I was simultaneously correct and very wrong about magic. Magic is not just about calculations of atomic structures. It is a two part process. I called it magic and then proceeded to remove everything magical from it. No wonder I could not control it.

While watching the vision of the white lion I encountered a very important thing. The missing link. I was engrossed in white lion's majestic dance. His movement, his breathing everything seemed attuned with the surrounding. I realised he wasn't dancing. None of them were. It was me who impudently presumed that they were.

"I see."

I packed up my belongings and went into seculated meditation.

The prospect of a change being depended on you is rather empowering and arrogant. The universe does not change its way because of you. All the possibilities are always present. You just happen to be in some of them. What you can do however is bend things to your liking. You are only important when you are actively trying to be.

You don't creat magic. You create a path. They follow. Things don't happen because you added two plus two. You have to make them happen. Feel the flow. Release them from this bound. They too are a part of your body. Shape them. Feel them. Emotion is the key. Don't ask for it. Do it.

That was what I missed. I searched for the atom that shapes the magic. There isn't one. I had to do it by myself. Magic is not like an organ. It is an organ. Not a metaphorical one either.

Imagine having fingers and never using it. Sounds stupid right? That's basically what I did. From the time I learned about changing a blank magical matter into fire I could have made a fireball. I treated magic as coding while it was my second set of arms. I did not accept it as a part of me. I treated magic as if they were foreign objects I needed to collect and host.

That being said, it feels weird as fuck. Knowing about something and doing that thing is very different. It's difficult to explain. The closest thing I can compare it to is getting prosthetics that have too many functions. You go kinda like gaaaahhh then huuuuuu and things happen. It's a 'if you know, you know' kinda thing.

It's hard at first. Controlling shape, size, amount and stuff. I had to use all my body parts to try and give my magic shapes. It's slowly improving. After much practice I can do it by simple gestures now. I suppose I will be able to use it independently when I build up enough muscle memories.

Emotion is also very important. You can't really punch someone with your full strength if you don't hate them enough. If you can, you should go see a doctor.

"This place does have treasures."

The first spell I performed was the white flame. It was not flame. It was cold energy with firey disguise. That meant that I could mix and match different elements properties if I knew the specific combination. It's not as easy as it sounds. Elements have different intensities. The difference between the ice magic I knew of and the ice magic the white lion used is similar to the difference between normal ice and liquid nitrogen. So they have different combinations.

I tried to create weapons with magic but it didn't work. The biggest object I could create with all my man was the size of a tennis ball. It's brittle and straight up waste. It's like making a sword with pure gold instead of selling it and buying actual good weapons with it. With that amount of mana I could throw around giant fireballs for hours and things made with environmental mana are much more sturdier. Shaping complex shapes with environmental mana is a nightmare. It takes too much time and again wastes mana. All in all it's not worth the effort.

__________

I thought life would be much easier after learning proper spells. It was not. The first one I killed was the rock gorilla with 4 hands. This time I was not jealous of it.

It took me an entire 3 days to kill it. I fought with it until I ran low on mana and stamina then ran away to safety, took some rest and went to fight again. The gorilla did not take any rest whatsoever. When I ran away it kept searching for me and threw rocks in random directions.

On the dawn of 4th day the rock gorilla died out of exhaustion. I found out after eating its core, how it threw me away so far. The rock gorilla went all out in its muscle development and stamina. Suffering through its training montage I could finally use my full strength and speed. That is to say, my own strength and speed would not kill me, trees and rocks were out of that equation. Let me tell you it doesn't feel good when you hit something at mach one speed.

Laced with my full potential I went to fuck with the rhino. This time I flinched it, and that's about it. Magic did not work on it. That was expected. What I did not expect was the effectiveness of my punches. When I used my full strength it felt like I was using a feather instead of a hammer. It just did not have any weight behind it. So I made another tactical retreat.

And what do you know, the ice area boss turned out to be a sumo wrestler. It was a boar. Four tusks dawning its face. No extra limbs. Really small in size. About the same as a cow. Every step it walked earth shook. With its every attack fissures and craters were created. Standing still was the main struggle. Its attacks were slow but methodical. Every step it took had a purpose.

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Taking it down would not be that hard. It's already too heavy. A smear of gravity and it will fall on its own. That's what I thought was going to happen. Remember kids, with every perfect plan comes a bigass dick to fuck your life up.

When I used gravity it shrugged it off like I was putting it in tinfoil. It charged at me at high speed and buried me under earth. It was faster than it had any right to be. I changed my perfect plan and opted for low and slow pork roast. When it got too hot I threw large chunks of ice at it and after half a day it was ready.

