Strongest Mage with the Lust system

Chapter 858: A Blessing In Disguise

Shua!

When his vision cleared, Max found himself standing in a volcanic region.

Just like Rima, he was also stunned to realize they were separated and also became worried for her.

Unlike her, however, he could roughly sense the direction she was in and knowing that as a mage nearing the absolute peak of Four Star, she could handle herself as long as she didn’t face opponents higher in realms head-on, he didn’t become too distressed and looked around the place he was in.

Immediately, he realized two things.

One, this region had highly condensed Fire Elemental Mana and therefore was a wonderful place for a Fire Elemental Mage.

Unfortunately, his dantian was locked so he couldn’t cultivate. Still, he could try to comprehend Fire Elemental Law, but unfortunately again, he only had one month in which he needed to collect at least 1000 Merit Points and find Rima.

Second thing he realized was that... he was surrounded by some strange beasts that seemed to have taken this territory as their home. Luckily, they seemed to be hibernating and hadn’t sensed his presence yet.

But Max wasn’t a slightest bit relieved because the weakest of these beasts, who looked to be made from volcanic rocks and numbered several hundred, was a mid-stage Tier 4 beast and the strongest seemed to have reached peak Tier 6, equivalent of a Peak King Mage.

One wrong step could startle them awake and he would definitely become their food because without him able to use mana, he didn’t have any hope of escaping them.

Even though his physical strength was quite high to the point that he wouldn’t be afraid to engage a mid or even a high-stage Five Star Mage in close combat even now, against magic beasts who possessed superior physical bodies, he was afraid he might not be able to compare with even an Early-stage Tier 4 beast let alone deal with these stronger beasts.

Taking a quiet breath, he turned around and started walking away but just as he took the first step, his heart skipped a beat because someone had locked onto him.

Turning his head in the direction of the active volcano, he saw one of the rocky beasts—the peak Tier 6 one—had its eyes open and was staring down at him.

Bang!

A split second after their gazes met, Max stomped the ground and bolted at his current top speed while cursing his bad luck.

However... he hadn’t fled even ten meters when...

Shua!

Bang!

A large, hill sized shadow appeared in front of him and before he could react, a sharp pain shot through him and his consciousness flickered like a candle in a fierce storm.

A moment later, he blacked out.

...

An unknown amount of time later, Max felt as if he was being cooked alive from inside out. He wanted to groan but couldn’t make any sound.

Moment by moment, his consciousness grew clearer along with the burning sensation and the pain became increasingly unbearable.

’I’m not dead?’ Temporarily ignoring the pain, he thought, relieved but confused.

’Don’t tell me the beast didn’t want to eat raw meat so it’s cooking me?’ He wondered in a daze because he couldn’t think of any other reason why he was still alive.

Then suddenly, he had a flashback.

Right before he blacked out, he seemed to have seen a figure in white clothes clashing against the rocky beast.

’So that guy arrived to save me from the beast but I was still struck and lost consciousness?’ He mused. Right then, his other senses became clear and he realized he was floating on some stimy material that was very hot and the air around him was toxic.

’Wait!’ His eyes snapped open and the sight of black stone walls stretching into sky along with the boiling sound from beneath him confirmed the thought he just had, ’I’m in the volcano.’

’When the beast was about to kill me, that guy appeared but I was still struck and was sent flying... into this volcano?’ He mused.

’Did that guy die? Or maybe he thought I was dead so he didn’t bother checking the volcano and left?’

He couldn’t hear the sound of fighting so he guessed the battle must have already concluded and either the guy was dead or left thinking he was dead.

’Forget it. I should first leave the volcano or I would melt into nothingness in a short—’ He stopped thinking about what might have happened and focused on his current plight. Then suddenly, a thought struck him.

’Why aren’t I already dead?’

The temperature of this volcano was so high that he should have melted within a few seconds after he fell here, but not only was he still alive, only his skin was burnt and flesh was slightly charred. This didn’t make sense.

Ba-Dum! Ba-Dum!

Suddenly, he noticed something and his heart started racing.

’This is... fire elemental mana?’ He thought, feeling an incomparably pure fiery energy enter his body.

This energy was also the reason why he was feeling as if he was being cooked because as it entered him, it permeated all his organs before converging toward his dantian.

Suddenly, his pupils constricted because he could now feel and access his dantian.

Not wasting any time, he sent his bloodline sense into it and let out a sigh of relief because his mana was still there even though countless cracks marred its surface.

After he observed his dantian for a while, joy flashed in his eyes. ’Truly a blessing in disguise!’

He had thought he was done for when he was transported into the volcanic beasts’ territory but what he thought of as a disaster turned out to be a blessing because not only he was able to access his dantian once again, but his almost destroyed mana core was now healing—the cracks on it were closing—as the Pure Fire Elemental Mana from the volcano entered it.

Immediately, he discarded the thought of leaving, suppressed his pain receptors and dove deeper into the volcano.

Feeling the Fire Elemental Mana become denser, he was overjoyed. Activating his cultivation technique, he started to greedily absorb the mana.