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The party stood there, watching the pillar of fire that was consuming the remaining wolves by the dozens every second. It was a sight to behold.

Astaroth turned his head slightly, looking at Phoenix. He knew a spell of this size required an enormous amount of mana since he had seen the spell before.

Phoenix was behind the group, panting and sweating, with her hands on her knees. Astaroth walked to stand next to her.

"Are you ok?" He asked her, in a low tone.

"I\'ll… be fine… thank you." She responded between heavy breaths.

"Mana deprivation could cause you to faint. Be careful." Astaroth added.

"I know. I\'ll drink a mana potion. It\'ll be fine." She replied, standing up.

"Did you learn Mana Breathing?" Astaroth asked, at her response.

He could see her mana bar in the party list. Yes, it had reached the quarter, which was why she was panting.

But it shouldn\'t be a reason enough to drink a mana potion when they were almost out of combat already. Phoenix looked at him weirdly.

"Mana Breathing?" She asked, her face a mask of question.

"Did your mentor not teach you?" Astaroth replied, his brow lifting.

"Never heard of it." Phoenix said.

"Gosh. Ok. Guess your mentor is less good than mine." Astroth said, exhaling.

Phoenix stiffened up at that statement. Her master was a great pyromancer from the Human Empire.

How could someone like him be of a lower caliber than another mage? That statement peeved her a little, while also making her curious about who Astaroth\'s master was.

"They taught you this Mana Breathing? Your mentor, I mean." She asked, thinking maybe he had just heard about it.

"Oh, yes. In our early days of training. He said it was important for the next step." Astaroth answered like this was common knowledge.

"Can you…" Phoenix started saying, before being interrupted by a map-wide announcement.

*Attention dear participants. We have reached an important point in phase one, and will now speed up the tempo. Only six hundred of you are left, and for the last one hundred players, you will have only one hour to eliminate them. Failing to attain this goal will cause penalties for all remaining players. May the strongest players remain!*

Following that announcement, a clock appeared on everyone\'s interface. It started ticking down from one hour.

"Looks like we have little time left here. We better get moving then." Astaroth said, looking at Phoenix.

"Wait!" She exclaimed.

"Hmm?" Astaroth hummed, looking at her.

"Can you teach me?" Phoenix asked.

"Teach you? Mana Breathing you mean?" Astaroth asked.

"Yes. If it\'s something that can help me grow stronger, I want to know!" She insisted.

"I… I don\'t know if I should." Astaroth said, hesitating.

"Please teach me!" Phoenix said, her eyes full of resolve.

Astaroth could tell she was ready to meet any price to learn the skill. But he wasn\'t sure he should teach anyone this at all.

After all, Aberon told him this was a higher concept. He was sure there was no risk of just Mana Breathing, but the problem lay in the accumulation of impurities that came with fast replenishing one\'s mana.

The others in the party had gathered around wondering what Phoenix was asking him to teach her. Astaroth saw them all around him and became nervous.

"Phoenix, I can\'t teach you this. It comes with risks." Astaroth said with a sigh.

He was trying to brush her off. But he had not expected the next words out of her mouth.

"I will use my favor. You would be rid of my part of the contract after. Is that enough?" She asked, almost sounding desperate.

Phoenix had noticed that Astaroth never went out of mana. But she thought it was because of an immense mana pool.

Now that she knew he had a skill to replenish his mana, she understood why he was not even trying to conserve mana. He theoretically had an unlimited supply!

Of course, this statement was a tad flawed, since he still had a limited mana pool. But his mana regen passive mitigated a big part of the problem.

Astaroth was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. He couldn\'t possibly refuse her demand if she used the contract clause, but he couldn\'t in good conscience teach her mana breathing without teaching her body cleansing.

"It will take more than that." Astaroth said, his tone becoming cold.

He was going to break them all out of the contract. He didn\'t want the contract, but he didn\'t want to put anyone in danger, either.

"What else will it take?" Phoenix asked, not caring about the price.

"All of them." Astaroth replied.

"All of them?" Phoenix asked, becoming confused.

