Chapter 8: The Butterfly Effect Begins to Show, A True Man Measured in Seconds

Allen fled in panic for several kilometers before finally stopping to look back.

At that moment, Roxy turned her head to glance behind her.

Their eyes met for a brief moment, and then they both turned away, continuing on their respective paths.

The road was far from smooth.

Allen had just descended a slope, and the middle section of the incline blocked their line of sight.

To be precise, if it weren't for this slope, Allen would still be running for his life.

Huff... That was close... Is this what a divine invitation feels like? To be honest, seeing Roxy made me want to accept her offer right away... Roxy had been traveling alone throughout the Asura Kingdom for so many years, striving to become a Water God-level magician. Yet, after witnessing my skills, she probably subconsciously wanted to find a like-minded adventurer companion.

Whether it was helping her long-lost apprentice search for family after the Great Teleportation or pretending to be cold upon reuniting with her parents, only to break down in tears upon learning their true feelings, Roxy's actions proved that deep down, she was someone who valued close relationships. However, years of discrimination due to her hair color and short stature, from the Milis Continent to the Central Continent, had forced her to put on a cold facade to protect herself.

Roxy could easily be considered the female lead with the most tragic backstory and experiences.

Allen sighed.

The butterfly effect is starting to show... But I still have to push forward with the system tasks. And I can't afford to lose the pseudo-future vision... Sorry, Roxy... Just wait a little longer. It's not the right time yet.

As he spoke, Allen slowly drew his sword. The moment the blade left its sheath, he released the hilt, allowing the blade to rotate around the hilt in a full circle, resembling the flutter of a butterfly's wings.

When Allen grasped the hilt again, the blade was now held in a reverse grip, its cold edge gleaming as he positioned it horizontally in front of him.

The tip of the blade hovered just a centimeter above the skin on the inside of his left arm.

Allen looked down at the blade, raised an eyebrow, and licked his lips.

Then, he pressed down.

The blade slid into his skin without resistance, and blood slowly seeped out along the edge.

Without removing the blade from the wound, Allen frowned and muttered,

"Healing Magic Rune, activate."

As soon as he spoke, he felt his mana flow like water toward the nascent Dragon Saint Aura core in his abdomen, climbing up the tree-shaped magic rune. The rune emitted a faint green glow.

His mana was then dyed with a green hue, which quickly spread to his arm.

The wound healed, the damaged skin enveloping the blade's tip, and the bleeding stopped.

Allen stared intently at the wound, silently counting to nine before swiftly pulling the blade out.

The wound immediately closed, leaving no time for blood to spill.

"Healing Magic Rune, deactivate."

Allen gently touched the fine hairs near the wound with the tip of his blade. Only a faint white mark remained, which turned into flakes of skin and blew away in the wind, revealing new, unblemished skin underneath.

He smiled in satisfaction.

The activation time is the same as the flow of mana in my body. Not bad, it's fast. I can keep it active during combat, effectively giving me a no-chant healing spell. Hah, this system is pretty generous.

The healing effect... is on par with an intermediate healing spell.

As for the mana consumption... Activating it for 10 seconds drains...

Allen assessed his mana reserves, and his expression immediately darkened.

...About 1/10 of my total mana. That's... way too much. My aura's internal circulation already consumes a fixed 1/5 of my mana. Right now, my full mana capacity is only at 4/5... Damn it, maintaining this healing spell for 10 seconds costs me almost 100 days' worth of mana recovery.

Allen's mana consumption and recovery rate were equivalent to Orsted's, with a recovery ratio of 1000:1.

In other words, while an ordinary person could fully recover their mana with a good night's sleep, Allen would need a thousand nights to achieve the same. This was why the system referred to this growth path as the Swordsman's Path—it essentially cut off any possibility of Allen casually firing off water cannons between sword swings.

The alternative, the Magician's Path, was essentially a replication of Rudeus's growth trajectory. It involved forgoing aura and instead focusing on close-combat magic, eventually leading to the use of a Magic Armor.

It was worth noting that the system's templates were based on characters from Mushoku Tensei. The Swordsman's Path was modeled after Orsted, while the Magician's Path was based on Laplace. If one were to fully master either path, they could theoretically become a perfect replica of these two individuals.

Of course, this would take an incredibly long time, and without breaking through the limits of lifespan, it was unlikely to be achievable.

Allen had previously analyzed the task templates and theorized that they might be related to the phone embedded in his forehead before his reincarnation. At the time of his death, his phone had only contained the novel Mushoku Tensei... If he had stored more novels, he might have been able to bring in templates from other worlds.

What a shame. But what's done is done. I have to face reality and accept it. After all, this is just a theory. Even if I had stored other novels, there's no guarantee that more character templates would have been available.

What if the system didn't just extract information from novels but randomly sampled all entertainment files on the phone? That could have led to some bizarre templates.

After all, no one would want a template like Makoto Itou, right? Imagine reaching the teenage tutoring phase only to have your head chopped off by Eris and carried away on a boat. That would be way too messed up.

Allen exhaled and "looked" at the nascent Dragon Saint Aura core in his abdomen. He moved the blade down and cut into his skin.

I hope the mana cost reduction buff from the Dragon Saint Aura stacks with this healing buff. If it doesn't, I'll deactivate the rune immediately.

Dragon Saint Aura Core, Healing Magic Rune, activate simultaneously.

With high-quality aura enveloping his body, Allen overloaded his senses once more to accurately perceive the changes occurring within him:

Then, something remarkable happened. The magic rune began to pulse like a heart, slowly drawing in streams of mana and dispersing them throughout his body.

He didn't feel any additional drain from the Dragon Saint Aura. It seemed that since the rune was embedded in the Dragon Saint Aura core, it could directly draw mana through the core, benefiting from the mana cost reduction buff without consuming extra aura.

The rate of mana consumption had noticeably slowed.

Again, after counting to nine, Allen pulled the blade out. This time, it required more effort, as his aura-enhanced muscles tightly gripped the blade.

Watching the wound heal rapidly, Allen immediately deactivated the Healing Magic Rune.

He kept the Dragon Saint Aura core active, as the reduced mana consumption required the aura's amplification to be clearly observed.

The activation time remains the same. The Dragon Saint Aura doesn't provide any additional boost to the Healing Magic Rune, nor does it enhance the healing effect.

The mana consumed over 10 seconds is now 1/50 of my total mana, meaning I can use it for 0.5 seconds per day's worth of mana recovery. Using it once fully will take a few days to recover the lost mana, which is manageable. I can sustain myself this way.

If I were to keep it active during combat... My aura's internal circulation already consumes 1/5 of my mana. In extreme situations, I can allocate the remaining 4/5 to sustain 400 seconds of continuous combat. Dividing that by 60 to convert it into minutes...

6.666666666...

...

6.