Chapter 267: Just Add Mana!
Alex checked his Status and noticed that he hadn’t received any additional Life Element or Fire Element attunement. It seemed the increase he had received during his evolution was either something that would only increase after reaching certain levels or a one-time benefit.
There was no time to think about it now, so Alex quickly turned his attention toward the egg. The melted section of the shell had weakened the Origin Energy protecting the entire shell, allowing Alex to tear off several large pieces without much difficulty.
He stored all the pieces inside his inventory. The eggshell could hold a large amount of compressed Fire Element mana, which meant it could potentially be turned into a powerful explosive, so there was no reason for Alex to leave such useful material behind.
The monster itself was only partially formed and looked somewhat like a snake. Seeing the half-developed creature was enough to make the group uncomfortable, so nobody wasted time examining it before they left.
Sarah carried Frank on her back while the group moved through the tunnels, since he was still undergoing his evolution. After walking for a while, Sarah suddenly spoke in a surprisingly casual tone.
"Given how much I’m carrying other people, I might get a Porter Class at this rate," Sarah said.
Alex and Emma both looked at her in surprise. It wasn’t because the joke was particularly funny, but because Sarah of all people had actually made a joke.
"What?" Sarah asked after noticing both of them staring at her.
"Nothing. Let’s just keep moving," Alex replied.
The group continued through the tunnels without stopping. Alex remained alert while they moved, but he also used the opportunity to practice his Mana Shuriken Spell and Disruption Mana Blade Spell, since he needed to increase their levels before he could combine and evolve them.
After making sure they were safe for the moment, Alex finally used the two free stat points he had just obtained. His attention briefly shifted toward his Status as he made the adjustment.
[Mana: 74 → 76.]
Alex gritted his teeth as the additional mana rapidly appeared in his heart. The sensation was dangerous, yet addicting. Even with Mana Heart Reinforcement and Advanced Blood Vitalization, the increase was still difficult to handle because his stats had become one and a half times more effective after his species reached Mid Rank.
He took several deep breaths and slowly adjusted to the increase. He would need to keep training Advanced Blood Vitalization if he wanted to handle his growing stats without constantly struggling whenever his mana increased.
At the same time, Alex continued practicing Mana Shuriken and Disruption Mana Blade. He also noticed that Soul Reinforcement was sitting at Level 9, which was another spell close to evolution. He relied on it heavily, so evolving it and making it stronger was something worth looking forward to.
After making sure everyone was ready, the group finally left the cave. They looked around cautiously, and Alex noticed that the hill continued rising ahead of them, with several broken trees scattered around the slope.
He couldn’t tell whether the trees had been destroyed by monsters or damaged when the water level rose. Either way, the signs were enough to remind him that they shouldn’t stay in one place for too long.
"We should leave this hill. If the parent of that High Rank monster is still here, this place is too dangerous," Joseph said.
Alex pursed his lips after hearing that. Part of him wanted to stay because he needed to grow stronger, and since he had to eventually fight the monster responsible for destroying Washington, every opportunity to improve his strength was valuable.
However, he also couldn’t ignore reality. The unborn High Rank monster had nearly killed him only moments ago, and fighting its adult parent would probably leave him with almost no chance of surviving, let alone winning. That said, he would still fight it if he got a chance
The group therefore began descending the hill. Joseph still had the raft stored inside his Inventory, so they wouldn’t have to worry about finding another way across the flooded areas.
As they walked, Alex couldn’t help thinking about the Inventory. He had found it strange that the raft counted as a single item even though it was made from multiple pieces, and the more he thought about it, the more questions came to mind.
A water bottle and the water inside it could be stored separately and would count as separate items, but if he placed a filled water bottle into the Inventory, it would still count as only one item. Alex wondered what the actual criteria for determining an item were.
’If I tried putting an entire house into my Inventory, would it count as one item as well?’
He decided to test the Inventory limit using a few twigs he found along the way. After placing them into the Inventory one by one, Alex quickly confirmed that each slot could hold ten identical items.
Once the number exceeded ten, the mental burden became noticeably heavier, making it difficult to ignore. He had conducted the same experiment back on Earth, and at that time, the limit had been five items.
’It seems the limit increased after I evolved my Class.’
Alex found the connection interesting. Evolving his Class had also increased the cost of his Return skill, so there clearly had to be some fundamental change caused by the evolution that affected several unrelated abilities.
He still didn’t understand exactly what the Class was doing to his body and abilities, but he made a mental note to investigate it when he had more time. For now, there were more immediate dangers to worry about.
As the group continued down the hill, they encountered several monster statues. Most of them had already crumbled apart, but two remained completely intact, and Alex immediately noticed something interesting about their positions.
The two statues were facing uphill, as though they had been running toward the top when they were turned to stone. Yulia stared at them for a moment before speaking.
"Now that I think about it, this is strange," Yulia said.
"What do you mean?" Alex asked.
"The statues we found earlier were also moving from the bottom of the hill toward the top. However, the living monsters we’ve encountered were moving in the opposite direction, from the top toward the bottom," Yulia explained.
Alex thought about it for several seconds before answering. "Maybe the adult Basilisk came from the bottom of the hill, and the monsters were running upward when they were petrified. For some reason, the Basilisk then continued toward the top, which would explain why the monsters near the top are now coming back down."
"That would make sense." Yulia nodded after considering his explanation.
Emma suddenly spoke while looking toward the top of the hill. "Isn’t this still strange? The Basilisk clearly moved through the water during the Lightless Night and somehow found this hill, so it was probably following the egg. If it could locate the egg, why didn’t it enter the cave and instead continue toward the top?"
"Maybe something at the top of the hill caught its attention and became more important than finding the egg. Animals can behave like that as well. It could be prey that it wanted to hunt, or it could be an enemy that it needed to deal with immediately," Joseph said.
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