Healing System
Chapter 79: Cold

'She is still staring at me..'

It had already turned dark, with the 3 of them sitting around the campfire inside of the cave.

Orin seemed to be in a bit better mood, definitely much better than when he found him.

As for Astraea? She was still a mystery to him.

The only thing Michael knew was that she was somehow connected to him, even going as far as to make him remember a fragmented memory from his distant past.

However, unlike him, Astraea did not seem that affected by his presence, though her stares were a little much at times.

Michael decided to be upfront with her, trying to gauge her intentions "Why do you keep staring at me?"

"I don't know" She replied with a shrug and continued staring, her silver eyes not showing much emotion at all.

He sighed and decided to let it go, it only slightly bothered him anyway.

And it was also time for him to attempt the so called training the system mentioned so many times.

Michael left the protection of Orin to her as he went a tad bit deeper into the cave, eventually reaching a spot where a single beam of moonlight illuminated the ground.

Sit down there, it's perfect.

He was a bit confused but nonetheless, decided to go through with it, sitting down and seeing the beam of moonlight shining down right on top of him.

From where he sat, it genuinely looked like he was in fact sitting in front of the moon, he didn't understand how such a small amount of moonlight could cause an effect like this.

'What now?'

Alright, hold on for just a moment.

Michael grew a bit more confused at the system's comment, however, he soon sprang up from the illuminated place as his shields had been instantly pierced.

What confused him was that he did not take actual damage, the dots depicting Astraea and Orin were still in the very front of the cave.

'What did you just do?' He asked in a weary voice, failing to grasp the intentions of the system.

Relax, sit back down and just persevere, trust me on this.

'Trust you on this? If you don't tell me what's going on, I will be going back' Michael said in annoyance and began slowly walking back to the very front.

However, the system quickly interjected and stopped him.

You are so difficult to deal with, look, I am heightening your senses to the very maximum, meaning the rate at which you absorb mana will increase, the downside is that you will feel the element more intensely... than usual?

'You don't sound very convincing..'

Look, if you want to increase the rate at which you gain progress for the next Tier, do this, it's currently the fastest way possible.

Michael glanced around one more time and began walking back to the beam of moonlight, eventually sitting down and awaiting further instructions.

However, none came, instead, he began feeling incredibly cold, the intensity increasing by the second.

'Is this what you meant?' Michael asked with a frown, enduring the ever increasing coldness.

It was not enough to deal damage to him, however, he could feel his senses being overtaken.

But as he thought that, the coldness suddenly increased by many times and his eardrums felt as if they had burst from the loud pitch noise that was ringing inside them.

Though even as the coldness grew, his expression still remained sour.

'How long will it take for my hearing to come back?'

Like 5 seconds? That is, after you finish this little session.

Michael clicked his tongue and continued bearing with the cold, his body slowly turning pale while some parts even turned slightly purple.

He did not like this feeling, however, if it meant he could get stronger just a little faster, it was all worth it in the end.

Just as he was beginning to slowly lose his sight, a sudden wave of mana appeared within his body, many times purer and more concentrated than before.

Michael took this chance to try bringing it to the bottom of his spine, that's where his threads started anyway.

'Do I try absorbing the mana into a certain part of the spine? Or does it not matter?' He hesitatingly asked for confirmation as he did not want to waste this pure mana.

It doesn't matter, in the end, once you have enough, you will definitely feel it.

Michael nodded and went through with it, sending all of the gathered mana into any part of his spine that he could.

After a couple of minutes of doing this, his skin was now fully blue, even slightly turning black.

'How much longer do you want me to keep going?" Michael asked with shallow breaths as it had gotten pretty hard to function normally.

He couldn't understand why this was so cold, how did the single beam of moonlight cause him to feel such coldness?

Aren't you getting a lot of mana though? What's the issue? If anything, I can cast a few heals on you, it should lively you up.

Michael's brow twitched as he was speechless at the system's comment, it wasn't wrong, but that did not mean he exactly enjoyed having frostbite across his entire body.

He was not sure how much mana he managed to absorb so far, however, the amount was certainly considerable, much greater than what he usually absorbs on a day to day basis.

When he walks around, a small bit of mana always accumulates, if he fights then the mana released into the atmosphere slowly gets assimilated with him.

Michael tried moving his arms but was not able to, the only way for him to survive, was to cast a few heals on himself.

And even then, this cold sensation would certainly not go away for quite a while.

'Do other people also do it like this?' He asked, wondering about the process of how others absorb mana.

There are certain techniques that help you with the absorption process, most are derived from what you are currently doing though, a lot of the people of ancient times were wusses, they were afraid of getting hurt.

'I don't think they were afraid, they were just not exactly suicidal' Michael chuckled, replaceing the irony quite funny.

'So, then what about the people who get a Mana Core and don't know what to do with it, do they get some kind of a technique provided for them?'

If they make it to the right world, sure, it's all luck based.

'How do some get stronger regardless then?' He was a bit confused, he doubted a lot of people had these kinds of techniques.

They fight, it's the most natural of all the methods, even coming close to the one you are using right now, though, some people are gifted enough to figure out a technique on their own, not a very big majority though.

'I see, that's pretty interesting..' Michael's words trailed off as he began losing consciousness.

However, a golden light enveloped him a few times, making his completely frostbitten skin, return to its usual color.

'That was not great..' Michael shivered and backed away from the moonlight, he wanted to rest for a little while before trying that again.

But as he was finally trying to relax, another thought sprung into his mind, causing him to unconsciously gulp.

'Say.. There is moonlight... Does that mean I will have to train under sunlight as well?'

Oh, you caught on, exactly, you will train during the day and during the night, it's pretty efficient.

'Fuck... of course it is huh..' He exhaled a cold breath.

Michael expected to rest for at least an hour, however, after merely 5 minutes, the system spoke up again.

Alright, that's enough rest for now, get back under the moonlight.

'...'