Lev took a deep breath, trying not to be overwhelmed. His soul was overflowing with mana, the magical force of nature rushing in it like a small river falling into a lake. All of the mana he had used was going to be regenerated in less than an hour, which was quite terrifying.

Is he here? he looked around, never stopping to let the beetle catch up. Not very surprising that an Exalted came to deal with this… abomination.

He gulped. The giant cloud of lightning and fire was slowly parting from the monster's blurry wings, now flapping faster than before. Its beady eyes were locked onto Lev, effortlessly bypassing the two stealth formations, before they rose almost negligibly.

At the same time, a person landed on his bubble, only their bare feet visible in Lev's field of vision. He looked up, finding two blue eyes staring back at him, both considerably lighter than his own in color and nearly matching Sherron's eyes.

The Exalted looked to be in his mid-thirties, with a healthy pale complexion and lean build. Corded muscles swelled visibly in his crossed arms as he gazed down at Lev, showing a glimpse of the vast strength present in his body. It didn't take long to figure out he focused on physical strength, given how his white robe matched martial artists from Earth.

"Sup, boyo."

Moving to a corner of the bubble while keeping an eye on the beetle, Lev gave the man a respectful bow and opened a path for him to step into the bubble.

"I greet the Exalted."

"Yes, yes," he jumped inside and waved a hand, curiously peering around. "Quite barebones, not gonna lie."

"… It's a bubble," Lev replied, carefully keeping his tone neutral. "A very new one."

"Yet there are already hundreds of weapons stored inside," he gazed at the stacks of arrows and lances stored inside, all of them useless against the third-threshold monster who was now flying at them. "Shouldn't it feel like the bubble is meant for you, and not them?"

Those words hadn't yet finished echoing in the bubble before the Exalted vanished. A calamitous shockwave announced his kick landing on the monster's head, launching it at the ground far below.

It landed amidst a giant crater as dust and stone rose into the ground, along with all the trees in its vicinity. The cloud cleared quickly with a single motion of its wings, revealing the extent of the damage.

The side of its head was where Lev's overloaded lances had landed, and it was… completely unharmed, except for four distinguishable dents in its shiny black carapace. Two of them were shallower than the rest, marking where only single lances had landed. A considerably deeper dent was borne of the Exalted's kick, one who wasn't even a combatant.

All of that mana, Lev observed it all with grave eyes. And it did absolutely nothing.

"There are no other humans or monsters in the vicinity, kid," Harun's carefree words reached him without any trouble, making him look at the Exalted, who was smirking at him. "Go crazy."

"I'll have to refrain," Lev replied after a few seconds, regret obvious in his tone as torrents of mana rushed into his soul. "My equipment can't handle the output, nor can my body."

Harun nodded, as if expecting it. "Don't worry about the latter. Just give it your all so I can observe your aura. We have time."

Lev didn't need to ask what he meant. An entirely new flavor of mana reached him from the aura mage, effortlessly slipping past his bubble and diving into his body. The purpose immediately became obvious as all the aches and damage from channeling so much mana were healed in an instant, yet the mana still remained in his body.

Too entranced not to test further, Lev raised his right hand and willed a large amount of pure mana to exit his palm. It obeyed, rushing out of his core in a wide, dense stream, eroding his flesh in its passing.

Only, the damage healed in the same instant, immediately detected by the potent healing mana. There were no downsides from the oversaturation either, only a buffer to counter all the side effects of his massive pool.

Eyes wide and limbs slightly trembling, Lev willingly channeled mana through different parts of his body, all under the amused and impressed gaze of the aura mage. Blood leaked in its passage, but not even a blemish remained as everything was healed without exception.

"Not bad, not bad," Harun made a show of leaning closer from his position, eyes squinting to take in Lev's testing. "You will fit in the meditation chambers nicely."

A snort escaped Lev before he could stop it. The Exalted was much more relaxed and aloof than he was expecting, even if the concept was distorted slightly by him manhandling a third-threshold monster in the meantime. With a grunt, Harun effortlessly dodged the rushing monster's mandibles before punching the side of its head, launching it towards the ground once again.

Sighing, Lev prepared himself to push his skinsuit one last time. There were plenty of crafters in Timberhold, and he would have to commission something during his stay.

