Chapter 78 - Following the thread (Patreon)

[Lvl 36 > Lvl 37]

I pause briefly to invest my stats. After a moment's hesitation, I put them into mana; I don't believe any other stat will help me at this moment. I quickly skim through the notifications, paying no mind to the ones about kills.

[Focus (Dual Focus) - Lvl 14 > Focus (Dual Focus) - Lvl 15]

[Mana Manipulation - Lvl 14 > Mana Manipulation - Lvl 15]

[Oscillation - Lvl 9 > Oscillation - Lvl 10]

[Armanent - Lvl 8 > Armanent - Lvl 9]

[Disruption - Lvl 4 > Disruption - Lvl 5]

For a moment, I summon my status window while starting to run towards the area with the least amount of monsters.

[Name: Nathaniel Gwyn]
Difficulty: Hell
Floor: 2 - Mana Infused Kingdom
Time left until forced return: 4y 318d 021h 51m 03s
Traits (1/3): Mana Circuit (Passive)

Lvl 37
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 15
Constitution: 40
Mana: 100

[Primary Class: Mana Channeler]
[Sub-class: Unavailable]

Active skills:
Focus (Dual Focus) - Lvl 15
Mana Manipulation - Lvl 15
Mana Perception - Lvl 14
Oscillation - Lvl 10
Kinetic Redistribution - Lvl 9
Armanent - Lvl 9
Mana Surge - Lvl 5
Disruption - Lvl 5

Passive skills:
Mana Flow (rare)

[Skill Points: 1]
[Stat Points: 0]

I still have one skill point left, which means I only need to get either Redistribution or [Armament] to level 10 and then use the skill point to level up the last one. I'd prefer not to do it this way as I have a feeling that breaking through the bottleneck from level 9 to 10 would be better to do on my own, but it's not like I can be picky right now.

I gradually increase my speed, each step becoming firmer. The aftershocks slowly wear off, but I continue to search for traps more fervently than before. Every step I take is cautious, and could easily be my last.

My area of perception is smaller, but it allows me to pay closer attention. Now that my mana is over 100, I feel even more how the missing part of my circuit in my left arm interrupts my flow, forcing me to use even a small part of my secondary focus to move it properly.

Arrows fly at me, thankfully from regular weredeer, not the lethal ones. I dodge them, not even bothering to return fire, still not feeling too well. I stagger slightly, slipping on the mud-covered ground, but quickly regain my balance before the charging monster reaches me.

Mana flows only into my legs, just enough to dodge to the side. Immediately, I cut it off and use a bit of mana to absorb the monster's kinetic energy, propelling myself forward. I stagger once again before regaining my balance. With clenched teeth, I continue to run.

Three weredeer appear some distance ahead of me. I form simple mana orbs around me, spinning them and densifying them, trying to save as much mana as possible. I then start spinning them around my body, making them orbit me like tiny moons, gradually increasing their speed.

They spin faster and faster, accumulating a lot of kinetic energy. When I'm close enough to the monsters, I release them, shooting them like projectiles from a sling. Ten of them fly at the monsters at a terrifying speed, smaller than usual but denser. They pierce the weredeer's skin and exit their bodies on the other side.

[You have defeated a Weredeer - lvl 33]

[You have defeated a Weredeer - lvl 32]

Not having enough time to do it again, I boost my body and jump over the charging remaining monster. While I'm up in the air, I absorb a bit of kinetic energy from the rain and boost the spear I made out of [Armanent] into the monster's back.

Now the wounded weredeer turns to me, a red glow covering its body. For half a second, [Disruption] fires up and the monster staggers as if stung after its skill cancels. I dash forward, and the dagger covered in [Oscillation] nearly decapitates it, leaving it hanging by a bit of skin.

But then I run again, ignoring the notification about the kill and dodging arrows or normal weredeer.

The wind continues to threaten to blow me to the ground and the lightning becomes more frequent.

The forest is dark and the branches of the trees are swaying wildly, cracking in the wind.

And I continue to run.

*****

Is it because we made fun of the deer we killed back on the first floor? Because we called him Bambi and did such a bad job skinning him?

