Instead of immediately announcing his success, Alex decided to look over the aperture. Its rapid creation was a bit of a shock, but he didn’t let that stop him from looking through everything.
The aperture was immediately obvious, producing a truly prodigious amount of mana. Alex grinned at the feeling. Mana poured into his chest, quickly circulating through the rest of his body.
The main effect seemed to be his mana now being more centralized, but that wasn’t anything to scoff at. He was confident that he’d be able to quickly design a Heart Rune that took advantage of the mana being in such near proximity. Efficiency mattered when you were fighting at high speeds. Alex’s plans for Tier 1 involved his attributes starting to specialize towards Agility, so he would need the boost.
That was work for the future, though. It would take some work to start designing and inscribing a new Mana Body, especially with his mana type falling outside of the normal parameters.
The aperture had come together exactly as expected, and he didn’t find any imperfections compared to the blueprint. Compressing mana into solidity could sometimes lead to imperfections, but any imperfections with his creation were so minor that they eluded his senses.
With the Aperture handled, Alex opened his status.
Name: Alex Moore
Level: 9 (Tier 0)
Mana Body Quality: Mythic
Mana Type: Refine (Uncommon)
Achievement: Tier 0 - Unique (Realm)
Attributes:
Strength: 33 - Power: 30
Agility: 33- Speed: 30
Perception: 32 - Sensitivity: 30
Toughness: 32 - Durability: 30
Capacity: 97 - Connection: 141
Notifications:
Unsurprisingly, the aperture came with an unimpressive change to his Connection. Two points was less than some unattuned apertures, meaning that the blueprint was just as lacking as he’d thought.
Still, he didn’t regret his decision to take the easy road on his aperture. The gain in attributes was low, but the important change to his status screen was near the top. Right under his level, the Trialbringer declared that his aperture was good enough. He’d reached the Mythic standard.
It felt a bit cheap, but Alex couldn’t let those thoughts drag him under. The ease this time had come from Refine, a mana type of his own creation. This resulted from work that he’d done, using his own experiences to create a mana type that spoke to him.
Refine was clearly a cheat regarding Mana Body construction, but that only made sense. He should’ve expected it as soon as he’d begun working on the aperture. The defining idea that served as the mana type’s foundation was his own desire to Refine himself, after all.
Now, he was interested in what the mana type would do for him as he created the rest of his mana body. Clearly, taking runic structures and making them solid was a perfect task for his mana type, and it opened up some interesting possibilities.
All of which he’d have to work on another time.
No Achievements were waiting for him, but Alex did still receive a notification regarding the change to his Mana Body.
You have successfully created a Tier 0 Mythic Mana Body. As you already hold a Tier 0 Mythic Achievement, no reward is offered.
Alex already had the good stuff, so he wouldn’t be getting more good stuff. That made sense.
For a moment, he wondered if someone who had used the Minor Baptism from their Legendary Achievement before gaining a Planetary Unique would be able to receive a Greater Baptism as well.
They probably could, but Alex wasn’t going to get too upset about losing a boost of three for each of his attributes. He’d just make it up in high-intensity trials in the future.
“You’re done already?” Jess’s voice interrupted Alex's meandering thoughts, causing him to open his eyes.
She’d apparently glanced over and noticed his aperture. With the amount of mana Alex produced, a bit more than half of it coming from his chest had to be immediately obvious to anyone who looked at him.
Obscuring your Mana Body was something most didn’t worry about, since it was mainly a concern for Attuned. As he glanced down at his chest, Alex realized that he would likely have to be an exception.
The spot where he’d placed his aperture was glowing to his Sensitivity. It was mainly in the lower right side of his chest, but the effect spread slightly before dulling as the mana was diffused through his body or exited into the atmosphere. He was producing enough mana to make some Attuned jealous.
“Refine is really good at solidifying mana,” Alex grinned wholeheartedly in response to Jess’s questioning tone. He had spent a few minutes psyching himself up and then checking his status, but it had been a small fraction of the time she must have been expecting.
Anthony had looked over as well by this point, and was openly staring at Alex’s torso, “What the hell? You look like a white jack-o-lantern.”
Jess started laughing suddenly, “He does! That’s so weird.”
Alex was about to point out the reason beyond his glow, but the sight of Jess laughing hysterically kept him quiet. She needed the laugh, and he could take a small loss on this one. After all, he just had to remind himself of the reason behind his new glow and any embarrassment would quickly fade.
Still, he couldn’t let that go completely unanswered, “Jack-o-lanterns are faces, Anthony. I’m nothing like one.”
