Episode(100) A Dangerous Gamble
SOVEREIGN OF DEATH~(100)
Blergh*
The moment I broke past the cracked ceiling and landed, a wave of nausea struck.
I tried to keep it down, after all barfing was never a pretty sight.
But-
Blergh*
I couldn't help it. A mist of poisonous gas floated in the space, it was so thick that even if I tried to cover my mouth with my hands it would probably slip through my ears or eyes anyways.
Everything that was held down inside my stomach flew up and out as if they couldn't wait for freedom.
But even as everything continued to pour out the poisonous mist didn't abate in the slightest.
Ugh!
I felt like I was dying watching as nothing both gastric fluids were left spilling out of my mouth.
Le-Lets go back-
But, I should have taken something into account. The first hidden passage I located in this dungeon after smashing through the wall with the wolf had instantly restored itself after I passed through.
When I looked back, the huge opening I had made vanished as if it was never made.
Damn!
I should have considered that it wasn't that it wouldn't restore by itself, but it would either restore itself over time or once the 'challenger' entered it.
I felt like I was having a massive headache, no. More than likely it was just the nausea.
Bler-
Yup, just the nausea.
Sigh*
With no other choice, I picked up my weakened body and trudged forwards.
Normally my recovery skills should have long made me used to the poison, and I even thought that sooner or later the thick fog of poison wouldn't matter much.
Yet, the deeper he walked the thicker the poison became.
And as if that wasn't enough, the moment he had barely gotten used to one poison he detected another.
Seriously, what bastard came up with this concept?
Bler-
Maybe because it was a dungeon and not a true cave, it lacked any air flow to carry away the poison mist.
So even holding my breath was futile as it meant I would gasp and take in a huge amount of poison when I ceased holding my breath.
Uhk!
Covering my mouth, I used the wall as a support to walk but even suppressing the urge to vomit felt like delaying the inevitable.
I need to calm down, breathe slowly-
No good, doing that just made me breathe in more poison and the urge to barf intensified.
Perhaps it was too late, my balance was already unsteady and I felt hit with a wave of vertigo.
The world spun wildly, I couldn't even tell which was up or down at this point and was on my knees coughing out bile in a wild fit before I knew it.
I had no need to worry about dying thanks to my unique skill and title, but that just meant I would end up suffering here endlessly trapped in this mist.
The thought of vomiting constantly without end terrified me more, barfing was no comfortable feeling.
If I had a poison resistance skill then-
[Blaarrgh!]
No, if I had that I wouldn't even be in this damned dungeon to begin with.
All I could see was the floor covered in vomit.
Honestly, Nagisa would have rather he fallen unconscious but his recovery speed was too great it completely prevented him from passing out due to the poison.
[...huk....ugh]
Was this going to be his life from now on?
Trapped here barfing up what he didn't even have down? It seemed worse than dying.
If this continued then in a few months he would probably only be skin and bones, yet even then he would not die because of his unique skills.
The bastard that came up with this hidden area was too damned diligent!
Nagisa knew he couldn't be trapped here for too long.
Forget the fate of becoming a boney skeleton after a few years of constantly vomiting, Camilla was outside waiting for his return.
He didn't even know how much time had passed since he entered this area, but he couldn't waste any more time.
I have to get out of here quickly.
Instinctively, Nagisa thought back to his family.
Those that worked for the family in the dark were trained in poison resistance since young and the way to do it was nothing grand.
You ingest poison of every kind until your body learns and adapts to the toxins thereby breaking it down into harmless substances.
What if I supplement this process with mana?
It was just a fleeting thought.
However his mind began to work at a fast speed.
Yes, in this world all substances contained mana even if it was trace amounts. Poison was a substance and thus it contained mana.
So, what if instead of relying on my body I simulated the process of learning and adapting to poison with mana?
Normally, this process would take someone being capable of threading a strand of mana on the cellular level.
This level of mana sensitivity and control was unachievable by human beings or any other creature for that fact, however-
Got it!
<
<
Huff!
With poison resistance taking over, I sat down as the pale complexion in my face gradually became rosy again.
Thanks to 'Master' I had easily perfected the control and simulation process of poison resistance with mana and thus it became a skill.
Yet, Nagisa felt like he could do more.
It was an instinctive feeling.
What if, instead of just learning and adapting to the poisonous substances he converted it into magical power?
His mind moved and changes instantly began in his body.
<
From simply breaking down the substances into none lethal particles, to converting those particles into mana it was a smooth process as if he was completely used to doing this.
He pushed even further.
<
I felt the changes and smiled.
At this point, how easily he acquired traits felt like cheating even to him.
But, who in their right minds would say no to extra power?
I glanced at the description of the skill.
[Poison Assimilation(SSS)]: You are no longer affected by poisons, rather poison grants you and inverse effect.
Effects:
(1) Converts poison into magical power which can be used to recover lost energy.
(2) Poison provides a temporary physical enhancement when under the effects of poison.
(3) Nullifies the effects of all poison, rather it gives a temporary inverse effect of the poison for however long the poisonous substance remains in your body.
