Mana Devourer/HHS - Book 2 Ch 3

“Markus?”

Markus barely heard his name being called. He shifted to look ahead, dropping the mostly unfrozen rag in his hand and finally acknowledging the voice tapping against his brain.

He looked down at Lexi, who might’ve been stood there calling his name for a good few seconds. Markus wasn’t sure.

“That is your name, right? I’m not getting it wrong again, am I?”

Markus laughed in spite of himself. Then he released a breath and felt the pants start setting in.

“No,” he wheezed, leaning up against the wall. “Markus is right.”

“Oh. Well, are you okay?” Lexi stared up at him with her big, sparkly eyes. “I had to call your name like five times before you responded.”

“I’m fine,” Markus promised her.

“What were you even doing?” she asked, looking down at the puddle of water Markus had until recently been stood barefoot in.

“Training,” came Markus’ simple answer, and that was the truth of it. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been at it for, attempting to freeze and unfreeze the rag in his hand, but what he did know was that his left arm felt like it was about to fall off from the repeated exertion, plus the fact his entire body felt fried. He staggered his way onto the edge of his bed, trying to open and close his left hand as he went. 

“Well, I’m here to make sure you’re fed and watered, that you have cleansing powders, the usual,” Lexi rattled off, speaking in a slow and casual tone. She did a little stretch and half-yawn. Honestly, she was slightly cat-like. 

“Also, I think Drathok wants to see you again, soon. Dunno what for.”

“Hopefully he hasn’t found something else for me to fight already,” Markus said, rubbing at his left arm with his right. “Pretty sure I’d just be a boney meal if I was put back in the ring right now.”

“Well, lucky for you, he mentioned something about that! He said he wants you to be more recovered before you have to go out there again, so he’s trying to postpone all of that.”

“Well, shit.” Markus tried to think of something insulting or bad to say about Drathok. “Guess it gives him more of a chance to sell tickets, huh?”

That was weak. Honestly, Drathok hate felt more forced than genuine these days. With the introduction of Elasar and Randall to the mix, Drathok was more like, just the dude that interdimensionally kidnapped him. 

“You’re really rocking that nomad look, by the way,” Lexi noted, pulling Markus out of his daydreams.

“I’m what?”

“The whole… dishevelled thing you’ve got going on. It kinda suits you.”

Markus was dishevelled? 

“Hey… any chance you could fetch me a mirror?”

A couple of teleports later, Lexi was back with a long mirror, holding it out for Markus. 

Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his own reflection…

His beard was definitely growing in thick now. Not only that, but he’d already been reasonably due for a haircut when he’d first been isekai’d, let alone now. It was definitely longer than he usually liked it.

Things like this usually didn’t matter to him. He didn’t get a chance to allow them to matter. So when Lexi mentioned that his new look suited him, he almost felt content to just let it ride and not worry about it. He might even let his beard grow long for once. He was about to thank her and switch to inquiring about dinner when she flashed away again.

She reappeared about two minutes later with a variety of tools, including some scissors and a razor.

Markus gave her an odd look. “I thought you said I looked good like this?”

“You do, but it grows unevenly. Let me tidy you up a little before it gets out of control.”

Was Markus supposed to say ‘no’ to a free haircut? They were one of his favourite necessities back on Earth. Sure, he was used to an electric razor and a trained barber, but…

“Eh, sure. I could go for a quick tidy.”

“Great!” 

Lexi put a sheet down around where I was sitting and then knelt on the huge mattress and sat up behind me. She ‘ummed’ and ‘erred’ for a second, then shook her head.

“This isn’t gonna work. Your bed’s too soft. I feel like I’m gonna sink in it.”

Markus scooted down onto the floor somewhere dry. Much easier for the four and a half foot Lexi. 

She started by bringing over a bucket of water and pouring a little over his head. The water was lukewarm, thankfully, and felt pleasant running down his shoulders and back. 

Next, she took a cleansing powder and emptied the contents over Markus’ head. She rubbed in the mixture, which both removed impurities from his hair and also seemed to revolumise it, then applied some more water to wash it out.

The stone floor of his cell was beginning to become wet where he was sat, but she simply stomped her foot and the water evaporated as flame licked from her heel. 

