Ascending Endlessly: I Copy Skills

"To take this long to recover even after being healed by me, just how messed up did you get?"

A sweet, soft voice sang deep in my ear as my eyes opened slightly to a blinding light.

'Am I dead? A white light and the voice of an angel?'

"Really, Mason, trouble seems to follow you like flies to honey."

Oh. Oh, no. This wasn't the voice of an angel. My eyes shot open and my head snapped to the right. Fuck. My worst nightmare.

Sitting next to me was a beautiful, pale-skinned girl with white hair, from her head to her eyelashes. She was wearing a white skirt and shirt with an emblem of two crossing rings on its lapel. She was young and exuded an aura of elegance.

"Fuck."

That was all I could say.

"Come on, now. I know you still hold a grudge against me, but really… anyway, now that you're awake, I'd like to ask you some questions about the incident that occurred in the D-Rank dungeon outside of Oasis."

I couldn't believe this shit. Why had she come all the way out here?

"Shin Hye-rin, you really haven't changed. I just recovered from a fatal injury and you're already grilling me?"

A sour looked crossed her face.

"Just because you know my real name doesn't mean you should use it as a weapon. You say it with such a sharp tongue, you're liable to hurt my feelings,"

She brushed her silky hair over her ear and crossed her legs.

"I'm a busy woman, Mason, and this was a really bizarre event, so please understand my haste. Now, do you know anything about the mana event or not?"

I couldn't gather my thoughts. I already knew that I'd gotten injured… what happened again? Everything was in disarray, and I couldn't even focus.

The reason why was the bitch sitting next to me. Shin Hye-Rin or, the name that the entire world referred to her as, The Oracle. The most powerful individual alive was currently sitting next to me, but I didn't feel fear or reverence. I only felt hatred.

"Mana event? I have no fucking clue what you're talking about, so how about you leave me the hell alone and never come back?"

She uncrossed her legs and stood up, before walking over to my bed. Her footsteps were silent.

"Mason. Nobody in the world understands mana better than you do. I've done you a lot of favors, even if you refuse to recognize them. And now, I've even healed personally. Surely, if such a unique fluctuation of mana were to occur near you, you would have noticed something."

Seeing that I had no intention of answering, she sighed and opened a drawer next to the bed and pulled out my deck of Spectral Jokers.

"What is this, Mason?"

She pulled out one of the cards, fiddling with it a little.

"We found these clutched in your practically lifeless hand. Actually, you were dead for a little while, so should I say your completely lifeless hand? Unlike almost everything else in the dungeon, they were completely unharmed."

She sat back down, holding the deck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. If she figured out how to use them, I'm fucked. I started to panic, but didn't let it show on my face.

"I tried injecting a little mana into one and nothing happened. Three cards in here, however, have strange symbols. On top of that, the center of the explosion seemed to come from right by where you were. It even damaged the labyrinth. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to so much as scratch the walls of the dungeons?"

I did have an idea. Actually, I was quite shocked to hear that. As she was speaking, my memories started returning. Yes, I had caused the explosion. I remember the surge of mana caused from drawing too much out of the card. Ah, that had nearly destroyed my body. Why was I so reckless?

I should have known better. Of course my body couldn't handle the mana. Just because I was sensitive to it didn't mean I had a high capacity. I'd never tested it before. I shouldn't have made assumptions just because of my existing talent. Fuck.

I don't think I'd ever felt so full of myself. What prompted it? The sleeplessness? No, I couldn't blame it on anything. Everyone thinks they're above corruption. I should have known that I was no exception. Dammit.

But towards the end… an explosion. What caused that? I've never heard of something like that happening before. Think, think… How did it feel? In the split second before it happened, what was the pattern? How was the mana behaving?

"Mason."

Hye-Rin spoke sternly.

I returned my gaze to hers, locking eyes with the witch. 

"It's a memento from my father. I've been carrying it with me lately. Considering he was an artist who liked to make strange things, I don't really get what it's supposed to be, either. I must have used the excess mana building up in my body from the surge to protect it before I passed out."

She looked at me suspiciously, tossing the deck up and down in her hand before finally stopping and throwing it to me. I failed to catch them, and instead, they landed squarely on my chest.

"Well, seeing as they're entirely unreactive to mana, I have no choice but to believe you. I would be remiss to steal something important from an old friend just because of some silly suspicion,"

She stood and started to gather her things.

"Mason. If you know anything about this, you know where to report it. We'll have some of our people investigating for a little while, so it'll be even easier to get the message to me."

Just as she was about to leave the room, she turned her head and looked at me with a furrowed brow.

"Seeing as you've managed to forgive your father, I hope you can forgive me, too. I hope you'll one day realize I was just acting in the best interest of our species."

