novelraw Chapter 86 : Subspace Erosion
Chapter 86 : Subspace Erosion
【Subspace Erosion lv1↑】
【Death Mark lv1↑】
Russell stared at the two new skills that had suddenly appeared in his skill list. For a brief moment, he was stunned—then immediately exasperated.
Of course, only in the psychological sense.
Look at other people’s systems. A plain, ordinary skill and they’ll write a few hundred words of explanation for it. But mine? Not even a fart’s worth of description. Just toss a vague name at me and expect me to guess blindly?
The problem was—how could he guess? There was nothing to go on!
But thinking further—
“Those two didn’t even have these skills in their list. So why do they show up in mine now?”
Was it... indigestion from overeating?
Russell thought it over.
There was one possibility—not necessarily correct.
Maybe if a skill wasn’t at least level 1, it wouldn’t show up on the status panel. But if enough fragments of a skill below lv1 stacked together, they could combine into lv1?
Not impossible.
Come to think of it, Rozelite herself carried a 【Death Mark lv7】. At first, he thought it was something dangerous. But eighty-plus chapters later, she was still alive and kicking.
Russell tried activating the skill.
Nothing happened.
No, wait—
Something did.
Faintly, he sensed... a kind of mark forming inside his body.
It was formless, invisible, intangible, without substance.
Rather than matter, it felt closer to… mana.
Russell rubbed his chin.
Though only speculation, this wasn’t his first time encountering something like a mana mark.
Except before, he was the one branding others. Now, someone had branded him.
【Demon Seed lv8】
That was a skill Russell had obtained from the demon-forged sword. Its effect was to forcibly inject his own mana into another’s body. At the cost of permanently losing some of his maximum mana, he could occupy part of the opponent’s mana capacity, thus binding them under his control.
For most people, permanently losing even a fraction of mana was devastating.
After all, Russell hadn’t met many normal people with over 2000 mana in total.
But for him?
A few thousand points was nothing. He could burn it casually and recover the loss just by eating.
That said—【Death Mark】 was different.
It wasn’t consuming his original mana, but existed as an independent block of mana. It just sat there quietly, doing nothing—like a simple marker.
Even so, it didn’t feel like a good thing. Better to get rid of it.
So Russell decided to experiment. He activated 【Demon Seed】 against the faint, nearly imperceptible 【Death Mark】 on himself.
【Demon Seed lv8】
A torrent of mana surged forth. Russell branded himself.
The tiny death mark shattered instantly, like a lone boat swallowed by a storm. Within a blink, it was gone completely.
The skill vanished.
But there was a price.
Russell noticed his maximum mana had permanently decreased by 5 points.
Then he glanced at the seventy or eighty thousand points he’d just gained from devouring the undead dragon and knight.
“...That’s it?”
There was no comparison. Hardly worth mentioning.
Thinking further, Rozelite also carried a 【Death Mark】. Could he erase hers the same way? But since she didn’t have MP at all, he’d have to consider another method.
For now, he shelved the thought, planning to experiment once they left the labyrinth.
As for the other skill…
【Subspace Erosion lv1】
Before, he had only seen it as a 【Status】. But for him, it had become an active skill.
Unlike 【Death Mark】, this was clearly something he could use.
Russell extended a tentacle and activated 【Subspace Erosion lv1】.
At once, pale violet markings spread across the light-blue surface of the tentacle. Not as stark as the undead dragon or knight’s, but eerie nonetheless.
When he deactivated the skill, the markings vanished.
“Interesting.”
He tested it several times.
Each time, 【Subspace Erosion】 consumed mana.
Comparing it, its cost was about the same as 【Mana Enhancement lv2】.
But in terms of effect, the power increase was even greater than 【Mana Enhancement lv3】.
In other words...
This skill functioned as a kind of strength amplifier.
Nothing else special.
No grotesque transformation into a tentacle monster, no horrific side effects.
...Or perhaps not.
Maybe the slime’s biology was just too bizarre, so he couldn’t perceive the changes?
“Sigh. If only I had a system that could talk and explain these things to me.”
But no.
Russell had drawn the short straw. A mute system. His achievements to this day were earned by his own sweat and effort.
Rozelite’s wings flared again.
Her body lifted into the sky, gaze fixed on the colossal shadow of the castle looming at the world’s end.
That was likely the labyrinth’s true core.
Stretching out before it lay a forest several kilometers long, shrouded in shadow so dense the interior was hidden from sight.
Rozelite flew directly above it, bypassing the forest entirely.
Her eyes drifted downward. Was it her imagination? She felt as though something inside the forest was watching her.
“Forget the trash mobs,” Russell’s voice rang.
“It’s a waste of time. Head straight to the castle.”
“Mm.”
Rozelite ignored the forest’s disturbances. Her wings beat as she flew straight to the castle gates.
The gate towered over ten meters high, seemingly forged from black iron—cold, smooth, featureless.
No decorations, no markings.
Rozelite tilted her head, then raised a hand to knock gently twice.
Naturally, there was no reply.
“Mr. Slime,” Rozelite asked curiously, “how do we open this gate?”
Russell paused.
He thought carefully.
Normally, in labyrinth logic, clearing the mobs allowed entry to the boss chamber.
Had they broken the sequence? By using 【Flight】 to skip the forest, had they bypassed the mechanism? Was the key hidden there, requiring them to clear it properly to open the gate?
What a hassle.
“Just use that move,” Russell said.
Rozelite pressed her little finger against the Astral Silver Ring.
In the next instant, the Astral Silver Sword materialized before her.
She grasped the hilt, lifted it, and leveled the blade at the silent, unmoving gate.
“Forgive the intrusion.”