"You probably already know that I am unable to increase my level." Alex began and then took a small breath. He thought of the best way to clearly explain his dilemma in the hopes that Hunter Zol would understand and probably have a solution for him.
"Whenever I refine mana, it goes into my mana storage organelle and this is then used to slowly infuse my body, gradually making it stronger and stronger. It's probably the reason my awakening stats were in the Class E category.
However, when I wish to use my ability, the energy doesn't come from the manitoria, it comes from someplace else." He said, giving Zol a look to convey where he thought the energy was coming from.
"I see..." He muttered, staring at Alex more carefully than before. His divine sense was at work again, looking at what Alex described.
He noticed his manitoria saturated with mana with none of it going towards his mana channels.
'Interesting… I missed it initially because I assumed he was not actively circulating his mana. But that didn't seem to be the case.' His senses moved to Ross and Julia and noticed how their mana channels had small traces of mana within.
This was normal as the mana channels never stayed completely dry, except when one ran out of magical energy. But Alex had nothing flowing through his. Everything seemed fine regardless.
'But where does the stored energy go?'
"Activate your ability for me." He instructed and as if by instinct, Ross and Julia distanced themselves a bit from Alex.
Their action promptly caught his attention, 'it couldn't be…' His mind raced with the only possibility as to why close friends would distance themselves from one another.
What they did was an instinctual reaction hunters had when they were exposed to void aura or had very little resistance to it as a result of their low levels.
"Yes," Alex said and lifted his right hand. He was not worried about Hunter Zol feeling uncomfortable like Ross and Julia.
Zol made sure to keep his divine sense on his system to observe what happened and he was surprised both internally and externally.
Internally because, just as Alex had mentioned, the energy came from an unknown area close to his solar plexus, as if it just appeared out of thin air.
Externally because, the aura the ability Alex conjured gave off the familiar feeling of the void. His heart skipped a beat the moment he felt it, rendering him speechless for a moment.
'So Mason was right… And if he is, Alex and that woman may be similar. This could also mean what Alex said about the multiverse is also true and that woman and the void creature could be from one of them and that veil tear was…' The more Zol thought about it, the more the implications scared him.
Luckily, as a Class S awakened, his actions could be so swift, that it might as well not happen. However, that brief pause was enough for Ross and Julia to understand that he knew something.
For the first time, Julia saw a shocked look on her uncle's face. 'He definitely knows something. Big brother mentioned how the aura was similar to void creatures, cosmic mana waves and veiled spaces…'
Julia's heartbeat subtly began to beat faster as she waited for her uncle to continue. She felt they were getting close to discovering what was wrong with Alex.
Of course, because she and Ross were missing a huge chunk of information, they misunderstood his surprised expression for knowing something that could help.
Alex waited for Hunter Zol to say something as he powered the small construct he made in his palm.
"You can stop now," Alex obeyed and depowered the construct and the energy disappeared as if it was never there.
'The implications could spell danger for him if others found out. But The Order should already be aware of this and if they already know about the cat woman, then this makes a bit of sense.'
His gaze lingered on the boy as he observed every aspect of his being. Everything had returned to normal, but the manitoria was still packed with mana.
"Before we continue, is there nothing else the mana within you does?" That also did not make sense. The stored mana seemed to have stopped infusing the surrounding organelles and cells. It couldn't be that useless.
The energy was there, so it had to be used…
"Not that I'm aware of and I've tried everything. Before when I cultivated, the stored mana would diffuse in the cells, resulting in my physicals being better. But now, it just remains stored and inactive."
Alex explained and the more they listened, the more intrigued they became. Even Ross and Julia were not aware of that aspect.
They only knew his level wasn't increasing and the energy that powered his abilities was not mana but something else.
"Mm…" Zol acknowledged, lost in thought about the issue.
From his understanding, mana strengthened a person the more they increased their levels and was not for increasing physical stats.
'Seraph may be on to something. His body is being strengthened to channel the void energy, and right now, he seems to have reached a plateau. Now, the question is…'
"Do you have ideas as to what can help you increase your level?"
"Wait, I thought you knew what was wrong with him?" Julia interjected, confused as to why her uncle would ask that when he clearly showed a shocked expression that more than told them of his knowledge.
"You're mistaken, Julia. While I was surprised by feeling the familiar aura, it didn't mean I knew what was causing him to remain at the same level."
"Then..."
Before Julia could ask a follow-up, Zol said, "Let us hear from Alex first"
Everyone then turned to Alex who shook his head. How was he supposed to know that? The energy he channelled came from a space he wasn't sure he could access again. This energy was not something he could obtain from their world.
Veiled spaces, void creatures and veil tears simply gave off that aura and had small traces of that energy, and it was still dangerous to hunters that they had to wait for the lingering energy to dissipate before they could make use of the void creatures.
'I have to find a way, or I'll be stuck here forever with only my physical strength.' This was a recurring thought in his life now. He was stuck and had no idea what to do.
'But there has to be more to the mana stored in my cells, right?'