Chapter 47: Core and Ranks
Desire got out of his room when he finished double-checking everything with his new Unknown.
It was quite a new experience for him because Unknown was more active than with the system.
The system only updates or tells Desire about the basic things that he needs to know. In this aspect, Unknown was better.
Unknown basically helps Desire in every way possible by telling him information that couldn't be known to Desire otherwise.
Right now, Desire probably has the most important information in the world.
It was information about how one could accurately increase one's rank. Both worlds of monsters and humans would surely hunt him down if ever they knew.
Anyway, Desire was walking in the corridor of the house. He was walking towards Jarina's room to ask for the lessons since he was ready now.
He didn't want to waste time by acting lazy or something like that. He wanted to make full use of his information and increase his rank as fast as possible.
And to do that, he needed to know more about the basic things.
Even if Desire has information about the advanced or important things, it wouldn't matter if Desire hasn't got the basics down.
Desire was just starting his life and was on his way to becoming stronger. It was the same principle of having a strong foundational block rather than a strong technique that was risky.
"Jarina?" Desire knocked on the door as he spoke.
He didn't know about the magic Jarina used to open the door, but he doesn't plan to be rude to enter without permission, anyway.
It was then.
As Desire was patiently waiting for a response, a loud sound resounded out in the entire mansion of Lionel.
The impact made the mansion shake, but it wasn't really too bad.
"Hmmm. It must be Jarina." Desire spoke as he rubbed his chin.
Jarina wouldn't miss hearing the knocking outside of her door. So, it only means that she was not inside her room.
Desire then walked off, having concluded as such.
It didn't take long for him to find where Jarina was. After all, he already saw the mansion before.
The Heavenly Demon was working its wonders once again for Desire.
And because of his Body Control Skill, Desire was able to find the tremor's source and set it as his destination.
"Huuuu." A sigh escaped out of the woman standing in the middle of a room.
The door was open, so Desire was able to peek in. The room was simple, and it didn't have any furniture or whatnot.
That woman was Jarina, and she was wearing simple clothes that wouldn't hinder her movements.
It was clear as day that she was training.
And because of her intense focus and concentration, she wasn't able to notice Desire, who was slowly walking up to her.
Well, it was also thanks to Desire's Body Control Skill and Heavenly Demon Trait that he was able to do that.
"Jarina." Desire's voice flowed when Jarina's back was literally right in front of him.
"Desire! Are you better now?" Jarina replied back while wiping the sweat that formed on her forehead as she turned around.
Of course, she wouldn't be disturbed about how Desire could walk up to her without her noticing.
"Yeah, I wanted to know about the Core and the Rank. What did you guys mean by saying it isn't the same?"
Desire answered, expecting Jarina to answer right away.
However, that expectation was soon betrayed as Jarina held up her right hand forward to stop Desire from questioning further.
"Before we talk about that, check your own Core first. I'll take a change of clothes, and we'll talk about it. Don't worry; it isn't really hard."
Jarina said as she walked further away from Desire, who had his head tilted to the side.
'Check my own Core?' Desire thought as he looked down at his stomach, where he could feel his own Core.
It wasn't really on that part, but Desire could feel it there.
"Hmmm. Alright." Desire said as he turned his head to look at Jarina, but she was no longer there.
'Should I return to my room, or do I do it here?'
Screw it. Desire thought as he sat down to the ground with his legs crossed.
His palms were against each other near his stomach as he took his usual posture of focusing.
He erased his senses by using the Body Control Skill, and he entered his mind, his consciousness by using the Body Control Skill.
'Then again, the Body Control Skill can really do so much. I wonder how much of an improvement will it be once I add the All Brain Skill.'
Jarina once mentioned that the Body Control Skill could only be useful once the All Brain Skill was included in his repertoire.
'It must be awesome. Oh, I'm here.' Desire thought.
He just let his body take him to where his Core was. He was already used to this experience, that he didn't have to take or make any effort in doing so.
Desire then went closer to the Core, which was shining brightly with the hue of blue.
It was pure blue that didn't have any dirt or holes on it. It wasn't big or anything like that, but he now understood why Lionel asked that weird question before.
'I forced that huge amount of mana right inside my core, huh...'
A dirty Core could only store a small amount of mana, while a Magic Core has a great amount of mana.
Compiling that amount of mana and then throwing it to a dirty Core is basically the same as suicide in Desire's case.
Furthermore, that mana was from a monster. It wasn't from Desire, and this fact made the event more dangerous.
'Anyway, I'm here now, so what should I check...?' Desire thought as he brought his non-existent hand to his non-existent chin.
After all, he was just a thought in here.
Well, it doesn't really matter as he just swam in here to look at his Core.
He spent minutes in doing so. However, he couldn't really find the importance in doing so.
His Core was doing fine, and it didn't really need any immediate attention.
Well, Desire plans to increase his Core's rank from now on, but it doesn't connect that point to why he is looking at his own Core right now.
'I don't get what Jarina said...'
As Desire was slowly getting lost, he just wandered around his Core.
It was when he was circling the Core for the 50th time that he felt it.
He felt a strange turbulence happening inside him. No, it wasn't really turbulence, but something that disturbed the peace in here.
He turned his head towards the source...towards the Core.
'What the?' Desire thought as he crumbled his non-existent face.
After all, the Core becoming rough is something he has never experienced before.
Even if he only had very little time observing the Core, he was sure that there's no way a strange occurrence would happen now.
However, when he looked better at the Core, he now realized that he was wrong.
It wasn't the Core but, a strange, thin, and long line was making the disturbance.
Desire looked at it with an interesting look, and it took him a minute to realize what it was.
'Mana circuit! Hoooo. So, as soon as it got better, I'm taking in mana from the outside!'
Desire knew that he was injured, judging from the care he got recently. The event only happened last night, but it wasn't really impactful for him.
After all, Desire was sure that he would succeed. He just knew it. That was also the same answer he gave to Lionel, who was extremely curious about it.
'But...I only have 2 mana...How come the mana is flowing in so smoothly like that?'
Desire once saw his mana limit when he opened the Monster Rank's detailed information.
That was why he was sure that it wasn't because his mana limit increased or anything like that.
So, Desire spent his time trying to look at what Jarina wanted to point out.
After all, Jarina wouldn't let Desire do something pointless.
And as he continued, he soon found out the reason why.
'It's because of the grade! I see, so this is what they meant that Cores aren't related to Ranks.'
Desire knew that the mana and ranks were equivalent to each other, thanks to Lionel's briefing.
However, since they said that if a Core increased its rank, it also increases the quality and quantity of the mana stored, then it should be related to ranks.
The reality was slightly different as Desire looked at the long and thin line.
'The quality of the mana stored in the Core increases, while the quantity in the mana circuits increases!'
For the first time in his life, Desire was extremely mesmerized by an idea and the reality before him.
'How is that possible?!'