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A normal person would feel trepidation at the prospect of messing with their own heart. But then again, a normal person probably would have never been faced with such choices. They would not have entered Dreamland in the first place, or chosen a Nightmare difficulty for their trial.
And not being normal was Eden's goal in the first place.
Of course, that did not mean he was not cautious. He was perfectly aware that he was not very skilled in either magic or anatomy, but he never would be if he never pushed any boundaries.
So, he started with small steps, by trying to send his mana towards his heart, in an attempt to cause something to happen. Nothing happened. Not because his heart did not react to mana, but because his mana stayed still, not listening to his command.
The first step was thus to learn how to move his mana independently. Until now, despite trying to do so, Eden had never been able to manipulate raw mana; he could only do it through spells.
As far as he knew, different spells had different requirements, but for Strengthened Fireball, for example, he needed to perform a certain hand sign, which was a closed fist with the index and middle finger extended toward his target.
Of course, the sign alone was not sufficient, as he also needed to visualise, which was the step shared by all spells, as far as Eden could tell. Visualisation was not picturing the spell itself in his mind, but more so aspects and concepts, which would cause his mana to respond.
It was still all very vague, since Eden was only a beginner in magic, but the point was that to use spells, Eden moved his mana through visualisation, not conscious control.
But Eden did not know of any visualization technique that would lead a small amount of mana toward his heart. So, he first tried moving it by will alone.
However, whether because it was simply impossible to do or his magical attributes were lacking, his mana did not respond to his call. He tried for about half an hour before stopping. He could have kept trying, but Eden was not the type to bash his head through problems.
Since will alone was obviously not enough, Eden decided to use a tool. A mysterious tool he understood very little, but a most powerful tool: his Talent.
There remained many mysteries about Soul Overlord, but Eden still had drawn a few conclusions from its activations. It had something to do with the soul, and had something to do with magic. After all, it countered all magical debuffs, as far as Eden could tell.
Just like it used to be with his mana, Eden did not feel his talent at all times, but only when it was activated. Moreover, as his Talent blocked harmful elements from entering his body, and the operation thus took place outside his body, it was hard to sense anything.
Even when he was covered in the ambient necrotic energy, while Eden felt a weight on his skin, it was the effect of the necrotic energy. He could barely feel his talent the moment it activated for the first time, which he guessed was the tingling feeling, but after that, it worked as a natural barrier of sorts and became invisible to his senses once more.
But now that the necrotic energy was inside his body, his Talent was also activating directly inside his body, and it was far easier to sense something that happened inside his body than outside of it. It was the case with magic as well.
Eden could sense the mana inside his body, but he could not sense the mana in the world at all. The only reason he could feel necrotic energy was because it tried to consume him at every moment.
He did not know how others learned more about their Talents, but Eden knew that this was the perfect opportunity to do so himself.
At first, Eden tried to concentrate on his Talent alone, but the feeling he got from it remained too faint. So, he switched to the necrotic energy to use it as a referent. He studied his Talent by observing what it did to necrotic energy.
And finally, he got some results.
At first, Eden had believed that his Talent simply stopped magical debuffs at the source, that it overruled attribute checks by counterattacking and erasing whatever was affecting him. In the Necronomicon's case, the necrotic energy.
But with the appearance of the ambient necrotic energy, it became obvious that it was not the case. And now that the necrotic energy was inside his body, Eden could confirm that it was indeed trying to affect him at all times.
This, Eden could already tell. But what his observations showed Eden was that his Talent actually did nothing to the necrotic energy, or whatever ailment was aimed at him.
Instead, his Talent acted solely on his body. It formed an invisible shield over Eden, completely cutting off the influence of the debuff.
This shield was also presumably permanent, instead of activating only whenever something tried to affect him, although he would have to wait to get out of the necrotic energy field to confirm it.
Eden tried isolating this shield and affecting it, but he felt nothing. He called it a shield because it was its function, but Eden did not know how exactly his Talent shielded him.
Since he could not feel the protection itself, Eden focused on the source of said protection, and finally, he made progress.
It was strange, almost instinctual, and at the same time, it was not something supposed to be felt. This was his talent, or if his Talent's name was to be trusted, his soul.
He had previously been unaware of it, but now that he had found it, its presence started becoming clearer. Strangely enough, Eden was still unable to feel how exactly his soul protected him, but all that mattered was that he could feel it.
Because the moment he felt it, a connection he never knew existed manifested itself between him and his soul. It was to be expected, since this was his soul, the very core of his being, and this connection allowed him to influence, even if ever so slightly.
Concentrating on his soul, Eden used it as a medium for his will, and once more tried to influence his mana. He started with something small and willed the mana in his right hand to move to his left.
Had it been pure mana, it might have been hard to follow, but with the necrotic energy mixed in, Eden clearly felt it as his hand quickly became bereft of any mana, while his left hand filled up and felt like it was almost about to explode.
Not so keen on losing a hand, Eden removed his influence over his mana, letting it return to its normal distribution. Still, as his mana returned to its normal state, Eden could not help but grin in the dark.
As expected, his Talent had to do with the magical. And until now, Eden had only explored the passive aspects of it, meaning it might have more surprises in store for him.
Eden was also glad he had not managed to move his mana the first time, or had he managed to move it to his heart, it might have already exploded.
But all parts of his body had some mana in them, meaning it was only a matter of quantity. So, this time, Eden influenced a tiny part of it, the smallest strand he could isolate, and circulated it throughout his body.
Upon seeing that he did not feel any discomfort anywhere, he sent it toward his heart.
Nothing happened.
So, he sent another, and another, and continued until his heartbeat started rising, and a faint pain appeared in his chest.
