Return of the last survivor

Back in the Colossus…

"Hah! U finally reached Level 3! That is some appetite you got there Mecha!"

"Mooooooore~"

"Sigh. You ate all the mana crystals here. I don't have any more!"

The gigantic mass of squirming darkness sagged down. After eating so much and levelling up to level 3, it had grown from fitting inside a test tube to the combined size of 3 watermelons.

"Hey Mecha, turn into armour!"

"Ok!"

The flat pool of blackness suddenly began squirming once more as though someone was passing electricity through it. Within moments, it turned into a black full body armour, reminding Merlin of a certain someone who had an Artificial Intelligence Butler called J.A.R.V.I.S.

'Kekeke, now all I need is an arc reactor, and I will become Merlin Man!' lampooned Merlin inwardly.

Just as this though entered his mind, he thought of a project he was working on in his previous life during his reign as the puppet king. He was trying to find an alternate source of mana. He had come up with the idea of creating a device that condensed the mana in the air to produce mana crystals. Mana crystals naturally absorbed mana from the air and converted it to stored mana within themselves, which is why they are a near unlimited source of energy.

However, the mana stones, and crystals themselves were as rare as a certain Saiyan using the dragon balls for something useful.

Therefore he had tried to create a machine which would absorb mana and compress it into mana stones and crystals. However, he couldn't even create the runes to absorb mana in the first place, thereby forcing himself to abandon the project.

He had assumed it was because he had yet to evolve magic runes to the next Tier.

While thoughts were racing in his mind, Merlin put on the black armour. Despite its looks, it was surprisingly light, and in fact added a +10 to Strength, Dexterity, and Mana.

Just as he was going through his status, he heard Foveros' telepathic shouts as the door to his laboratory was blasted open.

'How long are you going to make me wait!!! Give me those mana crystals!!!'

Looking towards the collapsed door, Merlin saw a 2 meter tall red ball of fur. It was Foveros!

Over the past 4 months, he too had reached the peak of Tier 1, along with Merlin. Once he reached that point, he suddenly went to sleep for 14 days straight, before suddenly waking up and transforming into an enormous beast.

'Well, the thing is, this guy ate it all' Merlin replied regretfully as he pointed at his Mark 1 armour.

Foveros' gaze sharpened and released an incredible amount of mana as he said, 'You! How dare you eat all my snacks!"

Suddenly, Merlin received another notification.

[Tamed creature Blood Wolf (Adolescent): Foveros has received the Master Skill: Envy]

[B ranked Mission: Original Sin activated]

[Mission requirements: Tame creatures with the power of the 7 sins]

[Progress: 2/7]

[Reward: ???????? skill: ???????? ???]

[Time limit: None]

Merlin was stunned beyond comprehension. What the hell was happening? Foveros got a master skill just like that? For being jealous of Mecha?

And I got a mission? Mission!!!? Now? And S ranked at that??

Missions were another feature of Arcania which would activate once someone reached Tier 2 in most cases. Some people had it activated at tier 3, and some did not have it activate at all, but the bottom line is that one needs to reach at least Tier 2.

How and why did it activate now? And B ranked? Isn't that at the same level as the mission he got when fighting Zero?

[B ranked mission: Survive]

[Mission requirements: Survive the battle with the Monarch Zero]

[Reward: ???????? skill: ??????]

[Time limit: None]

The difficulty of this mission was unfathomable. B ranked!!! Completing this mission was as difficult as fighting Zero?

No! Not necessarily. It might only show the difficulty in completing the mission, and not the danger involved. It might just be incredibly time consuming! Not as dangerous as Zero!

Inwardly calming himself, Merlin took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts. He put the mission at the back of his mind to first deal with the furious Foveros, who would most definitely destroy the entire building in a fit of rage.

Just as Foveros had completed his threatening words and mana attack, Mecha's body began to squirm. Within moments, its entire form collapsed into a puddle of blackness once more.

Seeing this, Merlin coldly said, "He is my latest creation, Mecha. Not something for you to bully! Wait for some time. I will bring you mana crystals ok? Just chill for now. And don't keep breaking doors, or else I will reduce your daily quota of mana crystals to 5!"

Hearing Merlin's indifferent tone, Foveros immediately shut up. Not daring to say another word, he quickly retreated to his room.

Although Foveros was a blood-wolf, he was still an adolescent. His current power was about the same as Merlin's power, with higher speed and more mana, but fewer spells, since all the spells Foveros used were instinctual to his entire race.

"Sir! Teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7and 8 have left for a largescale battle a few hours ago."

Hearing this, Merlin felt it was something interesting and question his AI, "Where?"

"North-east of Bay bridge, about 10 km away."

"Alright. Get some puppets to clean up this place, and to get some Mana crystals to Foveros. I will be going out to stretch out a little."

"Of course, Sir!"