Lev flew back to the spider dungeon as he went over the lecture's contents. Edward had made them try two more formations, each relating to temperature.
One cooled the plate instead with the same extra runes in the formation, and the last simply kept it at room temperature. The last was interesting because the main rune demanded they cover a large portion of the plate with it for the rune to work.
Some trial and error brought that number to a fourth of the surface. It wasn't as large as he expected but seeing the requirement for the second time reminded Lev of its existence. The durability rune also had one.
Now that I think about it, that rune should be useable with my increased pool.
He kept the idea in front of his mind while he entered the dungeon. He wasn't stopped by the guard beyond a badge check before he flew into the portal.
"First things first," Lev muttered as a thick and meter-wide shield formed behind him. Focusing, Lev slowly carved out the durability rune underneath the surface.
Maybe it was due to practice, but it formed quickly. He started with a small stream of mana as the rune took effect.
Barely noticeable, Lev observed from the barrier's mental feedback. The structure felt a little more robust but that was all. Upping the mana, the durability increased slowly along with the fuel. By the time Lev was utilizing enough mana to empty his only 80% full pool in a few minutes, the shield was more than thrice as durable. He hastily cut off the channel before it used too much mana.
Definitely as scalable as the diary said.
The rune ate up all the mana without a single hint of strain or waste, which spoke volumes about its efficiency. Not only was the durability increased by over 200%, but it also did so with an acceptable amount of mana.
Following that train of thought, Lev tried to enchant his armor. It would be obscenely expensive to empower all of it, he knew, but that was a price he would pay any day of the week.
As it was, his armor resisted any changes in its shape. That would only be possible by acquiring the ability to enchant it from the third or fourth rank, which was what Lev was aiming for.
Sitting down inside the clearing, Lev slowly coaxed the armor to give in and let his manipulation through. He could feel the wall blocking his skill stubbornly stand its ground as they both battled.
Slowly, the resistance eroded. The feat would've been impossible without having the skill at the top of the second rank, which was why he waited to try so long.
It took half an hour before the wall of resistance crumbled with a notification.
[
Barrier Armor - 3rd Level 1:
Cover your body in transparent armor to protect you from your foes. This armor is considered one whole instead of individual pieces. It can be manipulated like normal barriers, but the shape cannot be altered.
The durability of the armor is further increased by 71%.
2nd Rank: Channel a small amount of mana to further increase the durability bonus at a small cost. Overload the skill to double the bonus at a high cost.
3rd Rank: Minor alterations in the armor are now possible.
]
Great. More ways to use mana. Shouldn't I be free of mana problems with a Wisdom Boost?
Shoving away the illogical thought, Lev started working on the rune. It wasn't like he didn't have mana befitting the boost. He just used too much of it too inefficiently. He also had no bonuses to increase his destructive potential yet, which further cemented the fact.
The durability rune formed slowly yet smoothly. Lev formed it on his back in case the carving affected the base durability. Sending mana through it, he winced as it required a large chunk to reach a 50% boost to durability by his estimates. Still, it was there as long as the armor was not dismissed, and he would make good use of it.
Done with that, he formed two chains with blades attached to one end. The thoughts of buying an earth mana converter crossed his mind but he ignored it for now. It would be useful later when his barriers were not durable enough. The chains held up fine as it was.
Lev considered his next steps. Fighting the boss was out of the question. Dungeons had a bad habit of making all the monsters aware when the boss was attacked, which was far too many monsters for him to deal with.
The second option was to very slowly clear all the monsters, over the span of days, but he didn't want to miss the lectures. There would be no replacement for those anytime soon.
Which left the final option of slowly growing in strength till he could clear the dungeon by himself. The thought of finding a team didn't even cross his mind in this relatively safe environment.
To that end, he needed the two new skills to evolve to the second rank. He considered how to go about it before settling on a simple method.
Lev ascended far above the ground and flew to the closest area he remembered with spider duos. It didn't take long to find one. Four lances formed behind him but he waited to fill them with mana.
