Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

Leon started his plan; basically, he would kidnap every single soldier and drain their mana. For warriors, they had quite a bit, but Leon could make them collapse of mana deprivation in less than a second. Leon selected a random soldier who was a bit too far away from their friends, used Transfer, grabbed him, and returned to his hole. Half a second later, his mana was empty, but Leon frowned when it suddenly started to regenerate at a fearsome speed.

"What the... Ah, their mithril parts."

It wasn't weird that their customized bodies had such kind of feature. If the warriors use too much mana, their mithril parts would be used to restore their mana. Perhaps it could even regenerate health and stamina, but Leon couldn't test that. It was the perfect way to create soldiers who could fight for longer periods of time...

"Well, let's see for how long you can do this..."

It was like a test of patience. Leon drained the mana, and mithril parts recovered it. In the end, he had to produce more mithril because his mana was full and couldn't absorb it anymore. For some strange reason, instead of disappearing, the mithril on that warrior's body was losing its color instead of decreasing in size. Instead of light blue, the material was becoming semi-transparent like glass.

"I guess this must be an organic matter created by using their own DNA and mana... their technology certainly is advanced. That is exactly why they aren't that dangerous, relying too much on tools slowed down their growth."

Congratulations! The skill Mana Absorption has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Magic Craftmanship has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Mana Absorption has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Magic Blacksmith has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

...

Since just creating spheres or cubes wasn't efficient, Leon created weapons with the mana he obtained. Once again, he felt like he was having second thoughts about not relying on tools because that could make him face the same problems of the mithril people, but then again, it couldn't be helped. Weak weapons wouldn't last for long while being used against powerful targets and the only way to level up skills at a decent pace was by using them against a powerful target.

"It is a massive pain in the ass to think about this... Why can't I find an easy answer just once?"

In the end, Leon managed to create two short swords using the mana of that soldier. That was insane since, with him, he managed to produce forty kilograms of mithril. Much to his surprise, the warrior was still alive and relatively well despite being half made of mithril.

Mithril Short Sword

It grants you: Strength + 450, Speed + 450, Dexterity.

"Oh, boy... I can create small weapons that have the same power to the ones I created for the harvesters... this is insane."

It was insane and scary since Leon could easily imagine someone as powerful as the harvesters creating something like death stars or gravitational beam emitters... Leon's imagination was starting to work on a sci-fi scale instead of a fantasy one now. Regardless, Leon couldn't just use Transfer and put the mithril soldier back to his friend's side. So, he decided to keep it hidden underground while he decreased their numbers one by one.

"I also have to make some mithril shackles in order to prevent them from trying anything... I can now understand why it is so easy to be evil. Trying to be a good guy who doesn't kill for whatever reason is a pain the ass."

"I totally agree," Efreet said.

"I guess you don't like to be reasonable, then," Undine said, Leon felt shivers when he heard her. "Only despicable beings kill their enemies without good reason."

Leon didn't want to start an argument, so he decided to shut up. Most likely, the spirits would talk about those things for hours and hours if Leon tries to defend himself, and that was something he didn't want to deal with.

"It would be great if I could add some extra effects to those shackles... but just like Ilyana said, I'm not ready."

Leon selected his next target since it looked like the other warriors didn't notice the disappearance of one of them. The same thing happened again. The only difference was the fact that Leon created mithril rings to prevent the warriors from moving. Much to Leon's surprise, the semi-transparent glass in the first warrior's body, was slowly but surely regaining its color.

"They also made this to recover mana pretty fast... can't be helped, I will have to drain their mana periodically. Still, why he didn't wake up? I can't feel any change in his mana, so he isn't pretending. Most likely, this material is made to collect mana and keep their vital functions active... he won't receive mana until the glass reaches a certain level in mana."

That was weird, considering that they were soldiers that could explode, why go to that extent to keep them alive? Leon was pretty sure that their leader was someone who would treat them like disposable soldiers... then again, he didn't confirm that they could explode. Ilyana was the one who told him that.

Congratulations! The skill Mana Absorption has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Magic Craftmanship has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Mana Absorption has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Magic Blacksmith has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

...

Leon didn't have anything better to do, and since no one noticed the soldiers who were missing, Leon gladly leveled up his skills and increased his stock of mithril.