Chapter 256 Mana Core Purity
Meanwhile,
"Slash…Plop…" Heads dropped as Ray slashed the Void Spear. His eyes were filled with mana as he continuously fired bolts of lightning at the incoming trolls.
It had been a whole day since he departed along with his team. He had taken up the responsibility of clearing up the eastern side of the academy.
This ultimately led to the portal room and this was his objective. He didn't trust anyone enough so he decided to do so himself.
Along with him were right students. Amongst those eight, half were in the upper tiers of the Mortal Realm while the rest were at intermediate tier at best.
Though, it didn't matter much to Ray anyways. He was strong enough and was confident in dealing with even the worst situation that could be presented in front of him.
However, there was another reason for choosing these specific teammates. The thing was that they were those who had the rarest systems and abilities.
Amongst those eight, two were formation experts and had systems specifically oriented towards formation and were unlike Noah, who used his spirit energy to make pseudo-formations.
Not only those but some were capable of casting very realistic illusions and there was even a poison expert who had the ability to not only make any type of poison but also it's antidote.
Therefore, Ray intended to keep them on his side and let them grow under his influence. This way, they will support him in the future. For him, it was a sort of investment that would be very beneficial to him in the long run.
"Jason, please bring that troll here," Ray directed.
The man named Jason nodded. He was the poison ability user that Ray had picked and was very obedient. Not only that but he also trusted Ray very much.
As Jason picked up the troll and put it in front of Ray, everyone looked curiously at what Ray intended to do.
Ray crouched down and willed the Void Spear to morph into a dagger. The Void Shards vibrated and arranged themselves into a dagger.
He lifted the dagger and, "Squelchhh.." The troll's flesh was pierced as Ray cut right through it.
He skinned the troll right here and took out a big slab of it's flesh. He sliced the flesh into thin pieces and put it aside.
As for the rest of the troll, Ray just picked it up and threw it far away. Then, he raised his hand and used his ability,
[Barrier Formation:- Protective Barrier],
He cast the barrier as a huge barrier was formed and covered the whole team within it. The others looked in shock as they never expected their team leader to have a barrier type ability as well.
"Hehe… don't be in shock. I know a lot of things and can do a lot as well. So just focus on yourself," Ray reminded them and then called Jason.
"Jason, do me a favor and check these pieces of flesh. See if they are harmful to the human body or not," Ray asked.
"Okay," Jason nodded and picked up the pieces of flesh. He put a piece in his mouth and started to chew it. He didn't even care if the piece of flesh was raw or not.
It was a part of Jason's ability. To form an antidote of any harmful or poisonous substance, he had to in jest if first and then let his body form the antidote.
As for the time taken to develop the antidote, it depended on how harmful or poisonous the substance was. If it was near the upper limit he could handle, then it would take anywhere from around two or three days.
Some common poisons and their antidotes could be formed within hours as well. In short, it was a complicated process and even Jason was helpless in this matter.
After all, he was just in the advanced tier and had only started to learn to use his abilities better.
Chewing down the piece of flesh, his expression turned bitter. Sweat formed over his forehead as his dirty green hair fell down on his face.
"Hey, is everything all right?" Ray asked in worry. He feared that the troll's meat was so dangerous that only by chewing it, Jason had crossed the threshold.
"I am fine. It's just so chewy and tough. Also, it's so bland," He complained while chewing on to the piece of meat and gulped down with slight difficulty.
"Here take some water," Ray pulled a bottle from his spatial storage and handed it to Jason.
As Jason gulped down the water, Ray observed his aura and condition. He wanted to get an idea of the effect the troll's meat on Jason's body.
A few minutes later, Ray finished observing him and asked,
"Is everything fine? What about the troll's meat? Is it safe to eat?"
"Yes, it is safe to eat. Instead, it is very nutritious as well. There seem to be something in that meat providing a small temporary boost. Though, if ingested a lot, the body will build a natural resistance towards it," Jason said.
"Hmmm… that's interesting," Ray said. Rubbing his chin, he contemplated and thought of an idea.
"Aurora, what do you think? Will it work?" he asked Aurora. After all, he needed to know about it from someone else's point of view as well.
"I would say that you go for it. It would help you all very much. Even if the meat isn't too savory and a bit hard to chew, it doesn't matter. At least there won't be the worry about people starting due to lack of food," Aurora said. She paused for a few seconds and continued,
"Also, I say that you let the weaker ones eat this first. This way, they will be able to gain some benefits from it. From what I know, this type of meat is very beneficial in aiding the constitution of one's body," she suggested.
"Hmmm… let's try that," Ray nodded and then looked at the bodies lying a few meters away on the ground.
He looked at the others and spoke, "We will be taking a break here. I want you all to work together and skin those bodies. We will be taking them back to the base,"
After telling them, Ray looked ahead. In front of him was a whole corridor filled with darkness. There was still a long way to go before they reached the portal room and Ray believed that it would take them three days of non stop killing to reach there.
And even that estimate was based on the condition that everyone battling would be in the Magical Realm to say the least. After all, the troll's up ahead were numerous and no one knew what type of trolls were there exactly.
There could be some new species of trolls or even some new creature all together. No one knew what lay ahead.
Right now, Ray had decided to stay here and mark this as a checkpoint. He wanted to return back and see the condition over there as well.
Other than that, he also wanted to let everyone start consuming the troll flesh and let them strengthen their bodies too. After all, he wasn't some Saint and wouldn't look after them forever. Not for nothing at least.
He sat down on the ground and closed his eyes. He focused on his mana core and noticed that the refining process was going rather smoothly.
His mana core had upgraded by a grade and was a grade F mana core now. The grades went from F- Grade to SSS+ grade. Though, these were the refining grades and not the rarity grades.
After all Ray had a unique mana which and was every rare as well because his mana core could not only store mana but spirit energy and bloodline energy too.
What the refining grades referred to was the purity and capacity of mana core and the top grades were said to be only for those above the Celestial Realm and Aurora had told him that even the dean had a B grade mana core.
It was said that anyone with a mana core above the C grade was said to be someone influential and was to be respected in some way or the other.
As for those having A- grade and above. They were very rare and held the top positions in the whole universe. They were said to be big shots and ancestors of certain clans that no one wanted to be against.
Aurora had naturally told all this to Ray so not could his confidence be boosted but he would also gain more knowledge about the world outside Earth.
This way, Ray would strive to become stronger and when he would venture away from Earth someday, he wouldn't be a kid and would have enough knowledge to know how the universe ran.
Also, he would be having Aurora as well to guide him but knowing some extra information didn't hurt anyone.