Pioneer of the Abyss - Book 2 - Chapter 21

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Don't mind this. It's so that free readers can't see half the chapter when the chapter eventually becomes patron only.

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Table of Contents

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Click the following link for the 1473 word chapter 21:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PYmSU7FXHUFVHQ-EZpAcbODi-el36jmIzlM8j6guwpg/edit?usp=sharing

Or you can read the unformatted version below:

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Aqua

I spend a while testing out my new trait. And what I find is rather convenient.

First off, when I’m at the core of a broken dungeon, my mana regeneration goes all the way up to about one mana every four seconds. But when I’m not in a broken dungeon at all, my mana regeneration becomes about one mana a minute.

As for when I eat food? I get about a hundredth of a point of mana regenerated per sandwich I eat.

But at the same time, I get a few points of mana regenerated per monster I eat.

So regular food barely recovers any mana at all, meanwhile monsters that are literally made of mana recover a few points.

Something I find rather interesting though is that when I try using Devourer of the Abyss, Maw of the Abyss, or just devour things with the tentacles, they all apparently seem to count for my trait. Giving me mana for everything I devour now.

Which is a very nice benefit.

Overall, I’m rather pleased with this new trait.

If it were just the mana regeneration, then it wouldn’t be that good. At least not at later levels.

After all, considering that I have a Bloodline, I’ll most likely get a mana increasing trait. One that’ll probably at the very least triple my total mana capacity, if not quintuple it.

Considering how powerful the Abyssal Kraken is, I actually wouldn’t be surprised if it increases it even more.

So if I spent an entire day inside of a broken dungeon and only inside the broken dungeon, not in the broken dungeon’s core that is, then I would regenerate almost nine thousand mana in a single day. Which may be a good amount now, when my mana is only at a thousand five hundred, it won’t be much later on.

After all, when I’m level five thousand for example, after I get a mage trait, I should have somewhere between two hundred and fifty thousand to five hundred thousand mana total.

And regenerating less than nine thousand over the course of twenty-four hours isn’t much when compared to that maximum amount.

That’s not even mentioning the later levels after that. Like level ten thousand or twenty thousand.

As for eating the monsters?

I don’t plan on going around eating monsters myself. But it will help a lot with using Maw of the Abyssal Kraken.

There’s no doubt about that.

After all, Maw of the Abyss can quickly devour hundreds of monsters with ease. And if all of those monsters give me one or two points of mana, then I might even be able to recover the mana I used to activate the skill in the first place.

It’s just too bad the skill has a cooldown.

If it didn’t then I could’ve tried spamming the skill to kill everything in my way.

Although, I don’t particularly mind devouring monsters using the tentacles. So there’s that.

And Devourer of the Abyss can restore mana now for me on top of healing me.

I faintly smile at that thought as I continue going around the ocean searching for different places with high mana to test the trait.

Or to be more specific, searching for dungeons. Not broken dungeons at that, but regular dungeons.

I can’t seem to find any dungeons though. Which is annoying.

Still. One of the things I care about most in regards to this new trait is the fact that I don’t have to deal with eating and expelling food and water in the middle of the ocean.

It makes things so much nicer now.

Not to mention a lot easier to travel through the seemingly endless ocean in search of things.

I shiver at some rather unpleasant memories I’ve had journeying through the waters.

Anyway, I continue searching until I finally find a gate leading to a dungeon in a cave at around seven thousand meters deep underwater. And then I begin testing my mana regeneration while around the dungeon’s entrance.

What I find proves that I regenerate around one mana every second right next to the dungeon. In the area in which the mana is so dense that the dungeon formed from it in the first place.

I also find that the mana level very slowly and gradually decreases just from my presence here. Which is also interesting.

The other places I’ve been and tested the mana didn’t really show a noticeable change like this. Probably because the mana level there is either not high enough to really change much from my presence, or the mana was just being replaced constantly from a source.

The mana in the ocean outside of broken dungeons for the former and the mana in broken dungeons for the latter.

I continue testing the mana around the gate for a little bit before finally entering the dungeon. At which point I begin hunting monsters in it while keeping an eye on the mana inside the dungeon. Not to mention the mana regeneration I have in here.

And what I eventually find is that I regenerate mana at about one mana per every five or so seconds while inside the dungeon.

But the amount increases the further into the dungeon I get.

All the way until it reaches about one mana every other second at the boss area of the dungeon.

Which is interesting.

I regenerate more mana outside of the dungeon than I do at its core.

As for the boss of the dungeon? Well, I don’t really pay them much mind.

They die with just a simple use of Maw of the Abyssal Kraken after all.

I barely even pay attention to the massive sea turtle despite the cracking and crunching sounds I hear from the maw chewing through the turtle’s shell. Merely focusing on my mana regen as I kill it.

Or rather, as I ‘eat’ it with Maw of the Abyssal Kraken.

Since I’m curious about how much a level 140 boss monster will give me from eating it in regards to mana.

So I just focus entirely on my mana stat in my status as the cracking and crunching sounds echo through this little turtle burrow or whatever a turtle’s home is supposed to be called. All the way until the thing finally dies and is fully eaten by the maw.

At which point I see my mana rising by an entire ten points.

Interesting.

I’m guessing this is because it’s a boss?

That’s the only thing that makes sense. Seeing as it gave me more mana than higher level monsters gave me from eating them.

Well, regardless, this should be the end of my experiments for the new trait. So I can focus on experimenting with my new skill now.

With that in mind, I head towards a nearby broken dungeon. Where I begin testing the new skill.

And right away I find the new skill to be very useful.

The skill floods the entire ‘room’ I’m in with pitch black ink. Completely blinding and poisoning everything in the ‘room’ except for me.

I can still see perfectly clearly in the ink somehow though. Almost like the ink is a ghost or something.

Which is odd, but I’m not complaining.

As for the poison? It seems to work just like the venom that my claw has.

All the monsters in the ink-filled area seem to be very slowly turning into abyssal servants.

I don’t bother touching the monsters and just silently watch them getting poisoned. All the way until they finally turn into abyssal servants.

But unlike my other abyssal servants, I realize these are different.

They can still use magic and other magic related skills.

And on top of that, I can tell they’re not made of mana. So they won’t fade away like my other servants.

Meaning I can let them follow me around or just order them wherever I want.

But more importantly, I learn that I can store them in the same place as the blueprints. Which lets me bring them out and put them back whenever I want.

I also try out my claw skill while I’m at it and it looks like it really is the exact same type of poison. It’s just that the concentration in the claws is far stronger than in the ink.

Which makes sense.

Lastly, I figure out that these special abyssal servants just turn into regular abyssal servants that I summon with mana and are made entirely of mana without being able to use magic when they die. Turning into nothing more than blue prints.

Just like the blueprints I get from extracting.

Overall, I’m rather satisfied with the new skill and trait.

And with that, I finally head back to the city where I’m currently staying.