"Man, I shouldn't have proceeded with that mana-slave initiation," Eric lamented shortly as he watched his new mana slave jump around, frightened and screaming.
She ceaselessly swatted something invisible away from her face, seemingly oblivious to the presence of Eric. But however she ran and screamed, she never went far away from Eric, who was sitting quietly on the cold, wet ground.
"What am I supposed to do with this resurrected lunatic?"
"And why does she have a screen too? I thought the screen was unique to me, and that mana slaves should only serve as my mana source. Wait, is she seeing everything that's on my screen too?"
[No]
[Displaying Mana Slave's status]
[Number of slaves: 1]
[Slave Name: ?]
[The slave master must give his slaves a new name]
[Slave's special ability: ?]
[Slave master can adopt a special ability for his slaves. Using the Mana God rank influence, you can transfer an ability to your mana slaves from one of your many abilities that you consider useless to you]
[Displaying Slave's stats]
Mana bar: 5 / 1,000 (increasing rapidly)
HP: 50 / 50
EP: 50 / 50
Strength: 70
Speed: 50
Stamina: 50
Willpower: 30
(Willpower stat for mana slaves cannot be upgraded by the slave master. The point displayed is the slave's original willpower before becoming a slave, and it remains dormant except in rare circumstances.)
"Aaaar!! Some get the screen out of my face!" She continued maniacally, running down the quiet alley.
"Ugh," Eric exhaled.
Only if it's possible to downgrade her lung's capacity.
"Okay system. Why is it displayed as a mana bar instead of mana consumed? And why is the mana bar increasing rapidly?"
[Mana slaves do not need to consume mana from dead victims before their mana bar increases. Naturally, they've become mana magnets, and that is the main reason they were selected as potential mana slaves in the first place]
[They, before becoming mana slaves, attract many things: men, animals, attention; they attract these things exceedingly. Hence, their ability to attract mana unconsciously is high as well. I once informed you that they can even consume mana from plants]
"So, anything is a go?"
[Any being except their master. However, even though they consume mana from any being unconsciously, they cannot pose a mortal threat to such beings, because they do not completely drain the mana from anybody. Just a little draw from a being — just enough for that being to start feeling a little less strong — then they automatically disconnect from that source… onto the next source with enough mana.]
"Interesting," Eric was amused. "I can never run short of mana. All I need to do is call on one of the slaves, then I drain their mana. They'll always find more anyway."
[Warning: draining mana from mana slaves should only be done in emergency situations since the mana transfer will leave them stunned and almost lifeless. Their recovery rate after that is also pretty slow.]
"Really, you said that before. Now, let's talk about their stat points. How did you distribute them? They appear pretty weak from what I'm seeing. I mean, 50 points for HP? That's like stepping on a worm to me."
[Stat points for mana slaves are gotten by calculating 25% of the slave master's stat points, because by the time she was initiated to be a mana slave, she was almost dead and all her natural stat points had been near zero. So, she had no stat points of her own.]
[Also, 50 HP, 57 EP, 70 Strength, 50 Speed, and 50 Stamina is not weak, even for a special being in this world. An average special being with good enough abilities possesses 30 to 35 HP at best, with nearly the same figure for other stats. Remember, you once had 25 Strength points even after you had consumed 3 mana units.]
"Hey, hey... let it go. You never loved peace."
"You said her Willpower stat point remains dormant. Why?"
[Is it not obvious? They remain dormant so they won't upgrade so much that they begin to think of disobeying your rules or rebel against you.]
"Hmm... fair enough. That's some freedom-suppressing shit right there."
"But can I know what she'll be seeing on her screen?"
Name: ?
Special ability: ?
HP: 50
EP: 57
Strength: 70
Speed: 50
Stamina: 50
[Words like 'slave name' or anything related to slavery is omitted from their screen. Also, mana slaves cannot see the mana bar, so they cannot know that they consume mana unconsciously or that they are a mana source for you.]
[They also cannot see their Willpower stat.]
[You are welcome.]
Eric took a deep sigh, partly relieved that he was done with whatever process the blood-bond entails, and partly skeptical that he had gotten himself a partner of some sort, be it slave or a walking mana bank. Truthfully, he had always wanted to be alone in his adventures, because he needed that personal space so desperately to get a clear head, and also to get as whimsical as he could without having a witness with a different vibe.
How am I supposed to be close to people when I'm doomed to be their end? I'll most likely kill them for their mana one day, or even worse, transform them into my mana slave.
However, I can't deny that I'll need a little army to call my own if I truly want to carry out this power upturn starting from the underworld.
It's no news that I'm strong enough as is, but I still need to get stronger. If only there's a way to be stronger without killing people for their mana.
Apparently, recruiting more mana slaves is a way to get more power without doing much killing. Even better that I have them as a never-ending mana source in case of emergency.
I guess I just have to embrace this mana slave thing. After all, there's no world-ender villain without some minions to fulfill his deeds. Not that I want to be a world-ender or a villain, or a world-ender villain. Shit, I want to be a hero with bloody brains, if that's possible.
I almost ended the colony, does that make me a world-ender villain? I don't know, but I'm definitely not a hero in any story or fantasy world. Even an anti-hero does things for a reason. Where's my own reason?