In modern day stories, anime and even high-budget movies, there is a common thing in them all. And that is a 'Time Skip'.
A 'Time Skip' is an element in a story that is basically unrecorded, or unwritten as nothing 'Interesting' happened in them. For example: 'The boy had spent 10 years training and now he was strong enough to shatter mountains...' In here, the authors never show or tell the hardships the boy went through to train for 10 years like that.
Like, there's so much potential to be converted into text there, but they just simply skip through it!
Well, why am I talking about this you may ask?
Its because right now, its the period of a time skip in the novel.
The next arc is going to be the 'Tournament Arc' where the MC and his friends will find out the existence of Demonic Humans who were trying to infiltrate and sabotage the school.
Julian and his friends will fight some of the demonic humans, while some random kid will go and report what was happening to the teachers, who will then in-turn solve the predicament.
But that is still at least a month away. The novel didn't say anything about that had happened during that month...
So, I intended to use this opportunity to the fullest.
I am a mage, and yet I have no staff yet. I have the gravity robes, but that's it. A staff can help with mana efficiency and even hasten casting time. The most important thing about getting a staff is that it helps the Caster to cast spells much more accurately, while also dealing massive damage.
There were no staffs in the novel which were specifically made for a gravity user like me, but there is a staff that could potentially help me get stronger.
Its called 'Amaranth, the Staff of Greed'. The name 'Amaranth' literally means 'Purple'. In the novel, Amaranth was used by a high-level mage called 'Adrian', who will later join the demonic cult in search of more power. His story was brief, but it did mention how to get the staff.
A bit too convenient, right? well, I can't really complain, haha...
There were other staves in the world, but most of them were either not meant for me, or they were already being used by other people.
Amaranth simply looked like the best option in the long run. Especially for its unique power.
It has an ability to absorb mana from dead bodies, making it way easier to replenish mana.
It wasn't as OP as some of the other staffs the main cast gets their hands on, but it was definitely perfect for someone like me.
--------- The next Saturday --------
The last week went by so fast, it felt like it was just yesterday me and Evangeline went on a dat- I mean a meal.
Speaking of Evangeline, I unboxed the gift she bought for me. It was a black cup with an orange interior. It had an enchantment on it too - it could make things hot or cold inside the cup. It was actually a very useful thing, as I use it every day now, to drink my beverages at perfect temperatures.
Anyways, today, I have a plan.
I would go to the skyrail station and reach the Unholy Highlands. They were newly formed mountain ranges, slightly shorter than the Himalayas, which were now even bigger than their original size, by the way.
The mountains were called that way because they were home to various types of monsters. Flying monsters, parasitic monsters, plant-type monsters, it had it all.
In the novel, Adrian was struggling to get down from the mountain after he had finished a commission. While he was doing so, he was attacked by a Wyvern and was thrown into a slab of unstable snow, which immediately triggered a massive avalanche, burying Adrian.
After digging through the snow with magic, he found a cave entrance that was covered by a ridiculous amount of snow. Inside the cave was the staff.
I can just decrease my weight several folds and walk around like its moon-gravity, avoiding all the difficult monsters. Flying monsters were of no threat either, as I knew that they only attack people if they look edible to them. I can use energy magic to make myself look blurry and ugly, which will mess with the heads of the idiot monsters and will no longer target me.
The cold wasn't a problem either, as my Energy magic could easily handle that.
The real problem was finding the cave entrance under that snow-slab.
I had a plan for it though. I knew the general location of the cave. I could simply just trigger all of the avalanches in the vicinity, and I'll eventually find the entrance.
...
'And now... Its time to execute the plan...', I thought as I looked at the massive mountain ranges in front of me.
'Its hard to believe that I already climbed up at least 3000m...', I thought as I stared at the lofty white peaks still towering over me, looking down on the world.
And the Himalayas are even bigger than this?! that's insane!
'No wonder the demons could never conquer the Himalayan peaks...'
With gravity magic's assistance, climbing 3000m was like a walk in the park. It felt as if my body was basically floating, and I had to just push my feet slightly to jump up 10's of meters at a time.
The only breaks I needed was to replenish my mana. I would usually find a cozy spot, or make one out of snow, and meditate to regain the lost mana.
'Things are going smoothly', I thought.
*SSKKKKKRRRRIIEIEEEEE!!*, I immediately regretted thinking that, as I heard a hideous screech and jolted around to see what caused the uproar.
What I saw was absolutely disgusting. It was a Millenium Centipede. A worm-like creature with millions of legs and very hard scales.
'Fucking hell...', I murmured before activating Concentration and getting ready to fight.