Audelia, Adalinda, and Quad were sweating buckets because of the prolonged duration of sparring. At least they brought a portable ventilation system.
No, it was not Shinji's invention. The air conditioner is Dongmei herself.
Quad had more energy than the 2 noble girls so he prepared food from the surrounding frozen monsters.
I bet you know how those monsters became produce.
Adalinda helped light the fire for convenience. Audelia also consumed her remaining mana to restore stamina.
Dongmei took out some treasures from her ring. These were useless for her since they were only helpful in restoring mana. A few of them were also for Quad to consume.
The trio thanks her and their mana and qi restore quickly. Their [Mana Heart] and [Qi Core] are also nourished.
"After this meal, you will have to go kill monsters this time. It will be separated to individuals then teamwork...", so Dongmei went on about her regime.
Adalinda heaved but concentrated on gathering her mana. she thinks she can break through in the next few days.
Audelia on the other hand is far from it but she stays determined due to her need to become stronger to help her newfound friends.
Aw, how wholesome.
Quad also has the same intent but he is also carrying the burden that all knights, or at least those righteous knights, have. The duty to protect the empire.
Even Adalinda's concern for her royal family gave her the same intention to help the empire.
But she couldn't inform the outside world using a communicator. Such valuable information will be easily intercepted by an advanced spaceship. She doesn't even know how strong the detection system of the ship is.
She could only hope on the headmaster to find a way... now that she thinks about it. How can Shinji talk to the headmaster directly?
She shook her head, such a mystery can't and shouldn't be solved at this moment so she went back to her mana.
Dongmei takes out an artifact, [Snowflake]. It is one of the items she found in the chest. It is an artifact that turns the natural Qi in the air into ice-attributed Qi making her cultivation go smoother. She sighs in relief knowing that the artifacts in the royal vault had only 5 of these artifacts and none of them turns qi into the ice attribute.
For now, she activates it with thought and starts cultivating, it didn't matter if she couldn't make a breakthrough in these few days, any small amount of increase is important.
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"So you're saying that this plant immobilizes you with illusions?", Kaitlynn looks at an alluring rainbow flower with its center looking weirdly creepy due to its looking like eyelids.
Kaitlynn gets a sense of familiarity with it due to her having died to an eyeball so her hostility is much biased against it.
Drax wanted to nope the F out due to him not knowing how to combat illusions but instead, he just stayed far from the monster. He also decided to go behind Sirena.
'She has a [Psyche] relating to the mind so she might have mind immunity with her.', Drax thought. and right he was.
He also reasoned to not look directly that the monster due to his mind screaming, 'Yeah don't look at strange monster eyes. Especially if they have something to do with illusions.'
Finally, there is a person with common sense.
Shinji took out a laser pointer... this horrid creature. He forced open the eyelids of the peaceful plant and made it stare at Kaitlynn.
Kaitlynn didn't have time to react and went into a trance. Shinji then pointed the laser at the monster's eyeball. Drax winces hearing its weird screeches.
[I Think the Author is also referencing the Regular Show wherein Rigby kills a weird eyeball dude.]
Kaitlynn snapped out of the trance after she uses [Cold Mind] to interrupt her thoughts.
"You could have told me at least.", Kaitlynn sighs as she remembers the vivid illusions.
"Well, according to my memories in my last life in addition to my fanaticism towards magic theory. The effect should be much stronger if the consciousness is caught off guard and when the subconscious is more susceptible. Well, it's just a fantasy theory.", Shinji concludes as if he had solved world hunger.
[Game Theory reference for those living under a rock.]
"You're really going for the torture method of getting stronger?", Drax asks concerned by the unfolding situation.
"Relax, the illusion focuses on their effectiveness and illusion than actually torturing the person. I'm trying to develop Kaitlynn's [Mind Immunity] and not [Pain Immunity].", Shinji assures Drax since the former chose the monster for its potent illusion but harmless mental attacks.
Shinji realized that Kaitlynn's second [Psyche] fuels itself on the concept of mind manipulation more than mental torture.
He is starting to get the concept of how [Psyche] works and grows. Unfortunately, he needed a few more examples to actually prove his hypotheses.
