Chapter 39: Testing the new skill
Now that Lumen was in possession of a new spell, as well as being level 10, he felt invincible!
But he knew that this feeling was only temporary and that he would soon get a reality check once he explores the dungeon further and encounters stronger rabid wolves.
He felt that he could handle anything up to level 15 with some ease but past that point he had no gauge of their power and so he would have to act with caution if he encountered anything past that level.
Now that Lumen had finished inspecting his new skills, he decided to clean up his surroundings.
Below him lay the carcass of the level 10 rabid wolf which had been alive only minutes before. He didn't even spare the time to transfer it to his inventory as he was too focused on the new option of choosing a skill upon reaching level 10.
He was honestly a little disappointed in the options the system gave to him as he was kind of expecting some big and powerful skill due to how his class encompassed such a wide range of specialisations, as well as the fact that it provides so many stats compared to normal basic classes.
But he was otherwise happy with the upgrade to his mana bolt skill and was looking forward to testing it out in battle, even if using it just once used up a little over a quarter of his total mana.
And as if they could hear his thoughts, two level 10 rabid wolves came out of the shadows nearby inspecting the scene before them carefully. It seemed that Lumen was too slow with his clean up process as they were attracted by the scent of blood and death of their now dead companion.
Upon seeing the dead body of a wolf they considered a brother to them, they growled and roared furiously as they started sprinting towards Lumen, rapidly closing the over 100 metre gap between them.
Lumen didn't feel anxious or scared at the pursuit of two level 10 wolves as he had just received a powerup and was now the same level as them.
This would be nothing like the fight he just had with that lone level 10 wolf!
He only felt excitement and expectation as the perfect opportunity to test out his new spell had just presented itself to him!
At this point, the wolves were just walking experience to Lumen as he felt nothing from killing them, and this didn't change when he activated his [Fire bolt] skill for the first time.
What occurred after the activation could only be described as spectacular!
Out of seemingly nowhere, a mass of fiery energy formed above his hand, taking the same shape as the sun as a ball of raging flames now floated above his palm.
Strangely, Lumen didn't even feel a little heat from the spell as it didn't affect him at all.
Whether this was due to some system magic or due to some inherent universal laws around magic, he didn't know, nor did he particularly care as all of his attention and excitement was focused on the power of the spell in his palm and without hesitation launched it towards the wolves, even with them being over 50 metres away.
It seemed that the spell description was incomplete in the skill selection list, as once he had acquired the skill he had glanced at the description out of habit and managed to find that a new section had been added onto it.
[Fire bolt (Lv.1 0%)(Uncommon): A more advanced magic bolt involving the element of fire. Launches a great ball of fire upon use and explodes upon impact, inflicting flame damage as well as AOE damage to any surrounding enemies. Mana cost: 300 MP, has a starting range of 100 metres, increasing with each level up.]
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His skill now had a range of 100 metres, dwarfing that of his previous mana bolt's range of a pitiful 15 metres!
Now he could truly see why beings at level 9 were practically incomparable to those of level 10 under normal circumstances.
Focusing back on the fight, the fire bolt also seemed to have gained some speed and precision as it shot at twice the speed his mana bolt used to, and much more precisely as in 50 metres, it hadn't deviated even a little from it's original trajectory.
Everything so far about this skill made Lumen's smile bloom even wider as he realised the facts behind his new most powerful skill.
However upon seeing the fire bolt impact one of the wolves, the cherry on top had been added to his satisfaction in choosing this skill.
The wolf that had been impacted, was no where to be seen. Whereas the other wolf around 5 metres to it's side had been launched with great force away and had severe sixth degree burns, reaching all the way down to the poor wolf's bone.
The only mercy it had received was that it had died almost instantly, not experiencing any of the intense pain that would have followed the intense explosion.
Lumen stood there with a smile that could creep even the most edgy of denizens out as his eyes betrayed his stupefaction.
'This spell is practically OP! If every mage is this powerful then how will the physical classes be able to compete....'
Lumen was feeling bad for any physical classes that had to fight against mages with spells like this in their arsenal.
However what he failed to take into account due to his intense emotional fluctuations was the fact that his fire bolt spell was four times as powerful as the fire bolt that other mages would be offered, all due to the fact that he had the miraculous talent 'Perfect mana conduit'.
Lumen didn't even bother going over to collect the remains of the wolves' bodies as quite frankly, neither of them was worth taking up a slot in his limited inventory.
One wolf was reduced to just a blood stain on the floor, and the other was charred down to the bone, little edible meat left on it's body...
Hence Lumen didn't even give them a second glance as he turned down another path in the expanse of the cave in search of more poor wolves to victimise.