If you do something a dozen times, you get familiar with it. Your hands might even start moving faster, though not by a lot. If you do that same task another hundred times, you'd see a significant difference in the way you moved from when you started, though the exact difference would depend on your intelligence and talent.
However, that wasn't the most effective method of learning.
By adding a punishment and reward into the system, the rate at which the subject would improve in that particular task would drastically increase because their brain would start to relate positive actions with generosity and negative and inefficient actions with pain, making them unconsciously learn faster than they would without such a system.
While Fen wasn't consciously aware of it, having to destroy so many ice golems and living sculptures allowed him to hone his skills. If he ever failed to kill one in a single strike with his Vital energy weapons, then the pain he received from failure was as good a punishment as you could get.
Also, the need to constantly have it Mana senses set to the max to be aware of any other magical attacks from the large ice Lesser Dragon wore down his mind, further emphasizing his need to destroy the golems. The only problem with that was that he was barely destroying them faster than the Dragon made them, making the battle one of attrition rather than brute strength.
For some reason, the monster wasn't entering the fight with it's own body and instead used constructs to fight for it. Fen didn't know whether or not to be grateful for that, as fighting a single strong target was, at times, much easier than fighting a swarm of weaker enemies.
Whatever it's reasonings, Fen could sense the monster using it's Mana to actively take control over a large group of constructs all while splitting it's attention on creating even more constructs. That was the second most troubling aspect of the fight besides the constant addition of new ice constructs; the actively controlled constructs.
Golems and constructs that were being actively controlled by their creator didn't possess a core and had to be obliterated completely in order to stop them, and while that wasn't too difficult, if Fen spent too much on a single construct, the dozens of others would be able to hit him much more easily and he would start to accumulate much more wounds over time.
He was improving however.
The attacks that he would only be able to endure in the beginning were now seen and dodged, and movements that were hard to keep track of with his eyes were starting to slow down within his mind's eyes. By spreading his magical energy around him, Fen was able to accomplish what skilled Mages called, 'Mana Dominion', a skill that was rare to see even in Stage two Mages, the skill allowing him to perceive everything within his thin mist of Mana. Because his skill was the simplified version of what Mages used, the effects were also lessened. A true Mage could be considered an overlord within the range of their Mana Dominion, able to construct barriers and spellworks with minimal effort; Fen could only use his Mana to 'perceive' everything encompassed within his magical energy.
Faced with an impossible situation, his body was forced to adapt and change to survive, improving with every action.
That was the true ability of a Vitul, the real danger that they posed to the universe. If they were left alone for too long, then they'd be able to quickly adapt and overcome any changes thrown at them unless they faced overwhelming force. And even among the most talented of his people, Fen would still be able to stand out with his quickly growing skills.
Instead of only using his two Vital construct weapons, Fen created two more simple spears of Vitality, directing them with his Mana to pierce and slash the ice golems surrounding him. Even as his body was wounded over and over again, his attacks never stalled and were actually starting to show improvements.
At the start of the battle Fen was over one hundred meters away from the mutated Lesser Dragon, a distance which was multiplied manifold with the addition of the ice constructs. Like swimming against the tide, Fen found himself getting pushed away from his opponent even as his skills grew more and more. Now that he started utilizing more Vital constructs, he was starting to gain some ground until just a few meters separated him from reaching the Lesser Dragon's scales.
The large monster didn't move a single time while Fen grew closer, but the rate of magical attacks it unleashed increased explosively. As if it gained more power the closer he was, the Frost Breath it used seemed colder than before.
The ice constructs around him gave him no leeway as all of them attacked, uncaring if what they hit was friend or foe. All of the ice golems were in a frenzy, their attacks practically leaking Mana. The sheer amount of magical energy around him made Fen dizzy, forcing him to shut off his Mana sense just to remain in a combat state. With one of his key observational tools no longer available, Fen had to put more effort into dodging attacks.
