Chapter Twelve: Testing some Things

Drake woke with a start, his face slathered in drool, and his neck aching from a poor sleeping position. He looked bleary eyed at the sky, singular rays of light just barely passing over the treetops.

He blinked a few times to focus his eyes on the ruckus below him. That was because he had in fact decided to sleep up in a tree, like a sloth clinging to a branch all night.

Below him were two Vampiric Apes yelling at him, one climbing up the tree as the other shouted from below as if cheering the other on.

"This is no way to wake a lady…" Grumbled Drake, swinging himself to sit upright on the branch against the tree. He languidly pointed his staff at the climbing Ape and chanted a Mana Bolt with a yawn, blowing the Ape's head clean off.

Drake recoiled back in disgust, as the body went limp and fell to the ground on top of the other Vampiric Ape, pinning it to the ground for a short moment.

"Over 100 stats are no joke… I haven't hit something in the head for a while. I didn't know it had that strong of an impact, it's like I turned into magic Gallagher. My Mana Bolts are just monstrous." Drake said, as he winced, squeamish at the bloody pulp now all over the ground.

Drake slid off the tree and fell deftly on his feet next to the remaining Ape, it struggled even more to move its headless companion off of itself as it noticed Drake suddenly appear next to it.

"Next time be more courteous when you wake a sleeping maiden." Drake smiled at the monster jokingly, pointing his staff at the beast and firing another Mana Bolt off.

Drake quickly ran from the scene, wanting to get away from the blood and gore that he had created but also so that he could get an early start on the day. His new goals in sight as he looked at the two remaining quests.

[Subjugation Quest. 2 of 10 Warrior Vampiric Apes]

[Class Quest. Reach Base Class level 10 for Advancement]

Drake was aiming to complete these two quests today, and he needed to test some things out that he had been curious about.

When Drake casted his magic spell, he felt the mana leave him and focus into the staff. The way he perceived it was that the staff was acting as a conduit or amplifier, he also got this idea from his plethora of research from tv shows, anime and manga that had used the concept just as much.

What Drake wanted to test was if he actually needed the staff to cast his Mana Bolt. But first he would need to find some monsters.

He traversed the forest for a few minutes searching for monsters until he happened upon a Warrior Vampiric Ape, it having two Vampiric Apes accompanying it.

Do they not travel alone anymore? Drake thought. It would have to be something he looked into later.

The monsters were a few meters away from where Drake hid behind a tree. This section of the forest was especially dense, making it hard to find a line of sight for him to attack the slowly roaming pack. He would have to play this fight differently.

Drake looked around for a spot that the pack would let him essentially wait for them to pass with a good LoS. He moved as quietly as he could, finally finding a good spot on the pack of monsters' trajectory.

He decided that there were too many enemies at the moment to test with, so Drake lined up his staff this time. Doing his best to place it where he predicted the Warrior would appear from. Drake didn't want to play with death anymore than he already was when a Warrior was involved.

Soon, just like he hoped the Warrior Ape turned the tree and entered his line of sight. Drake fired off two Mana Bolts, trained right at the Ape's head. But he quickly repositioned behind another tree, not waiting to see if the Bolts landed.

Once he settled in his new position, Drake looked back at the pack of monsters. They were now at the spot Drake had just been, looking around confused. The Warrior Ape looked the most frantic, blood dripping from its closed eye on its now unarmored head.

Drake smiled satisfied, both his Bolts had hit their mark, and he was finally getting used to fighting, using the sea of trees to his advantage now. Again Drake trained his staff to aim at the large and confused Warrior Ape, firing off another two Mana Bolts at its head. And again Drake repositioned.

When he ducked behind another tree and looked at his previous position he was pleasantly surprised to see only the Vampiric Apes, looking even more confused and frantic. Drake quickly looked at his notifications and found the kill confirmation for the Warrior.

Drake fist pumped inwardly, he had been able to bring down the monster that had been giving him so much trouble with only four Mana Bolts now.

Now that he had whittled the pack down it was time for him to test what he wanted earlier. First Drake fired off a Mana Bolt and repositioned again, confirming from his notifications that he killed the Vampiric Ape. And with that Drake slipped his staff into his inventory, and now aimed his open palm at the remaining Ape.

Drake mumbled the spell this time, and saw a familiar magic circle rotate in front of his hand but it quickly fizzled out before launching the Bolt. Drake clicked his tongue, wondering what went wrong.

He kept his eyes on the Ape. It was still searching for him, as he replayed casting the spell in his head.

The spell had been properly activated when he said the words so why hadn't it worked? He tried again, aiming at the Ape and chanting the spell. This time he made sure to look at his mana bar and pay attention to how it felt when the spell activated.

