Leox was uncertain how to feel about what had happened. Seeing the state of a dead body was hardly surprising, and almost impossible to draw a reaction out of him. The concept of someone taking their own life, and not having a way to come back, fascinated him deeply, especially since taking one's own life was familiar to him.

  Strange. This is all so strange.

  The black knight that had his helmet removed glanced over at Leox, noticing that the boy seemed to be deep in his thoughts. He placed his hand on the boy's shoulders comfortingly.

  "You don't have to stay here. Head to the church and meet Meruvio, we'll deliver the news to the father." He said, as if talking to an innocent young child. But Leox only shook his head.

  "No, it's fine. This doesn't bother me." He responded truthfully. Afterwards, he made his way over to the boy's body. "He's so young."

  His eyes glanced down at the plant that rested limply in the boy's hand. As he reached his hands out to touch it, one of the knights stopped him.

  '"Careful. Bluepoppy is extremely toxic, even to touch."

  "Really?"

  "Yes. The smallest part of the leaf is enough to kill a child or a weak adult. Although he planned on killing himself using it, I doubt he knew just how dangerous it was. He picked way more than what was necessary to kill him."

  It doesn't sound safe to have such a toxic plant near a village. I guess the apocalypse isn't the only danger to watch out for.

  Leox sighed as he lifted the Bluepoppy plant. From the corner of his eyes, he watched as the knight winced, worried for him. He didn't know that at that moment, the young student came up with an interesting idea. Swiftly he pocketed the plant and rose back to his feet, earning himself suspicious gazes from the collectors.

  "Don't worry, I'm only going to use it on myself."

  "..."

  That probably doesn't make it sound any better.

  He elaborated, telling them that it was for an experiment. The knights still seemed reluctant to let him walk out with the plant, but eventually, he did. He also let them know that he would head to the village church soon, after exploring the settlement a little bit more. The knights said they were informing Collector Meruvio and had the man wait for him.

  ---

  Leox sat beneath a tree located on the outskirts of the village with the blue leaf in his hand. There was no one around to watch it, except for the sun that peeped through the leaves of the tree. He lifted the plant to his face and gave it a sniff. Just holding it in his hands for a prolonged period of time started to make his fingertips slightly numb, however, he had a method to fix this.

  He used his most recently earned monk skill, Purity of Body, to remove the toxins from his body. It was a simple process that concentrated the mana within him toward the affected areas, while simultaneously imbuing it with purifying properties that allowed him to cleanse away the toxins’ effects. To his surprise, the skill didn’t require much mana to use at all, aside from the minor amount it had to discharge once it became contaminated by the toxins. This contaminated mana left his body through his skin, creating a steam-like effect that smelled similar to the Bluepoppy.

  With an understanding of the skill, Leox was finally ready to try out his real plan.

  He placed half of the plant in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. The bitter taste made him wince for a moment. There was nothing immortality could do to help with that.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Moments later, the effects of the poison kicked in. Leox felt the entirety of the area around his face start to swell, and his tongue became heavy. It seemed like he could feel the blood through his body becoming hotter, and pumping through his body much faster than before. The same case was for his heart, as its abnormal rate could now be felt thumping, vibrating his body down to his feet.

  Leox remained calm and used Purity of Body again. Immediately he felt his mana begin to fight against the newly introduced toxins. It was a much more difficult fight than he thought.

  As the plants' properties tried to kill him from the inside, Leox's mana absorbed the toxins and expelled them outwards as steam. However, right after the toxins would reappear as the plant began to digest in his stomach, the mana would have to act again. This process had to be performed around the entire of his body, as the toxins had now spread further and further. Leox felt blood forming as tears in his eyes, and it had also begun to drip from his nose and ears.

  He felt certain that he was going to die. It was a possibility that he had already predicted, for his plan to work best, he had to stay alive. He continued to fight until all of his mana had been drained, and eventually, the toxins had left his body. Steam hissed around him as he slumped up against the tree, panting for air. He constantly looked around, making sure that no one had seen him.

  With the complete and absolute usage of all his mana, Leox was now halfway towards death. For most, this would be an unrecoverable situation, permanently damaging his mana veins. For him however, this wasn't an issue.

  He prepared himself before eating the other half of the Bluepoppy, going through the same process again. He used his life force to fight against the toxins this time, which worked. He had now used too much of his life force during the process, bringing him to a quiet death.

  After less than a minute, he came to life again. His mana veins and life force had returned to him, though the veins were empty, and now in a state of fast recovery. It wouldn't take long for him to get back to normal, as his Deathless Rebirth skill classed his loss of mana as a related reason to death, thus, it would heal it faster. An efficient trick.

  I wasn't expecting the plant to be that serious... That poor boy really chose such a brutal method to take his own life?

  Leox sat there feeling sorry for him for a few moments, until his breathe has returned to him. He wiped his eyes, mouths and ears of as much blood as he could, but there were still faint red stains on his pale cheeks. He would have to deal with that later.

  For now, he focused on his overview. What he saw impressed him.

  [Awakening Stage Progress To Next Stage: 10%]

  His progress towards the next stage had jumped an entire 5%. Leox had managed to find another passive, and currently more efficient passive method to progress through the ranks, rather than killing himself with Overheat over and over again.

  He would still be meeting his death each time, however now, he could reap more benefits from it...

  "I'm going to need to find out where I can get more of these plants from. Or maybe an even stronger poison."

  Leox rose to his feet and brushed himself off. He had been away from the village for long enough, and it was finally time to head back to the church and meet Meruvio.

  However, as soon as he began, he heard a scream coming from that direction. A scream of fear, that sounded as if it had come from a man.

  Leox hastened his footsteps, hurrying through the village streets until he arrived at the source of the screams. He pushed open the large door leading to the ancient-looking church, and inside, the stench of death was heavy. He found Meruvio standing by the entrance, with the three knights standing in front of him with their weapons drawn, facing towards the raised platform at the far end of the room.

  Leox glanced over the man's shoulder and saw a familiar being standing there with a holy knight in it's arms. The white knight's helmet had been torn off, along with his head, which was discarded on one of the rows in the stands.

  Meruvio must have noticed that Leox was behind him, as he turned towards the boy. Not an ounce of fear was on either of their faces.

  "That is a fallen saint." Meruvio pointed out casually.

  "I know," Leox responded, eyeing up the onyx-skinned man with golden veins running down the length of his muscular right arm. He stood there glaring at them, yet not approaching. "How long has he been here?"

  "My guess would be that he arrived just before I got here. Only one holy knight was sent to this city. When will the empire realise that it's not the capital that needs defending, but rather villages like these?"

  Meruvio sighed frustratedly. Then, he turned back to the fallen saint again. The being seemed fascinated with the headless corpse still in its grip.

  "Do you want to kill it?"

  The knights looked at Meruvio in shock as he asked the young student the question. Leox stood there contemplating it for a moment. It didn't take long for him to come to his conclusion.

  In a swift movement, he stepped in front of the four men and drew the sword from the sheath hidden beneath his jacket. The one-edged blade that Meruvio gifted him shone brilliantly, but looked dull when not covered in magic. Leox had been meaning to test out his new skill for a while now.

  "Yes. I do."