After they parted ways, Alex went to talk to Sarah and asked if she would speak to the people. She quickly agreed. Sam had finished his food and was practicing his mana manipulation off to the side.
That kid’s going to be a monster. He’s taken to mana manipulation, like a fish to water.
"Sarah, before you go, do you mind if I take a look at your healing magic?"
She nodded, "Sure, that's fine."
They sat down and Sarah began channeling her [Mend] skill onto her palm.
Sitting beside her, he focused his abilities on her magic and examined it closely.
It's so bright. Even with my ability, the skill is almost blinding... and the mana... it's so different than any of the others I've looked at. Its far more complicated than earth or fire.
He spent the next ten minutes staring at it and trying to understand it. Compared to his current magic skills, this healing spell was beyond his comprehension. It didn't feel natural, though, while the others did. Alex was also unable to grab it with his [Celestial Control].
Why the hell is this so different and more complicated? I feel like I SHOULD be able use this or control it. Mana is mana, right? So why am I struggling so much with this. The other elements were so much more.. basic. Wait... basic? I remember seeing that word a fair bit when describing the elements. Maybe her healing magic isn't considered "basic"? Hmmm... I'll have to try this again later when we have more time.
He looked up, seeing that Sarah was staring at him. She smiled when they made eye contact, "All done?" she asked.
Alex chuckled. "Yeah, I don't think I'll be able to learn this right now. Does your skill use the word basic at all? Or say anything about what kind of magic it is?"
"No, it simply says it's a low-tier healing spell."
"Hmm... okay, thanks. I'm curious how all that works. The healing spell feels too complicated for me to learn right now, I'll have to try again when I'm a bit stronger or more experienced."
"Okay, well stay safe when you go out! I'll go talk to the people."
"Alright, I will. Thanks again."
Breakfast over, Alex grabbed the small satchel the system had given him. He used it to bring along a little food and water since he planned to be gone for at least a few hours.
When he left camp, he turned towards the plains and headed in that direction. He wanted to return there and fight some of the remaining beasts. On the short journey back to the plains, Alex tried to keep an eye out for anything useful. There had to be some fruit or vegetables somewhere. Maybe even a new dungeon. But he couldn’t find anything as he ran through the forest. Not even a monster to fight.
Once he arrived near the plains, he decided to start with a few boars again. For the first Cragtusk, he tried to kill it as quickly as possible, just as a test. He poured mana into his [Earth Magic] skill and summoned a large earthspike directly under the Cragtusk. The spike impaled it, killing it after a few seconds.
Next, he changed it up. The earth spells were too quick and didn’t really benefit him much, except for some experience. So against the next two boars he fought, he only used his sword and magic. Doing that let him focus on honing his abilities, reactions, and instincts.
Before all of this, Alex had never fought anything before, and especially not in a life-and-death situation. These fights let him practice and gain more skill. He doubted he would gain much from killing these beasts, but anything helped.
After killing them, he made sure to loot them and store them in his Soul Vault, both coins and cores. The objects were the same as those he received in the dungeon. Only basic, unranked versions, though, the boars did give five coins each.
You have slain Cragtusk (Level 5)
Experience and SP gained
You have slain Cragtusk (Level 6)
Experience and SP gained
You have slain Cragtusk (Level 4)
Experience and SP gained
Next, he wanted to test one of the Elemental Elk. They were a little lower level, but it seemed interesting that they were mages. He watched them for a while before he decided to fight one. Observing them, he hoped to learn what element they used, but they never showed magic or any color at all. He would need to go in blind.
Oh well, more fun that way. I’ll just need to be careful.
The Elk usually stayed in groups, which might cause a problem for Alex if he got too many. He’s pretty strong against mages, but he’s never tried to fight multiple at the same time. They would probably overwhelm him.
After a few minutes of searching and waiting, he found a pair of elk. They were traveling near a different part of the forest on the edge of the plains, and rather than wait for a single elk, he settled for the duo.
