Moment before...

*A moment before the explosion in the cave.*

[0.0003]

[0.0002]

[0.0001]

[[Zone] has been disabled. Then the host will be in an immobile state for 10 minutes. ]

ESS notified Aiden in his head. However, it failed to induce any change. His eyes were still out of focus, yet he kept dragging his lead-filled body like a mindless puppet.

Each time his mana recovered, it was used immediately. And the [Wind Skin] had lost its effectiveness without enough mana. Scratches on his skin continued to form as his legs left bloody red footmarks on the ground.

However, he did not feel any pain. He wasn't scared either. Even though his body was moving, it was like he wasn't in control.

*Boom*

The explosion shook the whole cave, and the strong wind that followed sent Aiden's body out of the darkness into the cavern with five paths.

"What?" his consciousness didn't return alone, and with it came the piled-up pain and fatigue.

[The host has overexerted his mana capability. Current mana capacity has been increased to 14.]

[The immobile period is increased to 30 minutes due to the side-effect of mana exhaustion.]

The ESS continued to inform him in his mind, but before he could understand the meaning of those messages, the consciousness faded away from his body.

************

*About 17 minutes later*

"What did you say?"

People standing behind him couldn't see his face, but they could understand the emotion of their boss from the clenched fist and his voice.

"The city lord guard must be…"

"Not you?" Lord Arcid groaned in a low tone.

"He is the one from the western mountain. He had killed bully and also attacked the young…" He couldn't finish his sentence as Arcid's sudden blow sent him to roll across the floor.

The sudden blow took him off guard, and the necklace came off when he stabilized again. His body had returned to normal, and it exposed his bloody snout.

"Who told you he was from the western mountain?" Arcid's voice boiled in anger, but none of them knew whether it was because of the wrong information or because the man had hurt his son.

"But he used the mysterious wind power." Even though he was wearing a necklace, Lord Arcid had no difficulty in understanding that this time it was the man with scaly hands who had said it.

"Come here." Each of their words made him angry. He said, "Show me where you can see the totem on his body."

The body was ass-naked, there was nothing on his body that could hide the nakedness. There was a scar on his chest and abdomen, but there were no totem marks on the body.

"But..." he wanted to say something, but he could not find the right argument. Lord Arcid ignored him and grabbed Aiden by his shoulder.

"This is the boy who touched my son?" He frowned. But it soon turned into a smile. He said, "To think this is the same one who made my plan of three months wash down in the drain…"

Those around him stepped back out of fear. Their boss is someone who would bring destruction when he is angry. But to think that he was mad to the point of smiling...

'It is going to get messy,' their thoughts resonated with each other. But to their utter surprise, lord Arcid did nothing like that.

"Bring me the branding iron." His voice was calm.

"Boss, he is the slave of Jewel."

"Bring me the banding iron." his voice was still calm but none of them dared to say those same words twice. "Look for Kaiser, stall them."

As soon as he had said that, two of them ran into a cave marked with the bloody footprints. While another took the banding iron out and put a few mana stones of blood in it before handing it over to Arcid.

"Hold him down." He threw Aiden to the ground before cutting one of his fingers and dyeing the face of iron red. While three of his lackeys hold Aiden down. Arcid pressed the iron on his chest.

And Aiden's eyes snapped open. He was staring straight at Arcid who was casting shadows on him. By instinct, Aiden wanted to struggle but his body didn't move.

[The host is unable to move his body due to the exhaustion of mana, the use of [Zone] and fatigue.]

[Remaining time till recovery: 3:25]

But it was the least one of the worries. He couldn't move his neck, so he couldn't see it, but he could feel that something was spreading from the place where Arcid was pressing down.

[Foreign mana invades the body of the host.]

'The Slave Mark?' The fear rose in his heart as the mana ran toward his heart. The mana inside his body came into action.

[Mana used: 2. Remaining mana: 12]

[Mana used: 1. Remaining mana: 11]

[Mana used: 3. Remaining mana: 8]

The more his mana collided with the foreign mana, the more mana he had lost, but the amount of mana invaded had decreased a lot to his relief. But the amount of wind mana he had was far from enough.

[Mana used: 1. Remaining mana: 0]

[The host is unable to move his body due to the exhaustion of mana.]

