Chapter 89: They’re Gold Now

Magna checked the options one last time.

[Option 1: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to gain mana-detecting eyes.]

[Option 2: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to double speaking speed.]

[Option 3: Expend 100% of accumulated energy to increase presence detector range by 1.5x.]

He was still torn over which one to pick, but he had no time to waste, so he quickly weighed the pros and cons of each.

Starting with option 3, it was a great upgrade overall, but it wouldn’t do much for him in his current situation, since what he was planning was to fight the Faceless Witch head on.

Option 2 would help too, but not by much.

Cutting his chanting of honorable names from around 2 seconds down to 1 could matter in a life or death moment during a fight, but he only had one spell he could actually use right now, so it didn’t seem all that useful either.

As for option 1, Magna had a few theories about it.

As usual, the options didn’t say much about the actual power he would gain, leaving Magna to work out the smaller details himself.

The first thing that came to mind was that it could help him find mana rich food in the forest.

It was already a very good trait, one that could help him throughout his entire life and even make him rich.

But what if there was more to it than that? What if he could also see the mana inside people?

He was assuming that the Faceless Witch had depleted mana reserves, but what if he was wrong and made a fatal mistake while fighting her?

This trait could help him avoid that mistake.

If he could tell how much mana a Witch had left in her reserves with a single glance, that would be an incredible, game breaking ability he could use forever.

’Alright, let’s gamble on this one.’ Not wanting to waste any more time, he made his choice.

[Option 1 selected. Utilizing gathered energy to gain mana-detecting eyes. Prepare for sudden physical pain...]

He took a few deep breaths to prepare his mind for the pain, sitting cross legged.

Renna kept her eyes fixed on him too, wanting to witness the change herself as well as ready to move the moment he started making noise.

She had no idea what kind of pain he was about to go through, only that he had warned her beforehand to stop him from making noise.

Soon she found out why.

As the timer ran out, Magna’s eyes suddenly went wide, despite how much he had tried to prepare himself.

He was just about to scream, his mouth opening, when Renna slammed her hand over it at the last second to keep him quiet.

"W-What is this?" She kept his mouth shut tight, staring straight into his wide open eyes.

His dark brown pupils, along with the whites around them, were melting out of his eye sockets, running down both sides of his face.

She felt terrified, her stomach turning as if she might throw up.

But she forced the urge down and kept pressing her hand against his mouth, even as it shook.

She had to climb on top of him and sit on his body just to keep him from thrashing side to side.

"I know, I know it hurts, just hold on a little longer." Renna’s face had already gone pale, unable to even imagine the kind of pain he was going through.

It wasn’t only his eyes melting away, leaving behind two empty sockets. Soon, flames began rising out of those sockets, golden in color.

The sudden burst of flame made Renna flinch and jerk back for a moment, but she kept sitting on top of him, still pressing her hand down.

The golden flames were, strangely, hot and cold at the same time.

They even started to slowly burn and freeze Renna’s hand at once.

She gritted her teeth to bear the pain. ’What kind of flame is this?’

Being a Fire Witch herself, this was the first time she had seen anything like it.

It was even strong enough to hurt her, despite how resistant she naturally was to fire thanks to her own bloodline trait.

Seconds passed, and the flames kept burning while Magna continued thrashing on the ground.

Then they finally started to die down, slowly fading away and revealing his newly formed eyes.

Magna’s thrashing also began to ease, a sign that the pain was fading too, and Renna finally pulled her hand back.

Once the change was complete, Magna blinked a few times, his blurred vision slowly returning to normal.

The first thing he saw was the face above him, looking down at him with worry and fear.

"Are you alright?" Renna’s voice wavered slightly.

"Yeah." Magna said, though he didn’t feel alright at all.

The pain had been so intense it easily ranked among the worst experiences of his life.

"Your eyes changed." Renna leaned in closer, studying them carefully.

"Changed how?" Magna asked, still trying to catch his breath, curious himself now.

Renna didn’t even blink as she stared into them, like she was admiring her favorite piece of jewelry. "They’re gold now."

Magna’s dark brown pupils had turned completely golden, shining under the sunlight.

’Huh, quite a nice style upgrade. Now, what about the power?’ Magna felt quite pleased.

He wanted to get up next and try out his new trait, but when he tried to move, he could barely budge.

"Can you get off me?" He asked, looking up at Renna, who was still sitting on top of him, her face close to his.

"Huh? Oh, right." Renna suddenly realized her position and quickly got off him.

The moment she stood up, Magna noticed something about her.

It wasn’t her slightly red face. It was something in her stomach area.

’It’s just as I thought.’ Magna’s lips curled into a smile, almost wanting to laugh.

What he saw was a faint glimmer in her abdomen, a golden light gathered into a single glowing point.