Elemental Elk (Level 4)
Elemental Elk (Level 5)
I’m going to need to find some higher-level fights after this. I won’t get stronger if I'm only hunting monsters almost half my level. But they should be good practice for my racial abilities. He thought as he moved in near them, using his [Stealth] skill.
The Elemental Elk didn’t look too different from a normal Elk. Their colors were usually shades of brown and gray, and only occasionally, he would see a white or black one, but most weren’t. Their antlers did seem quite large. He couldn’t tell from this far away, but they looked much larger than the ones he had seen on tv, movies, or magazines.
Once he closed the distance, he channeled his [Fire Magic] and quickly threw a simple fireball at them, just to test their reactions. It was a basic fireball, and he didn’t expect it even to do any damage.
The second Alex summoned the magic, the higher-levelled elk instantly felt the mana as it manifested and was launched at it. Mid-flight, the fireball was struck and torn apart. With his normal vision, he hadn’t seen anything happen to the fireball; it just exploded after it was cut in half.
Luckily, he had his [Eyes of the Cosmos] on as usual. He ramped them up higher before the fight began, prepared to keep an eye out for magic, and he clearly saw what happened. A large amount of mana condensed into a blade and cut the fireball out of the sky.
What kind of mana is that?. That looks dangerous as hell. I can barely even see it with my regular sight. And with my Eyes ability, I can tell how dangerous it truly is. The cutting power is exceptionally high. It could easily cut through my armor.
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The second elk had not responded to the fireball. Either it trusted the other one to handle it, or it hadn't noticed it. Alex sent three more fireballs towards the two elk, hoping to see the second elk's magic. But they never even got close. The first elk’s magic tore them apart with ease.
Let's try earth instead.
Alex summoned four earth spikes, sending them at the elk. This time, the second elk reacted before the other one could. It reared up and slammed its front hooves into the ground. When its feet touched down, an earth wall rose before them, completely blocking them from the earth spikes.
That's… interesting. So that one has earth. That’s a difficult combination to fight; they have an attacker and a defender. That other mana can mainly counter my fire, and earth can counter mine. This will be good practice for my magic.
This time, Alex drew his sword and imbued it with [Fire Magic]. Holding the blade out, he slashed the air, firing an arc of flame towards them. He did this two more times directly after the first. Sending three slashes of fire, hurtling towards the Elemental Elk.
The Elk responded a bit differently this time. It was clear the creatures knew these attacks were more powerful. The first elk condensed several blades of magic and sent them towards the fire attack. They cut and tore it apart, causing it to dissipate, but Alex saw it wasn’t as easy as his fireball was. First fire slash taken down, the elk tried it again to the second slash, but the blades didn’t get to it in time. Both elks retreated behind the earth wall.
They're definitely intelligent.
Alex waited afterwards so he could see their response. When the two fire slashes crashed into the stone wall, they decimated it. Only a few pieces remained. But he knew they weren’t dead, he could see them through the dust cloud with his Eyes ability, and he didn’t get any kill notifications.
It took them a moment to extricate themselves from the rubble, and when they did, Alex could see they weren’t happy. Both immediately faced him and started to summon more magic. He could see the two mana types condensed around their respective elk.
This time, they both summoned piercing projectiles, earth spikes, and some kind of arrows. They shot at Alex, attempting to pierce him through. He knew his armor wouldn’t hold up to the assault, and he would need a thick earth wall to stop them. He didn’t want to do that, though.
Alex used his fire magic to create twenty fireballs, and he condensed them as much as he could in the short time he had. It cost a lot of mana, but he didn’t care. The mana raged through him, channeling so much of it and forcing it to converge with his willpower. The area above him grew warm as he watched the fireballs take shape, the forest lit by their light.
He met the earth spikes and arrows with his condensed fireballs, forcing them to collide. The fireballs exploded on contact, disrupting the air and sending out a small shockwave. A boom echoed throughout the area. Most of the elk's attacks that made it through were knocked off course by the blast.
Two of the earth spikes that did make it to Alex were batted out of the sky with his sword. It was easy for him to aim at them, since he could feel the mana when they were in range.
