Descending Into A Novel-Chapter 70:Forming The Core

Raymond couldn’t believe it. Ellen was forming a tine attunement?

He had travelled through dozens of different dimensions. Some with mana, some without. But he had never before found anyone that had either dimension or time attunement.

That made Ellen the first person he knew of.

His mind pondered on the factors that could have caused the change.

The biggest most glaring one was the regression.

Raymond’s spell had turned back the clock for the entire dimension, the thousands and thousands of fused realms all going backwards through time.

Ellen herself was the sole exception, getting to keep her memories as her soul went back in time.

Raymond knew that the mana attunements one had was influenced by their life. Such an event was definitely a suitable catalyst for triggering this change.

He clutched his head, laughing slightly.

How amazing!

When was the last time he had ever been so caught off guard? He could barely remember!

He could feel his own body hyperventilating in excitement. His own passion flaring up again once more.

Ellen gritted her teeth, slowly lifting up her hand. She uncorked the vial of self attunement liquid and downed the entire thing in one swift motion.

Raymond could see with the glasses, as the amber shade of mana suddenly seemed to become diluted as more mana flowed into her body from the liquid.

Undergoing the process of purifying and converting once again, she grunted slightly. Her entire mind fully concentrated on the current task.

She didn’t even realize how monumental of a feat it was.

Her body was sweating, breathing hard. She opened an eye at him. Her heterochromic eye meeting his as she forced out words through gritted teeth.

"Do...it...now!"

Raymond activated the engravings on the ground. The sixth circle spell engraving being kicked into action. Sucking up the mana from the dozens of batteries he created.

Raymond hastily replaced the mana ores once it was finished fully absorbing. Switching it out the moment it went dim.

The entire spell engraving flowed an even brighter shade of gold. Raymond’s countless modifications letting the sixth circle spell activate even with the mana provided.

With Ellen as the target, the countless carved lines and symbols hummed as the spell worked it’s magic.

Around Ellen, a faint silhouette appeared. Resembling the future version of her that Raymond had once met.

Her features were more refined, still as beautiful as he remembered. Her body more matured. At that moment, the strength of the World Crossing Arrow was being borrowed by the current Ellen.

No. Not the World Crossing Arrow, looking closely. She seemed different. The silhouette looked more...perfect.

Raymond’s eyes widened, a massive grin on his face as the question was finally answered.

Back when Ellen had asked him, she had posed the question. Would it borrow the future strength of the her in the previous timeline or the her in the new timeline?

Now it had been answered, it borrowed the future strength from the new current timeline.

He could feel his own body growing stronger slightly, his mana reserves slightly larger and his thinking faster. Growing only by a miniscule enough, but enough to be noticeable.

It was a nostalgic feeling. He hadn’t levelled up in so long he had almost forgotten what it was like.

Ellen released another grunt as the mana of her future self poured into her. With his glasses, he could see that she had already formed a core and was now focusing on reifining the core. Making it larger and purer with the future self’s mana.

Raymond replaced the mana ore again, making sure the engraving still had enough mana.

Waiting quietly, he watched as Ellen continuously utilized the mana for her core. Beads of sweat dropping down her beautiful face as she concentrated fully.

For five minutes. Then ten. Then twenty.

His expression darkened, eyes focused as he realized he had nearly run out of mana ores to siphon from.

He stood up, summoning his staff and quickly changing it into the wand form. He held it in his hand, his other hand on the engraving.

All the mana batteries had already run out, and that was his last mana ore. Leaving him no choice but to use his own mana to power the spell.

He clenched his fist tight, feeling his own time-attuned mana drain from him at an alarming pace.

Ellen still wasn’t finished?

In not even a minute.His own time-attuned mana soon ran out, he ran his senses over his own body. Forcing his time-attuned core to squeeze out as much as it could. Draining his entire body.

Without hesitation he switched to his dimension-attuned mana. Which drained at an even faster rate due to not being as efficient for this spell.

’Damn it Ellen how much longer?!’

