cerim
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Chapter 711 - No ill will
🕑 Added 2025-10-09 08:55:26 +0000 UTC“Who is your Handler?” I ask Brich while waving at Victoria, who sees me and gestures that she will join us soon.
“No one well known, just one of the newer Handlers I got assigned to.”
“Didn’t try to change your Handler?”
Brich shakes his head wide. “I won’t. She was always nice to me and did her best. There were some more powerful ones showing interest later, even my guild tried to get me to change, but it isn’t happening. Do you think it is stupid for me to want to stay with her as Handler?”
“Why would you care what I think? Just do what you want. As for me, I honestly think it is a little bit cool.”
“You! I declare you my favorite A rank currently! And it isn’t only because of "black mana."” My voice slides in, filtering out the two words, and I start to wonder if this is the most genius thing I've ever done.
So far.
“So what is your plan with the sword?” I ask.
“Reverse engineering. We have some information on Ego items, but none of us has seen one with our own eyes. So the usual stuff! Eldrin, Isolde, and Silverweave want to examine it, while I will be carrying it and continuing to try to bond with it. It is surprisingly difficult, but possible for Ego weapons, even though Calvorn is quite powerful in the category. Plus, its devouring abilities are interesting in their own way.”
“Powerful enough to sacrifice a low pristine item for?” I ask, repeating what I heard from Weslin.
Brich nods excitedly and reaches out to his back to tap on the sealed sword. “Even multiple ones! I might even get them to offer you a low pristine item for a chance to study your "black mana" in detail. They’ll probably say no, pristine items are really hard to get, but I will try. If you were from a guild outside the top 10, they would probably ask me to kidnap you, but no one seems to want to mess with Primordial Knights currently!”
“Why the fuck does every guild in the top 5 seem to be fond of kidnapping? And why not? Because of Nyssa?”
“Especially her! But Morwag is also… unpredictable, and I talked to my guild and they think there is a high chance the Doc works on you as well. Stealing his test subjects, generally speaking, is not a good idea. You could even say it’s a really shitty idea.”
“They are scared of that Catboy?
"Very much so! Maybe even more than Morwag. You should be worried too. Eldrin and the others are attendees, but we all heard enough from our local guild members to be careful around anything connected to that guy. I heard that a hundred years ago, he tampered with the climate control in the headquarters of a top 20 guild, locked them all in, and basically fried them alive. Because they tried to steal his blueprints!”
Brich laughs at that and continues to blabber, “Then, about two hundred years ago, he was suspected of killing an S-rank with a rare metal that turned out to be toxic. They think Doc sold the stuff to the crafters’ guild through one of his contacts, and the guild used it to make an item for that S rank. The metal slowly corroded and released trace toxins into his bloodstream. The poor guy didn’t even make it to the end of his tutorial before it killed him. Apparently, all because that S-rank used to be with the Primordial Knights only so he could get an implant from Doc. Once he got it, he bailed without sharing any info about how the implant performed."
This time, I decide to stay quiet and not say out loud that to me it all seems somewhat reasonable.
That is when Victoria joins us, carrying a small plate of snacks she offers me. “You should eat some, Nathaniel, you must be hungry. Did you drink some water too?” she asks instead of greeting.
“Thanks!” I grab a few snacks and nod. “Of course I drank water, you know my head hurts when I don’t have enough liquids.”
“Good.” She nods seriously and turns to Brich. “Greetings. Allow me to extend the greeting to the Crimson Forge as well and tell you I bear no ill will against you for what happened during the event.”
Shaking her hand, Brich nods. “That’s good! There are some people who take these things too seriously and cannot let go of their ego. It is silly and it twists thinking, after all, not everything can go according to your wishes.”
Victoria nods in agreement. “Such emotions only ruin opportunities and murk logical thinking. I have heard you telling my brother about the Doctor. Knowing him, he was not aware of any of it.”
“Oh, he is one of those?” Brich flicks his eyes between me and my sister.
“Yes,” Victoria said with a nod. “Though he is perceptive in certain matters, he can be completely blind to others. For example, his current reputation and the way that thing above his head makes it even more exaggerated.”
