NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 26: Burning Through Essence
Damien thought for a moment before coming up with a feasible solution to the problem he was currently facing.
He was out of essence and although he had life force to convert, Damien believed it wouldn't be enough.
"Status!" He requested and the panel appeared in the blink of an eye.
««««««••••••»»»»»»
Name: Damien Terrace
Race: Human
Level: 20
Exp: 650/1000
Talent: E-Rank Summoner
Life Force: 1995/4000
Magic Essence: 557/560(+2430 from life force and cores)
Strength: 45 Agility: 43
Stamina: 45 Endurance: 45
Intelligence: 40
••••••••••
Skill: SSS-Ranked Summons
Subskills:-
Pact of Summons
Essence Devourer
Sensory Link
Transformation (locked)
Merger (locked)...(locked)
••••••••••
Available summons: 1
Name: Luton
Race: Stellar Slime
Grade: 6
Endurance: 100 Intelligence: 5
••••••••••
Skills:- Universal Space, Devourer
««««««••••••»»»»»»
Damien looked at his panel one last time and frowned. He had spent 9,000 units of magic essence just to summon one of these beasts and without a doubt, he would need at least twice that amount to prove his superiority to either one of these beasts.
"Convert 1,800 units of my life force to magic essence." Damien ordered the system and immediately received a notification confirming the exchange.
«1,800 Life Force converted to Magic Essence»
«+18,000 Magic Essence»
His life force had dropped dangerously low but Damien held on. He needed to risk that much for what he was about to do after all.
Filling the magic essence in his body spike by the second, Damien adopted a wild grin as he turned to the two mythical beasts before him. Luton had since vanished to satisfy its insatiable hunger and since Damien didn't need it at the moment, he let it go.
If needed, he could simply cancel the summon and then summon it again. Again, only if need be.
Damien's Magic Essence rose drastically and he had to make a choice soon. His plan was looking plausible and so he chose to follow through it.
"Form a Pact of summon with the Monstrous Wolf." He commanded and immediately, he could feel a large amount of mana leave his core in a split second.
«-3,000 units!»
A panel displaying the units of essence he'd lost from that split second appeared, marking the start of the Pact of Summons.
«Pact of Summons processing…»
The magic essence drained from his essence core pooled into a translucent blue ball, levitating midair like the portals from which the beasts were summoned.
The ball began to change shape and soon, it took the shape of a four leaf clover made entirely out of the mana from his core, appeared before him. This was a summoner's seal and for as long as the summoner lived and this seal remained on the summoned beast, they would forever be bound by it.
The seals came in different shapes and varied depending on the summoner but Damien's system chose the four leaf Clover shape for him. The Summoner's seal began to move toward the Monstrous Wolf.
The giant wolf noticed the approaching mana form, sensing it would become bound to the caster the moment it touched it.
"Please, just allow the pact form without a fight."
Damien had not even finished speaking when he noticed the change in the wolf's aura. It was rising.
Boom!!
There was an explosion as the wolf let out its aura without a care for anything. The sheer pressure crashing down on everything around a fifteen metres radius.
The trees, the earth, even the other summon, all quivered at the wolf's aura. Only Damien remained standing upright and this was because of the amount of mana he currently possessed.
"Damn it!" Damien muttered as he reinforced the seal with an influx of magic essence.
His aura spiked as well, both beings contesting for who would come out stronger.
Seeing as he was on equal footing with the beast, he raised his output again.
«-50 units!»
«-50 units!»
«-50 units!»
Despite burning up fifty units of magic essence per second, the seal still couldn't reach the wolf. Its aura continued to slow down the seal. The closer it got to the wolf, the slower it became until it finally arrived within a meter radius around the wolf. It's movement completely stopped which only caused Damien's frown to worsen.
"You're one stubborn large creature, aren't you?" Damien asked, increasing his output once again.
Boom!
The ground split under the pressure he currently exuded as he locked gaze with the wolf. The creature simply refused to back down and to Damien's surprise, its aura rose another level as the wolf burner through its magic essence reserves just so it could reject the seal.
"So much for being cautious." Damien grinned menacingly, finally tossing aside his cautiousness. The pact of Summons for this wolf has stated that the wolf would only bow to a stronger force and not one that kept dragging power levels with it.
Since the wolf wanted someone stronger, Damien would momentarily surpass the wolf by burning even more of his essence.
"You asked for it. Don't chicken out too quickly." Damien's aura rose to a terrifying degree, his pressure pulling down the branches of the trees around. Even some smaller trees fell from the pressure. The ground caved in and the cracks underneath him spread, turning into a web of cracks.
«-200 units!»
«-200 units!»
«-200 units!»
The Three-Headed Hound was already beginning to tremble under the pressure but it still didn't submit to Damien. He hadn't sent a seal its way after all. His plan was to deal with the stronger beast first. The other one, Cerberus, would have to wait.
The Monstrous Wolf, despite its trembling body, refused to succumb to the pressure which only led to Damien increasing his output again.
«Current maximum output reach! Cannot go beyond 300 units per second!»
«-300 units!»
«-300 units!»
«-300 units!»
Trees splintered and the earth sank once again, a three metre wide crater forming around Damien. Cerberus had gone unconscious, its large form sprawled on the ground.
However, the only thing that mattered to Damien was obtaining the Monstrous Wolf. Burning through Essence barely served as a means.