The Extra's Return



[Stigma of Darkness successfully absorbs Death Mana.]

[...]

As I continued to kill Golems on the way to the Nest of Darkness, messages like that kept popping up that I couldn't block. I just ignored it at first, but then I started thinking about trying something.

I thought the amount of Death Mana inside the Stigma of Darkness was sufficiently filled. At least it was more than enough to support my control over Nya Nu.

Since I made Nya Nu my slave, I had never used the Mind's Puppet skill again.

I had the thought of using my skill on Claude. Maybe, if my skill worked, Claude would teach me the skills he had before.

I remember when I successfully made Nya Nu my slave using the Mind's Puppet skill, I received a notification from the World System.

A notification telling me that there was a limitation, either on myself or on the Mind's Puppet skill itself, which made me unable to use the Mind's Puppet skill on targets other than Nya Nu.

I didn't know if that limitation still existed or not.

By the way, I've realized something about Stigma of Darkness that the World System didn't tell me, which was related to Death Mana.

[Mana Storage Limit: 600/700.]

The Mana storage limit on the Stigma of Darkness continues to increase. The last time I looked, my Mana storage limit was only up to 600, but now it has increased to 700.

The Mana storage limit didn't increase because I was doing meditation. I was sure of that. In fact, if it was the ordinary Mana Core that everyone has, the Mana storage limit would only increase when I meditate for a long time.

Then, what was the reason for the Mana storage limit in Stigma of Darkness to increase? Even though I haven't done enough to meditate to make my mana storage increase.

There was only one reason why it increased. I realized that as the Death Mana that Stigma of Darkness absorbs increases, the Mana storage limit would also increase. That's why the Mana storage limit in Stigma of Darkness was able to increase quite quickly.

I hope, with the increase of the Mana storage limit on Stigma of Darkness, I can use the Mind's Puppet skill on new targets.

[You activate the Mind's Puppet skill.]

I immediately aimed the Mind's Puppet skill at Claude.

[You failed to apply the Mind's Puppet skill to the target.]

[Advanced description of Mind's Puppet skill added successfully.]

[Activation condition:

- Skill can only affect targets that have Demonic Mana.

- Skill can only affect targets that have intelligence.

- The ability can only be used on targets whose power is lower than yours.]

When I received a notification that an advanced description of the Mind's Puppet skill had been added, I immediately opened the Mind's Puppet skill description.

What a surprise that there were already three points of activation requirements for the Mind's Puppet skill to work.

'Why wasn't this kind of description added a long time ago?'

Seeing that Claude was not affected by the Mind's Puppet skill, there was only one reason. He did not have Demonic Mana inside him.

There was no way he couldn't be affected by the Mind's Puppet skill because of the conditions in points 2 or 3. There was no way he didn't have intelligence and if his strength was above mine, it was possible, but he was clearly beatable by me, so he could be said to be weaker than me.

I then targeted Raiz and Sharon, but neither of them was affected.

I finally gave up on activating the Mind's Puppet skill.

***

"We've arrived."

Claude stopped our footsteps.

We had reached our destination.

The Gate of the Nest of Darkness.

Now I know why Claude only referred to this place as the Gate.

There really was indeed a gate inside this dungeon made entirely of stone.

It's very strange to see it here. Let alone the lavish carvings that adorned each side of the gate. Just looking at it made me imagine that I was inside a historical attraction.

'This gate doesn't look like it came here naturally. Was this gate made by the people of Marquess Stronghold?'

I suddenly remembered something about the Nest of Darkness.

If I remember correctly, the Nest of Darkness became part of the 7 mysterious places on the continent because the Nest of Darkness could move around and could only be found by chance.

Misfortune comes when you accidentally set foot into the Nest of Darkness.

The humans on this continent said that the Nest of Darkness could be everywhere. If you were sucked into the Nest of Darkness, you were finished.

Thus, the name Nest of Darkness began to spread to describe a phenomenon where there was a black hole that sucked people in.

In short, the Nest of Darkness was a black hole. I don't know if that description was true or not because I never saw the Nest of Darkness in person.

However, if the Nest of Darkness was a black hole, then this gate could have been built to cover it up. Perhaps Marquess Stronghold might use the Nest of Darkness as a trash pit? Who knows.

"How do I open this gate?"

When I tried to open this gate, I couldn't move it at all. I had pushed as hard as I could. It was really annoying.

"Yesterday, before Marquess Stronghold's soldiers told us to stay away, I accidentally saw them open it using a key."

"So we can't enter without a key?"

"Yes. I guess."

I wasn't so stupid that I had to use force to open the gate.

I realized that my strength could not destroy a large gate made of thick iron like this.

Only when my abilities were at the same level as my abilities in my previous life, I would be able to destroy this kind of gate.

Moreover, this gate may have had an unusual mixture of materials, which made it difficult to destroy.

In that case, I would inevitably have to find the key Claude was referring to first. It was likely that the key was currently being held by the leader of the Nest of Slavery.

My eyes automatically opened wide and glared at Claude. I turned my head slowly like a ghost scaring the foolish humans. My eyes looked straight into Claude's eyes who still had stupid eyes.

"Why didn't you say it from the beginning?"

If he had said from the start that I wouldn't be able to get to the Nest of Darkness, no need for me to waste time coming here.

I just wanted to quickly enter the Nest of Darkness and rescue the fox inside to confirm whether the fox was Reine Rosewood or not. If the one inside the Nest of Darkness was not Reine Rosewood, at least I could confirm it.

"So my trip here ended in vain?"

"That's..."

While facing my question, Claude rubbed his temples and a little sweat dripped down his forehead.

There was no other choice, I had to retreat first.

....

I almost left this place empty-handed. I was lucky that I didn't forget to activate the Judgement skill.

I managed to find out something that I shouldn't have been able to know thanks to that.

[Name: Iron Gate.

Description: An iron gate specially made to be able to keep the Nest of Darkness in position].

It wasn't the description of this iron gate that caught my attention more, but rather a thin scratch mark on the surface of the iron gate that I noticed more.

At first, I didn't notice it because the scratch marks were shallow, but thanks to my Judgement skill, I managed to notice it.

It was good that I was able to read the meaning of the scratch marks.

"For Reine Rosewood?! ..."

And... The scratch marks were intended for Reine Rosewood.

[Name: Beastmen Mark.

Description: Beastmen Marks was a custom of the Beastmen nation to make various patterns of scratch marks everywhere as a medium to communicate. Different patterns of scratch marks and the messages contained in the Marks are also different. Beastman Marks are widely used by Beastmen who fall to their deaths during battle or war. They tend to leave Beastmen Marks when they were about to breathe their last breath. To them, Beastmen Marks are the same as their lettering.]