131 Magic Edge (1/2)

”Oh, that makes sense. It looks like we need to train more.”, Tina said, before continuing, ”But for now, we should all go home and take a good rest. If everyone agrees, then we can talk about this run tomorrow.”

Everyone else enthusiastically agreed. They couldn't wish for anything more, than going home and resting. Of course, it would be even better if they didn't have to go home and could instantly rest.

While in the subway, on his way home, Ivan checked out the message prompts he had dismissed during the frantic fighting in the dungeon.

<< Congratulations, you have learned the new skill 'Magic Edge (F)' >>

<< Skill: Magic Edge (F)

By infusing the blade of your weapon with a small amount of mana, you create a thin mana shield around the blade, drastically increasing its sharpness as well as slightly increasing its durability.

Cost:

A constant stream of mana. The amount of mana funneled into the blade determines the effect. The amount of mana per second a weapon can take depends on its quality as well as your control over the mana.

Effect:

Drastically increased sharpness of the blade depended on the mana funneled into the blade as well as the control over the mana and this skill.

Slightly increased durability of the blade. Because of the mana shield, the blade is less likely to get damaged, thus reducing the damage it takes.

>>

This skill should be something he had learned during the combat when he had used his flaming blades, to instantly kill the wolves. But because he had run low on mana he was forced to remove the fire component. Although this drastically decreased its effect, it also decreased the mana cost, making it much more suitable for long-duration fighting.

It was a useful, but still simple skill. Especially the fact, that the effect was dependent on the mana channeled into it as well as his mana control. Especially the mana control made it very suitable for him.

Although he wasn't as good as Serge in controlling mana, he was still much better than the average mage. This was because of the requirements of pill refining. While usually, mages would focus more on increasing their mana, pill refiners would instead focus on their mana control. Sure, that would slow the growth of their mana reserves, but it was well worth it.

Ivan had realized, that while spells managed by the system mostly weren't influenced by mana control since that part would be taken care of by the spell matrix. But for developing personalized spells or customizing spells to suit one's style, mana control was a requirement.

In his opinion, someone who didn't have fine control over mana would never be a good mage. Instead, they could at most be called spell slingers. Nothing more than casters who would just throw out spells. Unable to react properly to unexpected situations and locked in the framework, formed by their available spells.

Of course, there were also some spells, who could be caster better if the mana control was better, but those spells were mostly channeling spells and as such not very popular. Especially since they ofter worked best in combination with close-quarter combat. Something most mages inherently disliked.

He then checked the next prompt. It too was about a skill he had gained. But it was quite different from 'Magic Edge'.

<< Congratulations, you have learned the new skill 'World Awareness (C)' >>

<< World Awareness (C)

For an adventurer, it is imperative to be aware of the surroundings.

To sense enemies approaching, to sense projectiles shooting towards him and of course to sense valuables. Because if one isn't able to find any valuables, then why bother being an adventurer?

By using Spiritual Sense to sense the surrounding one can do all this. But as one might realize, the costs are way too high. A high drain on one's Mental Energy because of the constant use of Spiritual Sense as well as the extreme amount of information leads to fast exhaustion. Thus it is necessary to filter the information and to efficiently use the Spiritual Sense.

This skill enables the owner to efficiently sense the surroundings, by making use of a complex scan algorithm as well as filter algorithm.

Cost:

A large amount of Mental Energy as well as mental exhaustion.

Effect:

Scans the surroundings of the user for hostile creatures and objects, as well as valuables.

Current range:

50m

>>

This was another useful skill. Although it had one weakness and that was the high cost as well as the cost. While using up Mental Energy wasn't a problem for Ivan, since he didn't have a way to use it in combat anyway, The problem was mental exhaustion. This was something that could be fatal. Because of mental exhaustion, the reaction speed, as well as the thinking speed, would be reduced. And during combat, there was nothing worse. Especially since he focused on speed to evade the enemies attacks as well as to counterattack.

There even a millisecond could determine the result. As such a slowed reaction speed could spell his doom. There was no need to even mention the effect on his thinking speed. With that, the skill lost most of his usefulness.

Maybe in some situations, it could still be useful. As such he wouldn't use it in normal cases to scan for enemies. But to use it to scan for valuables would surely be viable, as long as he was sure that there was no danger around.

<< Congratulations, you have gained the passive effect of World Awareness (C) >>

<< World Awareness (passive) (C)