Red Monster

Chapter 96: War Against the Kobolds (7)

Red calmed down, putting aside the bow before grabbing the sword. It was a head taller than him. It was wide as well, twice his palm. He wanted to use the sword for himself, but it needed modification, an alteration.

It was not too heavy for him, but it would be too heavy once his Infernal Berserk was over. That was why he prioritized the sword over the bow. The bow was still usable, but not with the sword.

He sat cross-legged, resting the sword on both of his palms as he closed his eyes. The first thing he did was to use Mana Repair on it. It didn’t really need a repair, but he must do it to obtain the sword’s blueprint.

There were a few dimmed red marks. It needed repair, but not something urgent. After obtaining the blueprint, he continued with Mana Smelting. That would make his work easier to shape.

He needed to cut the size, certainly the width of the blade, in half. The same as before, when he repaired the bow, he followed his intuition. It was like there was something that guided him. He stopped when this guide told him to stop. The surprise was his intuition telling him to use Mana Forging next.

He never used the skill because he thought it was only used when he created a weapon or armor from scratch. He never thought it could be used to reshape the sword.

Red followed the skill, using Mana Forging for the first. The mana cut the sword in half, separating a quarter from each side, reducing the width to the size of his palm. The cut materials were floating, shrouded by his mana.

Then he started to thin out the black metal on one side for the sword blade. The process was quick and smooth. He didn’t encounter any obstacles. The next step was Mana Tempering, tempering the newly-shaped sword.

Then it was followed by Mana Sharpening, forming the blade. It was originally a double-edged sword, but he changed it into a single-edged sword. Why? He didn’t know exactly why; it was his skill guiding him, the intuition. He chose to believe his intuition rather than his own judgment.

The sharp blade formed with Mana Sharpening, glinting dangerously. Then he continued Mana Repair to check the red mark that he spotted earlier. The marks were dimmer, but it still needed repair. He proceeded with the repair until the faint red mark disappeared.

He was done with the modification and satisfied with the result.

Then he opened his eyes and looked down. The excess materials fell on his lap, and the newly-shaped sword was in his hand. The sword was lighter. He was still unsure what the ideal weight for a sword was, but he was satisfied with the result.

He was about to get up, wanting to try to swing the new sword, when he was hit with heavy fatigue. His butt quickly fell back, and he lost his grip on his sword. His head was dizzy as he suddenly lost his strength.

It was fortunate that the sword fell on his lap with its flat surface. His hand was not getting squeezed as well. It would be troublesome if his hand were getting squeezed by the sword during his weakened state.

The Infernal Berserk was over was the first thought that came to his head. He was hit with the side effect. Last time he used the skill, he was passed out when the skill expired. This time, he managed to stay awake.

His head was spinning, his vision was blurry. His right slowly crept out, looking for the transparent jug that was next to him.

Red found one, but he didn’t know which one it was. He felt like he needed the Stamina Potion more urgently than the Health Potion. He was not fighting, and he would prefer to recover his Stamina first, as it allowed him to regain his strength and move. It was not that he was in a battle right now, so Health Potion was a second priority.

He dragged the transparent jug; his heart jumped that he might break it. Fortunately, it was sturdy enough not to break just from dragging it.

He was so weak, his head was not in the right mind, that he was having a hard time bringing the transparent jug toward him. It took him some time to break the jug into his lap. He tried to open the lid, but he was having a hard time.

What made things worse was the sudden jolt of pain in his back and chest. The pain from his wound flared up again. The transparent jug almost slipped out of his hand, but he managed to hold it somehow.

It took him great effort and more than ten breaths before he finally managed to open it. He slowly brought the transparent jug to his lips, forcefully putting the mouth of the jug into his mouth to ensure that all liquid entered his body.

He was glad that the liquid was tasteless. That helped in his current condition because he didn’t want to be surprised by the weird taste. The cool liquid passed down his throat, and then it was followed by a jolt of strength from his body.

His foggy mind cleared up, and he regained his strength slowly, and his vision also slowly cleared up. It took him another ten breaths before everything got better.

Red looked down at the empty transparent jug, then he looked at the remaining potion. He drank the Stamina Potion, and luck was on his side. He didn’t wait to grab the Healing Potion and chugged it down.

All it took was one ambush from Marget, and it would drain his Health to zero. He chugged the whole thing, and his eyes widened. A wave of cooling sensation hit his wound, and the pain slowly reduced before it was completely gone.

That came with a complete shock because the description didn’t mention it would heal his wound. He looked down on the wound on his chest and witnessed that the wound was closing in. Lady Luck was truly on his side today. Everything was going his way.

His stat went up one tier. He still didn’t know what changed, but he believed it was always good when the number in his stat increased. Then he obtained the potions and the bigger cores. Then, the insight came when he repaired the bow and reshaped the sword as well.

With a wide grin plastered on his face, he checked his stat sheet while waiting for his body to recover.

Name: ???

Level: 9

Health: 251 Stamina: 201 Mana: 1

[Tier 1 Might] (+1)

Strength: 91.2 (+1.2) Endurance: 91 (+1) Vitality: 91.6 (+1.6) Dexterity: 91.2 (+1.2)

[Tier 1 Magic] (+1)

Intelligence: 137.2 (+1.2) Wisdom: 136.4 (+0.8) Arcane Perception: 136.4 (+1) Mind: 137.4 (+1.2)

Skills:

Tier 1 Skill: Mana Sense (Passive) - Level 15, Levelheaded (Passive) - Level 20 (+1), Appraisal - Level 18 (+1), Bleeding (Passive) - Level 2, Fireball - Level 5 (+1), Bow Mastery (Passive) - Level 5 (+3)

Tier 3: Mana Smelting - Level 6, Mana Refining - Level 4, Mana Sharpening - Level 2, Mana Repair - Level 2

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

Tier 5 Skill: Infernal Berserk - Level 1