Despite my mana reserves being far from full, in my situation, I had to utilize the time I had in the most efficient way. And currently, doing nothing just seemed unproductive, even if it served the purpose of recovering my mana. However, the earlier I got to test out my new skills, the faster I would be able to make use of them. Since my mana was now at a point where I could walk and stand without any problems, I judged it to be time to finally put them to the test.

Maybe I would be fortunate, and the mana spent during my experimentation would be offset by the mana generated in the process.

Regrettably, I couldn't test Aggravating Touch at the moment. Well, I could, but I did not want to. First of all, I would need a test subject to use it on and the only thing that came to mind that could fulfill that kind of job was myself. The thought of using myself as a test subject crossed my mind, but I still held respect and care for myself, and harming myself and making it even worse afterwards just was not very appealing to me.

That was the emotional reasoning. Practically speaking, it would be a waste of mana to heal another wound, which made it unreasonable to do so. Sooner or later I would get the chance to test it one the Exapoda anyways, so there was no need to be impatient about it.

Postponing the testing of Aggravating Touch left me with Telekinesis and Shadow Cloak. Both had very promising description, making me really excited for either, and I decided to start with Telekinesis. The Uncommon Grade Skill would come last, as I expected the most out of it.

That didn’t mean I had little expectations for Telekinesis. Quite the opposite actually. For someone like me, who, to be blunt, was pathetically weak in physical terms, it was a very valuable asset. I, who struggles with most physical tasks, can only benefit from something that enables me to move objects with my mind in place of my body.

Naturally, the best way to test it was to find an object to lift, but the chamber being as desolate of anything as it was, really did not provide a lot for that. Out of courtesy for the bond between Veraxia and the tree, I refrained from touching the roots growing here and there, which left me with only one option. The corpse of the Exapoda Drone I had slain. Or what was left of it.

After my attack, the head had disintegrated. Gallons of blood and organic matter had leaked out of the open wound, creating a puddle and pile right beside it. I would not describe myself as someone who had a problem with gore, but this made even me want to throw up my non-existent stomach contents.

Luckily my body only came in contact with the blood. The last thing I needed right now were bug organs tangled into my hair. As for my hair, I had dedicated some time to wring it out and get rid of as much filth and blood as possible, but without water, there was not much I could do.

Before digressing any further, I pushed my appearance issues into a corner of my mind and focused on the more important issues.

Standing in front of the corpse, I tried to activate the skill. Strangely enough, driven by instinct and feel, I raised my right hand with my palm facing the corpse and my fingers slightly tilted forwards, as if grasping the corpse itself. While this surprised me, it was not enough to distract me from what I was doing.

Almost immediately after, I felt a change within me. The mana inside me was fluctuating, but its usual flow remained steady. However, a tiny fraction was deviating from its usual path and gathered in my right palm.

Peculiar about this was that this change of flow was not initiated by me manipulating my mana, but rather by me activating the skill. I could tell the difference clearly and when I tried to fix the mana flow, I also understood this would cancel the skill’s activation, so I stopped before that happened.

As I let the skill unfold, the corpse before me was being encompassed by a faint golden light, reminiscent of my mana. This was because it was, or at least, it felt like it was.

As soon as the the entire corpse was covered in light, a thin thread woven of my own mana extended towards it and when it connected with the corpse, my arm was forcibly dragged downward. The exerted force overwhelmed me and pulled my entire body along, causing me to crash into the ground.

Groaning, I tried to stand up, but my arm was too heavy. It was as if I was trying to lift an entire tree. And not one of the small ones.

What is this?

“The weight of the corpse.”

I figured, thanks. I meant, why is this so heavy? Wasn’t the skill exactly to prevent this kind of thing?

“You misunderstand, girl. Telekinesis shifts strain from body to mind, but it does not negate the weight of whatever you are trying to carry.”

Then this is how much a drone weighs? This is enough to crush me with weight alone if it came to it.

“Which is why you should probably see to it that a situation like that will never occur.”

Well, I will try my best.

Knowing this was the only way to end this, I deactivated the skill. And I would be lying if I claimed that I was not slightly disappointed. Although it was technically just the fault of my stats again. Still, might as well just give the system part of the blame.

The stat in question was my Willpower, one of my top stats and as it would seem not nearly enough to lift the corpse of a creature twice my size and probably ten times my weight. And here I thought at least my mental stats were decent, but it seems I was weak in every way possible.

