Kyra felt an orb zip through the air, and she imagined it crashing into the skull of a goblin. A split second later, a goblin's skull was split apart.

[You have leveled up! Stat points +1]

Grunting, Kyra shakes the other one off while it was distracted. As air filled her lungs again, Kyra excited tugged at a few other warm orbs in the ceiling. She heard the satisfying cracks as they broke free of the rock wall and shot down. Kyra levitated the glowing blue crystals at eye level, encircling her.

When the first crystal crash landed, the mana inside escaped, but Kyra found she could still control it, just less. It was a funny feeling, controlling mana. Mana itself had no weight, just sensation, like touching a breeze. The mana within crystals were much easier to sense and manipulate since it was contained. It was also a lot denser, and Kyra thought that made it easier to sense. Also, it was more efficient. Like how throwing a water balloon was more efficient than swatting water at your opponent.

Kyra ignored the wandering mana and instead locked eyes with the last goblin, who was snarling. Like a fantasy movie, Kyra spun the crystals around her in a circle, and the goblin stepped back, wary of the flying rocks.

"Come at me, I dare you." Kyra smirked, watching the goblin nervously glance at her. Just then, its last companion arrived, leg bloodied but no longer bleeding. If anything, its green face looked pale in comparison. They growled and charged. One attacked on either side, flanking her, but Kyra simply shoved the crystals away from her, outward. She grunted, trying to control all the crystals that were flying around, making sure they all scattered.

The mana orbs expanded in a circle, throwing both goblins away from her. It wasn't as effective, since the goblins simply stood up again, albeit dazed.

[Mana Manipulation has leveled up!]

Kyra bit her cheek, opening inventory and dragging out the second dagger. Kyra had only dabbled in dual wielding after seeing an anime and thought it was cool to impress the people at the martial arts place she attended for a while. But it would be more effective than one dagger - which she was similarly awkward with.

First, Kyra went after the injured one. With one leg down, the goblin's movement was hindered and it only took a few hits before it shattered in dust, screeching. The last goblin charged at her, seeing its fallen comrade. With her guts throbbing, Kyra dared not move much, parrying the goblin's strike. It swung its claws around. Kyra deflected that too with her other dagger.

They were in a stalemate, both attacks met and stopped. Her heart pounded. Kyra's arms roared in protest as their limbs shook when both of them used the full capacity of their strength stat - which the level 5 goblin had a slight advantage with. Not to mention Kyra's constant loss of HP and the gurgling wound on the backside of her abdomen.

But there was one thing she had. Picking out one of the larger mana crystals from the ceiling, Kyra used the last of her strength and pulled. There was a loud cackle. Kyra lurched forward a little as the crystal dropped. Then she yanked and it flew towards her from behind the goblin, whose face was scrunched up, trying to overpower Kyra. The crystal whistled closer and Kyra jumped back forcefully, the goblin stumbling. The mana crystal smacked right in the back of its head, slamming its face into the ground. It disintegrated into crystal powder.

[You have leveled up! Stat points +1]

Kyra crumbled to the ground as pain raked her body now that the adrenaline rush was over. With her stamina depleted, Kyra could go nowhere, so she leaned against one of the larger spikes. Her legs ached in all ways, as if it fell asleep, woke up numb and was pounded on by a boulder. Every inch of her body made it seem as if gravity was thrice as powerful. She stretched out her hand and opened another health potion, pouring it down her throat.

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With her health back up in the green, Kyra sighed in relief, the imminent feeling of death dissipating. But more worries crashed over her like a wave. She only had 2 health potions left, and she doubted the dungeon to be over soon. It was great she leveled up twice, but it would all be for naught if she died. And just a little portion of her was excited to fight, the exhilaration tempting yet dangerous, like asking for seconds when you're almost full. There were just overwhelming emotions now that her brain could dismiss the fight or flight instincts.

She opened her status screen next.