The circle appeared then fizzled out of existence again, but Drake had gleaned some insight this time. His mana hadn't been consumed, and he couldn't feel the mana in his body move out of it and into the spell like it had when he held the staff. So he was correct in his assessment that the staff was acting as a focal point for the spell, and helped as a conduit for his mana.

Drake guessed this meant that if he wanted to cast without the staff he would have to direct the mana himself. Drake moved to get a better angle on the Ape he was watching, since it had begun to wander off in search of him.

Once he got back into a good position he tried again to go through the steps, focusing more now on the feeling. He tried to feel the mana in his body. Which was surprisingly easy enough, he had gained quite the pool of mana since leveling, and it would be weird if he couldn't identify the large new mass of energy inside of him at this point, he thought.

The Mana felt almost like a louder flow of blood inside him. Like after a good workout and you could hear the blood pumping through your body in your ears. Drake could feel this flow of energy inside him more clearly the more he focused on it.

He now chanted the spell, feeling the flow inside him become erratic. The magic circle formed in front of his hand, but his now erratic pool of mana had nowhere to go, like high traffic without direction it felt congested and chaotic. In the second that the magic circle rotated Drake tried to guide the mana into it through his hand, focusing on his palm for the focal point.

Drake quickly felt the mana inside him correct and rushed towards his hand and into the magic circle, his usual Mana Bolt forming but it wasn't instant like with the staff, taking two more seconds than normal, but still firing towards the Ape. But the Bolt flew over the Ape's shoulder alerting it to where Drake was instead.

"Shit! That's not good." said Drake.

But he didn't give up and attempted to aim again with his hand. Going through the same process he chanted his spell and fired another Bolt at the charging Ape, this time hitting it square in the chest, but it didn't fall and instead only stopped momentarily from the force of the impact. It seems that without the staff the spell wasn't an instant kill to the chest anymore.

Drake quickly casted Mana Bolt again feeling like he was becoming more accustomed to the feeling and process with each cast. The bolt hit the Vampiric Ape in the chest once again, this time piercing through and creating a hole in its chest as it skidded to a stop from suddenly falling limp during its charge.

Drake fist pumped into the air. He had done it, his first theory he wanted to test worked out. "Nothing can stop me! I have the power of God and Anime on my side!" He screamed loudly, pointing down at the Ape's corpse. Laughing the entire time.

Drake searched the forest for the other corpses after he basked in his victory for a few moments, thanking many of the Magical Fantasy figures from the shows he watched for their guidance.

Drake managed to find the other corpses in a short amount of time and picked up one more Warrior Skill Stone from the Warrior Vampiric Ape as well as its armor and weapon, unfortunately the others gave no loot.

Now it was time for phase 2 of Drake's testing. Could he cast while moving?

Drake had thought about it before, but never had the leeway to test it out. When he casted his spell the magic circle formed around either the tip of the staff or now in front of his hand. So he had the idea that he wouldn't need to be stationary like in most fantasy scenarios he could think of where the circle formed underneath the caster. And frankly he needed to know if this was possible and if it was he had to master it.

His reasoning was simple, a standing target was a dead target. The monsters were getting unironically more monstrous and being forced to stand still -even if he could still one shot some of them out of a group- he would be a sitting duck. And now that he knew he could cast while freeing up his hands he was wondering what else was possible.

With his new find his mana control had gone up, he could now more clearly feel the constant eb and flow of the energy inside him. Now his next step was to try to move while doing so and eventually being able to cast while being free to move.

Drake started right away not wanting to waste time. He started without his staff and instead just used his hands, feeling that it would be easier to feel the mana. He first began at a brisk walk, circling a nearby tree, trying to keep his mind on the flow of mana inside him. Doing so at this speed wasn't difficult so he upped his pace to a light jog.

Now it became harder to discern the energy, feeling as if his brain was becoming jumbled slightly, almost like a screen or haze had lightly covered his mind, but he could still feel the distinct mana pool inside him enough that he could feel and direct it.

The final step up. He began sprinting around the tree, making zig zags and abrupt directional changes, almost as if he was running suicides again in school. But as he tried to feel the mana, he became immediately nauseous, the haze he had felt earlier solidified making him stop and kneel as he wretched.

Drake coughed, spitting up bile. Wishing he had something to rinse out his foul tasting mouth. "Ugh, that's just vile." He groaned, standing shakily.

Well I guess that's a non starter for now. But I felt like I was nearly there, I wonder if maybe my stats just aren't there yet? I have some pretty high Intelligence but my Wisdom is slacking. I'll have to start distributing some stats into it since my Mana regen is starting to slow down. Drake thought.

He may have failed but he felt like he learned a very important lesson, and he would have to try again when he leveled up. Practice makes perfect after all.

