Chapter 21: Air Magic

Air MagicSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 5Exp: 0%Effect: Allows the user to manipulate the air around them

After spending a considerable amount of time attempting to understand the element of air, I had finally gotten air magic. Thanks to this, it would now be easier to create other air type skills. Once I finished reading the box, I spent the next twenty minutes meditating. In order to get the air magic skill, I was forced to use up a large amount of my mana. But thanks to my meditation skill, I only had to wait a short period of time in order for it to be restored.

Once my mana was restored, I glanced at my skills. Quite a few had gained experience but the only one that had leveled up was my meditation skill. My mana affinity and concentration skill were extremely close to leveling up, so in an hour or so they would be a higher level. After reviewing my meditation skill I moved on.

MeditationSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 4Exp: 10%Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.

Before I left to level up, I wanted to train my air magic a little more. I also wanted to experiment with the explosive arrow I had stumbled upon. Taking a deep breath I began gathering mana towards my hand. Once a ball of mana was created, I began the process of creating a wind arrow. But this time when I manipulated it, I attempted to make it as unstable as I could. Once the arrow was about to explode I shot it towards the wall.

Boom!

Thanks to my attack, a deafening sound filled the tunnel I was training in. The moment my ears stopped ringing I looked at the results of my explosive wind arrow. As I stared at the moderate sized hole in the wall, a look of approval appeared on my face. This would do. An enemy hit by this would take quite a bit of damage. After examining the wall, I spent the next hour working on my air magic.

After training for an hour and a half, I headed back to where the battle between the bats and the giant rats took place. Since I had leveled up my skills by a good amount, it was finally time for me to start leveling up. Due to me only being level six, I felt weak compared to the bats. Even though I had skills, I still wanted to have a higher level than them. The bat boss also told me that I had to get a higher level before I could talk to him again.

As I walked, I glanced at my skills that I had leveled up.

Air MagicSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 6Exp: 53%Effect: Allows the user to manipulate the air around them

Mana Affinity SkillSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: UniqueSkill Level: 7Exp: 80%Effects: Any skill using mana cost 7% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.

Swiping the boxes away, I continued on my walk and began to think. Right now I had a considerable amount of skills under my belt. I was way stronger than I was before when I had fought that bat. But until I tested myself, I would never really know how strong I was.

Turning my head to the left, I took a glance at Viola. As I looked at her she turned her head and gave me a curious glance. Shaking my head, I thought about what had happened while I was training. As I worked on my air techniques, Viola watched me closely. Since I had put my wind mana into her in the ritual, I assumed that she was naturally drawn to it.

After fifteen minutes of watching, she began trying to conjure her own wind gale. The first few tries, nothing happened. Still she persevered. I watched in silence as she gathered mana from the air and attempted to push it out. Shaking my head, I walked to where she was and guided her on what to do. A few minutes later, and Viola could now use a wind spell. Thoughts like these ran through my mind until I finally arrived at the battlefield.

Dark bloodstains covered the sewer floor while pieces of gore covered the wall. It was quite a detestable sight to see. As I walked towards the path where the giant rats fled I soon noticed that there were two bats guarding the doorway. Before I could walk right on through, they barred the doorway.

“What is your reason for going down this tunnel? Don’t you know that it’s filled with giant rats?”

I obviously knew that the tunnel was filled with rats since I had been there to see them flee. But I guess it was nice of the guard to try and look out for me.

“Yeah, I was there when the battle happened. The reason I want to go in the tunnel is so that I can kill some giant rats and level up.”

There was no point in lying since I had nothing to hide. Therefore I decided to just tell him the truth. The bat guard nodded his head once I talked about leveling up. I guess he could see how low my level was and why I wanted to raise it. After telling me to stay safe, he bid me farewell. With Viola on my shoulder, I pressed onwards.

The moment the guards were out of sight, I immediately got on guard. Although there were other bats here, they were spread out so the likelihood of me meeting one would be fairly slim. The chances of me meeting a giant rat however were way higher. I didn’t want to suffer a sneak attack since the bats in this section were way stronger than the ones I had fought before. They would only get stronger the closer I got to their base.

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The next few minutes passed by slowly as I twitched at every noise I heard. The reason I did this was because I was paranoid of being attacked from behind. Could you blame me? The dark shadows in the sewer portrayed frightening images out of the corners of my eye. Calming down my nerves I took a deep breath. I was pretty sure I was stronger than the giant rats here so there was nothing to worry about. Or so I hoped.

