Chapter 19: Magic Training[1]

I allowed a smile to appear on my face as the delicious taste of the tupa flowed through my mouth. This was really something else. I didn’t know if it was because I was hungry or not, but this fruit tasted better than before. As I devoured the fruit, I concentrated on my wounds. I needed to know what a healing item would do when I had a severe wound. The information I was about to receive would no doubt be helpful to me in the future.

As the remnants of the fruit were being swallowing, the wounds on my body began to pulse. It wasn’t painful, but it did feel uncomfortable. The feeling was similar to when your arm fell asleep and you couldn’t wake it up no matter what you did. I sighed in relief as the pain in my left side began to fade. A few seconds later and I was feeling better than before.

With a quick glance at my status, I confirmed that my health was at a maximum. I would still have to be careful since my left side was still a little sore however. Hmm. Why did my health heal when I used a healing item, but it didn’t when I was resting? I gave up on answering my question after a few minutes of contemplation. The answer would come to me eventually, so there was no use worrying about it now.

Once all of the fruit were gathered, I counted the total of each type. Thanks to these monsters, I now had four paralytic tupas, four poisonous tupas, two drowsy tupas, four red tupas, two greater red tupas, and two confusion tupas. The reason I had this many was thanks to the Vinestari. Whenever I had my next battle, I needed to make sure I used them. If I didn’t, then they would just be going to waste. Before I put them in my belt pockets, I looked at the confusion tupa description since I had never seen one before.

Confusion Tupa

Description: One of the many fruits made by a Vinestari. This specific fruit causes confusion to anyone that comes into contact with the spores.

Effect: Confusion for a short period of time

Similar to the name, the spores of the confusion tupa confused the person that was hit by it. I could already tell that this was going to be useful. I was glad I didn’t get hit by one of these in the battle because it would’ve been hard for me to cast spells if I was confused. After examining the description, I moved on.

Now that I had checked my loot, I needed to check on my skills. Some of them had leveled up in the battle I had just fought and I wanted to know which ones. The next few minutes were spent with me reviewing my skills.

Mana Affinity SkillSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: UniqueSkill Level: 7Exp: 3%Effects: Any skill using mana cost 7% less. You are more sensitive to the mana. This enables you to know when someone is about to cast a spell due to the amount of mana being gathered. Anything mana related comes easier to you.

Wind BladeSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: CommonSkill Level: 5Exp: 23%Effect: Allows the user to create a sharp blade of wind that can be used in combat.

Earth MagicSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 7Exp: 70%Effect: Allows the user to mold the earth into a variety of constructs.

Electric ShockSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 4Exp: 25%Effect: Allows the user to give something or someone an electric shock. This attack has a small chance of paralyzing the place it hit.

NecromancySkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: RareSkill Level: 4Exp: 85%Effect: Allows the user to reanimate dead corpses. The stronger the skill, the stronger the corpse. Certain rituals will change the corpse’s characteristics.

MeditationSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 3Exp: 65%Effects: By sitting down and gathering mana, mana regeneration is increased. The higher the level, the more mana that is regenerated. Small amounts of stamina will now be restored.

Enhanced VisionSkill Type: PassiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 5Exp: 2%Effects: This skill allows you to see farther and better. If leveled up high enough, night vision becomes possible.

Wind GaleSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: CommonSkill Level: 1Exp: 32%Effect: Allows the user to emit a strong blast of wind.

ConcentrationSkill Type: ActiveSkill Rank: UncommonSkill Level: 2Exp: 20%Effects: This skill allows you to perceive more information at a quicker pace when you are focusing on something.

Once I was done reviewing the skills, I spent the next twenty minutes eating various fruit and vegetables. I didn’t eat any of the red tupas because I wanted to save them for later. A healing item would be lifesaving if I used it in a dangerous battle. Thanks to the Vinesta’s corpse I had planted, many of the plants had already regrown their fruit so I had enough food to eat. If I hadn’t planted the corpse, it would have taken several days for the plants to grow back, not just one.

Now that my stomach was full, I needed to do a few things. But before I started them, I needed to decide what to do with the corpses of the monsters I had just killed. Should I use them for fertilizer, or should I use them for necromancy? If I used them for fertilizer, more plants would grow. But if I used them for necromancy, I would be able reanimate a new creature. And I did want to know if I could reanimate a plant monster.

After a few minutes of debating, I came up with an idea. Why not do both? I did have two corpses. I could use for fertilizer and the other for necromancy. Yes, that was what I was going to do. Walking over to the Vinesta corpse, I began dragging it toward the garden. Once it was there, I sunk it into the ground and began decomposing it. A few minutes later and the garden was now fertilized.

Wiping my hands off, I looked at the Vinestari. I couldn’t resurrect it now because my necromancy skill wasn’t high enough. Until it was leveled up my mind was only capable of having two reanimations at once. But that was where I ran into a problem. How could I raise my necromancy level if I didn’t reanimate anything?

From what I knew, my necromancy skill level was based on the knowledge I had on it. Reanimating a corpse would give me a huge chunk of experience while reading my necromancy journal would raise it slowly. The problem with reading my journal for experience was that I was almost finished with it. All I had left to read in the book was a few notes on the necromancer’s experiments. What else could I do to raise my necromancy level?

