Blake cast Mind Sense again and winced after what felt like a spike was hammered into his brain. Blood dripped from his nose, and he absently wiped it away as he faced the oncoming group and slowly backed away.

According to his second scan with the spell, seven Lupus would converge on him in the next five seconds. He quickly searched for a way to defeat them or escape, but without his vision, he came up empty. Suddenly, his back hit a tree and he smiled as an idea formed.

Blake began the short spell form for Gale and aimed it downward. Just before it was completed, he jumped. With a Physical Power of almost forty, the action was many times more effective than a normal human, and he rose over fifteen feet off the ground.

However, that was still not high enough to accomplish his goal. When he had almost reached his apogee, the mana-based spell completed, and he was thrown upward again by the wind.

After he rose another eight feet, his back slammed into a thick branch. Blake quickly twisted and ignored the pain to wrap his left arm around it. He immediately folded a leg around his new perch and balanced atop it. A moment later, his Alacrity expired.

Hopefully this buys me enough time.

The Lupus below easily located him, and it was only a matter of time before they scaled the trunk. However, he reasoned it should take multiple minutes for them to do so. In that time, he expected his eyesight to at least partially recover, and he would have time to evolve his teleport for a second time.

Nothing like a little pressure to speed things along.

He admitted to himself the whole experience was thrilling, and he only wished his friends were along to share it. Blake’s mind flew through the interface, selected Guided Spatial Step, and paid the fifty mega-nano required for evolution. He had long considered his next upgrade, and knew exactly what changes he planned to make to it.

The ability to change his body’s position and cancel out or create momentum at will was incredibly powerful. The surprise it created almost guaranteed him a kill each time he used it. However, the minute and a half cooldown period between uses meant he could only use it once or possibly twice per battle.

Blake aimed to correct that deficiency.

Without delay, he focused on the spell in its entirety and duplicated it in his mind. He overlaid this copy overtop the original and used his will to force them to combine.

The change he wanted to make was not an original idea. As a chi user, he had never evolved a spell this way in his past. However, he had many conversations on how to grow more powerful over a beer with friends. Theorycrafting spell evolution was a popular topic, one in which Rajesh thrived.

His friend had proven to be a genius on the subject and had given them many ideas. One such example was a way to shorten spell cooldown periods without paying a heavy cost.

The Architect gave nothing away for free. If he were to try and shorten the cooldown directly, it would likely increase the energy requirements dramatically. The ability was already expensive, and he had no desire to make it even more so.

However, if he made certain changes to the spell, it would allow him to build up a second ‘charge’. This ‘charge’ as they called it, enabled immediate reuse of the ability without an increase to energy requirements.

He crossed his fingers that the AI would allow the change.

Finally, after thirty full seconds of concentration, the Architect approved the alterations and his ability was updated. After the change was made, he immediately opened his status and focused on the spell.

Charged Guided Spatial Step - Consume a moderate amount of aetheric energy to shift your position by twenty feet. The targeted destination must be in visual range. You may adjust your body so it faces any direction upon arrival, and you can alter your momentum as necessary. Once used, Spatial Shift can be immediately recast by consuming a charge. The spell can not be used again for two minutes, and another two minutes are required to build up a charge.

It worked!

He refused to thank the Architect but did relax on his perch.

The evolution increased the recharge period by a third, but the cost was well worth it. Now, every four minutes, Blake was able to teleport twice in a row. However, after he did so, he did not have to wait the full four minutes before he could use the spell again. He could reactivate it after two minutes and reset the cooldown. A charge would only build after he went four minutes without using the ability.

With this evolution, he could teleport next to his distant target, which channeled Illumination, kill it, and then immediately teleport away to safety. At least, he could once his eyesight was restored.

The sound of claws on bark beneath him distracted Blake from his plans. He glanced down toward the noise and was relieved when the blurry outline of a Lupus was revealed. It was only ten feet beneath him as it scaled the trunk of his tree.

Finally!

While his vision had yet to fully recover, he was able to see well enough to defend himself. Now, he just needed to stall for a few more minutes, before his eyes were completely healed, and he could execute his plan.

Blake wrapped his legs around the branch and used both hands to grasp his spear tightly. He raised it above his head, channeled chi into its tip, and thrust it downward with his full strength as the creature lunged towards him.

The Lupus yelped and then froze as his spear impaled it. A moment later, gravity took over, and it slid off his weapon. It tumbled through the air below until it disappeared from his recovering vision. Two seconds later, Blake heard a thump, and his combat log confirmed its death.

Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Unfortunately, they did not make the same mistake twice in a row.

