World Awakening: The Legendary Player-Chapter 107: Mana Connection

The Guardian turned its single red eye to Serian, its hand already twisting into another wooden spear.

’It’s targeting me,’ she thought, ’and my magic doesn’t work in this cursed place.’

She dodged to the right as the spear shot past her, shattering against the crater wall with a loud crack.

"Nox, your plan better be a good one!"

He was already moving, his mind racing faster than his feet. ’Weakness: its eye, and pure, uncorrupted mana. I don’t have that, but she does.’ He looked at Serian, then back at the Guardian.

’Her magic doesn’t work in here, but it would work out there.’ The plan clicked into place, it was simple and probably suicidal.

"Get out of the crater!" he yelled, "Get to the edge and get ready to hit it with your strongest spell! I’ll bring it to you!"

"You will be killed!"

"Just be ready!"

Without waiting for a reply, he turned his full attention to the Guardian. "Hey, you overgrown twig! Forgot about me?"

The Guardian’s red eye swiveled back to him, its expressionless face somehow radiating pure annoyance.

He activated Primal Void, the dark smoke pouring from him as he crouched low. ’Time to be the most annoying pest in this forest.’

He Void Stepped, not to attack, but to appear directly in front of the Guardian’s face, just out of arm’s reach. He gave it a rude gesture, then immediately Void Stepped again, reappearing on its other side.

The Guardian swung its massive arm, but only hit empty air.

Serian used the distraction to scramble up the slope of the crater, her heart pounding.

’He is trusting me. I cannot fail him.’

"You’re slow, for a big tree," he taunted.

The Guardian let out a silent roar of fury, its eye burning with a new intensity. It stopped forming spears and instead slammed both of its hands into the ground.

The entire crater floor erupted.

Dozens of sharpened roots, thicker and faster than before, burst from the ash, turning the ground into a forest of deadly spikes.

’Shit, that’s a lot of roots.’ He was forced to use Void Step again and again, burning through his mana at an alarming rate just to stay alive. The roots chased him, their sharp tips missing him by inches.

He dodged another root, his mana bar flashing a dangerous red in his mind.

’This is bullshit, I can’t keep this up.’

His Void Steps were getting shorter and slower as his mana drained, and the Guardian wasn’t letting up at all.

"Nox, this is not working!"

’She’s right, I need something else.’ He thought about his skills, but none of them seemed right for this situation. ’Primal Void is too slow, and Void Forging a normal spear won’t get through its defense.’

He needed a better weapon, something that could actually hurt this thing.

Then he remembered his inventory and the insane gacha haul. ’Wait a minute, the World Tree branch.’ The system had called it a Mythic crafting material, something that could be used to craft an item of immense power.

’What if I use Void Forging on that?’ It was a crazy idea, trying to shape a Mythic item with a skill he barely understood, but it was the only plan he had left. He knew it would take a lot of focus and mana he didn’t have.

He looked over at Serian, who was at the edge of the crater, and an even crazier idea formed.

"Serian!" he yelled, dodging another root that tore a gash in his pants. "I need you to give me some of your mana!"

"What? How? I cannot do that!"

"Just focus on me! Try to push it towards me!" he screamed, his voice strained. He didn’t know if it would work, but he remembered how he’d healed her, how he had felt a connection. Maybe it could go both ways.

She saw the desperation on his face, so she closed her eyes and did as he asked. She pictured the pure, clean energy inside her, the power of Lifewoods, and imagined sending it across the crater to him.

A faint, golden thread of light, almost invisible, shot from her chest and connected to his back.

He felt it instantly, a wave of clean, warm energy that was completely different from his own corrupted power. It felt like a cool drink of water on a scorching day. His nearly empty mana bar started to refill, not with his usual dark purple energy, but with a shimmering gold.

[WARNING: Foreign mana signature detected. Incompatible with Void-Touched Core. Attempting to purge...]

’No! Don’t you dare!’ he mentally screamed at the System. He forced his will on the new energy, not to corrupt it, but to hold it, to keep it separate from his own.

His Void-Touched Core fought against the intrusion, a cold pressure building in his chest, but his Will of the Abyss skill held firm, creating a temporary dam inside him.

The Guardian seemed to sense the new, pure energy, and its eye fixed on him with a new intensity. The root attacks doubled, a frenzy of sharpened wood trying to overwhelm him.

"I can’t hold it for long, Nox!"

"You don’t have to!"

He pulled the Heartwood Branch from his inventory. It appeared in his hand, a simple, smooth piece of wood that hummed with an ancient power.

He activated Void Forging, but instead of feeding it his own corrupted mana, he channeled the pure, golden energy from Serian into the branch.

The branch exploded with a light so bright it was like a star had been born in his hand. The wood twisted and grew, golden vines wrapping around his arm, sharp thorns of light sprouting from the new growth. It wasn’t a spear or a sword. It was a living weapon, a gauntlet of pure, untainted nature magic.

He could feel the power of the World Tree, ancient and immense, flowing through him.

He looked at the Guardian. "Alright, you piece of shit," he growled, a wide, savage grin on his face. "Let’s see how you like a taste of your own medicine."

He didn’t use Void Step. He just ran, his feet sure on the ground as he weaved through the last of the root attacks.

The Guardian saw him coming and formed a massive shield of interlaced black wood in front of its eye.

He didn’t slow down. He pulled his golden-wreathed fist back and punched the shield with everything he had.

The impact wasn’t a boom, it was a chime, a clear, ringing note that seemed to shake the entire crater. The black, corrupted wood of the shield didn’t just break; it dissolved, turning to dust as the pure, golden energy of the World Tree washed over it.

The Guardian’s eye was completely exposed.

He drove his fist forward. The thorns of light on the gauntlet sank deep into the pulsing red orb.

The Guardian let out a silent, psychic scream that vibrated in his bones. The red light of its eye flared violently, then died, replaced by a soft, golden glow that spread from his fist throughout the creature’s entire body.

The black, pulsating veins on its wooden form receded, replaced by healthy, green lines of life. The jagged crystal antlers softened, transforming back into smooth, brown branches. The creature’s form seemed to relax, the agony of its corruption fading away.

It looked at him, its now-golden eye filled not with hate, but with a deep gratitude.

Then, its entire body dissolved into a cloud of golden leaves and shimmering motes of light that floated up into the sky.

The clearing was quiet.

He stood there, breathing hard, the golden gauntlet on his arm crumbling into dust. The connection to Serian broke, and the last of her mana faded from his system, leaving him feeling tired but whole.

A single, large, pulsating seed of pure, golden light was left hovering where the Guardian’s eye had been.

[Corrupted Alpha Prime Defeated: Guardian of the Glade!]

[Bonus Objective Met: Creature Purified, Not Destroyed.]

[EXP Gained: 50,000]

[Level Up! x2]

[You are now Level 28!]

[All stats increased by 2!]

[You have 10 unallocated stat points!]

[Total Unallocated Stat Points: 15]

[Your skill ’Void Gaze’ has been upgraded from analyzing a Prime-level entity!]

[New Description: (Lvl 3) Your perception pierces the veil of reality. You can now perceive an entity’s core weaknesses and potential emotional state with greater clarity.] freewebnøvel_com

[Item Acquired: Heartseed of the Forest (Mythic)]

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