[STATUS]

Name: Kyra Malixi

Path: Path of the Peasant

Level: 5

Class: N/A

Health: 26/35

Mana: 199/239

Stamina: 1/25

Vitality: 5

Strength: 5

Endurance: 4

Agility: 6

Intelligence: 16

Perception: 2

[SKILLS]

ACTIVE:

Mana Manipulation Lvl. 2, Thrust Lvl.1

PASSIVE:

Fortitude Lvl. 2, Mana Sense Lvl. 1

Kyra contemplated dumping the two status points into vitality again, hoping that would get her regeneration up to speed a little more. But her low stamina made her wonder if investing into endurance would be a better decision. Or even perception, which was her lowest stat. But the only monsters in this dungeon seemed to be goblins, so she shouldn't have to worry about fast monsters just yet. These goblins, while agile, were still relatively easy for Kyra's eyes to keep up with. In the end, torn between vitality and endurance, Kyra added 1 point to endurance and the other to vitality.

She'll worry about her low perception later.

With her status sorted out and her body too drained to collect the loot scattered in the maze, Kyra decided to make use of her time by practicing manipulating the crystals using [Mana Manipulation]. First, she clicked on the tag to see the details of the skill.

[Mana Manipulation Lvl. 2: Mana has heard your cry and answered! Mana can now be manipulated by will. Converting properties of mana will cost additional mana as influence.]

Recalling that her mana pool did drain down a little, Kyra nodded to herself. Of course, in order to influence another source of mana, you had to use your own mana, right? This meant that only her mana could be used without using extra mana. Kyra reasoned, raising her hands. Her palms faced the ceiling and she imitated a tugging motion.

About 10 crystals popped out of their ceiling socket and dropped down, hovering right before contact with the ground. Kyra exclaimed in delight at her increase in control. Repeatedly, she lifted the crystals to the ceiling, pushed them down, and stopped them before they destroyed.

It was like an AFK move online, where players would grind up their levels or skills by just repeating the same move by pressing a button. Except Kyra had to focus. There wasn't a code that helped her practice the same action over and over now - she wished. Unless...

She just had to learn such a skill.

Coming up with a plan, Kyra continued her monotone grinding, raising the crystals up and down, and adding a few more crystals once she felt comfortable with 10.

[Mana Manipulation has leveled up!]

Receiving the notification she wanted, Kyra dropped the crystals in a pile next to her and closed her eyes. Using just [Mana Sense], Kyra reached out and felt for the sources of warmth that she associated with mana. She had thought about releasing the mana from the crystals, but it would make more sense for the mana source to be herself. Especially if she had to fight in an area without mana crystals or whatnot. Plus, most magic moves in games costed mana. Probably the same deal here, Kyra thought.

However, when Kyra turned her attention to her body, she couldn't feel a warmth from inside her. Every vibration of mana was from the crystals studded in the ceiling and down the tunnels. Her attention wandered over her fingers, her arms, her legs, through her guts and up her head. Kyra waited patiently. More. And more. Her health and stamina slowly trickled up, the stats bars slowly inching to full. And still, she didn't feel the mana reserve.

What was wrong? Kyra grunted in frustration.

She was literally dead inside. There was lively warmth that filled the cave that slowly filled up her sense. Even with her eyes closed, Kyra saw colors. Swirls of faint blue that meandered the air apart from the silvery sapphire crystals. Kyra didn't notice them before.

[Mana sense has leveled up!]

Kyra opened one eye to greet the notification, but quickly resumed her mediation stance as she noticed the colors became more acute. There were wisps of blue in the air; thin and wavy like feathers and brighter, hotter oval orbs resting inside the slim crystals. Still her body was dead. Hollowly cold unlike everything around her. Most of the spikes contained mana - which made sense since they looked superficially conjured.

Giving up on keeping her [Mana Sense] sensing around her body and circling around her, Kyra pushed it outward. She stretched her [Mana Sense] out as far as it was willing to touch and identify the mana in the air. Like willing her vision of sight to focus on the scenery instead of an object, her [Mana Sense] refocused onto the barely identifiable wisps of mana that floated across the air, like fog in early morning.

And then there were these gigantic moving mana hordes. This mana appeared in Kyra's mind as a sickly, light blue. The mana was not much hotter than the mana in the crystals, but they seemed to be confined to a greater area, that moved. There was snarling. Kyra's eyes snapped open. The pulse of mana was still there, fainter now that Kyra was focusing on her other senses.

Quietly, Kyra gripped her daggers and stood up, trying to stay silent as she crossed over some smaller barbs towards the fuzzy mana spheres. As she hugged a big spike, she came face to face with another goblin horde.

The same tag glowed on their head.

[Warrior Cave Goblin Lvl. 5]