Chapter 209 - Pained Soul

By the time I returned to the camp, there were a few hours left before the dawn at the very most. 

The life within the forest was regulated by the day and night circle. 

For me, this was proof that this world had yet to reach the level when they would conquer the nights. It was a massive difference when compared to the ever-living world created back on earth. 

One thing became apparent as I neared the tent. 

Lucius was awake. 

The lights within his compartment were still lit, indicating that he was either doing something, waiting for me, or just sleeping with his lights on. 

'Was he... worried?' I attempted to mold the situation in a way that would put my Overseer in a slightly better light. 

Sure, we had some misunderstandings and problems. But wasn't it a normal thing to try to mend things over?

'After all, it's not like he is colluding with those scummy fuckers,' I thought, shrugging my shoulders. 

'So that's what that was,' I thought, noticing one thing about my earlier behavior. 

My actions were influenced by my mood back then. And my mood was moved by everything that happened to me. 

My entire fight with Lucius started with me shunning him off back at the Inn. 

It cost me nothing to appreciate Lucius' potential care and attention. 

I returned to my compartment and closed its entrance. 

Normally, that would be enough to regain peace. But as willing, as I was to make up with Lucius, that didn't mean I was willing to let him learn about my progress. 

The second I secured the room, I laid down a small but extremely condensed formation. 

It was the one thing that I thoughtlessly prepared for while returning to the camp. 

The task of the formation was extremely simple. 

It screened out all the functions of magic from within my room. 

The formation itself was pretty weak and crude. However, its sheer density brute-forced the solution for the problem. 

'That should be enough,' I thought while using a strand of mana to try to tickle the air around. 

And just as I hoped for, it did nothing at all. 

"Well then, it's time to train some more," I muttered to myself, falling down on my bed. 

Soon, wardens started to appear all over me. Then, I would form the tiniest bolt that I could, forcefully squeezing down the supply of the mana to the spell. 

Once formed, my bolt would wash away the ink on the warden, breaking it down. My hands would apply the ink to the stone again while another warden would fall prey to my bolt at the same time. 

In this self-replicating process, I could grind my abilities, and I finally found an angle to understand those abilities more. 

'As convenient, it is to call them forth with just a thought; there has to be more to it than just that!' 

It was my firm belief that only when I fully grasped and perfected all my skills could I call myself powerful. 

Because that was the reality. At the current point, I was already pretty strong. But once I would bring everything, there is from my abilities?

There would be no longer any need for me to lay low!

'Or so I would love to happen,' I thought, rolling my eyes. 

If there was one thing that would surely happen in a situation like mine, it would be the world suddenly expanding, only to showcase how much more there is to is. 

The one thing that sucked in this kind of scenario was how all this new world? It was only more of the same. 

'If that's the case for this world as well,' I thought, suddenly having a grim realization. 

Right now, my rank was half-enlightened. It was written in the main window of my system. 

'Does that mean that once I reach the enlightened rank... It will start all over again?' I thought, suddenly overwhelmed by the idea. 

So there would be no happy ending once I would break through my current stage?

'Damn,' I thought, clasping my hand into a fist. 'That's pretty demotivating if anything,' I realized. 

I then shook my head to cast those thoughts aside. 

'No, that's not what's important,' I told myself. 'You are not after reaching the endgame of this world,' I voiced out in my thoughts. 

This was a notion that I had to remember at all times. 

'You are after securing your future with Mia, not after becoming the legend,' I told myself. 

This was the one paradigm that I would follow no matter what. 

If anything, this world wasn't some kind of game, some kind of story that I could enjoy and then put away. 

It was my present reality. 

And between heroics and a stable, peaceful future, I was mature enough to decide. 

'I need to focus,' I reprimanded myself, restarting the process of grinding that I stopped a moment earlier. Then, I looked over at my class window to check the progress. 

Main Job - Military Mage 

Combined level: 37

***

Range: 10

Control: 14

Output: 13

Job Specific skills:

[Bolt][Level 2 (36/200)]

[Warden][Level 3 (72/300)]

[Disturb][Level 1 (3/1000)]

[Ultimate Spell][Mage's Tower]

***

The progress of my grind was slow... but steady. And there was currently no need for me to hurry. With the entire two weeks of hunting ahead, I could take a pretty long time to raise my ability. 

But there were two things that instantly drew my attention. 

'The ultimate doesn't have any level,' I noticed.

It was a puzzling realization, but I lacked any real idea of how to explain it. 

There was some sort of reason, I could tell. But unsure of the details, I had no other choice but to leave this matter aside. 

But there was one more interesting thing. 

'The disturb ability is ten times harder to level up,' I thought, pondering over the significance of this element. 

Was it just a random demand made by the broken system of mine? Or maybe this ability was sneakily overpowered, hence the nerf to its growth rate?

'I guess I will need to find another exploit to cheese this ability out,' I decided. I then put all those thoughts aside.

There were only a few hours left before the sunrise. And if I wanted to do my best at hunting tomorrow, I had to take a bit of rest.

'The time is running out,' I thought. 

No matter how necessary this moment of rest was, my heart cried out in pain for every second lost that I could use to improve my potential for the future!