 As I was slowing my heart rate, I noticed Viola’s ears perk up. Before I could question her, she mentally told me that enemies were coming. Crouching low to the ground, I hid by a nearby wall. Getting off the first attack was always helpful so I would stay hidden until they were close enough. And then, before they saw me, I would strike. They wouldn’t know what hit them.

A few seconds later, the sounds of pattering feet began to fill the sewer pathway. As I listened to their footsteps, a look of confusion crossed my face. Why did one of these set of feet sound so much bigger than the others? Peering off into the distance, I glanced at the ominous shadows that were coming towards me.

Giant Rat - Lv.6

Hp: 35/35

Giant Berserker Rat - Lv.8

Hp: 50/50

Giant Rat - Lv.6

Hp: 35/35

A few feet away from me was a trio of giant rats. Two of them looked like a higher level of the ones I had fought by my base. The other one however I had met on the battlefield. Although there had only been two or three giant berserker rats on the battlefield, they were still a force to be reckoned with. They were essentially a powered up giant rat. They were bigger, stronger, and faster than their weak counterparts. Their size was so big that they were even bigger than me! I would need to be careful in this upcoming battle or I might sustain serious injuries.

As the rats walked closer and closer, I noticed the muscles that were bulging beneath the skin of the berserker rat. Man, why was it so muscular? The only thing I could compare it with was a human bodybuilder. Since I still had a good amount of time before the giant rats would see me, I needed to decide my plan of attack. I planned on starting off the battle with one of the tupas, I just didn’t know which one I wanted.

Thanks to the Vinestari I had killed, there was a good bit to choose from. Did I want to poison the berserker rat, or did I want to paralyze it? Each effect was good, but I needed the best one. As I looked through the tupas, I decided to toss the poisonous tupa out of the selection. The reason for this was because I didn’t know how much damage it would do. Would it just do five damage, or would it do one point of damage every second? I didn’t know. And until I knew, I didn’t want to take the risk. Maybe if there wasn’t a  berserker rat in the group then I would take the chance. But since there was, the poisonous tupa was out.

The drowsy tupa was out for the same reason. How fast would it get drowsy? Would it even affect it that much? Who knew? The two remaining choices were the paralytic tupa and the confused tupa. In the end I decided on the paralytic tupa since the description of the confused tupa was kind of sketchy. The paralysis tupa would be extremely helpful since I could launch off several attacks the moment my enemy was paralyzed.

The moment the rats were in range, I tossed a paralytic tupa at the berserker rat. As it silently flew through the air, Viola jumped off my shoulder and charged toward them with a loud screech. Since the berserker rat was caught off guard, it was easy for the paralysis tupa to splatter across its back. And the moment it did, I made my move.

As the berserker rat’s muscles began to lock up, I charged up two explosive wind arrows. After gathering mana for a few seconds, I launched the attack off. As the arrows flew through the air, Viola began to attack the nearest giant rat. Although the giant rat tried to scratch at her, Viola was able to easily dodge by flying in the air. She might have problems however if the second rat tried to join in. And I didn’t plan on letting that happen.

Because of the paralysis, my two explosive wind arrows easily slammed into the berserker rat. The body of the berserker soon disappeared from my sight as the arrows exploded in a burst of air. I shouldn’t have to worry about the berserker for a while because I had seen just how powerful my explosive arrows were.

Dodging to my left quickly, I managed to avoid an attack from the second deadly rat. As it landed on the ground, I thrusted my spear towards its body. But thanks to its quick movements, I only managed to graze it before it attacked me again. As it opened its mouth to bite me, I stuck the shaft of my spear between its teeth. As the giant rat tried to shake it out of my hand, I filled my spear with electricity. Did it think that I would just let it gnaw on my weapon?

Sparks flew across the giant rat’s body as electricity surged through it. As the giant rat was forced to loosen its grip, I swung my spear and tossed it towards the ground. While it was tumbling across the ground, I glanced at its status.

Giant Rat - Lv.6

Hp: 22/35

Man, these rats were way stronger than the other ones I had fought previously. As the giant rat shook off the remnants of the shock, I glanced at Viola to make sure she was doing alright. She was. Turning my head back around, I placed my hand on the ground so I could launch earthen spikes at the giant rat. But before I could launch them, I saw the berserker rat charging at me in the corner of my eye.

Fuck.