Arthos checked his event log.
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Your ability to focus has improved. Dexterity increases by 1.
You have learned passive skill, Mind's eye (low).
You have synergized Mind casting and Mind's eye. Your intelligence has increased by 2. Mind casting proficiency has increased to mid rank. Mind's eye proficiency has increased to mid rank.
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Nodding to himself, Arthos felt the reward was fitting. Tracking back through the forest, he felt the atmosphere turning chilly. A 'something did not feel right' sensation overwhelmed him. Looking around he noticed a squirrel, but it looked different from the others. There was a black aura around it. Staring at it, a label popped up on its head : Corrupted squirrel (aggressive).
Itching to try out his new skills, he focused on the squirrel till the surroundings seemed to zone in on the squirrel and its features were magnified. Imaging a wind rune, he channeled a wind blade aiming for the creature's neck. At the last moment, the squirrel jumped, and the wind blade sliced through the squirrels back. Thankfully the gore settings were limited. He noticed the squirrel's health bar dropping to about half.
Preparing to cast a second spell, the squirrel had jumped out of his vision. Arthos blinked out of his zoned vision and noticed the squirrel had covered the 10 metres distance and had leapt directly at him. Holding up his staff, he blocked the squirrel gnawing. He quickly imaged a wind blade at the squirrel with teeth holding on this staff. It hit the squirrel on its tail. The squirrel screeched and hopped onto his forearm, biting into it.
Pain. Slight. It felt like a pen poking his arm. Arthos noticed the squirrel's life was at less than a third. The second wind blade casted hastily lacked the fire power of the first. Perhaps, hitting the tail dealt less impact as well. He imaged another wind blade flying from the ground, nicking the squirrel's belly. With a final screech, the squirrel released its jaw grip and fell to the floor.
"Phew, that was a little more exhausting than expected." He ran though his statistics, he had lost about half his life 55/110, his Mana was at 15/40. He had gained 1 Vitality after being bitten and 1 intelligence after casting his first spell but not for the following. The guide did say statistics would rise in proportion to skill usage, monster difficulty and playstyle. It was not a system that encouraged repetitive grinding only. He had expected staff wielding or the sorts but apparently the system did not recognise his use of the staff as a skill. Arthos shrugged to no one in particular, picked up the corpse and threw it into his inventory.
His journey back to the village was otherwise uneventful.