"You're Really Devious."

In his previous life, Shien had often seen all sorts of settings related to vitality, so he had always been quite concerned about the nature of this power.

Especially the mechanism by which it could be converted into magic power. It had always made Shien wonder whether those mages who squandered magic power so freely would one day suddenly drop dead on the spot after exhausting their vitality.

Yet no matter what kind of story it was, people seemed to use this power as though it were perfectly natural, and they always ended up none the worse for wear, leaving Shien utterly baffled.

In the end, such plot holes would simply be dismissed with remarks like, "It's just a novel. You lose if you take it seriously," and no one pursued them any further.

Now that Shien had encountered this issue in reality, he felt that he had to get a proper answer.

Otherwise, it would drive his obsessive tendencies crazy!

Naturally, Vivian had no way of knowing what Shien was thinking.

So, in response to Shien's question, Vivian smiled.

"I don't think you need to worry too much about that," Vivian said. "Vitality is the power every living thing uses to sustain its own existence. It's much like how flowers, grass, and trees need to absorb nutrients and water in order to grow. Without it, perhaps no living thing could survive, but it is still something that gets consumed."

Hearing that, Shien understood a little.

"Simply put, vitality is like nutrition. You need it to sustain your life activities. Without it, you become malnourished, weaken, and may even die. But it can be replenished, right?"

Many people understood vitality as something like an individual's lifespan, believing that consuming it would shorten one's life.

But in truth, vitality was merely the energy needed to carry out life activities.

Living beings certainly could not do without it, but consuming it would not make them keel over and die immediately. Just as a person needed to eat in order to replenish the nutrients and energy their body required, vitality could also be restored through rest, sleep, eating, and similar activities. At the same time, it was something that was meant to be consumed in the first place, used to sustain life activities, rather than some lifespan that absolutely could not be lost.

Of course, if one lost all vitality completely, one would no longer be able to carry out life activities and would ultimately die.

But under normal circumstances, it worked much like hunger. Being hungry for a while would never lead to death. Only if one kept starving would one die.

Therefore, vitality could not remain depleted for long. Once it could not be restored and was completely drained away, it was all over.

As for magic power, although it was converted from vitality, the human body already needed to consume vitality to sustain life activities. Now, it merely had the additional function of being converted into magic power. It was one of the many life activities a person performed. No matter how much magic power was converted, as long as one maintained proper daily rest, sleep, and eating, and one's vital signs remained normal, allowing vitality to be fully replenished, it would not be exhausted.

"It's just that magic power and vitality have a direct conversion relationship, and their connection is stronger than that of ordinary life activities. If you exhaust your magic power, it will likewise affect your body, causing fatigue and mental sluggishness. In severe cases, you may even faint on the spot."

Vivian added this explanation.

"Because of that, when a person's magic power becomes abnormal, it usually manifests directly in the body as well. You need to pay close attention to it in ordinary times."

Vivian's words reminded Shien of one of his skills—Immortality.

That skill could forcibly maintain Shien's vital signs by consuming magic power. Perhaps that was the best proof that magic power and vitality were directly connected.

"Like the human body, the world needs to consume vitality to sustain all sorts of natural activities. But vitality will still replenish itself naturally, as long as nothing goes wrong with the world itself."

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

"And these Magic Power Sources are like how our own vitality is converted into magic power. They are magic power formed from the world's own vitality. If this magic power gathers in one place in large quantities, then after a long period of change, it will materialize into the form of spring water. It may even materialize into solids. At that point, it becomes Magic Crystals or various magical minerals and metals."

Because of this, the spring water within Magic Power Sources could be used for all sorts of purposes. Like Magic Crystals, it could be used to make Magic Potions, Magic Items, or Magic Weapons.

Naturally, the larger the Magic Power Source, the higher the concentration of magic power contained in its spring water. Some Magic Power Sources even contained spring water that could directly substitute for the effects of Magic Crystals, making it an extremely valuable resource as well.

"The problem is that it's not just us humans who want it. Monsters want it even more." Vivian's expression turned serious. "Monsters can gain power by directly absorbing magic power, so these Magic Power Sources are incredibly attractive to them."

As a result, all kinds of monsters naturally gathered around Magic Power Sources. The larger the Magic Power Source, the more powerful the monsters dwelling around it tended to be, making them extremely troublesome.

"More than that, the magic power within a Magic Power Source may affect and interfere with the surrounding environment, causing certain special monsters to be born. That Golem from before was born this way." Vivian smiled. "It was probably driven away by the other monsters eyeing the Magic Power Source because its level was too low. It could only attack people by the roadside and absorb metal minerals to increase its strength, but then it ran into you. What terrible luck."

What could Shien say to that?

He could only smile.

Still, thanks to Vivian's thoughtful explanation, Shien finally understood why she had made such a battle plan.

"Since monsters are drawn to Magic Power Sources, as long as we wait near one, we'll eventually see our target appear, right?"

Not only that, if things went smoothly and the monsters fought each other over the spring, Shien and the others could lie in ambush nearby, wait until the battle was over, then reap the rewards and directly peel the hide membrane from the Fire Lizards killed by the monsters to complete their commission.

"Fire Lizards are pack-type monsters between level thirty and level forty. Given the size of this Magic Power Source, it should be enough to attract a group of Fire Lizards."

Vivian summed it up in one sentence, telling Shien that this was exactly what she had in mind.

Shien likewise had only one sentence in response.

"You're really devious."

Those words left Vivian, Tier, Lumya, and Merika all stunned.

Then Shien abruptly changed his tone and added another sentence.

"But I like it."

After saying that, Shien even gave Vivian a thumbs-up.

Once Vivian recovered, she could not help rolling her eyes. Even Tier and Merika seemed unsure how they should react. Only Lumya still wore an expression of utter admiration.

"Then let's set off."

Vivian put away the map.

After packing their luggage and tying the carriage up in the deep forest nearby, everyone entered the Mangal Mountain Range.

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