I think this should work for both the active and the passive,
The plan was to rapidly fill and fire the lances in succession. It would test the limits of his speed of filling them and utilize the active constantly. The passive worked on the whole process, so it would benefit from the process anyway.
Done with his mental calculations, Lev proceeded to enact his plan. The first lance was filled with a moderate amount of lightning mana and launched away. The second followed within the same second, both of them hitting one of the spiders in its face.
The first cut deeply into the head and stunned it by releasing the lightning mana. The second did the same, which tipped the damage to its brain over the edge as a notification chimed in his head.
Without stopping, the other two lances hit the remaining spider in a similar fashion. The penetration and speed bonuses from his skill were too much for the spiders to react to, the only reason he could bully them afar.
[
You have slain [Gray Spider - Level 130]
You have slain [Gray Spider - Level 130]
Mana Tempest has reached Level 115
]
With a sigh, Lev dove down and dug out the cores. The process was brief, for the monsters weren't that huge, but it would always remain ugly before Lev could do it from far enough to avoid the stench-
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Hold on a minute. Why can't I do it from afar?
Lev flew back up for a few dozen meters before trying to harvest the second core. His chains flew down and flipped the monster's corpse over as two disks dug into the body. When the cut was big enough, the corpse rolled over again, and out came the core.
No more smelly harvesting for me, Lev thought giddily. He wondered why his stupid brain had taken so long to figure that out.
In all seriousness, it wasn't that great of a discovery. The larger monsters got, the harder it would be to dig out the core without getting close and personal. The method worked for now though, which was good enough.
He brought up his status screen to observe how far he'd come.
[
Name: Lev
Class: Mana Tempest - Level 115
Titles: Reinforced Mind, Extraordinary Soul, Youngest Prodigy, Goliath Slayer, Daunting Steps I
Attributes:
Strength: 75
Dexterity: 75
Constitution: 215
Intelligence: 290
Wisdom: 305
Perception: 215
Class Skills:
Arcane Barrier Manipulation - 2nd Level 10
Unerring Volley - 2nd Level 10
Colorful Destruction - Level 8
Barrier Armor - 3rd Level 1
Superior Senses - 2nd Level 10
Rapid Infusion - Level 7
Heavier Lifting - 2nd Level 10
Mage Conduit - 2nd Level 10
General Skills:
Mana Manipulation - 2nd Level 10
Identify
Arcane Brawling - 2nd Level 10
Mana Perception - Level 8
Arcane Archery - 2nd Level 10
]
Five total levels to see what I will be dealing with for the rest of the threshold. The active should be done soon.
If he used the same amount of mana per lance, Lev estimated he could get one of them to 2nd rank tonight.
****
So that turned out to be false…
[
Colorful Destruction - 2nd Level 1:
You may imbue different mana types into your barriers as long as a barrier is in contact with a source in your manipulation range.
2nd Rank: When releasing destructive mana types, the blast absorbs ambient mana to increase its potency by 20%.
]
That skill is nuts, what the hell?
If Lev wasn't mistaken, the 2nd rank empowered the explosion as a whole. Meaning if he used 5% of his mana, it would add the effect of another 1% of his mana pool. If he used 10% of his mana, the added potency would be comparable to 2% of his total mana.
Similarly, if he used 50% of his pool, the explosion would be as big as if he had used 60% instead.
In theory, it sounded like the skill only paid off at higher costs. But in practice, the more mana each percent of his pool held, the higher the added effect would be. Not to mention, the potency increase would grow even further as the skill leveled.
Then there's the second skill,
[
Rapid Infusion - 2nd Level 1:
Infusing different mana types into your barriers is 61% faster and more efficient.
Volatile elements have reduced negative effects once infused.
2nd Rank: Synergetic mana types will amplify each other in matching aspects. Contradictory mana types are easier to fit into a container.
]
The second skill was a wildcard. Before now, Lev had no idea what direction it would take. He could finally breathe a sigh of relief because the skill sounded pretty amazing.
If I'm getting this right, different 'aspects' should be destructive power, stopping power, stability, durability, fluidity, and the like. So lightning and fire mana should make each other even more deadly when packed together. I need to test the best ratios for this when I have more mana.