Drax could understand most of what Shinji said but his mind just zeroed on the statement that it won't hurt Kaitlynn so he just shrugs not trying to completely understand how.
'It's too Sciency for me... but isn't Magic just the same? No, the thing said wasn't even remotely related to science! argh, whatever they are both complicated.', Drax wants to curse at the complicated stuff but relents, 'It is what it is.'
[Can you imagine the 'It is what it is' meme?]
'BUT... it's all about the grind. Status.', Drax looks at his newly improved status.
Do you think the author will whip up the status again?
//
[Drax Vasiliev]
Title: Reincarnator, System User
Race: Human
Age: 12
Aptitude: Lightning and Metal
Class: [Mage - Lv.43], [Combat Mage - Lv.10], [Lightning Mage - Lv.10], [Metal Mage - Lv.10]
Skill Points: 8
Skills: [Cooking - Lv.20], [Smithing - Lv.30], [Metallurgy - Lv.30], [Alchemy - Lv.20], [Electrical Mechanic - Lv.20], [Bloodlust Resistance - Lv.7], [Fear Resistance - Lv.10], [Calm Mind - Lv.10], [Gathering - Lv.5], [Identify - Lv.10], [Slinging - Lv.8], [Target - Lv.8]
Spells: [Heal Up - Lv.3], [Stamina Up - Lv.3], [Spark - Lv.20], [Reinforce - Lv.20], [Sand - Lv.20], [Gather Sand - Lv.20], [Disperse Sand - Lv.20], [Sand+Gather Sand: Sand Sphere - Lv.20], [Sand+Disperse Sand: Sand Swirl - Lv.20], [Sand Gather+Sand Disperse: Lesser Sand Control - Lv.20], [Spark+Reinforce: Lesser Shock - Lv.20], [Spark+Temper: Lesser Shock Impact - Lv.30], [Spark+Shock: Greater Shock - Lv.30], [Reinforce+Temper: Metal Enforce - Lv.30], [Reinforce+Flash: Launch - Lv.30], [Temper - Lv.40], [Iron - Lv.40], [Copper - Lv.40], [Gold - Lv.40], [Zinc - Lv.30], [Aluminium - Lv.30], [Lead - Lv.30], [Tin - Lv.30], [Silver - Lv.30], [Titanium - Lv.30], [Nickel - Lv.30], [Platinum - Lv.30], [Tungsten - Lv.30], [Niobium - Lv.30], [Magnesium - Lv.30], [Molybdenum - Lv.30], [Tantalum - Lv.30], [Zirconium - Lv.30], [Lithium - Lv.30], [Beryllium - Lv.30], [Sodium - Lv.30], [Potassium - Lv.30], [Calcium - Lv.30], [Rubidium - Lv.30], [Strontium - Lv.30], [Scandium - Lv.30], [Vanadium - Lv.30], [Chromium - Lv.30], [Manganese - Lv.30], [Cobalt - Lv.30], [Gallium - Lv.30], [Yttrium - Lv.30], [Ruthenium - Lv.30], [Rhodium - Lv.30], [Palladium - Lv.30], [Cadmium - Lv.30], [Indium - Lv.30], [Caesium - Lv.30], [Barium - Lv.30], [Lanthanum - Lv.30], [Cerium - Lv.30], [Praseodymium - Lv.30], [Neodymium - Lv.30], [Samarium - Lv.30], [Europium - Lv.30], [Gadolinium - Lv.30], [Terbium - Lv.30], [Dysprosium - Lv.30], [Holmium - Lv.30], [Erbium - Lv.30], [Thulium - Lv.30], [Ytterbium - Lv.30], [Lutetium - Lv.30], [Hafnium - Lv.30], [Rhenium - Lv.30], [Osmium - Lv.30], [Iridium - Lv.30], [Mercury - Lv.30], [Thallium - Lv.30], [Bismuth - Lv.30], [Thorium - Lv.30], [Uranium - Lv.30], [Shock - Lv.40], [Flash - Lv.40], [Lesser Rest - Lv.3], [Lesser Recovery - Lv.3], [Lesser Heal - Lv.3], [Lesser Energy - Lv.3], [Flash+Temper: Bullet - Lv.40], [Temper+Shock: Shock Impact - Lv.40], [Iron+Copper: CuFe Alloy - Lv.40], [Iron+Gold: CuFe Alloy - Lv.40], [Copper+Gold: Red Gold - Lv.40], [Copper+Zinc: Brass - Lv.40], [Copper+Aluminium: Duralium - Lv.40], [Copper+Tin: Bronze - Lv.40], [Gold+Silver: Soft Green Gold - Lv.40], [Gold+Platinum: Sandia - Lv.40], [Gold+Aluminium: AuAl intermetallic - Lv.40], [Gold+Tin: Gold Tin - Lv.40], [Gold+Nickel: White Gold - Lv.40], [Gold+Zinc: AuZn Alloy - Lv.40], [Gold+Lead: AuPb Alloy - Lv.40], [Gold+Titanium: AuTi Alloy - Lv.40], [Gold+Tungsten: AuW Alloy - Lv.40], [Iron+Zinc: Galvanized Steel - Lv.40]
//
Yes. yes, he will.
