It had only taken a few seconds but it felt like an eternity.
He watched as the skill improvement scroll forcefully shattered his solid mana core and then using all of the mana in his body as well as the mana from outside of his body began to shape the shards of his mana core into something different.
A mana core is shaped like a sphere, they tend to be blue in color based on what he had heard from his allies when they sold monster carcasses.
Apparently there are even different shades of blue that the players had begun to use to refer to the core's quality.
He was watching as his core was reformed into this a gem, it was a strange crystalline thing that had no real color which made it possible to see the elemental mana that his core had been infused with before.
Black and red mana swirled within the core like an angry cloud.
When the process was done he decided to check was his core could now do.
~~~~~~~~~~
Mana Core lv10 (L) -> Mana Gem lv1 (S)
Mana Gem lv1 (S)
Quality: Diamond
Increase base mana capacity by 150%.
Mana regeneration by 5% every 5 seconds. (passive)
Increase mana regeneration to 10% every 5 seconds. (active)
Increase spell damage by 50%
~~~~~~~~~~
'Whoa.... thats a huge bonus.'
After the process was complete the demoness approached him.
"So you got your mana gem? What quality is it. Lets hope you got at least silver, if you got gold it would be amazing but even silver is great for a shadow mage."
He hesitated before saying the quality he had obtained, he knew that with her reaction a diamond quality mana gem must be unexpected or at least incredibly rare so he would use it as insurance.
"First I want some assurances because its a good one. I want you to promise that the Infernal Kingdom will protect Raylock even after I leave. It's my fault they're being attacked."
She scowled and began to approach.
"A little male thinks he can bargain with the Queens Guard? You must be feeling pretty cocky because of your mana gem boy, fine lets see if the deal is worth it... show me your status."
He nodded and showed off his status for the first time to another person.
~~~~~~~~~~
Belial
Void Mage lv114. (Supreme)
Lesser Tri-Elemental Archdevil
Affinity: 100% Shadowfire 100% Life
Mana Core: 100% Shadowfire
Strength: 20 (+60)
Vitality: 440 -> (+510)
Agility: 580 -> (+80 +20%)
Wisdom: 1100 -> (+80 +20%)
Intelligence: 2000 -> (+70 +20%)
Free stats: 4
Bloodline: child of the void.
Titles: Dungeon Conqueror, Tutor, Protector of Raylock, Spell Crafter
Skills: Mana Control lv9 (L), Mana Sense lv8 (L), Mana Gem lv1 (S), Spell Mastery (E), Mana Condenser (E), Full Body Mana Veins lv5 (M), Mana Burn (S), Void Conversion lv1 (L), Void Consumption (L)
She nodded and looked at something else.
"That spell, what is it? Its named... is that how you obtained the spell crafter title?"
He nodded in response and she started to laugh hysterically.
"Oh those poor bastards, they dont even know that the title was up for grabs again and now we have the holder."
She had a giant smile on her face before she motioned to him.
"Cast the spell I want to see it, use it on me so I can gauge the quality of your creation."
She went off to somewhere to stand as a target and he cast Frenzy Wing.
The needles began to appear in a wave and he started to strike with them in large, sweeping motions of his wings.
The needles seared into her body as she kept a defensive posture but when she left her guard down to watch for the next set she was riddled with small bursts of mana from within her body that made her stumble back.
"Jeez kid you actually made something huh?"
She wiped the blood off of her arms and chest before looking at the wings still coated in shadowy needles.
"Can you fire them all at once?"
"Yeah, it's what I actually made the spell for but I wanted to be able to use the needles for more versatility too."
She nodded and laughed a bit.
"You do have potential after all, the two of you will take turns leveling up in that dungeon on nightmare and when one is inside i will be training the other, understood?"
He and Layla nodded.
"Good, now who wants to go level up first? I've been training your little mate here all this time so it should be your turn."
'There's that damn word again, why are they all acting like that? She's probably dating Shade if anything.'
He agreed that Layla should level up first while he trained.
~
While Layla was gone this psycho trainer was forcing him to try to properly train his mana shielding.
"You can turn it into a skill but you have to get better at using it, you have to make the shield instantly and use it to completely nullify a strike to be recognized as a skill."
She had not even taken her weapon off her back and was using her claws to strike him.
He was getting faster with his mana shields though.
He could counter her stikes even if they pushed him back but he couldn't make the shields instantly yet.
At one point she even tried to backstab him and he learned something amazing.
When protected by the mana shield of his unique gear his wings were incredibly durable.
That was the tipping point for him.
When he realized how easy it was to block using his wings while they were guarded hy the armor he could actually be more aggressive with his counterattacks.
He would activate the mana shield of his gear and he would use his own mana shields to add additional protection when she struck him.
The first time he did so successfully was when he finally learned the skill.
~~~~~~~~~~
Skill Aquired: Mana Guard lv1 (M)
Increase damage resistance of physical and magical damage by 10%
Perfect Counter- when perfectly blocking a strike with minimal mana useage the damage will be nullified.
~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as the skill was successfully made she made him practice it even more.
He was forced to stand still while she would rapidly strike him with her claws, each strike would get faster and faster after he blocked it and she would only stop when he was able to successfully block her at half speed.
'She might be a psycho but she's a good teacher.'