Imp mage equals ‘good with fire’ made total sense. Made the whole cell feel pretty toasty, as well.

She got back to his hair, working her fingers softly through it and pulling it all up until it was sticking out all over the place, and then smoothed most of it back and selected a particular set of strands around his fringe. She then began to trim.

Her movements with the scissors were fast, deft, and well-practiced. It was clear to Markus just from looking in the mirror that Lexi had likely done this a bunch of times, and she certainly wasn’t lacking in technique. She cut and blended his hair in a fast and efficient manner, holding up the mirror after only ten minutes to show Markus the progress and ask him if he wanted to take it any shorter.

It was a bit longer than he was used to, still, but he liked it. Definitely less homeless.

That being said, he was happy to keep it a couple inches longer than usual, too. He could go back to the length he’d had for years already, or he could try something new. Trying something new sounded like him right now.

Lexi seemed to approve. Wasn’t long until they got to the beard trim, or, more accurately, towel shave. 

She didn’t use the horrid rag Markus had been practicing with, thankfully; she’d brought her own. 

She pressed the towel to Markus’ face. It was wet and dabbed in water from the bucket.

Once she’d dabbed his cheeks a couple of times, she pushed a finger inside the bucket and cast a spell. The water bubbled and steamed. Once she recovered the towel and applied it to his face once more, Markus let out a sigh. Ten percent pain, ninety percent relief.

She unfolded the towel once and pulled his head back with her other hand before draping it over his face.

“Hold still,” she warned him, before gently rubbing and massaging the towel into his cheeks, the steam irrigating his sinuses, the heat unclogging his pores.

It honestly felt as if he could breathe better than he’d been able to in days. He took long, deep breaths as he enjoyed the feeling of the towel over his face. When he finally felt as if he could fall asleep sitting up, Lexi removed the towel, and he watched as she drew a straight razor.

She coated the blade in what seemed to be a soft gel of some kind, then touched it with a spark of lightning from her fingertips. The gel evaporated, sinking straight into the metal blade.

“What was that?” Markus asked.

“An apricot balm. Makes it easier not to cut you. Also, it smells nice.”

Markus liked apricots. It wasn’t his favourite scent by any means, but it was a good one. 

Lexi was just as good at trimming and shaping Markus’ beard as she was cutting his hair. Honestly, he wasn’t surprised. The whole process only took about five minutes, but by the time she was done, and had finished brushing his face off, Markus felt much cleaner and far more himself. 

Again, he still had a bit of beard left. She hadn’t taken him down to nothing, and he really didn’t mind it. Maybe the facial hair made him feel mature. He wasn’t sure. 

“Gonna be finished checking yourself out any time soon?” Lexi asked, mirror still in her arms. “I don’t wanna hold this up for you all day.”

“Oh!” Markus exclaimed, suddenly alert. He nodded. “Yeah, sorry. I zoned out for a sec. You did a great job.”

“I know,” Lexi agreed, not bothering to look his way as she hoisted the mirror over to the wall and planted it down. “Feel free to ask me again in a couple weeks, assuming you’re—”

“Still alive, yeah, I get it.”

Lexi snickered. “I was gonna say still here, but sure. Whatever works for you.” 

She glanced his way. “So… did you want anything else? Food? Drink? Etcetera?”

“You sure?” Markus asked. “You know I could walk to the mess hall and get my own food, right?”

“Nah, it ain’t a problem to me.” Lexi shrugged. “Even if I wasn’t asked to attend to you already, I can teleport. You might as well get some use out of it while I’m here.”

Markus ended up asking for another steak. That rasko meat he’d had last time was pretty good, after all. Couldn’t hurt to stick with what he knew.

That said, in typical Lexi fashion, she came back with a completely different meat with a completely different texture, drowned in a very rich sauce. 

Of course, she couldn’t remotely remember what she’d grabbed for him last time.

This was apparently bahrma flank, and honestly, it tasted just like beef. To the point that he asked Lexi to describe a ‘bahrma’ to him just to make sure it wasn’t, in fact, a funny name for a cow that the translator happened to miss.

