Ascension: Strongest Fateless Mage

Chapter 20 Strange Phenomenon

"This…," Zevien was startled when he looked around him. He then looked at his body and was even more shocked, "why am I here with my physical body?"

"What's going on?"

*Growl….*

Suddenly, Zevien heard a low growl from behind him.

A black wolf with a purple crystal on its forehead came out of the bush and cautiously walked towards Zevien. Its claws glowed with a black-purple gleam.

Zevien didn't turn around because whatever beast behind him would attack him the moment he did.

When he connected it to his situation, drops of sweat started to fall from his forehead, 'since I arrived in my magic labyrinth with my physical body, then what would happen if I were to die here? Will I return outside like how magic eidos body returns to the physical body outside or….'

Generally, when people (their magic eidos body) train inside their respective magic labyrinth, there is a limited time on how long they can stay here, which depends on willpower. If their magic eidos body gets attacked, then that time is reduced depending on the severity of that attack.

However, Zevien suddenly appeared inside his magic labyrinth with his physical body. He had never heard something like this happening.

'But for now, I will have to focus on that beast,' Zevien thought as a glint passed through his eyes and executed his magic spell's 4th Vehemence, Somatic Sadness, and erected a barrier around him before turning around and pointing his hand forward.

*Rawr…*

The wolf pounced on Zevien with glittering claws, but Zevien was ready with his hand aimed at the wolf as he used his A-rank normal magic spell, Exploding Bullets.

He adjusted his aim slightly after the wolf jumped and aimed at its face.

*Swoosh…*

Five bullets materialized with a red hue as they shot forward and hit the wolf's face.

*plop...plop...plop...*

Its head exploded into bits.

"Well, I guess normal magic beasts are of no threat to me," Zevien muttered with a sigh. He got nervous for nothing since his physical body arrived in the magic labyrinth, which was really too strange.

But suddenly, he felt some strange sensation on his body as the dead wolf started to decay rapidly and turned into motes before entering his body.

Zevien touched the motes, but they simply entered him, "what's going on?"

After a few seconds, the wolf disappeared while he felt strange in his body.

"This…," Zevien swung his right arm around and jumped as astonishment slowly appeared in his eyes, "my body got stronger. Although not much, I can still feel it."

'Guess I will not have to refine my physical body using my mana to strengthen it like what normal people do,' Zevien thought with a smile.

He then closed his eyes to sense something and nodded, 'alright, despite being here in my physical body, my magic power is slowly increasing.'

He slowly started walking towards the purple river flowing and observed it, "let's see if I can catch a fish or two."

His stomach was screaming hunger. He had never felt this hungry before in his life.

After seeing that there were indeed fishes in the river, he went to a nearby tree and broke its branch before sharpening it at a rock.

After sharpening it, he took a throwing stance while observing the river with complete focus.

He infused a bit of his mana inside the branch as well. Just enough to not break it down.

After three seconds, he threw the branch as it hit a fish and embedded it in the ground in the river.

However, when his hand reached out to it, the fish started to decay and turn into motes before entering his body, "what the f…."

"Wait…I do feel a bit less hungry," Zevien muttered after all of the fish's motes went inside his body, 'now that I think about it, my hunger decreased slightly after the wolf's motes entered inside me as well.'

He then started killing fishes in the river using the empowered tree branch.

Time passed as Zevien continued doing this for two hours before finally feeling his hunger subsiding and somewhat full.

"Now, what is this sorcery? I've been here for two hours, and I'm barely even feeling fatigued," Zevien muttered before closing his eyes.

'My magic power is increasing slowly as well,' Zevien thought before opening his eyes and checking his Digi-watch.

-Magic power: 56.4

Before awakening the magic labyrinth and purifying their magic eidos body to full, everyone reaches a maximum of 20 magic power.

All students had 20 magic power before they awakened their labyrinth.

So after staying for one hour and forty-five minutes on Zevien's first visit, his magic power reached 34.6 from 20.

Now, after staying for two hours here, his magic power increased to 56.4.

…

Zevien didn't roam much and just explored the bit of jungle in the opposite direction of the purple river.

He killed a few grade-0 magic beasts and felt his physical body slightly increasing.

When he reached the two hours and forty minutes mark, he finally felt exhausted in both his body and mind.

At 3 hours mark, the usual unique exhaustion kicked in, and Zevien knew that his time was up. Now, if he willed to leave, he should be able to leave instead of enduring here more. This typically applies to the magic eidos body, but he didn't know if it would still apply now that he was here with his physical body.

But he didn't want to overstay here and decided to give up on staying here longer.

'Let's hope I can leave. I also want to know if I can control my mana outside or not,' Zevien thought as he closed his eyes and willed to leave. Although he was unsure, his gut feeling told him that his physical body was not the same as his magic eidos body here. He felt that if he died here, he would die for real instead of just returning outside.

"He is back!!!"

"Zevien, where did you go? What happened?"

Zevien opened his eyes and saw that he was back at the lab, standing on the bed.

"I'm back…," Zevien muttered before sighing.

"Kid, we will have to ask you some questions and hope you can answer them clearly," a man in a suit spoke. He had a white beard and white hair but looked middle-aged.

Raising his eyebrows, Zevien sat down on the bed and shook his head, "first, I want to sleep. Whatever you have to ask, you will have to wait until I wake up."

After saying that, his eyes rolled upward as he fell backward and fell asleep.

Touma frowned and checked his pulse, "he basically fainted."

"His body seems exhausted," a doctor spoke while the other female doctor continued checking Zevien as a surprised expression appeared on her face, "his metabolism is speedy. As for his physical body, it's very active internally. His tissues and muscles are consolidating as if he recently increased his physical strength significantly."

"I guess we can only let him rest for now," the first doctor spoke, "it's not wise to disrupt this process happening in his body. We can't check his mind, but from his eyes, it appears that his mind is also very exhausted."

"Fine," the white-bearded middle-aged man nodded before looking at Touma, "I want you to make the same two serums you used on this boy again. Since he survived this, then it means that the experiment was successful."

"I will send a person to take those two serums tomorrow."

After saying that, the man turned around and left before speaking, "don't forget to tell me when he wakes up."