Allen fled in a panic for several kilometers before finally stopping to look back.
At the exact same moment, Roxy turned her head to look back.
The two 'exchanged glances' across the distance, then simultaneously turned away and continued their journeys.
The road wasn't flat.
Allen had just run down a slope, and the crest of the hill blocked their line of sight.
To be precise, if it weren't for that hill, Allen would still be running.
Phew... that was dangerous. Is this the invitation of a God? Honestly, seeing Roxy like that, I really wanted to say yes immediately.
Roxy has been traveling solo through the Asura Kingdom for years. Even though she's striving to become a Water King-class magician, after seeing my skills, her subconscious likely yearned for a like-minded adventurer partner.
Whether it's helping her disciple find his family after years of separation post-Teleport Incident, or feigning indifference when reuniting with her parents only to break down in tears upon realizing their love... it all proves that Roxy is fundamentally someone who cherishes intimate relationships.
It's just that years of discrimination—from the Millis Continent to the Central Continent—due to her hair color and stature forced her to adopt a cold facade for self-protection.
You could say Roxy has the most tragic backstory and experiences among the heroines.
Allen sighed.
The butterfly effect is already showing... but the System missions must go on. And I can't lose my pseudo-future sight.
Sorry, Roxy... just wait a little longer. It's not time yet.
As he muttered to himself, Allen slowly drew his sword. The moment the tip left the scabbard, he released the hilt, spinning the blade around his wrist using the handle as an axis—a butterfly knife trick performed with a longsword.
When he caught the hilt again, he held the blade in a reverse grip, the cold steel horizontal before him.
The tip hovered exactly one centimeter above the inner skin of his left arm.
Allen looked down at the blade, raised an eyebrow, and licked his lips.
Stab.
The blade sank into his skin without resistance. Blood slowly seeped out along the steel.
Without pulling the blade from the wound, Allen frowned and whispered.
"Healing Magic Crest, Activate."
The moment the words left his mouth, he felt his mana rush like water toward the Dragon Saint Touki Core in his abdomen. It 'climbed' the tree-shaped crest, which began to glow with a hazy green light.
Then, his body's mana was dyed in a green aura. This aura surged instantly to his arm.
The wound began to knit itself together, the damaged skin wrapping tightly around the blade, stopping the bleeding.
Allen stared straight at the wound, counted silently to nine, and yanked the blade out.
Visible to the naked eye, the wound sealed shut instantly. Not a drop of blood had time to escape.
"Healing Magic Crest, Deactivate."
Allen touched the spot with the tip of his blade. There was only a faint white mark. In the time it took to blink, the mark flaked off like dead skin in the wind, revealing fresh, unblemished skin underneath.
He smiled with satisfaction.
Activation time is instant, same speed as mana flow. Good. Very fast. It can be kept active during combat, effectively a chantless auto-heal buff. Tsk, what a conscientious System.
Healing efficacy is identical to Intermediate Healing.
Mana consumption for a 10-second activation... drain is...
Allen sensed his internal mana levels, and his face instantly turned ugly.
About 1/10th. That's way too much.
My internal Touki circulation permanently reserves 1/5th of my mana... I'm currently only at 4/5th capacity... Damn it. That single 10-second healing burst burned almost 100 days' worth of mana recovery.
Allen's mana recovery rate was identical to Orsted's: 1000:1.
Meaning, the amount of mana a normal person recovered in one good night's sleep would take him a thousand sleeps to recover. This was why the System called this the "Path of the Swordsman"—it basically killed any possibility of Allen weaving spells like Water Cannons in between sword strikes.
The other path, the "Path of the Magician," would have copied Rudeus's growth trajectory: immense mana, but a body unable to wear Touki, forcing him down the Magic Armor pilot route.
It was worth noting that the System copied templates from existing characters in Mushoku Tensei. The Sword Path was from Orsted, and the Magic Path from Laplace. Ideally, maximizing either path would result in becoming a perfect replica of those legends.
Of course, that would take a very, very long time. Without breaking the human lifespan limit, it was likely impossible.
Allen had analyzed the System before. He surmised it was related to the phone embedded in his forehead when he died. At the time of death, his phone only had the Mushoku Tensei novel saved on it. If he had stored more novels, maybe he could have brought in templates from other worlds.
A pity, but reality was reality. It was just a theory anyway. Even if he had other novels, who's to say he'd get more choices?
Imagine if the System didn't scan the novel text but randomly picked entertainment files from the phone... and I got a weird template. That would be a disaster.
Nobody wants the Makoto Itou (School Days) template, right? Reaching the 'Home Tutor Arc' only to have Eris cut off my head and take it on a nice boat trip... that development would be too cursed.
Allen exhaled. He 'looked' inward at the Dragon Saint Touki Core again. He moved the blade tip down and cut his skin once more.
I hope the Dragon Saint Touki's 'reduced mana consumption' buff stacks with this Healing Crest. If it doesn't, I have to turn this feature off immediately.
Dragon Saint Touki Core + Healing Magic Crest: Simultaneous Activation.
Wrapped in high-quality Touki, Allen pushed his senses into overdrive again to feel the changes in real-time.
A miraculous scene occurred. The crest began to beat slowly like a heart. The mana in Allen's body was sucked in like liquid and then pumped out to his limbs and bones.
No extra drain on the Dragon Saint Touki itself. Maybe because the crest is etched directly onto the core, it uses the core as a medium to siphon mana, enjoying the 'reduced consumption' buff without burning the Touki itself.
Mana consumption has slowed down significantly.
Again, after nine counts, he pulled the blade out. It was harder this time; the Touki-reinforced muscles clamped down on the steel.
Watching the wound heal rapidly, Allen immediately deactivated the crest.
He kept the Dragon Saint Touki active because the mana drain was now low enough that he needed the Touki's enhancement to perceive it clearly.
Activation time is unchanged. Touki provides no extra buff to the healing speed or efficacy.
Mana consumed for 10 seconds is now 1/50th of my total max mana. Meaning, one day of mana recovery gives me 0.5 seconds of healing time. A full heal takes a few days to recover. If used in bursts, it's sustainable. Self-sufficient.
But if I keep it on during continuous combat... My Touki permanently locks 1/5th of my mana for internal circulation. In an extreme scenario, I can burn the remaining 4/5ths to sustain combat for... 400 seconds.
Divide by 60 to get minutes...
6.666666666 minutes.
[6.]