As his chance meeting ended with a pleasant parting with Ravia, Nick was in a good mood. He earned 1,50,000 Ether Stones as well as a black pen that could summon the Void Hunter Rat whenever he needed help.
Nick, nonetheless, did not forget about his own vulnerability when it came to close-range combat. Under usual circumstances, this was not a problem that most mages would worry about. If they encountered a situation of close combat, chances are there would be a team comprising warriors that would help them.
This, however, was not a possibility in Nick’s case. At least for the time being he had no friends except for Rabial, who was a mage himself.
Nick contemplated his current situation, and after some deliberation, he arrived at what he needed to do. The idea was basic and within his mind for about two days now.
“I need to familiarize myself with summoning.”
“When Rabial was fighting against more than one enemy, he summoned two creatures that were proficient in close combat to defend him. They could fight other creatures, or they could be used as body shields against strong magic that could beat his own shield.”
With these thoughts, Nick promised himself that after this hunt, he would create a summoning spell. For that, he needed to learn the basics of summoning from Rabial or the magic books. After learning the basics of summoning, Nick believed that he can create summoning-type of spells with his style.
Nick turned his attention back to inspecting the area again. He left the tree and walked further away from the Underbroom Cave. He needed to do something before he continued to hunt the mages.
After about 10 minutes of walking, the distance between the 450 enemy mages at the Underbroom Cave and Nick was more than 4 KM.
There should be no danger for the time being. Nick took out 100 Ether Stones from the magical ring Rabial had given him, that he used as his storage space.
With the Ether Stones in his hand, he concentrated and started absorbing the energy from them. Within seconds, all the 100 Ether Stones cracked and vanished, crumbling into dust.
This was not the important point though. After using the Ether Stones, Nick, who was a Level 4 – Imper Level Mage Peak, broke through and became a Level 5 – Imper Level Mage. It did not stop there; he broke further until he was a Level 6 – Prive Level Mage.
Prive Level Mages were beginner-level teachers in schools and captains in organizations such as the Deep Water Organization. From this moment on, Nick was no longer an amateur mage. He had graduated several levels to be among the more professional mages – at least when it came to sheer magical power.
Of course, these levels and positions were set according to the continent’s power levels.
‘Status’
‘Nick’
‘Mage Name – Epsilon’
‘Level 6 – Prive Level Mage Beginner’
‘INT – 6.1’
‘Physical Level – Prive Beginner’
‘Magical Abilities’
‘Life Siphon – Completed.’
‘Energy Bolt – Completed.’
‘Sonic Bullet – Self-Created’
‘Poison Bullet – Self-Created’
‘Silent Bullet – Self-Created’
‘Wave Rader – Self-Created’
‘Passive Abilities’
‘Iron Blood Energy Shield (300+ Magical Protection Bonus + 50+ Physical Defense) (Prive Level Spell)
—
Nick could feel the surge in his magical power. With his current level, he could now shoot ‘Sonic Bullet’ at a range of over 7KM, and it would still be lethal against Prive Level Mage as well.
His Iron Blood Energy Shield became stronger. Compared to giving him a defense of 200 Magical Protection, it now gave him a stronger physical defense and increased in magical defense.
The physical defense that Iron Blood Energy Shield provided was not just the protection shield itself. The shield would guard against physical attacks but the 50+ Physical Defense was directly added to his physical strength.
On this parameter of absolute bodily strength, he was now equal to a ‘Prive Level Warrior’. This gave him both the magical power and energy of a Prive Level Mage, and the physical strength and endurance of a Prive Level Warrior.
Nick was visibly satisfied with this outcome. He took out another 1000 Ether Stones and started consuming its energy. While this time the change was much different, the system immediately alerted Nick.
“Without spending time in one level, gaining experience and control of magic energy in that level, using Ether Stones for only power increase will create unstable energy that will result in death.”
After the system’s warning, Nick noticed that he was able to only consume 100 Ether Stones. The system had blocked the consumption of the rest.
“I am sure it would not stop me if I were to try another time. This was just a warning…”
Nick basically understood that consuming too many Ether Stones, without the proper means and the necessary experience at a particular level, was not the best idea.
If it were like that, the rich mages would support their kids with large amounts of Ether Stones so that they would become strong mages without experiencing the process of leveling up. Magic however was smarter than mages, and already had a rule against this.
If one were to use too many Ether Stones, the mage would die due to excessive consumption of magical energy. Only after spending time in one particular level, and mastering control in that level, the system and magic itself would let anyone use Ether Stones to enhance power.
Nick was amused with this. Even though the system stopped him, the energy of the additional 100 Ether Stones still upgraded his level to Level 7 – Prive Level Mage.
The boost was not much, but Nick could feel that his magical power and energy had increased. He believed that creating and casting more than 50 Sonic Bullets, every 10 minutes, would not be hard for him anymore.
After increasing his power, he climbed a tall tree and resumed the hunt. Within seconds, he found two groups, a total number of 10 mages, who were silently walking in the forest searching for their attacker.
Nick flicked his hand, wickedly smiling like an evil mage. 10 Sonic Bullets, one for each mage, was ready. And as always, he marked them on their heads.
