The Reverse Mana System

Alex used appraisal on the giant lizardman.

[Name : Groudogon]

[Race : Swamp Amphibiod]

[Level : 39]

[HP : 8670(5365)]

[MP : 7800]

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

[Abilities : Marshy claws, mud manipulation, swamp transverse, area entrapment, dungeon lord (increases HP)]

[Strength : 360 Agility : 320].

[Endurance : 330 Intelligence : 290]

Alex found the results of this appraisal a bit inconsistent. The dungeon lord ability of this lizardman boss gave it a bonus only for HP, but the MP of this lizardman was also through the roof.

But he didn't have to find out the reason for long. The lizardmen boss sunk its teeth into the corpse it was carrying and dug out it's mana core. Then it proceeded to swallow the core.

Since Alex could see the mana flow of his opponents when the system finished it's analysis, he could immediately see a streak of additional mana pass through the mana circuit of the lizardmen boss.

[The MP of the opponent has increased by 100]

The system notification proved his speculation. This lizardman was killing its own kind and absorbing their mana cores in order to grow stronger, but it was oblivious to the fact that only its MP was rising, not its level.

But any rise in any stat of his opponents was only unwelcome news to Alex.

But his opponent didn't have any plans to stop though. It grabbed one of the three remaining guards and slit the throat of its subordinate before digging out its mana core and swallowing it.

[The MP of the opponent has increased by 100]

The other guards were horrified at this sight and wanted to escape, but they couldn't move more than a few hundred meters away from the boss.

This was the ability Area entrapment. None of the others could get more than a certain distance away from the user.

The boss moved towards the other one, but was stopped by an intense sense of danger. It immediately stepped back and a brownish windblade left an impression on the swampy ground.

Alex knew better than to see his adversary increasing its strength without any worries.

The lizardman was irritated with Alex's intrusion. The other lizardmen has already left the area that it could lock down due to its concentration being broken by the sudden attack.

Alex dodged the spear that was thrust at him with a great speed and pulled back. The annoyed lizardman boss had decided to hunt down Alex before it's other prey.

The boss lizardman immediately attacked with its spear. Alex blocked with his sword and launched a black coloured fireball from one of his hands. Alex was pushed back due to removing one hand from his sword to cast the fireball but the Lizardman Boss was caught in the flames.

A series of debuffs appeared on the mana beast and also, it's scales were burnt.

Alex could see its HP declining due to the burns, but the loss was inconsiderable to its total HP.

"aaaaaaawwwwww!"

The lizardman boss roared and charged in at Alex once again. It launched a series of water bullets at Alex while charging forward.

Although it's MP was very high, due to its intelligence not being able to keep up with it's MP, the efficiency of mana usage was very low. Alex could see a large amount of mana being radiated into the air.

Alex cast two wind blades and controlled them to cut through the maximum number of water bullets that was possible. His efficiency and control over all his spells had drastically improved in the last few days because mental simulation was the only thing he could do to practice in the forest.

The wind blades managed to block a large number of water bullets before continuing towards Groudogon. Alex dodged the few attacks that reached him and immediately cast a barrage of wind blades.

Seeing the attacks surrounding itself, Groudogon wasn't the least worried. Suddenly, it's feet began sinking in the swamp.

Then, it began to move towards Alex. The movement was very uncanny and most of the attacks missed it. Groudogon was the only one in the tribe who had mastered swamp transverse.

Groudogon closed in on Alex and thrust its spear at him. Alex blocked, but was thrown off his feet due to the impact.

The lizardman followed through with its spear pointed at Alex's chest. Alex used a mana barrier and was pushed further away from the impact.

Although the spear didn't pierce him, the impact did cause minor bruises. If his mana barrier wasn't level 2, Alex doubted that he could've got away with just this.

Alex landed a few meters away from the lizardman boss. The swamp under his feet began to take the shape of a vortex, but Alex jumped away. This time, it was the swamp being manipulated to hold him down and Groudogon charged at him.

Alex had to confront Groudogon in melee combat. The fight continued, but Alex couldn't do much. Although almost all their attacks were blocked or dodged by the other and Alex was successful in landing a few attacks, his HP loss due to the impacts was much more than that of Groudogon.

