Nornesh's Lair,

11:21 pm. 21st Banem 1092.

"Ugh..." Kashi groaned, clutching his chest as he sat up. The daeben winced, his brows furrowed in a tight frown as he thought back to Razznik's beatdown, as well as the warrior's final warning.

"You will die if you are still reliant on Ferulic's abilities the next time we meet. See you soon."

'See you soon?' Kashi cursed under his breath. 'Like hell you will.' A raging fire burned in the daeben's eyes, but it was soon quenched by the system's prompt.

Kashi examined the prompt with a frown. 14Days? This was the longest cooldown he had ever seen for a skill. There were people with self-revive skills in King's Journey, and the longest he had ever seen was two days. Was the reason for the Second Wind's absurd cooldown because the Circle was not fully established?

Kashi shook his head, choosing not to dwell on the matter. This was good anyway. It would reduce his reliance on the skill. Afterall, [Second Wind] wasn't invisible. In fact, it was practically useless in a fight.

"Oi! How long are you gonna stare into space!"

Forced out of his thoughts, Kashi looked up to see a grinning Syèl squatting in front of him. Syèl chuckled as he patted the daeben's shoulder, eyes wide in wonder. "You can come back from the dead? So, what is it? Are you immortal? Will you come back if I decapitate your head?" Syèl's eyes shone as he raised his right hand which was bathed in flames.

"I'd rather not find out," Kashi refused with a subdued laugh as he rose to his feet. "More importantly," said the daeben as Syèl stood up. "Did you receive any notice after I died?"

"Notice?" Syèl laughed, snaked his arm around Kashi's neck and then revealed the two last system prompts from the system log. "Notice? Boy, the gang is probably pissed the fuck off right now."

"Fuck me." Kashi cursed as he examined the prompts. The daeben rubbed his face, and then let out a defeated sigh. "Well, that's one trump card gone. Our enemies now know I can come back from the dead at least once." Kashi groaned and then looked to his left where a visibly embarrassed Nornesh stood. The daeben frowned and then spat, "You owe me."

Nornesh chuckled and then shrugged. "I suppose I did renege on the terms of our challenge. You won, and I made a fool of myself. Fine, I suppose I shall add one more favour."

"Three," argued Kashi. "If I did not return, you would have been guilty of going back on your word. I imagine that would have been quite shameful for a Divine Dragon such as yourself."

Nornesh revealed a toothy grin as a dangerous glint sparked in his eyes. He glared at the daeben, but Kashi was more than equal to his intimidatory tactics. Realizing that the daeben would not back down, the dragon laughed and then put up two fingers, "Two favours. I will add two extra favours for a total of three. How does that sound?"

Kashi hesitated, but then agreed. "Fine. Two favours it is." He extended his right hand, which Nornesh gripped in a firm handshake to solidify the agreement.

Nornesh's grin turned sly following the handshake as he then proclaimed, "Great! Now, as your first favour, I shall definitely attend this battle of yours."

"Huh!? That cannot count. You were going to attend. You already agreed!"

"Sure, but I neither guaranteed nor promised," argued Nornesh. "We dragons are whimsical. Who knows? I might have changed my mind by sunrise. Now, I am giving my word that I will attend. You should understand the significance."

Syèl noticed Kashi was about to explode with apoplectic rage, and thus soothed with a sarcastic chuckle. "Give it up Kash, old ginger is the spiciest. He has you on a technicality."

"I know that!" Kashi spat as he yanked Syèl's arm off his shoulder. "Fuck! Do you think I'm stupid too?"

"Whoa whoa," called Syèl as he raised his hands. "I'm not the enemy here. What's your deal?"

Kashi clucked his tongue, but then shook his head and said, "Nothing. Nothing. I guess dying put me in a bad mood or something." He then looked at Nornesh. "Our agreement still stands right? You see how long I can last in the mana pool?"

"You are just intent on making me out to be a complete bastard, aren't you?" complained Nornesh as he scratched his snout. "Of course you can dip in the pool. I too am intrigued to see just how long you can survive in there."

