"You're So Sinister."

In his past life, Shien had often seen various settings related to life force, making him quite curious about the nature of this power.

Especially the mechanism by which it could be converted into magic power, which had always made Shien wonder if those mages who squandered magic power would one day suddenly drop dead from depleting their life force.

However, in any story, people seemed to use this power as a matter of course and always ended up fine, leaving Shien completely baffled.

All these points of contention were eventually dismissed with the explanation, "It's just a novel, don't take it too seriously," and no further questions were asked.

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

Otherwise, this was going to drive his obsessive-compulsive disorder insane!

Vivian, of course, had no idea about Shien's thoughts.

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

"I don't think you need to worry too much about that," Vivian said. "Because life force is the power that any life form uses to sustain itself. It's the same principle as flowers, grass, and trees needing to absorb nutrients and water to grow. Perhaps without it, no life form could survive, but it can still be consumed."

Hearing this, Shien began to understand.

"Simply put, life force is like nutrition. It's needed to sustain life activities, and without it, one becomes malnourished or even weakens and dies, but it can be replenished, right?"

Many people understood life force as an individual's lifespan, believing that consuming it would shorten their life.

But in reality, life force is merely the energy required to perform life activities.

Life forms naturally cannot do without it, but even if it's consumed, it won't immediately lead to death. Just like how a person needs to eat to replenish the body's required nutrients and energy, life force can be restored through rest, sleep, and eating. At the same time, it is inherently something that needs to be consumed to maintain life activities, rather than a lifespan that absolutely cannot be lost.

Of course, if life force is completely lost, then life activities cannot be carried out, and one will eventually die.

However, under normal circumstances, this is similar to the principle of starvation. Temporary hunger will not cause death unless one continues to starve, which will then lead to death.

Therefore, life force cannot be absent continuously. Once it is not replenished and is completely drained, it's game over.

As for magic power, although it is converted from life force, the human body inherently needs to consume life force to maintain its life activities. Now, there is simply an additional function of converting it into magic power, which is one of the many life activities of an individual. Even if a large amount of magic power is converted, as long as daily rest, sleep, and eating are maintained properly and the life signs are all normal, allowing life force to be fully replenished, it will not be depleted.

"However, magic power and life force have a direct conversion relationship, and their connection is stronger than ordinary life activities. If magic power is depleted, it will also affect the body, leading to fatigue and listlessness, and in severe cases, even immediate collapse."

Vivian added these explanations.

"Thanks to this, when a person's magic power is in an abnormal state, it usually reflects directly on the body. You must pay close attention to it."

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

This skill could forcibly maintain Shien's life signs by consuming magic power, which was perhaps the best proof of the direct relationship between magic power and life force.

"Just like the human body, the world also consumes life force to maintain various natural activities, but life force is still replenished naturally, as long as the world itself has no problems."

Vivian pointed to the pool icon on the map and said to Shien.

"And these Magic Power Sources are like our own life force being converted into magic power. They are magic power converted from the world's own life force. If this magic power gathers in one place in large quantities, over a long period of time, it will materialize into a spring form, or even solidify. At that point, it will become Magic Crystals or various magical ores and metals."

In view of this, the spring water from the Magic Power Sources can be used for various purposes, just like Magic Crystals. Whether it's making magic potions, magic items, or magic weapons, it can all be used.

Naturally, the larger the Magic Power Source, the higher the concentration of magic power contained in its spring water. Some spring water from Magic Power Sources can even directly replace the effect of Magic Crystals, making them a very precious resource as well.

"The problem is, not only do we humans want it, but monsters want it even more." Vivian's expression turned serious. "Because monsters can gain power by directly absorbing magic power, these Magic Power Sources are extremely attractive to monsters."

As a result, various monsters naturally gather around the Magic Power Sources, and the larger the Magic Power Source, the stronger the monsters that inhabit it, making them very troublesome.

"Furthermore, the magic power in the Magic Power Sources can also affect and interfere with the surrounding environment, leading to the birth of some special monsters. The Golem from before was born this way," Vivian said with a smile. "It was probably driven away by other monsters targeting the Magic Power Source because of its low level, forcing it to attack people on the roadside and absorb metal ores to increase its strength, but then it met you. Its luck was truly bad."

What could Shien say?

He could only smile.

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

"Since monsters are attracted to Magic Power Sources, can't we just lie in wait near a Magic Power Source and eventually wait for our target to appear?"

Not only that, but if all went smoothly, monsters would fight each other for the source. Then, Shien and the others could ambush them, wait for the fight to end, and then reap the rewards, directly skinning the Fire Lizards killed by the monsters to complete the task.

"Fire Lizards are gregarious monsters between level thirty and level forty. Judging by the scale of this Magic Power Source, it should be able to attract a pack of Fire Lizards."

Vivian summarized it in one sentence, telling Shien that this was her plan.

To this, Shien also had only one sentence.

"You're truly insidious."

This sentence stunned Vivian, Tier, Lumya, and Merika, the four of them.

Immediately after, Shien changed his tone and added, "But, I like it."

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

This caused Vivian, who had recovered, to roll her eyes. Even Tier and Merika seemed unsure how to react, while Lumya still had her usual expression of acceptance.

"Well then, let's set off."

Vivian put away the map.

Everyone packed their belongings, tied the carriage in the nearby forest, and then entered the Mangal Mountain Range.

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