The pack of six spread out and climbed up the trunks of nearby trees until they reached his height or slightly above. Once he was surrounded, half of the pack paused and used their aether-based spells to disrupt him, while the other three began their attack, enhanced by chi.

Blake felt his movement slow and his weight increase, as he was hit by Amplify Mass and Slow simultaneously. Worse, he was hit by a Sonic Blast, which destroyed his hearing, and temporarily stunned him. At the same time, all three Lupus leapt toward him, jaws wide.

Screw this!

Blake released his leg’s grip, and rolled off the branch into empty air. Without his presence, the Lupus’s attacks missed, and they desperately scrambled to find purchase before they plummeted with him. A moment later, the aether users lost sight of him, and the Slow and Amplify Mass spells were disrupted.

He cast a Gale downward to slow his fall, and then landed hard on the ground. Just a moment later, two Lupus landed hard beside him. Rather than manually inspect their still bodies, he swiftly checked his combat log instead.

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After Blake confirmed he received six mega-nano each, he turned and sprinted toward the distant light. Now that he could once again see, Blake wanted to assassinate the two Lupus who channeled Illumination as quickly as possible and then flee.

After all, he only needed to survive the remainder of the night, not kill every enemy.

As both groups sprinted toward him, he quickly closed the distance and was soon surrounded by dozens of monsters.

Oh, thank God!

He had feared his progress would be hindered before he could teleport to his target. Luckily, their overconfidence would be their downfall. The Lupus opened a path into their center to ensure he could not escape. A quick glance over his shoulder as he ran toward the source of light showed that they had already closed the trap behind him.

Come on! Just a few more feet!

Suddenly, dozens of aether spells assaulted him. A few partially affected him, while others were fully resisted. Blake shrugged off the effects as best he could while he relentlessly raced toward his target.

Yes!

He channeled chi to the tip of his spear, activated Charged Guided Spatial Step, and appeared directly before his target, whose eyes widened. The aether users lost sight of their target, and their channeled spells were wasted. His target had no time to react before his spear pierced its skull.

Blake did not stop to gloat. He ripped his weapon out of his target’s head and continued to run through the temporarily stunned group. When the Illumination spell suddenly died behind him, he was plunged into partial darkness, and celebrated his victory.

Just one more.

However, before he could attempt to kill his remaining target, he had to escape this current group and wait for his teleportation spell to fully recharge. Suddenly, multiple spells slammed into him, and before he could falter, he used his second charge of Charged Guided Spatial Step to escape.

He smiled as he forced them to pointlessly expend their spells.

Blake appeared twenty feet away, outside the group’s reach, and activated Alacrity. With his current Magic Power, his run speed almost doubled, and he quickly outpaced his pursuit.

For the next ten seconds, he ran at over a hundred miles an hour, through the forest, in the dark. Even with his incredible reaction time, he barely kept himself from slamming into a tree.

Finally, his Alacrity spell ended, and his pace returned to normal. Of course, normal was still faster than the speed limit on most highways, but the Lupus behind him were also enhanced.

With Blake’s achievements and temporary enhancements from his breakfast and potions, he estimated that he was a good fifteen percent faster at level two than the average level four Lupus. While he had much higher Physical Power than the monsters, their bodies were built for speed, while his was not.

Even so, he could not run flat out for the next ten hours. The area within the scenario boundary was only so large, and the intelligent creatures had enough numbers to ensure he would eventually be trapped against its wall.

No, I need to kill the last Illumination user, and then throw off their scent.

As he navigated through the forest, his foot suddenly sank three inches into a large puddle of mud. The environmental hazard was so jarring, that he almost lost his balance when his foot pulled away. He shook his head in disgust at the mess of his boots and legs, when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

What if I? It probably won’t work, but it’s worth a try.

Blake rammed the butt of his spear into the ground so it remained upright, dove into the mud, and rolled. In the center, the puddle was a foot thick, and he was able to dunk his entire head under the dirty mix. When the bays of the Lupus grew louder, he rose to his feet, grabbed his spear and sprinted away.

I need to get further ahead, or I’ll never lose them.

A moment later, Alacrity became available, and he immediately cast it. Once again, he rocketed through the woods at breakneck speeds. The wind blasted against his face, and he once more barely avoided hitting a tree. Ten seconds later, his spell dropped, but he was not much further ahead.

Finally, both charges of his Charged Guided Spatial Step were filled. He searched the trees for an ideal location to teleport to, and when he found one, did so. Luckily, this tree was close to another, and he was able to leap off his branch to another nearby. When he was no longer able to travel further without his teleport, he quickly utilized it to span a twenty-foot gap.

