Chương 32: Chapter Thirty-Two: Ooo Shii

Lirin's lecture cuts me like a scalpel to all the vitals.

"Do you understand the sheer amount of effort at which I was trying to guide you, you bumbling imbecile? The skill limit is a law of the System, which means I was going to give you an opportunity to learn another skill that would have been significantly harder for you to learn given your previous skill set. The hurdle of learning it would have been extremely high, but due to the fact it would have been only your sixth skill, you might have been able to manage given my teachings and the arrays I had prepared."

The man isn't even looking at me anymore but rather rambling to the room itself while waving his hands.

"The array I was going to allow you to use was another prototype of mine that gives budding talents the opportunity to refine their skill pool and create better synergy among their class and future endeavors. This would have been the perfect opportunity to test the prototype array while allowing you a leg up on the basic and rabble lessons the other trainers are providing their charges. What was it worth anyway?

I have given you lessons of the highest quality that are offered on this world, and you seriously think squandering it by using the meager knowledge base you have as a level 11 was going to somehow eclipse what I could offer? What mundane skill was possibly worth such a waste?" The hold on mouth and neck are dropped and I rasp out a cough while gathering my wits. Lirin must not have seen the mana ball from earlier, so I have no idea how he will react to the skill when I tell him. Is it actually really bad?

Did I legitimately waste all of opportunities he was offering me? The veins on the man's neck look like they are about to burst, and the glow in his eyes are more terrifying than ever.

"…The skill I learned was <Mana Construct>." His mouth opens and I shut my eyes while waiting for the verbal and probable physical beating I am about to receive, but nothing arrives.

"Did you say <Mana Construct>?" I hesitantly look at him once more, but the anger that I thought would explode any minute is nowhere to be found in his sever features.

"You were able to teach yourself <Mana Construct>?" I nod stiffly, and the squeezing sensation that had been holding me captive abruptly disappears. I shakily stand up straight and wait for some sort of weird punishment or even an outright execution to occur. Instead, the blue glow is gone and Lirin stands there tapping his chin while staring into space.

"Show me." I hesitate for a moment before moving to comply as quickly as I can. Before long, I use the dregs of mana I was able to regain during the entire confrontation to form a small ball of mana in the air. Now that I have the skill itself, the process is as easy as using any of my other skills, and the mana ball itself can be comprised of my natural mana rather than the filtered variant.

The ball hovers in the air with a small amount of heat emitting from its surface due to the kinetic energy bouncing around from the volatile nature it is comprised of. Turning my attention back over to my mentor, I notice that he is already striding back over to his robe.

"Clean up the mess you left from your clumsy attempts. After you are finished, you will accompany me out to the frontier where we will be conducting combat training. Do not get too excited though. You may be gaining levels like you wanted, but you will also be refueling all of the mana batteries you wasted. I need your mana pool to grow in order for this to occur." The lovely-praiseworthy-warlock leaves the room and I stare after him with an unbelieving grin on my face.

Not only did I get to circumvent any real punishment, but I get to go level up just like I wanted. My master is truly a benevolent warlock of the ages!

After I finish cleaning up the blood and other bodily fluids in the testing room, I take a quick detour to Nurse Sella for treatment. With that done, I follow the great warlock Lirin out of the tavern and up the street where he leads us to a nearby stagecoach. The wooden and metal stagecoach is significantly nicer than the bull and cart that I had arrived in days ago. The company is also much better, but no less scary as I listen to Master Lirin talk about the hunting grounds we are headed to.

"When we arrive in the Northeast Wilds, you will find monsters in the range of level 20-40. There are three variants, including AGI focused, close ranged brawlers known as Forest Skidders. Their primary strength is their ability to overwhelm their opponents with a flurry of low damage attacks. They attack in packs of five or more and have a slight paralysis venom lining their claws. What is your strategy against such opponents?" The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site.

Support the author by reading it there. Since this is not a timed quiz like usual, I make sure to think about the answer that will most satisfy my master.

"I will make sure to check out the area to assure that I have the correct estimation of how many monsters are in the area. Then, I will-""Wrong. In a fight versus a pack opponent that out levels you on an individual basis, you should not engage. You are a hopeless whelp with little to no information about fighting or technique. I don't even need to see you fight to know that your skill utilization in a fight is lacking." I nod rapidly in agreement to my master. Of course, why didn't I think of that?

Master Lirin is so wise.