Now, there were four Vital energy spear constructs floating around him, both parrying and attacking the enemies around him that Fen couldn't get to with his body. Although he could no longer use his Mana sense, his Mana Dominion was still active in the close area around him, allowing Fen to dodge whatever his physical senses couldn't see.
The same effect could be produced with Vitality, but because he was using so many Vital energy constructs- including his two created weapons plus the four spears- not to mention how much energy he was expending just on regenerating his damaged body, that adding the usage of a Vital energy field would cripple his fighting abilities. So, to avoid such an event, Fen used his Mana. However, because his body's natural storage of Mana was much lower compared to his storage of Vital energy, he was slowly running out of magical energy.
The area encompassed within his simplified Mana Dominion was shrinking by the second as his body desperately absorbed any ambient Mana left within his surroundings to support itself.
The Lesser Dragon had long since noticed what he was doing, and so by focusing the creation of its ice constructs, it sucked away the Mana left in the area around their fight creating a vacuum devoid of all Mana.
Whatever was left was immediately devoured by Fen's Marks and then thrown into the Mana Dominion, but even that wasn't enough to sustain it.
Just as he was about to pierce through the Dragon's scales, the Mana left within his body ran out. Fen was so focused on advancing forward that his body that the sudden lack of feeling in his surroundings completely threw him off, causing him to trip over a previously unseen piece of ice leftover from the corpse of an ice golem.
His attention wavered as Fen had to move his body into an awkward position just to avoid falling, causing his four Vital energy constructed spears to flicker and disintegrate as nothing was left to control them.
There were only four ice golems left around him, as the void of Mana effected the Lesser Dragon too, but the monster had never, not even once used it's body in the fight. While it's mind might be slightly tired, its tough body was still in perfect condition.
"...Huh?" Fen took advantage of whatever was stopping it to quickly finish off the remaining ice constructs, but while he quickly got into a defensive stance to endure a claw swipe, nothing happened. The Lesser Dragon remained completely still.
Raising his eyes, he saw that it was simply glaring at him. Because there were no more ice constructs, Fen actively used his Mana sense and saw that it was using the wisps of energy it had left to create one last ice construct, and directly in front of him no less.
It didn't have enough energy though. A piece of ice materialized and then fizzled back into nothing, all while the Lesser Dragon glared at him.
Even though he was confused, Fen still started running towards the Dragon while raising the axe created by his Vital blade technique. But all it did was raise it's claws in front of it while a look of...
Wait a minute, why did it look so disgusted?! The fuck?!
Fen stopped and looked down at himself, seeing that he was covered in blood again. His tolerance for pain certainly must have increased because he barely felt the severity of his wounds while letting his circulated Vital energy repair the damage done. While most of the blood disappeared into nothing because he was a Vitul, some of it remained, turning into a sticky red substance.
He always looked like this after a fight. Maybe he shouldn't increase his dodging ability and instead the durability of his body?
Fen looked back up and now realized why it looked so disgusted.
"What, you think you're so pretty with your white and gold scales? Well guess what? Nobody gives a shit! You're not even real! You're a part of a damned Scenario! Fight me, you narcissistic prick!" Most of the time Fen wouldn't even bother to talk with his opponents because he didn't see the point, but to be insulted like this...
This was a different kind of misfortune. To dare go after his appearance rather than his life... 'That's it, I'll kill Death! As soon as I see that Primordial whatever again, that prick, they dare put a Death Mark on me to make me suffer like this!? I'll kill them!' he thought. Deion would have a stroke if he heard his thoughts right now, but thankfully he was off doing something like always.
The Lesser Dragon whimpered, but it still stood its ground. It even shook it's wings a little, making the shiny golden scales glitter in the light. Fen could only grit his teeth. To be fair, the monster was quite pretty. Enough so that even someone like him would feel bad by stabbing through such a pretty appearance.
"Ah, fuck this." Fen charged forwards anyways, making the Lesser Dragon shake in terror at his approach.
Suddenly, a purple energy burst out from the Lesser Dragon's head as a large crystal emerged on it's forehead, splitting the scales apart. Violet lightning torched the air around it and it's white scales started to glow with marvelous light.