"Fine. Watch me," stated Kashi as he walked to the pool. Under his breath, he muttered, "I'll show you who's weak."

"Ah, remember to strip," reminded Nornesh. "Most clothing are destroyed by the dense mana."

Kashi raised a brow as he looked at the dragon. There was no way of knowing if Nornesh was bluffing or not. He had seen items disintegrate when injected with more mana than they could handle. Only difference was that those materials were actively enhanced with mana, whereas this was a passive soak. Well, rather than risk losing everything, the daeben decided to do as proposed and unequipped everything he wore save for a pair of boxer shorts.

Ready, Kashi walked toward the pool. However, his brows furrowed when he was but a meter away. Before even entering, it already felt like needles were prickling his skin. If this what the gaseous mana felt like, how would the pool itself feel? Kashi stared at the pool for a few seconds, but then gritted his teeth as he ran forward and then leaped towards the center.

Kashi dropped into the lake, but contrary to expectation, didn't even make a splash. The mana was so thick, it felt more like dropping into a bowl of custard, or oatmeal. As a result, rather than sink right to the bottom, Kashi slowly submerged until only his neck was aboveground.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, causing Kashi to wonder if Nornesh was just pulling his legs. Just as he was about to ask the dragon if there had been a mistake somewhere, Syèl shouted, "What's your safe word?"

Kashi's brow shot up. "Safe word?"

"Yeah! In case you're about to shit yourself, and need rescuing," Syèl encouraged with a sarcastic chuckle.

"What? You mean like 'help'?"

"Help?" Syèl tested the word on his lips, and then nodded. "Help. Classic." The halben's lips then curled in a teasing smirk as he joked, "...Or kinda kinky, if you look at it another way. Wow, Kash, I had no idea you had such a wild side."

Kashi, in turn, rolled his eyes and was about to retort, but Nornesh suddenly said, "It's about time."

"It's about time? What do you me—AAAAGH!" Kashi's sentence cut to a sharp, soul-piercing scream. The daeben's eyes immediately turned blood red, strong veins popping along his neck as he struggled against impossible levels of pain. The punishment of the Out-of-Body Training was nothing compared to this!

Kashi felt like he had been dipped in lava. The violent mana melted his skin, muscles and bones, but at the same time healed him so quickly, he was in no danger of death. At times it felt like someone had taken shear pliers to raw nerves, other times like iron was burning along his veins.

Kashi screamed out loud, unable to endure the pain like he usually did. This was destruction on a subatomic level. It felt like the mana pool hated his body, and had decided to restructure him from the ground up. What Kashi did not know was that the added difficulty was as a result of his chosen race.

Dragons were known as creatures 'loved by mana.' As a result, even though Nornesh suffered immense pain, the damage was not unbearable because his cells already accepted mana readily. Kashi, on the other hand, was a daeben. Daebens, even moreso than dwarfs were disliked by mana. Their bodies could not store as much mana as other races, and their magic arts were usually much weaker.

The daebens' mana weakness was one of the major reasons they became the best runecrafters in the world. Runecrafting relied more on skill and external mana, as opposed to internal mana. The daeben mastered the art of runecrafting so as to position themselves as viable threats to other races. As history tells it, this strategy eventually worked. The devices built by the daebens using runic technology played a massive role in their eventual bid for world domination. Alas, they failed at the final stage.

Kashi was not aware the daebens' innate flaw would cause his destruction to be so much worse than anyone anticipated. Frankly, the daeben was not aware of much at the moment. Every cell in his body screamed at him to jump out of the mana pool. Escape while he still could. While he could still muster the strength. However, just when he was about to give up, he recalled Razznik towering over him, sword in hand.

Kashi recalled the condescending glare Razznik directed his way. The look that said he was less than trash. A mistake Razznik needed to fix. "...I. Am. Not. Worthless." Kashi deliberately accentuated each word. He was not sure if it was for his own benefit, or as a dig to Razznik. Maybe it was a mixture of both. It didn't matter.

