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Barrier Carving - 2nd Level 1

Time and Practice. You have utilized both and earned this skill. Extension of the class skill Arcane Barrier Manipulation, this skill utilizes two general skill slots.

Mana conductivity of enchanted barriers is amplified, increasing the efficiency of runes and formations.

2nd Rank: The skill assists in carving barriers even further, improving speed by up to 25%, depending on familiarity with the runes and overall practice.

]

Yep, exactly as expected, Lev read the description with a satisfied nod. The reason he practiced so much with runes was to force the skill in a speedier direction, and The System had recognized his efforts. That always felt good.

Since the first delve was always the most impactful, he summoned his status to check where his skills stood to track his progress. He had once done the same when entering the pit.

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Name: Lev

Class: Mana Tempest - Level 201

Titles: Reinforced Mind, Extraordinary Soul, Youngest Prodigy, Goliath Slayer II, Daunting Steps IV, Daring Delver, Hunter, Seen, Survivor I

Attributes:

Strength: 125

Dexterity: 125

Constitution: 360

Intelligence: 440

Wisdom: 550

Perception: 360

Class Skills:

Arcane Barrier Manipulation - 3rd Level 3

Unerring Volley - 3rd Level 4

Colorful Destruction - 3rd Level 4

Barrier Armor - 3rd Level 3

Superior Senses - 3rd Level 4

Rapid Infusion - 3rd Level 4

Heavier Lifting - 3rd Level 4

Mage Conduit - 3rd Level 5

General Skills:

Advanced Mana Manipulation - 2nd Level 10

Identify

Aerial Maneuvers - 2nd Level 10

Mana Perception - 2nd Level 10

Arcane Archery - 2nd Level 10

Barrier Carving - 2nd Level 1

Wanderer's Repository - Level 3

Crescent Decimation - 2nd Level 5

Self-Taught Beginner Glaive Mastery - Level 4

]

Glaive Mastery was likely the one that would see the most improvements. Lev planned to get close and personal with zyliths and harpies and train against them, albeit with only one or two of them at once.

Everything else… will come along, I guess? Just gotta use all my tools at once, and bring in chains again.

With a deep inhale, Lev settled in to practice his new formation for a few days and mentally prepared himself for the upcoming exertions. It was going to be a difficult delve, one made much harder by the sheer number of enemies he was going to have to face.

****

Four days later, Lev woke up with a fresh mind and relaxed body, very different from their usual state in the past few days. His muscles weren't sore from all the shadow fighting, nor was his mind on the verge of breaking apart from enhancing all his movements.

Improvements had made themselves known despite the short time he spent on training, but mainly, Lev had successfully identified his limits. No longer was he at the risk of falling unconscious because of a random mistake during his practice sessions, which was the primary hurdle in utilizing the enhancement formation. If that happened in front of a second-threshold monster, there was going to be no saving him.

In a blink, the bubble around him vanished, leaving an exposed Lev that started advancing deeper into the dungeon. Advanced Enhancement formation and Mana Concealment given by Drakys were present on his armor, both compatible in their usage. By running both of them together, he could mask his presence to a large degree despite not holding back. Monsters were always too sensitive to mana, as the boss had demonstrated.

Gliding forward to make no sound, he spotted two zyliths on the ceiling. They had already spotted him and jumped the moment their cover was up. Lightning infused his armor as Lev backtracked, easily avoiding their drop. Stargazer was already infused with a large amount of the crackling mana when he attacked.

Testing the extent of his capabilities was the first priority. Lev swung wide, a basic attack meant to be enhanced easily. Stargazer blurred forward, biting deep into the lizard-like monster's front limb, raised to swat him away. A threatening hiss turned into a roar of pain when lightning seared its way deep into the arm, blackening the flesh as it snaked inside.

Alright, these things are tough. Lev observed as he evaded the second zylith's charge, forcing him to reposition to target only one of them. Never saw Stargazer's enchanted blade only dig a few inches into flesh before.

He did a scan of his mind while moving, finding it unburdened by the current movement, even if he was always utilizing the enhancement in small bursts.

So far so good.

