NOVEL NEXT Chapter 51: Consecutive breakthroughs
Esdras jumped up in the air and roared. This was a moment of happiness.
His victory was not easy in the least, if he had not crippled the scavenger in that first encounter, he might not have been able to win that easily.
Admittedly, what he did in the last moment was slightly risky, but there was no such thing as a fight without risk. If he wanted to win and gain the rewards of victory, he had to endure some risk no matter what.
Two bigger-than-normal treasure chests appeared as the body of the scavenger started to dissipate.
Something caught his attention, he saw an ethereal chain, connected to the scavengers, somehow from the back.
Oddly enough, he did not see it before this moment. it went downwards into the ground, and yet it seemingly disappeared through it like a nonmaterial object.
The chain reminded him of the hundreds of chains connected to the sarcophagus underground; however, he decided to put this matter behind him since thinking about it was useless for someone like him.
Instead, he decided to focus on something much more practical like the residence in his sea of consciousness.
For some reason, the process of engraving the sigils was going on at a much faster pace than expected. It wasn't going to take another day. It was happening now.
Without even enough time to check out the treasure chest, he sat down cross-legged, and entered meditation at once.
Within his sea of consciousness, he could see his spiritual energy, moving at an unprecedented speed, and yet there was not a single mistake.
In the past he was like a newbie painter that just gotten his hand on his first empty canvas, he was constantly hesitant about what colors to use and what sort of painting he wanted to paint.
However, now that feeling of confusion and trepidation vanished. Instead, it was replaced with self-assurance and confidence. It was a subconscious matter. It was the result of his recent achievement of defeating the boss.
It was not like a massive jump, but it certainly hastened the process. After all, becoming stronger and faster was always a good thing. Well, most of the time.
Another attribute that made the whole process much easier with the synchronization between his spiritual energy and sea of consciousness was his breakthrough to rank 2.
Even the strangely swirling sea of consciousness was now moving at a faster pace.
In two hours the process that he once had trouble with the most was over. The four elemental sigils were complete.
He could see them shining each with a different color, the fire with orange-red, the earth with brown, the air with green, and the water with pure blue.
Having done that, he didn't stop to rest. He had to continue the advancement. The hard part was over and now came the easy part.
Manipulation, control, and manifestation. These were the three secondary sigils that needed to be combined with each of the primary sigils.
Naturally, these sigils were much less complicated.
Following his will, his massive, spiritual energy started engraving the secondary sigils. It did not take long and each triplet only took one hour.
Four hours later, he was done engraving them into his sea of consciousness. Next, he started the fusion process.
He was very careful while removing the completed secondary sigils one by one and fusing them with the primary sigils.
According to the teachings in the tower, this should be a very sensitive process, but he quickly found out that it was not a big deal at all for some reason the primary sigils fused with the secondary sigils almost on their own.
By the end, he was just carelessly throwing every completed secondary sigil. In a few minutes, everything was completed and his mind experienced a fantastical phenomenon. Although it only lasted for a moment, it was a feeling of clarity.
The mana in the environment that he had been consciously and subconsciously, keeping at bay all this time was finally allowed in. The mana rushed into his body and to his sea of consciousness like a tidal wave.
He felt an earth-shaking roar erupt from somewhere. it was like suddenly gaining a new limb, the mana seeped into each of the completed elemental sigils and began filling them up. They were only filled up to 20%.
When the mana completely filled them up to 100%, a transformation would occur and then he would be a True mage. Technically speaking.
Esdras took a look at his stats and sure enough, he had advanced to become a level three apprentice mage. The next level required 460 EXP. His mana stat was now 2 instead of 0.
But rather than lament he stood up and flexed his hand. A fire burned on his hand, but he did not feel the heat at all, with another thought the fire grew and blazed as it reflected its light on his face.
On his other hand he conjured water and with another thought both The fire and water disappeared and they were replaced by chunks of rocks and a spinning line of greenish air.
Three new active skills were added:
1) Control Lv.1 (0/50 EXP)
2) Manipulation Lv.1 (0/50 EXP)
3) Manifestation Lv.1 (0/50 EXP)
Sweet. Since he had no way to learn spells here in the wild, he would have to rely on these three basic skills to imitate spells.
Obviously, the three skills represented how much of these elements he could conjure, and how much he could control said elements. The manipulation skill probably referred to how much he could change the elements.
For example, how hot the flames he conjured were and how sharp a wind blade was.
That being said, he did not hesitate to spend 150 EXP at once, taking all three skills to level two.
1) Control Lv.2 (0/120 EXP)
2) Manipulation Lv.2 (0/120 EXP)
3) Manifestation Lv.2 (0/120 EXP)
Esdras thought this was enough to guarantee safety until he returned to the tower, but then he remembered Ishtar's warning and the weird things happening in the forest right now.
He hesitated for a moment, but then a cold light of resolve flashed in his eyes.