Chapter 57: Buff Master

Ethan left the Academy Marketplace and returned to his dormitory.

Once inside his room, he took the Mana Reservoir out of his inventory and placed it on the table.

It was a small metallic device with several faintly glowing lines running across its surface. A small meter on the side showed how much Mana it currently contained.

Ethan examined it for a moment before checking its information.

[Mana Reservoir]

[Description: A device capable of storing Mana separately from the user’s normal Mana Pool. Mana must be transferred into the reservoir manually.]

[Mana Capacity: 500]

"Too bad it can only store 500 Mana."

There were better Mana Reservoirs that could store thousands of Mana, and some could even absorb Mana on their own without needing the user to transfer it manually.

Unfortunately, those were far more expensive than what Ethan could afford right now.

He placed his hand on the Mana Reservoir.

A faint glow appeared on its surface.

Ethan focused and began transferring his Mana into the device.

His Mana slowly flowed out of his body and into the reservoir.

A few seconds later, his Mana was completely empty, while the reservoir was filled to its limit.

[Mana Pool: 0/500]

[Mana Reservoir: 500/500]

Ethan looked at the two values.

He then sat down and began recovering his Mana naturally.

After some time, his Mana returned to its maximum.

[Mana Pool: 500/500]

[Mana Reservoir: 500/500]

Ethan looked at the two values.

"With this, I can use Divine Flame."

He had obtained the skill from the Solar Elemental Legion, but its 1,000 Mana cost was higher than his personal Mana capacity.

Now, with the additional 500 Mana stored in the reservoir, he had enough.

Ethan glanced around his room.

"Not here."

Using Divine Flame inside the dormitory would be too risky. The skill could easily destroy something in the room.

Ethan stood up and left his room.

The Order Academy owned several dungeons, but they were spread across different areas of the Division. Each dungeon also had its own level and Order requirements.

Since Ethan was a Second Order professional, he headed toward one of the Second Order dungeons.

After several minutes, he arrived at the dungeon area.

A large stone building stood ahead, with several students gathered around the entrance.

Some were forming parties while others were calling out to students looking for teammates.

"Anyone looking for a Second Order party? We still need a healer!"

"Two spots left! We’re doing Hard Difficulty!"

"Looking for one more damage dealer!"

Ethan walked closer and saw several portals inside the dungeon entrance hall. Above each portal was a display showing its difficulty.

[Easy]

[Hard]

[Elite]

[Nightmare]

[Hell]

Ethan glanced at the portals.

The Easy, Hard, Elite, and Nightmare portals were all marked as being on cooldown.

Only the Hell portal was available.

Ethan looked at it.

"Perfect."

Before Ethan could take another step, a commotion broke out near the entrance.

A party of seven students entered the dungeon hall together. They were all wearing matching equipment, and their arrival immediately attracted attention.

Several students lowered their voices.

"Look, it’s the Silver Fang Squad."

"Are they here to try that quest again?"

"After failing five times, haven’t they learned their lesson?"

Another student shook his head.

"I don’t think they’re here for that."

"Why not?"

The student pointed toward the group.

"Look who’s with them."

Several people turned to look.

A young woman was walking among the seven members.

"Who is she?"

"She’s their new member."

"So they finally found someone who can help them?"

Another student looked at him like he had said something ridiculous.

"You fool. Don’t you recognize her?"

The student looked at the young woman again.

"Who is she?"

"That’s Serene Veyne. A C-rank Buff Master."

Buff Masters specialize in strengthening their teammates with temporary buffs.

"A C-rank?"

The student sounded confused.

"Then why is everyone making such a big deal about her?"

"Because she awakened a special talent."

The other student lowered his voice.

"Twin Essence."

"Twin Essence?"

"It allows anyone who receives her buff to stack two additional Essence Buffs of the same type. Normally, Essence Buffs can’t be stacked."

The student’s eyes widened.

"So that means the person can have three buffs of the same type?"

"Exactly."

Several students nearby began whispering.

"That’s crazy. Essence Buffs normally can’t be stacked at all."

"With her buff, you can have three of them?"

"Anyone who can do that would be extremely useful in a dungeon party."

"No wonder the Silver Fang Squad recruited her."

"They’ve failed that quest five times. With Serene joining them, they might actually have a chance this time."

The Silver Fang Squad stopped in front of the Nightmare portal.

Their leader, Darian, looked at the others with confidence.

"This time, we’re completing it."

One of the members nodded.

"We’ve prepared everything. There shouldn’t be any problems."

Darian smiled.

"There won’t be. We came here to become the first team to complete that quest."

He raised his wrist.

A small device was attached to it.

[Dungeon Reset Watch]

Darian tapped the watch.

A faint glow spread across its surface.

[Dungeon cooldown has been reset.]

The Nightmare portal lit up.

Darian stepped forward.

"Let’s go."

The seven members entered the Nightmare portal one after another.

Ethan watched the entire scene from a short distance away.

"Interesting."

He turned toward the Hell portal.

Nobody was paying attention to him. Once the Silver Fang Squad entered the Nightmare portal, the students went back to forming parties and looking for teammates.

He walked to the Hell portal and stepped inside.

The moment his body disappeared, the portal returned to its normal state.

A student nearby suddenly rubbed his eyes.

"Wait. Was it just me, or did I see someone enter the Hell portal?"

Another student looked at him.

"What? Who?"

"I don’t know. I only saw one person."

The student beside him shook his head.

"You must be seeing things. Who would dare to solo a Hell Difficulty dungeon?"

The student rubbed his eyes again before nodding.

"Yeah. You’re probably right. Nobody would do that."