"Huh? How do I do that? Do I need to drink it?" Max asked, looking at the greenish liquid with a frown.
[No, there is no need to drink it. Treat it as a Mana stone and do the same process you do when absorbing mana from the Mana stones.] The system calmly replied. It knew Max asked this seemingly silly question because his body didn't work like others thanks to the system.
"I can do that?" Max raised a brow at this. If he could absorb the medicinal power from the liquid bath and use it to strengthen his core, shouldn't he be able to absorb the Mana present in the environment too, and use it to improve his cultivation since both types of energies were present around him? But no, he wasn't able to do that.
He had tried it a few times before. Since his affinity with Mana was quite high, he could clearly feel Mana present in the environment, draw it toward him and absorb it too.
However, the absorbed Mana wouldn't increase his maximum Mana count and just replenish the exhausted Mana in his body.
When he asked the system about it, it only said it was the side effect of using the system to level up and he wouldn't be able to use external Mana to improve his cultivation as long as he had the system in his body.
After he arrived at the Cloud academy and tried using the Mana stones and the same thing happened. Although he could absorb the Mana from the Mana stones, he couldn't use it to improve his Mana count.
[Of course, you can do it. You can do almost everything apart from using the external Mana to improve your cultivation.] The system tonelessly replied.
"So, the spirit fruit isn't included in this 'external mana source'?" Max coldly asked.
The system didn't respond immediately after he asked this but took a long pause before saying, [You can't use environmental Mana or Mana from the Mana stones to improve your cultivation because the system uses the Nascent energy which is the higher form of energy to improve your body and cultivation and the Nascent energy repels the lower form of energy which is Mana.]
"I see." After hearing the explanation, Max nodded in understanding since it was logical. After that, he narrowed his eyes and asked, "If that's the case, how are you so sure that the spirit fruit can raise my cultivation? Don't the spirit fruit also contain Mana?"
[Although the spirit fruit also contains Mana, the Mana concentration is so pure that it has almost transformed to become a higher level of energy. That's why the Nascent energy won't repel it. Now, focus on strengthening your Mana core.] The system impatiently replied.
Hearing this, Max didn't say anything and started absorbing the medicinal power from the medicinal liquid. At the start, his absorption speed was slow but after a few minutes, his pores started opening up, and his absorption speed increased.
Nice~
As the medicinal energy started entering his body, the feeling of comfort increased and he felt as if his body was cleansed. Feeling this cool and comfy sensation which wasn't any less pleasurable than sex, Max couldn't but moan again.
However, he didn't completely immerse himself into enjoying it and started directing the energy toward his Mana core.
"It's working!" He exclaimed in surprise when the medicinal energy started to strengthen his core bit by bit.
Although the effects weren't as strong as when he used his evolved Mana, it was still better than the effects of low-grade foundation-strengthening liquid. Moreover, there was a large quantity of liquid in the bathtub which made it even better.
In other rooms, Rima, Belen, and Leticia were doing the same. They were also in the bathtubs, absorbing the medicinal energy and enjoying the comfort of a hot bath.
...
Meanwhile, two shadows were moving away from the city lord's mansion at high speeds. After a while, they arrived in front of a luxurious three-story inn and entered after showing the wooden tokens. They both were the elders who followed Jack.
They went straight to the top floor and knocked on the doors of one of the rooms.
Knock! Knock!
Inside the room, Jack was laying on the bed, naked. A gorgeous Elvin woman, who was also naked, was sitting on top of his crotch moving her captivating body up and down and moaning. While Jack grabbed her jiggling boobs with one hand while the other hand was squeezing her ass.
When he heard someone knocking on the door, he frowned in displeasure.
"My lord, s-should we stop?" The Elvin woman hesitantly asked.
"Yeah, get off." Jack pushed her aside, stood up, and wore a golden long robe before walking to the door. The Elvin woman hurriedly wore her maid clothes and stood in the corner.
Jack opened the door and seeing the two elders standing there, he invited them in. He then threw a spatial bag at the maid and gestured for her to leave. The maid became happy after receiving the spatial bag, she bowed toward him and the elders before running out of the room.
Jack sat on the bed, looked at the elders, and asked, "So, what's the news?"
One of the elders said, "Young master, we managed to bribe some mansion guards and found out the reason why that boy was being treated as an honored guest."
"Very good. I know you were capable." Jack praised. He knew how loyal the elves were. To be able to bribe some guards who were subordinate to the city lord no less, was undoubtedly a big deal, especially for humans.
"Tell me, What is it?" Jack asked.
The Elder wore respectful expressions and said, "Young master, it turned out that your conjecture was right. The city lord is treating that boy and his group so nicely because he seemed to have saved the saint girl, her daughter, and her parents a few days ago from a group of dark mages."
"Haha..." Jack laughed, delighted. After he stopped laughing, his eyes turned murderous, "Now, we can kill that bastard without any worry as soon as he leaves Ninam city's protection."
