Chapter 3: Temptations of the Flesh
My first thought was to use the air around me as the material for a wind blade spell. It would be horribly inefficient and require a ridiculous amount of my mana to function. Luckily I wasn’t forced to waste my power as the Zombie's hammer caught in a hole in the floor, yanking him backward; laying him out flat on his face.
Given a moment to prepare, I decided now would be a perfect time to perform some more tests!
This System was undoubtedly a wonder but I wasn’t going to trust what it said blindly. The brute was struggling back to his feet so I darted in, dodging his clumsy grasp, and sliced his achilles tendons with my Bone Claws - leaving him crawling on the ground wailing. I stuck my head out the door, finding a hallway filled with cells but no other signs of life, or unlife. Returning to my test subject, I began the manipulation of my mana, as designated by the System's Spell description.
Whenever I tried a new spell, I would always ensure the ingredients were laid out neatly and that my mana was manipulated in a slow and steady manner. Although the first part didn’t apply, I saw no reason to change my process. Ignoring the undead creature as it slowly made its way towards me, I followed the instructions the Spell had laid out.
First, I folded the gaseous mana in my right carpels over itself once; holding it in position with my mind before spinning it clockwise about the mana’s centre and along the plane of my hand.
When the momentum was great enough to maintain rotational velocity, I began condensing the mana construction. Once It had reached the size of a wine cork, some innate sense the System gave me said,”done”. It had been subtly guiding me through this process and, while I could ignore it, I didn't. Since the System was the one insisting such a componentless spell was possible; why would I interfere?
I released the projectile. I expected a spinning ball of magic, invisible to mundane eyes, to strike the target: after losing most of its energy to the ambient mana. If I were lucky, it may disrupt the zombie’s mana pathways. To say I was surprised at what happened next would be the understatement of a century.
For the briefest instant, I felt a connection to another plane; one somewhere between the ethereal and chaotic, one I had never felt before. In less than the blink of an eye it was gone and my mana had taken a physical form. Looking like a black misty nebula as it shot across the intervening space. A direct violation of the first law of magic.
As the energy travelled, it slowly began to unravel; growing larger and less well controlled. When it struck the target, it splashed across his skin - covering an area about the size of my hand.
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The already decaying flesh quickly started to enter putrefaction, then black putrefaction, leaving a section of its torso as little more than a dark puddle on the floor.
Apparently, this creature could feel pain, judging by the spine tingling roar it gave off. I disregarded it, I was simply too excited, bouncing on the tips of my lower phalanges. I couldn’t wait to get researching.
Over the course of the next hour, I discovered a number of things:
Firstly, increasing the mana given to the Spell amplified whatever effect it created.
Secondly, increasing the speed of rotation reduces the amount of mana lost to the environment; reducing the area of effect slightly, and increases the speed of the projectile.
Thirdly, the direction of spin has no observable effect on the result.
Fourthly, the density of the mana in the compression stage affects the area of effect greatly and slightly affects the duration, and thus the distance the Spell travels.
When I tried adding ten percent of my total mana to the Spell, folding it seven times, spinning eight vortexes in the same space, oriented in different planes, and compressed to the point of a needle; I created a black dot that shot through the putrefied skull of the zombie and continued straight through the stone floor, leaving only dust and a hole I couldn’t see the bottom of.
Using the Spell like that took far too long to set up and took too much mana, although I could regain it in about ten minutes. That was an eternity in a fight.
When I killed the creature, a series of blue windows appeared on their own for the first time.
Congratulations:
* You have killed a Lv. 5 Zombie brute and have received 100 Xp.
* Lich class has reached Lv. 5, 5 Attribute points available, new skill unlocked
* Spell: Necrotising bolt has increased to Lv.10
* New Title Awarded: Spell Slinger (get a basic rank spell to Lv. 10)
* New Title Awarded: Savant (get a Class Skill to Lv.10 before Class Lv.10).
* You can select your current title from the Title tab.
Before I got a chance to truly examine my winnings, a new sound broke my concentration. Now that the zombie's insistent wailing had ceased, I could make out whistling coming down the empty hallway.
Forever curious, I decided to follow the cheery tune and examine the System’s changes on the way. I took my first step outside the prison cell.