Lianna finally had enough experience to unlock her Void Flame Manipulation. Sitting on the carriage, she used the two hundred experience required to unlock it.

Void Flame Manipulation I Unlocked

AP + 1

She tapped on her new spell to get more information.

Void Flame Manipulation I

Create void flame from mana outside the body and manipulate it

Minimum Conversion: 50

Maximum Conversion: 50

Manipulation Range: 1 meter

Maintenance Cost: 0.1 mana/second

So she could convert and withdraw fifty mana into whatever void flame was and it would cost her one mana every ten seconds to maintain it. Knowing how to use the spell already she drew out the maximum fifty mana worth of void flame above the palm of her hand. An intensely black golf ball sized flame appeared. It looked like a small black hole hovering above her hand with the flames shifting around.

Focusing on moving it, the black ball of flame moved easily to her thoughts. The flames continued to flicker and shift, seemingly irrelevant to it's slow movement.

“What is that!?” Adam asked her seeing the black flame in her hand.

“I unlocked my void flame manipulation skill just now.”

“Void flame…” adam said “Its a spell?”

“Yes. I know how to use the spell but not sure what to do with it.”

She watched as Adam grabbed his shortsword and put the tip of it into the flames. The flames grew in intensity moving around more wildly for a second then reverted back. He pulled the blade out, the area inserted into the flame was completely gone.

“Damn.” they said together.

“Void flame.” she heard Adam say again.

“If it can burn metal away within a second, that's gotta be a pretty powerful spell, right?” She asked.

“Can you use it like a fireball spell for a ranged attack or something?” Adam asked her.

“I’m not sure. I can't move it very quickly so it would be really easy to avoid.” she said moving it slowly in a circle around her hand.

“You said the spell was called void flame manipulation? So can you change its shape, control more than just its position?” Adam asked

Focusing she tried to change the shape of the ball, trying to elongate it. Instantly to her thoughts it stretched out just as she had wanted it to. Then she had it swirling around her hand similar to how she had seen Adam doing with his mana, except as one entity and much slower.

“Cool. Still not sure how to use this though. Even if I got really close to a monster I'd have to create it then somehow get it to make contact with its body. I doubt anything is going to stand still long enough to let me hit it with this spell.”

“Can you touch it?” Adam asked her after thinking for a minute.

“What!? Why on earth would I do that?”

“I don't know, I was thinking about the shows I've seen with magic and sometimes magic doesn't harm the caster. Plus your not on earth.” he said with a cheeky smile.

“I'm not sure, with what it did to your sword…” she said.

“Hold still” he told her. Reaching out and pulling one of the short dark brown hairs from her head.

“Ouch.” she said rubbing her head with her left hand.

She watched as Adam stuck the hair into the flame she had reformed into a ball. The flame flickers slightly before it was pulled back out. The part inserted into the flame was gone just like the sword.

“Hmm I so wanted that to work.” Adam said

“and you wanted me to touch it!” she nearly yelled at him.

“Wait. Let's try one more time without disconnecting the hair from your head.”

“Excuse me? Are you crazy? What if it catches my hair on fire? It's magical fire!!” she was yelling at this point. Until she realized Adam was flinching away from her.

“Sorry.” she said clearing her throat. “Ok fine but if I die and get brought back by some freaky necromancer magic in the future, I'll be coming for you.”

“Deal.”

Holding out a section of her hair she moved the flame just in front of it. With only a moment of hesitation she moved her hair into the black void flames, pulling back as quickly as she could.

“It worked!” Adam said excitedly.

“Really?” she questioned.

Feeling her hair it didn't seem to have changed.

“Now the real test. Poke it” He told her.

“Uhg.”

Preparing to poke it she felt like the time she went skydiving. Except worse, because she at least knew she had a parachute. If she lost her finger she doubted the healing capsule would regrow it.

“uhhh”.

