Chapter 50: Bestowed Power

Chapter 50: Bestowed Power Damian felt a surge of energy coursing through his entire body. The demon had kept her end of the deal. [+35 to all attributes] [Skills Acquired] [Water Mastery (Rank S): Your water-based spells are enhanced by 25%] [This skill is passive and can be improved] [Water Control (Rank S): You can control the water around you. The higher your intelligence, the greater the things you can achieve with this skill] [This skill can be improved] [Water Breathing (Rank S): You can breathe underwater] [Passive Skill] Along with the massive increase in attributes, Damian also gained several skills tied to the water element — the main attribute of that serpent. And this was only the beginning. The creature told him that more skills would be unlocked in the future. "You wouldn’t be able to withstand all the power I have to offer you at once, so we’ll have to go step by step," the serpent-woman said. "And what’s your name?" Damian asked. "I’d rather not say." Damian didn’t press the creature any further — after all, he had no idea what the serpent was truly capable of. He preferred to stay on good terms and secure his own survival. "And what’s this about you being like me? You could absorb demons too?" Damian asked. The two were speaking mentally. "Yes, I could," the woman said, "but I ended up absorbing this serpent, a legendary and extremely powerful demon... and I lost my sanity because of it. It took me at least three thousand years to return to normal." That revelation shook Damian. He still had no idea whether that woman had the same System as him or if she simply absorbed demons in another way, but the fact that she had lost her sanity for so long was disturbing. "And if I had absorbed a demon of that level? Would I suffer the same consequences?" Damian wondered. It was hard to know. In any case, after that conversation, the woman simply disappeared, no longer responding. The last thing she said was that she needed to recover and wouldn’t waste energy on him at that moment. Damian touched Lindy. She immediately returned to normal, and from the way she acted, it seemed like she hadn’t even realized anything had happened. "What a strange place. Do you think it’s worth investigating?" Lindy asked. She was referring to the giant pool of water. "I don’t know," Damian said, "but I can take a look." Now that Damian had acquired some aquatic abilities, he felt more confident about diving into that place. Of course, the fact that the serpent hadn’t mentioned anything dangerous down below also gave him confidence. Lindy was surprised to hear that he was willing to dive in and explore the place. In truth, she wanted to go in his place, insisting that she was the teacher and the one who should take the risk. Damian insisted until she finally allowed him to jump into the water. "But don’t go too deep or too far, and if you need anything, just shout," Lindy said. "Of course, don’t worry about me. Relax, Lindy—too much worrying will just make you age faster," Damian said jokingly as he dove into the water. Lindy kicked a little stone nearby and muttered under her breath, "I’m pretty enough for my age, you idiot." As soon as Damian plunged into the water, fully submerged, he activated his Demon Eye, granting him enhanced vision that allowed him to see exactly what was waiting down at the bottom. There were a few things down at the bottom of that watery pit—mana crystals. A lot of them.These were extremely valuable items, useful for many different purposes. The quantity was massive. It was clear that the reason those crystals had formed there was because of the serpent, whose overwhelming power had saturated the place and caused the crystals to grow. Damian returned to the surface to give Lindy the news. "Down there, there are... well, tons of mana crystals. With this, we could make a fortune. We just need to come back with the right tools to harvest them later," Damian said. They didn’t have the equipment with them, and even if they did, there was no way they could haul that many crystals out of the island on their own. It would take planning. "How many are we talking about?" Lindy asked. Damian climbed out of the water and said, "Go see for yourself. You’ll be impressed." Lindy did just that. But before diving in, she removed a few pieces of clothing, keeping only her undergarments. She didn’t tell Damian to look away, but he did anyway. Of course, he couldn’t resist sneaking a quick glance—but nothing more. When Lindy resurfaced, she was genuinely astonished. "I thought you were exaggerating, but you’re right. There are so many crystals down there. If we manage to harvest them all, we’ll walk away with a small fortune. This will definitely help with my research," Lindy said. Lindy already had money, but the research she was doing required a lot more. It was never enough. "We just need to find out where this island is on the map, and then we can come back here later," Lindy said. That was a solid plan. After seeing there was nothing else for them there, they both went back through the same tunnel they had used to get in. Lindy couldn’t ease her mind without exploring the rest of the ruins, so she decided to check the other tunnels they found. There was nothing in them. Still, finding that many mana crystals was huge. Lindy was happy with how things turned out. Damian was too—but not because of the crystals. It was his increase in power. Once outside again, Damian said, "We should work together to make a boat, then use your wind magic to move it. That should be enough to get us off the island." It was a good idea. Lindy liked it. But the problem was their supplies. "I think our supplies can last for a day, so we should leave now and not waste them staying here," she said. "Let’s go." Their backpacks had some water and food. Not much, but enough to last for a while. Neither of them knew how to build a proper boat, and they didn’t have any tools, so in the end they settled on finding some logs and tying them together with rope. A normal boat like that wouldn’t even move, but with Lindy using her wind magic, it was possible. She decided they should head back toward the coast they had come from. At least in that direction, they were sure there was land. This wasn’t the time to test their luck and sail off somewhere else. The risk of finding nothing was too high, and if that happened, their supplies wouldn’t last. Food wasn’t the problem. Water was. They had to move fast. It didn’t take much effort from Lindy to make the makeshift boat move, so she talked with Damian while they sailed. "What are we even going to do once we’re back? I mean, should we return to the academy or keep going with the mission?" Damian asked. "Continue the mission, of course. This should give us more time to prepare for what’s coming..." They both knew their lives at the academy would change drastically once they returned, and things might never be the same again.