Chương 30: Pugilism? (3)

(3) (3) Rowan dodged away from the bloodspawn's desperate strike. Then, in the split-second it was overextended, he moved in. His chain-covered knee met the creature's stomach, doubling it over. Despite the blow, the beast tried to retaliate, but a blade of mana pierced into the back of its neck. With it bent over even more, the humanoid couldn't even react as he drove his knee into its face. The fungal creature cried out from its too many mouths and stumbled back.

But, just a moment later, it fell backward, legs pulled out from under it by chains. Rowan grabbed his mace and darted forward, slamming it down onto the creature's head. There was the crack of a shattered skull, and a moment later, a glowing blue dagger plunged into its head. [You have slain Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 7] Letting out a breath, Rowan grabbed the waterskin at his waist, holding it to his lips until there was just enough for one more drink. Three more enemies. Then, he would get more water.

But he couldn't just go kill one after another; he was beginning to run low on mana. He still had almost half left, but it wouldn't last him forever. And finding the right prey wasn't easy. There were potential opponents everywhere, sure, but so close to the broodmother, they were powerful. Even the weaker hounds were usually part of a larger group or moving alongside a stronger bloodspawn. He had considered taking on one of the smaller groups, but decided that he would rather do so with full mana.

If he was going to do it, he wanted to be able to go all out. If he didn't, Rowan feared that a prolonged battle might allow more bloodspawn to join the fight and eventually overwhelm him. Despite the close proximity to the broodmother, there really weren't that many creatures in the area, as most stayed in the main chamber. Still, there were enough that he didn't want to take any risks. If he wanted to have a full mana pool, he would have to stop fighting and wait for a while.

But he couldn't exactly lie down and rest, either. Well, actually, he probably could, but he would have to remain awake and vigilant. It was too big a gamble to doze off. If he was going to sleep, he would move farther away from the broodmother's chamber and hope that nothing stumbled upon him. With a sigh, Rowan decided that he would keep wandering as he had been before, just avoiding fights instead of seeking them.

There was something else he wanted to do anyway: properly scout out the area, and, in particular, the water. With a thought, he cut off mana to the chains still wrapped around his body. At first, he'd only done it for his fists and forearms, but he'd expanded it to his legs so he could better use them in combat as well. Doing this had even gained him a skill level, bringing [Bind] from level 9 to level 10. Rowan picked up the bag of rations he'd set aside before the fight, hooking it to his belt.

Then, he released his hold over the mana blade at his side, letting it fall to the ground. With his mace—which had proved surprisingly effective against the bloodspawn, though only when they were already downed so that he could take a full swing—in his hand, he set out. — As he walked, Rowan practiced cycling mana within himself. It wasn't much of a challenge, at least compared to how difficult it'd been when he'd first started practicing it.

But in exchange for the ease came a downside: he didn't gain any skill levels or improve at all by doing it. It didn't have much point if he didn't make any gains from it, but he wasn't quite sure how to make it more difficult, either. He could keep making it faster and move larger and larger amounts, but he was already capable of moving more than he ever needed faster than he ever needed. And the more the speed and amount increased, the smaller and more difficult the gains became.

But he did have one idea: to condense it. He already condensed mana to make his constructs, so why couldn't he do the same thing within his body? If he could do it, it would… Rowan actually wasn't sure what it would do. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. He had some theories, but until he tried it, he couldn't be sure if it would be any different than just moving more mana at once.

He would have to be careful, too; he didn't know what would happen to his body if he compressed the mana too much. So, taking a deep breath, he concentrated. The mana within his body felt different from that outside his body, but it only took a few moments to figure out what he had to do. It was a simple concept, almost exactly the same both inside and outside of his body. But he didn't go all in immediately, just isolating a small amount of mana within his body.

Then, he started compressing it, going as slowly as he could. As it grew denser, it began to feel off. Not in a bad way, just different from the rest of his mana. But it didn't feel painful or even too uncomfortable, so he kept going. As the energy continued condensing, the already small amount was forced down into a single, tiny dot. With a frown, Rowan brought over more untouched mana and began condensing it too, hoping to make the condensed energy just a bit larger.