“It is on purpose, Vic,” I defend myself.
“This is an answer I expected of you, but what I said still stands, Nathaniel.”
“And is your reputation something you are aware of?” Brich joins the conversation. When Victoria looks his way, he smiles at her and then looks at me. “An Absolute candidate, future S rank all but confirmed. Someone with a skill so similar to The Last Elf, who is hunted on sight, and with a mind powerful enough to handle that skill. How rare. Tell me, Miss Victoria, wasn’t it just a month or two ago that an elite squad from Silent Veil tried to kidnap you for a client, but ended up dead despite all their preparation?”
Not skipping a beat, Victoria continues to look at him. “And wasn’t it just two months ago that Crimson Forge hired one of the well-known mercenary groups to kidnap and deliver a certain attendee?”
“Maybe. Why don’t we change the subject? Want to see someone fun?” Even though he is smiling, I can see that gleam in his eyes. All of what he just asked was to test Victoria in a way similar to what he did with me.
“Did you come here to steal something valuable?” I ask him.
Brich shakes his head. “Not this time, but I agree that would be fun! If you look at that thylarin gentleman in black near the balcony, the one talking to a thylarin woman, well, you would be looking at the Ruler of Wrath in one of his Vessels currently in Beyond. I think he has at least two more, a human and a lynthari.”
Both me and Victoria look that way, and as Brich said, a thylarin with six arms wearing entirely black clothes stands there calmly, talking to a thylarin woman. There are likely some people who recognize him, but like Greed, he seems to keep his identity secret. Though I would say Greed hides it to a bigger extent than him, as I have not met anyone who knew it was her.
Looking at him with us, Brich keeps talking, “After I got back to my guild, I started digging for information on that Christoph guy and used the guild’s funds to do it. If I’m right, the Ruler of Wrath is his Handler.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” I say while Victoria continues to examine the Vessel of the Ruler in the distance and glances at Brich as if to see if he is not lying.
“And you are telling this to us because?” she asks.
Turning just a bit less cheery and more serious, Brich answers, “Take it as a show of goodwill and a warning. I don’t think either of you is dumb, but that man who started in Beyond is very dangerous, from what I have seen. More than usual S ranks. And with Wrath behind him, I don’t know, man, I would be very careful to cross him.”
“It does not matter,” Victoria says simply and looks at me.
I nod as an understanding flashes between us. “Not at all.”
Looking at us Brich just shrugs. “That’s the spirit! I will make sure to use my guild's finances to buy all the information I can get on your tutorial, because this will surely be amusing.”
“Just give me shards and I will tell you,” I say.
Brich blinks, flashing a grin. “Hell yeah, I will.”
As if remembering it again, the lumoran reaches out with his hand and taps the surface of the crown floating over my head. I let him do it and observe curiously, while no longer holding back the crown.
The S rank and Absolute Candidate, as every other S rank, tries to fight back and stop the crown from absorbing his mana while trying to observe the process. He does it in a way similar to how I did long ago, by using his own mana to observe it, but he cannot. Any mana used for observation gets absorbed and does not let any information escape.
His mana starts to get pulled as well. Even though the crown is not made from that much mana, and so the pull should not be that strong, it is made through a combination of my high-leveled and high-graded skills as well as my growing mastery over it.
So I watch it absorb his mana. At first slowly, but quickly hastening as his mana is added to the black crown, strengthening it and making the absorption faster, strengthening the crown even more. Brich is stubborn and has that curiosity I always admire in people, so obviously, he continues to push, releasing more of his mana and pulling on some mana batteries on his body. It is fun to watch, even without doing anything on my own.
When the crown strengthens to the point it starts pulling on the mana around us, I jerk my head slightly forward, feeling a gentle slap on the back of my head.
Victoria looks at me wordlessly, and I start to realize the attention we are getting. It is something she does not mind that much, but at this point, it starts to become a disruption to the party.
Disappointed, I expend more effort and put the crown under my control again, stopping it from reaching for the mana surrounding us or taking more from Brich.