After I get out of this, I swear I will kill any monster that has antlers or even reminds me of a deer.

My first meal will be deer steak and I will eat it whole while laughing, then order another one and throw it on the ground.

Damned weredeers.

I wobble from side to side as I walk between trees, a few more small wounds are on my body and even now I feel as if I'm about to pass out as my head keeps ringing and I have to continuously use my skills. While catching my breath, I stop to lean against a tree.

It's already night and I'm mostly navigating with the help of perception that only feels mana and the little light that the moon offers. Unlike Earth, it's bluish, giving the night an unusual hue.

At the edge of my reduced perception, I feel another signature that I identify as a weredeer and stop leaning against the tree, stepping a bit away from it.

One of the mana orbs that hover around me starts orbiting me and slowly increasing its speed. I found it's much better to increase its speed this way instead of using a surge that puts too much pressure on me in this state.

Sure, it's annoying and it takes a bit longer, but the result might be even better than just boosting it. I just anchor the bead to my body and push it to make it spin around me.

I let the weredeer get closer and then sling the mana bead at him. It hits the monster's face, tearing off a chunk of its head as big as my fist. My accuracy is only getting better and it's enough; the monster falls down dead.

[You have defeated a Weredeer - lvl 36]

I already invested my skill point into [Armanent], knowing that it would probably have a more difficult bottleneck as I have a feeling that I am closer to leveling up [Kinetic Redistribution]. Also, the second skill is something that I think is better, and I know I would regret, using the easier way to master it instead of doing it my own way.

So even as I barely walk and mana continues to threaten to ravage my body, I keep continuing to absorb the energy of a single raindrop out of the thousands that continue to fall around me.

At some point, I find the corpse of one of the men that was in our group. His body is mangled, limbs torn off, and there isn’t enough of his face left for me to identify, but I remember the dagger that lies nearby. I grab it and continue without looking back. The blade still seems to be in good shape.

A few minutes later, I find another corpse. Half of its body is missing, the wound looking similar to the one the sniper's projectiles caused.

It's been a few hours since I decided this is the work of a human, not a monster. Probably someone paid to deal with the competition. Someone hired to kill the man that led us and to leave no witnesses.

The sniper must also have some ability to at least affect the monsters a little bit and they are not too high level, otherwise we would be dead already. They must have planted the triggering mana projectiles around us as we were pushing forward and then started using the super ranged sniping skill, probably with a long preparation time or some setback that doesn’t allow to use it quickly. Or it's just to mess with us.

I've learned to detect the threads of mana and this way avoided three traps. At the last one, I even climbed on a tree and observed the mana projectile, not too much out of fear to not trigger it, just enough to learn that there are two parts to it.

One of them is a huge amount of mana that is compressed into an elongated sharp shape, somehow made to not leak mana. The other part is the trigger, a mana thread that will activate something that will send the arrow flying at the place where the thread of mana touched the person. I already have multiple ideas of how I can use it to improve my skills or to finally create a construct.

Thanks to tracking mana threads, I find the one that is slightly different, even thinner, and leading somewhere else. There are no projectiles around. So I reduce the mana my body radiates. I slow my Mana Heart the same way I did when I killed Emeric, and I reduce the area of my perception by a lot.

And I continue to follow the thread of mana, slowly, carefully, hidden in the rain and the darkness that covers the area.

There, I find two people, a man, and a woman, standing in between the wilderness where we went and the village. Even through the rain and darkness, I recognize the figure of one of the men from the group. The vice leader, Bram.

[Blade Sentinel - lvl 51]

[Phantom Sniper - lvl ?]

My surge fires up and both parts of my mind focus on redistribution. This time, I don't hesitate and reach out towards the forceful wind that keeps roaring through the area, causing the trees around us to groan under its strength.

I absorb the kinetic energy from the wind, almost instantly filling up the amount I can control.

I hear them scream something and turn towards me. Mana projectiles form around the sniper and the traitorous vice leader charges at me.

When he gets close, he hesitates for a moment, recognizing my face.

I do not.

His head blows off, hit by the kinetic energy I absorbed and I refocus my attention on the sniper.