It was then, when I looked at the corpse, that I noticed two objects buried beneath insect innards. The two pincers that had nearly ended my life.

I had completely forgotten about them. They definitely had seen better days, as both were missing their body, but aside from that, they looked to be in good condition. Apart from the fact that both were covered in not only blue blood but also my own.

Making my way over, I crouched down and carefully removed one of them from the pile of gore. Holding it up, I gagged. The visuals were already bad enough, but the smell was abhorrent. I shook it a bit, getting rid of anything that still stuck to it.

Then, I tried again with the skill and swiftly, the pincer in my hand became enveloped in a familiar golden light. I let go of the pincer, but instead of falling, it remained still in the air. Both were connected by the same golden threat that grew as I moved my hand further and further away.

Next, I walked away from the pincer, yet it still remained in place. With my hand, I made a grasping motion, slightly drew my arm back and the pincer slowly floated my way. Once it was right before me, I swung my arm down and the pincer shot downward like an arrow and embedded itself into the ground. I hummed in satisfaction.

Observing my mana pool, I noticed that it only went down by two and just in that moment, it went down by one again. So the skill drained mana gradually over time, rather than a fixed cost at once.

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Before moving along to the next skill, I wanted to get a feeling for telekinetic control over an object, so I spent some time just sending it flying through the chamber, swirling and rotating it as my mind saw fit. As it turned out, a surprisingly fun activity. A shame I could not indulge in it any longer than necessary.

For my time locked away behind bars, this kind of ability would have made a lot of changes. Maybe even prevented… Well, whatever. No use regretting the what-could-have-beens.

When I felt like I had a decent grasp on the skill, I stabbed the pincer into the ground at my side and left it there for now. Overall, I had lost ten mana through my usage of Telekinesis, which was honestly quite impressive.

“Telekinesis is a very basic skill for magic-based classes and while its effects have a wide range of applications, it is generally considered weak in true magical combat. Also, the rate and amount of consumption scale with the weight and amount of controlled objects.”

That was what Veraxia had to say about it, and I had no reason to go deeper in to it. It was a fortunate coincidence that the pincer was as deadly as it was, while also being very light, which minimized cost, but maximized damage potential.

With that, I had learned all about Telekinesis for now and was ready to move on to the next skill on my list. Before activating, I gave the description a quick look, but judged quickly that I might as well just activate it and see it in practice.

The activation itself felt somewhat similar to my aura skill, as I was engulfed by shadows that clung to my skin like cloth. The shadow-layer covering me was filled with a small amount of my mana, but it did not consume it, rather it transformed and materialized as shadows, its former golden radiance completely gone.

I also quickly discovered that it shared its consumption method with Telekinesis, although the drain was much faster and more noticeable than that of Telekinesis.

However, things did not end there. While all of my body was covered, I could still very clearly see what was in front of me and my movements did not seem limited at all. No, quite the contrary actually as my body actually felt lighter than before.

The description mentioned this effect only worked in dark spaces, and I wouldn’t call this chamber particularly dark, but apparently the system thought otherwise. Well, I wouldn’t complain about it.

However, despite that, it did not change the fact that in actuality, this place was anything but dark and all the light only made a shadow-cloaked figure stand out that much more. Outside, during nighttime, this skill would be incredibly useful. I could only imagine how much easier my escape would have been with it.

But in my current situation, it seemed less effective. Not to forget that the Exapoda did not seem to have any eyes and I was not so certain if this skill could trick their antennae, so like always, I turned to the wise voice in my head for advice.

So, what do you think? Can their antennae spot me if I activate this skill?

“Try walking around for a bit. Just walk in a circle, slowly and without speaking or making a sound.”

I was not so sure about her intentions, but I also saw no reason to argue, so I just obeyed her instructions.

“Slowly and without making a sound,” I murmured as I began walking.

“I will not comment on that.”

You just did.

“Just shut up and listen.”

Fine.

Clicking my tongue, I continued walking and focused on my ears. I did not know what I was supposed to listen to, since there, quite literally, was no sound at all. And that’s when it clicked.

I was not trying to flatter myself in saying that my ears were quite good. In fact, when there was complete silence around me, I could even hear my own heart beat in my chest. The fact that I was hearing neither that nor my footsteps meant that something was off. In other words, Shadow Cloak was also suppressing noise.

Probably noticing that I had come to the realization, Veraxia commented on it.