A moderately charged lightning slash stunned one of the zyliths, giving Lev a bit of time to fight the other one and ramp up the enhancement slightly. Armor shining blue from the imbued lightning, Lev zipped forward, ducking underneath its swipe and scoring a large gash on its side. A tail sought to strike his legs and was dodged at the last moment as Lev jumped, his reactions quick like a cat's due to the heightened armor manipulation.

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Stargazer didn't remain idle and punished the monster by lopping off the offending tail during the evasion. Ignoring its cry of agony, Lev lunged for the zylith's throat, slicing cleanly through it faster than the monster could dodge or deflect.

That didn't quite put down the resilient monster as it chased him around still, but another thrust to its head finally ended its life. Lev darted back, pulling the remaining monster away from the corpse and the blood pooling underneath.

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You have slain [Zylith - Level 255]

]

One down.

Then began the hard part. Lev flew in circles around the slow monster, taking in its huge, meaty limbs. Each was audibly heavy as they thumped on the ground, and he was planning to pit his mind against that. It was bound to be painful and uncomfortable, but he needed to experience the strain.

A few seconds later, he landed on the stone ground, letting the monster rush him head-on. Lev forced himself to stay in place and tracked its every movement, especially the tail, as the monster lunged.

Both of its front limbs were coming in from the sides, intent on grabbing him and pinning him to the ground. The motion was entirely too slow, though, and he just backstepped while preparing Stargazer.

Knees bent and back straightened, Lev brought down Stargazer in a chop against the closest arm. Both of them collided with a big shockwave, the blade biting deep as a result, as Lev staggered in place from the mental jolt. Blood dripped down his nose from the gross overuse to counteract the impact, but it wasn't as bad as he expected.

The zylith's momentum didn't allow it to back off, only pushing its arm further towards Stargazer. A struggle ensued as the barrier blade met bone, causing Lev to slide back from the sheer force of the monster's dash. All the while, he also gave it his all, empowering his chop in its straightforward entirety.

Bone lost after a long yet brief instant, and the monster's limb went flying off. It sailed past, crying in agony. Lev swiftly put an end to its misery with two lightning lances as he himself flopped to the ground, breathing heavily with bloodshot eyes.

Be it the positioning of his feet, or the angle of his arms, or the half-bent knees and taut shoulders, every single part of his stance had been manually enhanced and pushed beyond its intended limits. It was a herculean task, one only made possible because his move was so simple and uncomplicated.

That… he took a deep breath, then sighed. That went well, I think. My mind's still intact, and there's a notification waiting for me.

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Self-Taught Beginner Glaive Mastery has reached Level 5

]

That was the beauty of Self-Taught Mastery skills. Not only did they improve one's basics, but they also encapsulated all the odd external additions that aided the skill's concept.

Most of the time, people used that to include their elements, such as fire to blast a weapon forward, or gravity to empower all their movements. The latter was extremely rare, though.

Things became absurd in Lev's case. His class was a wild card from the get-go. Not even Alec, the man who had theorized it, knew what direction it would take. They knew the class was going to be strong, but not much else.

A clear shape was taking form in Lev's mind now. Mana Slash and Arcane Archery were the obvious general skills that synergized extremely well with all his class skills. That was true until Arcane Archery fell behind because, at one point or another, Lev could do far more with the projectiles he launched en masse. His class's current state was proof of that.

Then the Exalted crafter once remarked that Self-Taught skills were always worth the investment. It opened his mind to new possibilities that Lev hadn't considered before. Originally, he simply wanted a skill that let him utilize a glaive with sufficient skill.

Delving deeper into the potential of the skill had revealed much more, which was the main reason he refrained from accepting the skill for as long as he could. Unfortunately, Lillia forced him to accept the base skill, but that didn't close the door Lev had envisioned, not entirely.

Now, he could force the second-rank to accept his armor manipulation as a part of glaive mastery. Self-taught skills just worked like that.

The benefits didn't need mention. Having strong class skills was one thing, but a general skill that could be evolved several times while empowering several of his class skills was going to be a game-changer.

Yeah… that's amazing and all, but man, there's so much work to be done. Monarch knows just how much more potential evolving will unlock in this bonkers class.

No other way but forward, Lev supposed.