Drake brought back out his staff, and a strap of venison, making a dash back into the forest while he ate and searched with renewed vigor. Determined to level up and gain more stats so that he could try again. He felt like he was coming into his own little by little. Breaking free from being the follower, the doormat, and now he could firmly see his path forward.

He used to be the one who always followed the guides for games, and took skills and builds just at face value. This also extended to his real life as well, and it had gotten him into trouble more than once. But now he was cooking with gas, he thought.

Not long after venturing into the forest Drake found another small group of monsters, a pair of Warrior Vampiric Apes and a handful of Vampiric Apes. But they weren't the only things he found. A group of 5 people were fighting with the group of monsters, in a front to back formation.

The three men in the front were actually wearing armor, and sporting different weapons, one even having a shield. Where had they gotten the shield and weapons from?

Drake looked at the two in the back, a woman and man. The man was holding a shield and a cudgel standing in front of the woman ready to intercept anything that got past the three front liners, all while throwing out glowing light which Drake assumed was a healing spell. The said woman was actually donning a wizard hat and began chanting a spell that Drake didn't know. It certainly wasn't the Mana Bolt spell, as the chant was far too long.

Drake was too far away to hear what she was chanting but soon a crimson red magic circle extended rotating from under her feet, and a massive fireball formed above her.

Drake's eyes bulged at the massive lump of Mana, as the woman motioned and threw it forward into the group of monsters. An ocean of fire exploding onto the field and monsters. The smaller Apes were turned to ash instantly by the impact, whereas the larger Warrior Apes were barely left standing and still burning.

The men in front jumped into action to finish off the Warrior Apes with what he assumed were skills he had also never seen. Were all of these people an upgraded class? Was there that much of a power jump at level 10?

More importantly, was he further behind than he assumed? How many people had already reached level 10 and changed classes?

Drake thought on whether he should ask them to party up, but quickly thought ill of himself for having it even cross his mind. He couldn't be so shameless as to ask for their help, especially not after refusing to ask Bear the same thing. That would make him a damned hypocrite.

Drake gritted his teeth, turning to another direction in search of monsters. He refused to keep letting himself fall behind. He was determined to work harder. After a short while he ran into another group of monsters. Warrior Vampiric Apes and Vampiric Apes, a pair each.

It was close enough to the group he had fought this morning, so he was confident he could win. Looking at the number of beasts, this also confirmed that the monsters were grouping up more.

Drake began the fight by aiming for one of the Warrior Apes like before, repositioning after he shot his Mana Bolts, not staying to see if they hit. When he reached his new cover he repeated the same.

He looked at his notifications, and confirmed the kill for one of the Warriors. But in that split timing he heard something cut through the air and a loud crunching of the tree he was using for cover.

The other Warrior had found him, and it was not happy. It had snapped his cover in two with its club, and made a dash for Drake, its smaller groupies following close behind.

Drake made a dash as well to another nearby tree jumping and rolling behind it. Then firing off two Mana Bolts, making a dash to behind another tree and repeating.

Drake's aim was off though, as he was slowly exhausting his stamina and his hand was quickly becoming shaky. The large Ape was smashing trees in droves as it chased Drake, making it hard to hit the beast. Drake's plan on using the trees for cover backfired, now he was in a dance of dodging both the Apes and the falling trees.

But he wasn't giving up, although his stamina was ticking down at a rapid pace, his mana was still at a healthy level. He continued to fire pairs of Bolts at the charging Ape, catching it in its extremities then dodging behind trees, his life feeling as if on the edge of a knife. One false move, one screw up would mean certain death for him. The constant hit and run continued until he was able to finally take it down.

Drake wheezed, his stamina hitting rock bottom. Dropping to his knees, sweat dripping from his every pore. But the fight wasn't over, and the pair of Vampiric Apes were quickly upon him.

He tried his best to aim his staff with both hands at the charging pair but only managed to get one Mana Bolt off and hit the on coming Ape in the side, not enough to kill it.

The beast slammed into Drake, knocking his staff from his hands, and latching its teeth into his abdomen. They quickly rolled entangled in a melee, the remaining ape quickly closing in on them both to join.

Drake began to panic, throwing fists into the beast gnawing on his side, grunting in pain with each blow as the Ape continued to take bite size pieces out of him. But it was useless, he had no strength left to speak of his stamina expended completely. His blows were doing little but tickling the Ape. Drake began to chant and channel into a Mana Bolt with his hand but before it could fire, the second Ape crashed into them, knocking them both again into a tumble.

But this time Drake had managed to maneuver himself on top of one of the Ape, and somehow brought one arm down to distract it with what little strength he had left. Using the moment it gave him to cast his Mana Bolt with his other hand.

"Manifest my power! Mana Bolt!" He yelled in between huffs and grunts. The bolt finally fired right into the side of the Ape's skull, splattering its contents all over Drake. But he didn't have time to worry about it, as he looked around wildly for the last Ape.

