I closed my eyes. A vision of nothing appearing in my eyes. Though that was not for long as soon after it was filled with the universe. Well, not the complete universe but a part of it.
The most prominent part being the sun itself. It blinded me with its radiance, yet it felt controllable.
I smiled, or at least as much of a smile as I could give with this mental projection of mine. And it was nothing more than a mental projection.
The whole realm, or universe if you would, was a vision of my mana circuits. The void my body and the rays of the sun the mana that filled them.
At least that was my interpretation of it. For all I knew that interpretation could be completely wrong or it could be exactly right but that wasn't of importance right now.
What was important was the object in front of me. The radiant power that seemed to fill the vast nothingness.
The sun, my very own star. The solar flares flew from it violently and without direction. Yet it still found its way to a final destination.
Myself.
I found it fascinating. The lengths that the flares would go in trying to avoid me yet all of their struggles were useless.
Against my unfathomable will that represented this place they were nothing more than toys that followed their owners directions.
One thought and they straightened out, almost like a straight line and pierced into my heart.
It was in that moment, in that very second that I felt my body fill with power. The familiar feeling of mana welled deep into my body.
My eyes opened, the darkness of the cave dimly lit by the lines of mana coursing through my veins.
Of course that was not all that I did with it as soon after I gave the mana purpose. It may have come at personal focus but it was worth it in the end.
With a part of my mind solely focused on maintaining the effect I truly took a look at my surroundings. The opening of the cave that seemed to stretch into a vast mountain of grass.
The faint buzzing of insects and animals going about their business.
I took it all in, my mouth taking in a deep breath before I found myself walking forwards.
It was only moments later that I was sprinting. Wind buffered at my hair pulling it back and behind my head.
My hand reached to my side as it took hold of the hilt of my sword.
I ignored the notifications of the system that had been popping up since the morning and charged forwards.
I unsheath my sword, slashing forwards with all the power that my limbs could allow me.
My feet stopped abruptly, the wind pulling the hood of my jacket back.
Blood spurt from the creature, an arm flying from his limb.
A snarl echoed into the distance. A roar of anger and pain.
Yet it did not last for long. Another slash and the gesture was dead. Its face still set into a snarl of anger.
I stabbed my sword into the core of its being. A slash to the side revealing the chest cavity and in it the fine that I was looking for.
Blood splattered into my hand as I reached in and pulled the rune from its rightful place.
A crack and it was crushed in my hand.
A notification echoed through my ear yet I ignored it in favor of sitting down.
I brought my hand up to my head and wiped the sweat from it. I had not expected for these creatures to be so close to where I had settled down.
Given that I had only been there for a day but still. I was sure that I had covered quite some ground when I was fleeing last night but maybe that was just a mistake in my own senses.
I sighed, my hand reaching towards the air and clenching into a fist. I moved my fist to the side, looking towards the sun.
The stench of blood, the feel of rotting flesh below me, and the gore that I had caused. It was something that I had unfortunately gotten used to. Even though it had only been weeks since this whole thing had begun.
It really was a testament to the humans ability to adapt. However I just couldn't help but want this to end. I wanted to just sit and forge all day.
And this trial…'tch'... it just delayed that.
…
[Mihr Masamune]
Vitality: 1.5
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 2
Mana: 3.2
[Skills]
[Memoria(rank 1) (9.9%)
Allows the user to remember]
[Swordsmanship rank 1 (0.91%)]
[Mana Manipulation (rank 1 1.9%)]
[current pts:1364]
I swiped my hand in the air, the motion dispelling the status screen from my vision.
My other hand reached to my head, my fingers grabbing at my hair.
My skills and stats were as expected however my points… they were higher than I had thought them to be.
Last I checked they were in the low six hundreds but now. Now they had almost doubled.
No scratch that, I quickly did some math, my points had more than doubled.
I haven't done any quests recently. Not that I knew of at least.
'Actually…'
I looked at my logs. Trying to find anything yet I came out empty handed.
Nothing in the logs showed me that I had done any quests, on the contrary, it showed how many points I had gained from killing the creatures.
Well according to the system they were called goblins.
"Heh…" I laughed hollowly out loud. Well I finally knew their species name.
And truly it was hilarious that I was being beaten back so harshly by goblins. Out of everything that I could have fought it had to be goblins.
One of the lowliest species of creatures in pretty much every fantasy.
I found humor in it. Though it didn't really detract from my wariness of them.
I knew they were crafty by the traps and ambushes they used. Not only that, the goblins were also extremely strong.
At the very least thrice as strong as I was unenhanced by my mana.
Though I wonder what the people that chose the easiest difficulty had to face.
If I had chosen that option would I have been struggling as hard as I was right now or would I have already cleared this tutorial. Who was I kidding, if I had been sent there I would have dominated but would I have gotten any benefits. Of course not. The rewards match the difficulty. Or at least that was what I would assume to be the truth otherwise I would have risked my life on nothing more than a sham.
'Hah' I sighed out all the wills shaking my head.
My thoughts had gone somewhere unnecessary. There was no need for me to think about something as insignificant as choosing an easier difficulty.
Right now there were more important things to do.
Most pressing of them was to accumulate both points and stats.
So far I had barely gained any progress in my physical stats. I had massively increased my mana but that wouldn't be sufficient for long.
From what I had seen it seems that the enhancements that I had been doing to myself stacked on top of my fitness, which meant that if I had higher stats then I could enhance myself further.
Meaning that I would be stronger and have a better chance of surviving.
…
I raised my body from where I lay. The mana within me purring for action.
My smile thinned into a line as I turned my head around.
The surroundings had, in the moment that I was distracted, turned silent.
I could hear nothing. Only the silent wind and blowing of the leaves.
Nothing else. It was suspicious.
Enough for me to rise from the ground and ready myself.
Mana flooded my veins. Reinforcing the imperfections in my limbs and strengthening them.
It was then that I heard it. A whistle of wind as something was thrown at me.
My hand that had sat idle on the handle of my sword burst with speed.
In a mere moment the sword was flung from the sheath and placed flat to the projectile.
It clanged off of it and fell to the ground.
However I couldn't focus on that as soon after I felt the reverberation of countless footsteps.
Something was coming.