Aren slightly straightened up from the petrified tree trunk he was leaning against.
"I discovered another, more efficient method to increase my stats. This lies directly in 'consuming'."
Lilith frowned slightly, trying to understand. "Consuming?"
"Yes." Aren said with a flat expression. "I suppose I should explain from the beginning."
"You must have learned the Basic Mana Art. Exactly how well have you mastered the basics of mana?"
Lilith shook her head slightly from side to side. In her voice, reminiscent of the winter wind, there was a vague tone of pride stemming from her nobility.
"Basic Mana Art? No." Lilith said without breaking her upright posture.
"The name of the Mana Art I acquired is different. However, I master the basic logic of its functioning. Drawing mana from the atmosphere through breath and focus, filtering and purifying it in my meridians with my will, and finally compressing and storing it in the mana pool below my abdomen."
Aren didn't break that ice-cold, calm expression on his face at all, but his mind was rapidly processing the new data like a computer.
'She must have acquired a much more advanced, high-level mana art. After all, she is a pioneer. But why was I deemed worthy of the 'Basic Mana Art' in the dungeon? After all, according to what Seraphina said, I am a pioneer too. I guess I was wrong in my thoughts. I thought everyone would be given this 'Basic Mana Art'. Perhaps the 'Basic Mana Art' is good, but for a figure like Seraphina, it is no different from garbage. Anyway, I already have a better one; it's a subject not worth wasting my energy on.'
"Yes, that's correct. I also learned some things while clearing the dungeon. Entities have innate or acquired 'affinities' to certain elements."
Lilith's ice-blue eyes focused on him carefully.
"My affinity is fire." Aren continued.
"That's why this place is a perfect development area for me. Even breathing the air here incredibly supports my physical development and mana thanks to the dense fire energy."
"That's exactly where 'consuming' comes into play." Aren said, connecting the subject to the main point.
"The meat of the strong creatures in this forest contains fire-element mana. Instead of just killing them and settling for the base 'experience' given by the system, you can 'consume' them and digest that energy, directly adding it to your muscles, bones, and mana pool."
Lilith frowned. Her sharp intellect instantly adapted this new information she heard to her own situation.
"My affinity is ice. To consume the meat of a creature with the fire element... Wouldn't that mean burning myself from the inside?" she said, her voice calm.
Aren nodded slightly.
"Probably, yes. If you had no elemental affinity, perhaps you could have used this method, but for your current state, I think it's impossible. Still, instead of fully 'consuming' it, I think you can strengthen your body just by 'eating' their meat."
"I suppose we can try that later." Lilith said, with a tone that accepted the situation but was inwardly dissatisfied.
"Our current priority is to heal completely and bring our mana to its peak. Every step we take in this forest without being at one hundred percent is gambling with death. Let'sdecide our next move once we're fully recovered" Aren said.
Lilith nodded slightly in confirmation.
She put her broken sword beside her and sat cross-legged on the cold floor of the cave.
When she closed her eyes, a thin, freezing layer of mist appeared in the air around her. She began to draw her mana slowly and carefully from the atmosphere in a controlled manner, as if passing it through the eye of a needle.
Despite the scorching heat of the forest, she was creating an isolated winter around herself.
Aren also closed his eyes in the lotus position and began to meditate.
The inside of the small cave was literally divided into two different seasons.
The right side where Aren sat was scorching and dry like a blacksmith's forge.
Golden waves of mana radiating from his body made the air vibrate and the dried moss on the floor crackle.
On the left side, a small winter reigned around Lilith.
A thin layer of ice spread outward from beneath her crossed legs, and her breaths formed white clouds of steam in the air.
The two opposing elements continuously clashed on an invisible boundary line in the middle, without destroying each other, only balancing each other to create a strange, dangerous, but mesmerizing harmony.
This balance was the greatest proof of their flawless control over their mana.
About six hours later, Aren slowly opened his hazel eyes with golden rings.
Letting out a deep breath, he emptied the hot air from his lungs. He turned his gaze to Lilith.
Basic Vision.
Lilith's mana was filled to the brim; she had even surpassed her previous limits during the life-or-death struggle she had engaged in.
'It's time.' Aren thought.
Right at that moment, as if feeling Aren's gaze, Lilith fluttered her long eyelashes and opened her eyes.
That sickly, poison-induced pallor on her face was completely gone.
Her porcelain-white skin had now regained a healthy vitality; that sharp, clear gleam of intelligence in her ice-blue eyes and her noble posture had returned in all their glory.
"I am ready now." Lilith said as she stood up. Aren nodded in confirmation, and he stood up too.
A massive sound echoed inside the cave from the tree. Lilith's gaze instantly shifted to the sound.
The sound had come from Aren's stomach.
Aren spoke without showing the slightest sign of embarrassment or discomfort on his face, as if this were a very normal tactical situation.
"Let's fill our stomachs before we decide what to do."
He raised his hand slightly.
The amethyst stone in the center of the storage ring on his finger shone with a purple, mystical light inside the dim hollow.
Right after the spatial fluctuation in the air, a massive piece of wild boar meat weighing about two kilos, piping hot, steaming, and roasted to a golden brown, fell to the ground with a loud thud.
With his sword, Aren cut two plate-shaped pieces from the tree that formed the cave they were in.
After slicing the meat nicely, he put half on his plate and the other half on Lilith's plate.
Lilith went stiff with the dense smell of roasted meat filling her nose.
