Jon increased the amount of knowledge natured spiritual energy that flowed out of his Knowledge Mana Core, allowing it to flow into his Fragment Of Eyes and Fragment Of Instinct. His instincts and intuition were enhanced to the nth degree, and Jon felt his visual acuity grow sharper and more precise, the emanations of foreign sources of spiritual energy much clearer after overloading his two abilities.

With a sweeping glance, Jon could see the more than half-dozen approaching figures of savage looking humanoids.

Although their appearance was reminiscent of phantasmal creatures from myths or fairy tales, the off-putting sounds of malicious laughter and sinister glee sent shivers down Jon' spine.

These Malum Goblins all possessed limbs that were longer than what the length of their torsos suggested, most of them wielding weapons of dull bronze, or spears with sharpened stones on their tips. Their bodies mutated and transformed into abhorrent and violated versions of what their origin forms might have suggested.

Lips crooked and dripping with drool, with far too many teeth and a tongue that did not quite fit within its mouth.

Hands and arms elongated and bent in unnatural ways. Bone spurs occasionally sticking out from its joints, nails blackened from some unknown mutation or corruption.

Jon's feet had started moving even before his mouth had, his figure sprinting out in a wide arc, the mutterings of a Spell chant on his lips.

[Eyes Through The Looking Glass] allowed Jon to pierce through the mental defences of those without some sort of resistance to mental related damages or afflictions. Although Jon had been wary of using this ability in the presence of Wilheim and Avahni over the past few days, Jon had no such reservations about using it on these human-shaped beasts.

His eyes sweeping over the approaching sources of spiritual energy, his [Monstrous Intuition] twitching as it alerted Jon to the presence of a concealed Malum Goblin. Its concealment type ability lost the majority of its effect after being unravelled by Jon's Minerva-Sagacity Eyes, causing the creature to stumble over a tree root, feeling the backlash of his ability forcibly cancelled.

Including that Malum Goblin, there were exactly nine of them approaching Jon. [Eyes Through The Looking Glass] revealing what fragments and Mana Cores these sentient beasts had integrated.

"Oh, sorrowful soul! Thou wilful ignorance shall no longer be overlooked! The burden of knowledge shall weigh upon thou shoulders, and the scales of truth shall judge the purity of thou desire!"

Jon's eyes gained a slight golden tint to them, as his Spell pierced through the paper-thin mental resistances of these malformed Malum Goblins. Although one of them possessed some sort of mental resistance, the effect did not appear as strong as the one manifested from a Fragment Of Mind.

Swinging Assail out in a wide arc; Jon shattered an approaching volley of stone-projectiles sent in his direction. His Minerva-Sagacity Eyes allowed Jon to perceive the rock bullets, and his physical enhancements born from [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits] gave him the strength and speed needed to intercept each one before they struck him.

Assail carved the space in front of Jon with a series of sharp neon-green slashes. The increase to his physical capabilities brought on from the passive effects of his Seir-Glacial Heart and Murmur-Glacial Marrow in tandem with his physical strengthening Spell elevated Jon far above the realms of mortal constraints.

Although he had yet to complete the build that he had in mind, Jon's repertoire of abilities were much more synergistic than whatever fragments he had seen these beasts randomly integrate.

With a sweeping glance across the forest, Jon evaluated each of their fragments and Mana Cores, the corner of his mouth turning upwards noticing that the strongest amongst them had integrated less fragments than he had.

The weakest had integrated but a single Goblin Mana Core, in addition to three fragments which horribly mutated its physical appearance. The strongest of the nine goblins had integrated the maximum of six Mana Cores, but had integrated less fragments than even Jon had, at a measly sixteen.

Fragments Of Roots integrated into Sin Mana Cores.

Fragments Of Sleep integrated into Fire Mana Cores.

Fragments Of Song integrated into Tree Mana Cores.

Fragments Of Blue integrated into Earth Mana Cores.

There was no order to the fragments that these beasts had integrated into their Mana Cores. Half of them did not even possess a single universal fragment, and none of them possessed a Fragment Of Incarnation or a Fragment Of Transcendence.

