move the wheels of his wheelchair.

Sheri went to the man and politely stood behind him.

“Uncle Dreron, I need a sword for this person.” She said as she dragged the old man and his wheelchair away.

‘What’s with her strange behavior. She was acting like I was a plague that would eat away the old man.’ Alex thought to himself as he began contemplating whether to follow them in or not.

In the end, Alex decided to open his system interface and check out the weapons store.

As soon as he opened it, a long list of weapons appeared before him. There were maces, swords, axes, bows and arrows, gauntlets, spears and many other types of weapons.

There was also an option to make customized weapons.

Alex checked these weapons one by one. He was still too weak to get a view of most of the stronger weapon templates, but he was more than just satisfied by the lower level weapons that he saw.

Alex pressed a basic mana sword template and suddenly all the information and stats of the mana sword appeared before him.

Also something that he didn’t expect was all the raw material for the sword were mentioned and in one corner, the word dungeon was written.

Alex’s attention was immediately drawn to this.

He pressed on the word dungeon and a new screen appeared before him.

This screen had the information about the dungeon and what drew his attention was the fact that all the basic drops by the monsters of this dungeon were the materials that were used to craft the mana sword.

‘ So that’s how this works.’ Alex was a bit happy.

This dungeon could also give him loads of exp for leveling up apart from the material.

After spending five days with Verenia, he had grown a fascination to strength

In his previous life, individual strength was limited and there was only so much a person could do, but in this world, individual strength was not limited and as long as an individual kept growing, they would become strong enough to destroy countries with just few attacks.

Also one thing that he realized was that if he had power, he would never have had to be at the mercy of another.

Whenever he recalled himself begging Louis to reconsider his act, he was filled with rage. Although his words were disguised as warnings and tried to make him back down, Alex knew in his heart that those were no more than him begging Louis to spare his life in a roundabout manner.

‘I need to grow stronger or I will be dragged into such a situation every time someone feels like I am in their way.’ Alex had unknowingly clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles were turning white.

His trance was broken by the sounds of metal colliding. Alex knew that it was a bit risky for him to test out the new feature in broad daylight, so he decided to test it when there was no one around, most probably night time.

He followed the sound and arrived in the backyard of the house. The old blacksmith was hammering a piece of heated iron while Sheri was standing beside him, looking at the piece of metal as if in deep contemplation.

Alex silently walked towards them so as to not disturb the old man in his work.

Alex used his appraisal on the old man. This Uncle Dreron was also an ordinary villager who was at the mid stage of tier 2.

Although Alex had never seen someone forge a sword before, he could tell that this old man was skilled at his work. Also, the technique that he was using was a bit strange.

Dreron was too focused on his work to pay any attention to Alex, but Sheri immediately sensed his presence and began moving towards him.

“Hey outsider, don’t you dare say anything. If you so much as make a sound, I will beat you to death.” Sheri said, making a gesture of snapping a stick into two.

” Aren’t you too old to say such things without reason? It’s not like I am here to create trouble. I just want a sword and head back, and since your rambling didn’t distract him, I doubt that I would cause him any disturbance. ” Alex replied as he walked towards where the old man was forging his sword.

One thing that attracted Alex’s attention was the technique used by Dreron. The old man couldn’t generate power from his lower body, so he used a unique method of releasing mana in spontaneous amounts to accelerate the hammer and generate more force. This movement was very smooth despite it’s randomness.

Alex got an idea and activated his system’s reverse mana feature. While he had no use of the reverse mana, he could still see the mana flow pattern of Dreron’s movement and try to imitate it in his sword style for fluidity of movement and increase of power. Also it was very helpful for creating power in cases where he could not draw power from his stance or body.

Alex carefully noted each and every movement of the old man’s mana.

Alex had trained in sword for quite some time after coming to this world, so he knew the importance of this seemingly useless technique.

It may be able to provide him increased adaptability to terrain and in close space while wielding a weapon.

By the time Alex came out, it was already evening and he would receive a sword the next morning. Since he had nothing to do, he just took a look around the village before finally meeting up with Lucas, who took him to a house near the center of the village.