"Drax, you're on grinding duty. Since I know you're not efficient...yet. You can cast a spell to make a metal ball and then use healing spells on yourself. Oh, another thing to note, DON'T summon metals that explode on contact with water or air.", Shinji stares at Drax indignantly
"This is basically free slave labor.", Drax also sighs at the situation.
"You get paid in experience.", Shinji scams Drax.
"Tell that to the unpaid interns back on earth.", Drax chuckles but then he stops, "Uh... actually, what were the metals that explode again?", Drax only remembers a few. In actuality, he only remembers the metals that made wondrous explosions or the metals that nearly killed him.
"Actually, I have no idea too.", Some files go to the trash to make space for more. Shinji forgot ExplosiveMetals.exe.
[.exe is a file extension that most of the time may have a virus. but the Author is of the new generation so Author has no idea if there are still viruses in those files.]
Kaitlynn frowns and checks her memory to which she found memories of herself searching online on how to make explosives, "..."
The only one who knows this, Sirena, is staring at her, "..."
Kaitlynn has thick skin so she brushes it off and informs Drax. Although hard to remember things in the long term, Drax is still able to memorize due to his mind flowing with mana.
Drax closes his eyes and psyches himself up, "Okay, spamming how hard could it be?", he mutters.
And so 5 hours later...
'aaauuauuughhh...', Drax's dead eyes stare into nothingness as he spams spells at twice the speed he usually does.
As lazy as he is, his skills coupled with his calm (dead) attitude have let him achieve the state in which all gamers who play grinding RPGs have, the zone
//
Gained the Skill [The Zone - Lv.1]
[The Zone]
Type: Skill
Description: A skill of concentration due to the result of boredom and calmness.
Effects:
Lowers stress and improves concentration
Boredom is a social construct. Patience is increased.
If an act is repeated too much, speed is increased
If the same exact action is repeated for an extended period, the action can be done unconsciously.
//
...wha- no that is not what I...oh forget it.
'Hmmm? Oh wow, It's like an AFK skill. The effects...It can be called a passive skill.', Drax thinks to himself.
*swoosh*
While Drax was swinging with his sore arm, A white circle appears around his arm indicating that it was a holy-type spell.
Depending on the element of the spell is not only indicated by the symbol on the spell's core but also by the color of the spell.
Orange is Fire
Light Brown is Earth.
Azure is Water.
Light Grey is Air.
Silver is Metal.
White is Holy.
Black is Shadow.
Purple is Curse.
Dark Green is Poison.
Green is Nature.
Gold is Light.
Violet is Lightning.
Cyan is Ice.
Dark Blue is Space.
Light Green is Sound.
Dark Grey is Gravity.
Grey is an Illusion in this world of black and white... I mean pika pika.
[Genocide Pika Pika meme]
The Author will certainly rue this information (or any information at that.), he has already forgotten how Drax's System works (good thing the information was still listed in another chapter for him to look back to.)
Energy flowed through Drax's arm constantly which eases the ever-growing fatigue and soreness while also spreading a relieving and good feeling.