Her nobility, cold-bloodedness, and that impenetrable "Ice Queen" mask were shaken by a primitive urge of hunger coming from her stomach.
As her eyes locked onto the steaming meat on her plate, she swallowed involuntarily. The swallowing sound coming from her throat was much louder than she expected in the silent cave.
Suddenly, she noticed Aren's serene, golden-ringed hazel eyes looking directly at her.
A slight pinkness rushed to Lilith's porcelain-white cheeks.
She immediately averted her eyes and, bringing her fist to her mouth, coughed slightly to break that uncomfortable silence. She straightened her posture and tried to return to her old noble and cold demeanor.
"I apologize..." she said, trying to suppress that slight tremor in her voice.
"Ever since I came here, I've only been using those tasteless nutrient pills I got from the dungeon. It's been a long time since I smelled a real meal."
Aren didn't answer. Adjusting the skirts of his robe, he took his own plate in his hand.
"Remember, this meat contains the fire element. If you have trouble eating it, throw it up." he said and began to eat.
Lilith responded to this blunt but practical warning of Aren's only by nodding slightly. She looked at the wooden plate she had left on the table.
She needed an instrument to eat.
She focused her mind. She reached her left hand beside the plate.
Within seconds, an exceedingly sharp and elegant fork and knife carved out of ice appeared in her hand. The ice instruments shone just like diamonds in the dim light of the cave. As Seraphina had said before, Lilith's control over her mana was, in a word, a tremendous masterpiece.
With an elegant movement, she stabbed the knife into the meat.
She was surprised by the tenderness of the meat.
The knife passed through the golden-brown outer crust and entered the juicy, pink meat as if entering butter.
She grasped the bite she cut with the fork. Her movements were so measured and noble, it was as if she were at a royal feast.
She put the bite into her mouth.
At that moment, Lilith's world stopped.
The first flavor that touched her palate was a smoky taste. Then, the juices inside the meat burst forth.
The natural aroma of the meat stimulated all the taste receptors on her tongue at once.
After the disgusting taste of the nutrient pills, this was practically a miracle.
Her eyes closed involuntarily, against her will.
She felt every single cell, every muscle fiber in her body trembling with joy, almost screaming, in the face of this tremendous flavor and dense nutrient.
There was no trace left of that cold, distant expression she always wore on her face.
Instead, an unprecedented, almost childish, pure expression of happiness and pleasure appeared.
That feeling of physical fullness and warmth spreading upward from her stomach not only satiated her, but also healed and consoled her soul—which had been worn out in this forest—like a healing ointment.
However, this pleasure-filled moment did not last long.
As soon as the meat reached her stomach, Aren's warning turned into reality.
The dense fire element trapped inside the meat was released.
She suddenly felt as if a volcano had erupted in her stomach.
A searing heat began to climb upward from her stomach toward her throat and chest. Her body instantly reacted to this foreign and hostile energy.
The ice mana inside her mobilized to suppress the out-of-control fire energy.
It was possible to see the reddish strands of light circulating under Lilith's porcelain-white skin with 'Basic Vision'.
Aren was watching this whole process with his Basic Vision skill.
As the fire element passed through her meridians, it burned the surrounding tissues, causing damage on a micro-level.
She felt a sharp, stinging pain in her throat and chest.
In some places on her skin, slight redness appeared due to the effect of the heat.
By intensifying her ice mana further, she slowly neutralized the fire energy and eventually dissipated it completely.
This process was causing minor damage to her body.
After the Fire Element inside the meat was suppressed, the tremendous nutritional value of the meat remained.
An energy so dense that the pills in the dungeon could never provide spread to her muscles and organs.
The exhaustion in her body was completely wiped away, her meridians became even stronger.
The damaged tissues were repaired in seconds with the nutrient obtained from the meat and became more durable than before.
She opened her eyes. The expression of pleasure on her face had given way to that cold seriousness again, but that slight pinkness on her cheeks bore the trace of the experience she just had.
"Did you like it?" Aren said as he continued his meal.
As Lilith stabbed her ice fork into the meat once more, she said, "Yes." her voice as cold and distant as usual.
"The harm is insignificant compared to the benefit."
Aren nodded and continued his meal.
The duo continued to eat their meals in that strange silence inside the cave.
Lilith destroyed her ice fork and knife, turning them into a mist that mixed into the air.
Reaching into her spatial pouch, she took out the map and spread it on a flat rock between them.
"We talked before about how the entities bearing the title of Warrior have surpassed the Level 100 limit. To directly attack such a target in our current state would only hasten our death." Aren said, his voice carrying an icy rationality.
"So what do you suggest?" Lilith asked, analyzing the map with her ice-blue eyes.
Her seriousness was in perfect harmony with her noble posture.
"Our target will still be this skull." Aren said, tapping lightly on the point on the map with his finger.
"But we won't go directly at it. We will extend our route in a zigzag pattern and hunt all the packs of creatures on our way. Not only will we test our combat synergy, but we will also increase our level."
Lilith nodded slightly in confirmation.
"Your destructive power in close combat is significantly higher than mine." Lilith said.
When she swung her hand slightly to the side, it condensed with a freezing cracking sound, and a flawless, gleaming ice spear formed in her hand.
"I can provide support from the back and open up space for you by slowing down large groups of creatures with my crowd control skills."
"Good." Aren said, slowly straightening up from his spot and gripping the hilt of his black sword.
Lilith stood up.
As the duo headed toward the narrow exit of the cave, the ruthless world outside and the approaching massacre awaited them.