In an abstruse corner of the hollow hall, a centipede crawled down the bloody path towards a giant archway, drawing nigh unto nearest corridor. Devoid of it's fate, the red armoured creature entered the corridor.

The creature sensed it, a powerful blood essence, it was close. Clacking it's scythed mandibles, it set off towards the source. But just in the moment, something pierced it's tough carapace. Directly in the head, as something tore through the insides. It was small, yet the pain was unnerving.

The crimson creature let out a loud shriek. Fanatically, it rattled it's mandibles, through the darkness obscuring it's vision, it searched for the assailant.

There was nothing. It's senses failed to detect the powerful essence. It felt something within the upper segments, deviating, bolstering, until there was nothing.

The sound of carapace cracking as it's insides erupted, filled the hollow corridor, as the gore smudged the walls and loitered the bloody path it followed.

***

Defeated [Sanguis Scolopendra Lv24]!

Additional experience is awarded for defeating an opponent higher than your level!

Level up! 14→15

STRENGTH +4

ENDURANCE +1

VITALITY +3

MIND +5

CLARITY +2

AGILITY +4

ADDITIONAL STAT POINTS +4

SKILL POINTS +1

Quest progress: 15/16

Alec looked up to the quest screen. One more to go.

He walked past the mutilated organs of centipede, colouring the plain black walls in a shade of crimson.

[Mana Sight]

Activating mana sight, he searched the area. Not here. He shifted his gaze towards the walls. Not here either. Suddenly, he saw a dim crimson hue filling the the corner of his eyes. Ah, here it is. He went past the bloody tatters of centipede's carapace, towards the remaining few segments of it's metametric structre.

It was three of the lower segments of creature's body. Charging the claws with blood mana, Alec dug through the carapace with his small claws, grabbing the mana essence, before pulling them out.

Blood Mana Essence(U)

Uncommon? Nice!

Nearly five days have been passed since Alec gained his first stigma. Needless to say, something had changed. The change was not a physical one but rather, a psychological one.

When Alec saw the centipede respawn, right in front of his eyes, he started wondering about the validity of his current situation and this whole place.

What was this place? Why was he here? How can a living creature just appear out of thin air? What was this system and what exactly was this thing called 'Mana'?

He didn't know, there was no one who could answer him either. But there was something about this place. The scientific topic from his previous world, Entropy.

Entropy was the natural tendency of things to lose order and become less organized. If something was left to itself, it would always become less structured.

Weeds overtake gardens. People age. Sandcastles erode or get washed away. As simple as that.

In essence, over the course of time, everything deteriorates. This was known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics and one of the fundamental laws of his world. The second law of Thermodynamics stated that the entropy of an isolated system will never decrease.

Doesn't matter if someone added a different form of energy, the fundamental set of rules, the world works upon are naturally irreplaceable.

If something had changed, was his understanding of mana. He thought that it was just a mere form of energy. A type of energy that works within the bound of the laws of universe. Which was partially true. It was a form of energy, which didn't work in accordance with the laws of his previous world.

When the centipede literally rose from the ashes like a phoenix, it crushed his every little bit of understanding he had, regarding the very basic nature of mana.

This world had a new set of rules. The rules from his previous world, which were, somehow, influenced by the mere existence of mana.

There was one such rule that he had discovered. And it had been a wild awakening for him.

The entropy of this place was constant. The perfectly isolated system existed in this world.

An isolated system obeyed the conservation law that its total energy-mass stayed constant. Most often, in thermodynamics, mass and energy were treated as separately conserved.

Because of the requirement of enclosure, and the near ubiquity of gravity, strictly and ideally isolated systems did not actually occur in experiments or in nature. Though very useful, they were strictly hypothetical.

But mana did not possessed the limitations that existed within mass or energy. If something had the tendency to block the path of untouched, natural mana, it must be, hypothetically, an isolated system. If mana can be blocked, the mass and energy had no chance from the start.

