It only took me around thirty seconds' worth of healing to mend the fracture. The bruising is still there, but I'm going to save healing that for later. Since it's just a bruise now, it won't affect my fighting or travel.

My Mana's back to full now as well, though I really didn't see much of an improvement in its recovery rate. Any, really. The increase must be too low for me to tell, as it still took maybe four hours or so. I didn't keep track and I'm not asking the System.

Standing, I stretch a little, my body protesting after having remained in that position for so long. Once I work out the kinks, I pull my backpack back on, then stretch again. Time to go see if I can fight something that's obviously not an elite I can't handle.

Despite needing to flee that fight, it did help me in some ways.

First, it helped me unlock a new Skill, which is placed in my Skillbook, under [Magic]. That kind of makes sense, though – it's not magic itself, but a technique to help me use magic. I'm still a bit uncertain about the meditation being in my spellbooks, but I'll ignore that for now.

Second, the fight told me that I'm probably not ready to handle the area boss yet. Even if it is just the big daddy of all squirrels, it's still a boss monster meant as a barrier between this area of the Dungeon and the next.

Because of that, I'm definitely going to work on [Magical Might III] and increasing my Mana Regeneration. I'll also tap into improving some of my Skills, being careful not to reach the threshold for the next tier of an Adventurer Trait so that I can get the mana potions from those.

Since I was able to do at least a little harm to that elite gaia bear with one attack while at only 36 Magic, taking it on at 61 Magic shouldn't be too far outside of my range. This is especially true if I work on improving my ability to put power into spells, especially when quick-casting.

Examining that Skill as I resume walking, I'm going to guess that it only applies when casting a spell faster than I can properly cast it at the moment. So if I can cast a [Magic Missile] in half a second normally, then [Quick-Casting] won't come into play to help me unless I try casting it faster than that. I can't cast it that fast normally at the moment, though, so [Quick-Casting] would come into play if I tried at that speed.

I probably won't Level [Quick-Casting] too much. I'd rather practice the spells enough to be able to cast them quickly on my own, that way, there's no increase in Mana cost at all, rather than only a reduced increase.

Looking at the Skill more, I find it interesting that there's not a [Multicasting] Skill, too. But maybe there's not enough of a penalty for the System to find it necessary to add one? I was definitely casting two spells at once, seeing as I was casting [Medical Scan] and [Repair Bone] simultaneously.

Just to confirm, I try to cast two [Magic Shot]s at once. Now that I'm not in a rush trying to cast the spells, it takes me a little bit longer. However, I manage to shift the flow of my magic well enough, and two [Magic Shot]s appear in front of my hand.

No Skill appeared.

Despite that, something did appear. There's a giant version of the stone-shot squirrels sitting on a branch, staring down at me. I'd estimate that it would reach up to my thighs if it were on the ground. An elite squirrel is probably weaker than an elite bear. Much weaker.

The squirrel holds out both hands, and a pair of small stones form, then shoot at me. I blast them with the [Magic Shot]s I'd summoned, then summon up a [Magic Bolt] and shoot it at the squirrel, which has taken off to avoid the attack. The spell passes through where it had been as I summon up two of them, side-stepping a pair of stones fired at me by the creature.

More stone-shot squirrels are arriving. Only a few of them, but it's enough to be annoying. This might be the one that Lucas faced, or it might be another. Either way, I'm planning on killing it if I can. I summon another [Magic Bolt] and send it off, this time focusing on speed. The spell strikes one of the lesser squirrels before it can escape, the creature falling to the ground, dead.

Experience Acquired: +6% (Held)

I dismiss that as I begin casting [Magic Bolt]s at the lesser squirrels, sometimes missing, sometimes hitting. At the same time, I have to dodge the stones I can and destroy with [Magic Shot]s the ones I must. The daddy squirrel is the more annoying one. Its stones are bigger, faster, and harder.

It's also faster. I've yet to hit it with a single [Magic Bolt].

The daddy squirrel is moving around too much, and starts doing so as soon as I begin to fire off a spell. Even trying to predict where it will be ends up failing, the squirrel just changing paths, the spells barely missing it.

As I kill my umpteenth smaller squirrel, a thought comes to me. What if I don't have to hit the squirrel with my aimed spell? What if I only need to fire in the general direction of the squirrel? There might be a way to make the spell hit the squirrel even if the beast moves.

A stone strikes me in the shoulder as I begin summoning a [Magic Bolt], so I summon another and kill that squirrel as I modify the first. The modification takes me longer than I'd like, requiring to abuse my newfound ability to multicast to protect myself. I'd use [Barrier], except that's far too costly until I improve it further.

That's a must considering size and thickness affect cost over time and that's before the cost if it takes damage in order to stay together.

Stepping aside a fist-sized stone flung at me by the daddy squirrel, I finish making the adjustment to the [Magic Bolt].

Skill Improved: Magic Bolt is now Level 6 Experience Acquired: +1%

So the homing version of a [Magic Bolt] isn't a new spell entirely, just a modified version of the [Magic Bolt] spell? I suppose that makes some sort of sense. Surprisingly, the Level doesn't just cement its information in my mind, it also gives me a little bit more information about how to reduce its cost.

I fire off the [Magic Bolt], and the daddy squirrel takes off running. The bolt's path curves slightly in an effort to reach the squirrel, barely missing it this time. I should have aimed at where I expected it to go.