Rolling his shoulders, he focused on his palm as a weapon started manifesting. Within seconds, a replica of Stargazer reminded him of his glaive, but he gritted his teeth and formed several more of them.

Since his fire and lightning output was limited, he had to resort to pure mana. There were only two things that used it— Enchantments and Crescent Decimation. His projectiles technically did too, but they were borderline useless against the monster.

Crescent Decimation required a bladed weapon to work, thus the multiple copies hovering around him as Lev exited the bubble. Each was filled to the brim with pure mana as his barrier constructs struggled to hold it all in, but that was fine. They were only built for firing a single attack.

Seeing that he was ready, Harun gave him a grand thumbs-up before vanishing with a thunderous boom. Lev put the surprisingly entertaining man out of his mind and focused on the executioner pulling itself out of the recent crater, unharmed but now very much out for blood.

Now, Lev took a deep breath, feeling the massive regeneration boost still going strong. It is time to improvise.

All four of his copy glaives swung downwards in unison as he took control of them. A considerable weight bore down on his mind as just as many pure mana slashes were launched in the wake of shattering glaives, each crescent attack overloaded to the limit.

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Lances joined their descent, landing on the monster's carapace without any flashy explosions, devoid of any infused mana. The entirety of his converted fire and lightning were streaming into the massive barrage of lances hovering above, slowly but surely filling up to rain destruction.

Harmless clinks were all the lances achieved before the mana slashes impacted gleaming black armor, finally getting a reaction out of the monster. Halfway to Lev, the monster screeched as the combined attacks overpowered its speed and momentum, halting it in its tracks as the slashes dissipated without doing anything else.

More glaives had already formed. Flying away, Lev streamed some lightning into his right arm and launched another set of slashes. Once again, the monster was slowed down, though it was learning to deflect and was already proficient enough not to be stopped completely.

Raising his palm towards the executioner beetle, lightning roared out of his barrier in the single most overloaded lightning bolt he had ever launched. Caught at the opportune moment, it pierced into the small gap on the monster's front, seeping into its mouth and wreaking havoc inside.

A warbling screech washed over him, almost making him lose control over all the infused lances, but he regained control of them and his flight in time. Exasperated and disappointed, he scanned the damage from the last attack, finding it to be negligible. There was no smoke, no hint of damaged flesh, and not even a drop of blood.

How the hell do I even kill this thing? Lev wondered, throwing himself downwards to dodge its increasingly predictable charge. No amount of firepower will ever be enough.

There was only one remaining realistic option. Fire was thoroughly ineffective against the creature, and lightning was the more destructive of the two against single targets to begin with. Cutting off the supply of fire mana, he channeled as much mana into his skinsuit as he could to convert it all into lightning.

All the while, his Mana Manipulation was becoming increasingly taxed to handle all of the mana. Feeling that he was getting close to either a milestone in manipulation or an entire breakthrough, he instead started channeling fire mana into his armor. Both the mana types were equally demanding, and he was going to brute force it until an evolution naturally took place.

The first thing he did was isolate all the fire mana already present in his lances, singling out three lances bursting at the seams. They were packed with enough mana to level hordes of second-threshold monsters, still wholly inadequate for the current adversary.

As they flew further into the grand forest, Lev breathed in deeply, constantly ignoring the pain coursing through his body despite the instant healing. Using that much mana was like pumping acid into his veins, but it was necessary for improving. The future was not going to be kind to him simply because he was hurting.

One by one, without even aiming properly, he threw the supremely overloaded fire lances at the beetle, each finding its mark due to the sheer amount of mana packed into them.

While the explosion pushed back the beetle with the deafening blasts, Lev prepared himself for some agonizing mental gymnastics. Barrier ropes took shape around him, and so did tens of glaives before the monster could find him again.

He went on the offensive this time. Rushing closer to the dispersing flames, the lightning-infused ropes flew forward to where he could accurately feel the monster's reorienting aura. Each collided with a dull thud and released the charge on the carapace, dealing no damage. That was fine, as the plan was to slowly wear its carapace out.

Glaives moved in a vertical motion next. One, two, five, all fifteen of them. Lightning slashes followed, draining his infused reserves considerably with the single barrage. Each landed with a titanic web of blue before it exploded into fire, pushing the monster closer to the ground as it screeched in pain, slightly stunned with each impact.

