The Reverse Mana System

Alex quickly scrolled to the weapons store and opened the basic mana sword tab.

He was relieved to see that all the material that he had collected was listed beside it and also, there was a new option, namely craft. Alex pressed on craft and immediately, the ore began to take the shape of a sword just like in the tutorial.

Alex watched as the ore slowly transformed into a sword and the core was placed in it. Next, it should have been inscriptions, but suddenly the process stopped. A new system notification appeared before Alex.

[Do you want to change the inscriptions on the sword?]

[Yes/ No]

Alex pressed no and the process continued. Alex didn't know much about inscriptions, and he definitely couldn't draw them so there was nothing he could do.

Alex gave it a thought and realized that it may have something to do with the customized weapons option..

Alex was always reminded of those guild weapons from a popular game in his previous life where they collected various rare materials to create a customized weapon which could be used in multiple ways depending on the situation.

This idea fascinated Alex and he decided to try this at least once when he had gathered enough material.

After a few minutes, the sword was completed and a new option to collect it appeared beside the basic mana sword.

As much as Alex wanted to try it out, he held himself back. He was in the middle of an unknown village and he didn't want to be caught swinging a sword while standing in front of an old man's house, not to mention Sheri seemed to be very protective of him. She wouldn't even bat an eye before taking his life if he was caught doing something like that.

Alex quickly returned back to Lucas' place and knocked at the door. To his surprise, the door immediately opened and Lucas was standing there.

"I thought that you might have gotten lost and was getting ready to come find you. It's already midnight, come in and have a rest." Lucas said.

Alex got in and immediately hurried to the room he was given. He lay there and immediately drifted off to sleep. He was very exhausted after fighting in the system dungeon for hours.

The next day, Alex was woken up by Lucas early in the morning. After eating a plain breakfast, Alex headed out with Lucas to the spot where all the preparations were going to be held.

From what Alex could tell, Lucas was skilled at carpentry and management.

Although like all other villagers Lucas was also only tier 1, but he was widely respected among them.

After spending some time helping in the preparations, Alex walked off to the blacksmith's.

He opened the system interface once again and was happy to see that he could enter the dungeon of the basic mana sword to collect the material once again, but this time there was no exp rewards and he guessed that the exp he would get from killing those goblins will significantly reduce because he was already at a higher level than all of them except for the goblin boss. Alex decided to try it again later at night.

He knocked on the door and a creaking sound of the wheelchair was heard. The sound got nearer to him and the door was opened by the old man.

He was holding a sword in his hand.

It wasn't a mana sword, but the material used to forge it was a bit special. Alex had scanned it last time when he saw it. He was a bit surprised to see that this sword was made of glacier steel.

Glacier steel was mostly used with ice type mana cores to amplify its effect and was very rare.

Even without a mana core, this sword in front of Alex was much cooler than it's surroundings.

" I didn't expect it to be you young man. Anyway, it's better. Here have a try and tell me if this sword is to your liking." Dreron handed the sword to Alex.

Alex could immediately feel the dedication of the old man as soon as he held the sword in his hand. The sword wasn't very fancy, but it had an elegant look. The blade was sharp and symmetric. And most importantly, the sword was nearly perfectly balanced. Even some of the best swords that Alex had used while in the Flenreth capital could not compare to this sword when it came to balancing.

Alex could tell that Dreron had spent quite some time balancing this sword.

Alex swung the sword a few times and he immediately got a hang of it. Alex was ready to take away the sword when he suddenly remembered that he had to pay for this sword.

" I'll pay for it. But you will have to return my money back to me later." A girl's voice came from behind.

Alex turned around to find Sheri looking at him.

Her hair was a bit messy and it was evident that she had just woken up.

Alex took the sword. After Sheri paid for it, both of them started to move towards the spot where the hunting party was gathered.

Alex had a brief introduction with everyone and they set off into the forest.

At first, there weren't many mana beasts in the region surrounding the village, so they had to move deeper into the forest, but after some time the number of mana beasts that appeared rose exponentially.