Many thoughts ran through my head, but none of them correct. After about a minute, an idea suddenly struck me. What about analyzing the symbols I used in the ritual? It would be dangerous, but if I understood what each one meant, my necromancy skill would advance in leaps and bounds. Yes, that was what I would do. The reason I was doing this was for more than necromancy too. I might be able to use these symbols for things other than necromancy. If one symbol meant death, maybe I could carve it into something to make it die. Who knew?

But before I tried deciphering the symbols, I needed to make a spell that could affect flying enemies. That was more important than raising my necromancy skill. After I created a spell, I would then look for a couple enemies so I could level up. Once I leveled up, I would be able to use my spear’s ability. And once I got the ability, I would also be able to get dark magic. Or at least I hoped.

After figuring out for my plan for the day, I started to head toward my base. But before I could exit the garden, I caught sight of the Vinestari corpse. Had I ever decided what I wanted to do with it? I had decided to use it for necromancy, but I didn’t decide for what part. Should I have Viola eat it to gain some of its characteristics or should I save it? Wouldn’t I get another group of Vinesta later since I had done the same thing as last time? The problem with having Viola eating the corpse was that I might not get another one. Who knew if the same thing would occur again. Should I take the risk?

In the end I decided to have Viola eat the corpse to gain its characteristics. I did this for several reasons. The first was because there was always that chance I would get another Vinesta in a day or so. There was a risk, but there was without risks there was no reward. The second reason was because of my necromancy level. It was too low right now so there was no point in letting the Vinesta corpse just sit around. A monster could eat it too if I didn’t properly hide it. The last reason was because I wanted to see what kind of skills Viola would gain. Would it take multiple corpses for her to gain the Vinesta’s ability or just one? I needed to know. It would also be neat if she gained the ability to make fruits. If she did I would never have to worry about food again.

Nodding towards the leafy corpse, I motioned for Viola to eat it. She gave me a curious glance before devouring the Vinesta. I watched with a shocked expression as the body of the Vinesta began to grow smaller and smaller. How fast could she eat? I didn’t even know her mouth could open that wide.

Smunch…..

Glurp….

Letting out an unladylike burp, Viola looked at me with a satisfied expression. I guess the corpse was good. Maybe I should try it next time I was here if It was so good. I took a closer look at Viola as she sat on the ground. Was there any difference in her physical appearance? I got closer and closer until my face was nearly touching her body. Before I could do anything I was licked across the face. Recoiling in shock I looked at my reanimation who was looking at me playfully. Tch, I didn’t have time for this. But whenever I tried to examine her, I was licked again and again. Hwaahh. Fine. I guess I would play with her for a little bit.

After fifteen minutes of playing I finally got Viola to let me examine her. It looked as though her skin now had a greenish hue but I didn’t know if my eyes were playing tricks on me. I asked Viola if she felt any different and she told me she didn’t. I guess she needed to eat more than one corpse in order to gain their abilities.

With Viola on my shoulder I walked towards my old base. It had been quite a while since I had been there last so I wasn’t surprised when my earthen house had various cracks in it. It looked as if one push would make it come crashing down. Walking over to the front door, I placed my hand on the ground. It was time to refurbish my house.

Thanks to my earth magic being level 7, my earthen walls were easy to erect. Just for fun I added my name and some symbols on the wall. I did this because I wasn’t really feeling the bland look that my house had going on. The front part of my wall took on a dark brownish hue while the back part took on a light brownish hue. I guess the earth was different in different parts of my house. The earth that made it up looked firm and unyielding, way better than it looked before. Now this house looked like it would last a long time.

Thanks to my house, my earth magic had leveled up to level 8. My earth magic was still the strongest magic that I used. My wind blade came in second, but it was still three levels lower than my earth magic. The reason I was looking at my magic was because I needed to come up with a spell that could attack enemies that could fly. I was debating on what element I wanted my attack to be. Earth, wind, or electricity. All of these elements had pros and cons so it was hard to choose between them.

Making this attack based off of the earth element might not be a good idea. Although it was my strongest magic, earth spells would best when they were still touching the ground. Like my earth spikes. If I tried launching them from the earth, they would lose considerable amounts of power. But since my earth magic level was so high, it might make my spell stronger than a wind one.

A wind spell would be good since it was traveling through the air. This might be better than basing it off of earth. Not only would it be hard for my enemies to see, but it would be incredibly quick. Maybe something like a wind bullet. If I used wind, it would help me get closer to getting air magic. But electricity was also tempting.

An electricity based attack would just be deadly. Not only would it do damage, but it also had the chance of paralysis. I could already see one of the bats getting struck by my attack and just falling straight down. But if I used electricity, I would need to train it more. Right now my electric shock couldn’t reach past my skin but with a little bit of training, it would be able to.

Trying all three of these options just wouldn’t be possible. I just didn’t have enough time to do all of them. I still needed to raise my level and decipher the necromancy symbols. Maybe later I would be able to. But for right now I just needed to choose one. But which one should I choose?