The lightning that shot out of my hands was intense and very powerful. It held great destructive capabilities much more than in the past.
Why?
A big smile formed on my face, it was because I just became a tier-2 novice mage!
This happened in the middle of my second week in this cave, after I was done with the "Thunder Serpent" spell and was able to use it much more efficiently.
After that, I just absorbed the mana essence in the mana shards and formed my second Elemental Anchor advancing to the Tier-2 stage as a novice mage.
Thinking about it, I just could not help but remember the process of creating my second Elemental Anchor.
It was difficult, very difficult. It required a great degree of focus and concentration, one mistake and I would have probably received a backlash, fortunately, though very close, I managed to succeed in the end.
Absorbing the mana essence in the mana shard on the other hand was not as difficult, it was even a bit easy. I just had to guide the mana inside the crystal out and in towards my Elemental Anchor. It was a bit troublesome when it came to manipulating it and incorporating it into the Elemental Anchor making it my very own, but nothing I couldn't handle.
However when it came to the point where my Elemental Anchor was fully saturated, it was time to create my second Elemental Anchor. There the process became a bit difficult.
I had to form the raw mana essence into my element after all, as well as incorporate some of my own Elemental lightning to make it into an identical second version of my first Elemental Anchor.
It took quite a bit of time...but nonetheless, throughout the struggle, I came out succeeding. I became a tier-2 novice mage!
I could still remember how mentally exhausted I was after the process but it was all worth it.
After that day, I started to get a grip on how powerful my lightning had become and used the remaining days as a way to adjust to its explosive power.
Anyway, putting all those aside for now I saw something move under the water and soon, something surfaced. It was a sphere made of transparent crystal of sorts.
It was moving towards me gliding through the currents caused by my lightning. Curious, I approached it and the sphere stuck to the edge of the pond. I didn't pick it up, I wasn't so dumb anymore.
The sphere was small enough that I could grasp it with one hand. Seeing that there didn't seem to be any danger and my intuition was quiet, I picked it up.
Looking at it much more closely, it looked so glamorous that one would be captivated by its shine. It was a crystal transparent sphere, I wondered what it was doing in the depths of the water.
Was this what was responsible for my strength being sucked away?
I wondered. Suddenly, my eyes widened in horror, at that moment it felt like the whole world was frozen.
If...if this was the thing that was really responsible for sucking away at my strength, then...then what's stopping it from sucking my strength now?
Suddenly, I felt a strong pull.
The sphere shone with bright light. My knees bent down as I fell to the ground, strength was fleeing from my body at a rate I could never expect.
Not only my strength but including my mana. It was all being sucked away by a force so fast and strong, I could not retaliate nor react in time.
My eyelids grew heavy.
Shit!! I cursed before my mind faded away, though, just before I fell unconscious completely, I heard a light sound of cracking.
_____
Hours later...
I forced my eyes to open, an exasperated expression on my face.
"Arrggg, how many times must this happen?" I scratched my head irritatedly.
I panned my eyes around my surroundings trying to find out what happened after I was unconscious. The only thing I found was a shell of cracked glass?
The sphere...it broke?
Questions were running rampant in my mind.
Just then, I noticed something small fly towards me and jumped on my face.
I didn't know what it was, its face was a blur because of the speed it was flying. It then seemed to...hug my face?
I quickly grabbed it with my hand and when I saw what it was, I was sent through a rollercoaster of disbelief.
It was a small human, the size of a mere hand. Though on a more closer look, it only resembled a human, it had some unique qualities that humans didn't possess.
Foremost, it's ears, they were elongated. Secondly, it's hair, it's long hair was not made up of strands instead it was formed by a crystal-clear water.