He didn't stop his attack, thrusting his Vital sword straight into and through the scales protecting it's side. It roared with pain, and the purple energy crashed against Fen's body. His hand was still gripping onto his sword however, causing the still-imbedded weapon to tear through more of the giant lizard's flesh from the kinetic energy.
As the new type of energy hit him, Fen's mind was almost forced to shut down from the overload it gave him. The strain bypassed through all his defenses as if they didn't exist, going directly towards his mind.
'Mental energy? Is this another type of magic?' Fen barely managed to squeeze out a thought before another round of pain racked his brain. Thankfully, the pain lessened over time, but the pain only got better when Fen backed away from the Lesser Dragon's body.
It was using this new type of energy to shield itself, forming a protective barrier all around itself and covering all it's shiny scales.
Fen gritted his teeth and headed back into the fight. He couldn't avoid fighting forever, sooner or later both of them would regain enough of their magical energy that Fen would be forced to fight more ice golems again. He needed to put more pressure on the Lesser Dragon with what he had, even if that was basically nothing.
Just like with most of his fights, he was running low on Vitality and was completely out of Mana.
'At least I've got experience fighting like this, I suppose...' Fen thought just as he hurled his Vital energy constructed spear at the purple crystal on the Lesser Dragon's head. Just like what he thought, the spear made out of Vitality slipped through the purple mental energy barrier like it was nothing.
Unfortunately, his spear did little to no damage to the crystal, forcing him to rethink his plan. Fen knew that that crystal had something to do with the mental energy, but if he couldn't destroy it then there really wasn't much he could do. He really didn't want to go back and experience mental pain, but life was cruel, and there was nothing he could do about it. When he returned back from the Scenario, he'd have to research more about this mysterious type of energy- something that became a priority among his to-do list because he really didn't want to go through that pain again.
Screaming out about the unfairness of life in his heart, Fen tightened his grip on his two weapons and leaped forward to crash against the Lesser Dragon's white scales, his mind instantly thrown into a world of pain as the purple energy collected around him.
****
A flash of brilliant white light appeared in the Squad room. The outline of a tall youth could be made out from within this light, but none of his facial features were visible enough to tell who he was. At least, until his body finished warping back into the facility and his pissed off visage became clear for everyone to see.
'Thank the Heavens that monster didn't have any more Mana left, otherwise I might have died in that fight. If it started fighting since the beginning with it's physical strength, the fight would've been much harder.' Fen was relieved that he survived, but also pissed off. 'But that damn energy... Should I ask Raisen about it? I'd probably have to explain about the Death Mark too, otherwise he might think I'm cursed- though he wouldn't be completely off the mark for thinking that.'
The entire fight wasn't even difficult either, which was another reason why he was so angry. Other than fighting the big crowd of ice golems and constructs, there was no challenge with killing the mutated Lesser Dragon at all! All Fen had to do was endure through the pain racking his mind, stab and slash while he was at it, and dodge the monster's claws when he had to. Maybe because it was so used to it's magic killing its opponents, but it's strength felt low for a Lesser Dragon of that size- though it was still much stronger than me.
The time he took in the Scenario was way over ten minutes too, so Fen was only rewarded with the bare minimum of points of 400, taking his total back up to 1201 points. That should be enough to buy a single good piece of equipment, but Fen refrained from purchasing anything now.
Even though the fight was annoying, he did learn from it.
For one, Lesser Dragons could be vain bastards who wouldn't lift a finger if it meant they wouldn't dirty their scales. That lesson in of itself was mind-blowing; what kind of Lesser Dragon didn't like getting their claws covered in blood?
Second, he needed more practice with Mana. His use of his basic skill 'Mana Dominion' was great, but he just used too much magical energy to make it useful enough in a real fight. What did that mean? Well, he either needed to increase his Mana reserves or increase his skill with handling Mana so that he could use it both efficiently and quickly.
But first, he had to see Raisen. The old Knight said that he wanted to see him after completing the Scenario; something about 'Stage Advancement'.