Chapter 18
Minutes passed, the quiet rustle of pages blending with the soft wind, but a thought soon stirred him from his calm. "Hm, why am I wasting mana like this when I can do something useful with it?" Levi mused aloud, tapping a finger thoughtfully against the cover of his book. His eyes flicked down to the arcane symbols and theoretical diagrams on the page, inspiration sparking. He flipped through the book rapidly, scanning passages with a gleam of excitement in his eyes. There was potential here — potential for something far greater than idle mana expenditure. With his core half full and an idea forming, Levi's focus shifted. He needed materials.
—Scene Change—
The cavern echoed with the clash of steel and the crackle of magic. The air was thick with the scent of blood and dust, mingling in the flickering torchlight. Familiar silver-armored vampires lay strewn across the ground, their bodies broken and lifeless. At the heart of the carnage stood Levi, a smile playing across his lips as he danced through the chaos. A vampire lunged at him, sword slashing toward his throat — but Levi sidestepped with ease, his hand glowing with power. "Oh magic, let the wind strike " A spear of compressed air shot forward, piercing the vampire's chest and sending his body crashing into the cavern wall with a sickening crack.
Another soldier charged from behind, but Levi was already moving. "Oh magic, let roots rise" Vines erupted from the stone floor, ensnaring the vampire's legs and dragging him down. Levi didn't even turn as the roots tightened, crushing bone and ending the threat in moments. A trio of archers fired from a ledge above, their silver-tipped arrows whistling through the air. Levi's hand snapped up. "Oh magic, let water shield — " A swirling barrier of water materialized, deflecting the arrows with ease. He flicked his fingers, and the water lashed out in sharp tendrils, impaling the archers and silencing them in a heartbeat.
As the last of the soldiers fell, Levi sighed, brushing dust from his coat. "Gosh, this is annoying. Carmilla's soldiers are really persistent — they've been a pain for a while now." He scanned the cavern, noting the bodies and broken weapons with a weary glance. But then his eyes caught something — a faint glow in the rock face, nestled in the side of the mountain. Levi's breath caught. He approached, his steps quickening, and brushed his fingers over the crystal embedded in the stone. It shimmered under his touch, a pale and almost ethereal light radiating from its hexagonal structure. "Now this is what I was looking for… Lonsdaleite — Hexagonal Diamond. The hardest natural crystal."
Excitement sparked through him. The reason he had been searching for this was simple — he wanted to create a separate mana battery by infusing crystals with his power. Every other material he had tried had failed. Quartz shattered, rubies cracked, even diamonds couldn't withstand his mana's density. But this — this crystal might finally handle the strain. "Finally," Levi murmured, his eyes gleaming. "Hopefully it can take my mana. Then I can finally create a proper mana crystal and power up magical artifacts." His current project was taking shape, and with this crystal, it just might succeed.
-scene change-
On another hunter's lodge atop a mountain peak, Levi could be seen sitting on the straw bed made perfectly by his magic. He was currently meditating while holding the Lonsdaleite in his hand. He was sweating as he expelled mana from his simple cube core into the Lonsdaleite, which was much, much harder than it seemed to be. His mana was his own — it listened to him — but infusing it into other objects made the mana quite disgusted, as if Levi was disrespecting it by daring to remove it from its home and locking it up in some dirty place. But Levi needed to create a mana crystal for his plans; he needed to create permanent magic, he needed magical items.
But most importantly, he needed them for his tower. That's right — after seeing Dracula's castle and the inside of the place, Levi wanted his own fortress, littered with permanent magic and spells, and he was going to get it one way or another. So he continued flooding the Lonsdaleite with all of his mana, and much to his immense joy, the crystal didn't shatter from being flooded with mana. Instead, just a tiny bit of it was absorbed into the crystal and remained inside. "Hhhhhhh, it's done… it's finally done," he whispered happily, delighted that the Lonsdaleite could hold even a tiny amount of mana without cracking, unlike obsidian. "I really don't know why I thought obsidian would be a good idea… they're fragile," he groaned before quickly returning to his excitement.
So he refilled his core again and flooded the Lonsdaleite with mana, wasting most of it — but some of it was absorbed into the crystal, slowly creating a mana crystal. After days, not only was his simple cube more solid, as the repeated emptying and refilling tempered it — though it was much, much slower than casting spells with his core cracked — it still tempered his core, pushing him farther. But the mana crystal, which was originally dim and see-through, quickly started to glow, becoming blue with the more mana it was filled with until it became a completely blue, glowing crystal of pure mana. "My mana crystal… I finally created a mana crystal," he smiled as he rotated the thing with satisfaction.
"Hmm…" Suddenly, he frowned as he sat staring at his mana crystal. "It's filled with mana, which I wanted, but it's not completely made out of mana like naturally occurring mana crystals, which are solid mana… but it makes sense," he sighed as he clutched the crystal. "Maybe I can create a true mana crystal later on," he mused thoughtfully. With that in mind, he put away the crystal and sighed as he stood up. "Well… I wanted to stretch my legs," he said just as something broke — or rather, someone broke — through the rooftop of his lodge, kicking up dust everywhere.
The dust slowly settled, revealing three figures standing amidst the wreckage of Levi's lodge. The first was a shorter vampire woman with a delicate, almost ethereal appearance. Long, wavy red hair cascaded down her back, framing her gentle blue eyes — eyes that, despite their softness, burned with rage. She wore a fitted blue and white dress with gold accents, designed to highlight her graceful, diplomatic nature. Gloves adorned her hands, adding an air of refinement, but her furious glare shattered any illusion of kindness. Opposite her stood the tallest and most imposing of the three — a warrior carved from fury and strength. Her long black hair was tied in a high ponytail, her deep-set dark eyes cold and focused. A black breastplate covered a deep red tunic, gauntlets encased her powerful arms, and a flowing cape billowed behind her. In her hands rested an enormous greatsword, its edge gleaming menacingly. The third woman, standing slightly behind them, had rich brown skin and dark, wavy hair styled into an intricate updo. Sharp golden eyes gleamed with dangerous intellect. She wore an elegant yet practical dark robe embroidered with gold, her long cloak swirling as she extended her hands, magic already crackling at her fingertips.
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A/N hhhh, you thought you could escape the crafting curse, seriously, if i had a leveling system, my class would definitely some sort of crafter, anyways, mana stone, A mana stone is a crystal that has been infused with a mage's mana, acting as a separate reservoir of magical energy. Levi. The process involved repeatedly flooding the crystal with his mana over several days, causing it to absorb and store the energy, eventually glowing blue as it became filled with pure mana. mana stones have several uses such as a mana battery to power magical artifacts. Furthermore, mana crystals can be used to fuel magical enchantments.
PS: what would your class based on your real life habits?(i know there would definitely be some gooners)