Something that Jon could use to his own advantage.

Seeing one of them halt their advance and begin muttering something in their strange guttural language, Jon returned the gesture with another Spell of his own.

"Infallible spirit. Inviolable soul. Pierce through the infinity and penetrate through the source. Desecrated mind. Despoiled essence. Thou shalt reveal the truth, and nothing shall obscure my gaze".

Jon felt his Longinus-Lancea Spirit surge within him, the Spell manifested from his Fragment Of Spirit, [Thou Art The Monarch Of Spears And Truth] constructed a javelin-shaped construct of spear natured spiritual energy beside him, launching it before the Malum Goblin could finish its own Spell.

The javelin-spear construct struck the chest of the goblin, the barest flickers of a flame in front of it being snuffed out before it could finish its chant. The ashen-skinned creature screamed, clutching its head in pain as it became inflicted with an instance of [Tainted Spear Curse].

[Tainted Spear Curse]: Reduces the effectiveness of all Recovery Trait abilities on the Self.

Although he had not killed that Malum Goblin, Jon noticed that it had fallen to the ground, clutching its ears which were leaking a distinct, green-coloured blood. [Thou Art The Monarch Of Spears And Truth] did not leave a damage over-time-effect, although was something that he hoped he could develop the ability towards after becoming a Knight.

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Jon could not use either [Requiem Of The Cold Star] or [Rhapsody Of The White Star], given that Schwarz Eis had claimed the entirety of his ice natured spiritual energy in order to hold off the Knight Ranked Malum Goblin. As a result, Jon could only rely on his third Technique Trait ability, [The Fools Advance, Inversing Life And Death].

Jon entered [Le Mat Avancement], enveloping his form in a dark-red haze of war natured spiritual energy. The mutterings of another chant whispered along his lips.

The young human dodged several glass-looking projectiles, watching as the half dozen or so shards struck a nearby tree, expanding the area around the point of impact in a thick, jagged growth of white-coloured crystals.

Jon felt his [Monstrous Intuition] twitch, flattening his form and lowering his centre of gravity as he avoided a blazing wave of searing flames above his head. One of the goblins, waved its arms out in an enormous arc, releasing the Spell in a manner resembling Han Of The Red Wind and his [Colourless Wind Blade].

Wielding Assail in one hand for a moment, Jon placed his hand on the ground beside him, having finished the chant for [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption].

"Theirs is the savagery that accompanies creation. Theirs is the might that cradles the earth and sky. Theirs is the wrath, that announces destruction!".

The dirt beneath where his hand sat turned a bright lime, churning as a handful of piercing wood thorns erupted from beneath Jon. Jon, in the spur of the moment had decided to decrease the number wood branches his Spell would manifest, in exchange for an extended range.

There were too many opponents for him to face all at once. Jon needed to whittle down the number to something more manageable, otherwise risk facing a wound that his Fragment Of Regeneration would be unable to handle in a short period of time.

Seven pierced wood thorns launched from the space around Jon's hand. Each a thickness equivalent to a grown man's bicep. The [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption] exploded in seven different directions, each individual piercing wood thorn launching towards a different goblin.

Jon had ignored the one that integrated but a single Goblin Mana Core, focusing on the remainder of the pack. Defensive Spells were unable to be cast considering how fast his piercing wood thorns were launched, most of the Malum Goblins darting to either side, or dodging outright in order to avoid the oncoming Spell.

Jon smiled noticing that the [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption] struck two of the goblins. Piercing straight through the arm of one of the goblins, while the other struck one dead-centre in the chest, impaling them upon his Wood Trait Spell.

A splatter of green-coloured blood littered the ground behind it, one of the other Malum Goblins snarling, raising its hand and chanting another Spell, pointing its little bronze sword towards Jon.

Another one of the goblins, one who possessed a Fragment Of Rune integrated into an Earth Mana Core, extended their palm outward, a small glowing sigil manifesting in the centre of their hand. Earth natured spiritual energy was released from the runic sigil in their hand, shooting downwards as the Spell swiftly took effect.

