Damn it! He died from the explosion. Either the construct was sentient enough to commit suicide to take Gaus with it, or it was set to explode when it died. Either way, he'd lost a whole day to the explosion. Six days left before the next rest.
One hour later...
Gaus headed to the great wall around the old dungeon. Suddenly an arrow flew by the side of his face.
"You stop right there or you die," the scout lying on top of the wall said.
Gaus raised his hands in surrender.
"What are you doing here?" Another marine he hadn't noticed until now snapped.
"I.. lost my way. I'm a pilgrim," he stuttered.
"You'll turn around and go back to the city and never come back. Do you understand?"
Gaus nodded. "Yes, sir."
It was four o'clock in the morning. Gaus walked away from the scene but he found a nice spot and hid where he could see the gate. He waited there. From his future memories, all the marines would die and he would have a chance to peacefully enter the dungeon.
A few minutes past three o'clock in the evening, a woman flew to the front gate. She didn't have wings but she was flying nonetheless. For some reason, she was constantly looking over her shoulders as if expecting someone (or something).
"Stop right there!" The scout thundered.
She didn't listen despite the warning shot that barely missed her silver hair. She dashed to the front gate, pushed it open, and stepped inside. Several arrows flew out from behind the wall but they all missed her. Oddly enough, everything went silent as soon as the woman stepped inside. A minute later, she opened the gate from inside and looked around nervously. When she couldn't find anything, she went back inside and disappeared.
Gaus looked at the woman, speechless. She was the library receptionist who was accused of attacking the police headquarters. She had somehow escaped from police custody and now she was here.
Gaus was silent for several minutes before he came out of hiding and walked to the front gate. Whatever was going on between the police and this woman was none of his concern. He would do well to avoid both parties.
Now back in the dungeon, he fought the level 5 construct again and cut its legs with the blue sword, and impaled it with another. But unlike yesterday, he fled toward the exit before it blew up.
He won.
A near-miss victory!
Level 5 construct x 1
+ 8430 exp
He considered Rewinding to the beginning so he could have a flawless victory but he decided against it. He would need to Rewind for at least thirty seconds which would take most of his remaining mana, and he wasn't even sure he could win the battle flawlessly even if he Rewound. This was good enough, for now.
He leveled up blader from lvl 3 to lvl 10. Mana insignia and compression from lvl 1 to lvl 5.
Blader has reached level 10/30 (10,000 exp).
Up to 20 MP.
Mana insignia has reached level 5/30 (500).
Up to 5 MP.
Compression has reached level 5/20 (500)
Up to 5 MP
He created another sword with 20 MP.
Ordinary sword.
Purity 10%.
Wt: 1kg
He sharpened it to increase the purity to 100%. A much fancier sword appeared. Its razor-sharp edge was covered in blue dots that reflected the light in the cave. He wondered what the blue dots were.
He retrieved a meter-wide practice stone from his inventory and inscribed a massive rune on it. He channeled mana into it via mana insignia to turn it into a rune. He then compressed it to 10 inches at the center of the practice stone and cut out only the part of the stone with the rune on it. After re-tracing the runes and making sure everything was fine, he put the stone on the ground and took several steps back.
Breathing heavily, he sent raw mana into it and... boom. It exploded. It wasn't as eye-catching as the construct's suicidal attack but it was enough to rip him to shreds if he was carrying the stone on his person. He wondered how XM9997 would react. She would be so impressed that she would beg him to become her apprentice.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
He decided to level up levitation with his remaining experience.
Levitation has reached level 7.
Up to 0.7 MP per second (range up to 800 cm and up to 800g).
He created a small dagger and stabbed the ground.
Levitation activated.
He put his palm a meter above it and tried to pull it out with levitation.
The dagger shook for several seconds before it flew out of the ground and hovered in the air just above his palm. Linc should see this.
Feeling satisfied with himself, he walked toward the exit.
On his way out, three-level 5 constructs came at him. He blinked behind the last construct and cut two of its legs before the others could turn around. With two of its legs missing, it would naturally be slower than the others. Gaus led the other two away from it only to come back and take its remaining legs. He left it there without delivering the finishing blow.
Killing the remaining two constructs at the same time proved to be difficult, so he Rewound and picked the point where they were as far apart from each other as possible and he attacked the one closest to him, cutting its legs. Which reduced its speed, making it an easy target. He cut all its legs and left it there. The last one was easy.