Those words affirmed Kashi's resolve. He would stay until he passed out or died. Never would he willingly take a step out of that pool. It must be said that Kashi might have lacked in many areas, but one thing he had in abundance was stubbornness. Once he made up his mind, he folded his hands, and then submerged his entire body in the pool. Even as he felt like his eyes were being burned with a branding iron, he stubbornly chose to egg on.

Nornesh watched the daeben, sparked interest shining in his eyes as he remarked, "It would seem he has a strong will. I half expected him to jump out in ten seconds."

"Heh. You have no idea, do you?" joked Syèl as he shot the dragon a teasing grin. "I don't know that kid too well, but from the little I know, he is one stubborn asshole. You're gonna lose this bet."

"Well, time will tell, won't it?" stated Nornesh with a joyful grin. Suddenly, his eyes shone as he recalled an important fact. "Speaking of, do I not owe you some blood? I believe you said you needed my blood, did you not?"

Syèl's eyes immediately turned to stars with respectfully regarded Nornesh as he said, "Well, Great, Wise Divine Dragon, Nornesh-sama. Please, grace me with a bucket full of your blood."

"Bucket full?" Nornesh sneered. "Sure, I can easily give you a bucket of my ordinary blood."

"Ordinary blood?" Syèl cocked his head, confusion in his eyes. "What do you mean ordinary, and why does giving me a bucket-full sound rubbish all of a sudden? I'm a small dude. I don't think there's enough space in me for more than a bucket."

Nornesh shook his head and sighed. "I initially had half a mind to scam you, but killing the daeben was out of my plans. Now, I'm honor-bound to tell you the truth. All mana-beasts have two types of blood: Ordinary Blood and Essence Blood." Nornesh winced and then pierced his right hand into his chest. Seconds later, he retrieved it and looked at the drop of blood floating above his palm. "This is Essence Blood. It is formed from concentrated mana and ki, right at your heart. Have you ever felt like you were out of mana, but then suddenly exploded with one final move you didn't know you had? More than likely, you burnt your essence blood to achieve that move."

"What? So, it's not just the power of Nakama?" remarked Syèl with mock-devastation.

"Friendship does not beat basic biology," argued Nornesh with a snort. "You cannot burst with power that was not there to begin with. The Essence Blood is what most people utilize in emergencies."

Syèl pointed at his chest. "So, I have one of those too?"

"As long as you regularly utilize mana or ki. Yes, it will naturally form," answered Nornesh. The dragon then said, "Now imagine. The amount of mana and ki compressed in your Essence blood is usually at minimum, half of your full mana in your blood. Which do you think is worth more then, A bucket of mana-diluted blood, or a drop of Essence blood?" Nornesh paused and then said, "Especially in a large beast like me. The mana in my blood is so diluted, that drinking it all will barely affect any change."

"Huh." Syèl nodded his head, and then scratched his chin in thought. "So, what you are saying is that when draining beasts or people, I should try to aim for their essence blood."

Nornesh smiled. "Smart, but unfortunately, it is not so simple." The dragon pointed at his heart as he explained, "Dragons are loved by mana, and so, we can easily access, control and use our Essence Blood as we please." He then pointed at Syèl. "Most other species, however, have their Essence Blood hidden. It usually only makes an appearance during critical situations or in times of excited emotions. Both of which are outside their control." The dragon shrugged and then said, "I cannot teach you how to hunt for Essence Blood. You will have to find a vampire for that."

"Damn," cursed Syèl. "Where am I supposed to find one of those?"

"I do not know," replied Nornesh. "Vampires are notoriously difficult to find. For obvious reasons. But, even if I knew, I would not tell you. I have only spoken this much to wipe off my karmic debt to that daeben."

"Hear that, Kash. Thanks for dying!" Syèl laughed, saying as he looked to the mana pool, "Can you let him kill you aga—" The halben paused, his brow rising. "Hey, is it just me, or is that lake getting smaller?"

"That is—!" Nornesh snorted, but then the words seized in his throat. Before his very eyes, the lake slowly but surely shrank, as if sucked into a hole at its center. "Impossible!"