Before Wu Yan could retract his tentacle while Lilina was too absorbed to notice, the mana around him surged into his body like a dam bursting.

Gurgle!

Ahhh, I’m gonna explode!

Wu Yan felt like he’d burst from the mana overload, in excruciating pain.

But the moment mana entered him, it found an outlet, flowing through his tentacle into Lilina.

Mmmph...

Lilina winced from the sudden mana influx but gritted her teeth and held on.

As mana poured in, magical elements flooded into Lilina faster, and her mental strength surged.

Finally, she shattered the Mage Apprentice barrier, advancing to Junior Mage.

Yet Wu Yan’s mana transfer didn’t stop—it accelerated.

All mana within a mile of Lilina’s bedroom flooded into Wu Yan, clearing the air in an instant.

"Huh? What’s wrong? I can’t sense any mana!"

Stephanie, meditating in her room, suddenly found the mana gone.

"Ahhh, my potions! Why did the mana vanish?!"

A woman with messy dark-green hair, sunken eyes from sleepless nights, heavy dark circles under half-lidded eyes, pale face, and a luxurious mage robe stained with colorful gunk glared at the massive Mana Vortex above Lilina’s room. She shouted, "You’d better hope I never find you—or you’ll taste my special brews, hmph!"

She turned back to her room. A glob of green liquid slid off her robe, hissing as it hit the grass. Soon, small pits dotted the lawn...

"Ahhh—"

Lilina couldn’t suppress her pained cry. She didn’t know why her mana surged so much during advancement, but she knew it was beneficial.

Even after leveling up, mana kept merging into her, slowly boosting her mental strength.

This immense help made her endure, teeth clenched.

Wu Yan collapsed on the ground, agony twisting his black body until it faintly reddened.

This pain dwarfed Stephanie’s experiments on him.

What rotten luck! I’m innocent! I’m not even advancing! Aaaaaah!

Homebody Wu Yan had never felt such pain—his mind nearly shattered.

Yet his mental strength grew, shielding his sanity.

Finally, after the overhead Mana Vortex drained dry, the two—one human, one beast—fell unconscious.

Lilina, just a Junior Mage, couldn’t hold that much mana. Most flowed into Wu Yan, splitting evenly among twelve black vortices. Strangely, they shrank instead of growing, their aura now deeply unsettling...

Lilina slept a day and night. Wu Yan woke after an hour.

He wondered when his pain tolerance had spiked, then noticed changes: sharper sight and hearing, stronger memory—and inside him...

Why had they shrunk?!

Wu Yan watched the twelve vortices spin slowly, feeling a pang of regret.

No—why did they feel more dangerous?

He realized it wasn’t simple shrinking.

Compression?

A cold sweat broke out. He knew compression’s risk—if his mana ran wild, the damage would be catastrophic.

But he also felt a thrill: compressed mana meant stronger spells.

Later, Wu Yan understood—the spell that day wasn’t useless. Well, it was weak normally, but his massive mana made it terrifying.

In Lilina’s courtyard, a circular patch had turned from soil to sand, then to translucent glass shards.

He recalled practicing outside to avoid disturbing her sleep. Good thing—he might’ve burned the house down.

Boosting mana flow amplified spells, forcibly raising their rank. But it couldn’t exceed the Magic Array’s limits...

That day, when he tried increasing mana for another spell, the Magic Array nearly collapsed. He stopped instantly.

Stable Magic Arrays handled more mana. No wonder complex arrays had higher ranks—to stay stable under heavy flow.

Hmm...

Wu Yan felt smug about his discovery, unaware Lilina’s book had already explained it—he just couldn’t read it yet...

Seriously, why doesn’t the whole world speak Chinese?! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