Anthony rolled his eyes, “If that’s what you need to tell yourself.”
Jess was still giggling as they spoke, so Alex started looking past her to make sure that nothing came from the plains while they talked about his new apertures.
“You said it was because of Refine?” Anthony continued, “I’ve never heard of someone forming an aperture so fast.”
“I think part of it was Refine, and part of it was how much mana I have,” Alex explained, “My mana was working to help me, instead of being unruly as I tried to force it into shape. With the amount of mana I have, I was able to push all that I needed into the structure quickly.“
Anthony nodded, “Interesting. That tracks with your mana type being able to work with other apertures as well. I think it's almost specialized in aperture work.”
Alex would prefer if it was more generally helpful for his entire Mana Body, but he didn’t reject the thought immediately. He hadn’t really pushed for the mana type to help with apertures, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be specialized in that direction. Creating a Mythic Mana Body had been one of his main goals when Refine was formed, after all.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Wait,” Jess had finally calmed down completely, “You’re telling me that you created a mana type that’s based on hard work and self-improvement. So now you don’t have to work hard for self-improvement?”
“I guess?” Alex shrugged, “That’s not how I see it.”
Jess and Anthony seemed to identify that this wasn’t a great topic to tease him about, so they didn’t press further. Alex used the opening to change the topic, “I want to tier up, let’s go find some monsters.”
“Sounds good to me,” Anthony agreed, “Jess and I don’t want to level up more than necessary until we get apertures, so we’ll leave the fights to you unless it looks like we’re needed.”
“Letting me handle fights alone will also let me reach Tier 1 faster,” Alex agreed, “After my Tier Baptism, I’ll try to Refine apertures whenever we’re not on the move.”
With that agreed, they were quickly ready to set out. They hadn’t set up much of a camp, so it was just a matter of making sure all of the supplies were secure. Their packs were light, with individual tents taking up most of the space, and the collection of apertures and Mana Veins did nothing to change that.
They set out to the West, constantly scanning the fields for threats and landmarks.
“Aspirant. My seven.” Jess said. Alex had heard the rustling grass before she spoke, and was already moving. He cut the snake down in the middle of its attack. Even among the Tier 0 monsters they’d faced, this serpent had been one of the weakest.
“I doubt that was worth anything,” Alex looked down at the serpent’s corpse. It wasn’t particularly close to the peak of Tier 0 but had lashed out anyway.
“You’re even further above normal attributes than we were,” Jess agreed, “We’ll need to find some Neophytes before you get there.”
With that agreed, the group continued. Time began to blend together, and Alex’s thoughts drifted slightly as they moved.
He hadn’t yet decided exactly what he wanted to do for future Enhancements and Abilities. Refine’s specialty would almost certainly be Enhancements that boosted his attributes, but he would want a few Abilities that could help his swordsmanship as well.
The problem with that plan was that their team would struggle to deal with airborn threats or handle monsters from a distance if he focused so heavily on melee fighting. It had been the obvious plan when he assumed that Muhammad and Becca would have it handled, but the loss of Muhammad left it as a clear weakness of their team.
More than that, it had shown him that he needed more self-sufficiency. Their group would be tackling more high-difficulty trials in the future, and he needed to be ready. If he built himself for pure melee and Becca was somehow disabled in the middle of a trial, it could lead to disaster.
Alex’s contemplations were disrupted by a shot of pain in his stomach. It was remarkably mild, but still noticeable. His heightened attributes and constant access to a healer had left him in incredible shape, so there was no reason for him to be experiencing random stomach pains.
It wasn’t that important,
Alex turned to cut down another serpent, pushing the slight pain out of his mind. The group didn’t even come to a stop for this fight, as Alex killed it in a single blow.
Finally, after Alex had killed three more snakes, Anthony spotted something.
“I think I see another set of graves,” He called, “Nearly directly North.”
Alex would’ve liked to find something more interesting, but the graves held treasure and rewarded points when they reached them. It was hard to turn that down.
They changed directions, and Alex could barely see what Anthony was talking about. It was an impressive find, nearly lost in the plains at this distance.
The fights continued as they moved, and after killing another Aspirant Alex finally got to match up against a Neophyte monster.
This was another of the incredibly large snakes, and Alex immediately identified mana flowing towards its head.
Probably something with its fangs. Magic-enhanced venom sounded like a bad way to go out, but Anthony would be able to overcome any venom that wasn’t empowered by a mana type.
