Chương 45: A new path

Skill leveled [Keen Sense Lv. 5] Skill leveled [Advanced Sword Mastery Lv. 4] You have defeated [Three Tailed Scorpion Lv. 23] Congratulations! You are now [Knight Lv. 22] Str +2, End +2, Ag +1, Per +1, Will +2 Ethan pulled his sword free from the scorpion's body. Thick ichor clung to the blade like tar, stretching in dark strands before finally dripping into the sand. He looked around awkwardly, wishing he held in his outburst.

To distract himself he skimmed through the notifications in quiet satisfaction, pausing slightly on the advancement of his sword mastery. Any improvement to that skill was valuable. Not because the system was teaching him something he didn't already understand, but because the skill itself needed to level. If he had known it would progress this slowly, he might have chosen a different early specialization. Yeah right. That thought lasted less than a second before he dismissed it immediately.

Ethan needed sword mastery. Not for what it was now, but for what it could eventually become. He wasn't arrogant enough to believe he knew everything about the blade. Even in his previous life he hadn't been the single best swordsman alive, though he privately believed he had stood somewhere near the very top. There were always others refining techniques, pushing boundaries, discovering new methods.

If he could drive this skill high enough and eventually branch it into other mastery paths, there was a chance the system would reward him with something extraordinary. The legendary upgrade had eluded him last time. This time would be different. If he had anything to say about it, he intended to become the first legendary swordmaster.

"What the hell was that?" Leah said suddenly. Ethan glanced up to see her staring at him, her mouth slightly open in disbelief. He opened his mouth to answer but his sword wavered in his grip. The weight suddenly felt enormous as his muscles spasmed violently from the earlier mana surge. Ethan quickly placed the blade on the ground and dismissed the notifications before they distracted him further. He would come back to his sword after he had gone over everything.

It needed a clean before it went anywhere near his new sheath. He was about to respond again when another notification appeared. One he had not expected, but hoped for. Skill learned: [Mana Infusion] Do you wish to incorporate this skill? Yes / No Ethan froze.

"Well?" Leah asked as she stepped closer.

"Are you alright?" Her voice barely reached him. From the moment he had woken up in this new life, Ethan had planned to reshape his build. To move away from the physical skills that had taken up all his skill slots and move into something a bit more magical. But so far he had still clung tightly to what he knew. Even if it was following the optimal path, it was still a path he had been comfortable with. This skill was different. It was his first step towards something new.

He still followed the path of the sword, but he had also accepted something he had once resisted. Mana mattered. Aura had always been powerful, but mana offered something aura never could. It was versatile. It worked both inside the body and outside it. It connected to the world itself. Now the choice sat directly in front of him. A pivot point for everything that came next. This was a moment he had been waiting for since the day he woke up in his bed and realized the timeline had reset.

Without hesitation, Ethan mentally selected Yes. The effect was immediate. A large portion of his soul juice drained away as the skill integrated into him. The exhaustion layered on top of the strain already tearing through his muscles, but Ethan barely noticed. Even if the pain had doubled, he would still have reacted the same way. The knowledge settled deep into his soul, claiming another slot within him and imprinting understanding directly into his mind.

Nivia stepped forward and looked between him and the corpse.

"I think he's broken." A genuine smile spread across Ethan's face.

"I'm good," he said.

"Mind giving me another heal? We don't know if something else might show up." Nivia approached slowly.

"You barely got hurt," she said.

"The thing hit you once with its pincer. How are you injured?" Ethan shrugged.

"I was testing some things. Come on, don't be stingy." She rolled her eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Where?"

"Arms and legs." Warm mana flowed into his body again as she began healing him. Ethan focused on the sensation immediately. Now that he had a mana-related skill of his own, perceiving the energy inside his body felt dramatically easier. Her magic flowed through his muscles, repairing the tiny tears and frayed tissue left behind by his experiment. Ethan followed the current carefully, studying the movement of mana as it worked. Stolen novel; please report.

Eventually the energy withdrew, and Nivia pulled her hand back.

"Thanks," Ethan said. She studied him closely.

"How did you even damage yourself like that?" she asked.

"Your muscles looked like they'd experienced extreme overload." Ethan considered the description. It was actually very accurate.

"Well," he said casually, "I guess that's about right. I was experimenting with mana. Doesn't seem worth it though. Too much damage involved." He lied shamelessly. The last thing he needed was any guild compiling detailed reports about what he could do. It wasn't about distrusting Nivia—it was simply caution. Information was power. Ethan understood that better than almost anyone. Nivia nodded slowly, though she continued squinting at him suspiciously through the cloth covering most of her face.

It looked mildly funny. Though Ethan would never admit it.

"I need the venom from this thing," Ethan said, gesturing to the scorpion.

"Do you two mind keeping watch?" Leah immediately nodded.

"I don't mind checking the area."

"I'll go with her," Nivia added.

"Don't go too far," Ethan said.

"Just patrol."

"I know what I'm doing, Ethan," Nivia snorted. Leah laughed.

"Yeah, Ethan." He rolled his eyes. Whatever. Once they had walked a fair distance away, Ethan called up the system again and opened the description of his new skill. [Mana Infusion] Flood your muscles with mana, enhancing strength and agility. Enhancement proportional to mana use. The description itself was simple, almost disappointingly so. But the knowledge embedded within the skill was far more detailed. Ethan now understood that mana couldn't simply be shoved into muscles at random.

