Magic needs mana to be used. And as such, it needs mana to be strong. A person's soul can contain an endless amount of mana through meditation, training, studying, among others. But a person's body had to be strictly trained to release the innate mana sleeping in his soul. An untrained person using an unprecedented amount of mana will suffer, if not die. This phenomenon is called self-induced mana overdose. If a person who overused mana didn't die, they'll probably be paralyzed for life. But it looks like, to win against the kapre, I have to risk it.
"Can't we just wait it out until he has no more mana left to keep the barrier running?" I asked Dominion, but I was immediately given a disappointing answer.
Dominion shook his head with a still determined expression. "He has 17 WIS stats. That fire barrier is Tier 1, and he has 17 WIS. He can keep that damn thing running for 17 to 20 minutes. We can attempt to wait it out, but we've been running around for quite a while now. I bet your body would fall on its own before his mana depletes."
"Shit... I'll never understand how the WIS stat works."
"I'll explain later. For now, let's deal with this mess." Dominion then noticed that the kapre wasn't moving anymore, so he stopped my feet from running. He then looked down; I noticed what he was looking at as well. Blood had been spilling out of my metal boots, my leg is shaking like it's about to erupt, and my breathing mirrors my nasty and dying state. "Do you have a shatter skill?"
"I have a tier 1 water shatter spell, but it requires 1 mana bar, takes 20 seconds to cast, and will not completely destroy a barrier. But it will give us enough time to lunge forward and strike."
"What happens when you get interrupted while casting."
"The spell uses mana before it channels, so I will most definitely lose my one lone mana bar if I get interrupted. Dashing away and running can interrupt the channeling as well."
There are five different kinds of spells.
Control. Shatter. Barrier. Projectile. Recover.
Control spells are those that manipulate a battle in your favor. They utilize their environment and circumstances to aid users in taking the upper-hand. Such spells halt the opponent's movement or prevent their advances such as stuns, knockbacks, slows, among many others. Control spells are usually used to counter Shatter spells.
Shatter spells are primarily used only to destroy barriers. They can be mighty and useful spells, but they take a long time to cast, which is why users who're channeling a spell like this are susceptible to receiving Control spells. But there's no better way to destroy a Barrier than to Shatter it!
On the other hand, a Barrier spell is precisely what its name implies. It creates a shield around a user that prevents physical strikes and Projectile spells from hitting the user at a certain period. Barriers are very easy and fast to conjure; not only that but they are the spells most effective at preventing hits from reaching the user. They are definitely my least favorite spell to fight against, but definitely my favorite.
As for my least favored spell, we have Projectile spells. Decisive when it reaches your opponent, but useless against a barrier. They are the surest way of utilizing your mana to decimate the opponent in one hit. Not only that, but after successfully landing a Projectile spell, every Recovery spell placed on the entity you hit will be canceled.
And speaking of Recovery spells, my second favored spells are the best at getting yourself out of a pinch. It can get you and your allies out of a Control spell's binding and heal over time. If you or someone around you had been caught by a pesky Control spell, it's always best to use a Recovery spell to get you back on your feet. If you realize that your Vitality is running low, it's best to use Recovery spells. But beware that a Projectile spell can always ruin your Recovery spells.
All of these create a perfectly harmonious relationship between every spell. A newbie spellcaster soon realizes that magic is both a tricky and easy thing to understand, especially once they first encounter the spell tiers.
The spell tiers are just as the name suggests: the hierarchy of spells that gets stronger the higher it is in the tier list. It starts at Tier 1 and ends at Tier 6. A tier 1 spell needs 1 mana bar to use, a tier 2 spell needs 2 bars, and so on... It's needless to say that a Tier 1 skill is definitely better than a Tier 6, but it doesn't mean a Tier 1 spell is utterly useless against a Tier 6 one. A Tier 1 barrier can still prevent a Tier 6 Projectile from hitting the user, but the poor Barrier would probably break upon impact. As such, a Tier 1 Shatter spell can still destroy a Tier 6 Barrier, but a Tier 5 Shatter spell is definitely a more practical choice but not very efficient for your mana bars. The only problem is that a stronger spell requires more mana bar, and an entity is born with 0 mana bar.
