Ascending Endlessly: I Copy Skills

My gate roared into action as mana seeped out of it and into my body. It was a slow dribble compared to others- but it was always a refreshing sensation, one of refined power gradually trickling between the cracks in my muscles. 

I manipulated a bit of my mana to coat the edge of my blade, as well as gathering a bit at the heels and balls of my feet. Finally, I used what remaining mana I had access to to keep my joints, namely my ankles and wrists, protected from the added recoil of using more strength than my body actually had.

Of course, this all happened in a fraction of a second. Looking the goblin dead in the eyes as it readied itself briefly as well, I saw my throughline. I drew my foot back across the stone floor of the dungeon and suddenly burst forth, my knife held just below my line of sight and my other arm in a firm guard, ready to defend against a counter attack. 

I ducked low before propelling myself back upwards slightly using my momentum, slashing at the goblin's throat, hoping to catch it somewhat off guard before it could properly react. Of course, it did, in fact, react, parrying my knife roughly with its own blade. 

However, I'd already prepared my next hit of mana, using it in my feet once again to make a hasty retreat before it could push through my defenses.

The goblins were faster and stronger than me, and had access to more power, too. I could count on one hand how many goblins I'd met who were objectively weaker than me. Fortunately, I was used to fighting at a disadvantage.

Instead of re-entering the goblin's strike range, I would wait for it to enter mine. Naturally, it didn't take long for it to make a mad dash for me. As brutish as these things were, they were equally stupid.

I rebalanced myself and collected my stance. As the goblin lunged at me, I mimicked as though I would try to deflect it's incoming strike with my knife. However, to the goblin's surprise, I twisted my body along the trajectory of its blade perfectly. The goblin stumbled for a moment and I took my chance, using my momentum to grab its blade-arm and swing onto its back. Then, while it was still losing balance, I slashed across its throat with my Polarium blade. 

Tendons and blood vessels ripped open like thick ropes, leaving what almost looked like a mess of wires where my blade had crossed the Goblin's throat. After making my attack, I jumped off its back and retreated back out of its range. The goblin stumbled for a bit, before raising its head with a low, choked grunt.

It turned to face me. The goblin was now clutching its torn neck, staring deep into me with hateful eyes. Now it would become a familiar battle of attrition- whether I could damage the goblin enough for it to bleed out before its frenzied attacks could reach me. One near-fatal move was enough to drive these things to become even more wild than they already were.

The goblin acted predictably, casting its blade aside and trying to grapple me with its bulk and superior weight. Unfortunately for it, this was a battle which I'd fought thousands of times. Continuing to pour mana into my body, I faced the goblin's attacks head-on.

The battle didn't go on for much longer- I got lucky and managed to dig into the goblin's flank, giving it a second major injury that it seemingly couldn't handle. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for it to collapse before making a few more rough cuts around its neck, fully severing the goblin's head.

"Phew."

I let out a short-winded sigh as I looked over my condition. Everything was in order.

Fuck, though. That never really got too much easier. As many goblins as I'd hunted, I didn't get any stronger, and it felt like an increase in tactical prowess would face diminishing returns at this point. Unfortunately, today, I was seeking out far stronger prey.

I gulped in anticipation as I gazed down at the goblin's corpse.

'This thing already takes so much effort to kill… can I really get one of those bastards on the second floor?'

I sighed again, deeper this time, as I started to methodically cut into the goblin's flesh.

'I'm quite a proficient goblin butcher by now.'

It was true. I had cut apart so many of them in order to understand their physiology that, at this point, I knew the structure of goblin's bodies almost as well as my own. Of course, it didn't take long to butcher it, and within its flesh a few pieces of gloam were recovered. Score. They were a little above average in size.

After that, I took ten minutes to rest before continuing through the dungeon.

As I continued along, I encountered several goblins along the way. I sustained some minor injuries, but nothing that hindered my ability to combat them much. I had a small gash across my chest, I'd hyperextended one of my knees, and dislocated my shoulder. Fortunately, I could just pop the shoulder back into place without issue.

Standing before the stairs in the center of the labyrinth which would bring me down to the second floor, I looked in my small pack tied around my waist. I'd collected a pretty standard haul of gloam shards. Normally this would be where I'd turn back, collect my pay, and head to a bar.

However, today, I'd be heading down those stairs. It was a horrifying thought. On the second floor, the goblins started to use skills. If I wanted to copy their skills, I would obviously have to face them in battle, but…

Well, for now, I needed to recover a bit. I pulled a bottle of water and some jerky out of my bag and replenished some calories. Then, I sat against a wall and entered a meditative position. I drew some mana through my gate and compressed it into a thin tendril. It was even thinner than a single strand of hair- an invisible string that I could just barely still manage to sense without letting it disperse.

I concentrated as I formed several more tendrils before gradually pulling them towards my chest wound. The tendrils started wrapping around blood vessels and damaged tissue, constricting, pulling, and tightening, shifting things around ever so slightly. 

My head started hurting. The concentration this took was pretty immense, despite how practiced I was.

Next, the tendrils went over the surface of the wound, weaving throughout my skin and closing it tightly while simultaneously maneuvering what was underneath it. Rapidly, it started to scab over, closing the wound.

Next, I brought the tendrils to my knee, where I'd hyperextended it. Fortunately, I couldn't feel any tearing with my mana, so this one would be easy. I worked carefully with my mana once again to slowly soothe my wound.

This was a skill that I'd developed over the years of practicing mana application. Through a firm understanding of my own biology, I'd managed to manipulate mana in such a compact way that I could, to a certain extent, 'heal' my body. Of course, it wasn't really anything special. My sensitivity wasn't so great that I could manipulate my blood cells or platelets, but I could at least stop the bleeding from a bad wound and help, even if temporarily, repair some muscle tissue or pulling ligaments back together. 

Essentially, I was a very, very uneducated surgeon. Well, even if it wasn't the most effective ability, Especially compared to even the most simple healing skill, I was still very proud of it.

This wasn't just because it took a lot of effort to develop. It was also because I was the only person in the world capable of doing it. In fact, in terms of mana control, I was absolutely the most skilled individual alive.

I sighed. Unfortunately, mana control isn't particularly valuable for anyone other than myself, and some other F-Ranks with little to no skills. For the S-Rank hunters with plenty of mana, it's still just more effective to use their S-Rank skills rather than trying to meticulously control their mana to attack.

Plus, even if they wanted to, most of them don't have the talent for it. At most, a few of them use it defensively, to enhance their body if they didn't have a skill to cover for that weakness, but their application was rudimentary at best.

If I had access to those bastard's mana…

Once again, I found myself thinking about the old days.

'Come on, Mason, don't worry about it. Nobody has more talent for it than you. I'm sure there's a way to get new skills, or more mana output. You'll be stronger than us in no time…'

Thinking about the S-Rank hunters.

Ugh. It was a nasty train of thought. Considering when I used to be valued, when I was important, and comparing it to now when I was nobody. 

And whenever I thought about these things, I was always brought back to 'Her'. I discarded these thoughts. It wasn't the time to feel sorry for myself; now, I needed to take action. I looked at the staircase once more, my brows furrowed.

Decisively, I walked down.