Red Monster

Chapter 68: Productive Night

Level: 8

Health: 826 Stamina: 824 Mana: 713

[Tier 0 Might]

Strength: 83 Endurance: 82.4 Vitality: 82.6 Dexterity: 82.6

[Tier 0 Magic]

Intelligence: 123.4 Wisdom: 123.8 Arcane Perception: 122.4 Mind: 124.2

Skills:

Tier 1 Skill: Mana Sense - Level 14 (+1), Levelheaded (Passive) - Level 18, Appraisal - Level 16, Bleeding - Level 2, Fireball - Level 3

Tier 3: Mana Smelting - Level 5, Mana Refining - Level 3, Mana Sharpening - Level 1, Mana Repair - Level 2 (+1)

Tier 4: Mana Forging - Level 1, Mana Tempering - Level 2, Mana Authority (Passive) - Level 1 (New)

Tier 5 Skill: Infernal Berserk - Level 1

The first thing Red noticed was that he had almost drained half of his mana. That explained the sensation of being drained. He used more mana when he smelted the weapon.

He didn’t dwell on it for too long as he looked at the list of his skills. He thought he had gained another Tier 1, or maybe Tier 2, skill, but he was surprised to see that [Mana Authority] was at Tier 4.

[Mana Authority: Grant an overwhelming control and manipulation of mana on the user’s mana, optimizing movement of mana through the body, improving mana regeneration, increasing skill efficiency, and allowing the user to reshape mana under the user’s authority.]

That was a lot of information, and he was unsure if he understood half of it. But it told him the most important thing. The skill would improve his control over his mana. Mana regeneration was quite important as well since his skill used a lot of mana.

He didn’t understand much about increasing skill efficiency. Optimizing the movement of mana through his body was confusing. The same with reshaping mana. Why did he need to optimize mana movement inside his body? Why did he need to reshape mana?

Red recalled his old project as he stood and rushed toward his armory, taking out the metal balls. He was having a hard time controlling his mana to form the spike.

Holding one metal ball in his right hand, he started [Mana Smelting]. The smelting process was quicker than before. He realized that this might be the effect of skill efficiency.

He was not in a rush as he slowly shaped the metal, forming a pointy spike. His remaining spiky metal was thin, but he made this one thicker. The process was slow and took all his focus, slowly and surely. Finally, a spike formed as he let it cool.

His eyes widened as his lips curved into a smile. He stopped the skill and placed his finger on the spike. It was not as sharp as the one he had. It was blunt, but it could be fatal with a high-speed impact from his slingshot.

"Ah, yes. I have that one."

He had another skill that he never used because he hadn’t really reached that step yet. It was [Mana Sharpening]. He thought of using it to sharpen the tip of the spike. He didn’t dare to try on his available spiky ball because it was thin. If he made a mistake, he might break it instead.

Red placed the newly shaped metal ball on his palm. He found out that closing his eyes helped him to focus even more. He activated the skill.

Something stirred inside him; the feeling was clear, and the sensation was stronger. He immediately recognized it, mana. It moved through his body and headed toward his hand, then the mana left his body.

Even if the mana left his body, he could feel it. His authority over the mana. The mana enveloped the metal ball in his hand, not moving. He directed all the mana to the tip of the spike while the skill was active.

That was when he sensed it, the mana disappeared until the skill finished doing its job. That was when he noticed there was leftover mana lingering on the tip. Half of the mana that had left his body slowly drifted, and then he lost his authority over them.

That was when he realized that he used more mana than necessary. That made him think if he could lower the amount of mana he used for the skill.

That was for a later experiment. He opened his eyes and looked at the metal ball in his hand. The tip of the spike was glinting under the light from the fire lamp. He brought the tip closer to his eyes, then he pricked his index finger with the spike. With just a little force, the spike pierced his skin.

It was too sharp, which caused Red to frown. If it were too sharp, it might ruin the leather pad that was used to hold the metal ball. He needed the spike to be less sharp. He checked his mana and found out that he used fifty mana to sharpen the pointy spike.

"Fifty mana is too much, but how do I limit the mana?"

That was when he recalled the clear sensation when mana left his body. There might be something he could do before the mana left the body.

He tried it again from scratch, smelting the metal ball, getting rid of the sharp, pointy spike. He didn’t try to limit his mana. First, he wanted to familiarize himself with the feeling while trying to find a way to limit the mana that left his body.

In the process, a notification rang in his head as the text appeared before his eyes.

[Mana Authority has reached level 2!]

He willed it to get rid of the notification, not willing to get distracted. Then he noticed there was more residual mana from [Mana Smelting]. It meant he used more mana than he needed, again.

This time, he used [Mana Sharpening], and a blob of mana traveling inside his body into his hand. Midway, he intercepted the mana. The same when he used the skill, using his intent and will. To his surprise, the blob was cut in two.

One half continued to his hand, and the other half dispersed inside his body. His eyes widened in surprise, not expecting to succeed in one try. Using half the amount of the man, he sharpened the spike once more. But he quickly realized his mistake. That same amount of mana was used in the last sharpening, meaning he would get the same sharp spike.

"Ah, right, I need to reduce the mana even more," He tapped his forehead.

Red checked his mana and found out he used 26 mana this time. Then he repeated the process. He started by melting the spike once more, and this time he cut the mana to smelt half as well. Then he cut a quarter of mana from the blob, using it for [Mana Sharpening].

A quarter was still too much, still sharper than he needed. He repeated the process, and this time he cut a little bit of chunk from the quarter mana of the original mana. He aimed for 10 mana and ended up using 11 mana, but that gave him what he wanted. He needed 9-11 mana to achieve the sharpness he wanted.

He repeated the process, as this time he created the spike first, and an additional eleven spikes. Then he sharpened them one by one. The spike was bigger than the one he had, but it was sharper. This was his first creation, and he was satisfied with it.