Three constructs on the ground with no legs to move. He put them a few meters apart and delivered the finishing blow. He was almost at the exit when all three of them exploded, shaking the entire tunnel.
Level 5 constructs x 3
Ordinary victory.
+9052 exp.
Just near the exit, ten constructs appeared and blocked the tunnel.
It was chaos. There was always one trying to sneak up on him from behind. He ran back and forth through the tunnel, cutting legs and leaving a trail of immobilized constructs on the ground. He killed them all and carried them one by one out of the tunnel. Even if the explosion from killing all ten didn't collapse the tunnel it would attract unwanted attention and probably more constructs. So he decided to kill them outside the tunnel.
Outside the tunnel, there was a long road that seemed to have no end. It was flanked by discrete buildings at intervals. Behind the buildings was a small forest with sparsely distributed trees. The sky was a homogeneous white with dark clouds and a barely visible moon. No enemy in sight.
He quickly delivered the finishing blow, one by one until he was done.
Level 5 constructs x 10
Ordinary victory.
+1200 exp.
Killing any more level 5 wouldn't yield any experience. It was time to challenge a higher-level opponent. How much MP did he has left?
147/280 (0.5/min)
Most of it was spent on a series of teleportations and Rewinds during the fights.
He was winning and that was because the blade in his hands could cut through the armor of the constructs, but he'd only one of it. What if it broke? He could level up blader and see if it was possible to create a similar sword. He also needed to level up blink to reduce its cost. His main skill - Rewind - as well. There were many skills and too few experience to share.
•Biodata
Name: Gaus
Tribe: ????
Race: ????
Guild: LA guild
Reputation: -2 (unworthy).
Account: 1233a
*
•Stats
HP: 100%
MP: 147/280 (0.5/min)
Longevity: 51 years
*
Primary Skill: Rewind
Level: 10
Subskills: save library; Gaus's immortality
Ability: None
*
Physique
Strength: 7
Speed: 8
Constitution: 5
*
Schools of magic
Runic tongue lvl 1/80, Runic writing lvl 1/30, Mana insignia 5/30; Compression lvl 5/20; Focus lvl 1/10; Stealth lvl 1/10; Metalmancer lvl 3/30; Swordplay lvl 3/10; Blader 10/30
*
Mana Taming
Mana sense lvl 1/10; Spinning lvl 3/10; Levitation lvl 8/10; Sharpening lvl 3/10
*
The Dark Arts
Longevity sense lvl 1/?; Cord pulling lvl 1/?
*
Variants
Multiple levitation lvl 8; advanced compression lvl 5; javelin lvl 3
After deliberating for some time, he channeled more experience to blader and leveled it up one more time. The other skills could wait.
Blader has reached level 11.
Up to 22 MP.
He created another blade with 22 MP.
Common blade.
Purity 1%.
Wt: 1kg.
The blue dots on the edge slowly disappeared and the whole steel turned blue, exactly like the marine. Holding it felt much better. He sharpened it to raise the purity to 10%. As purity increased, the glow increased as well. Now even someone from the distance could see it.
He put the marine's sword away. His own was way better.
After resting for a few minutes, he walked to the first building. It was empty. He tried the next building and it was also empty. What the houses had in common was missing doors and the remains of bones and metal scraps. There were marks of explosions on the entrance and the walls. A bloody war was fought there with no survivors left to tell the tale.
After going through ten empty houses, he came across a building with several constructs. They were just lying there on the ground covered in cobwebs. One was 'standing' on its hind legs like a real guard. The floor was covered in piles of dust. It had been a long time since anyone was there.
Taking a closer look, the constructs were the same as the ones he'd just defeated. But with darker armors. The one standing had complete body armor, including its legs and torso. The armor, unlike that of the others, was a mix of silver and gold with streaks of black. Each streak was glowing with runes. Judging from the thick cobwebs covering the constructs, it had been years since they moved an inch. But the runes on their armors were still active. How much mana would it take to create a rune that would last for a year? As a basic rule, every rune derived its energy from the mana imbued in it during its creation. 1 MP would only take a day or two to dissipate. Even mana insignia at level 100 couldn't provide enough mana to fuel a rune for two years. Just who created these runes?
It would be unwise to wake up the sleeping beasts. But he wanted to study the runes and see if he could come up with something.