Chapter 52: Red, Yellow, White and Blue Fireballs!
[-1,600 system points]
Jimmy upgraded his MQ the second time. He wasn’t satisfied. An additional five points wasn’t enough in his eyes.
For that matter, he upgraded it yet again, three times in total. Every upgrade was rather short, and all together, the three upgrades took half an hour of his time.
[-2,500 system points]
[Remaining points: 1,227]
[MQ: 25 >>> 35]
"Damn, those upgrades really chewed through my points, and I’m barely any smarter." He sighed, "What was the average MQ again?"
[The MQ bell-curve includes mages only. Humans, or animals in general who don’t practice magic are not included in the calculations.]
[With that said, the average universal MQ is 125 points. The average could be higher than that, but thousands of lesser creatures drag the statistics down.]
"God damn it... here’s to wishing to become a vegetable." He grunted, "I misspoke when I called myself a seed. I’m manure."
If he had a hundred thousand system points, he was sure that he’d spend them all to upgrade his MQ. He didn’t doubt it, but since he didn’t have enough points to buy another MQ upgrade, he had to make due with what he had.
Virena cut another piece of the Flesh Core for him. It was four times bigger than his previous portion. It was as big as a grain of rice, and as hilarious as it might seem, that puny size made him nervous.
"Let’s hope this shit doesn’t knock me out," He said, as he pecked at, and afterwards swallowed the piece.
Jimmy waited for the pain to follow. He almost welcomed it, even, but he was shocked to see that he didn’t feel anything for once!
"System?" He shook his head.
[You haven’t experienced any changes.]
"Man, is a MQ of 45 that good?" He said, "No wonder they were so expensive."
Right after, he did not ask Virena to cut another piece for him, but he ripped one off on his own. This portion was barely bigger than a house-fly, and he swallowed it in one go without the slightest sense of fear! He was excited to see what would happen.
Pain did strike him this time around, but it was short, it only lasted three seconds!
[Yellow Fireball skill absorbed.]
[Average temperature: 1,200°C (2,192°F)]
[The average temperature is based on your current quality of mana and overall comprehension.]
[Mana Realm: No change]
[Mana Quality: Level 3 >>> Level 4]
[Mana Absorption: Low]
[Mana Quantity: 250 points >>> 300 points]
"Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!" He spread his wings wide in victory.
Jimmy bought himself a solution to his problem. Portions of the core that would’ve taken him hours to absorb, or even fail to absorb before, only took him a couple of minutes now!
It was a great advantage. He wanted to try his new Yellow Fire skill right away, but he didn’t have enough mana, so he let it be for now, and started pecking at the rest of the core.
The Flesh Core itself wasn’t big. It was smaller than him, only a foot wide, and since he could eat bigger pieces now, he kept pecking at it for two whole hours, until him and Virena ate it all!
"Surprisingly filling," He joked, "I’m not hungry anymore."
"Me neither," Virena said.
Virena consumed significantly smaller portions of the core compared to her friend. She was new to magic, so the progress she made paled in comparison.
Still, she could create a Fire Sphere that was both bigger, burned hotter, took less time and less mana to summon.
The sphere adapted a pure white color.
White fire, as she discovered, was significantly hotter than the average yellow, or orange fire that she came to try out over the past couple of hours.
When she tossed a sphere against the wall, she flew to the scorch marks afterwards to inspect them, and could see that the sphere had actually dug into the stone by an inch!
The sphere didn’t burn any longer than it used to, so all of its power could be credited to its maximum heat. It was no different from laser beams at this point, and she felt that she could challenge the sun! Opponents, even if they were hundreds of times her size, could likely not stand a chance against her.
"Maybe it can cut through steel too," She hoped.
Jimmy, on the other hand, progressed far more than he expected to today. He ate most of the core, and got four forms of fireball out of it.
Red, Yellow, White and Blue!
Each color represented a higher degree of heat, with the Blue Fireballs burning the hottest, at 2,500°C (4,532°F)!
The system continuously warned him to be careful with the blue one. He could burn himself alive within the blink of an eye if he wasn’t extremely careful with it!
The Blue Fireball skill wouldn’t burn as hot if his MQ was lower. It had reached a couple more hundred degrees of heat based on today’s accelerated comprehension of the Arcane.
The Flesh Core, once he figured out how to absorb it better, increased his comprehension significantly!
Now despite the warnings, Jimmy gave his most potent Fireball a shot. He wouldn’t be able to fall asleep unless he tried it. He understood himself very well.
"Let’s see..." He muttered.
With a single motion, he flung one of his claws forwards, and nervously whispered, "Blue Fireball..."
Within the blink of an eye, a two-foot wide fireball roared out of his claw. Its tail, shorter than the width of its body, did not at all stagger the fireball’s capacity.
The fireball moved as if it was trying to swallow the air around it!
The heat it emitted nearly melted Jimmy’s talons off! If it had hung close to his claws for a fraction of a second longer, he would’ve suffered a fatal burn! One that no amount of mana could heal.
The fireball hit the wall of the building they had used for target practice, but it did not disappear right away. It ate through the wall, chipped away at it, and left a six-inch deep crater!
"Holy fuck!" Jimmy exclaimed, "Did you see that?"
"See it?" Virena groaned, "It almost burned my eyes off, and I was nowhere close to it."
"Sorry," He winced, "At least we know that the Flesh Core was worthwhile... I think that man we killed was going easy on the crows. He could’ve wiped us out if he wanted to."
The progress Jimmy made was spectacular. His statistics, after consuming the Flesh Core, and obtaining four new skills, reflected it too. He studied its related system tab over and over, and yet he still found it hard to believe how much he progressed today!
[MQ: 35 >>> 60]
[Mana Realm: No change]
[Mana Quality: Level 4 >>> Level 8]
[Mana Absorption: Low >>> Medium]
[Mana Quantity: 300 points >>> 1,200 points]
"I’m finally a vegetable," He jokingly celebrated.
[In regards to Mana Quality, the next level-up will propel you into the second Mana Realm. I recommend that you pick your next battles carefully, as transitioning from one Mana Realm to the other is not only paralyzing, but it will be the most painful process you’ll ever experience.]
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