Vin smiled inwardly; he had successfully managed to lead the ants to a further battling ground.
The first thing he had done was attack the ant queen after he had noticed that it was staring at him , high ranking monsters had this thing of keeping their distance when evaluating if an enemy was dangerous enough to threaten their life.
He had purposely misfired a 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁 spell, the Queen would have dodged if it was a direct assault.
However, he wasn't just misfiring a measly spell but rather aiming for protruding rocks directly above the Queen's head.
Just as he imagined and hoped for, chunks of rocks descended upon the Queen.
The humanoid insect was too absorbed fighting Jain to notice, it must have also discarded Vin as not dangerous thus leaving the Queen alone with no protection ; the Queen was slow to react and barely avoided most of the falling chunks of rocks, the rocks which it couldn't dodge fell on 4 of it's legs , immediately crushing them.
The Queen made a terrible screech at him after , it seemed to be angry and just as he planned , the Queen's minions - the murderous ants gathered around him to attack , proving Vin's theory to be true - the ants were being remotely controlled by the Queen and by provoking it , he managed to influence it to direct all its forces towards him out of anger.
Now that all of its forces were chasing Vin like crazed beasts, he didn't have to worry about interfering with the battle Jain was having with that humanoid insect.
After he had got the attention he wanted from the Queen, he simply ran away from the ants and used the self-created unstable 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 spell.
The spell was quite similar to the 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁 which condensed flames into a small bullet just above his finger and could be shot like a projectile, immediately exploding after hitting an enemy.
The difference between 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 and 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁 was that the flame was quickly condensed below his feet , Vin would then slightly tilt his body as if falling and then the spell would explode after - propelling him forward.
Vin's clothes were resistance to fire magic therefore this magic wouldn't backfire - hurting him or leaving quite a rather big hole under his shoes.
After running for 7 minutes straight and taking several turns in the dungeon which were further away from the Queen , Vin was further far away from Jain's battle and so were the Queen's ant forces who followed him foolishly.
Vin smiled, a first one in a while.
Everything was going perfectly according to plan , he had finished the first step of the plan and now it was time to commence the second step before the monsters behind him caught up and attacked.
He had used the 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 spell not just to get a head start in running away from the ants but also in order to create distance between him and the murderous ants to prevent them from interfering commencing the second and final step - using his trump card.
Vin sighed heavily , preparing his mind for the consequences that would follow after the experiment he was about to attempt for the 6th time.
He then took out a maroon Rune card - an important piece to initiating the start of the improvised spell.
The spell itself had 3 phases ;
Phase one was the assimilation of the Rune card into one's own body to initiate the start of the spell , Phase two was the release of a mana signal to rev up and utilize another rune card working in parallel from a distance, the last phase was the transference of mana from the second rune card working at a distance to the first using complex magic inscriptions.
After that , the spell would be complete.
Vin considered the spell unstable in his previous experiments because there was no control or limit to how much mana could be transferred from the parallel Rune card to the main one and it was difficult to shut the system down once it had been activated due to the large amounts of mana flowing in.
This meant that large amounts of mana would flood his low cultivated mana core , it was only because of his natural-born talent in magic that he was able to take on the strains of the spell without dying.
In this world , mana cores were divided into six stages starting from the darkest to the lightest , this was measured by the purity of the mana inside one's body due to filtered out impurities.
At the bottom of the barrel was the black stage mana core , acquired only by newbies in mana cultivation.
This was the very first stage of mana core development, as a core developed further - the mana in one's body became more pure, lighter and the mana capacity increased and thus their efficiency and power output in magic naturally increased.
But this wasn't as easy as it sounded , just making a core in one's body using mana took 4-9 years , only the very talented ones in magic could do it in under a year or three. Vin was one of the talented ones , but his talent was a waste with a red stage mana core.
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This was the stage that followed after the black stage mana core.
Mana cores couldn't just independently develop , one needed to put actual effort to cultivating it such as meditation and breathing techniques.
Mana was one of the universe's forms of energy in the atmosphere , magic users absorbed it through meditation at most. This meditation technique is performed by sitting in a lotus position , concentrating and sensing the mana around oneself and absorbing it - it is also possible to absorb mana without having to meditate - absorbing it while standing , but it would be far less efficient as the strain from standing would affect one's focus and hence the efficiency of the mana absorption would definitely plummet.
After absorption the mana, it would be distributed into the cells in order to rejuvenate them before being stored in the mana core.
It is one's own ability to utilize mana and what they use it for which branches to their magic type.
There were several ways to utilize mana , since mana was connected with every particle in this world, by controlling the mana , you could control the particle - this was the logic behind elemental magic.
Vin was a self-aware talented fire mage.
In the continent of Voz , talented mages to his level were extremely rare. Infact , he was the very first the continent had every heard of.
