The Reverse Mana System

"Have a seat." Avelan said, signaling Alex, Sheri and Lucas to sit down.

"Please pardon our intrusion, Your Excellence." Alex said, bowing down before taking his seat. Sheri and Lucas also bowed down and took a seat at either side of Alex nervously.

"Let's get straight to the topic. I would like you people to keep whatever happened yesterday a secret, even from your God. It will do none of us any good if such a matter is brought to light, it may even lead to a battle between gods which will cause heavy casualties to both sides, yours or mine." The God said in an assertive tone.

Alex knew that there was a slight nervousness behind those words. Others couldn't tell it, but he knew that Verenia was stronger than this God in front of him. He could see Avelan's level through his interface, but Verenia's level was filled with question marks, meaning that Verenia was higher level than this god..

"So what do you propose, your excellence?" Alex asked upfront in a voice full of respect.

" I have already taken the status of apostles back from those two who offended you. Does that sit right with you?" Avelan asked.

'So he doesn't have any plans to bring the talks about compensation by himself.' Alex sneered but didn't let it show on his face.

"Thank you, your excellence. But there is a small thing that I need your help with.." Alex said.

If the other party won't bring up the compensation, he would ask for it himself.

Right now, he was just some vagabond with no status. He wasn't bound by dignity as a prince, so there was no harm in bringing it up himself.

For a second, Alex could see Avelan's eyebrows twitch, before it was back to his cold disposition.

" If it's within reasonable limits, I will be glad to help you. " Avelan said in a straightforward tone.

"You see that I have come here from her domain to train and found two companions on the way who told me about adventurers and the United Adventurers Association, but I don't like staying at a place, so it'd be very helpful of you if you could arrange the three of us the license of traveling adventurers." Alex said.

"Just that!" Avelan blurted out.

"Yes, just that. Am I supposed to ask for something else? I am not from this place, so I don't know much about the things here." Alex said, making a pondering expression.

"No, it's nothing." Avelan said, looking at the butler standing behind Alex who gave him a slight nod.

"Just wait here and I'll send someone to get what you want, but even I can't overlook the rules of the United Adventurers Association. All three of you will get bronze batches at the start regardless of what tier you are in, but you can upgrade that after two months and a few compulsory missions." Avelan said.

Although Alex felt that Avelan was being stingy and that he could definitely do more, he couldn't say it upfront. Since he was playing this role, he couldn't act as if he knew that Avelan was being stingy.

[Truth detection artifact has been directed at the host.]

This system notification had appeared before Alex when he was first escorted by the butler, so he had kept all information that he gave them vague while signaling that he had come here from the domain of a major goddess and was here to train and found Sheri and Lucas on the path. The region in the forest created by Verenia's appearance was definitely a part of her domain, he wanted to become an adventurer to farm exp and become stronger and met Lucas and Sheri after leaving Verenia.

All this vague information provided by Alex had taken the form of a tale of him coming to this world from the domain of a major goddess for the sake of training in Avelan's mind because Avelan had convinced himself that the imprint that could even pressurize him definitely belonged to a major god.

Avelan had already sent someone to get the adventurers' batches and licenses for the three of them based on the information that Alex had given him, so in the absence of any topic, there was a long silence which was broken by Avelan.

"So who is the one who gave you that imprint?"

Alex refused to give any details without any hesitation which took Avelan by surprise, but he didn't pursue the matter because he had other ways to find out.

The major gods couldn't come to this world, but there was nothing stopping the minor gods from going to the domains of the major gods. This was how the godly domain truly worked.

Most of the known gods would gather in the domains of various major gods from time to time and both major and minor gods would discuss the matters regarding faith and territory. This conference was also the reason why the godly domain was the most united and also the largest of territories of all the races.

After getting their licenses and batches, Alex and his party of three immediately left.

"Anything strange?" Avelan asked the butler.

"No my lord. There were no reactions from the artifact. Although the information that he gave us was a bit insufficient, he did tell his motive which was confirmed to be true. " The butler said as he bowed down.

"Alright. But keep tabs on them while they are here at all times without fail." Avelan said these words and left.

Alex, Sheri and Lucas returned to the inn and decided to part their ways.

"Alex, will there be any consequences of lying to a God?" Sheri asked in a worried tone.

"Are you sure that I was lying?" Alex asked.

"I don't know. I just kept having this feeling that you were lying. " Shrri replied.

Alex was surprised by how perceptive Sheri was. Even after using artifacts and despite the high level difference, Avelan couldn't tell that he was being deceived, but Sheri could tell it only by looking at him. And that was when Alex was sure that he hadn't let out any signs in front of them.

"You are quite perceptive, but I didn't say anything that was a lie otherwise that old man behind us would already have told Avelan that I was lying." Alex replied.

