Chapter 271: Mana Orb.

Chapter 271: Mana Orb.

Kael spent the next few minutes trying to replicate as much of what he had seen from the Sword Saint as possible.

He replayed the entire training session inside his mind, going through the Sword Saint’s movements again and again while trying to understand how the strange footwork worked.

For a while, it actually worked.

He began to understand certain aspects of the technique that he hadn’t noticed during the actual battle.

But eventually, he had to come to a stop, not because he wanted to, but because he’d simply hit a wall.

Just because someone watched a chef cook didn’t mean they suddenly became a chef. Watching the Sword Saint perform the technique had given Kael an understanding of its basic principles, but understanding something and actually knowing how to perform it were two completely different matters.

No matter how many times he replayed the training session in his head, there was only so much knowledge he could extract from observation alone.

Kael sighed.

"Do I have to ask that old man to teach me?"

The thought alone made him hesitate.

He could already imagine the Sword Saint’s reaction.

Perhaps the old man would throw a few insults his way.

Perhaps he’d simply tell him to scram.

There was even a possibility that he would throw him out of the training chamber altogether.

Kael sighed again.

"Well, I’ll think about that later."

There was no point worrying about it now.

Kael finally rose from the bathtub. By this point, the water had already begun to cool, and most of the effects from the products he had mixed into it had been used up anyway. There was little reason to remain there any longer.

He stepped out, dried himself, and returned to his bedroom.

After putting on a simple home robe, Kael glanced toward his bed.

"Okay."

He had something else to take care of.𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Time to check my rewards."

Kael had received several bonus rewards from his recent Tower activities, but he had been busy ever since returning and hadn’t gotten the opportunity to properly inspect them.

He reached into his storage space and pulled out the reward boxes.

Ten boxes appeared in total. Nine were ordinary reward boxes from normal Tower floors, and the last one he’d obtained from the Boss Floor.

Kael looked at the collection for a moment before deciding to change his usual strategy.

Previously, he’d opened reward boxes in batches, but this time, he decided to try something different, he’d claim them one by one.

He picked up the first box and opened it, only to be met with disappointment at the modest number that appeared. Just a x10 Multiplier.

His expression fell slightly, but he didn’t linger on it, moving on to the next box, then the next. One reward box after another was opened as Kael worked through the results. Unfortunately, no sudden astronomical multiplier was waiting for him.

By the time all nine normal reward boxes had been opened, Kael stared at the results in silence.

The highest Multiplier among them was only x97.

Kael looked at the pile of rewards scattered across his bed.

"What pitiful luck."

If anyone else heard him say that, they would probably curse him for being greedy.

After all, the rewards weren’t actually bad.

There were the usual Experience Points and Tower Coins, along with several stat points.

The latter were useless to Kael now since his current limits meant he could no longer increase his stats through ordinary stat points, but that didn’t change the fact that they would have been extremely valuable to almost anyone else.

There were also two pieces of equipment.

A pair of boots and a spiked whip.

But Kael barely gave either of them a second glance. Instead, his attention settled on the third item.

An orb.

Kael picked it up and examined it carefully.

A refined Mana Orb.

This was a considerably rarer drop within the Tower. If he hadn’t been challenging the Tower under Hell Difficulty and performing exceptionally throughout his trials, there was a good chance he wouldn’t have obtained one at his current stage.

At least, not as a normal Tower drop.

Kael slowly rubbed his fingers across the surface of the orb.

A Mana Orb had numerous applications.

But only one mattered to him right now.

Lyra.

Varek had already explained that awakening Lyra’s physique and unlocking the abilities sealed within her would require an enormous amount of energy, and what better source could there be than a Mana Orb?

The orb contained highly compressed Mana, with an amount of energy far greater than its physical size suggested. More importantly, the Mana inside had already been refined and purified.

That made it far more suitable for Mana-based applications.

There was no need to worry about the same level of impurities or contamination that could come from gathering enormous quantities of raw Mana.

Kael’s fingers slowly moved across the surface of the orb.

His expression became slightly disappointed.

"How unfortunate."

He stared at the item.

"I only managed to hit such a low Multiplier."

His gaze shifted toward the information attached to the reward.

"Only managed to upgrade it from E to E+."

He sighed.

If anyone else had heard him complaining about such a result, they would probably have wanted to beat him to death.

An E+ item wasn’t some insignificant improvement.

The difference between an E-Rank item and an E+ item was substantial. The "+" represented the item’s progression toward the next rank, meaning an E+ item was already considerably closer to D-Rank than an ordinary E-Rank item.

For most people, obtaining an E+ item instead of an E-Rank item would be an enormous upgrade.

Yet Kael was standing there, holding one in his hand and complaining about his luck.

There was a reason Kael was so dissatisfied with the result.

After all, he had already experienced some absurdly high Multipliers. Once someone became accustomed to seeing numbers that should have been impossible, a mere x97 naturally started to look pitiful.

It didn’t help that the Mana Orb was meant for Lyra.

Kael would have much preferred to see a far higher Multiplier on it, especially considering how much energy Varek had said would be required to awaken Lyra’s physique and unlock her sealed abilities. The amount of Mana contained within an ordinary E+ Rank Mana Orb was simply too little.

It wasn’t even close to what they needed.

Kael stared at the orb for another moment before sighing.

"Should I have opened them in batches?"

He couldn’t help but wonder.

His understanding of his own Talent was still far too limited. He knew that the Infinite Reward Multiplier could produce ridiculous results, but he still didn’t understand exactly how the Multiplier was determined or whether there were conditions that affected it.

What he did know was that the last time he opened his Tower reward boxes in batches, he had received significantly higher Multipliers than the ones he had obtained today by opening them individually.

Perhaps that had simply been a coincidence.

Or perhaps it wasn’t.

There was no way for him to know yet.

Still, if one method had produced better results while the other had produced worse ones, then there was little reason to keep choosing the latter.

"Maybe I should stick to opening them in batches from now on."

Kael shook his head.

There was no point thinking about it anymore.

The rewards had already been opened. There was nothing he could do to change the results.

"No point crying over spilled milk."

His attention shifted toward the final reward box.

Unlike the others, this one had come from the Boss Floor.

Kael reached out and picked it up.

"Well, here goes nothing."

He focused on the reward box.

The familiar system notification appeared before his eyes.

[Do you wish to claim the reward?]

[Yes] [No]

Kael selected Yes.

The instant he did, the reward box dissolved into countless particles of light.

Another notification appeared.

[Reward Claimed.]

[+1 Rule Card (Unique Grade)]

[+1 Tower Invasion Card]

[+1 Fragment of Ghorrath.]

[+8 Bone Fragment (D Rank)]

[Infinite Reward Multiplier — Activated!]

[Multiplier: x500,000]

[Rewards Adjusted.]

[+1 Rule Card (Mythic Grade)]

[+1 Tower Invasion Card (Admin)]

[+1 Fragment of Ghorrath.]

[+256 Bone Fragment (SSS Rank)]

# #

Happy new month, my dear readers! It’s another month to go at it again, so I’m planning a new *Mass Release Event* for this month!

Here are the goals:

For every 100 Golden Tickets: 2 bonus Chapters!

For every 500 Power Stones: 2 bonus Chapters!

For every Super Gift sent: 3 bonus Chapters!

And if we manage to hit the second Win-Win Tier on Classic this month, there will be 3 Chapters a day for the entirety of November!

Let’s gooo! 🔥

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Also, since the author is feeling under the weather today, there will only be one Chapter today, but fret not, there’ll be a three-Chapter release tomorrow to make up for it. Anyway, thanks for the constant support, and I hope we can push this book to new heights this month!