So, now, Dominion and I are faced with a problem. The kapre had summoned a Tier 1 Barrier, and Gres' body only had 1 mana bar. I can channel the spell now, but if the kapre sees this, he will just rush towards me to stop my plan.
"Do you have a Control spell?" asked Dominion as he placed his chin on my shoulder.
"I have a Tier 1 Control spell, but we still need to do something with that Barrier. I can't even approach that thing without getting burned. Plus, I only have wooden weapons with me; I don't want to waste them like I did with my Wooden Sword. And since his Barrier spell can last for more than 10 minutes, he would have enough time to defend himself while getting out of my Control spell.
Dominion paused for a while before leaning closer to me, whispering in my ear as his eyes shot daggers at the kapre.
"Use your HARVEST command on your blood."
"You want me to collect my blood?"
"Yes. Look, you're already bleeding around your chest. Just harvest your blood, and craft a Blood Serum."
I know Dominion means well, so I did as he requested without asking questions.
I placed my palm on my bloody chest. "HARVEST."
"+30 drop of blood"
"+300 mana"
"CREATE. Blood Serum."
"+1 Blood Serum"
"-20 drops of blood"
"-500 mana"
A small vial of Blood Serum appeared before me.
"Drink it."
And so I did. I felt the salty serum course through my tongue, swim into my throat, and explode within me. I then noticed an incredible sensation playing within me, coursing through my veins, and invading the deepest crevices of my body.
"Good," Dominion uttered. "That will help you gain mana."
He's right! I saw that I now have six mana bars. But the weirdest thing about it is that the five new mana bars are colored red, a stark difference from the bright blue color of Gres' lone mana bar.
"For 30 seconds, you'd have an extra 5 mana bar. Get moving, Aleph!"
I didn't waste time.
Swiftly, I crouched on the ground and placed my palm on the rough, darkened soil, sending one red mana bar into my hand. My Tier 1 Earth Control spell immediately went to action, enlarging the hole beneath the kapre. Shock and terror suddenly flushed through his gigantic wrinkled face as he fell on the hole I created; I used another mana bar to close the soil back again and constrict the kapre's body with the earth.
I used this opportunity to channel my Tier 1 Water Shatter spell. As I conjured the spell, small pin-shaped water droplets began to appear around the now panicking kapre, pointing around his Barrier. It looked like he had no goddamn clue how I managed to pull off this victory.
"You know, Dominion..." I said as I finalized my spell.
"Hmm?" My god partner replied.
"You really should have told me about the Blood Serum earlier."
"Oh." He said with a grunt. "Sorry. It completely flew out of my head."
"We suffered for nothing because of you..."
Once the Shatter spell's channeling ended, I snapped my fingers, and the water pins all struck the kapre's Fire Barrier until it popped like a balloon.
"NOW!" I screamed. I didn't even need Dominion's aid this time. I sprinted towards the kapre out of my own volition.
As a last act of desperation, the kapre let out another blood-curdling war cry. And this one is definitely the loudest one he had ever roared, for it was strong enough to send shockwaves that bent the nearby trees away from him but not strong enough to stop me, his imminent death.
I lunged forward with my shield covering my body and spear raised high up.
And stabbed the red mark on his neck.
Again.
Again.
And again.
And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and--
"STOP, ALEPH! He's already dead."
When I'm done, thick blue liquid had already smeared my face, and in front of me stood a lifeless kapre with his head torn off his neck, his muscles bent down like the stem of a wilting flower, and his blood bathing the rest of his body.
I stabbed him a total of 36 times.
"We need to get out of here."
As Dominion said those words, numerous war cries erupted from a distance, some much nearer than the rest, all approaching my direction.
"They're coming, Aleph. Follow the light trail; you will definitely not encounter a kapre in this path."
"Hey, Dominion..." I said, panting as I dropped my wooden weapons on the floor, brushing my now wet hair back with my fingers as I stared at the distance. "What was that?" I uttered, pointing my bloodstained hands at something in the distance.
"Huh?" Dominion moved his attention to the thing I was pointing at. "What the..."
A few feet away from me, Dominion and I saw an entity squirming inside a metallic net.