Chapter 25 - Itching To Test
Although 10,000 meters didn't sound like much to a normal person who could traverse that distance in a matter of a few hours, to Aurus...
It also wasn't much. Sure he would have to take a lot more time to traverse that distance, but Aurus had a skill in mind that would lessen the time needed to traverse this distance. In other words, it's a skill that increased his movement speed.
As to how Aurus found it, it was due to him looking through the forums of the game when he was starting out another account, wanting to reduce the time needed to traverse distances. If it wasn't for his memories being unsealed, this skill would have been left behind.
"Hmm...I wonder if they're still in that place," Aurus started to hypothesize to pass the time. "Then again, Kurohana brought me into this world so she might've changed a few things here and there."
What Aurus was referring to was the two skills within the Tempest Ruin. That's right, it wasn't just one, but two skills! The skill that Aurus wanted to get was a passive skill named [Blessing of the Tempest]. Alongside that ruin, there was another skill beside that passive skill named [Stick Regeneration].
That's right, it was a healing skill!
"[Blessing of the Tempest] would drastically decrease the time for me to head back to the Lesser Experience Haven and [Stick Regeneration] would help me recover HP while I fight that boss," Aurus thought about how these two skills would help out in his plan.
Of course, they didn't clash at all and instead boosted his chances of achieving his end goal of beating the boss of the Lesser Experience Haven.
After making sure that his plans were all achievable at his current state, he took a look at his stats again since there was still a long way before he reached the center.
Ding!
"Hmm..." Aurus looked at his status screen and noticed that he still had 150 unused experience points he could use. Aurus tried to recall where he got that experience and remembered that it came from killing the Branch Formosus before he evolved.
Aurus didn't hesitate to use it all up since it would allow him to deal more damage whenever he had to fight.
"Use unused experience points," he commanded.
Ding!
'Aurus has leveled up 3 times!'
With the unused experience points being used up, Aurus was able to increase his level to Level 4, thus only needing 6 more levels to reach the max level instead of 9 if he had no unused experience points.
Aurus looked at his status screen once more and saw that he gained 18 HP, which put his HP and SP at almost the same amount.
Afterwards, he just looked at the surroundings for around 5 hours since there were no enemies around him as he traveled.
Indeed. Aurus wanted to test out the Spiritas' skills.
...
XXXX Continent, Seraph Kingdom, Arcana Tower.
"It's a Spiritas!" Dane couldn't believe what he was looking at. The being inside the orb showed a state of being fluid-like in consistency while maintaining a somewhat semi-corporeal appearance. Since Dane was a Rank 4 High Mage who had accumulated a lot of knowledge, he was able to recognize a Spiritas from the myths at first glance.
"I shouldn't miss this chance!" Dane's expression was filled with excitement. Erea, Dane's disciple, looked at her teacher's face and couldn't help but secretly let out a sigh of relief. If her teacher was happy, she might get additional benefits. Nonetheless, she still didn't disturb her teacher in fear of breaking his happy mood.
Dane instantly closed his eyes and placed one of his hands over the crystal orb he was looking at as a faint blue glow started to emanate from his hand. As his hand started to glow, he also started to chant as small beads of sweat started to drip from his forehead.
"4th Circle. Aquis Supris. Holos Singulus. Aquis Holos Estul. Triholos Trecher."
Within seconds of incantation, the faint blue glow surrounding Dane's hand started to converge under his palm as four magic circles that overlapped one another started to form. As this was happening, multiple magic runes were inscribed on the circles, thus using up Dane's MP. Even though a lot was used since it was Level 4 spell, it didn't hinder him at all.
After a minute of supplying the magic circles with MP, the four magic circles then condensed into one magic circle that was extremely small in size, allowing it to remain undetected.
Dane then opened his eyes as multiple beads of sweat covered his face, yet this accentuated his handsomeness rather than negate it. He looked at the magic circle floating on his hand and looked at the Spiritas within the orb. Not long after, he shot the magic circle through the windows of the floor he currently resided in.
"Magic Tracking!"
Swoosh!
Within seconds, the magic circle started to expand to a size that was larger than the floor Dane resided in before completely dissipating into thin air.
Erea looked at her teacher's incantation and couldn't help but have cold sweat drip from her forehead. According to what she read, the Magic Tracking skill was one of the hardest Level 4 magic spells to conjure, yet her teacher was able to do so?
Erea couldn't help but look at her teacher in a new light since this was her first time seeing her teacher cast a spell. Dane, who was finished with his business, then looked back at Erea as he placed the orb neatly on the nearby table.
With his mood still being great, he grabbed a piece of parchment on the table and then raised it up in front of Erea's face.
"Well then," Dane said in a cheerful voice. "Since something good has happened, I'll make an ideal rank up process for you, my student."
"4th Circle. Holos Miselus Aprisalii. Aquis Status-Skehl Singulus. Biholos Hidens Aptidahr Sapiens. Biaquis Suppress Potensehl."
Whoosh!
"Greater Appraisal."
...
Tempest Cliff.
It has been 20 hours since Aurus started to head towards the Tempest Ruin found at the center of the Tempest Cliff.
Along the way, he tried to comprehend the wind that surrounded him, and actually succeeded in doing so.
Ding!
'[Wind Affinity] has leveled up.'
'[Wind Affinity] has reached the MAX level.'
'[Wind Affinity] has met the necessary requirements and is ready to evolve.'
Of course, Aurus was stuck in a daze and it only took Aurus a few minutes to max out [Wind Affinity]. Nonetheless, he still moved.
He also checked out the three new active skills that are related to his class, the Spiritas, a variant of the Mage class that was proficient in controllable spells.
After these 20 hours, he was still itching to gain some experience in fighting against the branches of Tempest Cliff in his current state.
Ding!
'[Tempestuous Spiritas Glide] has leveled up.' f𝘳𝒆ℯ𝑤𝚎𝚋𝗻𝚘𝘷el. c𝗼m
"Oh, it leveled up," Aurus was slightly surprised to see that his movement skill leveled up. As skills evolve to higher grades, the experience needed to level up grows larger and larger.
"Then again, I have my solutions to these kinds of things," Aurus said to himself as a side plan was already formed while he was traveling, it was related to his skills.
Rustle.
"Eh?" Aurus looked around and saw a branch that was a few times larger than his body. It had roots sprouting out of one end as it exuded a great sense of vitality.
Aurus looked at this and couldn't help but snigger. He stopped in his tracks and rotated his body to look at the branch.
"Hehe. Although you're already a Young Tree..."
"Are you ready to become my stepping stone?"