After saying goodbye to Aerin, Mika left the Elven Village and made her way toward the sinkhole, or what the villagers called the abyss. Although it wasn’t that far away, Mika wasn’t in a hurry as she used this walk to prepare herself mentally.
She didn’t know what sort of dangers she’d encounter, but she knew this trip wouldn’t be easy.
Still, Mika felt the need to sate her desire and curiosity. Who knows? She might obtain something that would help her immensely in the future!
‘System, pull up my Status.’
[Understood.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Status Window]
[Name: Mika Zoller]
[Titles: Body Of Mana(EX)]
[Species: Human]
[Class: Null(Swordsman)]
{Cultivation Techniques}
[Mana Gathering: ]
[Body: Absolute Sword Body Technique]
{Attributes}
[Body Cultivation: Early-Stage Absolute Sword Body]
[Mana Gathering Cultivation: 1st Stage Black Core]
[Affinities: [Fire(EX)] [Darkness(EX)]
{Skills}
[Mind Space Lv. 3]
[Meditation Lv. 1]
{Spells}
[Fireball (F)(Beginner)]
{Unique Spells}
[Mana Control (F--)(Adept)]
{Techniques}
[Volcanic Burst (F++)(Beginner)]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mika instantly noticed a few changes in her spells and techniques and became curious. She knew what the (F), (F--), and (F++) meant, but she had no idea what Beginner and Adept indicated.
‘System, what do those terms mean?’
[That’s your Proficiency Rating, Host.]
Mika tilted her head and became confused as she’s never heard of anything like that.
‘Proficiency Rating? What do you mean by that?’
[Mana is complicated, Host. Just because you know how to create a fireball doesn’t mean you can make the best fireball in existence. The Proficiency Rating is simply a way to help you keep track of your progress with a spell or technique until you realize its full potential.]
‘Okay? Then, is there a difference between Beginner and Adept? What are the other Proficiency Ratings above those?’
[There are six different Proficiency Ratings, Host. They are: Incomplete, Beginner, Adept, Moderate, Master, and Consummate.
At Beginner proficiency, your understanding of said Spell or Technique is at 25%.
Adept is at 50%.
Moderate is at 75%.
Master is at 99%
And Consummate is at 100% proficiency.
Lastly, Incomplete is anything below 25%.]
‘Hmmm… That’s interesting! Then, is there a difference in power between the different ratings? Like, is Consummate four times more powerful than Beginner?’
[In theory, yes, but in reality, it’s not that simple. It depends on the Spell or Technique you use. For some, you might see a drastic increase in power with every subsequent rating, but the mana cost may also increase along with it. While for others, the mana cost might decrease as the power only slightly increases. It all depends on the spell or technique and your intent behind it.]
[However, if you achieve Consummate proficiency, the mana cost will decrease by half, and the power will increase by 50-100%, regardless of the spell or technique.]
Mika’s eyes opened wide at that statement, and she stopped walking for a moment. However, then her eyebrows creased.
‘Then… If I reach Consummate proficiency with my Mana Control and Spells, wouldn’t I be able to spam all my abilities without worrying about the mana cost?’
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
[You’re wrong, Host. Mana Control is different. Although the System classifies it as a Unique Spell, it’s not actually a Spell. More precisely, it’s the foundation of any Spell or Technique. Therefore, the effects of the Proficiency Ratings are different, but I’ll let you figure out the specifics on your own.]
‘Then, how did I reach the Adept proficiency in Mana Control?’
However, she didn’t receive any more answers from the System after that.
‘Mana Control is the foundation of any Spell or Technique, huh? Does that also include Cultivation Techniques?’
Although it was just a guess, she didn’t think she was wrong.
After spending so much time with the System, Mika knows that many times, whatever it says has multiple meanings. And since it only speaks in times of importance, she learned to take every word the System said seriously.
Hell, even something as basic as her Status Screen can contain numerous bits of useful information that one might not think about at first glance.
For example, why is her Mana Control ranked [F--] if it’s so important? Shouldn’t it be much higher? And why are her Skills in levels when her Spells and Techniques have their own Proficiency Ratings? She also didn’t understand why she hadn’t unlocked the Swordsman Class yet.
‘Sigh… Every time I interact with the System, I end up with more questions than answers.’
Although it’s certainly frustrating at times, Mika appreciates that the System wants her to learn and explore everything independently and gives her the freedom to do as she pleases.
While lost in thought, Mika soon appeared before the sinkhole and was struck by the instinctive need to descend once again. She felt like she could hear faint whispers telling her to plunge into the darkness.
‘Go down, Mika.’
‘There’s something important down there waiting for you.’
‘Are you really going to let this opportunity pass on by?’
These thoughts/voices consumed her mind and body, but she didn’t allow her instincts to take over this time. She pushed these thoughts away, carefully approached the edge, and then looked down.
All-consuming darkness. That’s how Mika would describe the hole. While she could still see structures built on the side of the walls in her periphery, her eyes were focused on the ever-encroaching darkness that seemed to crawl out of the abyss.