He was also an ambitious man who liked doing his own things by his own volition not because of duty or responsibility , but this didn't mean he was barbaric - he had his morals.
This was also one of the reasons why Vin had refused to cultivate further his mana core , for that would mean a promotion in his hunter job and with it ,more duty and less time to visit his dying mother.
This promotion would be a 'guild leader' , and Krohn would be pushed aside because Vin knew he had the potential to become stronger than Krohn if he put his mind to it.
Now all his efforts were all for nothing , his scapegoat 'Krohn' was probably dead by now, he didn't like to think negatively about him but logic itself corresponded with the thought.
After all , nobody would be able to survive the internal wounds Krohn suffered. Which was why Vin had lost his mind after seeing Krohn in that pitiful state , because Krohn's job would undoubtedly become his.
Deep down , he regretted not being able to say his last goodbyes to him and regretted storming out when he saw he was about to die.
Vin wasn't a cold or heartless person.
His attitude towards Jain earlier had been him being cautious not disliking him - he hadn't trusted him yet.
𝑲𝒓𝒐𝒉𝒏 , 𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆
With those few words left in his mind , Vin attached the Rune card on his chest nearer to his mana core.
The Rune card was shortly absorbed into his body, disappearing from sight.
This was to prevent any third person from interfering with the Rune card itself by tearing it away from the body , while also preventing the risk of a fatal miscalculation in the mana distribution since the rune card would be closer to the mana core.
Vin remotely activated the Rune card and then felt it absorbing the very few mana left in his mana core , Vin crumbled down on his knees since it was forcefully absorbing the mana.
Thankfully because of the distance between him and the enemies, they wouldn't be able to attack him just yet.
honestly, they could attack him if they utilized their full speed to catch up.
The Queen remotely controlling them must have suffered a great deal of mental shock after Vin's attack and this had somehow affected the performance of its pawns since their minds were linked causing them to be slower somehow.
This was an advantage to Vin, phase one of the spell had already finished and phase two was nearing its completion. By the time the ants arrived , phase three would be finished.
Phase two reached its peak, the mana collected inside the Rune card which was absorbed from Vin was violently released from all directions like a pulse ,with Vin at the center.
Phase two was finished !
The mana had stunned the monsters in place , they hesitated to attack due to the Queen's insecurities. It seemed the mental shock was greater than Vin anticipated , the Queen must have assumed the mana pulse it felt through its pawns meant Vin preparing to launch a deadly attack and hence became overly cautious commanding it's ants to halt.
Either way , this worked in Vin's favor as it meant more time for him to finish his spell.
This was Vin's bet.
He hoped in his heart that the mana signal was strong enough to reach the Rune card working in parallel thus activating the last and final phase. If it didn't - Vin would be killed immediately by the ants , the monsters wouldn't remain stunned forever and since most of his mana was drained, he could barely launch a single spell making him no different from a sitting duck waiting to be slaughtered.
3 minutes had already passed and nothing so far happened , this wasn't supposed to happen.
Phase three should have commenced a minute after the pulse was sent but it hadn't started yet.
Vin was shaking inside , thinking of numerous reasons why it hadn't commenced yet but only one in all of them was the most possible and logical -
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒅, 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒅 , 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒂𝒅.
Vin's trump card was being traitorous right at the moment where he needed it the most, if phase three didn't start soon - then he had dug his own grave.
𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘵 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘵
Vin immediately alarmed at the sound , observing around to find where it came from.
The ants had finally started moving and were slowly accelerating towards him ! with their mandibles moving up and down as if ready to devour a meal.
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 ! 𝑰'𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒆 !
The ants quickly moved , the Queen must have noticed Vin wasn't planning on an assault and it took the opportunity to attack.
There were only a few steps separating Vin from the approaching death.
𝑶𝒉 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒓-
" Ack-! "
Vin couldn't stop himself from exclaiming loudly after the familiar feeling enveloped his body - the feeling of mana rushing in forcefully inside his body.
Phase 3 had begun.
Because of the sudden burst of energy inside , Vin felt like his organs were being crushed and quickly released some of the mana out of his body in rapid procession - the mana which escaped from his body erupted violently around him like lava from an active volcano.
The mana burst outside greatly repelled the ants which were already near him , creating a large enough distance for Vin to cast 4-5 spells before they reached him again.
Strange markings appeared all over his body , all of them foreign like a forgotten language.
If it were somebody else who received the large amount of uncontrollable mana that was received by Vin , they would have immediately died by having their mana core burst from the inside , it was only because of Vin's determination , sheer will and talent in magic that he was alive through all of that.
Vin was also constantly spreading some of the mana into the atmosphere so his mana core wouldn't get overfilled and burst.
Vin couldn't help but make a devilish smile as he stared at the ants with a gained sense of superiority.
𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲.