Chương 8: Ants (1)

Rowan leaped forward, bringing the mace down on the ant's head. The insect only reached up to his knees, forcing him to bend his back into the strike. At the same time as he attacked, the ant lunged. Eyes widening in panic, Rowan pulled his leg back, barely avoiding the creature's clacking mandibles. The sudden movement caused his aim to shift, and the mace only struck the side of the insect's thorax. The steel of the mace broke through the ant's thick chitin, but it wasn't enough to cause any real damage.

As the creature lunged once more, Rowan stumbled back, putting distance between them. The ant was durable, but he was sure he could wear it down, especially with strikes to its head. But it was also surprisingly quick. Not quite as fast as he was, but still, he would've expected an ant of that size to be slow and lumbering. He shook his head. It must've been the System's work. Still, he had a natural range advantage that was only extended by the mace.

If he could just fend the insect off, keeping it at range, he'd—hopefully—be able to take the ant down before it could even get a strike in on him. He was drawn out of his thoughts as the ant closed in at an unnatural pace. In just a few seconds, it was upon him, barely affected by the shallow wound on its side. Gritting his teeth, Rowan swung the mace again, focusing less on doing serious damage to the creature and more on keeping it from reaching him.

And, thankfully, the ant didn't make any attempts to dodge, just charging at him with relentless aggression. Slowly, the damage began to add up. As Rowan stepped away from yet another lunge from the ant, he sensed an opportunity and truly committed to a strike. He'd meant to land a blow directly atop the insect's head, but his aim was slightly off, striking its eye instead. He let out a grunt, driving the head of the mace into the ant's multi-faceted eye, stabbing into and crushing it.

Yellow ichor spewed forth as he pulled the mace back out of the creature's destroyed eye. If anything, the strike was more effective than it would've been if he'd struck the ant where he'd intended to. The insect kept fighting, but it was a losing battle. One strike at a time, Rowan brought the creature down. Then, one last time, he brought the mace down on its head. [You have slain Worker Ant - Level 3] Rowan let out a shuddering breath. The fight hadn't been that strenuous, at least not physically.

Still, the constant fear that the massive insect might have been able to latch onto his leg had taken a toll on his mind. He was a bit surprised that he'd gotten a notification from killing the ant, but knowing that he would get a notification would be invaluable if he wasn't sure his opponent was dead. After resting for a few moments, he forced himself to keep moving. He still hadn't checked several of the side tunnels attaching to the cavern.

As he made his way to the first of the tunnels, he took a moment to think. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He'd gained two skills from his class. [Bind] and [Mana Manipulation]. Rowan had no idea what [Bind] was, but he assumed it had something to do with the chains wrapped around him. As for the other skill, it seemed pretty straightforward. Except that he didn't even know what mana was.

Making sure to stay vigilant as he checked the caves, he tried focusing on [Mana Manipulation] in the same way he did to open his Status Screen. After a while of half-hearted concentration, he felt something. But it never developed further than the faint feeling that something was inside him. Realizing that if he really wanted to figure the skill out, he would have to give it his full attention, Rowan stopped. He'd try again after he'd finished checking all of the tunnels for more threats like the ant.

All of the small, branching caverns were clear but one. The same tunnel from which the massive ant had come. The cave was long and straight, and while there were no immediate threats, he could see movement in the distance. Rowan blinked. How was he seeing so far? The glow of his chains couldn't even reach halfway through the tunnel. That meant that there had to be something else down there illuminating the area. Squinting, he looked closer, but couldn't make out what the distant light source was.

Shaking his head, Rowan exited the tunnel. He knew he would need to kill nine more enemies to get the rations he so desperately needed, but he wasn't going to charge into there unprepared. He wanted to figure out his skills first. That way, he'd hopefully have more than just the mace to defend himself. He moved to the opposite side of the cavern, sitting down near some of the side tunnels he'd already cleared. Then, he sat at an angle from the cave where the ant had come from.

That way, he'd be able to monitor the tunnel without the glow from his chains being too visible to the ants or whatever else was in there. Then, he gave all, or at least most, of his concentration to figuring out [Mana Manipulation]; he still kept an eye out for any imminent threats. Then, he focused. It only took him a minute to find the feeling of something within him, a faint tingle in his body. Slowly, that feeling became more tangible until he could pinpoint its location within him.

It was a swirling mass in his chest, constantly in motion. Dedicating his mind to the task, Rowan tried to move it. It was an impossibly slow process, each inch taking minutes. But as he moved it further, his control became better, more refined. As he moved it throughout his body, he realized that while he was guiding it, the feeling—which he assumed to be mana—wasn't following his control exactly. It was following some sort of preset path.

Rowan felt sweat beading on his forehead as he kept concentrating, guiding it towards the tip of his finger. When it reached the end of his pointer finger, he tried to force it out. It was hard. So much harder than moving it through his body had been. And the second he managed it, he felt his control slip. Then, it was gone. But for just a split-second, he saw a faint wisp of blue light above his finger. [Mana Manipulation lvl 1 → Mana Manipulation lvl 2] He let out a breath. He'd leveled up the skill.

Rowan wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he assumed it was a good thing. He still wasn't physically tired, but just like the fight with the ant, using the skill had taken a toll on his mind. After taking a moment to rest, he let out a grunt of annoyance. He'd been hoping to master one—or, preferably, both—of his skills. He'd made great progress on manipulating mana, but just channeling that tiny amount had exhausted him.

There was no way he was going to make it useful before his body couldn't go any longer without food or water. He would have to find more opponents. And he would have to do so with only his mace and stats.