She shoved her finger into the flame. She neither lost her finger nor did it actually go into the black fire but instead pushed it away as her finger made contact with it.

“Oh thank god” she said relieved.

After her finger had made contact, it began to move away and fall downwards, causing her to react and catch it. She wrapped her fingers around the black fireball, holding it in her hand. Her sense of touch told her she was holding something but it didn't have a texture to it nor feel hot or cold. It was just there.

Holding it in her hand she could move it around much quicker than she could mentally. Maybe the speed she could move it would increase with more levels. Tossing it between her two hands it acted just like a regular ball, but she could cause it to halt mid toss and remain in place with a thought. It was like if she was touching and moving it around with her body it acted as any physical object would, yet the moment she acted upon it with her mind it only obeyed what she wanted it to do, even ignoring gravity.

After having the spell active now for a few minutes, her mana had continued to drop to thirty two. So it was a spell she couldn't have active for too long.

“This is pretty cool but what am I supposed to do with it? Throw it at the monsters? Wait would that work?” she said to her own question.

“Only one way to find out.” Adam told her

As they passed a large tree she tried throwing the small ball of void flame at the trunk. It flew from her hand quickly and accurately until suddenly it seemed to hit some kind of invisible barrier simply curving sharply downwards into the ground a short distance away from the carriage. Once it hit the ground, or should have, it simply kept falling creating a golf ball sized hole for a couple seconds until she could feel the spell fizzle out.

“Well guess I won't be some powerful wizard throwing overpowered black fireballs from a distance.” she said a little disappointed

“Guess not.”

“Well what's the point of that? Am I supposed to throw it at them from right in their face. I could just stab them with my dagger at that point, and I could do it more than once. That one fireball cost me half my mana to create, then continued to drain just to maintain the spell.” she said a little angrily.

“hmm..” Adam said obviously thinking.

“Well since you seem to like daggers, can you form it into a dagger. A small pointy dagger of black fiery death.” he asked

“Actually that sounds pretty cool when you put it that way.“ she said smiling.

A couple hours later they were stopped to take a break. Adam was feeding Basil and giving him some water. She had kept control of Basil for most of the way while he created whatever metal their weapons were made of. It was apparently really valuable and he needed to stock up a decent amount.

Her mana had been full again after less than thirty minutes once she activated her mana absorption. Adam seemed to dislike the skill for some reason but as long as she didn't do any intensive movement it would stay active with little effort on her part.

Standing in front of a tree, she used her spell again, instantly draining fifty mana as the ball of void flame appeared in her hand. It took a few minutes but eventually she held a very small black dagger in her hand. It was closer to a pocket knife, having to use most of it to give her a decent handle to grip. At least she was able to make the handle hollow or there would be no blade. The blade itself was as flat and sharp as she could manage to maintain. It extended out eight centimeters but was only about one centimeter deep. It looked rather pathetic to her and if it was made of metal would never hold up. Most likely breaking on its first use.

Gripping it firmly in her hand she slashed it across the tree. Meeting no resistance, she stumbled forward falling into the tree. Standing up quickly she looked at Adam to see if he had been watching. He was busy practicing his own skills. Good.

Looking at the tree it had a clean cut where she had slashed it. She was impressed. It was a small dagger but she felt like it could be very powerful, able to cut through anything like some legendary sword. What she noticed as well was that it didn't have any weight as she held it. So her speed wasn't limited by it at all.

Slashing at the tree repeatedly until her mana ran out and the blade dispersed, she had completely shredded the area of the trunk. She made it halfway through the large tree, with tiny cuts. It gave her a bit of familiarity with swinging the weightless blade around. Unfortunately she could only maintain the blade for a little over eight minutes after using half her mana to make it. This meant in an extended battle situation she would have to choose when to use it carefully. As she wouldn't get a second chance.

They soon continued on their way. Lianna didn't mind guiding Basil as it didn't actually take much concentration. She only had to correct his direction occasionally since he naturally followed the roads. As they continue on, Adam kept making his black metal, and occasionally practiced his mana manipulation.