He also used the 2-Star holy-type magic [Vital Vision] to pinpoint vitals. Not that it helped due to the low power of his projectiles.
Drax kept spawning ping-pong-sized metals and adding in 1-Star [Spark] and 2-Star [Shock] to make more spell combinations and hence will give Drax more SP.
Guess more spell dump in the status information.
But that information will be for later, back to Dongmei's group...
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Adalinda realized the problem with her spells. Fire-type spells would always be used as a long-range due to the clear disadvantages it has in attacking at close range. The fire spell could burn the spellcaster or could consume the oxygen in the air rendering the mage to possible suffocation. And the incredible amount of heat is uncomfortable, and unlike flame-type cultivators, flame-type mages don't have resistance to the heat unless they use a spell.
When fighting with fire spells, she has to also expend more effort on her defense against fire while also moving in a way to not trap herself in her own barrage of spells.
And yet gradually she's starting to get the hang of it. Even Dongmei recognized her strategical intellect and her ability to make important second decisions.
Adalinda is also glad and recognizes the support her teammates have. Audelia focuses on the team's physical state while holding down her own while Quad uses his martial arts that had elements of crowd control which lifted the burden from Adalinda whenever she was in a tight spot.
Gradually, Adalinda started from being the weakest link to being able to have the same combat strength (in close combat) as Quad.
On the other hand, her talent in swords is average. Surprisingly, Audelia has good talent in wielding the sword, and coupled with her ingenious way of using her spells to identify the vital points on the monster makes her a vital part of the attack force.
Quad also learned and realized some untapped potential that he didn't previously see. Among the youth, he is the most talented knight among them so whenever annual hunts happen he acts as the vanguard.
When Adalinda started catching up, Quad also found his usefulness in acting as a support for crowd control.
His martial arts are able to disorient monsters and also change the terrain with his strength. His punches are capable of making unstable ground. His punches also have knockback to them which helps him rear the monsters up or back them away whenever his teammates are struggling.
This led to Dongmei watching a very synergized group of three having each other's back, "This... amazing.", For a loner like her, the only time she has seen this good of teamwork was when she was being ripped apart by the elf and dwarf duo...
Sweat drips off her forehead. She has realized the OP-ness of RPG synergy. She also tries to deliberate a plan to somehow stop the enemy duo from attacking cooperatively.
'There is visible improvement happening.', Dongmei smiles.
On the other hand with Albert and Lin...
------------------------------------------------------
Although it was a rough start, their teamwork improved gradually and reached the point where they won't inconvenience each other.
They suddenly arrive near a huge tree that was 10 times the height and width of the encompassing trees.
To make sure Albert uses the scanner to find out it isn't a monster which brings out a sigh of relief from Lin. But he then felt surprised when the scanner still gave information about the tree.
"The tree is of a rare species and grows 3-Star Treasures in its branches. Because of its treasure, monsters may inhabit the tree so proceed with caution if you ever try climbing it.", the mechanical voice of the scanner says.
Lin and Albert look up to see the top having 2 fruits with a b.
Where's the b you say?
"This bee is a lifeform created by the main monster rank-6 [HiveCenter]. The bee's strength is barely comparable to a rank-5 monster. It has the nickname 'Mindless Bee' for its biological makeup not having a developed brain. The monster will make a loud noise to alert the hive so it's best not to let it find you until you've found its nest.", The scanner rings out.
[Inspired by a short clip of 'Michael with a b']
"We have to find the bee's nest somewhere. Do you see it?", Albert asks
"..No, there are too many leaves...", Lin tries looking for it with his body's enhanced senses but couldn't find any.
"Let's go up then.", Lin adds to his previous statement which Albert accepts with a nod.
This time they have made a plan and formation beforehand.
To only use one shield instead of 2, Albert will stay together with each other.
They agreed that splitting up from each other to attack the monster from different directions isn't their style.
What's more, is that the monsters they encountered were able to use several limbs making that strategy more of a disadvantage than an advantage.
Another point they found out is their high consumption of energy. For light-type spells casters, though not as much as strong ones like space, have a higher than average mana expenditure.
