Advancement

Alright, folks, he knows what's on your mind. Why doesn't he just get on with creating that magic circle to level up already?

The magic circle turned out to be way trickier than expected, not to mention he had to create it all on his own. He couldn't just whip it up in his mana heart and hope it wouldn't go boom!

But hey, he had a leg up on other wizards. His mana heart was unique – no walls, just endless darkness surrounding it. So even if there was a big explosion, it couldn't reach beyond that infinite darkness to harm him.

Still, there was a downside. If things went south and there was an explosion, he'd lose all his accumulated mana. And he wasn't sure if he could just recover it with mana regen or if he'd have to start meditating all over again. Either way, it was too risky for comfort.

So he had no choice but to head back to the tower and start experimenting with simulating the magic circle from outside his body. Since the magic circle was kinda like a spell pattern or formation, he figured he could recreate it externally.

Another month goes by, and he's finally got his prototype ready.

So, this prototype swaps out [Devouring Flame Barrier] for [Lightning Flesh] as the core. Yeah, he came up with that name for the barrier himself. Hey, he doesn't know what the other wizard called it. Ahem... Anyway, unlike the original magic circle, which only let the wizard cast a barrier three times, his version keeps [Lightning Flesh] active all the time. But here's the twist: he tweaked it so that the nerve acceleration is off by default.

Why? Well, he can't handle his brain going into overdrive all the time, making the world feel like it's in slow motion whenever he activates the body enhancement. Living in a slowed-down world all the time? No thanks, that'd drive anyone nuts! But hey, he can still activate that function whenever he wants. As long as he wills it, the [Lightning Flesh] can turn on and off, as long as he's got enough mana.

He also figured out how to control the mana flow to the magic circle, which lets him adjust how strong the enhancement is. One cool thing about making [Lightning Flesh] his innate magic is that it's way cheaper on the mana front. Used to cost him 10 mana per second, now it's just 1 mana per second.

This happened because the spell is combined with a formation, which boosts its efficiency and even allows the spell to draw some of its needed mana from the surrounding environment, thanks to the formation's properties.

On top of that, he discovered that the magic circle on the walls of his mana heart has some neat tricks up its sleeve. It doesn't just absorb mana from the inside, but mainly from the outside too. And get this, it even acts as a filter, letting only mana particles with specific attributes pass through. 

But here's the kicker: since he can't embed those magic circles onto his mana heart's wall – cough, he doesn't have walls – he's gotta figure out how to incorporate those functions into his main magic circle. So, he rolls up his sleeves and gets to work. He manages to remove the patterns that were acting as the communication station between the main magic circle and the walls' magic circle, and replaces them with the mana-absorbing and filtering patterns.

But even with all his tweaks, his prototype can't match the walls' mana-sucking power. Those wall magic circles cover way more ground than his main one.

Ah well, no use crying over spilled milk, right? You win some, you lose some. His [Limitless Mana Heart] brings way more benefits than just speeding up mana recovery for wizards.

Looking at the massive magic circle floating in front of him, he couldn't help but feel amazed. Not just at how beautiful and intricate it was, but also at his own talent. Ahem... looks like the circle's pretty stable. He'll just observe it a bit more.

Hmm... everything seems to be in order. Can't stick around in the practice room too long though, running low on tower points. Swapped them all for spell pattern and formation level 1 books from the library.

Now, he's gotta grab a mission and skedaddle out of the tower. Needs to find a place with loads of lightning mana, besides the magic tower. Ever wonder why even though level 1 wizards have purer and denser mana, the newly advanced ones end up with more mana? Must be part of the advancement process – wizards automatically suck up mana from their surroundings to level up.

In theory, he could break through right here in the practice room, but that'd attract way too much attention. So, he's gotta hit the road.

Picked another beast extermination mission, the kind where he's got all the time in the world to hunt down a beast and bring back a specific body part as proof. This time, he's going after a swift tiger. Lightning element magic beast, just like most critters in the Forest of Death.

This mission's for level 3 apprentice wizards, and since it's been ages since he set foot in the tower, he's already bumped up his overt level to level 3. So, mission accepted!

While on the mission, he's also plotting to track down one of those level 1 magic beasts that usually rule the roost in the outer reaches of the Forest of Death. These big shots tend to set up nest near magic veins of their attribute.

Before long, he's bagged 2 swift tigers and turned their remains into mana stones. Used those stones to buy intel on the habitat of level 1 magic beasts in the southwestern part of the forest. It's a massive place, so he could only get info on that specific area.

