Chapter 102: Enemy Attack

The mirror image Ace used the quasi-spell Spiral Wind Blade six times consecutively, finally managing to break off a small fragment of the gear. He carefully wrapped it and gave it to a Monster, which held it in its mouth to deliver to the host body. This was precious experimental material.

A moment later, the host body Ace transformed from a rusty iron nail back into himself. He looked at the Monster, which was now too weak to stand. It weakly managed to push out a soaked cloth bundle with its tongue before collapsing beside Ace.

Ace’s hand touched the cloth bundle. His soul trembled. His Inherent Mana surged uncontrollably toward the bundle. Ace opened the cloth bundle, and half a gear fragment rolled out.

Ace tried to perceive the gear and found that his mental power was instantly absorbed.

“This is a very strange substance. It seems to have a strong effect of Mana siphoning. No, I should say supernatural power siphoning. This effect shouldn’t be infinite. Let me test it.”

Ace used his Charm Imprint to summon several powerful low-level Monsters, having them hold the half-gear fragment one by one. By the third Monster, the gear’s siphoning effect vanished.

“The Inherent Mana of these powerful low-level Monsters is only about 3 to 4 Mental Power Units. It seems this small gear fragment can absorb about 10 Mental Power Units of Mana.”

Ace thought for a moment, then took out a lead box from the Monster stomach pouch. The box was engraved with a complex rune array.

“I made a few extra Mana-insulating boxes after obtaining the mysterious light orb from Cimali. I never expected to use them here.”

Ace placed the gear fragment inside the box, put the box into the stomach pouch, and then cast the spell Burning Hand, incinerating the collapsed powerful low-level Monsters into ashes.

“Fresh and Clean!”

Accompanied by the trembling of Ace’s lips and the strange cadence, the ashes vanished.

After completing all this, Ace transformed into a rusty iron nail again, fixing himself to the abandoned building.

Meanwhile, the mirror image Ace climbed the stairs of the high tower. He observed the machine in the center. Changes were finally occurring. In the increasingly hot upper layers, there was a massive pit filled with a bubbling, lava-like liquid that seemed bottomless.

The mirror image Ace tried to perceive it but found his mental power instantly scorched upon release.

He looked up at the scorching sphere of fire above, trembled his lips, and chanted: “Float!”

He became light and slowly floated toward the machinery beside the lava-like liquid. The mirror image Ace arduously resisted the Mana siphoning of the strange steel, observing carefully.

He discovered an empty hole in the middle of the lava.

The mirror image hesitated, then chanted again: “Float!”

He floated above the empty hole and said in a strange cadence: “Night Vision! Eagle’s Sight!”

The empty hole was shaped like an inverted funnel, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.

The mirror image Ace saw that the bottom of the empty hole was filled with piles of white bones, radiating an unimaginable aura of coldness and resentment. These bones, through a massive millstone at the bottom, were being converted into the hot, lava-like liquid above.

“To understand the cause, I must retrieve one of those white bones for research!”

The mirror image Ace hardened his resolve. Ignoring the immense, tangible resentment, he chanted in a strange cadence toward the nearest hand bone: “Hand Bone, Fly Up!”

Mana gathered. The quasi-spell effect surged toward the hand bone. However, mid-flight, a powerful suction arose from the empty hole. The millstone seemed to turn slightly, and the Mana was instantly siphoned and dissipated.

The mirror image Ace was affected. A large portion of his Inherent Mana was instantly siphoned. He dared not linger and quickly floated back to the edge of the staircase.

He sat on the stairs, pulled out a prepared Mana Stone, and began to meditate and siphon Mana.

Time flew quickly. As the Mana Stone dissolved, his Inherent Mana was restored.

“I will toss a few Monsters in and observe the millstone’s operation. I wonder if I can discover anything.”

The mirror image Ace directed a few Monsters onto the stairs and applied the Floating quasi-spell effect to them. He then followed them, floating above the empty hole, observing the Monsters.

He watched the Monsters gradually descend. Under the influence of the palpable resentment, the Monsters began to struggle violently. Some involuntarily used their innate abilities.

As they used their innate abilities, the millstone seemed to be triggered by the Mana pulse.

The mirror image Ace clearly saw the millstone slowly grinding. A strange fluctuation arose around it, and the Mana began to dissipate. Enveloped by this environment, the few Monsters decayed within seconds. Their Mana, soul, and life force were completely depleted, and they dissolved into white bones, falling to the bottom of the empty hole.

“It drains Mana, life force, and the soul. Nothing remains except white bones and formless resentment. The dissipated material seems to be converted by some means into the liquid above the empty hole.”

“What is the use of this liquid?”

As the mirror image Ace was pondering, the surroundings suddenly shook violently.

The liquid became extremely active. Something was about to happen.

He made a split-second decision, immediately floating to the nearby staircase. He witnessed a shocking scene.

The lava-like liquid surged and rolled, eventually forming several gigantic bubbles. Inside the bubbles, fire fiercely burned. Boom!

Flames spewed, shooting straight toward the scorching sphere of fire above the high tower.

If one were to zoom out, they would see that the high tower and the scorching sphere of fire were connected by the spurting flames.

“The function of this liquid seems to be to replenish the scorching sphere of fire, but what is the principle behind it? The millstone at the bottom cannot be effectively observed. Mana and mental power are both devoured. This is a huge problem.”

The mirror image Ace felt he could not solve this immediately. He prepared to leave the tower and meet with the host body.

He walked down the stairs slowly. His heart suddenly pounded like a drum. He felt as if he was being targeted by a savage beast. The mirror image feigned composure, remaining expressionless, while secretly chanting and preparing his protective spells and the transformed Glycerin Magic Tubes on his body.

He walked down slowly. His heartbeat accelerated. Accompanied by his footsteps, the sound of a whistling wind suddenly reached him.

Boom!

The mirror image Ace was already prepared. He instantly ejected out. The spot where he had been standing was now a ruin, enveloped in smoke.

He subtly scattered the Imperfect Transformation Glycerin Magic Tubes from his body while casting a defensive quasi-spell on himself.

The smoke cleared, revealing the weapon—a black, blunted broken blade.

“It would have been better to die quietly. You had to make me go through all this trouble.”

A figure flew down from above, rushing straight toward the mirror image Ace.

Meanwhile, the host body, transformed into a rusty iron nail, quietly manifested eyes on the nail head.

“Eagle’s Sight!”

“Bat’s Ear!”

Perception spells had great limitations here and were easily detected. Instead, short-duration self-modification spells, which enhance observation while maintaining strong concealment, were better.

The host body Ace calmly observed the attacking enemy.

From the moment the enemy threw the black broken blade, Ace began to transform and observe. His nail elongated. He quickly located the giant man standing in a high building from where the black broken blade was thrown.

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