Hell Difficulty Tutorial

All of them turn towards us, and I quickly examine the people in the room.

Obelia from Storm Brigade. Pale brown hair, silver eyes with circuits.

[Stormshaper - lvl ??]

Lorven from Veilwalkers. His face is hidden under the cape, yet his eyes glare at me hatefully.

[Veilstriker - lvl ??]

Thalen from Luminous Order. Older, friendly-looking red-haired man. His figure is thin, and there is a slight smile on his lips as he nods to greet me.

[Pulsebinder - lvl ??]

And Isola from Obsidian Circle. A short woman with pale skin and short black hair. As if bored, she just sits there and keeps yawning.

[Stoneheart - lvl ??]

“Why don't we make it short? Whoever wants to fight can attack me,” I throw into the room.

Obelia straight-up ignores it, while Lorven jumps to his feet, his shadowy mana already swirling around his body. The epic dagger he just bought from somewhere is already in his hand, unlike the last time.

Isola, a black-haired pale woman, laughs out loud and glances at me. Then, to the surprise of everyone else, she gets to her feet and stands by Lorven's side. The guild master of Veilwalkers seems to be the most surprised out of them. Isola stares at me, and I can see competitiveness glowing in her eyes.

Oh, she is one of these. A battle maniac. Did my challenge poke at her?

“Miss Myrra, is this really necessary?” the only healer in the room said, red-haired Thalen.

I do not even bother to look at Myrra to gauge her reaction. I already know what expression she is making.

After a short exchange, both guild masters attack me.

All the shadows around me become darker, and at once turn into spikes that attack me, even my own shadow.

I redirect most of my mana into a Reinforcement construct and let them hit my body and watch how they are unable to pierce my skin.

Already, Isola is in front of me, tattoos glowing on her forearms, the most intricate ones I have seen up until now. There is a slight haze around her fist as she punches at me.

Ignoring more shadowy spikes, I push myself away from her with a blast of kinetic energy and send a disrupting wave at the shadow near me as Lorven tries to use it to appear behind me.

Isola is once again in front of me, tanking a significantly strong blast of kinetic energy, mana roaring through her body, and her feet tearing apart the floor.

I let her grab my arm, and she pulls, almost surely wanting to tear it off my body.

Nothing happens.

Her eyes widen in surprise, and more mana fills her body, skills activating one after another, and she squeezes and pulls again.

My body doesn't move at all.

“Well, fuck,” she says just as my fist hits the middle of her face, sending her flying through the room.

My body is strengthened by nearly the entirety of my mana and some. To say shortly, I don't think I will lose easily to anyone when it comes to physical strength. Well, at least while I have my mana. If I don't, even Isabella might be too much for good ol' me.

I redirect some mana and send a pulse of disrupting attack through the room, making Lorven materialize. Then I continue sending pulse after pulse towards him, disrupting his attempts to hide or strengthen his body.

It reminds me of good old times when I was hunted by mage hunters on the third floor. Just this time it's me bullying someone.

Before I reach him, Lorven pulls all the shadows around him towards himself between my pulses. The shadows enter his body, his eyes turning pitch black. He slashes the dagger in his hand, and invisible attacks carve deep holes into the floor and walls as I continue to use [Perception] to detect them. A few projectiles I shoot at him, he cuts apart, the mana dissipating into nothing.

Meanwhile, Isola reaches me as well, this time mana covering the entirety of her skin, creating some sort of extremely dense, skin-tight barrier. She deflects my mana projectiles, tanks two blasts of kinetic energy pushes through the flames, and when she reaches me, she punches at me, using the strength of her entire body.

Just before the hit lands, I redirect all the mana into physical stats and grab her hand. This time I feel the attack and its terrifying strength; the woman surely having upgraded her strength attribute.

"What the fuck," she complains, and I punch the middle of her face again, sending her flying through the room once more.

Lorven adapts and starts shooting shadowy projectiles at me in between my pulses of [Resonance], while moving closer, holding an epic-graded dagger with a sickly aura along the blade.

Not worried, I step towards him, releasing a bit more of my mana and finally activating [Mana Domain].

"Miss Myrra, are you sure?" I hear somewhere in the background.

The mana around me becomes easier to control, and I keep creating projectiles, shooting them at Lorven from every side, and soon, overwhelmed, he spends most of the time deflecting them, and I can see that he wants to tire me out.

He is waiting for me to start saving my mana.

Amused somewhere in the back of my mind, I just release more mana and create more projectiles. They aren't that strong, almost as if someone is throwing pebbles at a normal human.

With full power and while aiming at the crotch.

Yup, that's me.

Lorven surprises me once more. A pulse of mana from him passes through my [Resonance], disabling it for a moment, and he disappears, appearing much closer, his body covered in shadowy armor that traces his body. His stab is deadly, quick, and direct, right at my mana heart.

A strong blast of kinetic energy tears off even more flooring and sends him flying away, where he lands on his feet. Before he can react more, I stand in front of him, and a single punch to his stomach sends him against the wall, groaning with pain.

The epic-graded dagger I grabbed from his hand while breaking a few of his fingers, I throw at Myrra's feet, "You can sell it again, same deal," I tell her as her tail moves in an amused manner.

"Okay, I'm ready, try again," I hear from behind me. It's Isola, the barrier around her changed now, tattoos glowing in a different color, and a big smile still on her face. Her face that bears no signs of wounds.