Alex was pushed back once again and used speed enhancement to create distance, but he couldn't go more than a hundred meters away due to area entrapment.

Finally, Alex remembered something and immediately dashed towards one of the dead lizardmen.

His sword mastery was only level 1, but he had learned level 2 spear mastery to teach Sheri as a parting gift.

He picked up the spear near the corpse and took his stance. Groudogon charged in with its spear and swung it at Alex.

Alex used the spear in his hand to block and countered immediately. The lizardman tried to block, but Alex's spear turned midway and was immediately stabbed in its ribs. Groudogon stepped back and attacked once again, aiming at Alex's head. Alex crouched down while aiming his spear at the neck of his adversary.

Groudogon was able to block it at the last moment, but it's spear was knocked off. Alex didn't give it any chance to recover and a barrage of attacks was launched at Groudogon.

Blood seeped out from the multitude of stabs and cuts on its body and the lizardman roared in agony. It immediately distanced itself from Alex and put its hands on the swampy ground.

A prison like structure was erected from all sides and Alex was trapped within it. Alex tried to attack the structure, but it was able to endure his attacks. Groudogon gave him a smirk and charged at him with a spear in hand.

Alex dodged the spear thrust at him, but due to the limited space of movement, he was having a hard time.

Alex continued attacking the mud prison with his spear coated with a wind blade. After a few minutes and a few injuries from Groudogon's spear, Alex was finally able to break free.

He looked at the lizardman and gave a smile. During their prolonged battle, Groudogon had wasted a lot of mana and finally, it was nearly out of mana. Alex on the other hand still had some of his mana left.

When Groudogon closed in on Alex, he immediately cast a shadow movement and appeared behind it.

The spear was stabbed at the back of the lizardman's neck and Alex could see its HP plummet at a very fast rate. Alex immediately jumped away by kicking Groudogon.

Groudogon rolled away and Alex landed on the ground. He used speed enhancement and appeared near the mana beast. Once again, Alex stabbed his spear in its chest and brown coloured flames covered its entire body.

Groudogon cast mud slashes frantically and exhausted the last bits of its remaining MP.

Alex used this opportunity to push away the spear lying on the ground and distanced himself.

Alex cast a barrage of wind blades until his MP fell to 200. Faced with no other choice, Groudogon had to use its hands and tail to take the attacks while desperately trying to protect its vitals, but the wind blades seemed to have a mind of their own. They turned around and moved in curves until they hit one of the wounds or hit the vitals.

After five minutes, a pitiful looking Groudogon with blood oozing out of the wounds was left.

Nearly the entire body of the lizardman was covered in wounds and its HP was also pitifully low.

Alex used speed enhancement and stabbed his spear in Groudogon's heart.

The remaining HP was also drained and the corpse fell on the ground.

Alex also sat down. He was also drained. Both his HP and MP were reduced to a few hundreds and there were wounds and bruises all over his body.

Alex used his remaining mana to cast a healing spell on himself.

After resting for half an hour, Alex got up and tore down the corpse.

The mana core that he extracted was an enhanced one which could store and convert more mana than regular ones.

Alex smiled and began exploring the dungeon. Behind the point that the guards were standing, All Alex could find were the corpses of dead lizardmen with their cores dug out.

No wonder that he could only scan the presence of the guards. Groudogon had killed all the remaining lizardmen.

He didn't run into the two lizardmen that had fled away earlier.

Alex theorized that the first lizardman that he killed had somehow escaped from the area entrapment of Groudogon, whereas the guards weren't able to leave it. That would explain why they didn't attack him despite all the provoking.

After looking around for some time, Alex finally found the material he had come to gather. Alex found the magnetic veined steel ore and left the dungeon.

When he returned back to his room, it was already dark outside. He had spent eight hours in the system dungeon and was utterly exhausted.

He walked to his bed and slumped down. Lucas had left some food for him on the table, but he couldn't care less and immediately fell asleep.

Alex woke up the next morning and stretched himself. Today, he would have to go to the United Adventurers Association and pick up a mission to formally begin his life as an adventurer.