"I think that there might be a beast wave in the coming few days." A middle aged man who was leading the party as the scout said.

"Uncle Bradly, you said that there would be a beast wave, does this mean that the werewolf from the last time has come back?" Sheri asked.

"We can't say that for sure, but it does mean that a tier 6 mana beast has come into the area nearby. We should be cautious. Don't walk too far into the forest and avoid gaining the attention of these mana beasts that have gathered here."

Another man said as he darted his eyes at Sheri and Alex.

Alex shrugged his shoulders and continued to move with the party. After some time, they reached a valley surrounded by three hills. The only way out was the one they had just come from.

"Are you sure that those sheep will be here?" A tall man with a hulking figure asked Bradly.

" Yeah. Those sheep come here daily. This is their feeding ground. Only this place has this cyan coloured grass in the nearby area." Bradly replied.

Alex now had a rough idea about the beast they were going to hunt. It was the silver rams. They were a mid tier 1 mana beast with relatively low combat abilities and air element. He had heard that their meat was very delicious and that it could even help in cleansing the mana circuits of people who were more compatible with air element.

The party laid an ambush and started to wait for the mana beasts to arrive. Alex was hiding with Sheri and one other man for safety reasons, their hiding place was also the safest among the four small groups.

Alex was on constant alert because he was having a feeling that something was amiss. He was repeatedly casting area scans at repeated intervals just to make sure that everything was alright. After waiting for nearly an hour, a group of about 40 silver rams arrived at the place of ambush. This was a decent sized group and was ideal for their hunting.

The group Alex was in didn't even need to participate and the remaining three groups immediately launched their attacks. Alex could tell that these people were self taught and had very crude techniques, but they were able to hunt 10 silver rams nonetheless. The remaining rams had already fled with some light injuries and they decided not to give chase.

The feeling of something being amiss only got stronger for Alex. He turned around and saw a frown on Sheri's face. He wasn't the only one who had this feeling. Those rams had run away without even trying to struggle. Even if they were weaker, they should have put up some resistance at least.

The entire party gathered at Sheri's signal.

" I am feeling that something here is not right. Let's return with all the sheep we have killed and go to any other location." Shrri said to the group.

Under her orders, all of them immediately picked up the dead beasts and began making their way back to the village.

Just as they had left the valley, a scene that made one's hair stand welcomed them. The corpses of about two hundred silver rams and other random tier 1 mana beasts were littered on the ground.

Alex immediately cast an area scan and his face paled.

"Raawrrrrrr!"

A loud roar immediately drew the attention of their group.

A beast around the size of an elephant on earth emerged from the thickets. Alex was horrified to see a mid stage tier 3 beast. He looked at it and the system interface immediately lit up.

[Mana beast : six horned bison. ]

[Level : 93]

[HP : 22000]

[MP : 12000]

[Strength : 1000 Agility : 800 ]

[Endurance : 1300 Intelligence: 754]

[Skills: Mana wave, horn destroyer, ground split, neither bellow, boulder fall, curbing collision ]

[Abilities : harden, stampede, dead end.]

Alex was a bit nervous and looked around. Their only hope to survive this predicament was Sheri who was tier 4. Generally speaking, Sheri should easily be able to crush this six horned bison, but with the earlier display by the others, Alex wasn't that sure about it.

Alex was aware that being a small tribe that was secluded from the outer world, the resources at their disposal were limited and this was also the case with their skills and spells.

Sheri was a rare talent who would be fought over by nations, but her combat power was limited due to unavailability of resources for properly nurturing her talent.

Looking at the nervous looks on the faces of her companions, Sheri stepped forward. Although she had never fought a tier three mana beast before, she was still a tier higher than it nonetheless. She knew that she was the only one whom their party could rely on.

She took her fighting stance with a spear held tight in her hands.

Alex felt his heart turning cold. Sheri was obviously more suited to being a mage and even her skills were those used by mages.

He wasn't a fan of the idea to put his life in the hands of others, but right now he had no other choice.