It had to follow specific pathways. The energy needed to flow along the natural grain of the muscle fibers, strengthening them rather than tearing them apart. It was like carving rivers through his body. Each pathway flowed outward from his core, branching through his limbs and connecting into a network that reinforced itself. Aura had never worked that way. It didn't originate from a single point. It permeated the entire body and, at higher stages, even extended into the environment.

When enhancing muscles with aura, it simply seeped into them naturally. Mana required structure. Control. Satisfied, Ethan dismissed the skill window and pulled up his full status. Name: Ethan Carter Level: 22 Class: [Knight] Cultivation: • Core — [Molten] • Body — Unawakened Attributes: • Strength: 50 (2) • Endurance: 42 • Agility: 32 • Perception: 34 • Willpower: 34 Skills: • Steadfast Lv. 8 (Common) • Advanced Sword Mastery Lv. 4 (Uncommon) • Keen Sense Lv. 5 (Common) • Oath Lv. 3 (Rare) • Mana Infusion Lv.

1 (Uncommon) Everything looked solid. His build was progressing exactly the way he wanted. Now he only needed one more step. He needed to awaken his body cultivation. Which meant gathering the materials required to survive the most painful process he would willingly subject himself to. With a quiet breath, Ethan knelt beside the massive scorpion corpse and began the careful task of harvesting what he needed.

This time his blade moved far more delicately as he carved into the creature, cutting along the hardened plates until he reached the junction where the three tails connected. Nestled deep inside was the venom sac. He extracted it carefully before moving on to the next task. One by one he cut off the stinger tips from each tail. The materials would likely sell well, or perhaps be forged into specialized weapons. Leah might even want one crafted for herself. She seemed to be building quite the collection.

Ethan might even keep one for himself. He needed a proper dagger. He had spent too many years relying on a storage ring to carry spare weapons. Now that he didn't have one, the oversight had become painfully obvious. That mistake wouldn't happen again. Once he had finished, Ethan moved back to his bag and carefully placed the venom sac and the severed tail tips into it, before pulling out some water and cleaning his sword with a rag. With that done, Ethan straightened and scanned the surrounding dunes.

The desert stretched out in quiet waves of sand, the wind gently reshaping the surface in slow, constant motion. He searched the horizon for any sign of movement, making sure the girls were still out of sight and nothing else had wandered too close. Satisfied that the area was clear, he stood up fully and brushed his palms against his legs to dry them. The bag sat a few paces behind him, and he deliberately moved away from it, giving himself a little open space to work with.

He lowered his center of gravity and let out a slow breath. With a spark of almost childish excitement, Ethan activated [Mana Infusion]. Immediately he felt the skill brush against his core, as if asking how much mana it was allowed to draw. The sensation was strangely intuitive, like a silent conversation between the ability and his reserves. The last time he had attempted it without the skill, he had simply forced mana into his muscles without guidance. That method had consumed under a quarter of his stored mana.

This time, Ethan allowed the skill to draw roughly the same amount. The pull from his core stabilized quickly, leaving him with just over half his mana remaining. As the skill took over, Ethan focused inward and watched the flow of energy carefully. Instead of the chaotic surge he had forced earlier, the mana now moved with a clear flow. It followed the pathways the skill had described, spreading through his body like water through carved channels.

His muscles jolted as the mana filled them, the sensation sharp and electric. It felt like currents of lightning were threading through his limbs, charging every fiber with potential energy. The process continued for a few seconds before the skill stopped drawing from his core. Ethan stood there, fully charged. Anticipation built in his chest. Then he moved. Ethan launched forward. The burst of speed was even stronger than before.

Sand exploded behind him as he shot across the desert floor, covering the distance in an instant. He skidded to a stop roughly ten yards away, digging his heels into the sand as he fought the momentum. Just like before, the edges of his vision blurred during the burst of movement. He exhaled slowly as the world settled back into focus.

"That's more like it," he hissed under his breath. The skill felt incredible. Even though he had infused his entire body with mana—something he knew wasn't the most efficient approach but was unsure how to focus the skill solely on his legs—it still produced a massive improvement over his earlier attempts. Still, the results were impressive. He had traveled further and faster than before. If he had to guess, he had probably moved close to sixty miles per hour for that brief instant. And the best part?

When the mana faded from his muscles, the burning pain he had felt earlier never came. No tearing. No lingering strain. Nothing.

"This is fucking awesome," Ethan muttered to himself. For the first time since gaining the skill, he truly felt the difference in power. His other abilities improved pieces of him—his balance, perception, or swordsmanship—but Mana Infusion was something else entirely. It amplified everything, giving him a surge of power, something the other skills failed to do. Ethan walked back to his pack and sat down beside it, resting his arms on his knees while he waited.

It didn't take long before Leah and Nivia crested the nearby dune and began heading back toward him.

"Anything happen?" he asked as they approached.

"All good on our end," Leah replied.

"There were a few undead wandering around, but I handled them." Ethan grinned.

"Ha, good stuff."

"I only had to step in once," Nivia added. Leah immediately rolled her eyes.

"Details, details," she said dismissively before looking back at Ethan.

"Anyway, what's the plan now? Want me to search for another monster?" Ethan leaned back slightly and looked up at the sky. The sun was still high overhead, though it had clearly passed the midpoint of the day. They still had plenty of time.

"Let's try something else," he said after a moment. He pushed himself to his feet and began strapping the pack onto his back again.

"See if your skill can lead you to people instead."