"The second variant of monster will be a BDY focused beast. They are called Honlir, and they are slow moving, but incredibly hard to stop when they gain momentum. They have incredible endurance and thick armor, so any ideas of crippling the monster should be discarded immediately. How would you approach a fight with such a beast?"

"I would use long range attac-""Wrong. In a fight with a Honlir, you always need to analyze your surroundings. The easiest and safest method of attack against a Honlir is to find a narrow pathway or cave with a dead end. Once you lead the beast into your ideal fighting position, you will keep your distance while whittling away at the monster's health until it eventually expires."

"Yes, master!"

"Third and finally, are Grygons. These monsters are masters of deception and utilize mana-based attacks to poke at their preys' defenses. They can attack in pairs, or groups as large as six or seven. They have evenly distributed stats and can be very dangerous if their prey has lacking mana perception. Do you have any idea how to handle these monsters?" I stay completely silent and shake my head. It is clear that I am not meant to know such things until Master Lirin tells me.

"Wrong. Even if you are lacking in any information or strategic talent, you should always have a plan prepared when entering a fight. Those who can not think on their feet are not worth teaching."

"Absolutely, master!" We continue with this back and forth over the course of an hour before finally arriving at the outskirts of the city near the looming wall. It would seem that the gate I arrived at was the farthest entrance from the city itself, as Master Lirin referred to the area as the Infested Badlands. The Northeast Wilds are much closer and lie within the confines of the wall due to the relatively low danger it poses to the public.

The average citizen is a higher level than any of the monsters there, so the woods are regularly used for hunting to appease the people and keep the monsters that live there at bay. Although I was excited to gain some more levels, I still have been dealing with a bit of annoyance in the back of my mind. It had nothing to do with my master or the upcoming fights I was going to face. It was annoyance that I still haven't hit level 10 in four of my skills yet.

Since Master Lirin had arrived earlier than expected, I never had a chance to push <Infuse> to the level threshold required for my quest. I had mentioned as much to the master, but when I brought the matter up, his face became slack like before when I had tried mentioning The Pillar. It would seem that I unfortunately cannot ask for his advice when it comes to choosing my passive. Based on his previous lessons though, I assume that gaining the passive would be better for me sooner rather than later.

If I can get a passive before I gain my class, then maybe it will make my class options even better. The stagecoach slows to a halt with a wave from the warlock. Opening the door, I let out Master Lirin before exiting the vehicle myself. Before us sprawls a large stretch of brown trees and rocky mounds. The area is dissimilar to the forest of Floor One, which was dense and with no end.

"Move along boy, you will take the first monster on without any guidance from me. I want to gauge your current combative prowess before we move forward."

"Yes, master! What should I use as a weapon?"

"Weapons are tools of the weak."

"Of course, master!" Forging ahead, I enter the monster filled woods with nothing but my bare hands and the clothes on my back. Strangely enough, the scent of the trees and the chirp of birds remind me of when I first emerged from the cave on Floor One. A sense of euphoric freedom fills my chest, and I can feel my body warm up and mana race through my network as my mind shifts into survival mode. The sensation is warm unlike any amount of heat that could come from my skills.

As my brain becomes more alert, I somehow begin to feel more relaxed as I begin my journey skulking through the trees to find something to fight. Has the first floor turned me into some psycho that feels more comfortable when surrounded by the danger of the forest? Maybe I just never noticed because my mind had been filled with the presence of everyone else in the group being around me. I suppose I haven't been as calm as I had previously thought.

I kind of wonder if this unease I didn't know I was feeling was obvious to the others. If so, my efforts to get to know them might have seemed more desperate or inauthentic than I had meant. Or maybe I really was just acting the part this entire time to fool myself. For now though, I suppose it doesn't matter. <Infuse> fires up and I feel mana trickle into my muscles. Making sure to minimize my output so as to not waste too much energy, I just fill a portion of my legs before heading deeper into the woods.

As the trees pass me by, I also adjust my emission rate so that only a small amount of heat escapes from in between my shoulder blades. The itch caused by my lower emission rate is nothing to scoff at, but <Fixation> overrides most of sensation as my gaze sweeps back and forth through my surroundings. I can no longer see where the warlock went, so for now, it is just me and the denizens of the Northeast Wilds. It doesn't take long before I finally find one of the monsters my master had detailed during our trip.

Almost a football field's length in front of me stands a thin creature with camouflaged skin and long spindly limbs. < Forest Skidder - Level 22 >