The ground in front of them trembled for a moment, before a thick-pillar of stone exploded upwards, intercepting the piercing wood thorn that Jon had shot towards it. The human raised an eyebrow before hearing Ashvattha Rana explain how the chantless Spell worked.

"Fragments Of Rune often produce Spells without the need for a verbal chant. The "chant" is technically the runic symbol that manifests itself somewhere on the physical body after integration. It is one of the few fragments which produce Spells which can be "swift cast" without the use of a Fragment Of Invocation or a Fragment Of Incantation," said Ashvattha Rana, causing Jon to nod his head, avoiding another barrage of stone projectiles.

Jon swung Assail, shattering one of the rock bullets and side-stepping the rest. Jon opened his mouth to chant another instance of [Thou Art The Monarch Of Spears And Truth] but frowned, feeling something touch upon his Sea Of Knowledge.

Tendrils of sin natured spiritual energy reached out, prodding the surface of his Sea Of Knowledge.

Roots of tree natured spiritual energy poked his Sea Of Knowledge, trying to find weakness across the shape of the mental construct.

The gentle rhythm of song natured spiritual energy emanated around his Sea Of Knowledge, enveloping it in a shapeless prison of musical melodies.

Although Jon could feel three different types of spiritual energy come into contact with his manifested mental construct, Jon did not reveal a single shred of fear, urging the waves and tides within his Sea Of Knowledge to swell and churn, crushing whatever Spells or Abilities attempted to pierce through his mental resistances.

Although the System ranked mastery in terms of the different ranks Mortals could ascend towards; mastery over an ability did not equate to the strength and power that was associated with said Rank. It was a generalization, one that he had learnt the hard way.

More than ten percent of his total knowledge natured spiritual energy vanished the moment Jon resisted the effects of those three mental intrusions. Jon had resisted their effects in their entirety and rebuffed whatever observations these goblins tried to perceive about him, although came at the cost of his spiritual energy.

Perhaps mastery equated to efficiency, where the greater mastery resulted in an individual requiring less spiritual energy in order to achieve the same result as an overloaded ability.

Jon had long such suspected this was the case, although had only achieved a sufficient level of mastery in [Mine Is The Sea Of Knowledge] and could not prove this theory of his. Even so, Jon could feel each of the fragments within him shine brighter, humming as more and more spiritual energy flowed into them.

The eighteen-year-old evaded another round of crystal bullets flying towards him, letting out a small wince as his arm was slashed open from a projectile he failed to cut in time. Jon had become inflicted with something called [Bleeding Crystal] although felt the affliction transferred from himself to Archetype Green, and from Archetype Green to Archetype Avarice.

Jon suppressed the urge to flood wood natured spiritual energy into [Green Is The Flesh, As Red Is The Blood]. Although the wound had dyed his shirt and arm crimson, the pain was manageable, feeling another instance of [One With Green] and [Avaricious Yellow] appear in the corner of his vision.

The increase to his natural recovery rate that [One With Green] granted Jon was slight, perhaps just one or two percent. Although when combined with the passive effects of his Yaochi-Jade Prana, the effectiveness of the buff skyrocketed.

'Although my natural stamina and endurance has not been affected by the fight, my spiritual energy is not going to last if I keep remaining on the defensive. I am fast enough to intercept their strikes and the reach of Assail is longer than any of their own weapons… I need to get closer and make use of it more!', Jon gritted his teeth, removing any thought of him chanting another Spell, increasing the amount of spiritual energy flowing into his Fragment Of War and Fragment Of Stealth.

Jon decided to overload both [Cometh Thy Red Horse Awaits] and [The Fools Advance, Inversing Life And Death]. The dark-red haze that obscured his physical appearance grew stronger and more pronounced, hanging off Jon as though a strange-looking cloak.

Adjusting the ratio of spiritual energy flowing between [Monstrous Intuition] and his Minerva-Sagacity Eyes, Jon launched himself forward, throwing Assail through the air towards the goblin closest to him.

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