He'd hadn't expected it to condense so much or so easily, and he would need more than a tiny pinprick of mana in order to properly test it. After a while of continuously bringing in more mana to be compressed, the quantity of dense mana was still small. But it was enough that he thought he could start playing around with it—carefully, of course. In the end, it wasn't as much as he would've liked, and Rowan thought it probably would've been better if he'd just not condensed it as much, but it was too late now.

He'd tried to uncompress it and bring it back to its original state, but he couldn't. Readying himself, he began moving it around his body. The feeling was strange, almost as if the mana was heavier, harder to control. But he bent it to his will, cycling it through his body, albeit more slowly than usual. Despite the heavy feeling, it was also surprisingly normal. After taking a few more moments to get a feel for the mana, Rowan prepared to move it outside of his body.

It'd been a while since he'd just been manipulating raw mana outside his body. Unless his constructs counted as raw mana? He wasn't sure if they did, since they were formed and pressed into a set shape. He wasn't even sure if the condensed mana would be wispy and immaterial when he pushed it outside of his body. Not letting himself delay any longer, he pushed a small amount of the mana out the tip of his finger. Immediately, he lost control of the mana as it surged outwards like a raging river.

Rather than just a trail of smoke-like energy, the mana burst forward from his outstretched finger. It slammed into the wall he'd been pointing at with a surprisingly loud crash. Then, it began to dissipate. He didn't even try to regain control of the energy before it faded away, too busy staring at the stone wall. An entire foot of the bloodlike mold that had once covered the stone was gone, vanished without a trace. And, to Rowan's shock, the wall was actually chipped. That… had not been what he was expecting.

But at the same time, it was also exciting. The fact that he might be able to use his mana against the bloodspawn in yet another way. Still, the way it had escaped his control so easily was concerning, even if he hadn't been truly concentrating on keeping it within his grasp. So he tried again. Pointing his finger down the tunnel and away from the walls this time, he moved the compressed mana. Just as before, it burst out of him with force, but this time he had his entire mind dedicated to it.

And once he managed to get a hold on it, controlling it was surprisingly easy. [Mana Manipulation lvl 13 → Mana Manipulation lvl 14] He narrowed his eyes. It also seemed like there was less mana than before, even though he'd released the exact same amount. But that was just his eyes fooling him. With [Mana Manipulation], he could see that the mana was all there, just more condensed than the last time. It took him a few seconds to figure out what was happening, and once he did, it only made him more confused.

For some reason, when he released the condensed mana, it immediately began to unravel, to expand. He'd taken control of it, stopping it from expanding any more, but that didn't answer the question of why. Rowan released his hold over the mana, and immediately, it began to decompress once more, bursting outward. He regained control and stopped it, but it still left him confused. When he formed a blade of mana, it would stay together even after he relinquished his control, slowly fading away rather than exploding.

Taking a bit of the now slightly less dense mana, he formed it into a small dart, willing it to become solid, just as he did with his regular constructs. It was a bit harder than usual, since it was already compressed, but he managed. Then, he released the construct, watching it fall to the floor. Just as he'd expected, it stayed intact. Perhaps he had to try to make it solid rather than just compressing it while within his body?

Pushing a bit more mana into his pathways, Rowan began to condense it while trying to do the same thing he did to make his constructs solid. He was a bit nervous doing it in his body, but as he continued, nothing seemed to go wrong. But it didn't seem to do anything, either. It felt no different from simply compressing his mana. Already knowing what was going to happen, he pushed the energy out of his pointer finger, not even trying to keep control of it.

It burst forward, shooting several meters and decompressing all the while. The only thing that he could figure out from the experimentation was that there was something about manipulating mana within his body that was different from doing so outside of his body. He was tempted to try to find out more, but up ahead, he could hear the sound of rushing water. And it was loud.