Lev didn't let up, pushing his mental faculties to the brink to overwhelm the monster with ungodly resilience. Fire mana rushed out of his palm, not in a fireball but forcefully shaped into a thin jet to accurately land on its front, targeting its mandibles and mouth.

Flames impeded its vision again, which he made use of by firing another wave of lightning slashes at its carapace, stunning it for another few crucial seconds. With an effort of will, Lev took complete control over the enchanted lance drowning in crackling blue mana, and powered up its enchantments. The construct threatened to unravel and explode a hundred meters above him, but his iron willpower clamped down on it, refusing to let it out of his control.

Blood dripped down his nose as his very being focused on the lance and hurled it at the monster, just barely managing to keep it on track as it accelerated beyond his control in a single instant. Lev didn't even have the time to blink when it landed in a reaction taking place for the first time.

Instead of exploding immediately, the huge amounts of lightning rose above the point of impact like a horrific monster with giant eldritch tentacles. It searched for anything to channel the element through, wildly thrashing around its limbs for a single, extremely slowed second.

Lev backtracked as quickly as he could, panic overtaking him for a brief moment before the lightning finally couldn't hold the shape anymore, exploding in the single largest attack that he had ever launched.

The flames that rose this time weren't the normal yellow, orange, and red, but instead, they were blue. Due to the sheer volume of lightning in the attack, the temperature of the fire had ascended a step, moving onto the next color due to the heat produced by it.

Something entirely different was taking place in Lev's mind. His class skills, his mana manipulation, his mana reserves, his converted mana, his willpower, and his class, all of them had come together to create something that shouldn't have been possible for his current skillset. Yet it was in front of him, a fire that burned so hot that his armor struggled to keep the heat at bay. The skinsuit underneath was also operating at full power, just barely managing to avoid his hair from getting burned.

Ah, the thought echoed in his hand, the only lesson he could deduce from the bout of inspiration. Willpower… I need sharper willpower to force elements into a higher state… but how?

A hateful squeal ruined the moment, souring it even further when the blue flames vanished quicker than usual, revealing the state of the executioner beetle.

It was actually hurt.

Small sections of its carapace were peeling off, revealing smoking flesh underneath. Even if it was only a minor part of its large body, progress was made, and he was going to make sure to end it in the next burst of attacks.

Another deluge of glaives formed around him, the numbers swelling to dozens in the span of a few seconds. Lev focused on making them as durable as he could, taking his time as the monster took flight with some difficulty, still finding its bearings.

Three lightning lances were prepared this time as his body was continuously healed by the Exalted, and large amounts of mana regenerated much the same. Lethargy was setting in for the first time, something normal mages had to deal with constantly whenever they used too much mana.

No more chances after this, Lev inhaled deeply, ignoring the pain in both his body and mind. Mana Manipulation was close to evolving, and that took priority. Time to enhance my class yet again.

Exhaling, he sent lightning mana into all the glaives and raised his hand. The fire mana concentrated in his arm was channeled through the fireball formation, molded into a small sphere of destruction. Lev chucked it at the approaching monster. Confident in its natural defenses, it didn't even try to dodge as the ball exploded in a massive blast, once again hindering its vision.

Imagining Stargazer occupying his hands, he clenched them tightly to grip the mentally conjured glaive's pole and raised it higher. His arms trembled with the motion, not because of any physical strain, but because of the dozens of infused glaives hovering above that also followed the movement.

Lev's eyes shook from exertion, blood leaking from every orifice in his face. Yet his concentration didn't falter as he lifted it straight up, along with all the barrier glaives. With a pained grunt, he swung down the imaginary weapon, launching a massive wave of lightning slashes that fell down like shooting stars.

Streaks of blue accurately fell upon the monster's form parting the curtain of flames, dispersing the remaining fire before giving rise to yet another cloud of blue. It was smaller than the previous one because of the divided attacks and overall less mana used, but the effect was no less deadly. Lev was already far enough to be out of range of the erratic lightning, cautiously watching it explode.

That wasn't enough, of course, and neither was it meant to be. Three lances were hovering above him, stretching his willpower in excruciating ways to try and overpower his control. He didn't allow them to, and several notifications in the back of his mind explained why that was even possible suddenly.

With a tired sigh, he shot them all downwards, towards the massive black form writhing on the ground while flying away at full speed.

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