It's been another 2 weeks. Dude tried to sell those spells he snagged from the last gig, but no dice. Tower already had copies, no surprise there. But hey, no sweat, he came up with a slick plan to offload them at the tower's market. Bagged a sweet 120 low-quality mana stones in return.
Now, according to the tower's official price list, those spells are worth 80 points or 160 mana stones. But, selling them at the library's price? Nah, that's a bust. Everyone could just swap their stones for points and grab the books themselves. So, he cut a deal, sold them at a cheaper price. Still scored over 100 mana stones, though.
He was all set to splurge on some books about spell patterns or magic formations. Then, after checking his mana, it hit him - he was almost ready to level up to a level 1 wizard!
To hit level 2 apprentice, you need 6-7 mana and to know one spell. Level 3 apprentice? 50 mana and 3 spells. To jump to level 1 wizard? A hundred mana and at least one level 1 spell.
He already has enough mana to jump to level 1 wizard, he only lacks a level 1 spell. The thing is, his library perks only cover level 0 books. Even the official wizards can't borrow level 1 stuff. And the cheapest level 1 spell book? Costs a whopping 1000 tower points!
Even after swapping all his mana stones and adding up his points from the past fortnight tasks, he's only got 360 tower points to his name. Dude's broke as hell.
So, he's gotta shelve his dreams of learning fancy magic formations and body transformation spells. But hey, at least he's still got his library privileges. He cashed in his last two weeks' worth of perks to grab a couple books explaining level 0 spell patterns and amp up his spell game.
He's all about beefing up his combat skills before diving into missions and racking up those tower points.
He stepped up his game by boosting the power of [Zap] and focusing the lightning in [Lightning Clad Glove] straight to his fingers, making them pack an even bigger punch. But hey, all these upgrades come at the price of chowing down more mana than before.
On top of that, he stretched out the lifespan of [Body Enhancement - Lightning] to a solid minute. Plus, he fused some wisdom from [Body Enhancement - Aura] into his mana flow technique, [Body Enhancement - Mana], boosting its efficiency and durability perks. Now, he's cranking out [Body Enhancement - Mana] at a max output of 4 mp/second.
But cranking up the speed enhancement? That's proving to be a real tough nut to crack. He figures he'll either need pinpoint control over each strand of mana for every muscle fiber or beef up his mana density to kick things into high gear. Tough call, either way.
With his spells all juiced up, he's raring to go back into action. Time to tackle some missions!
...
An enemy wizard tosses a fiery fastball Zack's way from a cool 20 meters out.
But Zack's on it like lightning, flickering in a blue light and vanishing before reappearing elsewhere. He zaps out a beefy lightning bolt in response, [Zap].
Zap! Boom!
The enemy's barrier wobbles, on the brink of collapse. The Wizard dude scrambles to steady it. That's Zack's cue to flicker behind him and slashed his lightning-covered palm into the barrier, [Lightning Clad Glove].
Barrier crumbles, but Zack doesn't go all-out on the attack. He pulls back in a flicker, still slinging bolts of lightning. Sure enough, as his [Zap] connects, the enemy gets wrapped in flames, sucking up the lightning and creeping closer to Zack.
Luckily, the fire only managed to gobble up about half of Zack's lightning. And while that's going down, the wizard slaps together another barrier.
But that doesn't mean the wizard gets off scot-free. Zack's lightning moves too quick for the fire to chow down on it all. Some of those lightning hit the wizard before the flames can even start chomping.
Zack realizes earlier that this wizard's packing some serious gear—a body-covering artifact that spits out flames to toast anything that comes near. And he found out the hard way, nearly getting barbecued earlier.
Thankfully, in that crucial moment, Zack kicked it into overdrive with [Double Enhancement] at max power and quickly tweaked the structure of his lightning glove.
Time seemed to slow down as Zack observed the lightning glove's energy surge through his arm, with flames trailing behind. The lightning then extended outward, steering the fire away from his body. With a swift motion, he detached his arm from the glove, redirecting its energy towards the fire, creating a swirling ball of fiery lightning.
Now, Zack's not about to get up close and personal with the wizard's fiery defense. He sticks to blasting out [Zap], knowing from the fire's speed that lightning can still pack a punch.
And so the battle rages on. Zack flickers around, slinging bolts of lightning and throwing up the occasional [Lightning Web] to pin down the wizard. When the enemy's barrier starts to falter, Zack zips in, smashing it to bits with his [Lightning Clad Glove]. Then, he zips back, firing off more [Zap].
