What He Needed

Malik's confidence rose as he saw the skeleton war general retreat a step. It had realized that he could use the light mana to harm it greatly. But that didn't mean it was done fighting.

The greatsword suddenly burst with much more dark mana than before. The skeleton war general had decided to fight Malik with the goal to overwhelm him.

"Really? That's how you want to do it?" Malik grinned. His heart was beating much faster. He could sense the manas more clearly too. Everything was becoming sharper as he put his whole being in to this fight.

The earth hammer shimmered with more light mana than the daggers had. He was focusing much more on the light mana than he had before. It cost him more of his mana, but that was fine. He was going to ensure that he crushed this boss monster who had dared to cut him!

Maliki gambled his mana through his legs and in to the ground as he dashed forward and under the frantic swing of a darkness infused sword.

When he neared his opponent, he turned his body and channeled mana in to his arms. The rotational force pushed the earth and light elemental hammer forward with astonishing force for someone his age and level.

Armor or not, the force of the earth hammer caused bones to splinter. The light mana within overwhelmed the earth form that the hopper had taken. As the hammer disintegrated, the light continued on.

Without proper confinement, the light took the form most natural to it but was also influenced by Malik's will. He and the light mana manipulation to change the shape but did not hold back as it was all released at once.

'The light blade is a powerful magic spell used when manipulating light mana. It is part of the elemental blade series of spells.'

The guide responded to Malik's thoughts as it knew exactly what he wanted to know. It would be a valuable spell to have and make in to a skill at some point.

The moment that the skeleton war general was crushed, the other skeletons lost their ability to resist the dark mana that had been used to buff them. Their bodies started to fall apart while the rest of the students still fought.

The guards were just starting to run to Malik but were stopped in their tracks. They had thought that he would need their help. Thought that after they defeated the skeleton warriors and knights that they would be taking the main role of fighting the boss.

Yet, they had just witnessed a large burst of light Anna used to counter and purify the boss monster. They had felt the pressure from the attack too. It would have injured them if they had faced it.

"Professor Mapper, is anyone injured?" Malik was able to spot the professor moving around and checking every single student constantly.

When he got to Malik, he looked stunned as well. "Your wounds are healed? Barely a scratch or scar." It was amazing witnessing this.

"I have a special skill for that. Only works on me though." Malik waved it off. He didn't like the close examination of this body.

"We will be having a word about this with the headmaster. The guards will also launch an evaluation. When this reaches the castle, there may be another evaluation by the highest of officials." This brought the attention back to the body in the center of the room.

While it was something that happened, bodies were rarely left behind in a dungeon unless it was life or death for everyone. This dungeon was too weak for that to happen normally.

It was the runes that made everything worse. That made everything terribly suspicious.

They were written in blood, smeared, and different from any rune that any of them had seen before. If this rune formation and magic ritual of sorts had actually caused the boss monster to mutate, then so much would go wrong.

Malik also knew that if he wanted to remain safe, he needed to hold back on what he told them. If he told them everything he learned from the angelic eyes… he could be dragged to the castle and killed as a Monster.

It reaffirmed that he must get stronger faster. That he must go to the fallen feather dungeon.

"Professor, I will help with whatever is needed. But right now I am too weak. If worse happens, I might die. Can you please approve me to get information about the Fallen Feather Dungeon when we get back? I'm strong enough to handle it. I need to advance my job class."

Professor Mapper was stunned that Malik brought this up. He had heard from the other professors in passing that he was already that far ahead of others his age. But he didn't expect he would be asked this too.

"I understand you have deals with the headmaster and Professor Silva. Regardless of that, I will ensure you can move ahead. I understand your need to grow."

When he had been younger, Professor Mapper had been plagued by innate skill. People forgot his face or him altogether. He had needed to grow stronger to make an impression. To have a place in the world. Now he did. So why would he stop someone else who wanted to protect themselves and grow too?

He didn't care about whatever was in the other professor's heads. They had clearly underestimated Malik. His battle prowess and strategic planning were well ahead of his year. Geniuses like him were rare and should be supported for safety.

As they began to leave the dungeon, the students with healing skills followed those who had been injured. But surprisingly, that number of people was low.

They had been protected by Malika and the guards leaving the weakest strength boosted wandering skeletons. They were able to be defeated without too much trouble. If that hadn't been the case, then yes, there would have been deaths.

When they exited the dungeon, the guards became a rush of energy. Reporting back to the fellow guards, a captain appeared along with a few other higher ranked guards.

Professor Mapper handled everything while healers evaluated every student. It took a few hours but all of their stories were taken, and they were able to go. Not before Professor Mapper handed Malik a Written approval to read the reports in the fallen feather dungeon.

When he returned to the adventurers guild, he found that Jen was still away. This was great since Malik had already decided to go right to the library. The academy library had exactly what he needed.

'Linked quest: learn about the fallen feathered dungeon.

Requirements:

-read the three Fallen Feather dungeon journals.

Reward:

-mental map of the fallen feather dungeon upon entering.'

He saw the linked quest to his class quest and was very happy. But that reminded him of what else he had earned from clearing the dungeon.

"Guide, what is the reward resonance with part of the body that I earned? What body part?"

This was going to also make him stronger. He could feel it.

'The resonance with a body part is randomly selected based on your current strengths and weaknesses. Currently, your mana efficiency is lacking. Resonance with spirit veins will last for an hour.'

Before Malik could leave for the academy grounds, he was suddenly full of pain. While lucky to be in his room, he hadn't been in bed and found himself on the wooden floor.

His body felt like liquid fire had been pushed through it. The next moment, like he was being sliced up from the inside. Then being crushed internally. Rotting. Blinded. Frozen.

Then, he breathed in and felt his entire being release a weight he hadn't realized he had on his shoulders. He felt lighter. He felt closer to mana as a whole.

'The spirit veins have been purified by resonating with mana through pain and purity. The results are reflected with it eh body.'

'Spirit veins passive skill has changed to high spirit veins passive skill.'

'Mana flow through spirit veins has improved significantly. Mana will be absorbed at a higher rate when meditating or otherwise. Less mana is needed to manipulate all manas now.'

Looking at his body, Malik found that a slight grease had enveloped him. He dashed out of his room to where he could bathe in some warm water. The entire process had forcefully pulled outer mana through him and purified the spirit veins so they would resonate with him better.

Now he had high spirit veins and his mana sense along with mana manipulation skills and all taken steps forward. Malik could feel that clearly.

It was a great victory for him in growing stronger. But now he would have to adjust his thinking when it came to the elemental manas as a whole. He might see more in them than he had previously. He had to be flexible to understand them mentally.

Once he had cleaned up, he returned to his goal. Get to the academy library. Read three journals, and maybe more if he could find them, and then go to the fallen feather dungeon.