The hardest part was moving it. It was way too heavy. I ate the core and lied down beside it. I felt I was getting heavier, then choked on nothing and passed out.

The boar thought too fast, but it couldn't move its body accordingly so it started practicing how to get lighter. (Diet was not an option) After numerous failures it gave up on becoming lighter and started getting heavier. When it hit a certain weight the technique of getting lighter came to it. Just incorporate gravity magic in your body.

That's why my gravity magic did not work on it and I have no idea how it got so heavy without getting bigger. When I woke up I was in a human shape hole.

This was the most ingenious way of using magic augmentations I had seen so far. The boar used his magic to create a big surface under it feets so that it would distribute the weight in a larger area. In my case I could use the same kind of magic to make me heavy. The total weight I could gain was similar to what the boar had when it was alive. Around 1000 kilos.

I wanted to eat the boar but I couldn't. Even a chunk of it was too heavy. I removed its fibula and tusks to use as weapons. The fibula was shaped like a baseball bat so it made for a good unga bunga hammer. I wanted to turn the tasks into war hammers or daggers but that would have to wait.

__________

With my new found hammer and unga bunga bonk two I went for a rematch with the rhino.

I jumped, increased my weight and slammed the bone on the rhino's back. Its armor got dented a bit. 'There is hope.' I ran to its head and started hitting with all my strength. Sometime the rhino tried to slam its tail on me but with my speed it couldn't even touch me.

A day or two passed and finally I had killed everything in this section. I turned the carcasses around and cut opened its soft belly.

"Goddamnit….."

Who knew, the monster specializing in defence had such an obvious weakness! Lamenting on my stupidity I took out its core and went to the 30th level.

In the rhino's vision, I saw a weak creature suffering to get defence in order to live.

"Now I feel bad about killing it. It just wanted to live."

Just like me, but somewhere along the line I turned power hungry. Well, it's not like I can kill the floor guardians without power. What a dilemma. I seriously hoped that these guys would respawn, but it's not a videogame. Things stay dead when they are killed.

__________

I prayed for their souls.That's the least I could do. I don't remember when was the last time I prayed earnestly. I am not a religious person but in this place it is not hard to believe that gods exist. Perhaps someone will hear my prayer and cleanse them off their curse and give them a safer place to live.

__________

I took some rest, freshened up and started making a list-

1. Big Fish - Super Strength.

2. Snake - Super Speed.

3. Rock Gorilla - Super Muscle.

4. Boar - Super weight.

5. Rhino - Super Defense.

6. Mini Bosses - High Magic.

"This is bad, isn't it? It almost feels like these perfect sets of skills were prepared just to tackle the floor guardian."

They compliment each other a little too well. I am sure the floor guardian is the lightning cunt. There was no lightning monster in this area. It's definitely gonna suck. I don't even have any lightning resistance. Ahhhhh… I don't wanna think about it. Let's talk about life.

"I want to go out. I don't want to fight anymore. What happened to my peaceful life?"

'That's right. I should try to break the door again. I am much stronger now. I think I have a chance.' Thinking this I started running toward 21st level. Now that I had the rhino's defence bumping into things did not hurt much. I ran like a juggernaut. Mowing down trees and rocks on my path. Before long I was standing in front of the 21st level.

Passing through the door I started running again. Then stopped. 'I should use the teleport thing.' Slapping my hand on my face I went into a safe room and teleported to the 1st floor.

"Door, there you are. I have come back for my revanggggaaaah."

I took out the bone hammer. With all the strength, weight and speed I could master, I swung toward the door. 'Dhung' Like a bell of awakening the door rang.

"Huuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……. not enough eh?"

With a long sigh I sat down near the door. Looking at it. It was just a door but it was so hard to break. Even with this kind of monstrous hit I could not break it. Without uttering another word I walked toward the safe room.

I still had a long way to go and I was not sure if it led to anywhere. So I did what I could do. I trained. In magic. In fighting.

That night again I had that dream. Every time I became sad I saw that dream. Strangely enough, it calmed me down. The woman on whose lap I slept on was I thought to be a god. When I prayed for the animals it was to her that I prayed. I didn't know if she was real or not but she had a big part in my survival. So to me, it didn't matter.

I came back to the door. This time for a different purpose. I took out the tusks I had taken from the boar and started rubbing on the door. The door was strong and I needed a strong enough surface. It was not optimal but I had no other choice.

I grinded my days away thinking this and that. Eventually I completed them. Four daggers, long as my hand. A little curved. Fortunately the tusks were not hollow.

I took some food. Seven leftover cores and headed off to fight the lightning cunt.