Chapter 182: Too Weak As A Mage Semi-Training Montage

The Half Elf in front of him flicked her wrist out and a small torrent of wind burst towards him. Han twisted to the right and dodged away from harm's way, maintaining his balance and keeping himself afoot. His hands clenched the dagger in his hands as he pushed himself to her blindspot and shot towards her.

A slash was brought down to her side and met nothing but thin air—the woman had evaded it and pointed a finger at him as wind rushed towards him. The brunt gust of wind blasted him backwards and he managed to land on his feet. A quiet ding in the background and a notification announced his increase in [ Basic Reflexes ] and that was pretty much it.

He held up a hand and waved, "I'm good—" The man paused and stared at the woman who had halted in her steps, 'I'm good.'

Nothing happened.

His [ Telepathy ] wasn't doing so good when it came to other people but it had worked with the Colossal Wyvern. He really needed to find another animal and work it out from there didn't he—another blast of wind knocked the young man off his feet and into the grass. Moments later, he would come across the woman kneeling in front of him, "Are you alright, Han?"

He pulled himself up his feet and scratched the back of his head, "When you said that you planned to help me with magic—I didn't realize it meant you beating me with your wind magic."

A soft snicker escaped from her lips, a sound so faint that he almost didn't catch it as she met him face to face. "My apologies, I thought it would help you understand how magic worked if you come into direct contact with it."

"If only." Han sighed and stretched his fingers, "I can do [ Light ] though." He knew it like the back of his hand now—whatever that symbol thing he had seen in the Spell had been effective, but it was unlike Ellynn's own style of magic. Or if it could even be called magic if one were to be specific, she was almost like some kind of person who bended the air—no mana needed, thank you very much.

That was overpowered if one were to think about it.

She tilted her head, "You really do learn fast, but how about you move on from less flashy to something more useful?"

"Woah, hold on there a sec, Ellynn." Han dispersed the Spell and gave her a look, "Are you saying that [ Light ] Spell is useless—you have night vision, don't you?"

"...I can see more clearly in the dark, but what I mean is that in mortal combat—a light isn't going to be much of a help." She explained and produced a visible shield in front of her. It was Professor Carnus' [ Mana Shield ] that he had previously shown before. "Let's start with this first, there were other Spells taught prior, but a shield is always useful."

"Sounds good." Han immediately inspected it.

[ Active Spell - Mana Shield. Tier 1 ]

[ Caster: Ellynn ]

And again. He stepped a little bit closer.

[ Active Spell - Mana Shield. Tier 1 ]

[ Type: Evocation Magic ]

[ Mana Is Used To Create A Shield ]

Once again they were showing information that he didn't quite as much need but there was—he bonked his head on the shield. And it quickly dissipated as Ellynn rubbed her face, "I don't know what you're doing but you didn't have to test out the shield by hitting your face in it."

"Right." Han didn't exactly have to do Inspect either did he—he just needed to unravel what actually made the magic work. Useful if the Spell wasn't harmful, but Han couldn't use this when someone threw a fireball at him, did it? He coughed, "Sorry about that, I thought I could understand it more if I see it more closely." He needed to improve his Mana Sense some more, the Light Spell had been simple enough but this one had its own twists and turns.

The [ Mana Shield ] wasn't just blasting mana, it had its own form and shape. Something that made it different from what he assumed. It really was different from a simpler Tier 0 Spell. He turned back to Ellynn, "Do you still happen to have the book that you borrowed from Tim?"

"Yes, I actually do."

"Can I see it for a moment?" In the courtyard right now, almost everyone of the Students had already left and those who had initially thought of staying behind were quick to change their mind when they noticed that it was Ellynn who was staying. It wasn't exactly pretty or great, but it was helpful in keeping the books a secret.

Not that they were that important—he bet the other Students had their prescribed books, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The Half Elf pulled it out from her… cloak? Did she have some sort of big pockets there? Regardless once he made contact with the book, a familiar notification appeared in front of him.

