After making my way back to the surface, I let my mana calm, releasing the body-strengthening technique I had used to survive the impact, that I have decided to call Manarmor.

This is when I realized I had overlooked a crucial known fact about the middle of the ocean. It is very cold and in the early spring, it could still be below freezing. Quickly re-engaging my Manarmor to keep out the frigid water.

"Manarmor?" Mel asked skeptically. Appearing treading water beside me, not even needing to do so. "Mana. Armor. Really?"

"Hey, it's a great name, it explains itself, is quick and succinct, and it's not like I have to shout it out every time I use it or anything, so you and I are the only ones who will ever know. So shut up about my naming skills or I'll call it something dumb like The Panoply of the Karmic Ascendant or something equally stupid."

"I actually quite like that, you should use that one."

"The Panoply of the Karmic Ascendant? Is that a new ability you just received?" Osiph asked floating down to float just above the surface.

"No, I just cycled mana through all the nodes in my body creating a kind of shell. It's a common technique in the beginner training manuals for Core refinement and practice circuits. It had a very long and boring name, so I was just going to call it Manarmor. Then Mel chimed in with some constructive criticism to which you heard the response. "

"Ah, I think I am up to speed. Both are excellent designations for such a useful technique. I shall tell you that when in groups or teams, it is a requirement to share what you can contribute. So do with that information what you will." He looked up at the bright blue sky and nodded to himself. It was just after sunrise and there was a bank of cumulus clouds dominating the sky to the south. "I wish you good luck and I've already set the marker, but you will be heading in that direction."

He pointed over my left shoulder towards the east. I turned, as he gestured and when I looked back he was gone. Just miles of empty ocean only broken up by the waves.

"Son of a-"

I positioned my whole body towards the direction Osiph and the mark indicated and took off. I learned very quickly that swimming on the surface got me nowhere, so I put the enchantment on the pants to work as I dove underneath the surface and sped forward.

Pants of the Amphibiad

(Uncommon)

Type> Equipment> Greaves

Armor: 10

(Beginner)

Enchantment: Each breath, while completely submerged in water, lasts 5 percent longer.

I also learned that my Panoply, (Yes, shut up, both names were equally fine.) deflected most of the resistance created from swimming in water. This effectively had me torpedoing through the sea at a decent speed.

I had time and I had already put some thought into the tools that I had available. I had the dagger on my belt, my Panoply, and I had a couple of Abilities that could count as "for combat", but nothing that stuck out really. I had my boosting skill: Eternal Wrath but that would put me in a trance and I didn't want to test that in the water or somewhere that wasn't a life-or-death situation. My Divine Retribution only worked once per day on something on my level. More promising was the Thief of Time, though with it being a channeled mental attack, I didn't see it being helpful in a quick-paced fight. If I had something to hold someone down with or even a higher strength. What stood out was the Mana Sphere. Both a good offense and defense. Where the other abilities had questions surrounding them, this one seemed pretty clear-cut to me. Good defense with my absurd Mana pool, as well as damaging on touch my Intelligence. Which was also outrageous. I could see how a normal person, with average Stats, would see this as a simple Force Push or a conjured barrier capable of knocking back a foe this low a level. If it had been any other Stat that's all it would have been. I was very excited to see it's a limitation of it would be. Hopefully, he could find some low-level sea creature swinging near the surface, and get to experimenting.

I ended up swimming for more than four hours before I found something interesting.

On one of my breaches to the surface to relish my air supply, I saw a large shape that stood out on the empty horizon. It was slightly off course, but I needed a break to rest my arms and the rest of my body. Angling towards it, it took another hour to reach it. I returned to the surface as I swam into the bay of the small island. From my lessons on international trade routes, I knew that the most traveled shipping route on the Ara Sea led past a grouping of islands that were out west about 90 miles offshore. I estimated that it would take me about four hours to reach the mainland from here. I had this thought as I dragged myself onto the sandy beach, only a few hundred feet wide before a thick treeline cut off my view. Releasing my Panoply, I rolled onto my back and just lay there, absorbing the heat of the sun, which was almost at its peak. Twenty minutes went by as I enjoyed the sounds of the world, something one doesn't think about until it's gone.

Sitting up, I noticed the only part of me that wasn't soaked was my shirt.

