Taking the Mafia to the Magic World

Hours would pass after Colt began to absorb the orange pentagram.

As with any other breakthrough attempt, talent had much to do with how difficult and fast the process of absorbing pentagrams was.

The level of the pentagram itself was related to the talent of the person absorbing it, but it wasn't that simple. For example, a person with a green talent couldn't absorb a green pentagram in the 2nd-stage.

The highest known level for a magician's second pentagram was the second one, orange. 

Beyond that, even if some magicians had enough understanding to try to absorb something above that, the mana consumed by one of those pentagrams would be so high that the magician's body wouldn't be able to withstand any activation. Just having it in your body would be extremely costly, and activating it would be like courting death.

So, having a higher talent wouldn't allow someone to absorb a better pentagram because that would depend on the amount of mana in a magician's body, which correlates to the level, not the talent.

But while talent didn't affect this for talented people to have better pentagrams, it did for less talented people.

The level of the pentagram you were interested in was what your body and mana could handle. But to absorb it, one had to overcome the absorption barrier created by the will of the being who created it.

Hence, while talent didn't allow people to absorb better pentagrams at lower levels, it did limit those with low talent, and a person with red talent would hardly be able to absorb an orange pentagram at the 2nd stage.

This would also happen to someone with orange talent when they reached the 3rd stage and would probably not be able to absorb the ideal pentagram for the 3rd stage, a yellow one.

Anyway, as someone with an orange talent, absorbing any pentagram would already take longer than it would for someone with a superior talent. But with the Harpy's grudge, Colt would fight the creature's remaining will for hours.

When dawn broke the following day, the party was still in the same spot where the Harpy had fallen.

Everyone was tired but held their positions, waiting for Colt to finish absorbing the pentagram.

But no one there was worried about Colt's life. Absorbing a pentagram of the same level as one's talent and compatible with the amount of mana in one's body would hardly risk the magician's life.

The risk was that they would fail. 

If one failed to absorb a pentagram in the first attempt, it would be diluted into the air, and that is it.

But while some opened their mouths to yawn, longing to return to camp, Vicente watched Colt and felt that this man would not fail after so many hours.

'He will finish soon.' He noticed the orange pentagram fading from the man's body and then the mana around Colt suddenly increasing in density.

Looking at the pale, extremely sweaty, and panting man, Vice saw Colt's appearance change significantly, and his body began to inflate, becoming more attractive in every way.

A gust of mana came out of him, and a strong wind formed in the surrounding area, completely waking up even the sleepy men who wanted to rest.

At that moment, Colt finished absorbing the pentagram, having won his mental battle with the Harpy remnant.

Opening his eyes, he immediately smiled as he stood up, clenching his fists and feeling 'complete.'

He looked at the creature's corpse and mentally thanked it for the new power he had gained.

With it, he could do much more with his ability from now on!

Seeing that his man was ready to leave, Vicente sighed and said. "Time to go back, boys! After we rest a bit, we'll move our camp!"

The group left soon after, leaving the Harpy's body behind, not caring at all for the flesh of a creature that looked partly human.

Such magical creatures could be valuable to magicians in many ways. One could look at their meat, skin, feathers, bones, and claws. In short, everything on the body of a magical creature could be useful for creating artifacts or artificial resources.

But it wasn't so easy to carry around the corpses of these creatures, and removing these parts without damaging them was something no one there knew how to do.

Because they didn't have enough storage items, the group didn't collect the remains of the creatures they had killed so far.

But that wasn't a bad thing. Even without the rich essences in their bodies, beasts' corpses were very good for other weaker beasts to devour and become stronger.

Leaving such corpses behind could help lower-level creatures increase their power and create pentagrams or even develop better pentagrams.

This was important for the sustainability of this magical reality!

Finally, with the dawn of a new day, the group would stop to rest before continuing their journey.

...

Three days later...

After one of his men had absorbed the first orange Magic Pentagram, Vicente led his group deeper into the forest.

After setting up a temporary camp in a new area, he and his men returned to the hunt for magical creatures capable of producing the essences they needed to strengthen themselves and increase the stability of their foundations.

After returning to hunt for these essences, this time in a deeper part of the Alpine Woodpecker Forest, the group quickly found beings compatible with their men.

In just 3 days, the group hunted down and killed 7 beasts, giving some of their men the opportunity to absorb orange pentagrams.

Some failed in their attempts, but most were successful, helping the group surpass Vicente's original goal and get 10 men with new pentagrams.

Five had absorbed red pentagrams, while the other five received orange pentagrams.

Among them, the two level 2 Acolytes in the group, the ones most concerned with stabilizing their foundation, managed to absorb what they had been waiting for for weeks, finally gaining new abilities.

And so, as dawn broke on a new day at the second site where the group had camped in this region, Vicente soon gathered his people together to give new orders!

They were no longer far from the central part of this location, and according to Vicente's estimates, they could reach the spot marked on his map in no more than three more days.

When Vicente met his group this morning, he looked at his men, who were happily eating, and announced.

"Get ready. In an hour, we're leaving for our destination. I don't intend to stop to hunt or camp until we reach our destination!" He told everyone, making Rory smile with satisfaction, eager to see where the map of Defiant Tyranny would take them.