Emboldened by the presence of his healer, Alex engaged without fear. He dodged the first attack and managed to land a shallow counterstrike before the snake pulled back. The miss on the snake’s part gave Alex tempo that he refused to give up, and the snake died after a few more exchanges.
“You know,” Anthony said as they snapped off the snake’s Enhanced fangs, “It’s kind of ridiculous that you’re still Tier 0.”
“You mean experience-wise?” Alex asked, “I was just assuming that I didn’t get rewarded for the fights where I was level nine without a Mana Body.”
“Oh,” Anthony replied, “That too. I was referring to how fast you move. I know I wasn’t that far behind when I tiered up, but still. It’s ridiculous that Aspirants can get this powerful.”
Alex could understand what his friend was talking about. Recent graduates could often be found around the Academy, especially if they joined the Defense Forces. After a while, everyone got a fairly good idea of how powerful Aspirants were.
They were superhuman, but not to this extent. Alex had completely surpassed the normal limitations of a Tier 0 Pathwalker.
“It’s been like that for a while,” Alex shrugged, “I’ve received a lot of rewards, by this point.”
“Yeah, but it was easier to accept when it was because of Inspire,” Anthony explained, “You’ve nearly doubled your attributes since you lost it, and you’re still in perfect control of them. I couldn’t move that fast, even though my physical attributes are higher than yours now.”
Alex smiled. He wasn’t sure if it was meant as a compliment, but hearing that from Anthony felt good.
He’d let the healer get away with the earlier teasing without reprisal, he decided.
“It’s what I trained for years to do,” Alex said, “It is a bit weird that I’ve handled the two baptisms so well, though.”
“Yes, you’re very good at this,” Jess rolled her eyes, “We’d have to be blind not to notice. Can we get back to moving?”
“Do you think Refine is why you’re still adapting so quickly?” Anthony asked as they resumed jogging.
“No,” Alex replied, “At least, I don’t think so. My understanding still isn’t perfect, but it feels more active. If I trained to improve my control of myself, I could see Refine pushing me further. My control is too natural.”
“Might be residual from before,” Anthony suggested, “Your attributes fluctuated in combat a lot, so you might just be used to changes.”
“That’s probably it,” Alex agreed, “It sounds right, at least.”
They were interrupted by another Tier 0 snake for Alex to put down.
“I keep wondering if we’ll find anything else, and we never do,” Anthony sighed as he glanced down at the corpse as they passed it.
“It’s weird,” Alex replied, “I feel like there should be birds, at least.”
“I wonder if there’s something underground,” Jess said, “I’ve had the same thought, and it’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”
“Could be,” Alex frowned, “If the major landmarks are underground, we’re screwed.”
“Yeah, I’m not going tunneling,” Anthony agreed, “The monsters would be far more suited to the environment than we are.”
“I hadn’t considered whether or not this planet had an underground civilization,” Jess said, “I was just talking about the monsters.”
“Either way. We will not be going into any tunnels leading underground,” Anthony stated.
“I’m fine with that,” Alex agreed.
“No arguments from me,” Jess nodded, “If the monsters are small or thin or anything we might not be able to even fit into any tunnels.”
Whether they were giving excuses or reasons to each other didn’t really matter, Alex decided. He did not want to go underground.
Luckily, his thoughts of the underground were interrupted by another monster. A stealthy one this time.
With the team on guard, they weren’t taken by surprise. Anthony was the target of the attack, and he pivoted away to avoid the monster.
The snake followed, but Alex was already on it. The serpent snapped at Anthony’s neck, an attack that the healer barely dodged by falling onto his back. The fall would’ve been a terrible mistake if he was alone, but Alex wasn’t going to let another attack come.
His sword hit an Enhancement, leaving Alex momentarily surprised. The monster’s stealth was also an Enhancement, and the two were layered together in a way that the hardened scales had escaped his notice.
Blunt force was still quite the tool, hardened scales or not. The snake smashed into the ground, unable to keep itself elevated. Alex followed up with another attack, and this time he swung for the fences.
All-out attacks were something he avoided since the increased power was rarely worth the significantly lessened control. Against a snake that hadn’t even been cut by his first attack, that principle had to be more flexible.
That decision was the right one, allowing him to cut through half of the snake’s body with a two-handed downward swing.
With his enemy crippled, Alex quickly ended the fight.
He waited expectantly for a notification, but after a few seconds realized one was not coming.
A half dozen Aspirants and two Neophyte solo kills hadn’t been enough. Just how many monsters did he have to kill for this level?