I continued to make progress on my death march through the forest, taking out any monsters who took offense to my existence along the way.
[User Slayed Level 12 Entity - Luscious Wolf]
[User Slayed Level 9 Entity - Luscious Wolf]
[User Slayed Level 11 Entity - Luscious Wolf]
[User Slayed Level 11 Entity - Luscious Wolf]
[User Slayed Level 10 Entity - Luscious Wolf]
[Accumulated Experience Has Reached The Required Threshold]
[Level Up]
I had been walking for around an hour now, deciding after this most recent level up to take a brake and sit down for a while.
My energy had begun to exhaust much more rapidly when creatures close to (and above) level 10 began to appear, as I could no longer get away with putting in miniscule amounts of mana for each attack.
The trees had begun to grow thicker and taller, and the distance you could see in any direction was much less than towards the edge of the forest.
The otherwise calm and serene scene was tainted with an air of creepiness, my subconscious being more concerned with survival than appreciating the surrounding aesthetic.
"Status, stats."
-
[User: Einer]
[Rank: Stone]
[Level: 17]
[Stats: >]
[Skills: >]
[Unique: >]
-
Stats:
AP: 9 [+]
Force: 10 -Locked-
Agility: 10 -Locked-
Vitality: 10 -Locked-
Wisdom: 10 -Locked-
Sorcery: 32 -Enhanced-
[Hidden Stats...]
-
I couldn't help but feel quite a bit of pleasure at the sight of nine whole juicy AP sitting right before my eyes.
Without much consideration (because what other options were there?) I dropped all of my AP into Sorcery, enjoying the sight of the stat rising to a solid 41, while simultaneously feeling my mana capacity expand and fill with arcane energies.
Heck, I could even feel my mana sense itself improve as my ability to discern the details of my inner energy circulation became ever clearer.
The rate of regeneration when it came to mana always rose in proportion with the capacity increase, and, as I was now, a full recovery from absolutely empty wouldn't even take an hour. However, the more you exhaust yourself over and over the longer that period would stretch, only resetting after a good night's sleep.
Like an instrument slowly shifting out of tune as it's played, a person can only maintain their top form for a certain time without a long rest, just like any athlete. Taking breaks will help restore energy, but they will slowly lose effectiveness as the body's functions collapse from overuse.
I had reserved a decent portion of mana for any emergency situations that might arise, and the new extra capacity came filled with energy, so my body had a lot less energy creation to do.
After what I assumed to be around ten minutes, I was topped off on energy and ready to roll, heading out once again without further ado.
I continued on to encounter periodic groups of [Giant Chipmunks] and [Luscious Wolves] who's members were in the level range of 8-15.
Now that they were getting closer to my level, I began to employ certain strategies in order to promote efficiency and safety.
I didn't want to be launching spells all over, as my energy would drain more quickly, and these monsters whose physical stats far exceeded mine still posed a threat.
For example, if I entered into a scene and immediately launched an attack, the survivors would instantly charge.
My Agility might not be able to keep up in the circumstances, since not only would they advance from various angles, but there might be even more monsters than I initially assumed, some having been hidden out of sight.
Agility decides processing and response speeds of the brain and by extension the body as well, and this was vital towards adapting to new movements and unforeseen circumstances.
A quality that would severely limit me, since despite my casting speed increasing, the quickness with which I could actually give the mental order for the spell to release would remain the same.
Eventually, enemies' Strength and Agility would so far outrank mine that they would be able to move and incapacitate me before I could even realize what was going on.
For now, I solved these issues by finding a tree with low hanging branches that I could scale, and then running at the group of monsters I was targeting while yelling loudly until the first of them noticed and began to advance.
I would then turn around, and sprint to the tree I had scouted, and scale it whilst casting.
When the monsters arrived below me, suspecting nothing and hoping to catch me before I could climb higher, I would turn around and drop a sizeable fireball onto them.
And suddenly, their congregation borne of aggression wasn't so deadly to me as it was to them!
After just 20 minutes, I had exacted this course of action around nine times with nine separate groups, netting me another two levels!
-
[User: Einer]
[Rank: Stone]
[Level: 19]
[Stats: >]
[Skills: >]
[Unique: >]
-
Stats:
AP: 6 [+]
Force: 10 -Locked-
Agility: 10 -Locked-
Vitality: 10 -Locked-
Wisdom: 10 -Locked-
Sorcery: 41 -Enhanced-
[Hidden Stats...]
-
I surveyed my progress as I took a short break up in one of the trees I had just used to destroy yet another pack of monsters.
Only one of the past nine groups had been made up of [Clawed Goblins] and it seemed as though they typically didn't make it too high in terms of levels.
They had become increasingly sparse, the Chipmunks and Wolves having already taken their place as the dominate species at this point in the woods.
I once again had to wonder why they were distributed so conveniently.
The monsters... that is.
The closer towards the center of the woods one got, the higher leveled, and eventually higher ranked, the monsters would be.
I remember Philip's sparse words about Domains, his own knowledge of the subject seemingly weak as well.
How could such interesting and varied environments that housed their own special conditions exist all over like this? And why were monsters only ever found in these places?
An inquiry for another time it seemed...
Once again, I hadn't even come close to using all my energy, and I rested for a few more minutes against the strong, thick trunk of the impressive oaken tree.
Not only the monsters themselves, but the trees and grass continued to grow more vibrant the further I had gone, at this point the surrounding oaks were all thicker than any tree I had ever seen.
The beauty of this new and environment, along with the eerie creepiness of its unnatural qualities both continued to ensnare my interest, as I hopped down the branches and made to advance deeper into the majestic [Mahjinaki Forest].
'Oh yeah, forgot to drop those AP into Sorcery... There we go, all set.'