Although Lin's physique gave him twice as much Qi as anyone else in the same realm, his qi usage was quite high due to his high-star techniques. This is also a reason why you shouldn't master techniques with higher stars than recommended due to the chance of the practitioner becoming a sitting duck due to him having no ounce of qi left in a battle.
Lin went ahead while Albert stay on his tail. Lin has his spear while Albert has his [Shine Zone] spell ready too. Not finding the beehive yet and slowly filling the gap between the bee, Lin tells Albert that they make a quick climb for the stable branches.
2-Star [Beam Walk]
As expected, it didn't take long for the bee to notice the duo. The bee's wings started making a weird noise. Albert uses magic on both of them. Lin forcefully digs his fingers deep inside the trunk and then ran up with his speed enhanced with magic. Albert unsheathes his own sword and uses it to help him get up faster.
*Screech*
2-Star [LightRay]
The insect's awful noise resounds as Lin guts it with his spear. It tries to fly away but Lin's spear also damaged its wings. Lin turns to Albert and pulls him up. Albert gets on his feet and launches a finishing blow on the bee.
Lin immediately grabs Albert by his back shirt and says, "Hold on tight, We're rushing up.". Albert lets it happen as he also prepares spells to ward off the incoming bees.
Intensified 2-Star [Shine Zone] and Constant 2-Star [Bright Wave]
There appeared 5 of them bee-lining (get it? cause...bee?) straight to them, each having the size of an adult Filipino with back problems. Albert immediately attacks while Lin power through them with the shield active.
Albert's goal was to damage the wings with [Bright Wave] while Lin took advantage of the defense of [Shine Zone] and places his attention on climbing up. Leaving the 5 either with destroyed wings or heavily caved-in bodies.
Soon they reach the point of seeing the hive, but this time 25 bees are forming a flying straight for them. Albert takes a rest and deactivates both his spells knowing Lin can deal with the bees for a moment. He also takes out some mana-restoring fruits.
3-Star [Poison Rings: Scorpion Ring]
They added more to their tactics this time. Lin lets Albert down and attacks with his spear killing a few of the insects and blasting them back due to the force of the wind. He picks up Albert again and the latter activates [Bright Wave] and [Shine Zone] again. Lin breaks through the jumbled formation and lands on a branch above their pursuers.
3-Star [Poison Rings: Hog Ring]
Lin lets go of Albert as the latter deactivates only [Shine Zone]. Few bees have their wings burnt while some just have their speed slow down. Lin didn't let the bees who could still fly get to them so he attacked again with a bunch of stabs. He whittles down the numbers.
Multiple 2-Star [LightRay]
Albert turns around and launches multiple rays of light at the bee's nest the size of your mom... The attacks pierce the monster but it only made lumps on its walls. From the entrance of the nest appeared 75 bees and a bee swarm of the same amount is returning from different parts of the giant tree.
"This....", Albert looks around them.
"I'll attack the hive while you attack the bees incoming!", Lin says his plan and acts immediately.
Albert didn't nod but went to cast several rays of light blasting toward the incoming bees.
Will this duo survive? Find out next on dragon deez nutz OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!
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Author's Note:
So...recently I... there's actually no excuse. I mean... choosing to spend your hours reading other novels while listening to music while scrolling through youtube may be efficient but it doesn't get my chapters done. I also forgot to set up a timer every 30 minutes so that I could write 100 words (which means 3k in 900 minutes or 15 hours which can be easily spread across 2 or 3 days.)
I mean, what is so busy with listening to 100 songs, watching 10 20-minute videos, reading 50 more or less chapters from webnovel, playing 30 minutes of violin, visiting 3 games daily, chatting in 4 discord servers, reading 10 chapters in Bili Bili comics, while also having 132 manga/manhua/manhwa waiting for you (and also 15 novels that I bookmarked which aren't finished yet), Have driving lessons, And go to 3 church services? I know right? very manageable.
Let's say at the end of August, School comes back? OH WELL, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?
AND YET THIS NOVEL IS STILL AN ENJOYMENT!!!! AM I A MASOCHIST????
Also don't worry about this being word count (or the status screen of Drax being word count too. I have made the calculations and gave a 3.6k word chapter which doesn't include the Author's Note)
Anyway, back to updating the auxiliary chapters again...