Louise was caught off guard. The experiences inside the game were so intense that they could easily change some things in the real world. She had experienced that. After all, she left her apartment after weeks to meet Lana. It seemed crazy, but Jake was right… drastic changes in the game might also cause drastic changes in the real world.
Let's say that for whatever reason, their party is disbanded, and Lana looks for another one. There is always the possibility that the new one will take her skills and her role for granted and not be grateful for her help. While Jake wasn't someone who said thanks, he was also someone who hated to owe others favors. So she helped her back with other things.
Another group of scorpions appeared, and then Jake sighed when Louise used Ice Arrow and then missed. It was the first time she had missed an attack… As expected, she was the type who worries too much about things, so Jake regretted telling him one part of his reasons.
Still, he dashed toward the creatures because what he said earlier still stands… No matter what happens, Jake will keep doing his own thing. With allies or without allies, with support or without support.
The ground had five monsters, so Jake used three Mana Blades to finish off one of them. The creature's face exploded, but for a special attack to be able to kill an enemy only after using it so many times… Jake still had a long way ahead of him.
Before the other monsters could surround him, Jake finished off another with a quick succession of Bash. While Jake didn't have enough mana to use Mana Blade, he still had more than one trick up his sleeve. However, the other two monsters hit Jake's legs, but then once again, Lana used Barrier to nullify the power of the attack.
"I get it… I will focus only on support from now on," Lana said.
"Lana… are you sure that is fine?" Louise asked with a nervous expression. "Maybe you should think for a while longer, three to six months of pondering might be enough."
Lana frowned when she heard that. It seemed that it was Louise's turn to second guess herself, but she had already made up her mind as for Lana. While it cost her some mana, the fact that she prevented the damage instead of just healing it made her realize that even though it was more difficult, the sense of accomplishment was even better.
Lana had brought mana to use the spell two more times, and Jake used that chance to finish the monsters in the blink of an eye since he didn't have to focus on defense anymore. Regardless, Jake frowned when he saw Lana drinking a mana potion.
"What are you doing?" Jake asked.
"I can't use that skill without mana," Lana replied.
"You don't have to use it all the time… what a waste," Jake said and then sighed.
"You are not very bright, are you?" Lana asked and then shook her head.
"Hearing that from you really pisses me off…" Jake furrowed his eyebrows.
"You see, the more a skill is used, the more efficient it becomes, so I will use the mana potions to make them more efficient and use it less often in the future," Lana explained.
It was such an obvious thing, and thus, it made Jake even more pissed since Lana had a point. They had been keeping the potions to use when necessary, but Lana and Louise never used them, not even against the boss slime. Maybe it was better to use it that way…
"You really want to follow that path, then you should focus on raising your mana and recovery," Jake said. "Leveling up Meditation will also help a lot."
"Why are you being so nice all of a sudden, it is giving me goosebumps," Lana said while showing a suspicious look on her face.
Jake sighed and then turned around. It was better to ignore her… in any case, Jake was caught off guard when he found an item nearby one of the bodies. It was a short ax…
Short Ax
Throw, Strength + 02 (0%), master this weapon to obtain the skill and the status bonus permanently.
Durability: 10/10
Throw: it grants you the power to throw objects with speed and precision. The damage caused will be equal to the weight of the object multiplied by your strength plus five percent for each level of the skill.
Cost: 03 stamina.
"Hmm... interesting," Jake rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
With a skill like that, Jake could cause a lot of damage from a distance while preserving his mana as long as he is carrying a heavy weapon. The damage also escalated pretty well… the problem was what if he misses and what he should do to recover the weapon?
"Are you sure about this, Lana?" Louise asked. "Are you really, really sure?"
"Yep, just like in real life, I want to make sure that the flame of the people's lives won't be extinguished and they will keep glowing for a long time," Lana replied. "I won't be able to do that the way I want for a while, but eventually, I will reach my goal."
Since Lana was that determined, Louise couldn't say anything more. Still, she was a bit worried and wondered if her words won't cause problems for Lana later. However, at least for a couple of minutes, Lana looked more cheerful than usual. As for Jake, he felt refreshed because he could attack like a madman without worrying about receiving any kind of damage since Lana was using her mana potions non-stop, and Louise even had given hers to her.
Battle-wise, the party was going pretty well now that Lana decided to stop wasting time and mana in attacks, but they still didn't make any progress finding the dungeon…
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