Chapter 42: “You’re Quite Underhanded.”

In his previous life, Shien has often seen various settings with life force as a thing, which made him quite sensitive to that kind of power.

Especially the kind where it could be turned into magic power. This made Shien always wonder if those magicians who just flung out magic without restraint might one day end up exhausting all their life force and basically die on the spot.

However, no matter which story it was, people would generally still keep on using that kind of power, and in the end, they'd still all be fine. This was something that Shien never quite got.

And yet this plot point would in the end just be brushed off with "it's just a novel, you'll lose if you take it too seriously", and thus not mentioned again.

Now, Shien felt, since he ended up encountering such a problem in reality, he definitely have to get a proper answer.

Othwise, that's the kind of plot that will end up forcing people to their deaths!

Vivian obviously couldn't know all the stuff currently going through Shien's head.

Thus, to Shien's question, Vivian just gave a smile in response.

"I don't think you need to be too worried about that kind of thing." Vivian so explained, "Because life force is the power that any living being uses to maintain their own existence. It's basically the same logic as the fact that plants need to absorb nutrients and water to grow. Although no living being could live on without it, but it is something that would still be used up."

Hearing that, Shien kind of understood.

"Simply put, life force and nutrition are basically the same, any living being will need it to keep on living, and without it they'd weaken and die, but it's something that could be replenished, right?"

A lot of people understood life force as something along the lines of a being's lifespan, and they think that using it up would eat up their own lifespan or something.

But in reality, life force is just the kind of energy that's needed to normally live.

Although life cannot get away from it, but using it up doesn't mean you'd instantly die either. Just like how a person would need to eat to replenish the nutrients and energy that their body needs, life force could also be recovered through rest, sleep, and even eating, etc. At the same time, it is in and of itself something to be consumed in the first place to maintain life functions, not some kind of lifespan like thing that absolutely cannot be lost.

Of course, if one were to completely loose all their life force, then they'd have no way to maintain their life functions, so in the end they'd die anyways.

However, under normal circumstances, it's something along the same logic as going hungry. Being hungry for a bit would definitely not make one die right away. Only if one were to continue on starving, would one die.

Thus, life force can't be lost continuously. If it isn't recovered and end up completely drained away, then it's all over.

As for magic power, although it's something transformed from life force, a person would normally need to use up life force to keep living anyways. All it is is that there's an additional use of becoming magic power. It basically just means that in addition to all the stuff one normally does in their daily lives, there's one more activity. Therefore, no matter how much you turn into magic power, so long as you still rest, sleep, and eat as normal, your living status is also kept normal, and your life force is still properly replenished, then it wouldn't be completely exhausted.

"Only, magic power and life force has the relationship of direct conversion, and the relationship between the two are stronger than that of normal life functions. If you end up using up all your magic, then that would at the same time affect the body, making you tired or affecting your concentration. In serious cases, it would end up making you faint on the spot."

Vivian added such explinations.

"Thanks to that, when a person's magic power end up showing abnormalities, it would generally also be reflected upon the body, so it's something to keep on eye on."

Vivian's words reminded Shien of one of his skills – [Undying].

This skill could, through the consumption of magic power, forcibly maintain Shien's life functions. Perhaps this is the best evidence of the direct relationship between magic power and life force.

"The world is just like a person, maintaining various natural activities requires consuming life force, but life force would still be naturally refilled, so long as there's nothing wrong with the world itself."

Vivian pointed to the pool symbols on the map as she spoke to Shien.

"These magic springs are much like how our own life force would be transformed into magic power. It's the life force of the world itself turned into magic power. If that magic power end up gathering in one place in great quantities, then over a long period of change, it would liquify into the form of spring water. In some cases it would even solidify. At that point, they'd become magic crystals or various kind of magical minerals and alloys."

Given that, the spring water from magic springs have various kinds of uses. Much like magic crystals, be it for producing potions, magic items or magic weapons, it could come in use for all of them.

It logically follows the, the bigger the size of the magic spring, the more dense the magic power is within the spring water. The spring water in some magic springs could even directly replace magic crystals, and they are a similarly extremely valuable material.

"The problem is, not only do we mortals want them, demonic beasts want them too." Vivian turned serious, "Because demonic beasts could directly absorb the magic power within to gain power, these magic springs are extremely attractive to demonic beasts."

In that case, a magic spring would naturally attract various kinds of demonic beasts from all around it, and the larger the magic spring, the more powerful the demonic beast that would rest near it, so it's quite troublesome.

"What's more, the magic power of a magic spring would even affect the surrounding environment, leading to the birth of certain special demonic beasts. The golem from before was born like that." Vivian laughed, "It should have been chased away b the demonic beasts that had their eyes on the magic spring due to its low level, so it could only ambush people by the road and raise it's strength through absorbing minerals and alloys. But it ended up encountering you, so it was quite unlucky."

What else could Shien say to that?

He could only laugh along.

However, thanks to Vivian's attentive explanations, Shien could finally understand why they ended up deciding on that kind of battle plan.

"Since demonic beasts will end up drawn to the magic spring anyways, we just need to camp near the magic spring and our targets will end up showing up sooner or later huh?"

Not just that. It everything went well, demonic beast will end up fighting among themselves due to competing for access to the magic spring. In such a case, then for Shien and the rest who are hiding nearby, they could easily sweep up the leftovers after the fighting's done, and directly take the hides from the salamanders who died in the previous battle.

"Flame salamanders are a herd type demonic beast around level 30-40. Based on the size of this magic spring, it should be able to attract herds of flame salamanders."

Vivian interjected with those words, telling Shien that she too has such plans.

To that, Shien had only one sentence in reply.

"You're quite underhanded."

Those words made Vivian, Diere, Lumia, and Melika all stop on the spot.

Directly following, Shien shifted his tone and added another sentence.

"But, I like it."

This made Vivian who managed to react again roll her eyes at Shien. Even Diere and Melika seemed to be a bit mad at him. Only Lumia was still like always.

"Well then, let's set off."

Vivian put away the map.

The group packed up their luggage, set the carriage deep withing a forest nearby, and entered the Mangir mountain range.