Apparently, they were big and four-legged, but that was where the similarities ended. Barhma were covered in spiky shells and often burrowed underground, as well as happening to be delicious. Apparently, they were often cooked within their shells and then after, those same shells were used to create a broth that accentuated the taste of the meat and tenderised it further.

That was why his not-cow tasted extra-cowey, not to mention that it sliced easily and fell apart in his mouth.

Frankly, it was pretty damn good. It was a pleasant surprise to get something, well, pleasant when it was so far away from what he’d originally asked for, not to mention steamed. 

The drink she’d given him to accompany his food was kind of like dandelion and burdock if you turned the intensity up a few notches. The drink was so carbonated that Markus could feel it in his nose. He only managed a few sips from his cup before he switched back to water.

“You done with that?” Lexi asked, pointing at the mostly full jug of weapons-grade soda sitting to his side.

“Go ahead,” Markus laughed. “It’s pretty strong stuff tho—”

Lexi didn’t even bother to grab a cup. She began downing it from the jug like it was water, slurping it down and slamming the jug down within only a few seconds.

Markus watched, somewhere between astonishment and horror. Markus had a fucking Robust passive that made eating and drinking things easier! What the hell was this little creature made of?!

Lexi let loose a small burp, then covered her mouth. Markus laughed.

“Woo, gee. I don’t get to drink that stuff often,” Lexi said, grinning a little as she wiped her lips. “Still tastes just as good.”

Markus eyed the jug where the near-toxic drink had once laid. “Howcomes? Is it rare, or something? What is it?”

“It’s called Witches’ Brew, and no, it’s just rare that I get any. I eat after all the other imps usually because I work late. This stuff’s brewed in the afternoons, so I usually miss out.” She sighed. “I’ve asked Drathok if I could slip off for some before, but he always complains that it’ll rot my teeth and tells me to drink water.”

Sounded like a Drathok thing to say. 

“Well, fuck it. I’ll make sure you get some Witches’ Brew in future. Why do they call it that anyways?”

Lexi went from smiling and focussing to staring blankly. She rubbed at her temple. “...sorry. What were we talking about?”

“More headaches?” Markus asked.

“They don’t ever go anywhere,” Lexi reminded him. “They just kinda ebb and flow.”

“Want me to try healing you again?” Markus asked.

It’d been impulse. He’d forgotten for a second that he might not even be able to do that. Before the grimace could reach his face, Lexi shook her head.

“No. I’ll be okay. It’s better if you devote your energy to training. You’re the one in danger, here.”

Markus slowly nodded. He felt strange not insisting more, but truthfully, he hadn’t been able to provide her more than a bit of temporary relief before anyways. 

He resolved to find a way to heal Lexi in future. That might take some time, though, so for now, he’d just try to make sure she was stocked up on Witches’ Brew.

Markus went back to rubbing at his left forearm, which still felt numb.

“You hurt yourself somehow?”

Now it was Lexi’s turn to inquire about him. Markus shook his head and tried to dismiss it.

“Hey. How’s anyone supposed to help you if you won’t even talk about it?”

He looked down at her. Her arms were firmly crossed.

“You’re one to talk,” Markus deflected.

“Nice try. I know about the Mana Toxicosis. Drathok told me. He’s been looking around trying to find a way to heal it for you.” She paused, rubbed her chin. “Hey, that might be what he wants to see you about. Anyways, you looked like you were training pretty hard, earlier. Were you just trying to brute-force your way through your illness?”

I looked down at her. Her eyes looked kinda judgmental. 

“...maybe?”

Lexi sighed. “Listen. When I use my runic tattoos to cast, they start to burn when I overuse them. If I kept using one non-stop after that, I’d damage my mana channels.” She glanced at his arm. “You might be doing the same thing by casting that freeze spell over and over again.”

“I know about how your tattoos work. You told me before.”

“Well, I forgot.”

Of course she did.

Markus frowned as he looked down at his arm. “Anyways… I never had limits on how many times I could cast a spell, before. My only limit was my mana pool. I still have plenty of Frost Mana left.”

“Hey, I might be wrong,” Lexi admitted. “I don’t know anything about Mana Manipulators, or about Frost Mana. Is casting with your right hand easier or harder?”