Tunic of Elemental Defense

(Uncommon)

Type> Equipment> Cuirass

Armor: 10

(Beginner)

Enchantment: Once the shirt has absorbed 100 Mana of Element increase Armor by 50 percent. Recharge based on Ambient mana supply.

I laid my clothes out on a patch of sunny rocks, and some sea birds were not too happy that I had commandeered them. After surveying the area, I looked down and examined myself, I was down to just my briefs and my ring.

Spacial Ring

(Uncommon)

Type> Item> Ring

Armor: +10

(Beginner)

Enchantment: Creates a small dimensional space to store any non-living goods. Grid is based on Wisdom (12*12) Weight per slot is based on (Strength x 10) pounds.

Since I only deposited the clothes I had been wearing and hadn't checked them earlier, I infused a small potion of mana into the ring and peered into its contents. It seemed like Ospiph had recognized the bags that I had from my academy supplies were mine and had grabbed them after he destroyed the array. It was mainly notebooks and pens, three sets of my school uniforms, my old set of clothes, some minor alchemy ingredients and lesser mana crystals, some pastries my mother had gotten me as a going away gift, a small pendant with the academy crest stamped into it, and a small bag of coins that had been what was left over from my supplies stipend. And not a bad sum either.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I pulled out my academy crest and took a look at its description.

Signet of Curious Minds

(Uncommon)

Type> Item> Pin

Armor: +15

(Beginner)

Enchantment: Decreases potion cooldowns by 5 minutes.

Equipping it to my chest, I sat down and revisited the box of pastries from my mother. Taking out one that had a jam filling, and storing the rest back in my ring. I looked out over the vast ocean in front of me as I took a bite of the baked goods. With my new memory, I focused on the shop we had gone in together. My father and Ren stayed outside to look in a nearby shop's window. I could still smell the fudge that sat heavy in the air as we walked in. With a blink to clear my eyes and a silent nod to Mel, I smiled as I took another bite.

On the north side of the beach, behind the line of trees, several guttural squeals rang out as a small herd of wild boar rushed out, charging straight for me. Their fur was a subdued brown with white stripes running down to their haunches. I counted at least twenty some coming in from the south surrounding me. With a few seconds until they reached me, I only had time to slip my shirt on and fasten the belt around the top of it.

Pulling my dagger I prepared a defensive stance and tried to Identify them to learn their level. It wasn't until the first group of ten was on me that I remembered that Identify was an external spell. Something I had to solve another time as the first of the boar made it to me, rushing for my shins.

The first boar to make contact was slightly larger than the rest and had sickly green tusks that glowed with power. It used them to try and gore my leg, thrusting its neck up, and at an angle, a cone of acid sprayed from a hole in the end of each tusk.

Stepping back to my dominant leg, I pivoted on my right foot, kicking forward out of the way of the acid. I kept my momentum as I landed, taking this chance to roll to just behind the creature's flank. Pulling my dagger in tight to my chest, I stepped forward and leaned in with my shoulder, I let loose three quick thrusts, the tip of my dagger just behind the beast's shoulder blade. It met resistance against the toughened hide each time but pierced in just enough to make it bleed. With a flurry, I pivoted to prepare for the second, third, fourth, and fifth boar.

They all charged together, slower than the boss, but faster than a normal wild boar would typically be. The five remaining all started circling around me as their tusks started to glow that same green. As the charging animal narrowly missed, I left small puncture wounds in the most vulnerable areas that I could manage. The leader had swung back around and tried to take me out at the knees. I sidestepped, raking my blade down the back leg, but it only left a small scratch.

The leader kicked just as I turned my attention to the second boar incoming to my left. I took a glancing blow from his hoof to my thigh. Managing to lean into the blow, it forced me to stumble back, luckily avoiding the second boar's charge and the fifth's that I hadn't seen coming, simultaneously from my right.

The five in the back began venting an acid gas that began swirling between one another, effectively walling me off from an inland escape. I reinforced my body with mana and put my dagger back in its sheath. Dodging the close-combat attacks was pushing my Agility to its limit, only squeezing by from my training instilled in me from an early age.

While still staying cautious of the flying acid clouds swirling around, I shifted my body to push one of the boar's wild charges into the oncoming direction of another. These beasts were intelligent enough to trap their prey, and use of rudimentary magics, but they were far from sapient. They would keep attacking relentlessly, unaware of the damage accumulating on their bodies. I was confident in winning this battle of attrition. The biggest issue I was currently facing was the other ten boars that would arrive any moment.

