SSS-Ranked Awakening: I Can Only Summon Mythical Beasts
Chapter 35: Mana Exhaustion V

Three days had passed since Damien began his hunting spree and since then, he'd exhausted his mana more times that he could keep count.

His summons had hunted down over two hundred Grade Six mana beasts and forty Grade Fives, most of their cores currently stored in Luton's (Universal Space).

While others might consider this a speedy progress considering the individual carrying out the hunt was still a bronze ranked Demon Hunter by normal standards, Damien himself viewed his progress as considerably slow.

"Damn it!" Damien asked as he watched his essence reserves dwindle once again. However, this time things were different. Still resting with crossed legs atop the there he'd mounted three days ago, Damien held a Grade Five Essence Core in one hand, slowly absorbing the magic essence within to refill his life force and essence reserves.

"I really need to replace a way to increase my own level personally as that's the only way to ensure the summons last longer." Damien rubbed his chin in thought with his left hand even as he continued to absorb the essence.

Despite accumulating Exp from the kills of his summons, Damien was satisfied. The fact that he hadn't slain these beasts himself made the Exp he received slightly smaller than they would've been if he went hunting by himself. "But then again, I can't go against Grade Five mana beasts yet and I can't face multiple Grade Six as well. The maximum is a dozen and even that requires full concentration."

He let out a sigh of frustration. "This sucks." Damien spat out. He scanned his surroundings for a moment and let out another sigh.

«-300 units»

«-300 units»

«-200 units»

Aside from the base 50 units per minute he expended to keep a summon around, Damien received notifications of large essence deductions from his reserves which hinted at his summons battling.

In a place full of demons and mana beasts left abandoned for over a century, targets were not scarce. Damien was sure the population within this forbidden land that spanned hundreds of miles had crossed a million with only one being a human.

Damien finally shifted on the tree branch and then in one swift move, he jumped down.

Thud!

A muffled landing sounded as his legs touched the ground after three days of staying on a tree.

He watched his reserves continue to drop slowly even as he absorbed the essence from the core in his hand.

"When I absorb the essence into my Life Force, it acts like healing magic, increasing the vitality that I converted to Magic Essence but the process is slow." Damien grumbled as his consumption rate of magic essence and by extension his Life Force, exceeded his recovery rate. For every unit of Magic Essence he recovered, he consumed ten of it.

"System, is there a way to increase my recovery rate? I'll run out of essence again if this continues." Damien complained. He had dealt with it repeatedly for the past three days and now, Damien sort a solution.

«Affirmative! There exists two ways to increase recovery rate»

"What are they?" Damien was elated by the system's reply.

«Devouring essence cores directly is the most efficient and effective way»

"But I don't even possess the (Devourer) skill. Only an (Essence Devourer) skill."

«The second option becomes the only option… For now»

Damien read the texts displayed on the panel before him, his eyes catching the last phrase 'for now' which meant the first option might become possible in the future.

"And what's the second option?" Damien asked, his eyes focused in the air, awaiting the panel response from the system.

«Level up faster. The higher your level, the higher your recovery rate and that's exactly what you want»

"I see. It seems like I've been messing around all along." Damien murmured, his words barely audible for even his own hearing.

Damien shrugged lazily. "Leveling up it is."

He turned around, scanning his surroundings once more. "It's all clear." As he spoke, Damien climbed back up the tree he'd jumped down from as he planned to do something he hadn't done in the past three days.

As he shuffled himself, replaceing his comfort on the tree branch, he gave out an order. "Activate (Sensory Link). The target is Fenrir."

Damien's five senses turned off for a second, his hearing and sight disappearing last.

Roaaaar!

The moment his hearing returned, Damien heard the furious roar of a beast and a second later, his sense of sight returned as well.

….Boooom!!

The explosion quaked the earth, the trees swaying violently.

Damien now shared senses with his summon, Fenrir, who was engaged in a heated battle with a mana beast of the fifth grade. It was a feline creature with grey fur and black stripes possessing quick reflexes that would make it a difficult foe for any other mana beast that was heavily focused on physical strength.

This time, something about the Sensory Link had changed. Damien could feel, see, hear, smell and lastly taste. Two new senses had been added to the list of senses Damien niw shared with his summon.

Now, he could smell it. The smell of greenery in the same way Feneir could smell it. Its heightened senses were new to Damien who felt more in touch with the world from the start perspective of his summon, the Monstrous Wolf, Fenrir.

He could taste it. The flesh and blood as the wolf bit into the beast it was fighting against.

He could feel it. Every claw Fenrir dug into its opponent, Damien could feel it all. Every movement it made as well. It all felt too real.

With blinding speed that blitz through its opponent defense, Fenrir should forth a powerful slap with one of its forelegs that connected with the jaw of its opponent.

Kraaa…

The sound of bone cracking could be heard clearly and a second later, the creature dropped to the ground.

Thud!

It landed softly against the green floor.

As he watched the wolf tear through a certain part of the feline mana beast, locating its essence core, Damien chose to cancel the skill. "Cancel (Sensory Link)." He commanded, his senses turning off for a second again.

He opened his eyes once again and found himself atop the tree branch, his essence reserves almost at rock bottom. "Alright, that's enough." Damien pulled out a wooden flute he'd crafted some time ago.

He blew on it, a certain bizarre sound filling the air for miles. It was a sound that his summons would immediately recognise and it signalled their return. He didn't want to repeat what had happened three days ago.