As the fight drags on, the wizard starts to slow down, casting spells at a snail's pace. Maybe he's running low on mana, or he's just plain tuckered out. Either way, even the artifact starts losing steam, until finally, a solid [Zap] nails the wizard square in the chest. Game over.
Zack kept his distance, zapping the wizard three more times until he was sure the dude wasn't going anywhere. Only then did he cautiously approach the wizard's body.
By now, killing was just another day at the office for Zack. More like, he was numb to it. This was his fifth mission in his quest to rack up enough tower points for that level 1 spell book.
This wizard? Man, he was the trickiest foe Zack had ever faced. Taught him the hard way to keep his mana barrier up at all times to fend off sneak attacks.
As usual, Zack nabbed the wizard's storage ring and torched the battlefield to cover his tracks. Unfortunately, none of the artifacts survived the bombardment of [Zap]. But hey, he still got the storage ring.
Time to head back to the convoy he was supposed to be guarding. Like in past missions, if there was a level 3 apprentice wizard, Zack would handle the other enemies first, then wait for the wizard to bolt into the forest before he'd go in for the kill, away from prying eyes.
...
"Here's your reward, may the mana bless you," the receptionist beamed. Ugh, damn this teenage body. Every time a woman smiles, I'm like a teenage boy again.
Anyway, he'd finally racked up enough tower points, all converted from the mana stones he snagged on his missions. 1070 tower points in just one month of non-stop missions.
Not everyone could pull in a 150-point profit per mission. Only a crazy guy like Zack, chasing down wizards like a man possessed.
Anyway, he cashed in those tower points to snag [Lightning Flesh]. As the name suggests, it's an upgraded version of [Body Enhancement - Lightning]. Instead of just boosting the nerves, it spreads the lightning throughout the flesh, giving a massive boost to speed, durability, and muscle strength.
Despite its "cheap" price tag of 1000 tower points, this spell is hands down one of the most potent level 1 spells out there. But here's the kicker: it demands a mind-bending level of mana perception and control. It's so dang tough that hardly anyone can even use it.
That's why the spell book is tucked away in the least popular corner of the tower, with a "dirt-cheap" price tag. But hey, it suits Zack just fine.
He's practically bouncing off the floors with excitement as he heads to the practice hall. Two hours rented, ready to dive in.
But man, that first attempt at forming the spell pattern? Total disaster. Bloody hell, this is like a whole other league compared to those level 0 patterns. Now he gets why there's a big warning in the book to study up on [Mastering Level 1 Spell Patterns] before even attempting it.
But seriously, does he really need to keep boasting about his talent? With just the level 0 spell patterns book he read from the library, he's pretty confident he could nail a level 1 spell pattern. If it's not as complex as [Lightning Flesh], he's sure he could whip up the pattern in no time.
MUAHAHAHAHA!
Side note: It's not that he's avoiding borrowing [Mastering Level 1 Spell Patterns], he just can't. His privilege doesn't cover level 1 books, and he's too broke to fork over the 100 tower points it costs to borrow it.
After two hours of struggling, he finally managed to piece together the spell pattern, but the moment he tried infusing it with mana, the whole thing collapsed like a house of cards.
He's gotta hand it to them, level 1 spells are no joke. While he could pick up any level 0 spell pattern on the fly, level 1 spells? He's not even sure if he can pull it off in a week.
So for the next seven days, he's practically living in that rented practice room (Ahem… 2 hours a day), hammering away at [Lightning Flesh]. And nope, still no luck scraping up enough points to snag that mastering book.
Finally, after a week of relentless practice, a glowing blue spell pattern hovers steadily in front of him. The geometric shapes within the pattern constantly shift and morph at dizzying speeds.
He channels his mana into the spell. "R*ikage-sama, bless me with your lightning!" Instantly, his body's engulfed in crackling bolts of furious lightning.
************************
Name: Zack
Age: 10/100 (150)
Occupation: Apprentice wizard
Mana: 20/20 (171/171)
Overt Talent: [Low Mana Manipulation Correction], [Low Mana Sensory Correction]
Hidden Talent: [Limitless Mana Well], [Advanced Mana Manipulation Correction], [Advanced Mana Sensory Correction], [Advanced Intelligence Correction]
Hidden Boss Abilities: [Hidden Strength]
HBP: 0
HB Progress Bar: 10/100%
Expand Hidden Boss abilities Store? yes/no
************************