[Remaining time till recovery: 8:05]

As the notification popped up in front of Aiden, another wave of exhaustion diluted his mind, but he dared not to lose consciousness.

However, he couldn't stop the mana that had penetrated his heart. Aiden gritted his teeth to resist until the end, but he didn't need to. As soon as the foreign mana entered his heart, cool mana burst out of his heart.

'Water?!' He has never absorbed the water mana inside his body, so he was alien to the feeling, but that was only a plausible explanation.

Unlike his pitiful amount of Wind Mana, the amount of mana that flooded his mana channel was too much.

'Alex!?' A tinge of grief appeared in the corner of his mind. 'To think that his mana would be the one who would save me...'

When Aiden was reminiscing, the mana of water ran through his mana channel, wiping everything out of the path. And that was the only thing it did.

[Foreign mana has been dispelled from the body.]

[The water mana is healing the host's body]

[Remaining time till recovery: 7:48]

[Remaining time till recovery: 7:42]

But it wasn't that smooth. From the day he had begun cultivating as a mage, wind mana was the only thing he had used. But now that the water mana was coursing through his mana channel, how it could be without side-effects?

[Unable to complete the circulation of the wind mana through the body.]

There was no way he could dispel all the water mana inside his mana channel, nor he could control all of them. He could only endure the pain.

"Oh!" Lord Arcid was astonished. Once the branding process started, the slave could only survive with the blood tattoo, or he would die resisting. He had never seen a case where blood mana crystals had been exhausted before the branding could be completed.

"You're different." Looking at the face, staring at him, Lord Arcid smiled. "Bring me more crystals."

His order was soon complied with. He put as much crystal as the iron could contain and dyed it with blood before pressing Aiden's chest again.

The result was similar. The blood mana came flooding in his body, and the water mana devoured them much faster than the last time.

The only change was that the amount of water mana in his body decreased by half, which also slowed down the decrease in the recovery time.

[Remaining time till recovery: 4:51]

[Remaining time till recovery: 4:49]

"Again?" Instead of getting frustrated, his face was getting brighter with every failure. He repeated the branding process. "Let's see who's going to last longer?"

However, the expulsion of the blood mana was much slower this time. But the water mana was still able to expel it.

[The circulation of the wind mana has returned to normal]

[Recovered mana: 5]

[Remaining time till recovery: 1:11]

'A little more.' Aiden cried out in his mind. More than mana, Aiden was waiting for a full recovery. The strength of his body had already begun to return.

"Whhalt ALe ylu Doling?" He could not speak clearly, but that was his only way to stall time before he could cast the spell again.

Arcid, who was putting mana crystals in the iron for the fourth time, was caught off-guard. "So you can talk? I was beginning to wonder why you are not talking until now."

"Stolp ilt." Aiden wanted to shout, but his voice wasn't loud enough.

"Why? Are you running out of your mysterious wind mana?" Although he was talking, Arcid's hands never stopped dyeing the iron with the blood.

Looking at Aiden who was staring at him, Archid smiled and said, "Do you know how much blood I've been wasting on you? Please don't resist any longer."

[Recovered mana: 5]

[Total mana: 10]

[Remaining time till recovery: 0:11]

He pressed the iron on Aiden's chest again. Aiden could only grit his teeth as the blood mana invaded his body. The leftover water mana rushed towards it.

[Remaining time till recovery: 0:07]

'Faster.' Aiden cried in his heart as the water mana was almost exhausted.

[Remaining time till recovery: 0:03]

Finally, the water mana was depleted and the wind mana clashed against the invading mana.

[Mana used: 2. Remaining mana: 8]

[Remaining time till recovery: 0:02]

[Mana used: 1. Remaining mana: 7]

[Remaining time till recovery: 0:01]

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used:2. Remaining Mana: 5]

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used:2. Remaining Mana: 3]

Aiden's hands escaped the grip of the pair of lackeys who held him down. The attack was sudden, and the result was devastating. Those unsuspecting bandits were sent to roll on the ground.

But Aiden didn't have time to look at them. The blood mana was about to invade his heart again.

[Skill [Wind Scythe] activated. Mana used:3. Remaining Mana: 0]

Another wave of exhaustion forced him to be unconscious. Yet he cried out as his [Wind Scythe] slashed across the throat of Lord Arcid.