Good question. Markus grabbed the same rag from earlier and tried casting the frost spell first with his left arm, and then his right.

His left burned immensely when he did it, but seemed to produce a more solid result. His right didn’t hurt quite as much, maybe due to lack of strain, but the resulting spell was definitely weaker, too.

“I think I’m clogged,” Markus admitted. “Like, my channels are congested, or something. Whenever I try to unblock them, however, it just hurts me more. It’s like I trade one problem straight for another.”

“Hmm,” Lexi hmm’d. “Are you in pain when you aren’t using mana?”

“Nope,” Markus said. “Well, besides the numbness in my left arm. I feel pretty much fine otherwise. Maybe a bit sluggish.”

“Have you considered that maybe you could work on improving your body instead?” Lexi asked.

“Like how?” Markus asked. “Dump a bunch of points in physical stats?”

“Well, sure, that might help, but points are only half the battle,” Lexi explained. She slowed down for a moment. Peered at him like he was an alien.

Which, in fairness, he totally was.

“You do… realise that points aren’t everything, don’t you?”

Markus blinked. He blinked again.

“Sorry. What exactly are you trying to tell me?”

“That points aren’t everything?”

Markus tutted. “Well, yeah. Sure. There’s passives and classes and stuff too, and—”

“No no, forget all of that.” Lexi shook her head. “No classes, no passives. I’m just talking about attributes here. How dumping points into a stat isn’t the only way to stronger, or more durable, or to have better control of your mana.”

Markus put a hand up. 

“Wait.

“Hold on.”

Markus’ brain almost broke on the spot.

She couldn’t be serious.

“But when I put points in Strength, I get stronger,” Markus asserted, trying to cling to his suddenly-fragile logic of the world.

“Of course you do,” Lexi nodded matter-of-factly. “Because putting points in Strength amplifies your base Strength. It doesn’t increase your base.” She bit her lip. “You… knew all of this, right?”

“Then how do you increase your base?” Markus asked, his reality suddenly shattered.

“Is that a serious question?”

“I… yes?” Markus simply stared at her. “Explain it like I’m ten, please.”

Lexi looked completely nonplussed. Her eyes were glossy as she spoke. “I… can’t believe no one told this to you. I suppose everyone assumed that it was so obvious that you didn’t need to have it explained to you.”

“Okay, I get that.”

“Like, seriously. How could someone not know this? I would’ve assumed that everyone—”

“Lexi, stop beating me with the idiot stick.”

“Sorry.” She wiped the smile off her face. “Okay. Serious mode. Alright, so, here’s what you need to know: levelling is a result of actions which gain you experience, and stat points can be used to increase your stats, which increase your potential in turn. But, at least physically speaking, if two people were to have the same strength score, let’s say fifty, but one of them consistently did intense labour, and the other sat on their butt all day doing nothing, who do you think would have the higher base level of strength?”

“The fit guy, obviously.”

“Right? Even though they have the same Strength score. They’re both having their stat enhanced by the same multiplier, but the labourer has a much higher base.”

When she put it like that, it made a lot of sense. Did that seriously mean that despite his large increases, he hadn’t been properly utilising all of his gains?

“If you ask me,” Lexi continued, “rather than putting all of your time and energy into forcing your spell to work, you’d be better served acclimating your body to your new level of strength. If you can learn what you can do and properly improve your body, you’ll see more benefits from your stat increases. Maybe you’ll even be able to deal with your illness better, though I’m not sure about that.”

Markus nodded and thanked her, waving her off as she left for her duties. Whether she was certain about what she was saying or not, it still felt like good advice.

It was true that since Markus had gotten here, all he’d really done was fight shit and do some rudimentary practice with his mana. A couple of sparring sessions. Jamming points into stats had substituted any kind of conventional training for him.

Sure, he hadn’t exactly had tons of time to mess around, but he had time now, right? He wasn’t sure how much of it, but it was enough that he might as well try putting his body to some solid use before the next bastard came looking to put him on a t-shirt.

So it was that Markus was determined to do something he hadn’t done since he was a teenager, something he was, until recently, pretty bad at.

Markus decided it was high time he started working out.