Satisfied with both, Lev washed his illusion armor on the way to Runespires. His mana kept running out too quickly, and he had only gotten one more level while hunting ten more spiders. The gains were slowing down pretty quickly.
He had twelve new cores to play around with, at least.
****
"Do you know how to make infused water?" Lev asked the moment Nolan entered the lecture room.
"Uh … I've heard about it. Why?"
"I got some cores and wanted to try creating paint but…" Lev trailed off.
"Hmm. It isn't supposed to be hard if my memory is to be believed. Infused water can be created by putting normal water into a container without any ambient mana. By circulating mana through it, the properties of water change until it becomes infused water. The viscosity also becomes comparable to slimy substances, which results in more paint as opposed to normal water somehow."
Nolan was obviously passionate about enchanting, and his excited tone further proved that. Lev brought out one of the spider cores for him to observe.
"Gray spider," Nolan observed. "That's what your team has been hunting?"
"Yep."
"I see. From the looks of it, the conductivity won't be that great but it would be useful for training regardless."
"Correct," Lev summoned seven more of them. "I sold the rest and kept these for practice."
"Didn't you choose rune carving?"
Lev waved him off. "I will practice painting too, just in case," he lied while handing the cores to Nolan.
Nolan gave him a long look. "Okay, join me during the exercise."
My simple deception seems to have failed. I wonder why, Lev mused in amusement.
"I will."
The class filled up the next few minutes before Edward showed up, quickly wiping a frown off his face that Lev doubted anyone else noticed.
"Welcome back," Edward began, scanning the students present. No one had skipped class today either. "Today, there will be no theoretical knowledge, only exercises."
Lev found himself with the same plates in hand. The exercises today were solo, and the aim was to observe how materials reacted to different formations condensed in a small area.
For the exercise itself, Lev had to create the three simple formations from the last day on a single plate. It was rather challenging for him, which meant the task was daunting for the rest of the class.
Lev put the others out of his mind and took a deep breath as he stopped holding back his Perception. The movement of the other kids slowed down as his focus sharpened on the plate in front of him. The stylus moved at a slow pace, methodically carving out the formations with no errors.
When Lev finished carving all three, he put mana into all of them at once. The result was the oddest sensation he had ever witnessed.
[
Mana Perception has reached Level 9
]
Each formation's overload rune scanned the input at once, which wouldn't be an issue if they didn't disrupt each other. In the end, none of them did their job. The mana entered the main runes without being observed by the overload runes and all of them tried to affect the plate at once.
The three runes were designed to affect the entire enchanted material. Just like the overload runes, they clashed and tried to overpower each other, only for all of them to fizzle out.
Lev blinked. The runes had just stopped being runes.
With amazement, he cycled mana through the now mundane carved pathways with the intent of activating an enchantment. When the mana finished cycling through the runes, they started working again.
The hell was that? Did the intent behind the runes shatter or what?
Lev tried it again and again. Each time, the runes stopped affecting the iron plate entirely. The poor iron plate only lasted a dozen or so more tries before the structure collapsed into dust.
…Whoops.
"So?" Edward asked, on him in a flash.
"Very interesting," Lev sagely pretended to understand. "…What exactly just happened?"
Edward smirked a little. "That is not for you to worry about, young enchanter. I will give a small explanation about it later but just know that such things will be relevant after becoming a Master, not before that."
So it is related to willpower?
Lev's title, the one increasing his willpower, was confusing at first for him until Alec explained. The title did not increase his resolve or patience to power through problems, but something entirely different.
Willpower was sort of a resource pool like Mana. It served the crucial purpose of controlling large amounts of mana and resisting foreign influences at higher levels, which was why his mentor commented that Lev had a unique advantage. He had misunderstood back then.
Going by that knowledge, he could form some guesses. By circulating mana through the fizzled carving with the intent of activating an enchantment, regardless of how small or crude, fixed the broken runes by utilizing the person's willpower.
Probably.
He would find out eventually.
