[AN: I'm traveling right now, so the chapters will be around 1400-1700 words until I get where I'm going. Sorry for any grammar issues or misspelled words.]
Currently I was sitting in a tall tree, above the canopy of the dense forest. I was admiring the expanse of foliage and cloudless sky that let the sun berate the tops of the trees with light.
[You gained 3,100,000 XP from that group, master. Congratulations on leveling up!]
…
Name: Kaiser Raijin
Level: 18
XP: 1,422,600 / 3,500,000
Skill Points: 22
Status:
Health: 100%
Stamina: 89%
Mana: 72%
{Skill Trees}
…
"Thanks, Emy. Go ahead and unlock Fire Proficiency III."
[Commencing unlock of -Fire Proficiency III- at the cost of 15 skill points.]
The fire mana condensed in my body and also mended with my brain more, causing a major headache.
[Your fire mana has now been strengthened and has merged more with your thoughts. Every spell from this tier will also cost 15 skill points.]
I got up from my position and jumped off the tree. I then activated -Rocket- and propelled myself into the air. Explosions rang out in the forest causing everything within a mile radius to flee.
As I soared through the sky, getting higher and higher, I looked down at the Zone. I could see where I had entered, but looking in the opposite direction, it seemed to stretch until the horizon.
With every use of -Rocket-, only a small amount of fire mana was needed, meaning I could use it indefinitely without worrying about mana reserves.
"WOOOHOOO!!!" I yelled as I flew through the sky.
Every kid had dreams of flying and I was no exception. For the first time in a while, I had a bright smile on my face and the only thoughts going through my head were happy ones.
…
"Haah… Haaah… You're a tough one aren't you," I said, wiping the sweat from my brow.
In front of me was a large turtle mana beast. After I had moved further into the forest, I encountered a colony of turtles and quickly eradicated them. But the alpha could use ground and water mana, making it a very strong mid-tier B-rank beast.
*BOOM*
I dodged a jet of water from the creatures maw using -Rocket-.
"Let's see how you like this!"
Chains of fire launched from my hands and ensnared the turtle's legs. They were like tree trunks, so it took a lot of strength to keep them from slipping out.
The beast roared in pain and tried sending another beam of water at me.
*BOOM*
I dodged it again and continued to fly around it like a mosquito. The turtle had covered itself in a tough armor of metal, making all of my attacks useless.
As I kept the beast in check, I tried to think of a way to penetrate its defenses.
'My attack with the highest piercing power is my ground spike, but I don't think that's going to cut it… Oh! That's it!'
There's only one way to make a hard steel malleable. You have to throw it in the oven!
My chains kept ahold of the giant turtle as I dodged its long ranged attacks from above. An enormous amount of fire mana shot towards my hands as I used every last bit of the particles I could control.
Around me, the temperature of the air spiked, causing the air to wiggle in excitement. When I couldn't bring out any more fire mana, I unleashed a giant -Flamethrower- toward the beast.
*FWOOOOSH*
A massive geyser of flames fell toward the mana beast as it looked at the attack with immense fear.
*BOOOM*
The flames wrapped around the body of the creature in a massive explosion. I kept sending more flames until I had run out completely.
When the flames dissipated, the metal shell of the turtle had turned bright orange as it melted.
"Seems like I don't need to use another attack."
The turtle's screams echoed throughout the forest as the molten metal burned through its shell and skin. The lava burned it from the outside in and destroyed it completely.
I dropped to the ground, heavily panting from the extreme usage of mana. The mid-tier B-rank alpha wasn't a strong attacker, but it was a very tough defender.
"If all mid-tier B-rank beasts are that strong, I might have found my match," I said as I walked off to find somewhere to rest.
…
On another tall tree, I sat with my back to the trunk, wearing my beautiful pelt coat made from the fire cat alphas I had fought .
[XP totals to 3,500,000 for that colony, master. Congrats on leveling up!]