She found herself getting bored despite the nice scenery and lack of school when a very large creature came out of the trees blocking their path and causing Basil to come to a stop. It gave a deafening roar with its large mouth filled with extremely large and pointy teeth. She was getting a little confident in her fighting ability, but she was definitely far from an expert with a dagger. This was much larger than anything they had fought so far, and it was covered In tough looking scales.

The beast was similar to Basil except a bit larger and definitely not a herbivore with a large mouth of sharp teeth and fangs. Adam jumped off just as she did, keeping with the tactic they had previously. She noticed Adam looked extremely afraid. The monster was heading towards them already as they each went opposite directions off the road. It hesitated only a moment before it decided to go for her. Charging straight for her she jumped out of the way, its jaws snapping closed where she was a moment ago. She hit it with a quick strike at its neck but her dagger bounced off its scales, only leaving a small scratch. After failing to damage it, she retreated, wanting to keep her distance.

The beast roared loudly again, turning to face Adam who stabbed it in the side of its large tail from the look of the small bleeding wound she now saw. He was able to get past its defensive scales but not very deeply.

She thought it was time to test her new spell. This scaly beast that proved strong enough to withstand against their new weapons would be a perfect test. Using the spell, the void flame appeared above her hand which she quickly formed into a dagger. As her dagger finished forming she heard Adam scream. Looking over towards him, she saw him flying away from the beast, tumbling through the grass and hitting hard against a lone tree. His spear was no longer in his hand. She had taken too long.

She rushed towards the monster facing away from her and stabbed and dragged her blade along the side of the creature.

Damage Inflicted: 36

Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 20 seconds

As she expected there was no resistance as the blade sank in the entire eight centimeters before she started cutting along its side. She only managed to slice half a foot before its large tail swept her off her feet then slammed her into the ground. The air was knocked out of her lungs and she was sure she took serious damage by the pain in her chest.

HP - 20

Its tail came down a second time looking to finish her off, but she barely rolled out of the way in time, slashing her dagger across the incoming tail as she did so.

Damage Inflicted: 3

Bleeding Inflicted: -1 HP/sec for 10 seconds

Ignoring the pain she stood to her feet, breathing in a large breath as she backed away. She was in pain but didn't think anything was broken nor did her lungs collapse from the impact as she feared.

It roared at her from the second cut she was able to Inflict on it. It charged at her again in a rage. It was a fast moving creature for its size, but her new found speed gave her the ability to avoid its charge and mouth full of pointy teeth without too much effort. Dodging out of the way at the last second she was able to cut along the side of its head.

Damage Inflicted: 42

Bleeding Inflicted: -3 HP/sec for 40 seconds

While it screamed in pain she took the opportunity to cut it twice on its front leg, once behind the knee and again at the ankle before retreating again.

Damage Inflicted: 10

Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 15 seconds

Damage Inflicted: 13

Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 20 seconds

Its large muscular legs didn't allow for her small blade to come close to cutting significantly deep, but it was enough to effectively disable the full use of it, making it bleed more and unable to charge at her.

This time it went berserk, and started swinging wildly with its tail as it thrashed about. There was no way for her to get close. Looking over at Adam he was still near the tree, attempting to stand up. By the pain evident in his face, it wasn't going well. She was hurting, but nothing was broken and she could handle it.

After keeping her distance and avoiding any oncoming attacks, the beast began to slow down its crazed attacks and seem to have difficulty focusing. It had lost a lot of blood from her attacks. She focused on circling around out of its sight, but away from its tail and continuously darted in and out stabbing and slashing at its sides. After the third time the creature dropped to the ground on its injured leg, letting her hack away at its other front leg with three more critical cuts.