With no idea what laid ahead I was grateful, this skill would definitely come in handy.
Additionally, it was like a secondary charging port allowing him to instantly restore mana even if his mana recovery was too slow.
[More importantly]
His body felt incredibly lighter and was brimming with vitality. It was as if he had taken drugs before a race.
This temporary boost felt amazing, too bad it was only for a short time while the poison remained in my body.
!!
Suddenly a thought struck and Nagisa sat down, excitement lacing his brows.
I have no idea if this will work, but-
[Let's meditate....]
Back on earth, only those delusional cultivation novel addicts would disregard sanity and believe this could work.
There was no supernatural energy to absorb so what in the world would you do sitting cross legged all day?
Are you stupid?
But here it was different, there was mana.
It was just that, mana automatically stored in the soul and this mana would renew itself as long as the person was living and breathing not needing to absorb outside energy.
The only way I know how to increase mana is by leveling up so I have no idea whether this can work.
Fuu!
Yet, poison assimilation gave me an idea. Poison assimilation converted poison into energy, that energy could either provide a slight physical enhancement or supplement mana.
Yet, once the poison dissipated all effects were lost.
With all this poison to use, having to leave it all behind seemed like a waste.
So, why not store it away like actual mana?
But, the problem remained that outside forces could not be stored within the soul container.
And, if I couldn't store it in my soul then-
[All I have to do is create a container to store the poison]
Yes, all that needed to be done was create a core.
First thing first was to absorb the poison.
Closing my eyes, I inhaled drawing with it all the poison in the surroundings. Every breath I took sucked in large portions of poison.
The poison gathered were all lethal poisons that could shatter bones and rupture organs, but with belief in 'Reluctant' I didn't hesitate at all.
Luckily my bet paid off and even as the poison threatened to completely destroy me from the inside out my body was being restored with each moment.
Next was to form the core.
To do this, Nagisa obviously referenced the soul.
Since the soul was the birthplace of mana, creating a type of pseudo soul to store the collected poison seemed like the correct choice.
Of course, it would just be a soul without intelligence made solely as a power bank.
I was already used to the process of tampering with souls and creating pseudo souls inside my weapons.
This time however I would be creating a separate soul within my own body that already housed a soul.
So, how could this be done?
According to my mundane understanding, a person's existence is divided in to the body that housed the spirit, the spirit that housed the soul and the soul was the will and consciousness of a being.
At least, according to what I felt when I was in soul form and the several times I used art of death, this feeling shouldn't be incorrect.
Then-
I would have to create a separate spiritual vessel within myself to hold this pseudo soul, but would my body be capable of housing two different spirits?
Although the spirit was really in a separate plane, one could say it semi-existed in the body thus taking up some level of physical space.
Just that it could not be touched or harmed through physical means.
My current body was extremely powerful and durable, but the strength of my soul has also grown several times larger with the amount of mana I held.
My true spiritual vessel must be incredibly large, if I introduced another spirit into the mix, not to mention one that would also be just as large my body could face extinction.
Yet, the prospect was too exciting to let go.
Then, let's just believe in Reluctant that I wouldn't die!
Nagisa closed his eyes, he wouldn't hesitate.
He couldn't, if he did he would lose any determination to complete this process that he had grasped so just do it quickly.
This process wasn't new to Nagisa, when it came to using art of death the process was normally simplified to simply converting mana into vital energy then creating a spiritual consciousness and injecting a 'will' into it.
This consciousness would then form the soul.
However, he wasn't dealing with corpses nor a creation of his power so he could not use the vital energy provided by art of death.
Here, it was entirely new territory.
Yet, as he continued Nagisa was gradually finding his way.
First, he turned some of the poison he absorbed into magical energy and decided to simulate the feeling of vital matter. Naturally, this energy could not replace vital matter and was nowhere near close to it, however his imitation was indeed perfect.
Forming the spiritual container did not prove to be difficult in the slightest.
Having felt his own soul and that of his creations, recreating the feeling was almost too easy.
Yet-
Pfft!
The backlash cause me to spurt a mouthful of blood.
<
Feeling his mana drain slightly, Nagisa felt the ruptured organs inside him heal quickly and he was restored completely as if he wasn't even injured.
This was the power of reluctant, reversing any probability of death using magical power and a strong will to survive.
[Luckily I won the bet!]
But, he had no time to pay attention to this. He must quickly create the soul.
After creating the spirit to contain the soul, next he needed to create the consciousness within the spirit and inject a will.
The consciousness was relatively easy, all he had to do was duplicate his own sense of existence.
Since it was his own soul, this was the most accurate course.
Normally he would have just created an empty consciousness and injected a will, however if he did that it would be like sharing his body with a separate entity.
It was far safer to fuse his own sense of existence as this would automatically become a second soul of his.
For the will, the method I decided to use was to input the function of the trait 'Poison Assimilation' into the consciousness as a will.
Since a will was basically ones purpose or function wouldn't it be the same to input the trait as a will?