” This is my house. I have lived here alone since my parents died when I was young, but they were highly respected by the villagers, so I was brought up by the village chief alongside Miss Sheri. They have been very nice to me, except in some situations when Miss Sheri bullies me,….”

Alex had realized that if he didn’t stop this guy, he would not be able to enter the house before midnight, so he decided to move forward and enter the house without any considerations of the owner of the house.

After having a dinner of some local food, Alex was given a room at one side of the house.

Alex opened the system store only to find that the weapons store was grayed out again.

‘Does it have something to do with the blacksmith’s house or something?’ Alex wondered.

As soon as it was a bit darker, Alex walked out of his room.

“Hey, I am having a bit of a problem sleeping, so I’ll take a stroll around. You can lock the door behind me. I will knock on the door when I return.”

Alex said and left before the other party was given a chance to speak anything.

In the remote village, nearly everyone was fast asleep by now. Alex quickly made his way to the blacksmith’s house and opened the weapons store.

It was exactly like he had predicted. Alex didn’t waste any time and quickly selected the basic mana sword and entered the corresponding dungeon.

[Entered system Dungeon.]

[Recommended level : 15]

[Rewards : Enhanced moon steel, Tier 1 monster core, monster blood, 80,000 exp]

[Occasional Drops : Tier 1 monster core ( evolved)]

[The host’s level is lower than the recommended level. Do you still want to enter the dungeon?]

[Yes/No.]

A black screen appeared before Alex.

Alex pressed Yes without any hesitation.

[Entering System Dungeon.]

Alex suddenly found himself standing in a forest with thick trees and long grass.

In front of him was something which seemed to be the ruins of a village. Suddenly, two greenish looking monsters emerged from these ruins. These were bipedal monsters whom Alex recognized as goblins.

Alex scanned them and found that these goblins were merely level 12 and level 13.

‘So this is a goblin village.’ Alex used Area scan and found out that there were around 25 such goblins in these ruins and their leader was a level 25 goblin. Alex was sure that even if he was level 15, he wouldn’t be able to survive if he created a commotion and the goblins surrounded him.

‘System, add all the free attribute points in strength.’ Alex said.

By now, Alex’s strength had finally caught up with his agility. Before this, the opponents he faced were much stronger than him, so he had to increase his agility in order to survive, but now it was the first time he would be fighting without trying to run. Alex was a bit excited as he stepped forward from where he was standing.

The two goblins were standing beside a tree which happened to cast a shadow near Alex’s foot.

One of the goblins sensed a movement in Alex’s direction and turned towards him. It was able to see a faint silhouette fading away.

Alex quickly cast shadow movement and appeared behind the other goblin which was unaware of Alex’s presence.

Alex stabbed a black coloured wind blade in the throat of this goblin. This was the reverse mana variate of his wind blade. Since these goblins were basically the same level as Alex, the system had completed its part as soon as Alex had spotted those goblins.

Alex saw a series of debuffs appear on the goblin. Since these were regular goblins, the mana in their body was used only to strengthen their body. The goblins HP plummeted, but it was still more than 50 percent. Alex acted immediately and cast another wind blade and slashed the goblins gut.

This time, due to the debuffs, all the remaining HP of the goblin was drained by the wind blade, but Alex was a bit disappointed.

‘Maybe I have gotten too used to the level 2 fireball, if only I could get another skill upgrade card.’ Alex thought to himself.

The second goblin heard a muffled call of it’s companion and turned back only to see Alex killing the first goblin.

The second goblin immediately pounced at Alex with a crude knife in its hand. Alex used shadow movement once again and shifted from his position.

The goblin stabbed at the empty air.

Slash!

Alex cut at the goblin’s throat. It tried to open its mouth and alert the others, but a fireball arrived before it could make any sound.

[Goblin( level 12) killed.]

[14,000 exp gained]

[Goblin (level 13) killed.]

[15,000 exp gained.]

Alex immediately lifted those two corpses and went back to hide in the forest.

He took out the cores of the goblins and quickly absorbed them.

He knew that if he wanted to fight the boss and stand a chance, he had to increase the efficiency of his reverse mana.

After five minutes, Alex walked out and stood at the entrance of the goblin village.