Kyra wasn't even scared at this point. Apart from the slight jolt when she sees the nasty claws and teeth the goblins sport, Kyra felt a lot more confident dealing with them.
Using [Mana Manipulation], Kyra summoned all the crystals she was working with and shot them at the five goblins in front of her. The twenty-some crystals slammed into the unsuspecting horde. All done in a minute. Kyra grinned.
After [Mana Manipulation] leveled up, Kyra's grasp over the mana around her improved. It was like training herself how to hold a pen or brush - it felt more familiar each time she picked it up and practiced. Stretching, Kyra sauntered over and collected the loot.
Each warrior goblin dropped 3 gold instead of 2, so Kyra collected the 15 gold coins and the daggers they held. They went straight to inventory. Apart from that, there were one or two pieces of clothing that dropped at random. Kyra stuffed them into the inventory as well, not willing to tolerate the goblin apparel for their benefits.
Then Kyra turned around and tried to retrace her way through the maze to collect the loot the previous horde dropped when they died. Kyra wasn't sure of the value of the gold coins yet, but she perceived them to have some value. Although where she could spend it, she had no idea. She wondered why there wasn't a store option in the menu where she could replenish her potions and get a new weapon apart from the heavy daggers that felt like little weights in her hands. She's sure to have muscles by the time Tiny came back.
Speaking of which, when was Tiny going to come back? Kyra frowned. And what if Tiny couldn't find her? No. Kyra scoffed to herself. By Tiny's display of power, he was likely on the same level range as Marc - maybe even further. Did that mean he also had the Path of the Godly? Kyra'll have to ask Tiny the next time she saw him, and she'll be alive and well when that happened.
Doubt prickled at Kyra, reminding her that her amount of health potions and mana potions ventured closer to 0. Kyra gripped her daggers harder.
Kyra shrugged to herself. She dumped the 6 gold and dagger into her inventory, biting the inside of her cheek as realization dawned. Her sense of direction had never been top-notch. She'd rely on memorizing maps for history class and Google Maps was her best friend before she drove around town with her friends. All the barbs and cone-shaped spikes looked identical to her. Annoyed, Kyra decided to just pick a direction and stalked off.
It's not like the goblins can hurt her anymore.
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Kyra began doubting her choice when the path became almost entirely smooth. She wished the ground was this smooth when she was escaping for her life. Her eyes narrowed.
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Just then, Kyra broke out of the maze. In front of her was an open clearing similar to the one she came into. However, there were three tunnel openings instead of one. Each one of them curved down deeply instead of curving upwards as the entrance tunnel had.
Kyra was sure they led into traps with lots of goblins ready to swarm the unsuspecting player. Goblins weren't really dangerous in small groups, like the ones Kyra had to deal with before, even the larger horde of 10 barely amounted to anything. Yet as someone who read through entire "advice" manuals in games, Kyra knew battles became increasingly disadvantageous towards players when more goblins are summoned. Dealing with even 20 goblins at once sounded hard.
Staring at the tunnels in front, Kyra tempted herself to run down one of them and just go berserk. Her subconscious reminded her about her pitiful health reserve. Instead, Kyra chose to turn back and wander into the maze. She needed to collect the loot first, wanting her HP, MP, and SP to fully regenerate. Especially her MP, which was almost fully drained at 29/243.
However, before she moved, a small group of 5 goblins advanced out of the maze to her left, several feet away. Making eye contact, the warrior goblins poised to charge. It was funny how once Kyra had leveled up and decimated the normal cave goblins, the only ones she encountered was the slightly bulkier warrior goblins.
Thinking she'll use her daggers in an up-close phsyical combat this time, Kyra licked her lip.
Yet, out of the left tunnel came another horde, slightly bigger. From their tags, there were 5 warrior cave goblins and three more normal ones. Instead of charging at Kyra, the larger horde snarled at the smaller horde, who growled back in response. Some sort of tension sprouted between the two hordes, and more barks were exchanged.
The numbers didn't look so friendly to Kyra, as [Mana Manipulation] had never seemed so pricey. She decided to retreat, carefully sliding back into the shadows of the maze while the two stupid goblin hordes stared at each other. But Kyra didn't even make two steps back when one of them growled. All 13 of them snapped their scrunched-up green faces at Kyra. She gulped.
The two groups split and charged at Kyra's left and right. Pulling at the mana crystals above, Kyra sent them crashing into the smaller horde on her left and turned to call for more crystals as the larger group came hurdling. The three normal goblins aimed their spears. In their vicinity, Kyra could no longer feel the strong presence of the crystals and panicked. The remaining crystal zipped down pitifully, striking one of the goblins in the side of their neck.
As Kyra turned tail and run, she felt something inside. Finally. There was a tiny speck of warmth at work, buzzing at the back of her chest. Kyra glanced at the remaining goblins coming at her through the spikes. She counted 8 heads. So that last crystal didn't do much, eh?
Clinging onto the speck of mana she felt within herself, Kyra made a few daring curves in the tight spaces between the large spikes. When the goblins blocked out of sight by the spike, Kyra screeched to a stop. She turned and faced where she came from.
Using [Mana Manipulation], she tugged on the mana source within herself. At first, it was like trying to catch a tadpole in a pond. She dropped both daggers. With her left hand clutching her right hand, Kyra curled her fingers in a claw shape, imitating what she saw in movies - because, really, what better idea did she have?
Then, it finally listened to her after Kyra whined in panic. She could already see the hungry eyes of the goblins finding her behind the spike. However, Kyra still guided the mana through her arm and yanked it out of her body. It came out with a pop. Once it was released, it grew larger in size, but it was more dispersed. In the air, her mana was tinted a sea green. It swirled in her hand playfully, contained by her bar-like fingers.
Kyra chuckled in awe. Just then the 8 goblins caught up. They lept off the side of the spike and landed in front of Kyra. Taking a deep breath, Kyra aimed her mana swirl at the head of the group. With [Mana Manipulation], she shoved the swirl away, keeping it in shape and moving forward. It rammed into the first goblin. There was a loud bang! and the mana exploded.
[Due to your actions you have learned the skill Mana Bolt! A single attack of pure mana is shot and explodes on contact.]
[Mana Manipulation has leveled up!]
Kyra laughed.