Now let’s see if it worked.

He glanced down at his exposed wrists and groaned internally. The Alacrity fueled sprint through the woods had done an admirable job of cleaning him. A thin film of mud still covered him, but he doubted it would hide his scent.

When the Lupus reached the end of his scent trail, where he teleported to the tree, they circled and then spread out to search for him. Blake watched the monsters search for a full two minutes until he was able to utilize his teleport spell. He then activated Dampen Sound to hide his movements, faced the next tree, and activated his evolved Spatial Step.

Twice more, he did this, until he was far enough away that it was unlikely they would spot him. Once he felt safe, he once again checked his aether energy level.

Well, crap. Just eight percent?

Each time he teleported, the ability consumed around three percent. That meant he could only teleport twice, and had just two percent left over for Dampen Sound. Blake estimated he could keep the spell active for only ten to fifteen minutes before his aether ran dry. He would have loved to wait longer for his energy levels to recover, but already the Lupus were closing in on his position.

Looks like I only get one shot.

After both charges of Spatial Step were primed, Blake activated Dampen Sound and jumped from his perch. He used Gale to slow his fall, and took off running after he landed lightly.

I’m getting better at that.

It was easy to find his target - the distant trees were faintly lit by its Illumination spell, which steadily moved his way. He needed to hurry, as he only had around ten minutes to reach the center of the pack with his current aether levels.

Blake maintained a steady pace as he navigated through an opening he found with his Mind Sense. Once he was past the outer patrol, his confidence soared.

That, of course, when a monster saw him.

It immediately howled, which alerted the rest of the pack. Soon, they were aware of his exact position and created an opening. They flanked his sides and opened a path so he could reach the center of the pack. He disabled his Dampen Sound and let them.

Come on. Use the same plan. I’m sure it’ll work the second time.

Blake had to give them a little grace, as this was not the same pack as before. Regardless, if they were truly intelligent, they would have communicated the details of their failure to the second pack to ensure he could not utilize the same tactic twice.

When he was only fifteen feet away from his target, the pack struck. Over a dozen aether spells suddenly assaulted him. He was heavy, slowed, deafened, and would have been blinded if he had not reflexively closed his eyes. Even with his lids shut, he was still forced to blink away the bright afterimage.

Time to go.

Blake charged his spear, teleported behind his target, and thrust his spear forward.

Shit!

Instead of an easy kill, his weapon slid through an illusion.

It WAS a trap!

Blake shoved down his panic and used Mind Sense to locate every nearby Lupus. No matter how many illusions they used, they could not fool his psionic ability.

There!

His target was obviously nearby, as it had to maintain its Illumination spell. However, a clever Lupus had used the illusion of an empty forest and overlaid it atop his target monster.

Before he could be targeted by aether spells, he wiped the blood from beneath his nose and loosed a Directed Mind Blast. His vision turned white as what felt like a spike was driven through his skull.

Blake shook off the pain and rushed forward to end the stunned creature's life. Just as his chi charged spear pierced through the frozen creature’s skull, he was bombarded with spells.

He did his best to ignore the magic attacks as he ensured it was dead. Blake heaved his weapon to the side to widen the wound, and then did so again. Once his combat log confirmed its death, he immediately used his last Charged Guided Spatial Step to escape. Once he was temporarily lost to their vision, the channeled aether spells were disrupted, and he cast Alacrity to speed away.

The wind whipped past his ears as he put distance between himself and his pursuit. For the hour and fifteen minutes, he used Alacrity each time it was available, and kept ahead of the pack.

Finally, when his aether refilled to fifteen percent, he teleported into the trees, traveled another hundred feet above the ground, and then teleported again. He continued to teleport from tree to tree each time his evolved Spatial Step came off cooldown until he was far enough away he could finally rest.

Blake withdrew his brother's potions from his spatial storage, and grinned when an alert informed him that he finally reached mastery in the general skill. He spent the forty mega-nano required to upgrade it to level three, and then checked his mastery over Dampen Sound.

Dampen Sound - 93%

Blake was not yet sure how he would evolve it. However, it was so close to mastery that he would be a fool to not take advantage of the opportunity this scenario presented. Now that his teleport spell was evolved, and his greatest threats were eliminated, he could begin the second part of his plan.

To slowly whittle away the Lupus at the edges of the pack.

Each monster he assassinated granted him six mega-nano. He had hours and hours left before the scenario was completed, and planned to use every one of them to grow his nano reserve.