'First things first, need to start Channeling.' Eldrian thought as Ziraili signaled the start of their battle.
With its commencement, Eldrian's first aim was to observe. As such, he jumped back to buy himself more time as he started guiding the flow of his auras through his body.
Channeling was similar to mana enhancement skills and spells. Instead of using mana to boost the output of one's muscles and senses, you used the lifeforce that the aura consisted of. Similar to how you use different elements for different outcomes.
And, as one might expect, Channeling increased the effectiveness of these enhancements. Or rather, it was a more effective method to boost your base abilities. And it could be added on top of standard mana enhancements.
Getting the right combination for the effect you wanted was tricky, but after a few weeks of training (both in The Core and normally in his labs), Eldrian had already found the best methods.
Using Tranquility to enhance his senses gave better results than Wrath. And Wrath, in turn, gave better results when attempting to boost his strength or agility. By combining both, Eldrian could become stronger and faster, while increasing the rate at which he could process data.
It was essential to keep the two balanced. Letting one overcome the other would lead to Eldrian losing control. But as long as he wasn't being run circles around, he could typically maintain the balance at this point.
And, as mentioned before, he could augment this on top of his standard enhancement skills and spells. Almost doubling one attribute while raising the others by about 30%.
Even so, the time dilation wasn't at the level of his bloodline. Time did not slow to a crawl.
But what Eldrian generally perceived as the passage of a second would now appear slightly longer. Somewhere between 1,1 and 1,3 seconds, depending on how well Eldrian felt on the day.
Granted, when readying for a fight, Eldrian already perceived the flow of time slower than an average person. This correlated to his increased stats. But that is beside the point. All players and people experience this slowing of time as they grow stronger.
The impressive bit was that he could slow his perception of time past what his stats made possible—giving him that slight edge.
It allowed him to take in more details and work through the extra information faster, and as a result, react quicker than an enemy might expect.
All this to say, Eldrian was observing the basilisk as it charged. Since mana sense wouldn't give him any system information (and Ziraili even prevented Eldrian from sensing the serpent's mana flow), Eldrian had no clue what to expect from the serpent.
Thus, he strained his eyes and mind to follow each of its movements. Important to note, Eldrian wasn't allowed to use mana enhancement while in The Core. He was relying only on Channeling to keep up with his opponents.
Observing the basilisk, Eldrian was glad he had fought several snake-like monsters over the last few weeks. While he could not read it as well as four-legged beasts, he wouldn't be caught off guard.
'It's underestimating me.' Eldrian thought, noticing it was going for a straightforward strike with its mouth. Whether it aimed to inject him with venom with its massive fangs, or swallow him, Eldrian couldn't say. But he felt seriously underestimated.
The basilisk's strike was easy enough to dodge, though it hammered home how massive the thing was.
As its head flew past Eldrian, Eldrian realized it could swallow him in one. Its fangs were larger than his arms. A glancing blow would send him spiraling to his death.
And as it opened its mouth, a thick cloud of miasma filled the surroundings.
Eldrian assumed it would kill any normal person. Should the snake get just one hit on him, the opening in his skin would allow the miasma to invade him with a vengeance.
'Good, it seems Channeling is canceling whatever the miasma is trying to do to me.' This realization was a massive comfort. Eldrian had hoped it would be the case. But he had no proof until now.
Still, he had expected this would be the case, considering that channeling mana slowed the draining effect of the undead lands. He assumed the aura of the basilisk would be similar, perhaps an upgraded version of what the undead created.
'I should be safe as long as—' Sensing danger, Eldrian jumped to the side. Luckily, his instincts had been honed through all his battles. The basilisk's tail would have impaled him if he had been a second slower.
'Shit, guess that is another problem the miasma creates. Im blind in here.' While the miasma couldn't do much damage to him, it limiting Eldrian's vision was a massive downside. Naturally, Eldrian moved to escape.
The basilisk, however, knew the advantage it had and pressed forward. Before Eldrian knew what was happening, he slipped. The ground below his feet turned to mud, a cone blast of wind from behind blew him off balance, and a tail was coming for his head.
'Wait, seriously?! That's so unfair!' Eldrian complained in his heart. Cursing Ziraili for allowing the basilisk to use magic when she blocked even his magical sights from him.
Without mana sense showing him the flow of mana, Eldrian was as blind as a mole. And the miasma added to his blindness even more.
Now, pincered, Eldrian was forced to rely on the cruder application of Wrath.
Tranquility would do little for him since he could hardly see a thing. Freezing his surroundings would only worsen things, and slowing the serpent didn't seem plausible in his current predicament. Eldrian needed time and sight to do so.
Letting the fiery energy flowing through him explode outward, Eldrian hoped it would do some damage as he rode the shockwaves to safety. Channeling Tranquility to lessen the damage he would take from the situation.
When the cloud of dust and miasma dispersed, he was disappointed to find the serpent unharmed. 'No, it was burned, but...' Compared to what Eldrian expected from Wrath, the damage wasn't worth mentioning.
The snake's tail was blackened, and some of its skin was gone. But that was it. The damage was skin-deep.
Granted, Eldrian hadn't concentrated the attack. His aim had been to escape. But this little amount of damage was throwing him for a loop.
'Is it the same case as its miasma to me?' Eldrian wondered. 'Must be.' Learning that other beings with auras would take less damage from auras was valuable. Even if it put Eldrian in an even worse situation currently.
"Ziraili, I'm going to need a weapon," Eldrian said. To make his fights even more difficult, she blocked all his system functions while he was fighting.
Eldrian had recently been having such an easy time in his fights that he no longer pulled Crystoi or the Tier 8 sword he had out before the fights.
That was coming back to bite him.
Granted, both weapons were just simple weapons in The Core. Their abilities were blocked too. Meaning he could only use them to strike or defend. But that was enough.
Eldrian needed something to attack from a distance. Getting up close to the basilisk was near certain death. As he had just learned.
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