All I had achieved were minor wounds. Due to their numbers and coordination, It would have been relatively simple if it had been a battle of attrition, if there had only been a couple but with so many, a single trip up could easily end in me winding up eviscerated or melted by the acid. Veering away from two further attempts to take out my ankles, I caught a glimpse of the reinforcements arriving at the other side of the acid wall that surrounded me in a ten-foot circle. I waited for the few at the back of the newly arriving pack to get closer before releasing my Mana Sphere.

A bright yellow-gold light fulminated from my body, similar to what I pictured in my soul space, only slightly darker. The blast passed over the boars, erasing them like chalk on a board while leaving behind particles of gray dust floating behind, and dispersing the acid mist. The majority of them had been within the dozen-foot circle of destruction. Only one remained just outside my area of effect, so I did the smartest thing I could think of while the beast and I stared dumbly at one another. I took a step towards it, bringing my Mana Sphere with me as I watched the final boar turn to dust.

Releasing the ability, I ran over to the rest of my gear sitting on the rocks and quickly put the rest of it on. Wet or not, I should not have let my guard down, especially in unfamiliar territory. I noticed that my Mana had dropped by over thirty-two hundred. It seemed, that it still took the resources for the full amount, Based on his kill notifications some of them only took forty damage before they died. I would need to be careful with that in swarms, seeing as one use could erase my entire pool. I checked over myself and it was such a welcome sight that my lips curved up on their own.

Ding!

Experience earned!

You have increased your level!

Current Level: 5

Stat Points allocated

+24 Free Points

Name: Cassieus Hinari

Level: 5

Affinity: Karmic

Class: N/A

Armor Rating: 2200

Health: 84/2300

Health Regen: 2.14/sec (1% Vitality

-0.16/sec Soul Damage)

Mana:12,738/19,520

Mana Regen: 195.2/sec

Stamina: 112/2260

Stamina Regen: 22.6/sec

Stats

Strength: 216

Vitality: 230

Endurance: 226

Toughness: 220

Agility: 232

Dexterity: 227

Perception: 224

Wisdom: 228

Intelligence: 1,952

Willpower: 224

Luck: 3,811

Free Points:24

"This has to be some form of cheating right?" Mel asked exasperated. "I am impressed with the Sphere though. It surpassed any of my projections."

My body was still surging with an influx of power, I could feel it coursing around my Pathways. My resources were replenishing faster as I could feel that the bruise that had begun forming on my thigh had already started vanishing. My steps were smoother and more centered. My vision didn't so much get better as I just noticed more details about what I could already see.

I brought my right hand up and made a fist. I felt slight tension as I could feel the increase in my Strength. "I think it's finally time to do some experimenting."

Sitting in a meditative pose with my legs crossed and my arms relaxed on my lap, I closed my eyes and activated my new Divine Meditation. As soon as I willed it to happen, I appeared sitting at one of many tables not populating the previous empty floor space of my inner Library.

I hadn't been here since before my integration with my Core, which was supposed to give me full access to the first floor. I saw Mel sitting across from me with an odd look on her face.

"What's wrong? I asked.

"Can I try something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

" I can still see the inside of your eyelids, how I usually see out of your normal vision. But it wasn't like this when you were asleep and I don't really see when you blink, as I'm pretty sure your brain just ignores it before it passes the information along. I want to try to have you push your Mana into your eyes to open them while still in meditation, that way I can keep an eye out on your surroundings while you're in here.."

"That's actually pretty smart. I wasn't going to be here long anyway, just a few minutes to recover, but it will be useful for the future, so have at it."

I directed the mana as Mel had asked and nothing seemed to happen at first, then she snapped her head toward me in panic.

"Time to leave. Something is coming out of the treeline and it's big."

I came to with my eyes already open, jumping to my feet, I studied what appeared to be a twenty-foot tall mound of dirt, moss, various patches of other flora, and several fallen tree limbs protruding from its back. It walked on six thick stumpy legs completely covered in draping moss, as it slowly made its way over to me.

It came to a stop about thirty feet away and some vines at the front parted to reveal a round, knotted section of wood that, if I had to guess, was supposed to be its face.

"Explain!" It boomed out in an irascible voice that shook the ground and made the trees behind it quake. "Where is my security team?"