" You are so disrespectful to a God. At least use 'lord' before you call his name. What if someone hears it and tells him? Do you know how big a trouble we will be in?" Lucas chimed in.

Alex ignored Lucas and went inside his room.

It was finally time to gather raw material for his weapon.

Alex searched the list of basic mana weapons in the store to find out which of them had the material that he needed.

After shortlisting five dungeons, Alex entered one of them.

[Entered system Dungeon. ]

[Recommended level : 32]

[Rewards : Tier 1 monster cores, lizardmen spinal cord, tier 1 monster blood, magnetic veined steel.]

[Occasional Drops : Tier 1 monster core ( evolved)]

[The host's level is lower than the recommended level. Do you still want to enter the dungeon?]

[Yes/No.]

Alex immediately pressed yes. The recommended level was the average level of regular monsters in the dungeon, whereas the boss monster would only be stronger, but Alex had more than sufficient exp to level up right now, so he would first level up to the bare minimum because he needed to save exp.

While making a customized weapon, nearly every process consumed exp, so he could only be stingy when it came to spending it. This dungeon was under the tab of a whip that could change shapes on passing mana from it without any external stimulus.

Alex entered the dungeon and he was immediately teleported to a swampy rainforest.

Immediately, a pungent smell of rotting wood and flesh assaulted his senses.

Alex turned around, there were corpses of small animals and mana beasts littered on the ground.

He continued towards the direction where he sensed the presence of some lizardmen after an area scan.

Alex wanted to test how good he fared against them so that he could decide on an optimal level for the confrontation. He quickly reached a swampy part of the forest where three of the lizardmen had gathered. Alex scanned the one nearest to him.

[Mana beast : Swamp amphibiod]

[Level : 30]

[HP : 4500]

[MP : 4280]

[Strength : 250 Agility: 248]

[Endurance: 210 Intelligence: 223]

[Skills : Basic spear mastery (level 1), swamp vortex, water bullet, mud slash.]

[Abilities: Marshy claws, mud manipulation, swamp transverse.]

Alex peeked at his stats. His stats weren't that far off from that of the lizardmen in front of him, but he was hindered by the terrain whereas the lizardmen wouldn't be bothered by the swamps in the slightest.

The group had two more lizardmen, one at level 32 and other at level 33.

Since this area was much larger than the goblin villages, Alex wasn't able to scout the positions of other lizardmen. His disadvantages were stacking, but Alex wasn't bothered in the least.

Now that he had become an adventurer, he'd be in similar situations more often than not, so he had to get a taste of this before he challenged mana beasts who wouldn't have any level restrictions in their natural habitat. This dungeon could act as a rehearsal for what he might have to face in real life.

Alex could feel a sense of excitement in his chest. Finally, after so many days of stagnation, he could level up and become stronger once again. It was also at this point that Alex realized that he had begun worshipping power from some unknown period of time. Although it wasn't frantic, he was starting to become obsessed with getting stronger.

'Well a little obsession isn't that bad. At the very least, it can work as a motivation.' He said to himself.

After clearing his thoughts, Alex cast another area scan and began moving towards a lizardman that seemed to be moving away from it's group. This was just the practice subject that he needed.

Alex quietly followed it until there was a considerable distance between it and the rest of the group and then launched his attack. He wanted to fight it upfront rather than ambushing it so that he could get a well defined idea of the disparity between him and the mana beast.

He intentionally appeared before the lizardman, who immediately charged in at Alex while thrusting its spear towards his chest. Due to his passive ability, Intermediate Battle Awareness, Alex could easily track the movement of the spear and continued dodging.

After sometime, when the spear wasn't aimed at his vitals, Alex used a mana barrier to block the attack.

Being a level 2 skill, it was much more effective than Alex had expected. After testing the effects of his new skill, Alex was all set.

He took out a new basic mana sword that he had recently crafted using the goblin shaman's core and swung it forward.

[Mana analysis complete. ]

[Reverse Mana generated. ]

The spear and the sword crossed, making a metallic sound and a black coloured flame transversed from them and immediately surrounded the entire body of the lizardman.

The lizardman stumbled backward and yelled in pain.

Alex immediately followed through with a brownish coloured wind blade coated on his sword. The sword immediately slipped through the scales on the lizardman's body and pierced its flesh.

"aaaaaaawwwwww!"

The lizardman yelped and began to attack Alex with claws and tail. Alex immediately retreated and launched wind blade projectiles on the mana beast. The brown coloured wind blades left cuts on the scales of the lizardman wherever they hit and blood began to drip out.

The lizardman continued roaring in agony while it charged towards Alex while baring its claws.

Alex stepped back and swung his sword towards the incoming claw.

"aaaawwww!"

Blood splattered and the claw of the lizardman fell on ground, detached from its body.

Alex proceeded to slash the sword once again and left a deep wound on the chest of the lizardman.