It was almost like it was alive!
Such a sight would terrify the weak-hearted, but Mika wasn’t scared. No, on the contrary, her eyes were as calm as a lake. In fact, her black eyes seemed to shine as she looked deep into the pit.
Whether it was because of her affinity or maybe it was just in her nature to be as calm as possible in any scenario, she didn’t know.
But one thing’s for sure…
“I need to go down there.”
She didn’t decide this merely because she wanted to explore. No, she felt it with every fiber of her being.
Something is down there. Something that could change the trajectory of her life is down there!
“I don’t know what’s in this hole, but I need to find out!”
“System, do you know why I’m feeling this way? Is there really something down there?”
[You have stepped onto the path of transcendence. As you cultivate, you don’t only gain more power, but your entire being changes and morphs into something higher. Naturally, doing so heightens your senses, including giving you a more powerful sixth sense. What you’re experiencing right now is your body’s way of telling you that it might’ve found something that could help you step onto a higher plane.]
[As for if there’s something actually down there and if it’s helpful to you, I’ll leave that for you to find out.]
Mika grumbled at the System’s ambiguous answer, peeled her eyes away from the hole, and walked over to a small wooden railing that went down into the pit.
Mika carefully placed one of her feet on the first wooden platform, as she couldn’t trust its integrity. While the wood didn’t necessarily look rotten, it certainly didn’t look brand new. So, being careful was a necessity in this situation. Especially was still wearing her backpack full of mana stones.
Though, even with the backpack, she probably only weighed a few dozen kilograms more than a large, muscular adult man.
‘I don’t want to fall to my death, after all!’
*Creeeeaaaaakkk*
The old rickety wood creaked beneath her feet, and the wood platform bent slightly, but Mika didn’t feel like it would snap under her weight. She placed both feet on the wooden board while preparing to jump back on land if something went wrong, but after a few seconds, she could tell that the plank could hold her weight without any issues.
However, that didn’t ease her cautiousness. She needed to stay alert as descending into a deep dark hole by relying on old mossy wood planks was nerve-wracking.
With narrowed eyes, Mika held onto the side of the wall and carefully placed her foot on the next step down, trying to ease her weight onto it just in case it couldn’t hold her weight.
Fortunately, there were no issues with the second step, but Mika still didn’t let this get to her head. One mistake and she was dead!
Mika kept her vigilance and senses as high as she could raise them and steadily walked down the steps.
She did the same thing with every step; she’d first tap the board with her foot, then she’d lower her weight onto it, and if everything seemed fine, then she’d commit to the step.
Mika continued this for a few hours until she made it to the first structure, which Mika coined as the first checkpoint.
It wasn’t anything special. The structure just looked like someone took half of a one-bedroom house and pasted it on the wall.
‘I’ll take a small break here, then continue moving.’
Although Mika had only been walking for a few hours, keeping her guard raised for so long was tiring. If she could rest up here for a while and maybe even take a short nap, she could keep her mental state at its peak.
*Creeeeaaaaakkk*
*Crack!*
One of the planks cracked and broke beneath Mika’s feet as she walked around the structure.
“Shit!” Mika cursed.
Fortunately, she stayed wary even when it seemed like she had reached a safe haven. However, this incident did leave Mika stuck with a bad feeling.
“Sigh… Should I stay and rest here or keep going?”
“I feel like I should keep going since if one plank broke, there’s bound to be more. And if there are more, there’s a higher chance of me falling to my death.”
Mika didn’t feel safe here, so she decided to keep going despite wanting a little break.
‘Meh. I’ll just take a break at the next building, and if I don’t feel safe enough to take one there, I’ll move on to the next one!’
So, she left the building and returned to walking down the abyss.
Perhaps the only solace on her journey was that there were now large beasts or predators waiting to attack her. Hell, there weren’t even that many bugs, which Mika found odd as the further down she went, the higher the mana density.
In her experience in the jungle so far, stronger beasts tend to hang around areas with more mana. Thus, for a pit like this to have virtually no creatures was a little disconcerting as it meant one of three things.
One, this place hasn’t been discovered by anything, which is obviously untrue.
Two, the beasts can instinctually feel that this is a dangerous place and don’t approach it despite the possible benefits.
Or three, this place is so dangerous that nothing even dares to enter, and those who do, perish!
Mika leaned toward the last option, but things still didn’t make any sense because she’s been walking for hours, but nothing had jumped up out of the ground to eat her yet!
She glanced down at the black hole beneath her and felt chills all over her body as she imagined it dragging her down and swallowing her whole.
‘Gah! What am I thinking? What idiot would willingly jump into this hell hole just to live in a place with a slightly higher mana density?’
Mika concluded and stopped thinking about nonsense, putting all her focus on not dying!
She kept descending toward the bottom of the sinkhole, only stopping occasionally to take a few breaks.
After who knows how many hours, Mika’s surroundings darkened, and the surface above her seemed so far away.
She had finally stepped foot into the abyss.