Re: Evolution Online

Stepping into the room, Liam took a deep breath, his heart racing with anticipation. Immediately, he felt a surge of energy enveloping him as if the very air was charged with infinite mana.

His mana core thrummed energetically, and even without him meaning to, his core was naturally pulling in mana from the air, absorbing more onto itself. Every cell in his body ached for this energy.

With a smile, Liam closed the door behind him, shutting out the outside world. He silently sat down, only barely containing his excitement.

"I knew it. This place is definitely better than that old crook's mana rooms. With this, I should definitely be able to use the stone tablet again." He punched the palm of his hand.

However, he then paused and looked toward the door. The last time he had used the stone tablet, he had drained the tower master dry, because of which the old man had fixated on him.

He had even organized a whole event just to deal with him and to steal the stone tablet from him. Liam did not want the same thing to repeat all over again.

He was pretty sure that the fairies from the magic shop had an ironclad rule not to get involved with human beings or covet what treasures they might have. But rules like that probably worked only for the normal treasures.

When it came to the stone tablet… he would be surprised if these same fairies did not go above and beyond to rob him off of it.

Besides, the store manager Tilia had only now begun treating him better for some reason, and this magic shop was smack dab in the middle of the guild base.

He did not want to wreck the good thing he had going on over here. So this was definitely not a good place to take out the stone tablet. Don't shit where you eat.

However, this was not a problem. Liam chuckled. He knew exactly where he had to go. And as for the risk of revealing his stone tablet, he simply had no other choice.

What was a treasure good for if it is just not used at all? He had to take it out sometime and use it. Rather than fearing it might get stolen from him, he wanted to use it and become stronger.

As for enemies targeting him because of the stone tablet, they can get in line along with the others. Surely, they were not going to be any less dangerous than the people who were already behind his life.

This was the benefit when one was up against someone so powerful. They really had nothing to lose. The divine temple high priestess was coming for him, and he had nowhere to run or hide. So he was simply going to use everything in his possession to become as strong as he could.

After settling his thoughts, Liam calmed down and put aside the matter of the stone tablet for now. He had, after all, paid for this hour, so he decided he might as well do some training.

He closed his eyes and focussed on his newly acquired mana pathway techniques. These were not some groundbreaking or heaven-defying techniques. Rather these were very basic techniques.

They simply described how to absorb mana and circulate it within one's body, something which Liam had already done before. But now, with these new techniques, he was going to do it again. More specifically, he was going to open multiple pathways.

Back inside the tutorial game, the old elf had talked to him a little bit about this. However, he had only mentioned it as some ridicule and commented on how it was never going to be useful for him since he would never make it to Level 100.

Liam felt a tug at the thought of the old elf. He immediately pushed the thoughts away and focussed on the present. He hadn't forgotten about anyone, but he was also not in a position to think of the others just yet. For now, he had to be a selfish prick.

Liam closed his eyes and recollected the three techniques, going over all of them again.

Phoenix Wings, the first technique, a technique that mirrors the mana circulation pathway of the legendary rank creature. The other two techniques were also similar—the second being from the legendary rank creature Frost Serpent and the third from the Thunder Nightmare.

Liam would have never been able to afford these techniques if not for the discount in the magic shop. He doubted that these were the best available techniques out there in the myriad realms, but these were good enough to be listed in the A grade. This had to suffice for now.

In his current conditions, he had a feeling that he might need to rely more and more on his body and his mana core. So he decided to invest in these techniques to improve his foundation further.

Liam had a feeling that this was only one of the many things he needed to learn. He needed to get out of the mindset that the tutorial world was all-encompassing.

The outside world was vast, and there were probably infinite things that he wasn't aware of. So he needed to dig deeper and find out more. In the end, he only had himself to rely upon.

Even the draconian princess was not to be fully trusted. When she had advised him to increase the size of his mana core earlier, he had waited for her to talk about these mana circulation pathways, but the woman hadn't said anything at all. Not even a single word.

Either she did not know, or she purposefully wanted him to have flaws in his foundation. Liam doubted that it was the former reason. After all, unlike him, that woman clearly did not originate from a lower realm.

But he also did not hold her in contempt for this. If he had been in her position, he would have probably done the same.

Without dwelling much on these trivialities, Liam cleansed his mind of disturbing thoughts and started with the first technique.