Prestige Grinding : I Can Reset My Level

Sora looked down at Kara in his arms, his stomach twisting with worry. She didn't look alright at all. Her face, usually full of life, now seemed so tired, with wrinkles that hadn't been there before.

Her hair, once a rich auburn, had turned gray, as if she had aged decades in mere moments. Her eyes remained sharp, but they were different—old, worn.

'This can't be happening,' he thought, feeling his chest tighten.

"Kara…" he whispered, not knowing what else to say.

She managed a faint smile, barely lifting her hand to rest it against his. 'It's okay, Sora,' she said through telepathy, her voice soft but steady. 'Just… a side effect of using a skill that's way above my level. I overdid it a bit.'

'A bit? Your life force is…' He stopped himself, unable to finish the thought. Instead, he squeezed her hand gently. He could feel Kara's life force dwindling, weaker than he had ever sensed it before.

As her life force faded, Sora noticed the balance of their connection changing—he was now sending life force to her through their [Soul Link]. A faint smile crossed his lips. At least she could still draw strength from him.

Kara let out a soft, tired laugh. 'I know, I know. I used everything I had earlier. But stop being so dramatic and help me out, will you?'

She added, 'Take me closer to the Dark Elves I killed and the Dragonborn you defeated. Their life force should still be lingering—enough to help me recover some strength. I'm just too far away to absorb it right now.' Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on No(ᴠ)ᴇlFire.nᴇt

Sora nodded, quickly understanding her plan.

He lifted her and carried her to the spot where the Dark Elves had fallen. The area was empty. As soon as the effect of Kara's time manipulation skill had faded, the remaining Dark Elves had fled the area.

As they got close enough, Kara extended her hand, and a soft light emanated from it as she activated [Life Recycling], an effect of her supreme skill. The faint, nearly invisible remnants of life force lingering in the air began to gather, condensing slowly as Kara absorbed them, drawing the energy back into herself.

Sora watched as the changes started slowly, but soon became visible. Her skin, which had grown pale and wrinkled, began to regain its color and smoothness. Her hands grew steadier, and her breathing eased.

With every pulse of life-force, she appeared a little younger. The tired look in her eyes had disappeared, replaced by the familiar spark he knew well.

As the last remnants of Life Force, "recycled" from the battlefield, flowed into her, Kara's transformation seemed complete. She now looked significantly younger, her appearance settling around her late thirties. She took a deep breath, feeling her body almost fully restored, and gave Sora a grateful smile.

'Thank you,' she said, as her natural regeneration began to accelerate, drawing on her skills to generate more life-force.

Sora tilted his head, curious. 'If you can create life-force on your own, why did you not directly create life force earlier?'

Kara's smiled and replied, 'After my new skill exhausted my life force, I lost most of my ability to use mana and my class skills because my body was wrecked. I could use my supreme skill and life force because it doesn't require mana, but the skills I perfected based on my hidden class are what I need to transform mana into life force.'

Sora understood, 'So your supreme skill gives you the ability to control life force, but not create it. You still need to use mana to create life force... I always assumed you created life force out of thin air.'

Kara answered, 'I mostly rely on absorbing it from fallen enemies, but maybe I should focus on refining the skill I use to generate life force and push it to the next level. I feel that it is lacking at the moment.'

Paying close attention to her technique, Sora began to imitate the process Kara used to generate life force from her mana. He had never bothered with such a skill before, relying on his natural regeneration and Kara's boundless reserves. But after feeling the impact of his own hammer earlier—and being powerless when Kara needed him—he realized the importance of learning it to create his own reserves of life force.

The skill was one Kara had originally copied from her legendary class and had since perfected. Normally, it would have been incredibly challenging to learn, but Sora had observed his friend use this skill countless times.

Since his body stored only [Condensed] mana, Sora began absorbing raw mana from the surroundings, guiding it within himself. Kara's perfected skill allowed him to bypass the filtering phase, enabling him to refine mana immediately by mimicking her method.

The refining process was simple but slow. Using a limited quantity of mana, he directed it through his heart along a specific path, repeating the cycle over and over.

After a few minutes, he received a notification and read the new skill description: