A week later I opened up the [Screen] to check on my progress.
[Mana Management: To gain proficiency, grow your internal mana pool and claim mastery over it. (Progress to tier 2: 80%)]
[Umbramancy: To gain proficiency, master the shadow and the emotions within it. (Progress to tier 2: 60%)]
It was quite a slow process to be honest and I felt a little bad draining through so many Mana Crystals in such a short time when we wouldn't even use this many in a year.
Mother assured me that it was fine and was even praising me for finding such a method to increase my proficiency in Mana Management, though I felt the praise was a little exaggerated since I'm sure anyone could have thought of this.
One thing I found out quickly was that if I were to use my Umbramancy to drain my mana until there was nothing left, then top up my mana using the mana from the Mana Crystals, it helped increase the proficiency in both skills by quite a significant amount.
Not by a whole lot but enough that I might be able to make it within maybe the next two years for Umbramancy?
Well, I've got time after all~
As for what I'm doing tonight… I'm out hunting again but not for food this time.
Mother is now confident that I am able to fight monsters now so she's bringing me deeper into the island to hunt some. She even took my Umbramancy into account and chose to do this at night.
I still don't have my wings yet so I'm currently being carried in her arms underneath her.
Unlike the first time, she did not drop me but simply flew normally, not that I'm complaining of course.
Eventually, we came to a valley that had a river running through it, sparsely decorated by trees around the river bank.
Even from this height, I could see several figures skulking around the valley, which I guess must be the monsters we were hunting today since mother immediately descended.
We dropped at a small cliff overlooking said valley, giving me a clear view of just what was waiting below us.
Truth be told, I did not know what to expect when I knew I was going to fight monsters. Aren't cockatrices also considered to be monsters? Or are they considered to be animals? Or maybe even a subspecies? I'll have to go read up on that later.
But down below in the valley, the monsters here look like wolves with black fur and red eyes, though there's definitely an odd feeling coming from them that I've not felt in the animals I've seen so far.
"Are those the monsters, mo… Mommy?"
She giggled, "That's right my little one~ Do you think you can hunt one?"
I brought up my [Screen] to check their stats.
[Name: Hell Wolf
Race: Monster
Stats:
20 Strength
20 Dexterity
20 Endurance
20 Magic
Magic Skills:
Pyromancy (Tier 1)]
The base stats were all lower than mine so I believe I should be able to take one out by myself. The fact that it has access to magic shouldn't be a surprise considering they are a source of Mana Crystals so they should possess magic too.
I did notice that unlike the other animals that would have varying stats despite being of the same race, every single Hell Wolf I inspected with my [Screen] had the exact same stats and magic skills.
My surprise must have shown on my face since mother chuckled, "Ufufu~ My little one is wondering why all of them have the exact same strength, yes? That's because they are all created the same."
"Created?"
She nodded, "Hell is under the domain of the God Hiandoca, whom many believe is seeking to destroy the world as monsters come from their domain. That could not be further from the truth. Tell me, little one, what do you think happens to mana when it is used?"
I thought for a moment, "It… Disappears?"
"Ufufu~ That's not quite right. When mana is used, it is actually returned to Hell, where it will remain before crystallising into a mana crystal. The mana crystal then forms into a monster and appears somewhere in the world according to the type of monster it forms. Since the exact same amount of mana is used to create each species of monster, they would all be similar in strength."
"Does that mean that the more mana is used, the more monsters there are in the world?"
"Ara, ara? My little one truly is smart! That would of course be the case but it still takes time for the monsters to be formed and Mana Crystals that have been dropped from monsters do not reform back into monsters until they are used up and return to Hell. Unless there's a sudden boom in mages, the number of monsters in the world should remain the same. Not to mention the fact that mages also contain mana themselves so not all of the mana would return back to Hell"
I was about to nod when I suddenly gasped, "But… Us… The ones who came here from another world…"
Her smile widened, "Yes, it has already happened. The monster population in the world has significantly increased because of that. Not to worry, my little one, for the Dungeons are there for this purpose as well. It would certainly make the dungeons harder to clear now but no one would need to worry about monsters taking over the world any time soon~"
I nodded in understanding before turning back to look at the valley, already trying to find a suitable target for me to hunt.
Eventually, I settled for a Hell Wolf that was near the foot of our cliff.
It should be far enough from the other wolves that it should not aggro them during my fight; but also close enough to the cliff that if anything goes wrong, like if the monsters have some kind of hive mentality that will cause them all to attack when one of them is hit, I could still escape up here.
I took out my dagger and did a final check of my equipment before leaping off the edge of the cliff.
I learnt that as Meslatars, we are able to fall from a very high altitude without even taking damage, so there's really no need to have a fear of heights.
Landing on the ground without a sound because of [Shadow Glide], I made my way towards the Hell Wolf silently and quickly.
In addition to cladding myself with [Shadow Wall] I was practically invisible right now… Except for the other senses of course.
I wasn't sure how well its sense of smell is given that it was still a wolf, but whether that aspect of wolves carry over to monsters was something I have not confirmed yet.
Thus, I was still cautious when approaching it, which was proven to be worth it since the monster suddenly spun around and growled when I reached within five metres of it.
Ironically, it got confused when it found no one there but darkness, even though it most definitely smelled me.
I moved closer to it and it was getting more reactive as my smell got stronger, which seemed to confuse it a lot more than actually making it cautious.
I briefly considered testing if [Darkness Paranoia] works on it but decided against using it for now since it would be bad if this one runs off somewhere else and alerts the other monsters.
Continuing to approach it, the wolf snarled and swiped at my direction, only to hit empty air since I wasn't even close enough to be in range yet.
It was definitely confused now which was a good sign since it proved that they were susceptible to mental effects.
While it was still trying to make sense of what was happening, I leapt the last metre towards it and stabbed my dagger into its head.
It tried to let out a howl of pain but I wrapped my arm around its snout in a choke hold and slammed the wolf down like a wrestler with my superior strength.
That silenced the wolf and I took advantage of that by pulling out the dagger and stabbing it into its throat, making sure to give it a good twist before pulling it out again.
The monster wolf started thrashing around but eventually went limp after a while.
I quickly checked my surroundings and breathed out a sigh of relief when none of the other Hell Wolves had even reacted to my kill.
Yep, stealth is good.
Perhaps I should start learning archery soon, everyone knows stealth archers are also completely broken too.
I looked down at my newest kill wondering what I was supposed to do with it, right before I was brought in for another hug from behind.
"Ahh!! I knew my little one could do it!! Mama is so proud of you!!"
I mean… I've already fought bears before and they're stronger than these monsters in terms of stats. Though I guess the fact I did not let it use its magic might be a prime factor on how easy it was.
"What about the Mana Crystal?" I asked. "Do we need to cut it out ourselves?"
Mother giggled, "Yes we do, they are usually located on where the heart would be. Thus, when the main aim is to gather Mana Crystals, it's usually a good idea not to strike there, although destroying it would also kill the monster instantly."
Cool, I'll take note of that in case I meet with a monster I need to prioritise killing in the future.
"In that case… Should I start cutting this wolf up?"
Mother gestured to the other monsters, " Ufufufu~ We can do that later, my little one. First, I want my child to kill all the monsters in this valley!! Then Mama will show you how to cut these monsters up to get their Mana Crystals!"
All of them?
…
Alrighty then.