Ren just gave a shrug, but then his eyes widened a bit when Lucian suddenly attempted to tug the mana straight out of him. He hadn't been resisting or putting up a guard, so he didn't expect it, so Lucian was able to steal 106 MP from Ren right there through the invisible link between Mana pools. After that, the attempted chained surge came. Unlike before, this went through the link directly, like electricity through a wire, and slammed straight into Ren who hadn't broken off the link. It appeared that this did have combative potential, as it sent his basic attack skill straight through the link. 

Upon performing this more combative usage, a message that Mana Link had been leveled up as well as another window suddenly appeared. This second window stated the following. 

[hider=Skill Update]
Mana Link has been Updated. [/hider]

[hider=Mana Link]
Mana Link (Lv 3: 25/100) (Active: 50 MP): Your strong focus and connection to many different forces, as well as your ability to flow mana, has given you the ability to establish and connect your being to others through Mana. This much more powerful version of Mana Flow is not practical on its own, through training and experimentation, you can create some powerful abilities that allow you to utilize Mana Links in unique ways. On its own, you can establish a link with a target, as Mana Flow allows you to perform this from a distance, to give or take Mana from a target, although an unwilling target can resist and try to break the link at any time. You can also send basic mana attacks or skills through the link, allowing them to automatically hit. Any Skill used through the Link has its MP Cost decreased by 8%. To Level: Utilize Mana Links, Link with an Unwilling Target, Create new Applications for Mana Links. [/hider]

Ren just gave a small smirk. "Alright, that's a bit more interesting... lets see if it has a weakness..." Ren suddenly focused, to see if he could try to counter through the Mana Link, to see if he could act against Lucian through the link as well, attempting to steal Lucian's MP through it just as Lucian did to him, followed by attempting to send a Mana Bolt through it. Unlike how Lucian could do so rather effortlessly, it took Ren a good bit of effort to accomplish both tasks, Ren first draining not as much MP as Lucian did from him, but enough, and then sending a bolt through the link at him, but it didn't do much. 

"So there is your Skill's flaw... your enemy can possibly use it against you..." Ren did that for two reasons. One, revenge for suddenly surprising him like that, and two for combative and practical purposes of this needing to be an addressed issue. Lucian felt though when Ren tried to use the Link that, if he had focused hard enough, he could have broken Ren's attempt to use it against Lucian.

"Anything else you want to test out now?" After that bit of being less apathetic, Ren was back to being not as much as before, but still a slight bit apathetic.