Such an isolated system was this castle. It was not natural. After using mana sense repeatedly, Alec realised that this whole castle was covered in a viel of some invisible barrier like substance that repelled the mana as well as energy, to even touch it's boundaries. Even his mana sight couldn't see past the thin dark barrier.

Such barrier surrounded the entire castle, making it an isolated system.

His theory was still incomplete. He wanted to prove that this place was natural, so, he started with opposite. This place was not natural. A process where one strictly assumes the opposite and contradicts themselves in the process.

For this he needed to check every corner of this place, he needed to be stronger. He wouldn't be able to leave this place if it was isolated as he assumed. There must be some loophole, and he needed to search for it.

And he finally assumed how the quests were triggered, when a green screen suddenly popped up in his vision.

Main Quest Updated!

Strange Fortress

You just woke up in an unfamiliar place and body. Explore the fortress to discover more.

Difficulty: -

Objective: Go deeper into the fortress.

Reward: ???

Clear condition(s): Leave the fortress.

New Sub Quest Generated!

Due to abundance of blood mana on the ground floor of fortress, blood beasts are spawning at an increased rate. Eliminate the spawned beasts, get stronger and evolve.

Difficulty: A

Objective: Reach level 16

Reward: Token Of Sylveous

Clear condition: Evolve once

The main quest reflected his subconscious desires, whereas the subquests were triggered automatically in accordance to the main quest.

He wasn't even surprised to see the option to evolve here. If there's mana, there was no point in brainstorming about anything without understanding the true nature of mana, so, he decided to bother about it once he reached the level 16.

For now, his only task was to hunt the centipedes. I wonder if people in this world would basically destroy an entire ecosystem just to gain some levels. That might have been true if monsters didn't respawn themselves.

He shifted his gaze as he scanned the corridor. Alright then.

[Blood Chains]

His mana surged through the empty space where two translucent crimson chains popped into existence.

[Blood Chains][Lv4(297/800)]

Power: varies (20+)

Type: Ranged, Status, Conjuration

Mana cost: Moderate, varies

Maximum length of chains: 2.6m

Maximum range for chains: 1.3m

Maximum number of chains: 2

Cooldown: 54 minute(s).

Allows user to conjure two blood chains.

The chains can absorb mana from surrounding areas and convert it into pure mana, can be absorbed by user, increasing base mana regeneration. User can manipulate the chains, can be used for attacking, defending or restraining.

[Effect increased by 300% for blood mana]

[Maximum length of chains increases with sill levels]

[Maximum range of chains increases with skill levels]

[Cooldown decreases with skill levels]

[Restraint]

The chain shot out towards the tattered pieces of the centipede, wrapping themselves around the few unharmed sections of it's lower body.

[Absorb]

The section of carapace, wrapped within the chains began to dissolve, turning into a vermillion mist before losing it's existence inside the crimson chains.

MP restored +53

Nice!

Their bodies were made up blood mana, so, naturally the blood chains were super effective upon them.

He had yet to try it on a living centipedes. He could've closed the range, restrain them and devour their very lives. But he decided to play it safe, for now.

He kept one of the blood chains in defense mode, while the other one to absorb the blood mana in the air, as he moved deeper inside the castle, searching for his new prey.

Right after he moved out of corridor, he heard some muffled voices. His small ears perked up, scrutinizing for the origins of sudden voices.

No, not voices, voice and it sounds weirdly familiar.

He quickly rushed towards the source of the sound. Scurring past the empty corridor and after taking a right turn, he reached a pair of stairways.

A human?

A man in tattered clothes, collapsed on his knees, with a blue sword in his bloody hands, balancing his large frame.

Human lv23

His muscled frame was covered with horizontal striations, radiating a bright vermillion hue, surrounded by two giant centipedes. The crimson creatures of blood were clacking their mandibles, shifting their segments, as they moved around him like a serpent.

Sanguis Scolopendra lv17

Sanguis Scolopendra lv18

Am one hundred percent going to regret this.

Mana surged around him as it began to condense down his throat.

[Blood Bullet]