[ Learning Rate Is Hastened By 'Textbook Material' ]

"Yeah… uh, can you do the Spell again? I think I might get it right this time?" Han wasn't exactly sure of the specifics, any percent of increase did holding the book actually do—but he was willing to give it a try. It really would have been better if he was able to learn by mere contact with the book, but this also didn't make much sense. He balled his hand into fists, he could do this—

The Half Elf flicked her hand forward and a burst of energy moved out from the tip of her index finger. Mana clustered and coiled together rapidly, interlacing until a moment later—the slightly more visible Mana Shield appeared in front of him. Its initial start was interwoven mana until it became a shield?

[ Skill: Mana Sense - Lvl 6 ]

That was another increase to his own skill set didn't it? He summoned the current levels of his own Skills and was somewhat satisfied.

[ Skill: Instinctual Dodge - Lvl 5 ]

[ Skill: Basic Reflexes - Lvl 5 ]

[ Skill: Mana Sense - Lvl 6 ]

[ Skill: Basic Agility - Lvl 8 ]

[ Skill: Lesser Endurance - Lvl 12 ]

The mere fact that he was leveling up better in strengthening his body from pain spoke volumes in how good he was at being a Rogue. He might have ended up better as some kind of meat shield didn't he? A Tank or something.

"Han…?"

"Oh right, the Spell. I think I got this." He cracked his knuckles for a moment. It was another occasion to level up his [ Mana Control ] now and he had already leveled up once from using the [ Light ] Spell by a good bit now. Or at least from the first time that he succeeded with it. Draw mana as usual… Han craned his neck around his surroundings and noticed that most of the mana were from the buildings and not the courtyard.

But he could do this.

A little internal mana would do no harm—he huffed and imagined the inner mana forming from his body to his fingertips. Ellynn managed to do it, Timothy didn't absorb mana from his surroundings either. Something left from within him and the vague feeling of mana began to appear. It was slippery, viscous and ethereal. Mana was dispersing faster than he could shape it, but the form was there and he needed to thread them together—

His vision spun.

"You're nearly there! You can do it—"

He cut the mana supply off before his vision darkened completely. The current mana in front of him vanished completely and rubbed his forehead. Cold beads of sweat pooled around it. "T-that… that was hard, I feel tired out." Han couldn't really look Ellynn in the eye but he gritted his teeth and forced it out. "Can we grab supper first?" A cold glass of water and a serving of a hot meal would do him good right now.

"Oh, if you need it." Despite the cloak still on her head, with his Night Vision he could see her face clearly despite it shadowing over her face. Her brows were knitted together as she looked at him, her lips curling down slightly. "Please don't overexert yourself, Han. Draining yourself of mana is quite life threatening."

"I know, sorry about that—I did the [ Light ] Spell and it worked out." He had a blast with all the light works that he did earlier but now he couldn't even muster up a shield made out of mana when he was slightly outside of the Academy?

Ellynn offered him a smile, "I'm sure you'll get it after a couple of tries—pouring more mana into a Spell isn't always good. You could end up making the Spell too difficult to control."

It made him remember their first meeting—she had helped wake him up with the Healing Potion. He probably looked a bit pitiful to someone like her, didn't he? There were some things that he could do already, but he couldn't even do much with his own mana levels? Was this the physical gap that Timothy and the other Professors were blabbing about before?

He really didn't want to think that the reason he was capable of performing magic was his reliance on the ambient mana around the Academy. He needed a solution—

"Mana potions, I need them." Han smacked his face. That wasn't too hard. It might be too expensive for him, but if there was a way to keep practicing magic then that was fine. A Rogue was fine, but magic… he still wanted it. He had already experienced it and it was hard to just give it up because he didn't have enough mana.

Ellynn cleared her throat, "Maybe you'll get the [ Deeper Mana Well ] Skill when you gain the Mage Class? There are people who do get that."

"Do a lot of people get that?"

"...Not really, but if you really wish for it, I'm sure you'll get it!"

That wasn't the most relieving but he'll hold on to that, but he also needed to look into other solutions. He couldn't rely on luck… Luck. Would investing all of his points into that work?