Damage Inflicted: 14

Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 10 seconds

Damage Inflicted: 12

Bleeding Inflicted: -1 HP/sec for 20 seconds

Damage Inflicted: 20

Bleeding Inflicted: -4 HP/sec for 50 seconds

Damage Inflicted: 6

Bleeding Inflicted: -1 HP/sec for 10 seconds

Damage Inflicted: 8

Bleeding Inflicted: -1 HP/sec for 20 seconds

Damage Inflicted: 14

Bleeding Inflicted: -3 HP/sec for 10 seconds

It was now grounded with only the use of it's two back legs. It wasn't difficult to finish it off at this point. She continued to avoid its occasional tail swing as she cut away at it until it stopped moving all together just before her mana ran out and her dagger dispersed.

Damage Inflicted: 24

Bleeding Inflicted: -5 HP/sec for 10 seconds

Damage Inflicted: 43

Bleeding Inflicted: -10 HP/sec for 60 seconds

Damage Inflicted: 14

Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 12 seconds

Damage Inflicted: 21

Bleeding Inflicted: -4 HP/sec for 15 seconds

Experience Received: 526

Dropping her void flame dagger, she quickly ran to the carriage. She grabbed the capsule case from the back, bringing it to Adam who had given up on standing, and was leaning back against the tree.

“Anything broken?” She asked

“Uhg no, I don't think so but fudging hell it hurts to move.” he said gritting his teeth.

She gave him the average health potion, while taking a weak one herself.

Consumed Weak Health Capsule

+10 HP

+1 HP/S for 5 seconds

It was enough to get her to ninety five and the pain was mostly unnoticeable. After a little while, Adam looked good as new as he got back to his feet.

“Thank you. That spell dagger of yours is definitely effective against something so tanky” Adam said

“Ya, I wasn't able to do more than scratch its scales with my actual dagger.” She agreed.

“Not surprised since my spear barely managed to penetrate with all my strength put into it. These scales would be good to make armor, but I would have no idea how to harvest them, nor willing to.”

“Don't worry moneybags, You can just buy us something better when we get to the big city and you sell off all that black stuff.”

“True” he responded seriously.

They continued on their way. Lianna kept her attention around them as she guided Basil. She didn't want to be attacked unprepared. The large amount of experience brought her to the maximum again, allowing her to hit level four and gain another skill point.

Level Up

AP + 1

Hitting level four unlocked her third physical attribute, which she checked the description for.

Physical Toughness

Reduces damage received and raises the threshold of damage needed to harm one’s body.

She put the AP from unlocking her spell into strength, and this one into toughness. The point into toughness made the tingling sensation move throughout her skin this time, making all her hairs stand up. She poked her skin once it was done, but didn't think anything was different.

She had checked to see if she could level her void flame spell again but it required two thousand experience this time. She wasn't sure what the level increase would do but she didn't see it being bad. Sitting back in her seat, she continued to watch the scenery slowly pass by. She really missed her car.

The large city walls of Karhu could be seen in the distance after they had traveled for two and a half days. Evond told them it would take three by foot and even though Basil moved at a similar pace, he was able to continue on for much longer periods of time without stopping. Only needing to be fed and kept hydrated. They thought they had brought plenty of water but would have run out if it wasn't for the occasional river or stream they had passed.

They had to fight only a few more times along the way, Lianna only killing one additional creature giving her thirty two exp. She let Adam have the other two kills as they were fairly small and easy to handle. The trip became extremely boring with few fights and Adam not wanting to talk much, as he wanted to practice his skills. She did get him to talk occasionally when she asked him about his job or something he found interesting. Unfortunately it was never interesting to her. She found it like trying to talk to a nerdy father that she had nothing in common with. He knew absolutely nothing about sports. She didn't think there was anyone who wouldn't know something about at least one sport, yet she had found him.

As they got closer to the city they could see the large body of water Karhu was built beside. The water stretched to the horizon and looked significantly larger than the lake she frequently visited in the summer months, which was large enough to have significant waves form. Her boredom would finally be put to an end.