Butterfly Effect First Appears, A True Man Measured in Seconds

Allen fled several kilometers before stopping and looking back.

Just then, Lokkishi turned her head to look back as well.

They 'met' each other's gaze, then both turned and continued on their way.

The path wasn't smooth.

Allen had just descended a slope, and the middle section of it blocked their view of each other.

To be precise, if not for that slope, Allen would still be running.

Phew. That was close. Is this what a god's invitation feels like? Honestly, seeing Lokkishi, I really wanted to say yes immediately. Lokkishi has been traveling alone in the Asura Kingdom for so many years since the Great Transfer. Even though she's currently working towards becoming a Water God-level mage, after seeing my skills, she probably subconsciously wants to find a like-minded adventurer companion.

Whether it was helping her disciple, whom she hadn't seen in years, search the world for relatives after the Great Transfer, or feigning indifference when she reunited with her parents, only to break down crying upon learning their true feelings, it all proved that Lokkishi is fundamentally someone who values close relationships. It's just that for so many years, because of her hair color and short stature, she's been discriminated against all the way from the Milis Continent to the Central Continent, which has led her to always feign indifference to protect herself.

Lokkishi could arguably be the female lead with the most tragic background and experiences.

Allen sighed.

The butterfly effect is starting to show, but the System tasks still need to be pushed forward, and also, I can't give up on pseudo-future sight. Sorry, Lokkishi… just wait a little longer. It's not time yet.

As he spoke, Allen slowly drew his sword. The moment the blade left its sheath, the hilt slipped from his hand, and the blade spun around his wrist using the hilt as an axis, like a fluttering butterfly.

When Allen caught the hilt again, the blade was already gripped in his reverse hand, its cold gleam reflecting as it lay horizontally before him.

The tip of the blade hovered exactly one centimeter above the skin on the inside of his left arm.

Allen looked down at the blade tip, his eyebrows raised high, and licked his lips.

He pushed down.

The blade effortlessly pierced his skin, and blood slowly seeped out along its surface.

Without removing the blade from the wound, Allen frowned and murmured, "Healing Spell Rune, activate."

As soon as the words left his lips, he felt his Mana rush like water towards the Dragon Saint Battle Qi Core Embryo in his abdomen, 'climbing' onto the tree-shaped rune. The tree glowed with a hazy green light.

Then, the Mana in his body seemed to be dyed, coated in a green halo, which surged along with the Mana, instantly reaching his arm.

The wound healed, the broken skin enveloped the blade tip, and the bleeding stopped.

Allen stared intently at the wound, counted to nine, and quickly pulled the blade out.

Visibly, the wound immediately sealed, not even allowing blood to flow out.

"Healing Spell Rune, deactivate."

Allen lightly touched the fine hairs around the wound with the tip of his blade. There was only a shallow white mark there, and in the blink of an eye, the white mark turned into skin flakes and was blown away by the wind, revealing newborn skin beneath.

He smiled with satisfaction.

The activation time is the same as the Mana flow time in the body. Not bad, very fast. It can also remain active during combat, essentially providing a no-chant healing spell. Tsk, what a considerate System.

The healing effect is no different from an intermediate healing spell.

The Mana consumption… for 10 seconds of activation, the loss…

Allen felt his Mana reserves, and his expression immediately turned grim.

About 1/10… that's too much. The fixed Mana cost for my Fighting Spirit inner circulation is constantly around one-fifth. Now I'm only at 4/5 of my full Mana. Damn it, the Mana lost from a single 10-second healing spell will take me almost a hundred days to recover.

Allen's Mana consumption was equivalent to Orsted's, and his recovery rate was 1000:1.

This meant that the Mana a normal person could fully recover with one good night's sleep would take him a thousand nights. This was why the System called this growth path the Path of the Swordsman, as it virtually eliminated the possibility of Allen occasionally firing off a Water Cannon between sword swings.

The other path, the Path of the Mage, was essentially a replication of Rudeus's growth trajectory: unable to infuse Fighting Spirit into his body, he would have to take the path of a close-quarters mage using magic armor.

It's worth noting that the System copied character templates from existing characters in Mushoku Tensei. The Path of the Swordsman was taken from Orsted, and the Path of the Mage was taken from Laplace. It was foreseeable that by following either path to its end, one could become a perfect replica of these two individuals.

Of course, this would take a very, very long time, and it would likely be unattainable without breaking through the limits of lifespan.

Allen had previously analyzed the mission templates and concluded that it might be related to the phone embedded in his forehead before he transmigrated. When he died, his phone only contained the novel Mushoku Tensei. If he had more novels on his phone, perhaps he could have brought in character templates from other novel worlds.

He could only say it was a shame, but what was done was done. He could only face reality and accept it, after all, this was just a hypothesis. Even if he had saved other novels, it wasn't guaranteed that there would be more character templates to choose from.

What if the System didn't gather information from novels but randomly extracted all entertainment files from the entire phone, leading to some strange template being mixed in? That would be a nightmare.

After all, no one would want an Makoto Itou template, right? The kind of progression where he gets his head cut off by Eris during the young tutor period and sails out to sea with his head tucked under his arm is just too messed up.

Allen exhaled, 'looking' at the Dragon Saint Battle Qi Core Embryo in his abdomen. He moved the blade down, cutting into his skin.

I hope the Dragon Saint Battle Qi's Mana reduction buff can stack with this healing buff. If they don't stack, I'll turn off the rune immediately.

Dragon Saint Battle Qi Core Embryo, Healing Spell Rune, activated simultaneously.

With high-quality Fighting Spirit enveloping him, Allen once again pushed his five senses into overload, truly and in real-time feeling the changes happening within his body:

Then, a strange phenomenon occurred: the rune began to slowly pulse like a heart. Surges of Mana in Allen's body were absorbed by it like liquid, then expelled into his limbs and bones.

He didn't feel any additional loss of Dragon Saint Battle Qi. Perhaps because the rune itself was on the Dragon Saint Battle Qi Core Embryo, it could directly draw Mana through the embryo as a medium, benefiting from the Mana reduction buff without additionally consuming Dragon Saint Battle Qi.

The Mana consumption rate visibly slowed down.

Similarly, after counting to nine, he pulled out the blade. This time it was a bit difficult because his muscles, tightened by the enveloping Fighting Spirit, tightly gripped the blade tip.

Watching the wound heal quickly, Allen immediately stopped the Healing Spell Rune.

He kept the Dragon Saint Battle Qi Core Embryo active because the mana consumption this time was relatively low, and he needed the boost from the Dragon Saint Battle Qi to 'see' clearly.

There was no difference in the effective duration; the Dragon Saint Battle Qi didn't provide any extra enhancement to the Healing Spell Rune, nor did it increase its healing effectiveness.

The mana consumed in 10 seconds was 1/50th of his total mana capacity, meaning his daily mana recovery could sustain it for 0.5 seconds. If he used the healing spell once completely, he'd recover the lost mana in a few days. Using it occasionally was fine; he could largely sustain himself.

If he were to continuously engage in combat... My Fighting Spirit constantly requires one-fifth of my mana for internal circulation. In extreme situations, I could allocate the remaining four-fifths to sustain continuous combat for 400 seconds. Divided by 60 to convert to minutes...

6.666666666

6.

Tomorrow, he'd meet Rudeus's family and enter Rudeus's affection route; things would get interesting.

However, the overall plot of the early childhood period was too peaceful. Verifying Allen's strength would require more intense conflict, which Allen and Lokkishi would trigger through a chain of butterfly effects.