The standard beginner monster in almost many of RPG game. Aqua was now looking at it. They were almost 3 feet tall, wore little to no clothing and had simple weaponry like a club or just stone fastened on a stick. There were 3 of them in front of her.
[Goblin Lvl. 4]
[Goblin Lvl. 3]
[Goblin Lvl. 4]
'This is not good. I barely know how to fight even with my Swordsmanship. This is the first time I am facing a battle and they are higher level than me as well.'
They had noticed her as they brandished their weapons and came at the same time while screaming. She needed to shut them up fast, otherwise they may attract other monsters as well. She readied her sword.
The first goblin who reached her tried to swing at her. Aqua reacted and jumped back. As the swing missed, she saw a opening and went for it. She swung her sword down, cutting through flesh and bone, chopping off the arms of the Goblin. The Goblin screeched in pain as she kicked him into the other. The other didn't have time to react as they crashed into their wounded comrade.
As they were dazed, they formed a single line. Aqua suddenly rushed into them with her sword in front of her and thrust it. From the force of the thrust, it pierced into all three of them at once, killing two of the front ones and wounding the last one.
She quickly backed off.
[After performing a move, you have learnt the skill [Thrust Lvl. 1]!]
[After performing a move, you have learnt the skill [Dash Lvl. 1]!]
[You have gained Exp. 175! You have leveled up by 1! You are now Lvl. 3 Magic Knight!]
Aqua barely reacted since she still had more enemies. The last one was clutching it's shoulder from where the sword had punctured it. Dark Green blood was pouring out it as it was desperately trying to close it. Aqua decided to end it's suffering and with one clean swipe, separated it's body from the head.
[You have gained Exp. 100! You have leveled up by 1! You are now Lvl. 4 Magic Knight!]
"Sigh!"
Finally releasing a sigh of relief as she sat down, mentally exhausted. It wasn't easy killing. Then suddenly she heard something.
Ding!
A panel appeared in front of her.
[Since the host survived her first encounter with the monster with no injuries, you have fulfilled a condition. The system will grant you what you desire.]
[Obtained book: Magic Fundamentals]
Aqua just took it out of her inventory. It was quite thin, maybe few pages long but it was about Magic so she read.
"Magic. Nature power within the grasp of your hand. Magic is an art that allows mortal to perform acts which is not made by nature. Altogether there are various elements which you can control. Some of them are:
i) The Four basic: Fire, Water, Wind and Earth.
ii) The Uncommon: Lightening, Plant, Gravity, Curse(Forbidden), Soul(Forbidden).
iii) The Variants: Lava, Ice, Mud, Storm.
iv) The Pairs: Light, Dark, Space, Time.
v) The Common: Elementless (Only Mana driven spell)
Also the magic they cast is categorized into 3 types.
i) Attack type
ii) Defense type
iii) Enchantment type....."
Aqua admitted that she was getting more intrigued by the variety of Magic here. She read on.
"The essence of magic is three things: finesse, quantity and imagination. That means control, amount of Mana used and your imagination of the spell. If you are not a mage, then first of all you need to feel the Mana around you. To awaken your talent, you need to feel it. Then this time, you need to feel the same type of power laying dormant inside you. If you feel it, then you can be able to use Magic."
Aqua closed the book. It was time to put the theory to test. She won't be stopped from using magic in the slightest. She first looked around her surroundings for any monsters. After not finding anything she decided to try at first. She sat in a meditating position. She tried to clear her thoughts for the moment and tried to 'observe' her surroundings with her eyes closed.
At first it was all black, but little by little the darkness receded as her vision was filled with light. It was... a fluffy sensation. Then like the book said, she tried to find it within herself. Hers was dense. That was what came to her mind at first. Unlike the fluffy sensation of the atmosphere, her's was like a sludge. But still this time, now that she knew about it, her Mana reacted to her.
Aqua opened her eyes and her opened her palm. Using her Mana, she created a glowing sphere of Mana just few centimeters in diameter.
[Mana Orb!]
[An orb of Mana that shines. MP: 10 (Activation) + 1 per second.]
[MP: 4991/5004]
Ding!
[Host learned to use Mana and Magic. Awarded +2 INT!]
Aqua cut off the supply as the orb disappeared. She decided it would be best if she read the few remaining information from the book.
"How Magic works is like this: All the things in this world is filled with Mana as it permeates the surrounding and the things in the surrounding. From Plants to Animals to even Lands and Waters. These Mana gains properties once it fused with it's surroundings. Mana in water gains properties of Water, Plants gains properties of Plants, Human has their own unique Mana. Not to be confused, Wind is Wind, not Air."
Aqua nodded in understanding as she kept on reading.
"So, our Mana is what guides these 'Natural Mana' into doing our bidding. In layman's term, our Mana, which is inside us, are like commanders of an Army. The Army are the Natural Mana around us. The Mana follows the intent of its user and changes the Natural Mana. So when using Magic, a portion of our MP is used to activate the Natural Mana into gaining the properties of our used spell. Also to regenerate, our body takes in the Natural Mana and converts it into our own. The size of our Mana pool also depends on our INT and WIS."
Aqua stopped there as she pondered.
'Wasn't the [System] exclusive to me? Does that mean everyone has them as well?'
Well she could ponder about it in another time. There were few lines left in this small book so she decided to finish it first.
"Therefore, the Mana that is inside of us are superior when compared to the Natural Mana. So if we only use Magic made up of only our own Mana, it is leagues above the one done using Natural Mana despite the huge drain in MP. Also due to this reason, some spell are superior to others depending upon the geography. In River, where Water Mana is abundant, Water spells are stronger and vice versa. Therefore, it is careful to choose the battleground as well. Also there is the thing of Magic Affinity, which magic that suits you and Magic circle for higher level Magic spells but that's for another book if I don't go bankrupt. -The Arch-mage Xevon"
Aqua closed the book as she finished reading it. She was still giddy inside by finally able to learn Magic.
"So which magic should I use?"
Just then and there was a noise.
"Growl.... "
She immediately sat up and readied her sword but was confused when there was no one.
"Growl...."
She looked down to her stomach that was producing the sound. Now she looked at her surroundings, it was getting quite late. The sun had almost set over the hills. Aqua was so engrossed over the fact about [Magic] that she didn't have time to look for something edible. She looked at the corpses of the Goblin.
"..... yeah, no can do."
Then she opened her [Status] to keep the book and realized there was another prize like thing there. She looked at it suspiciously.
"It wasn't there hours ago."
She clicked on it and her inventory was filled with things. Mostly food items and utensils. Aqua could let go of her grudge if it meant she could eat her fill. So she decided to stay in the forest for the night but away from the corpses of the Goblin lest they spoil her appetite.
On second thought. Aqua used a spell.
[Fire Ball!]
A big fireball of few feet in diameter appeared in front of her palm and proceeded to shoot at the direction it was pointed at. While doing so, she looked her remaining MP.
[MP: 4974/5004]
'So it takes 30 MP to cast it? I can afford to spam it many times due to my huge Mana pool....'
Just then a terrible smell arose from the burning of the corpses to which she almost gagged.
'Better leave this place now!'
After that she choose a direction and proceeded towards it.