"At least that thing gave a lot of XP."
…
Name: Kaiser Raijin
Level: 19
XP: 1,422,600 / 5,000,000
Skill Points: 25
Status:
Health: 100%
Stamina: 34%
Mana: 76%
{Skill Trees}
…
"What should my first spell be from Fire Proficiency III?" I asked.
[-Hell Hounds- or -Halo of Fire- would be valid options, both with different purposes. The hounds provide distractions for enemies and the halo is a very powerful piercing attack. The other options, -Dynamite- and -Burning Passion- are powerful but would not be as useful right now. You don't need a powerful explosion attack and your mana capacity is enough.]
"I did struggle with the turtle because I didn't have a strong attack that could breach defenses. I think that would be the best choice."
[Commencing unlock of -Halo of Fire- at the cost of 15 skill points.]
Information flooded into my head and I closed my eyes, absorbing it carefully. The intricacies of the mana condensation were specific to make the spell as sharp as possible.
"Proficiency three spells are very powerful," I said out of appreciation. "They have their own way of condensing and forming the mana."
I held up my hand and a rapidly spinning halo of bright yellow and orange flames expanded from a point of particles. The ring expanded until it was the size of a hula-hoop and completely surrounded me.
"This could also be another shield of defense for anything that gets close to me."
The halo dissipated and I got up from the tree branch. The sun was getting low on the horizon and the sky was becoming dark.
I jumped off the tree onto the ground and created a hut of rock and rested for the night.
…
One week later…
*BOOM*
The large golem tumbled down to the ground as its head was separated from its body. The rock mana beast was a mid-tier B-rank creature that used heavy defenses and could conjure its allies to fight along with it, which were also smaller rock golems.
"Nice. Those are pretty profitable, aren't they?" I commented as I dusted off my shoulders. I had let the beast keep creating hoards of its golems to gain as much XP as possible.
[Good job, master! You finally leveled up!]
…
Name: Kaiser Raijin
Level: 27
XP: 1,890,590 / 20,000,000
Skill Points: 28
Status:
Health: 100%
Stamina: 75%
Mana: 80%
{Skill Trees}
…
"Looks like the XP went up by a lot again."
Ever since I hit level 20, the XP needed for each level kept increasing by a crazy amount. But the rewards for each level were also a lot, so I wasn't complaining too much.
[With that, you can finally finish unlocking all the -Water Proficiency III- spells.]
When I had finished unlocking the Fire Proficiency III spells a few days ago, Emy told me that Proficiency IV for all four elements was 50 skill points. So I decided that I'd work on the rest and finish them by the end of the month before moving on to the higher tiers of proficiency. At my current pace, reaching that goal would leave me with some time to explore further in the Zone and potentially unlock one or two.
I had camped out around where the mid to high tier B-rank mana beasts resided. This was to farm XP from the colonies so I could level up quickly with ease.
"Go ahead and unlock it."
[Commencing unlock of -Shower Curtain- at the cost of 15 skill points.]
Information flooded my mind and I focused to gain as much as possible. When it was done, water mana expanded from my hand and covered a 5 meter range around me. I felt the effects of the spell as my mana and stamina was slowly regenerated.
"Well this is… interesting…"
[The strength of the spell will increase with time, master.]
"…yeah."
Around me was the familiar forest landscape of large trees and dirt floors. After defeating the golem, I took off to my hut I had been staying at for the past few days.
On arrival, the sun was behind the horizon and the world was plunged into darkness.
In my hut, I created a fire and threw on some meat I had dried for today's dinner.
While eating, I was thinking about how everyone was doing back home. Not much could happen in a couple of weeks but I knew it wasn't that simple in a world of magic and beasts.
"I guess it's time to move on to Wind Mana Arts. Unlock the last spell from Wind Proficiency I."
[Commencing unlock of -Gale Arrow- at the cost of 5 skill points.]