Only one of the arrows made it to him, and this one he didn't want to destroy. He reached out and grabbed it with his Celestial Control, to study the magic a bit, in hopes of learning it. Alex tightened his Willpower on the arrow, focusing his intent and [Celestial Control] ability.
Gritting his teeth, he stole control of it from the Elemental Elk.
That was much more difficult than when I took the fireball from Chad’s lackey.
While the two elk stood there in surprise, he took a moment to examine the arrow.
It's wind magic. I couldn’t feel it before, but now that I have control of it, I can definitely tell. It's like a small storm.
The wind was shaped, but it felt… free and untamed. It also felt controlled and destructive. Wind magic was taming the untamed, controlling the uncontrollable, and harnessing the power of freedom. The air was everywhere, and it wanted to remain free to move.
The seconds Alex spent staring into the wind magic spell felt like it went on for an hour.
I really do love magic and mana... It's comforting to me, like it's a natural part of my life.
Knowing his time was coming to an end, he focused on reshaping the wind arrow, using his control to impose his will on it.
He reshaped the arrow into a ball, looking quite familiar, and then launched it like a baseball back to the elk. He missed the throw… But it was still funny watching the ball of wind hit the ground near them and eat a chunk out of it.
Surprisingly though.. He didn’t get any notification.
Shit, why didn’t I learn wind magic? Earth and Fire had been easy to get. Maybe I need to do it more?
So Alex went to work. His first goal was to kill the earth elk, to give himself more freedom to play with the wind. He ran up, sword still drawn and coated in fire, and summoned three earth spikes and three fireballs.
He then launched the fireballs and earth spikes. While running towards the creatures, he had sent the three fireballs towards the wind elk to keep it distracted. Immediately after, he hurled the earth spikes towards the other elk, followed by a fire slash from his sword.
As he thought, the wind elk was too distracted to help the earth one. The earth elk summoned another wall, trying to take the attacks. Alex's earth spikes embedded into the wall, weakening it, so his fire arc annihilated it on impact, peppering the elk with pieces of its own wall and the residual fire.
Alex came right behind his slash of fire mana, swinging his sword from shoulder to hip, cutting a large chunk out of the elk. Fallen to the ground, the beast called out for help, but before the other could assist, Alex stabbed his sword forward into its throat.
He quickly jumped back, feeling the wind mana coming towards him. Right as he did, wind blades went through the air right where he had been standing.
Whew.. close one.
Creating distance between him and the wind elk, he extinguished his sword and sheathed it. He planned to only use magic against it and wasn’t leaving until he learned wind magic.
It took Alex another thirty minutes before he finally received a notification that he had been waiting for. He was almost bottomed out of mana, and the elk looked even worse. The beast had run out of mana halfway through, and Alex stood there waiting for it to recover a little. As a thanks, he planned to leave the elk alive. But just as he turned to leave, three arrows pierced the side of the elk, killing it.
Who the hell did that?
Alex immediately drew his sword again, activated stealth, and backed up to the edge of the forest. When he did, he heard someone calling out. But he couldn’t understand it. When that happened, he felt a pain in his head that vanished just as quickly as it came.
Alex pulled up his notifications, wondering what that was and quickly skimmed over them.
You have slain Elemental Elk (Level 4)
Experience and SP gained
Congratulations, you have learned the skill Wind Magic.
Wind Magic
Harness the powers of the air. Wind magic is powerful in many different ways. It can be used to cut, boost someone's speed, defend against projectiles, or for the highly advanced application of flight.
You have slain Elemental Elk (Level 5)
Experience and SP gained
Congratulations, you have learned the Essential Skill Language of the Universal System.
What skill is that? Language of the Universal System? He pulled up the skill to learn more.
Language of the Universal System
This skill is granted to all denizens of the Universal System upon integration. It allows all forms of communication to understand one another, so long as the parties involved are part of the Universal System.
Why did I just learn this skill now… Instead of during the integration, like it says?
Before he could think of anything, he heard the yelling again. This time, he could understand it.