That lumoran looks at me with eyes wide open. “I do not consider myself untalented when it comes to handling mana, but I have to praise your mastery over it.” Reaching into his shirt, he then takes out an emptied mana battery and hands it to me. “As a thank-you for letting me indulge in my curiosity!”
I take it without hesitation, quickly checking its price in the system store. It shows at twenty thousand shards for me to sell, making it a low arcane.
“Do you want it?” I offer the stone to Victoria. I already have the mana batteries I saved from the Armory before the Ruler of Diligence buried it, and they should be better than this. Well, not like I won’t offer them to Vic as well.
She takes it from me, too. “Thanks. While I have no need for it, I can give it to Gloria, who will surely find use for it.”
“By the way, Brich, Lyraen isn’t where he stood before,” I say to the lumoran.
That makes him turn around wildly, searching for the floating vyssari. Even though he surely doesn’t believe he would be attacked here, he seems nervous.
“Why do you have Calvorn with you here?” I ask, ignoring all that. “Wouldn’t it be safer in the guild?”
For a moment, the man straightens up and, surprisingly, winks. “It would be.”
After that, he waves us off and leaves toward other people.
“They likely use it either as an opportunity to display the prize, Natty, or to have him serve as bait.”
I nod. “There are at least three people constantly watching Brich, but instead of ill will, it seems like it is for his protection, or whatever they are planning after the party,” I say.
With disappointment, I watch Brich leave, envying his exciting and chaotic life.
***
Comments
Audrey WJ
The real name is black mana, what else could it be.
Katonwolf
Will we ever learn the real name of black mana? I mean, it is constantly being teased and I really wanna know
xlejdez.
I think Nat rejected that quest. After getting the notification, he said the choice (whether to accept/reject it) was obvious, and then mentioned that he’s on the right path but needs to push harder.
Krzychu0304
I have some reservations about this theory. How do you explain that Nat recognised Christof and then sealed his own memories of who Christof is? If he recognised him as his grandfather, then 1 Victoria should have recognised him too, and 2 sealing his memories would have made no sense.
Manther
I hope you mean info-dump
hackulater
I am low-key glad i waited before reading this info dump arc :)
Nemesis
A theory about Cristoph. Its not backed up by much in the way of evidence, mostly supposition and hapstance. Its more of an enthusiastic fever dream than a logical theory. Liss dropped Nat a hint before that the pairing can be triggered by an Absolute stepping on another world. Given that we've been given hints from the PoV of the other world, and they seemed surprised that they are pairing with an unawakened world, I think we can reasonably assume that they did not trigger this pairing. As an unawakened world, Earth should not have an Absolute to trigger the pairing. Which means this is either a natural pairing (which is according to hints we've been given - an entirely unprecedented situation where an unawakened world is being paired with a world on a massive win streak), or the Earth Absolute has triggered the event. My theory is that The Last Elf is conducting some kind of experiment that requires or revolves around accessing the first generation bonuses from the Tutorial, or to gain access to Beyond. He may have gone so far as to seed multiple unawakened worlds with copies of himself that are modified to appear largely native (e.g.: human in this case), and potentially with severely limited memory/knowledge). He then initiates various experiments on those worlds to try and get them to trigger a pairing. Now for the supplementals to the above, not directly related, but tied together. Firstly, what if Cristoph, as part of the experiment, or due to his limited memories, ended up having a family. My thought is that he could be Nat and Vic's grandfather, not sure from which parent, both sides have their factors. Given their vaguely similar aloof personalities to The Last Elf, perhaps from the mother? Secondly (and given Nat's love and compatibility with magic), perhaps this is actually a Magus experiment, not The Last Elf, or something they are working on together?
Liam Zay
I mean there are several rulers there including the oldest one. It's not just tutorial attendees
Marshall
All these fancy people at the party are interesting, but you got to remember they all are new to the system. The elite of the greater universe would be on a whole other level.
Kirin
Thsnk you for the chappie!
Hardworking Guy
I think he's using, or hoping to use his manifestation to turn the lie into truth? Idk, I'm looking forward for what's to come.
Jordan Jones
I am going to have to take notes. The self-deception from Nat’s POV is on another level. First it was a funny, obvious, joke. It’s now being treated gradually, chapter by chapter, reference by reference, as not a joke but FACT, which is just…what? Has anyone else seen this done before?