Finally, he zeroes in on the lightning falcon's turf. Nest tucked away in a hole or cave on a cliff edge. From a distance, he senses a buzz of lightning particles around the area. Most of 'em are zipping towards the falcon's nest naturally – what wizards call magic veins or convergence spots, spots where mana's drawn to.

Since his job right now is to take out the falcon, not tame it, he decides to go with [Lightning Glove] instead of [Lightning Palm]. Oh, and speaking of [Lightning Gloves], he reckons the finger version should be called sword finger instead of gloves.

Shaking off those random thoughts, he creeps closer to the lightning falcon. It's busy grooming its feathers. According to theory, he should be able to stand right in front of it without getting noticed, thanks to his [Stealth] + [Camouflage] combo blending him perfectly with the surroundings.

But hey, animals, including humans, have instincts, right? That sixth sense that lets them sniff out danger even when there ain't a single sign. But by the time they realize something's off, it's already too late – the attack's right on top of 'em.

Technically, what makes his body enhancement so dang powerful is his [Stealth]. With that, he can get close enough to launch an attack that even if the enemy's got the same level of body enhancement, they wouldn't stand a chance.

Just like now, he's sneaking up to within 5 meters of the falcon. And the bird's still none the wiser. 4 meters... 3 meters... 2 meters! He notices the falcon's eyes twitching ever so slightly. Quick as a flash, he triggers [Double Enhancement II] - Max Output.

The falcon's eyes try to snap back to normal, but it's too late – lightning's crackling all around it. Damn, that's some crazy reaction speed, but... too slow!!

[Lightning Gloves] - 1 Finger!!

Swoosh, splat!

As he pulls back his hand, he deactivates the double enhancement. Just a split-second blast of it's enough to make his body ache. Hoping that once he levels up to 1 and keeps [Lightning Flesh] active all the time, his body'll adapt faster.

Looking at the falcon's body, he lets out a sigh. This is what speed can do. He can tell the falcon's got way more mana in reserve than him. If this turned into a drawn-out fight, he'd probably be toast. But with speed and a surprise attack, the falcon never stood a chance against him.

But deep down, he's feeling a bit down. His fighting style leans more towards that of an assassin rather than a noble wizard. He wants to be able to sling massive destruction spells like nobody's business. Or at least keep his double enhancement going for longer so he doesn't have to fear anyone.

Patience, Zack, patience. It'll come soon.

After stashing the falcon's body, he sets up various formations around the nest. Then, he catches some shut-eye. He wants to be in tip-top shape for the advancement.

Next day, he plops himself down in the middle of the cave, legs crossed, and focuses on his mana heart. Using his mana, he draws a magic circle around the clump of mana. Thanks to all his practice, he does it smoothly and calmly.

As soon as he finishes drawing, he links the circle to his mana lump.

Rumble.

His whole mana heart, along with the magic circle, shakes, sending magic ripples all around. Then, the circle starts spinning slowly, picking up speed real quick.

Swoosh.

Once it hits maximum speed, the lump of mana in the middle gets sucked into the circle. And just like that, the circle spits out a purer, denser form of mana. Conversion's lightning fast. The mana lump's shrunk to a third of its size, but the circle's still spinning like mad.

Then, surrounding mana starts flooding into his body and mana heart. Slowly but surely, a mana hurricane forms in his area, with the cave as the eye of the storm. Clouds gather above, creating their own whirlpool.

Lightning rumbled, and the clouds cracked with bolts of lightning.

Boom!

A lightning bolt shot from the cloud right into the eye of the hurricane, feeding pure lightning mana into the already electric atmosphere. Once the lightning mana from the hurricane was depleted, the bolts from the clouds came down even faster.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the storm reached its peak, the center of the cloud whirlpool unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts that resembled a laser aimed directly at the eye of the hurricane. The intensity of the lightning caused his defense formations to shatter, creating a hole above his cave.

The intensity of the lightning even shattered his defense formations, creating a hole above his cave. Stones and sand tumbled down onto the second formation covering his body, and soon enough, the lightning broke through the second defense formation and reached his bare skin. But before it could touch him, his mana heart absorbed most of the lightning, leaving only a small fraction to temper his body.

Throughout the advancement process, he was aware of what was happening outside, but for some reason, he couldn't move his body. Damn it! Hopefully, no powerful beings are gonna come knocking at my doorstep... right? DAMN, I shouldn't have thought that. Hopefully, it's not a bad omen.