In the end, Lev deduced that he was severely overestimating himself. The Master evolution had indeed improved his brainpower drastically, but the change wasn't as huge as it seemed at first. His lack of training in such matters was also a significant contributor to his decision to keep his mind divided into two parts instead of three.

Now, the first and main part was doing everything other than the second's job, which was to keep the enhancement formation constantly running. Lev never let his eyes linger in the same direction for too long, immediately firing his enchanted and uninfused arrows at the monsters before moving on.

As it stood, his mana was dwindling at a negligible rate. If Kayla was buffing his regeneration, it might not have lowered at all, despite him shooting his cannons and arrows, keeping the enhancement active at low power, and zipping around to not let too many monsters escape to the Adept hunters a ways behind him.

Is this what the Masters in Windkeep have to deal with? The question rose in the back of his mind, along with the consequences of that. How the hell do they deal with the extreme variety that comes out of The Dreadwoods?

That was a disturbing line of thought. Little wonder people like Mel, Umbrina, and Hakim were stationed there.

When the first attacks flew at him, Lev was prepared. His enchanted walls blocked the incoming earth spikes with minimal damage, and his contained aura easily shrugged off the weak debuff that sought to slow his movements. All he had felt was a slight pressure on his body, and then it was gone.

Seeing that things were picking up, he tapped into Stargazer's reserves for the first time. A large amount of mana left its core and rushed into the lightning converter, and Lev infused a few of his arrows with it before firing them at the distant shamans.

Two notifications rang in his mind, less than half of the total ranged attackers. Not paying the result any attention, he fired another small barrage through the risen walls, his arrows easily tearing through them and downing another three trolls, leaving behind a single one that was also bleeding out, a portion of its torso blown to bits and the wound charred by the lightning.

A group of several dozen orcs exited the treeline to his left, eyes locked onto the closest gold team. They hadn't even crossed half the distance when a giant fire slash landed in their midst, blowing up with a loud shockwave and a subsequent implosion.

That feels nice, Lev grinned and turned back to the high first-threshold monsters coming out of the forest in droves. Using fire slashes during the patrols was too dangerous. It has been a while since I fired one.

He liked his explosions. Lightning had its own throne and extreme lethality, but it didn't quite compare to fire in raw destruction, especially when a large amount of mana was involved. Lev had yet to see what he could do with fire slashes of a caliber similar to the lightning slashes he had used against the beetle.

He was still going to refrain from using such attacks so close to the city, though. It would mean something as strong as the beetle had shown up, and that required more than just raw power in Harun's absence.

Moving from horde to horde, Lev killed hundreds of monsters. Trolls, goblins, orcs, treants, panthers, harpies, avian monsters, bears, snakes, and several other monsters fell to his arrows alone. The projectiles never dwindled, more constantly formed inside his bubbles even as he fired them without holding back on the rate of fire.

Minutes passed in a low yet consistent exertion. His mana regeneration was strained to keep up, and Stargazer's reserves were also hovering near full, which only meant that the wave had yet to become actually dangerous for him. Lev also only kept up the arrow barrage for that reason, conserving mana for what was sure to come.

The first sign of that happening showed itself when one of his walls moved, blocking a large boulder with a large crack that echoed far and wide. Another boulder flew at him from somewhere in the trees, and he finally noticed the attacker as it exited the treeline in its massive glory.

[Troll Giant - Level 311]

Oh hey, Lev rolled his shoulders as a wave of his hand decimated all nearby monsters with explosive arrows. Finally a good test subject.

The troll's next throw was disrupted by a pure mana slash that sheared the boulder in its hand. Instead of charging forward, it took a deep breath, then roared.

Lev staggered in pain when, instead of being blasted by sound, his world was rocked by violent vibrations. His teeth clacked against each other as his brain was jostled repeatedly, only finding his bearings by the time he was far away from the troll.

Once again, it just stood there and raised its leg. Then it kicked the ground with enough force that the ground was uprooted for dozens of meters around it. The dirt, stone, and other things flowed into its waiting palm, shaped into yet another boulder.

Lev watched it all with dizzy amazement, still healing himself to get over the disorienting experience. Ten walls floated in front of him, each blazing with mana powering their enchantments to the maximum.

The boulder shot forward with unnatural speed, no doubt aided by the monster's mind. Closing his eyes, Lev waited with bated breath, ready to reform new shields as they shattered.

With a loud crash, the first of them shattered, but the boulder didn't make it to the second, dropping to the ground with thud and losing cohesion.

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… Huh.

Echoing footsteps announced the troll's charge, but he stopped the monster in its tracks with a large lightning slash. Finding himself with a few more seconds before the troll shook off the stun, dozens of arrows flew out of his bubbles and put down all the weaker monsters coming out of the forest. More projectiles were recreated in their place, and the ranged Master combatants on the wall had yet to do anything to help him.

Guess my barriers aren't flimsy anymore, he smiled to himself and moved closer to the troll. This time, he was prepared for the vibrations as the fire cleared from the troll's gurgling roar, the wound on its chest swiftly closing.

Lev strained his mind to completely nullify the weird attack, stubbornly holding his armor in place. The task took way more out of him than expected, successfully avoiding another bout of dizziness.

Interesting. It doesn't fit into any of the normal types of magic seen in monsters, and doesn't seem like sound either. Some variation of air or sound, then?