CT
The statement " envying his exciting and chaotic life" makes total sense since Nat is totally normal and the most normal person we know :)
Luis Guerrero
What do you mean he is still an asshole but a fun one
Ronnel
TFTC!!
Andrew
Thank you!
Matt Corcoran
Brich is saying Vic is an absolute candidate (she is and Lys named her one) and future s-rank.
TBONEMAN
I thought Doc was an attendee. If he was messing with the other guilds for centuries then is is definitely a native.
Semper Malus
Does morwag look like a bitch to you?
Nemesis
I think it's less about whether they honestly believe they can take him and more that it doesn't matter either way. It will not stop them from trying
William Johnson
Poor Nathaniel, sometimes being so normal can be tiring...
Semper Malus
See! You guys were way too quick to judge brich! He seems like a fun guy!
13L00D13ANE
Love the chapter, but some of the dialogue is confusing and im not sure who is talking. Is Brich the one saying all 3 paragraphs talking about kidnappings or did Vic shoot back that middle paragraph? How does nat know Brich is an absolute candidate, or is that a mistype? It read like Brich was referring to Vic when he says 'absolute candidate and future S rank', but very soon after when brich reaches for the black mana crown nat refers to him as S rank and absolute candidate. How does he know that? Was that a mind flub from talking about vic and having nats future quest on the brain?
granndfunk
I bet we eventually get Redacthaniel or another 'thaniel emotionally blackmail him with the info. "Do this or I'll tell you the real name of black mana"
Lance Beam
TFTC
Predyca
isnt it because its already a part of his excisting skill and he just "unlocked" the potential of it? As far as i remember Nat already said so himself some chapter before that
RJ Barnes
Thank you for the chapter! This feels like a build up towards a transformation so pretty HYPE
TYRELL GRAY
I was wondering why didn’t nat get a skill from turning thermal energy into mana. Like the system recognizes his achievements as an absolute candidate to do that, but not offer him a skill like. Thermal conversion, or exchange, mana, Cerim what are you planning
Arnon Parenti
This party demands entertainment! Bring Morwag and LysLys already. Everybody be cool this is a robbery! Any of you fucking pricks move and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of you!
Kelto
It would be poetic if her handler is Diligence
Arnon Parenti
We already know most of it, LysLys used it to seal Dawn at its Zenith and became the Absolute of Absolutes, with confirmation from both Ruby and Parallex guy.
Lizy Flore
For me this chapter is the confirmation that Victoria’s handler is indeed another ruler
Palao Toug
Elf mana!! Hahaha that's why the last elf clone controls it so easily!
Adrian Rake
Thank you for the chapter. It is interesting that Nat and his sister think that they will be able to handle the first Beyonder somehow. Are they not overconfident in this department?
jax rammus
Need thst black mana lore asap
RadiantSpren
Seriously. Just have a chapter from another POV or something if that is what it takes. We deserve to know after this long! Lol
RadiantSpren
Yeah the chaps have been short for a while now.... I can't tell if it is because i enjoy them so much that they go by quickly, or if they are really just a lot shorter... probably a combination of both.
seth dauer
Because he is the one filtering the words, and all of his inner selves are one and the same with him rather than separate, he actually heard the words and knows the name.
tishane Imperial MageKiller
I swear Brich is that Chad that comes in with a 🍺 make a big commotion and when the cops come stand next to the cops and say I can't believe it was that kind of party. Shit just works out for him.
Nerø
Too shoorttt😭
Gavriel
"Black Mana"! Damnit your annoying, Cerim JUST TELL US!
Kaku John
Thanks for the chapter
Rene Duvall
TFTC! Brich seems like a fun guy, hope we see more of him
frankie doerr
Hmmm not really a cliff but the next three days are going to suck
GFreem
Cant wait to see the requirements for the absolute canidate quest!
Oaktree
I somehow missed that doc wasn’t an attendee.
Ivan Jelenić
Yes!
vEnviouz
TFTC!!!
Shawn Treants
Tftc!
