I walk deeper into the cave I’ve been hallowing out for hours with a newfound spring in my step.
After my small study break, up on that ledge, it seems like I have a new tactic to try out. Instead of trying to cram as much power into an attack as possible, what if I make it as thin as possible?
It’s not like I’m trying to break through a high-density mana barrier, or some unbreakable armor. These are just dungeon boulders. With enough hits, I could probably crumble them with my bare hands…
I let out a chuckle as I near the end of the cave.
“Now… let’s try something new…”
Using up just one MP potion, I charge my blade with about 2500 mana points while activating my stat boosting and perception skills. It glows and flickers, ready to let out its full power. I focus on creating as thin of an attack as possible. With less mana in the strike, I’m able to make it much denser than before.
I swing my blade at the wall and a thin crescent of mana-imbued fire magic comes out. I eagerly watch as the energy slams against the cave wall with a loud crack, blowing rocks and dust in all directions just like my last few dozen attempts.
“Hmm.”
Taking out another MP potion, I try again. Concentrating harder this time, glowing golden-red. I manage to condense the mana even further down in my blade before letting it soar.
Rocks fly in all directions as I reach for another MP potion to try it all again.
I throw denser and denser attacks at the wall until I’ve hit my limit. After drinking 9 potions in total, throwing all of these attacks in under 15 minutes, and still making no progress, I set out a long sigh.
“There’s definitely still something missing….”
Sliding down the side of the cave wall, I let my sword fall to the ground with a light clang and put out my flames to sit in darkness. Turning to my side to look at the faint white light shining in from afar.
My joints still ache, my back is prickling with a sharp pain, and my legs are begging me not to stand up again. I’ve nearly hit my limit. There’s no way I’m making it all the way through this cave today.
Sitting in silence, looking down at the cave floor that will turn back into a solid mountain once I leave today, a curious thought comes to mind. I mumble under my breath.
“Mana… it’s all just mana…”
I stand to my feet, trying to finish connecting the dots in my head about this new epiphany.
I’m not trying to cut through something like a solid object back in the outside world. I’m just trying to cut through a mana shield. These walls may look and feel like rock but is really just a low-grade mana shield in its simplest form.
If I hit it too hard, with too much energy, everything is thrown out of wack.
Grinning, I drink another potion and grip my sword letting it glow light red. I charged just 100 MP into the weapon and condense this small amount of mana into a very dense attack.
Using my perception skill while managing the flow of mana in my blade, I focus on all of the rock surrounding me. The more mana an object or creature in a dungeon contains, oftentimes, the more densely filled they are with that mana.
I attempt to match the exact density of my attack to the surrounding rocks. What I’ve found in doing so, is that this dungeon material lines up in perfectly symmetrical patterns.
I begin to glow brighter as I use up most of my MP on my All-Seeing Eye other than focusing entirely on the strike.
Unlike moving monsters with more complex systems, this rock is just sitting still. The mana is consistent and systematic. The deeper I gaze into its grid-like pattern the more simple this low-grade mana shield becomes.
After burning through over 1500MP in just a few seconds looking deep into my surroundings, the low hum of the dungeon rock all around becomes much more clear. It’s all vibrating at a similar frequency.
I let out another whisper under my breath.
“This is it.”
I’ve never taken the time to examine a rock so closely in my life. It seems my curiosity has paid off.
I grin, pointing my dimly glowing blade at a 2m high boulder that flew off the wall in one of my previous attacks. With a swift motion of my sword, I let my attack soar.
A flickering red and black slash comes out. So thin, it almost looks clear. Gliding through the air in silence, it makes contact with the large rock.
It passes right through without a sound.
It’s just like Fisher’s attack.
Almost….
It moves through the boulder in front of me with ease but explodes into a fiery mess on the rock wall behind it.
Letting out a laugh and throwing my sword high in the air to celebrate my first successful bit of progress, the boulder splits in half right down the middle. A wide grin creeps across my face as I walk over to examine my job well done
I reach down to take a look at my work. My fingertips glide over the surface of the rock, and the grin on my face slowly fades.
It looks smooth at first glance, but small bumps cover its surface creating a coarse sandpaper feel to it. I thought I did it, but apparently not… All these small impurities begin to eat away at the back of my mind.
If I want to get anywhere near that mirror-like finish that Fisher created with his flash from over 200m away. I have some serious work to do.
Just like when I trained to increase the amount of mana I can control, now, I’ll have to practice something new.
After drinking another MP potion, I activate my perception skill again and take in the vastness of my rock wall surroundings. Condensing my mana and matching its low humming frequency to the microscopic grid-like mana patterns, I let another attack fly at a nearby boulder.
The same result occurs.
The stone splits in two, but my slash erupts into a ball of fire as it hits the rock wall behind it.
I try again and again.
Over the next hour, I continue burning through another 20 MP potions.
My breathing is heavy, sweat soaks my shirt, and the MP exhaustion has gotten much worse. Over-stressing my perception skill is starting to get to give me a serious headache. My whole body feels weak, tingling, and on the verge of collapse.
I throw my last attack at a nearby boulder. I’ve already mentally decided to take a long break after this one, so put my all into it. Watching the highly condensed 100MP slash float through the air in silence. It phases through the large stone, then surprisingly, keeps going through the wall.
The corners of my lips begin to turn as I realize I’ve made it to the next level of this meticulous process.
Moments later, I hear an explosion, and fragments of stone come flying out of the wall towards me in a ball of flames…
With a grin across my face, I slide down the side of the cave wall yet again. The moment I hit the ground, both sides of the boulder I sliced do as well.
Some of the excess fire residue from the explosion reflects off the glossy surface of the freshly cut stone.
Letting out a long sigh of relief, I throw my sword back into item storage while picking myself up off the hard ground with a tired grunt.
I feel the surface of the stone. It’s smooth…
Nowhere near as perfect as Fisher’s attack, but this is very smooth. Using the remaining stores of my MP, I activate my All-Seeing Eye.
Light swirls of pink and white mana seep out from microscopic cracks in the rock, but most of it is well-contained. It looks like an old mana shield that’s leaking small amounts of energy. I managed to replicate Fisher’s strike!
I smirk.
“Not bad. This is quite a good start.”
I walk out of the cave with a bright smile across my face. After using up about 200k MP in the last few hours, the number one thing on my mind is food. The second is sleep.
As I begin walking back, in the direction of the Inn. My bones creak and my muscles ache, but a third thought keeps itching at the back of my head.
I wonder how this new technique I’m learning would fare against one of those Berserkers on floor 19…?
Soon, I’ll have to find out.