Then, she walked away. Finally, once the room was empty, I could breathe. Still, there was no way she believed me. That bullshit story was so full of holes. Being under suspicion of The Oracle was one of the riskiest things I could imagine, but she didn't lack decorum, at the very least.

It seemed like she'd just realized that pushing me further was pointless. Still, hearing what she said did raise some questions within me. I doubted the damage was much, but the dungeons were under the protection of the Human God. Damaging them was unthinkable. How much mana was condensed to a single point to cause such an immense reaction?

I considered the possibilities. It could have been that I cut off the mana flow reflexively to stop myself from being further damaged. That could have disrupted the circulation within the card, causing what remained to explode outwards. It wasn't unthinkable, especially considering I still had yet to truly understand the fundamental principles of the cards' functions.

Even so, why the hell was The Oracle here? Something like this was far too small of an event to garner her interest. Ah, there was one explanation. Because of me. I bet she heard I was found in the heart of the explosion and decided to come herself. God fucking dammit. Would I have rather died than been given another favor by her? I wasn't sure.

Still, she did a damn good job. My limbs, which should have probably been blown off, were in perfectly good condition along with the rest of my body. In fact, I felt better than usual. It seemed that her healing had done a lot more than just fix the damage in my body, and in fact, even repaired the damage done by my years of drinking heavily, losing sleep and overworking.

There was one thing I was pissed about. My scars. My body was covered in scars. They weren't new scars from the explosion, either, but all the old scars from my combat over the last seven years. She could have healed them, but she didn't. Damn it all. That considerate fucking monster. She knew how to perfectly manipulate people to align with her. 

Her healing skill was an enigma, among many other things about her. Still, it was one of her most incredible abilities. She could even revive the dead so long as their death was recent enough. It seemed that she'd done the same for me. It was a skill that was speculated to be even above S-Rank. Fuck, I wish I'd been able to copy it.

As hateful as I was of her, I'd have to accept the service this time. However, with members of The Order poking their nose around in my city, it seemed that it was time for me to get the hell out of here.

It was something I'd almost never considered. It felt like living in Oasis was perfect for me. A city of nobodies, people who had been cast away. I felt right at home. However, the only nearby dungeon was D-Rank. If I wanted to get better skills, I'd need to go somewhere more populous and with more dungeons nearby.

Ach. The thought of getting stronger. I just woke up from nearly dying, and I was already thinking about gaining more power. Am I okay? Have I gone mad?

I had to take a moment to consider my state of mind. What exactly happened, and would I let it repeat? Let's see. I gained a lot of power very quickly. However, I failed to consider the risks of utilizing it and dove straight into using it at full force. I got cocky and even started looking down on others immediately. 

Due to this, I almost killed myself. No, I did kill myself. But would this happen again? Let's say I copied a bunch of S-Rank skills at once. Would I dive into combat and use them all against an enemy that I underestimated? I couldn't let that happen. 

Okay. There's one simple solution. I have to vow that, no matter what kind of power I get, to always be cautious. It's what's kept me alive all of these years, and I can't cast it away now. I have to always be vigilant, just like I have been. 

I took a moment to firmly cement this in my mind. Always be careful. Always consider every possibility. Don't lose yourself in the adrenaline.

I took a deep breath, in and out.

Okay.

I think I'm okay. Getting stronger should still be my priority. After all, deep down, it's all I have. The feeling of obsessively studying mana application, the thrill of learning a new trick, all of those good feelings which had slowly faded had now returned. I just had to take my time. I Couldn't be hasty. Just like always, I can experiment and decide what the right course of action is.

Feeling a little mentally better, after getting dressed back to a normal set of clothes which were left for me in the dresser, I left my hospital room. Actually, it wasn't really a hospital. I was just in the embassy. The Order of the Oracle had one in every city, so they could ensure their basic rules were implemented and keep an eye out for anomalous behavior from The Gloam. 

Fortunately, nobody stopped me from leaving. Well, considering the card I held in my wallet, I wasn't sure they could even if they wanted to. As much as I was shaken by the near-death experience I'd just have, to be honest, it was only fuel for my obsession.

If such an explosion could be caused by pure mana, even though the amount wasn't that incredible, what was the mechanism behind it? Could it be replicated safely? Also, what was my limit for mana use? How much could I utilize at any given time? The second question was the most important. 

I had to figure that out ASAP. It would determine how strong I could be on a base level without using any skill cards. 

However, for now, I had to worry about getting out of this city. I didn't have much in savings, but I had one connection I'd never made use of. It seemed this would be the time.

I didn't bother heading home. All of my valuable possessions had been destroyed in the explosion, anyway, namely my light armor and Polarium knife. Considering what I'd learned, it was an acceptable loss. 

Instead, I made my preparations elsewhere.