Michael blinked at the notification. He wished for more information, and a System window appeared in front of him.

[Active Skill

Minor Heal (F): mana is an ever-changing construct that can be used in many ways. Destruction is not the only thing that it can bring.

Allows the usage of mana for healing abilities. Higher proficiency and a higher Intelligence Stat result in greater effects.]

Finally.

He had been working on it for almost ten hours overall, analyzing every minor detail about the green mana. He watched the way it moved, how it flowed, and how it acted, and had grown quite capable of using it to mimic the way his blood healed his body. It wasn’t surprising for him to receive a Skill for it. If anything, he had spent too little time trying to acquire it. Tairy had said that obtaining Skills without Skill Points was an arduous and long process. From that point of view, ten hours wasn’t much at all. It was clear that his Dragon blood had helped him.

I’m glad this is considered spellcasting and therefore affected by it.

His state was considerably better than many hours ago. His left arm was fine, but his shattered leg hadn’t been easy to heal. Just like the process with the arm, it had been painful and slow. Now, however, things would change. Michael drew the symbol that had been engraved in his mind with the wand.

“Minor Heal.”

The change was immediate. A bright green wave covered him from head to toe, entering his body and washing over it entirely. It gathered on his leg like moths to a flame, mending the injuries rapidly; some of the light also concentrated on his arm. Meanwhile, Michael’s perception zeroed in on its workings like a hawk. It was very similar to what he was already doing, only at a much greater scale and speed. It was as if the System had helped him take a step beyond what he was already capable of. He didn’t miss this fact. If one acquired a Skill through training, it was like a small evolution.

However, I don’t doubt that there are beings out there where that isn’t a rule.

Even he, as weak as he was, had something like the Dragonheart. Perhaps there was a species or creature whose created Skills surpassed those of the System in every way. Maybe there were those who didn’t use the System as he did, but instead only as a crutch, realizing their greatness almost on their own.

The next step after Skill acquisition should be Skill evolution. He had already learned new ways to utilize the Active Skills he’d chosen, and gotten a few notifications regarding them when training with Tairy. He needed to train. In the meantime, Michael repeatedly cast his new Skill.

“Minor Heal. Minor Heal. Minor Heal.”

The green waves covered his body. Soon, he stood up, brand-new.

I’m glad I have so much mana.

His Title and Race were more than helpful; they were the axis of his current prowess. This bothered him. He wanted his own Skills to be his greatest strength, not his inborn talents. He spoke out loud to no one in particular.

“I promise I’m going to train harder when I leave this place.”

It was a promise to himself. He evaluated his mana pool. Even after repeated usage of his Skills, because of the Level-ups, it was still around forty percent full. Based on his knowledge about his Skills – which had been developed over the course of several battles to the death – he should be able to use them freely without spending too much mana. However, he didn’t know how many enemies he would still have to face, or if the environment would change deeper into the Dungeon. It was better to be safe than sorry. He had already suffered because of his lack of caution.

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Michael remained standing. Within him, his mana continuously tried to execute two different Skills at the same time. He hadn’t given up on silent casting and dual casting, nor would he stop trying to get them. Since creating the symbols and moving the mana around within him didn’t waste any of it, he could keep doing it endlessly. Again and again, he failed, only to try once more. He was already so used to it that it wasn’t even discouraging. Instead, he took note of his improvement.

My mana has become capable of creating clearer symbols before dissipating.

That had been the extent of his gains. His mana was divided into two distinct flows, formed two crude symbols, and dispersed. This happened over and over. Michael smiled. At the start of his training, he hadn’t been able to do anything with the divided mana. He hadn’t even been able to move both strands at the same time. That had changed. He had advanced.

All of this happened without a single chant leaving his lips. It was a slow process, but he was growing. It was palpable. This alone filled him with expectations and pride. He chuckled to himself while thinking that he might become one of those extremely prideful Dragons that he often read about in fiction. He had paid for his arrogance, but pride was something different. So long as it didn’t turn into hubris, he should be fine.

Once his mana pool was filled up to eighty percent, he resumed his walking. The training within him was replaced by utter attentiveness to his surroundings. He couldn’t be caught unaware while trying to train and look for any enemies at the same time. Gradually, he noticed the change in his surroundings. The dull and damp tunnel got wider and higher the further he walked. Small mushrooms grew on its walls, but they were different from the ones outside the Dungeon. They didn’t glow and released an almost invisible amount of spores.

Michael stopped in place and frowned once he noticed this. He was able to keep a Mana Shield up at all times when walking, due to his training, but that was all. If he met another enemy, he wouldn’t be able to attack or even dodge, as sudden movements would disturb the Shield. There was no way to keep going without avoiding the spores, but he couldn’t leave the Dungeon, as the System had blocked him from doing so. There was only one thing he could still believe in.

Last time, my blood was able to incinerate the spores that managed to enter my body.

Both in his first and second battles, he hadn’t been able to completely avoid the spores, but his blood had destroyed them the moment they entered his body, even though they hadn’t all touched the bloodstream. Michael found himself at an impasse but quickly assessed that there was no answer. Standing in place wouldn’t achieve anything, while retreat was impossible. He could only go forward.

Michael felt his Heart beat like a drum as he activated it. In an instant, the fiery feeling spread to every corner of his body. He walked forward, purposefully breathing in some of the spores while gritting his teeth. Through his mana and blood, it was almost as if he could see the spores making their way down toward his lungs. The moment they did, however, they burst into minute flames, and disappeared. His heartbeat got faster and louder.

[Your blood continues to burn.]

It was a notification he hadn’t seen since he awakened to his Dragonheart, but it was a welcome one. It signified the advancement of his power. A small corner of his mind felt excitement, but the rest was focused on the situation at hand. He slowly waded through the almost invisible cloud of spores, taking every step carefully, observing how his body reacted to the greater and greater number of spores entering it. So far, none had withstood his blood’s onslaught.

At a certain point, he judged that the cloud was too much. He drew a cross in the air.

“Mana Shield.”

He hadn’t managed to contain his impulse to protect himself. If he met an enemy, he would need to put down the Shield and fight, but until then, he felt safer inside it. He picked up the pace as much as possible. Soon, he came across his next foes. Two Mushroom Warriors stood listlessly, with one more behind them. However, the one behind them was strange. It was made of the same wood-like material as the other two, but it was shorter and smaller, while its mushroom cap was a bright red. Its limbs were also thinner. This red mushroom enemy stood behind the other two, as if using them as a protective front line.

A new enemy.

His experience was telling him it was a new type of monster, as were his speculations made based on the fictional content he’d consumed. Its smaller body made Michael think that this one wasn’t a melee fighter. A ranged combatant, then? Or a caster?

Do these mushroom things even have casters?

To get an answer to this question, he used Analyze.

[Mushroom Warrior, Level 21.]

[Analyze has failed. Target is too high level.]

[Analyze has failed. Target is too high level.]

He narrowed his eyes. Analyze had failed once again. It seemed that he could only obtain the information of enemies five levels higher than himself, at most. Level 21 was at the very edge of this range.

Nothing to do about it.

He needed to face his enemies even with lacking information. How would their ranged combat even look like? He was about to find out.