But, he couldn't find it anywhere on the ground, finally looking up. And the beast was there, it had climbed to a branch and jumped off at Drake, its hands clasped together to come down on him like a thunderous hammer.

Drake chanted as fast as he could, compelling his arms to move up to aim at the falling monster with sheer force of will. Two excruciating seconds later the Mana Bolt fired and they collided.

And both laid flat on the ground an entangled mess. After a moment the Ape's body stirred. And Drake pushed it off himself.

"It… gets easier right… Baby steps.. Yeah… baby steps…" Drake huffed, gasping in between words. His body lay on the ground, refusing to move. It covered in blood and viscera. Drake was beaten, bleeding, and exhausted. But he was alive.

Drake was spent, but he was making progress. He looked to his notifications willing them to appear as his arms were taking a nap right now.

[You have defeated Warrior Vampiric Ape level 9] [5,000 Experience Points and 500 Tutorial Points have been rewarded]

[You have defeated Warrior Vampiric Ape level 9] [5,000 Experience Points and 500 Tutorial Points have been rewarded]

[You have defeated Vampiric Ape level 9] [500 Experience Points and 50 Tutorial Points have been rewarded]

[You have defeated Vampiric Ape level 9] [500 Experience Points and 50 Tutorial Points have been rewarded]

[5 out of 10 Warrior Vampiric Apes Subjugated]

[Congratulations! You increased to Mage level 9] [14 Free Stats have been awarded]

[Drake Wallen]

[Race: Human]

Tutorial Alias [Shot]

[Base Class: Mage] Level 9

[Vitality] 101

[Strength] 23

[Dexterity] 39

[Intelligence] 155

[Wisdom] 68

[Endurance] 22

[Free Points] 14

[Skills] Basic Mana Bolt [Level NA]

[Titles] First Blood, Two versus One, One vs Many, Monkey Slayer, Living on the Edge, Close Call, Dead Man Walking

Oh it feels good to level up! Drake laughed internally, but he had to interject about the part where the system was rewarding him with a title calling him a dead man, he wasn't dead yet. But he couldn't complain about the stat bonuses it gave, as almost dying was quickly becoming a habit. As he looked at his barely 5% health, that was slowly ticking up.

[Dead Man Walking]

[Being a walking corpse, dropping below 5% health and surviving thrice. +10 to All Stats.]

Drake laid there for a while, his eyes closed as he impatiently waited for his status to recover. Only opening them to look around when he heard a breeze, rustle of branches or bushes.

After a few minutes Drake was able to move his aching body, his stamina very slowly filling up as he walked around picking up the loot from the Apes one by one. While doing so Drake also went over the notifications again noticing a trend.

The Ape's minimal level was going up.

He wasn't sure why this was happening but even Bear had suspected as much, and now Drake was also inclined to think so.

Drake was finally well enough to move from the area when his stamina ticked over 50%. He wasn't done for the day and there was still plenty of light left.

Time to see if this makes a difference now. He thought as he placed his free points into Wisdom, bring it up to 82.

He moved a couple minutes running distance from his last battle, and began to for lack of a better word train his, mana perception? Or maybe mana control was a more apt term? He would have to figure it out later, for the autobiography he was thinking of writing later.

Drake began to run again as quickly as he could, making quick maneuvers as if he was dodging and weaving attacks from shadow enemies. He then tried to feel his mana flow inside his body, bracing himself mentally for the wave of nausea that may hit him. But he was fine.

Drake stopped and held a blank look of surprise, that quickly changed to one of indignation.

"That stupid bitch lied!" He yelled.

Drake was sure the construct had told him that there were no substats affected by the 6 main stats when he was selecting a class. No that wasn't right, he thought as he calmed down. It had said there were no effects 'right now'. She hadn't exactly lied but told a half truth. That dropped the strangling he had planned to do to the snarky construct down to a half strangling.

Drake sighed, what other things were his stats doing that he didn't know about? He wished he had someone to ask these things to as inspecting his stats gave no additional information about it.

But he again had to worry about it later, now that he knew that Wisdom increased his understanding of Mana and possibly other things he had to see how much more he could inherently understand about his mana.

Drake started the same process as before, now with casting his Mana Bolt. Beginning with a light walk, he chanted the spell.

"Manifest my pow- Ow… I bit my tongue….." He whimpered.

He had been able to start reciting his spell but Drake was too concentrated on so many things that speaking the words was actually the last thing on his mind.

Making sure he didn't trip, the flow of his mana, making sure the mana was being channeled into his hand for the magic circle. It was a lot at once. But he had been able to do it for the most part.

Drake didn't feel a blockage like he had when he tried to sense his mana while moving at his current top speed before. Which meant that he would be able to do it with enough practice and levels. Smiling, that was all he needed to know for now.