“It seems the skill also blocks general auditory cues. It likely also reduces air movement and ground vibrations—the very means through which drones sense danger or prey. So, to answer your initial question: No, I do not think they will be able to detect you.

“However, it would be wiser to assume that higher-leveled drones and other types of Exapoda will be able to work around this skill. Remember what works on a level 10, might work on a level 20, but will fail when used on a level 30. This is a principle you should ingrain into your mind.”

If you say so, I will.

Veraxia’s advice was never bad until now, and I was not the type to get overconfident anyways.

To get a feel for the skill’s mana consumption, I kept it going until it consumed roughly 20 mana and cancelled it afterwards. This one was incredibly costly. I could keep Telekinesis up for several minutes with just one mana, and for Shadow Cloak that amount was barely enough to keep it on for ten seconds.

When I cancelled the skill, the shadows receded back into my body, the sound of my heartbeat returned and my body felt a tiny bit heavier again. However, the strangest thing was the sudden feeling of vulnerability and exposure. Almost intuitively, I took a patch of my hair to cover my breasts and crotch, hugging myself and standing still for a few seconds, before I processed what I had just done.

Letting my arms fall back down, I straightened my back, my vision unfocused in confusion.

What was that?

“A reaction I did not expect from you.”

Well, me neither.

“Curious.”

Was it now? I did not react to her comment and instead a sudden thought crossed my mind.

I need some clothes.

“Suddenly? Why?”

I have no clue. I just feel like it.”

“Strange, but if you want some, I could give you some once we meet in person.”

Really?

“Yeah, at this point, I have already taught you so much, it does not feel like an appropriate reward for your help anymore. So I might as well give you a bonus.”

Huh, thanks, I guess.

And with that, our conversation about clothes came to an end, and I was back to waiting for my mana to recover. Right now, it was at 156, so it would take some time until I could face anything in a fight again.

If only there was a way to speed up the recovery process. Or a way to make my mana pool even bigger, so that I could spent it more freely.

So, are there?

“There are. Quite a lot, actually. Although they differ depending on which pool you want to grow or recover. Recovery will be hard at the moment, since we are very limited in resources and the only pool you could grow at the moment would be your stamina pool.”

Disappointing, but it was at least something. My low stamina bothered me anyways.

How?

“By exercising. Regular running, continuously straining your body beyond limits over a long period of time.”

But we don’t have a lot of time?

“Exactly, which is why we can do nothing in that regard yet. Well, you cannot.”

I wanted to ask what she meant, but she continued before I could interject.

“It’s a good thing we touched on that topic. Since looking at your status, I have actually worked on a few things in the background.”

What’s that supposed to mean?

“That I was not just lazing around while you fought for your life. I anticipated that your mana pool, even if considerably big for your level, would not be enough to support you for an extended period of time, so I looked into a few methods to increase your mana pool.”

I thought-

“Yes. None of them can be realized at the moment, so I went out of my way to create a new one. Well, I am trying at least. The thing is, keeping up this skill of mine puts quite the strain on me, so working has not been easy.”

Okay?

“Which is why I will leave for a bit and dedicate myself to the creation of a new method.”

That, I was happy to hear, but I could not help but feel a little doubtful of what she was saying.

Is it this simple to create a new method?

“It is by no means, but if you have someone who ignores certain, fundamental rules of mana and magic, there are quite a few new doors that open.”

Well, this was far out of my expertise, but I was all for making me stronger, so I did not question her further. She knew better what she was doing than I did anyways.

Alright. Then how long will you be gone?

“No idea. A few hours, a day? I will try my best.”

That’s long. What should I do in that time?

“In one or two hours, there will be another drone coming. Defeat that, then recover. When I am not back in five hours, I will open a path for you and you will clear out the remaining drones on the upper levels without me.”

I wanted to say something about her just casually telling me that another drone was approaching this location at the moment, but I refrained. Not like that would do anything anyways. As for her going, it was a shame, since she was useful, but having back my mind to myself would also be nice.

“Then I will be going.”

See you later, then.

“Yes. Try not to get lonely.”

I scoffed.

“And stay alive.”

With these words, Veraxia’s presence vanished from my mind, leaving me alone with my own thoughts for the first time in a while. But it was alright, I was used to that. It was just… having someone to chat with was not that bad.

Feeling slightly down and with little to do, I laid down on the floor and did quite literally nothing. Some time passed and soon, distant screeches entered my ears.