Firing off a few [Magic Shot]s, I stop more stones as I summon up another homing [Magic Bolt], then fire it at where I expect the daddy squirrel to run to. Just as before, the squirrel changes paths once it realizes I've aimed at where it's going, not where it was.

This time, though, the bolt's close enough that when the squirrel changes paths, the spell still reaches it. The bolt strikes the squirrel in the ass, knocking the squirrel off-balance. It screeches in pain as it starts to fall, flailing its arms. As it manages to grab the branch, I take the opportunity to kill a few more of the squirrels that joined into this fight, using regular [Magic Bolt]s to do so. These ones are slow enough that if I aim a little ahead of them, my spells hit as they run.

As the daddy squirrel finishes pulling itself back up onto the branch, I cast another homing [Magic Bolt], firing it at the beast. The squirrel starts to turn to look at me once it's back up on the branch, only to see the spell and start to run. My spell strikes it in the side this time, towards the rump, and knocks the squirrel over.

Unfortunately, the squirrel manages to hold onto the branch, and I'm pretty sure it's swearing at me in its squirrel language as it glares at me. A stone hits me in the head from the side as the daddy squirrel starts to pull itself back up.

Right, there are others here, even if not as many as there were before. I avoid a few more attacks as I summon up two [Magic Bolt]s. One homing, one normal. I fire the latter at a regular squirrel and the former at the daddy squirrel.

In an amazing feat of acrobatics, the big squirrel repeatedly dodges the spell by running and jumping and flipping until the spell fades out.

Looks like that trick is over with.

Mostly.

Pulling on my knowledge from the improved [Magic Bolt], I begin killing more of the lesser stone-shot squirrels as I create a homing [Magic Missile]. These fly about twice as fast as a [Magic Bolt], but the massive Mana cost is off-putting and the time it takes me to cast meant that I'd probably just end up wasting them more than I was the [Magic Bolt]s.

At least, until I realized I could add a homing effect to them.

Keeping watch of the other squirrels as I take the time to cast this spell, I avoid a few more launched stones, destroy one, and kill another squirrel. With this spell finally ready, I begin casting a [Sleep Bolt], finishing it just before firing off the homing [Magic Missile] at where the daddy squirrel currently is.

The spell zips forward and the big squirrel takes off, beginning to jump as it runs in an effort to backflip over the spell. As a [Magic Missile] is much faster than the [Magic Bolt]s, however, that does little to stop it. My spell adjusts its trajectory and meets the daddy squirrel in the air, sending the creature flying up with a crack.

Right, [Magic Missile] is also stronger than [Magic Bolt]. I definitely broke something in the squirrel.

When the creature lands on the ground, I strike it with the [Sleep Bolt], which seems to absorb into it. Immediately, the squirrel's eyes close, its body going slack.

That's much better. I summon up an [Air Bolt] and fire the spell at the squirrel, my spell ripping apart its head as I begin focusing on the others with [Magic Bolt]s. Now that the ringleader is dead, the fight goes much faster and I finish off everything that doesn't flee in under half a minute.

With the fight done, I take a few moments to stretch and feel my body ache from the bruises it's no doubt covered in now. There are a lot of notifications for me, though they all ended up getting muted at some point. When did that happened?

Is there a way to condense them all?

Combat Notifications Condensed Experience Acquired: 187% (Held) Loot Dropped: 4 stone-shot squirrel pelts; 1 elite stone-shot squirrel pelt

So I can condense them. How will the Experience convert after it's actually awarded? I doubt that I'd actually receive that much Experience since I'm sure each Level takes more than the previous.

Just as soon as I think that, a message appears in my vision.

Receiving Experience When an amount of Experience is received that would put one over the threshold for the next Level, the overage is automatically converted into the appropriate percent. This is to simplify notifications for everyone, rather than causing confusion when an Experience amount awards more than needed to reach the next Level. [Example?]

It will let me check an example of how it works? The System's pretty clear on this, though, so I won't check the example. With this, it can be concluded that there's an actual Experience Pionts value rather than just a percent, but all we see is the percent, probably for simplicity's sake. That would make the most sense for how the amounts are converted for the next Level – it's simply showing us how the percents that the Experience Points are actually worth.

How does that work with Experience earned in Dungeons, though? If we aren't Leveling, does this conversion still apply?

Dungeon Experience Experience in Dungeons is held until the completion of the furthest Zone available. Experience itself is earned based on the difficulty of the task which awarded it and the percent shown is converted when a Level is reached from that amount when the Experience is earned. [Next…]

I want to strangle whoever made this System. Why can't we just access this information from a menu? Since nothing pops up to answer that, I tell it to go to the next page.

Dungeon Experience [Part 2] Because one does not receive Experience earned from actions in a Dungeon until after they have completed all available Dungeon Zones, no Levels are therefore gained. As the conversion occurs only when the Experience is earned, not when it is received, no conversion takes place when the Experience is finally received.

Wouldn't that make Dungeons perfect for gaining Levels, then? With this place being far above my Level, I'll probably gain a ton of Experience here, and without the conversions happening, that boost will be even greater than if I'd gained the same amount outside.

Rationally, though, I know I might not end up superior to someone who's been outside during all of this. Dungeons are probably a System-based thing to help people gain Levels to deal with the monsters outside.

With how long I have to train in here before I can make progress, I'll probably be behind someone who's fighting monsters outside through all of this.

Wait. Until all available Zones are cleared?

We're stuck in here until we beat Zone 2?