Chapter 164: Why Are Women So Unreasonable and Powerful?

"Hey, hey, can I drink that?"

Magna had already discovered that he could only gain mana through the things he ate or drank. So the first thing that came to his mind when he saw the pool filled with golden liquid was whether he could drink this mana-rich water and absorb the mana from it.

However, looking at how hot it was, he didn’t even have a container to take the water with, let alone drink it, so he had to forget about the idea for now.

He would only try it after probably raising his Stamina stat above 1000, which would barely be enough to take the water without getting boiled, or gaining some kind of trait like the previous one that increased his resistance to heat and fire.

He also checked the red crystals on the walls to see if they were anything special.

Unable to recognize them since he had never seen anything similar before, he took one to show Matrim, thinking he would probably know what it was. Then he decided to return.

But before he could even leave the pool room, he started to hear approaching footsteps.

Apparently, the Drakon guy had already returned.

Not wanting to be found out like this, he quickly looked for somewhere to hide and slipped behind a large rock standing in the corner.

As the footsteps got closer, he hoped the guy didn’t have some kind of detection trait like his Presence Sense or something.

Thankfully, he didn’t, as he walked past the rock where he was hiding without seeming to notice anything and came closer to the pool.

Magna slightly peeked his head out from behind the rock to see what he was doing.

When he saw him start taking off his clothes, he was taken aback.

’Don’t tell me he is planning to swim in that boiling water...’

The thought that someone could swim in water that felt unbearably hot even from a distance had never crossed Magna’s mind.

Though it wasn’t the only shock he was about to witness. The next one would make this one seem much smaller.

As the Drakon guy first removed the black cloth covering his entire head, long hair that shone bright red like flames suddenly fell down over his shoulders.

It was the first time Magna had seen a boy with such beautiful and well-kept hair.

’Wait a minute...’

He paused, narrowing his eyes as he looked at his face more carefully.

Then he noticed that his features didn’t resemble a boy’s at all. They actually looked more like a girl’s.

He knew that girls who failed to become Witches could become Shadows as well, but it was the first time he had seen one in his life.

Her appearance, as much as Magna could see, was also quite different from normal. Her ears looked more pointed, their tips decorated with red, snake-like scales. There were also red scales along the sides of her neck, rising upward from her body.

Remembering that she was a Drakon, Magna became curious whether her body was also covered in those red scales or had any other reptilian features.

However, since he wasn’t that kind of man, he simply looked away and lowered himself behind the rock again.

He only wanted to return to the surface, so he waited for a while until he heard a splash.

When he peeked out from behind the rock again, he saw her clothes lying on the ground near the pool, while the girl was nowhere to be seen.

Not wanting to miss this opportunity, he immediately came out from behind the rock and started walking quickly back the way he had come.

Though he couldn’t get very far, as there was suddenly a figure standing in the middle of the corridor, blocking his way.

’How?’

Magna looked at the figure, who was wearing the same black training clothes and had her face covered with a black cloth.

He couldn’t understand how the Drakon girl was already standing in front of him.

She had only just been swimming in the pool. There was no way she could have gotten out, put her clothes back on, and blocked his path this quickly.

While Magna was confused and about to open his mouth to explain that he hadn’t intended to spy on her, he didn’t have time for any of that.

The dark figure standing a few meters in front of him suddenly appeared right in front of him. Then he felt incredible pressure and pain in the center of his chest.

THUMP!

With a sound that echoed throughout the entire cave corridor, Magna’s body was sent flying backward from a single punch, flying all the way back to the pool room.

He was even about to fall into the boiling water, but he managed to recover himself at the last moment. He pulled out his artifact and turned it into a short spear, driving it into the ground to stop himself.

"Cough, cough!" He fell onto his knees, coughing as he tried to catch his breath.

Blood suddenly splashed onto the floor from his mouth.

The punch was so strong that he didn’t feel like he was dying, but he wasn’t far from it either.

The worst part was that the footsteps started approaching again as the Drakon girl slowly walked toward him.

Magna raised his head to look at her figure, trying to speak between his coughs.

"Wait... cough... I wasn’t..."

The girl didn’t seem like the type to listen, as she simply continued walking toward him without saying anything.

Her face was hidden under that cloth, making it impossible to see what kind of expression she had, but Magna could feel the killing intent coming from her.

She was coming to finish him.

His mind was working fast as he used all his senses to find a way out of the situation.

His back was against the boiling water. If he jumped into it, it probably wouldn’t kill him immediately. Instead, it would torture him for a while before killing him.

The other way out was the corridor behind the girl, but since she was incredibly fast, Magna was sure escaping through it would be impossible.

The other option, fighting for his life, didn’t seem very logical either. He had already understood the difference in their strength after that single punch.

Since he had already accepted that talking wouldn’t work, as all the women in this world strangely seemed to prefer violence over talking, only one option remained.

As he kept watching the girl approach, he started to chant.

"O Spire of the Eroding Coast, Tide that has washed since before the First Age, Tongueless Mother of Youth and Age."

Hearing him chant the honorable names of the Matriarch of Time, the girl paused a second, probably thinking Magna was saying his last prayer before dying.

However, she didn’t hesitate for long. Just giving him enough time to finish his prayer out of respect to the Great Mother, her figure suddenly blurred, and the next moment, she was in front of Magna again.

Then he felt another sharp pain in his chest. Before he could even resist, his body was sent flying backward again.

Blood gushed from his mouth as his body flew, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Then, with a splash, he fell into the boiling hot water.