"Yes. All of your favors." Astaroth confirmed, looking at the rest of the group too.

"Hold on! Why would we give our favors for her demand!?" Athene demanded, her anger slightly flaring up.

"Yeah. I\'m not sure I\'m okay with this either." Gulnur said, passing his hand on his beard.

"I don\'t really mind." I\'die said, wanting to avoid confrontation.

"The answer to your questions is simple. Because I will teach you all the same thing." Astaroth said.

"What would I do with a skill called Mana Breathing\'?" Gulnur asked.

"I don\'t even use mana." He added.

"Because I won\'t just teach you that. Mana Breathing is the first part of a two-part technique." Astaroth answered.

"And the second part is dangerous if it\'s not done right." He added, his eyes serious.

"That still doesn\'t answer my question." Gulnur slightly rebuked.

"The second part of the technique works for anyone and any class. It enhances your body entirely." Astaroth answered.

The group gasped lightly. A technique that enhances the body?

Would that not mean they could become stronger with this? How had Astaroth stumbled upon such a technique in the first place?

\'How lucky!\' They all thought.

That last bit of information immediately enticed the rest of the group. Right after, the contract interface on Astaroth\'s menu started flashing.

When he tapped on it, he saw the names of everyone on the contract grow dimmer. He received the request to teach them the two skills, in exchange for the aforementioned promised favor.

Astaroth smiled lightly. He didn\'t want to teach them this, but he had put himself in this situation.

He and his big mouth again had gotten him in trouble, as always. At least, no he would free himself of this constraining contract before it even bothered him that much.

He had all of them sit down. He started by grabbing all the Soul Cores and Monster Cores lying about everywhere, before coming back to them.

He then taught them Mana Breathing, just like Aberon had taught him. The only difference was that he didn\'t have Gulnur or Athena direct the mana into their mana lobe, since they lacked one.

He had them just circulate the mana through their bodies, getting used to the process. Once all of them had gained the first skill, he noticed some differences.

Athena and Gulnur had received different skills than the rest. It was called Mana Cycling.

He surmised it was due to lacking a mana lobe. It mattered not for the next part, though.

He then directed all of them into packing their cells with mana, forcing their bodies into becoming miniature mana batteries.

It all took some time, as Astaroth kept his eye on the timer. He also watched the player counter, noticing that it was barely going down.

It seemed like most of the remaining players didn\'t care what the penalty would be. They only cared about staying alive in the next phase.

After half an hour of teaching, Gulnur was the first one to retch. Soon after, followed by Athena.

No sooner than five minutes later, the last two started throwing up at almost the same time. Gulnur and Athena had complained in the meantime, the odor getting to their stomachs.

Astaroth had burned away the impurities, explaining what it was to them. They were both happy about their bonus stats, though.

The two of them had received stamina, instead of mana, from body cleansing. Astaroth guessed that might be more useful to them if the system changed the formula for them.

When everyone was done with expunging their bodies and listening to his explanations, Astaroth looked at the timer again. There were twenty minutes left before the hour allotted ended.

They needed to get moving. All of them started running through the tunnels, with Gulnur leading the way.

When they got to the last chamber, their jaws went slack. This chamber was different.

Instead of an enormous cave, with monsters by the thousand, another thing awaited them. In the middle of an enormous ceremony hall-looking room, sleeping a giant feline creature.

It had the body of a giant lion, but with wings sprouting on each side and a scorpion\'s tail.

"A manticore…" Astaroth gasped.

He enjoyed reading up on mythological creatures, so he immediately recognized it. Then he scanned it and his eyes went wide.

Manticore:

Level: 50

Grade: Legendary (Boss)

Health: ???\'??? Mana: ?\'???

When Gulnur saw the monster, he scanned it too. At first, he was okay, but then his face paled.

He dropped his hammer, his breathing becoming heavy, accompanied by the others in the same situation. When the hammer hit the ground, it made a clear dinging sound.

The Manticore started moving, as it got up and stretched, before yawning. That\'s when it saw the five players in its lair.

It looked at them before its eyes narrowed.

*RROOAARR!!!*