His expression worsened as his own dimension-attuned mana also ran out. Utilizing the small reserves throughout his body. Before that quickly ran out as well.

The engraving flickered slightly as the mana powering it ran out briefly. Before quickly reactivating again.

Raymond felt his own body scream at him. His mana cores burning with an intense pain as he forced mana through it.

Normally, his body would passively absorb and convert any mana to be stored in the cores and throughout his body.

But right now, Raymond was forcefully absorbing any and all mana. Before converting it through his cores and discharging it back into the the engraving. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

His chest burned with an intense pain, such a process required time. Him forcefully speeding it up was like the equivalent of making your heart beat at four times the average speed!

He could feel his own veins and arteries which carried mana get damaged, unable to handle the high intensities. His muscles breaking down. Causing him to almost collapse if not for his outstretched arms.

If not for his physique as a perfect human he would have died or gotten seriously injured already.

Luckily, he didn’t need to keep it up for much longer. The silhouette around Ellen was growing fainter, the mana around her becoming more calm as she gradually stabilized her state.

His breathing grew ragged, blood pouring out of his mouth, nose and eyes. Dropping onto the ground in rivers, making it look as if he was crying tears of blood.

Pieces of his skin began tearing off, muscles breaking down as his flesh died.

He felt like screaming, his entire body felt as if it was burning in lava. He could barely think, but he had to hold on. Hold on for Ellen’s sake.

Finally, with a last ditch discharge of mana. The engraving dimmed, before going dark. The silhouette around Ellen disappearing.

Opening her eyes, faint traces of mana still lingetrd around her. Looking over her mana core, she felt unbelievably happy. Before quickly catching onto Raymond’s current condition.

She cried out to him, "Raymond!"

Rushing over to him, she caught his body before he could collapse fully onto the ground. Checking his pulse to make sure he was still alive.

Her voice shook slightly, holding his head. Her hands shaky as she laid him down in a pool of his own blood. Calling the academy employees for help.

"Hey—hey! Raymond don’t close your eyes!"

"You took so damn long..."

Her body felt sore right now from forming her core. But right now, she could barely even feel a thing. A sickening feeling as she realized he was the cause of his current condition.

"Ellen...come here..."

She was afraid to even touch him, afraid she might cause his injuries to worsen. Afraid that he might break if she did. His arm gripping her wrist as he pulled her closer to him.

"How’s...your core?"

His voice sounded raspy, choking out blood and bits of flesh as he asked her. Leading to another worried whisper from her.

"D-dont talk right now! Your injuries might worsen!"

His chest rose, but barely. Shallow, uneven, he struggled to even breathe as his own blood leaked out his nose and mouth.

Ignoring her, he stared into her eyes. Grinning slightly, giving him an ominous appearance with all the blood.

His light blue eyes were now covered in blood, making it hard for her to discern whether he was truly looking at her.

"Pretty...impressive hmm? I told you... I could do it."

"Y-yeah, it’s damn impressive so just stop talking now please. The healers are coming soon."

He quietly drew in another short breath, closing his eyes. She positioned his body so he wasn’t lying down perfectly flat, letting him breathe easier.

His own blood pooled around him in a small puddle as it leaked out of his body, staining his clothes, skin and hair a dark red. Her hands felt sticky and grimy as she held Raymond.

Another whisper from him, "I’m...tired Ellen...I want to sleep now..."

"Don’t sleep. Not yet please. Just wait for the healers first. Then you can rest okay?"

"I want ice cream after this..."

"You can have ice cream later. Just hang in there for now please!"

Her voice cracked slightly, caressing his head slightly as she continuously tried to keep him awake.

"Sorry Ellen..."

With those last two words, his body went limp. His eyes gently closed as he fell asleep in Ellen’s arms.

"Raymond? Raymond!"

She checked his pulse again, making sure he was still alive. Causing her to let out a sigh of relief.

Holding his sleeping body in her arms, she quietly hugged him. Feeling his warmth through the sticky blood that covered him. Tears coming out of her eyes as she did so.

"Don’t leave me here alone Raymond."