Chapter 202: Enough Mana for Another Mutation

After diving into the pool, Triss began sinking rapidly toward the bottom.

She made no effort to swim. Her body sank straight down, as heavy as a rock.

A thin barrier surrounded her, preventing the boiling water from touching her. It couldn’t even wet her clothes, let alone burn her.

She continued sinking for quite some time. Normally, she would have fallen asleep to pass the time during such a long journey, but her eyes remained open, her expression serious and thoughtful.

The image of the river of time she had seen still occupied her mind, enough to keep her from sleeping.

Eventually, while she was lost in thought, her body emerged from the bottom of the pool into an open space, and she suddenly found herself beneath a vast crimson sky.

She began falling rapidly from the sky, only for her body to slow down at the last moment, almost losing its weight. Her feet then landed gently on the ashen ground.

Her mind was still occupied with the same thought, but she quickly pushed it aside and looked around to figure out where she had landed.

It had been so long since her last visit that she could barely remember where the Stoneman Village was located.

The air was dry and hot, with the Devouring Desolation’s aura draining all moisture from the surroundings. However, the debuff had little effect on her, as she could stand there without any difficulty.

Her eyes scanned the surroundings until she spotted 3 mountains rising into the sky, clustered together in a triangular formation.

’I think that was the place?’

She could have used a detection spell to check from that distance, but she decided against it. She didn’t want to attract any attention.

Some Desolations were particularly sensitive to mana, and using too much of it could draw their attention. That was trouble she had no desire to deal with.

Instead, she quickly cast a spell to make her journey faster.

She took a step forward, and by the time her foot touched the ground again, she was already several meters ahead.

She wasn’t walking at an incredible speed or teleporting. It was another spell of her own invention, Time Skip.

The spell allowed her to skip the time she would normally spend walking. Rather than experiencing every moment of the journey, she moved directly to a later point in time, skipping everything in between.

In just a few minutes, she reached the Stoneman Village, a journey that would normally have taken days at her walking speed.

She looked at the humanoid figures wandering around, their bodies made entirely of stone, and even the shortest among them standing 2 meters tall.

That was enough to confirm she had reached the right place.

She didn’t even need to remember what Stonemans looked like. There was only 1 race in the Underworld with bodies made of stone.

The Stonemans noticed her as well, but they barely paused. They simply tapped their fists against their chests in greeting before continuing on their way.

Their greetings were quieter and less enthusiastic than when they welcomed Arthas, but they were still quite friendly.

Triss didn’t return their primitive greetings. She simply continued walking into the village, looking around and trying to remember the place.

As she wandered through the village at a leisurely pace, almost like a tourist sightseeing, a man suddenly landed in front of her from above.

"Lady Triss." Arthas bowed his head respectfully.

He had been sitting on the mountaintop, watching the village from above. The moment he spotted the Grand Witch, he jumped down to greet her.

"Arthas?" Triss raised an eyebrow, looking the man with long black hair, sharp features, and dark knight armor up and down.

Arthas kept his head lowered, avoiding direct eye contact as he answered. "Yes, my lady."

Triss nodded with a slight smile.

"You look quite different. Did you grow your hair out? How long has it been since I last saw you? 100 years? 200 years?"

"It’s actually been 9 years, my lady. And no, my hair has always been long."

He answered casually, already accustomed to having the same conversation every time they met.

"Oh?"

She looked quite surprised before turning her attention back to the surroundings. "So, where is he?"

"You mean the Stoneman Chief? He should be on his way down the mountain right now." Arthas pointed toward the mountain he had just jumped from.

He assumed Triss had come after receiving the report he had sent to the Tower about the Devouring Desolation’s seal. After all, it was the only matter important enough for a Grand Witch to leave the Tower and travel all the way here.

That was especially true for someone like Triss, who rarely left the Tower at all.

But Triss shook her head, still looking around.

"No. I mean him. Where is he?"

Arthas was confused for a moment, unable to understand whom she meant.

Then it occurred to him. "You mean the boy?"

Triss hesitated, her expression changing briefly before she finally nodded.

She still wasn’t sure exactly whom she was about to meet, but she was beginning to suspect that whoever he was, he could no longer be described as a mere boy.

Arthas, who still had no idea what was going on, found her behavior strange, but he answered anyway.

"He’s sitting a little farther ahead, eating something. Would you like me to bring him here?"

He paused for a moment before adding, "He doesn’t know I’m here yet. The Stoneman Chief wants him to stay for 1 more day, so I haven’t shown myself."

"That’s fine. Just show me the way."

Triss had no intention of revealing herself just yet. She only wanted to observe him from a distance and see what kind of entity he really was.

---

[New substance detected... Red Sweet Mandarin Orange...]

[Energy particles detected...]

[Converting nutrients into mana...]

Magna swallowed the fruit, enjoying the sweet, juicy flavor spreading through his mouth and down his throat.

The taste was so unfamiliar, yet so delicious that he never would have expected a place like this to produce something so good.

Not only was it delicious, but it was also incredibly filling.

He looked inside the sack at the remaining fruits and vegetables.

’I’ve only eaten, what, a quarter of it?’ He was genuinely surprised by how full he already felt.

His appetite had grown so much recently that no matter how much he ate, he never felt full. He had even started wondering whether a black hole had somehow formed inside his stomach, swallowing everything he consumed.

But now, for the first time in a long while, he actually felt full after eating an amount of food that would barely fill a single plate.

And that wasn’t the only benefit the food had provided.

He opened his status panel and checked his mana reserve.

Mana: 100.3%

He finally had enough mana to try the spell he had been so curious about.

But even better, there was still enough food left in the sack that he could now afford to undergo another mutation, as he certainly wasn’t someone who would ever turn down even the smallest power-up.