Eden stopped immediately, his mana returning to normal, and the pain disappearing. Still, this had taught him that blindly overloading a part of his mana with magic would only have negative consequences, which was a good thing to learn.
This meant he had to find another way to influence his heart. Thinking about it, Eden wished he could read the Necronomicon, but it would be useless, as Eden could not read it in the dark.
He could, of course, still 'equip' it by taking it in his hands and benefit from the boosted stats, but Eden had a feeling that it would do more harm than good. After all, the attributes added by equipment were temporary and might lead him to mistakes.
After leaving himself some time to recover from the failed experiment, Eden once again focused on his soul. This time, however, he ignored his mana and instead brought his attention to his heart.
By himself, Eden could not exactly feel anything about his heart. Mana was identifiable because he never had it in his life, but as far as feeling his heart out went, Eden was in the same position as any other person.
But now, through the lens of his soul, Eden was given clear insight into his heart. He felt it pumping, with blood circulating through both halves, working like a most complex machine.
Surprisingly, it treated his mana in a pretty similar way to his blood. However, the two operations were done independently of each other. His heartbeats and blood flow did not seem to influence his magical circulation, which was a good thing, as otherwise it might mean that a high enough mana regeneration would lead to his heart bursting.
But here, even if his heart were to stop beating and pumping blood, and he somehow survived it, it should theoretically continue purifying his mana.
This was because deep in his heart was a small ember.
Of course, Eden did not have a literal flame in the middle of his heart, but it was the closest image it reminded Eden of. It felt strange as well, as it almost felt like it was made of very pure mana, but at the same time, there also seemed to be something else to it.
Whatever it was, this was undoubtedly the very core of his magical system, and Eden had a hunch that this was the difference between people with locked and unlocked Intelligence and Wisdom. Maybe this ember did not exist in 'locked' people, or maybe it was dormant.
Carefully, Eden tried to use his Talent to influence it, to grow it, but this time, nothing happened. And Eden even had the distinct feeling that this was impossible, no matter how much he tried. His Talent was powerful, but this ember was not meant to be something he could directly manipulate.
But since direct manipulation did not work, he would try indirect. Now that he knew about the ember, Eden separated a small strand of mana, and instead of blindly pushing it into his heart, directed it to the small ember.
And finally, there was a reaction. A good one. The ember did not 'grow' per se, but grew brighter instead. It was hard to put into words, since it was not a perfectly accurate imagery in the first place, but it did undoubtedly evolve in the right direction.
Eden 'fed' it more and more strands of mana, to the point his heart had started hurting earlier, yet this time there was no pain, only growth, so he continued.
Moreover, the brighter it got, the faster the operation became. His mana circulated faster in his body, and he started drawing more through his pores, directly increasing his mana regeneration.
For a moment, Eden felt like there was no limit to it, and he would be able to expand his ember infinitely.
Unexpectedly, though, it was not his ember that hit the limit first, but the pores of his body instead.
The brighter his ember grew, the more mana they sucked in, and while his ember could still keep up, his pores could only absorb so much mana, or necrotic energy in this case, at a time.
Since that was the case, Eden stopped stuffing his ember with mana. He did not know if overstuffing it could lead to dangerous consequences, and since it would not lead to a faster regeneration, he kept it at its current rate.
Moreover, the strands of mana would not naturally stay within his ember. At the moment, they were forcefully contained inside his ember by his soul, but if his concentration were to be broken, his mana would naturally disperse, returning his ember to its normal state.
When pushed to its limits, Eden's body was capable of much more than he initially believed, as it was not just the absorption rate of the necrotic energy that had been enhanced, but the purification speed had also been increased.
And so, what would have initially been a process taking over several hours ended up being completed in a couple of minutes.
Of course, the thick concentration of necrotic energy also contributed to this impressive speed. Were he to be outside, Eden figured it would have taken several times longer to achieve. Still, even then, it should take half an hour at most, which was impressive enough already.
With his entire MP restored, Eden let go of his mana, allowing his ember to return to its normal state. Or almost normal. He would not have noticed it had he not been concentrating on it, but his ember had grown slightly bigger.
Intrigued, Eden sent a look at his status.
[Name: Ozymandias]
[Title: Monster Hunter II, STD Free]
[Talent: Soul Overlord]
[HP: 100/100]
[MP: 180/180]
[Strength: 8]
[Agility: 9]
[Physique: 10]
[Intelligence: 18]
[Wisdom: 16]
[Skills: Analyse (Support), Demon Claw (1st Circle), Dark Pool (1st Circle), Evil Possession (1st Circle), Strengthened Fireball (2nd Circle)]
[Currency: 7150 Dream Points]
It was a welcome surprise. It meant that with the Necronomicon equipped, his MP would reach 210.
Getting up from the ground, which had returned to its cold temperature since the fireball, Eden proceeded to walk deeper into the cave.
Just as it did before, the necrotic energy continued getting thicker the deeper he went. But where he expected to meet more waves of enemies, he surprisingly came across a source of light.
After the complete darkness he had been in since he entered, finally seeing some light was a godsend.
Eden took a turn and arrived in a large room. Unlike the rest of the cave, it had nothing natural and had been built by man. The walls were smooth grey stones and were covered in strange symbols. They seemed magical, considering they glowed with a dark red light.
And in the middle of the room was a pedestal, with something placed on it. Eden could not tell what exactly it was, however, because of the large figure standing in front of it.
The figure was a medieval knight, fully plated in heavy armor. He might have thought it was a statue, were his eyes not staring directly into Eden's.
[Guardian of the Underworld]
[Title: Hades' Champion]
[HP: ?/?]
[MP: 100/100]
[Strength: ?]
[Agility: ?]
[Physique: ?]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Wisdom: 10]