Adam looked at the sparkling blue liquid inside the cauldron, a drop of sweat trickling down his forehead as he involuntarily gulped. Just the sheer amount of mana radiating from the potion left him speechless.
It took him more than an hour just to concoct this potion. After all, he couldn't afford any failures as he only had one main ingredient—the core of the mangrove tree. So he took everything slowly and was careful with each step.
He couldn't help but think to himself, Will I be able to even absorb all this mana?
The potion he had just made had never been made before. It was the first of its kind. Well, of course, other similar potions that served the same purpose have also been made by Herbalists.
Adam had used his herbalism knowledge to create this potion that was tailor-made for him to advance to the next rank.
It was a potion with extremely high potency, for only such a potion could allow the mana to penetrate through his toughened muscles and create mana pathways.
He first cast Magus Hand and then had it pour the contents of the cauldron into a large ceramic bowl. After making one final round of inspection, he nodded his head.
Adam sat down cross-legged on the ground and took deep breaths to calm down his excited heart. With the help of this potion, he would finally be able to become an Organ Stage Magus.
He looked over at Valerian and stated, "Val, I'm going to attempt to advance to the next stage. I don't know how long it'll take. It might even take the whole day. Till then you must guard me, okay?"
"Myu!" The young dragon clenched his tiny fists and nodded with a serious expression.
'Brother, I will protect you!' He sent a mental transmission.
Adam smiled at the little guy's response. He then grabbed the ceramic bowl, glanced at the glimmering blue potion inside of it one last time, and then finally drank the whole thing in one go.
CLANK!
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})The bowl fell to the ground as he was unable to hold it. The moment the potion entered his system, a severe burning sensation started to envelop his entire body.
Adam instantly started to profusely sweat, and a few moments later, his skin had even turned a light shade of red.
He couldn't help but stifle a groan. "Ugh…"
"Myu!" Valerian hurriedly approached the youth, his face riddled with panic.
But Adam held out his hand and stopped the little guy in his tracks. "Don't… I'm okay!"
"Myu…" Valerian reluctantly nodded his head and sat back down, his eyes flashing with concern.
Meanwhile, Adam's body started to convulse as steam started to emit from the pores of his skin. He knew that the amount of mana inside the potion was quite a lot, but he didn't think that it would be this much.
All the filtered mana from the potion exploded inside his body, extending to every inch of his body. Moreover, some of the mana even started seeping out through his pores.
"Agh!" Adam opened his eyes wide and clenched his teeth. Surprisingly enough, white light shone from his eyes and mouth.
Damn it! I need to redirect all the mana, or it might end up injuring me instead! He screamed inwardly.
The mana that was being expelled through his pores, under Adam's guidance, formed a husk around his body.
Valerian, who was standing guard beside the youth, found this scene extremely fascinating. In his vision, Adam's entire body had been covered in a blue cocoon made of mana.
And then, something shocking happened.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})The mana cocoon started to levitate in mid-air!
…
Inside the cocoon, Adam had entered a trance-like state, unaware of what was happening around him.
Initially, he found it very difficult to focus on all the rampaging mana and channel it. Although he got it slightly under control, it still proved to be quite difficult to guide it to where he desired.
But halfway through, his mind inadvertently wandered toward the epiphany that he'd had while fighting Jeffrey and Kevin all those months back.
Even while he was in his training retreat, every day he would find some time to ponder about the profundities of the Way.
Although comprehending such philosophical concepts was too early for him as a mere Rank 1 Magus, Adam still found it a very comforting and mind-opening experience just to perceive it.
The Way was the natural order of all things. It was the cosmic principles that governed the universe.
To live in a state of harmony with the world.
To live in a state of harmony with the mana.
That was the Way.
When Adam thought up to here, he decided to take a leap of fate. He gave up on controlling the unrestrained mana running amok inside his body. He gave up on forcefully guiding it.
Live in a state of harmony with the mana… the youth thought to himself.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})As soon as Adam stopped regulating the mana, it started to move inside his body unhindered. Like a horse running wild and free on an open grassland.
Go with the flow! Go with the flow! Adam repeated this phrase inside his mind. Slowly, his face turned tranquil and so did the storm-like mana in his body.
The waves of mana thoroughly washed every part of the youth's body. Starting from the inside, all the organs in Adam's body were thoroughly nourished, not just once, but multiple times.
Since the mana was acting on its own accord, no longer being controlled by Adam, only when it decided that the youth's organs had been completely nurtured did it finally move on.
Such a phenomenon would have never been possible had Adam not come to harmonize with the mana!
After all the major and minor organs inside the youth's body had been enriched, the mana moved outward toward the bones, then the muscles, and finally the skin. In the process, countless, minute pathways were created for the mana to seep back in.
Once all the mana had been expelled out of Adam's body, it went back inside!
This process continued several times until all the mana from the potion had been exhausted. In the end, even the blue cocoon had been inadvertently sucked dry by Adam.
Valerian's eyes bulged out of his eyesockets when he saw Adam sitting crosslegged and levitating in mid-air.
The next moment, a barely visible vortex of mana formed with the youth at the epicenter. For the following couple of hours, Adam greedily took in all the mana in the surroundings until his mana reserves had been refilled.
Adam and finally advanced to an Organ Stage Magus!
He slowly opened his eyes, a brilliant light flashing in them followed by… confusion.
"Hmm? Why did the ceiling suddenly come down—accckkk!"
But before he could even speak the words in his mouth, he fell down and landed on his butt.