Soundlessly, he slowly healed himself under the concealed armor and advanced into the dungeon. Lev moved at low speeds, not wishing to engage any of the monsters without a nearly full pool and a relaxed mind. Willpower overuse taxed it quite a bit, but the damage also reset quickly if one stopped and rested.

Two more zyliths dropped from the ceiling, failing to even come close to Lev. He readied Stargazer and began with the next test. Attacking was manageable, but top speed still remained to be seen.

Air parted with a woosh as Lev darted into the zylith's face. It predictably tried to smash him into the ground, only for the attack to be dodged with a single sidestep. The movement was crisp, in tune with his enhancement that made evasion trivial.

Immediately, a tail rushed at his midsection. Lev jumped back as the tail collided with his armor, absorbing most of the force as he was launched back. The moment his feet touched the ground, he rushed in again, dodging and testing the limits of his enhancement further.

Ten minutes later, two corpses announced the end of that practice session.

Decently improved speed. Around 10%, if I had to guesstimate. Reaction time is slightly enhanced because of reduced input delay, and control is obviously more intricate. Overall, the enhancement will only be worth it once I get to the same level of proficiency as the previous one.

That was already the plan, so Lev continued onwards and dealt with all the zyliths in his path. Hours passed as he encountered more and more of them, sometimes in groups of four. Just to be safe, he never challenged more than three at once, opting to kill the rest quickly.

Curiously, he got no levels despite killing second-threshold monsters all by himself. Were they too weak, or was Lev too strong? Either way, he wasn't disappointed by the expected result.

Half a day later, he peeked out of the cave's exit, gazing at the many harpies flying above. Nothing about them screamed out of the ordinary, so he scanned them through a very small slit in the stone of the cave's edge. Bird monsters usually had excellent eyesight, so he had to be careful.

Twenty-seven of them, all averaging level 280. Quite the task for a little old me.

Lev was going to have to adapt. It was impossible to attract only one or two of them, which left dealing with the whole flock at once. Backtracking, he finalized the way he wanted to enchant his arrows and how to use them.

The bubble appeared around him and was deftly enchanted with concealement and invisibility, letting him plan without risking detection. Firstly, he wanted to try out the combinations of different formations for his arrows in the collection. Drakys had singled out two of them, both similar in their function but intended for different sizes.

For his arrows, the formation was a direct upgrade to what he already used. A barrier cart without a roof formed next to him inside the bubble. It was small, only the size of four large food trays put together— perfect to hold his arrows.

The rune collection in his hands, Lev formed a small arrow. It was a curious little thing, barely as long as his arm and wide as his finger. Yet, the unassuming projectile could kill monsters near his own level.

Let's see. The arrow formation is called 'Lethality Formation,' and the lance formation is called 'Armorbreaker.' My business is with the first.

Lethality consisted of three simple functions. The tip of his arrows would be enhanced by a more potent sharpness rune, their speed would be empowered by a less potent but controllable acceleration rune, and his ability to adjust their trajectory was going to be enhanced. With enough practice and brute force, Lev could quite literally make his arrows stop and turn around if he refrained from launching them at full speed.

Unlikely that I'll need to resort to that. If I need them to change directions, I'd much rather just create more of the arrows.

With his improved carving skill, the formation took less than five seconds despite it being his first attempt. It also boasted an efficiency above 90%, which was quite good. Lev was never going to get tired of just how strong the formations gifted to him were.

To test the difference, a normal arrow formed next to him. Creating small holes in the bubble, Lev fired both the enchanted and unenchanted versions at once deeper into the cave. The result was obviously in the former's favor as it vanished into the darkness far faster.

Seeing nothing unexpected, he moved on to the next test. Acceleration formation was quite potent but it remained to be seen just how it compared to the new enchantments.

Two enchanted arrows were created again, bearing those formations. Lev focused deeper, bringing all his mental power to bear as he launched the arrows together.

In a blink, they were flying at full speed. Acceleration arrow was entirely beyond his control, but the lethality arrow could still be adjusted to a surprising degree. Except… they were both evenly matched. The supposedly more potent formation had failed to excel in its only purpose, simply because the lethality runes were better overall.

Lev was more than fine with that. Since the arrows were also much sharper, his usual attacks were going to see a huge upgrade in their sheer deadliness.

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