Another shockwave followed, and the monster lunged with it this time. Lev waited until the last moment before bringing all of his walls in front of the incoming punch, and his suspicion was proven correct when the attack released a narrow, chaotic blast, shattering another two walls before cracking the third and petering out.

Don't tell me it's literally vibration magic or something along those lines? He laughed to himself and quickly brought out the remaining shields while staying just out of the troll's range. Its giant limbs, with hands several times larger than his own body, could extend to terrifying lengths, but Lev had the advantage of speed.

Unlikely and unwilling to get caught, he flew circles around the monster, sacrificing walls left and right to learn more about its element. The creature just happened to be one that never ran out of stamina, making for the perfect testing partner that he was eventually going to put down.

****

"What is he doing?" Amelia asked, not taking her eyes off the blurry blue form zipping around the monster.

"Having fun, by the looks of it," answered an amused Sherron, much to the confusion of Lev's teammates. "The troll is using very short waves of kinetic energy in a simple up and down cycle, generating strong vibrations. Lev is probably confused about how that's possible, though he will figure it out in time. The bubble we're in also uses the same energy."

"Kinetic energy?" Jack asked, his tone way more pointedly controlled than Amelia's.

"It's a higher element. You can use the crafter's grades as a reference. Water and Fire are first-grade elements, and kinetic energy is a third-grade element."

"Like shadow?"

"No," Sherron exhaled through her nose. "Light and Shadow are way more complicated, and there's no classification for them. They're simply the strongest types we know of."

They fell silent when Lev started throwing giant slashes of lightning at the monster, probably testing its regeneration. Jack also watched, fully engrossed in the casual display of might while considering asking the Exalted more questions. He had a bit too many.

"You may ask," Sherron suddenly spoke, still gazing below as the lone hunter killed dozens of 'weak' monsters with arrows without even looking in their direction.

Kayla spoke first. "Who's Mel?"

It took an effort of will for Jack not to facepalm. Out of all the possible questions, she wanted to know about the juicy gossip material.

"A dumbass with more lust than common sense," she answered, her flat words accompanied by a frigid undertone. Kayla gulped, which made Sherron smile. "Don't get me wrong, Mel is a sweetheart, but she's also very young. She still has a lot to learn."

Then they lapsed into silence again. Jack still hesitated, and his heart jumped to his throat when he found Sherron staring into his eyes.

"Out with it."

"… How old is Lev, really?"

"Are you sure you don't want to ask him?" she countered, not challenging but curious.

"He's not comfortable enough around us to ask him that," Jack answered truthfully, properly thinking things over. "At the same time, he would do just about anything we request at this point. Lev doesn't realize that it's obvious how hard he's trying. It's endearing, and he is bound to have several reasons for the behavior too, so I don't want to step on anything sensitive by asking him questions directly."

Even Amelia didn't seem surprised by that, and Kayla just watched them converse quietly.

Sherron listened with a small smile and then nodded at the end. "Fair enough. I can at least tell you that he's younger than all of you."

"Really?" Kayla blurted out. "He, the Master barrier mage with a Wisdom Boost?"

"Yep."

She didn't explain why he had gotten the class so quickly, or when he unlocked access to The System. Judging by his teammates' expressions, they had enough to think about already.

****

Kinetic energy powered by stamina. One hell of a combination in the hands of a second-threshold troll.

Lev avoided another concentrated blast from its fist, flying up and eyeing the large crater they were now fighting in. The troll never stopped destroying the land around it, constantly compressing it into boulders that shattered two walls at most, nothing beyond that.

A barrage of arrows once again killed three dozen weaker monsters, their speed too much for the mindless creatures.

Don't think it can show me anything else now, he thought, and readied Stargazer as well as his bubbles. My Mana Perception won't evolve from a stamina monster, either.

All of his ropes were infused with a steady stream of lightning, and after overpowering another wave of vibrating kinetic energy, Lev made his move.

Two giant lances pierced into its knees, exploding in a combination of lightning and fire and eviscerating most of the joints. The troll, about to lose its balance, blasted the ground with a cone of kinetic energy, the impact great enough that it righted itself with the recoil. A rain of small debris flew at Lev, each as fast as his arrows.

Invisible shields blocked them to the best of their ability, concentrated in front of him, not to let any projectiles through. Flying close to the beast's maw, he braced himself for another infused roar and formed a sphere around himself.

Four of his walls shattered, as did the sphere, allowing an unharmed Lev to reach its neck. Giant, meaty arms moved to block his path, only for dozens of infused ropes to coil around them. With a mental command, they all grew taut, and half of them immediately shattered as the troll's limbs slowed down considerably. The rest followed, buying him just enough time to carry out the next test.

A blade grew out of Stargazer's haft, nearly as wide as Lev and twice as tall. Sharpness and durability formations of the glaive enveloped the barrier blade in the same instant, and a torrent of lightning rushed into it, not dissimilar to how Orianna had once felled a Shade Giant.

Stargazer moved in a giant arc, biting deep into the troll's neck and piercing halfway into the bones. Undeterred, Lev released the primed lightning slash inside, and with the combined power of both, the troll's head was lopped off cleanly. The slash tore through all resistance, flying for hundreds of meters before exploding mid-air in a crackling blast of fiery lightning.

[

You have slain [Troll Giant - Level 311]

]

Nice.

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