NOVEL WEB Chapter 17: Guidance (2)
Once this idea crossed his mind, he immediately added it as the fourth thing on the list. He couldn’t stay still while trying to cast a Skill forever. It was good that he could maintain a Mana Sphere for lighting while walking like this, but it was much more unstable than an ordinary one. This Sphere couldn’t be used for combat and would have to be instantly dismissed once Michael entered a fight. This wasn’t it. What he needed was the ability to use his Skills normally while dodging attacks, taking advantage of his reasonably high Dexterity, which he had even increased with his Free Stat Points.
It should be easier than dual casting, so let’s actually try working on it right now.
He gathered up the divided mana flow within him and tried his best to create an ordinary Mana Sphere while walking normally. Most importantly, he attempted to use the Mana Shield Skill. His survivability would greatly increase if he could both dodge and cast Mana Shield at the same time.
Once he started training, he felt as if the remaining distance had been crossed in a flash. In what seemed like no time at all, he was staring at a trio of bright-green, large snakes around thirty meters ahead of him. They were smaller than the ones Rose had killed, but were still pretty big.
Michael maintained the Mana Shield around himself and crouched. Fortunately, he was already able to make small movements without disturbing the Skill. Nevertheless, that had been the limit of his achievements. He simply hadn’t had enough time to train and hone his proficiency. He was certain he was making fast progress, but since this was only the second day of the Tutorial, there was a limit to what he could accomplish.
My Intelligence Stat should help me too.
He wasn’t sure, but since Wisdom seemed to help with memory and thought processes, he guessed that Intelligence would make him more capable of learning and making connections between different subjects, and more.
First, Michael needed to focus on the here and now. He used Analyze.
[Green Viper, Level 9]
[Green Viper, Level 10.]
[Green Viper, Level 9.]
Vipers?
This changed things. According to what he knew, vipers were almost always venomous. If the snakes managed to reach him, he guessed that it would be simple for him to end up dead before he even knew what happened. He had a decently high Constitution and Endurance, but he had no idea how those Stats related to his ability to combat venom. He could try avoiding the snakes’ attacks, but all three Vipers were higher-leveled. They could be faster than him.
In short, he couldn’t let them get close, especially if he was concentrating on attacking and therefore without a Shield. His best bet was to nuke them from afar before they could react. Still crouching, he looked around, making sure he was safe, and deactivated his Mana Shield. Seconds ticked by as he raised his wand. His voice left his lips, making all three Green Vipers perk up.
“Mana Wave.”
The casting was complete. A blue half-moon made of mana coalesced in front of him and flew at the snakes. Their reaction was deceptively swift. In spite of their size, the three of them lunged to the side, dodging the Mana Wave completely. They slithered toward Michael, who had already started casting another Wave before the first one had even landed. That was how he managed to fire off a second attack; now that the snakes were closer to him, they had more trouble avoiding it. One of them moved too slowly, ending up being seared in half. Two more to go.
The first viper got within three meters of him after the sacrifice of its kin. The snake lunged at him once more, its fangs glinting dangerously in the mushroom-light. Michael felt as if he were watching it in slow motion. There were two choices before him. The first was to hurriedly cast a Mana Shield and hope it was created fast enough, while also gambling on it being able to resist the snake’s attack. The second one was the one he picked.
Discarding the Mana Sphere that was being cast, he used the full extent of his Strength and Dexterity to jump backward. He felt his heart beat strongly. He fully activated his Dragonheart. He could distinctly sense the blood rushing through his veins and arteries.
A feeling of invincibility gripped him. It was as if he would be capable of shattering the sky and grasping its pieces, so long as he desired to do so. In nothing but an instant, his movements got much faster. He jumped back twice more in a flash, making the two Green Vipers miss him completely. The moment he raised his wand, a realization struck him. He was limited by the fact that he still needed motions to use the most basic of Skills. Because of the Dragonheart, the casting time for Mana Sphere, Mana Wave, and Mana Shield should be near-instant. However, since he needed both movements and speech to cast them, his speed was dragged down considerably.
These thoughts crossed Michael’s mind in the blink of an eye. Most of his brain was still focused on the fight before him.
“Mana Sphere!”
He drew a circle with his wand, creating a glowing, blue sphere a bit smaller than his head. It flew at one of the Vipers, which almost dodged it, but still had its tail-end hit by the attack. Boiling blood flew everywhere as the beast hissed in pain. Michael’s eyes zeroed in on the other opponent before his body even started moving. The snake was lunging at him, its fangs getting dangerously close to his ankle. He decided the best course of action in a split second.
He jumped, resulting in the enemy passing him by. He used another Sphere to finish off the snake he had previously hit, which was still thrashing in pain, as his feet touched the ground. One remaining. Incidentally, it was the Level 10 one. The last snake was already moving toward him. Instead of making big movements, it was slithering on the ground, looking directly at his left ankle. There was no time to avoid it. Michael could only make an X symbol with his wand and mutter two words.
“Mana Shield.”
As the shield was being formed, he tried his best to make it a larger one, like the one he had created against Rose. He concentrated his mana and mind on this singular purpose. He succeeded. The Shield was only sixty centimeters in diameter, but it still resisted the Viper’s bite, pushing it outward instead of allowing it to get close to his skin. If he had used the standard variation of the Shield, it would have formed just above his skin; if it couldn’t protect him against the bite, there would be no time at all to even attempt to move. He would simply suffer the attack.
With a larger shield, however, so long as it managed to even slow down the attack a bit, he had more leeway to attempt to dodge. The Shield stood its ground as Michael readied himself to dismiss it. Once he felt like the snake was far away enough, the Shield disappeared. The small amount of time it had bought Michael, however, was essential. As he could now make small movements while keeping the Shield up, he was already halfway into a backward jump when the Shield disappeared. The Viper quickly turned toward him the moment he landed.
The snake opened its mouth. A slight green hue emanated from it. Michael immediately cast a Shield as a bright-green liquid shot toward him from the reptile’s open mouth. However, because he hadn’t reacted quickly enough, the liquid reached him before his Shield could cover him completely. He instantly let out a scream, casting another Mana Shield. The liquid burned his skin, getting through the surface and reaching his bloodstream. It was as if his whole body had been set ablaze.
Dragonheart!
He used the only Skill he had that somewhat affected his Constitution. His heartbeat got louder and quicker. He could only hope that the venom wouldn’t damage him too much when forced to fight against his Heart. Meanwhile, more of the green hue gathered on the Viper’s open mouth. Michael jumped to the side, powering through the pain, at the same time that another attack flew toward him. He rolled on the ground, drawing a circle with his wand.
“Mana Sphere!”
The Viper closed its mouth and started moving, but it was too late. It spent relatively too long trying to fire a third attack. The Sphere went through the animal’s neck. A final Skill marked the end of the battle. He almost fired the Skill at the beast’s head, but remembered he would probably need to hand it over to Sullivan as evidence of his killings.
“Fucking hell!”
He contorted his body in pain. The areas of his skin hit directly by the launched venom had turned a sickly shade of green with traces of purple. At the same time, the area surrounding those patches was bright red, and felt hot enough that he wondered if it would start steaming. The agony was much greater than anything he had experienced before. Michael gritted his teeth. Even if the venom couldn’t kill him, if he had been hit by it mid-fight the pain alone would have incapacitated him.