She charges at me again, and I redirect all my mana into Reinforcement and then pull some from Mana Reservoir, my epic passive. As her attack is about to reach me, I pull even more, powering my body to a terrifying degree and feeling the pressure it puts on me. Using any more mana than this will hurt my body.

Yet still, as her fist hits my palm, I feel the immense pressure behind the hit, a shockwave sent into the room. A shockwave created just by the strength of her body only.

"For fuck's sake," she sighs and closes her eyes as I'm about to punch her again.

That is when Myrra stops me, "I think this much is enough," she says shortly, and immediately I notice all the people in the room tense up.

The tall Lynthari stands up and slowly walks through the room, her steps echoing from the wall, and she drops the dagger in front of Lorven, who still holds his belly. She then checks on Isola

"More than this would be boring," Myrra says simply, yet even that seems to, if not terrify, then disturb some of the guild masters.

"As you said, Miss Myrra, that much is enough," Obelia says simply while looking at me in an asking manner.

I just nod, and she returns it, gesturing to the spot near her.

When I sit down, Tess stands behind me in a similar manner to the other attendees.

Isola passes by me, not hurt at all. The woman with short black hair smiles and there doesn't seem to be any ill intention behind it, nor does she seem angry at me.

"We will have to fight sometime," Isola says, and unlike her uninterested behavior from before, she feels almost friendly.

Should I agree to that? Having such a durable punching ba... such a durable sparring partner could allow me to test some skills.

"Sure," I tell her, and she hands me a small mana stone with a few addresses and ways to contact her.

Red-haired Thalen watches it from where he sits, almost like a grandpa having to deal with silly kids. Somehow it makes me want to punch him too. It's enough that I have to socialize with people, and then one of them looks at me like that? Even what Lorven does, I prefer more.

Lorven is an asshole and already tried to steal from me and kill me. Our relationship is clear. If he tries it again, I beat him up and steal his dagger to sell it. If he tries it on someone from my group, I kill him.

Simple, harmonious relationship with clear roles, as it should be.

But looking at Thalen and feeling his mana, I can say that he is quite a strong healer, and a hint of competitiveness rises up inside me. Lily should level up more, so I can show her off and wipe that smug smile off his face.

I feel Tess tapping on my shoulder, and I look up to her. "What?" I ask.

Tess leans to my ear and whispers, "You should limit your mana a bit; you might be scaring people."

Huh?

I start doing that and notice relief on the faces of the attendees.

Did they think I was threatening them? Is there some acceptable way of dealing with mana and rules that people in some circles follow?

Well, who cares, that's for Tess to learn and deal with. As my vice guild master, she will do so while I only show up once in a while.

"I think we should start with the Colony," Obelia says simply and explains.

Apparently, the ants started leaving their territory, not too far as of now, but they were seen by us and multiple other people watching the area outside of the anthills. Multiple people with detection skills were sent to the area, observing the ants and even checking if they weren't digging tunnels underground.

So far, nothing happened, so it's fine. It's totally fine.

The reason for their behavior was still not found, so the mystery lasts. The Colony and its ways are truly mysterious.

They talk about ants a bit longer, and I mostly only listen, leaning in my chair and cycling mana inside my body, doing shaping exercises with an orb hovering over my hands. A few people don't like it, but that's their problem.

Tess is listening well enough for both of us, and I notice that she holds a gravity anchor thing made from mystical metal or something. I already forgot its name. That makes me curious who got the cloak and the ring. Maybe I should ask a bit later.

"So Elydor is dead," Thalen says, and all eyes turn to me and then towards Obelia.

"Damned asshole, I already paid him to make an item for me, and then he just goes out and dies like that," Isola complains. She seems bored too and also creates a mana orb in front of her and starts copying what I am doing.

When she catches my gaze, she smiles at me and shoots the orb at my head with strong enough force to explode the head of a normal human.

I send my mana towards the orb and slow it down, holding it in front of me. [Mana Infusion] activates, and I fill it with my mana and take over, then I push even more with [Redistribution], and the orb turns dark blue. Finishing, I boost it with kinetic energy and shoot it back at Isola.

The woman tries to do the same thing I did, but the orb is too dense and moving too quickly, and it hits her shoulder, moving her and almost making her fall from the chair.

"We all knew Elydor; he got what was coming to him," is the only thing Obelia says, mostly ignoring what Isola and I are doing.

"I would like to know what happened to his and your expedition to the old capital and where you got so many Epic items from, Obelia," Lorven says from under his cape.

"I don't think that's your…" Obelia starts.

I interrupt her, "I killed Elydor and a few of his elites. Then I took the loot he got from the old capital."

The silence that ensues is almost deafening.

"I also called him an asshole," I whisper, to no reaction.

"Miss Myrra, what…" Thalen starts, but when he sees Myrra watching us with amused eyes and her swaying tail, he just gives up, "I guess there was a good reason for that?" he asks.

"Self-defense," I say.

"Ely was always kind of weak and an asshole," Isola sighs, "only his skills with inscribing were top-notch."

"Storm Brigade will be auctioning off one of the epic items we got from the expedition," Obelia says out of nowhere, and that turns all the attention back to her. Expressions of sheer surprise on every face.

Myrra's tail starts swinging quicker, and her ears perk up.