A while ago…
Max was sitting cross-legged on his bed with his eyes closed and his breathing extremely calm. If someone saw him, they could even think that he wasn't breathing at all.
At this moment, he was completely focused on reconstructing his mana core.
Maybe it was just as the system said, having a strong enough body could quicken the mana core reconstructing process because even though it hadn't been even a month since he started, he was almost done reconstructing it.
Time slowly ticked by.
Phew!
Suddenly, he exhaled, and his body relaxed a little.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and his lips curled up into a satisfied grin. He was finally a three-star mage. He could feel he was now several times stronger than before.
Although he had just stepped into the three-star realm, he believed he wouldn't be defeated easily even if he were to fight a high-stage three-star mage.
"This feeling is addictive." He murmured as he clenched his right fist.
[Hehe, kid. It's just the beginning. You need to become a lot stronger. The stronger the better.] Suddenly, system's voice sounded in his head.
"I know." Max nodded and calmed down his excitement. He then asked, "Are you done hatching the egg?"
[Yeah. I'm almost—]
System's voice stopped abruptly.
'Mm?' Max raised his brows in confusion. It was the first time the system stopped speaking mid-sentence.
Whoosh!
"What…" Just as he was about to ask what happened, a terrifying suction force appeared around him. It was many times stronger than when the system evolved previously.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
All the mana in a radius of tens of miles started surging toward him crazily.
Because he had experienced system's evolution, he knew he would be in a lot of pain. Therefore, he gritted his teeth and clenched his muscles to endure it and asked, "What's happening, old man? Didn't you say the system won't evolve anytime soon?"
[KID, HURRY UP AND STOP MANA FROM ENTERING YOU.] System's voice sounded hysteric. It seemed as if he was… frightened?
Although Max found it weird that the old man seemed terrified, he didn't have time to think about it deeply. Following his words, he hurriedly formed mara barriers around him to prevent mana entry into his body. However,
Shatter!
The mana barriers shattered immediately upon forming.
[BASTARD! BLOCK YOUR PORES! DO ANYTHING! JUST DON'T LET MANA ENTER YOUR BODY!] System's mad voice rang like claps of thunder in Max's head, rupturing his eardrums instantly.
'What the fuck…' Max's head buzzed. He was confused.
The system was trying to evolve, which should've been programmed by him, but now he sounded horrified because of it. Moreover, he was asking him to stop the mana when it was clear he wasn't able to do so. Couldn't he use his almighty powers to do that? Why forcing him?
'Is it because I'm currently stronger than him?' Suddenly this ridiculous thought appeared in his mind, but he immediately discarded it.
Although he had become stronger after his breakthrough, he knew for a fact that the old man was way stronger than him. He, after all, could scan the demon city and find the blood pool without being noticed by a king-ranked mage.
"Damn it, old man. Why are you shouting so loudly? Do you want to kill me?" Max shouted while holding his head and stopped trying to stop the mana. He did it because of two reasons.
First, it was useless, as he clearly couldn't stop it. Second, even though he didn't know what the system wanted to do, for some reason, he had the feeling that it wouldn't harm him, but he didn't have the same feeling for the old man. Furthermore, he wasn't feeling any pain unlike what he had expected.
[Ahhh! You lowly scum! Why aren't you doing anything? Stop the mana or I'll kill you to stop this.]
'He really intends to kill me.' Max gulped his saliva when he heard this. He could clearly feel the killing intent in those words and knew the old man was serious.
Although furious and frustrated, Max complied. "I'll do it."
However, just as he was about to shut his pores, a message flashed in the corner of his right eye.
[System recovery complete…. 95%... 96%... 97%... 98%... 99%... 100%]
Whoosh!
Right as this message flashed, the old supreme mage's mana body appeared in front of him. Unlike last time, his face was twisted because of extreme terror and anger and he shouted manically. "YOU BASTARD! I'll kill you."
As the man raised his hand to annihilate Max, another two messages flashed in Max's eye in quick succession.
[System rebooting… 1%... 10%... 70%... 100%. System rebooted.]
[External interference detected. Initializing cleansing mechanism.]
Swoosh!
An ethereal energy suddenly enveloped the supreme mage just as the last message flashed and to Max's astonishment and supreme mage's horror, his mana body started disintegrating rapidly.
"AHHH! DON'T!" The man screamed loudly.
In the next instant, he vanished as if he had never appeared here. At the same time, Max felt something vanish deep inside him that made him feel liberated.
Right when the supreme mage's mana body got destroyed, in an unknown location, in the underground chamber, his real body was also destroyed. On the platform, only a golden egg remained.
…
The sudden movement of mana startled everyone in the Bloodwing city. However, before they could react to it, everything calmed down.
However, a few people, such as Orlan, the guard commander, and Amara, immediately knew the source of the commotion.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
They disappeared from where they were and a moment later; they appeared in front of Max. First to arrive was Orlan, followed by the guard commander.
They looked at Max, who had a dazed look on his face, and scanned him. However, they frowned when they didn't notice anything special.
Whoosh!
Amara also appeared. She glanced at her father and the commander and greeted them before looking at Max with a worried look.
Orlan narrowed his eyes at Max and asked, "What was that? Why did you cause such a commotion?"
Max, who was looking dazedly at the messages flashing on his retina, broke out of his stupor when he heard Orlan's voice.
