Chapter 197: An Unexpected Gift

Magna finally reached the end of the drawings.

He slowly stood up and stretched his body, his joints cracking after sitting in the same position for far too long.

He would have continued reading if he could. There were still 2 more Matriarchs, Time and Order, left.

Magna wanted to see what kind of problems they would create and, more importantly, how the final world would eventually come together after all these mistakes.

But unfortunately, he had to find another time to learn about them, as there were no more drawings related to the continuation of the story.

Magna checked his mana reserve and saw it had reached 1.6%.

He was only a little short of having enough mana to use Glacial Calamity.

With nothing else left to do to keep himself occupied, his hunger became even harder to ignore. His stomach had started to growl and hurt by now.

Trying to distract himself, he remembered something he had discovered earlier.

"Hmm... How did that sound go again?" He tried to remember the strange sound the Stoneman chief had made while polishing the spear.

The sound of stone rubbing against stone was quite interesting and strange. It wasn’t just an ordinary movement of the hand. It sounded more like he had deliberately tried to create a tune or some kind of music.

"Khhhh... Ssssh... Gshhh."

He looked rather ridiculous as he tried to imitate the sounds with his mouth.

Fortunately, he was alone. There was no one around to see him embarrass himself, so he kept trying to move his mana inside his channels through the sounds.

As he tried, he really saw the mana start to form some kind of pattern, moving inside his channels.

’It’s more complicated than Glacial Calamity... What is this exactly?’

As the mana pattern took shape, like a painting forming on a canvas, he became more and more certain that it was really a spell.

However, when he reached halfway through the full drawing, he realized his current mana, which was at 1.6%, wasn’t enough to complete the pattern.

He started calculating in his head and roughly estimated that he needed at least 3% or 4% mana to draw the full pattern.

It meant that if he decided not to use Glacial Calamity, he would still need to wait another 2 days for his mana to regenerate to 4%.

But did he have that much time?

In just half a day, his mana would reach 2%, so he could cast the Glacial Calamity spell on the rock and try to break it.

Or he could wait another 2 days to try the new spell, purely out of curiosity, as he really wanted to know what kind of spell would come out of it.

His curiosity and logic suddenly began to clash, putting him in a very difficult position.

In the end, unable to make a decision, he stood up and decided to go outside for a walk and get some fresh air.

There wasn’t much fresh air to be had, but it was still better than the scorching, stuffy air inside the cave.

Before going out, he cast another water spell first, which didn’t even consume 0.1% of his mana, to drink as he started to feel his throat and body drying out again.

Then he started walking back the way he had come.

When he passed the enormous monster the Stonemans called their Mother, she was still actively feeding, never stopping as she continued eating the pieces of rock thrown into her mouth.

The Stonemans, who were constantly working, lightly struck their chests to greet him when they saw him.

Magna had already learned that this was a kind of greeting among them, so he greeted them the same way and continued on his way.

When he left the cave, the first thing he did was look at the sky.

The sky was still the same crimson, with no changes, and the dry, suffocating heat remained, with not even a breeze blowing.

’At least it’s better than inside.’

He took a deep breath, replacing the hot air in his lungs with the less hot air outside, then kept walking.

He came in front of Rhadak’s house and saw that its entrance was blocked by a large rock.

While wondering whether he should knock first, unsure of what was considered proper etiquette in this tribe, he turned his head after hearing approaching footsteps behind him.

When he turned to look, he saw the crackhead walking toward him.

There was also something in his hand, a large sack that seemed to be filled with something.

"Hey." Magna greeted him, raising a fist and lightly striking his chest.

He still felt guilty whenever he looked at his head, as the crack looked even deeper now.

The crackhead, however, didn’t seem to feel any pain or discomfort. He simply walked in front of him and returned the greeting by striking his own chest.

He then started saying something while holding out the sack. "Gar-kuh Trah kun."

Though the words were meaningless as always, his body language made it clear that the sack was for him.

Magna took the sack, which felt quite heavy. "Thank you."

When he opened it and looked inside, he saw many colorful things.

"Are they foods?" He immediately realized they were some kind of fruits and vegetables from their colors and shapes, as well as their delicious, mouth-watering smell.

He never thought this world would have something like these, as they didn’t fit the red, black, and gray theme at all.

Even more incredible, and what excited him, was the golden glow shining brilliantly from each of them.

They were not ordinary foods but mana-rich ones that glowed brightly.

"Gar-Gar." The crackhead made some kind of pleased sound, seemingly happy with Magna’s reaction, as he pointed toward the Stoneman Chief’s house.

Magna understood that Rhadak was the one who had sent him these foods.

The man was probably aware that the worms were not something a human child could eat, so he had arranged this food for him.

Magna was so hungry that even his dry mouth had started watering, but before eating, he raised his head. "Is he inside?"

He wanted to thank him, as he was quite sure these foods wouldn’t be cheap or easy to find in this world.

Apart from that, even in the Witch World, these had to be extraordinarily expensive, as not even the ones Celeste occasionally gave her possessed such a bright golden light.

In response, the crackhead pointed toward the mountain behind him. ’’Kuh ah gahum.’’

Magna raised his head and looked at the mountain, understanding that the Stoneman Chief was probably there.

Seeing that the mountain was quite steep and high, and not wanting to climb all that way just to thank him, he decided to wait for him to return.

He reached into the sack and pulled out a long, sweet-smelling thing resembling a carrot, which he took to be some kind of fruit rather than a vegetable.

He decided to eat while waiting, taking a big bite and letting its unbelievably juicy texture and flavor spread through his mouth.

[New substance detected... Juicy Underworld Carrot...]

[Energy particles detected...]

[Converting nutrients into mana...]