Chapter 190: Reaching Lichs place (2/2)
He had cast the Earth MANA DOUBLE, which he had active using his store mana ring's mana, and his Light MANA DOUBLE with which he used his Mana. He kept gathering Earth Mana and storing it in the ring. The mana was corrupted, but the ring was purifying it, making it useable for Shingi. Even if everything was dead, even 'dead' ground had Earth Mana in it, just was not that 'pure.'
Shingi used this two because Earth Element MANA DOUBLE had the best defense among all his MANA DOUBLES. The Light Element MANA DOUBLE didn't typically have the greatest attack power, but it had against the undead.
Shingi had his staff design to be Earth and Light, only to empower his MANA DOUBLES, while he kept using Fire and Air Elements spells with as much change as he could by himself.
He kept using LIGHT BOLT and EMPOWERED FIRE BOLT, which seemed to have the most effect on those monsters and helped Shingi a little to get used to his new state. His speed changing the design had also affected, but he didn't plan to change the design in combat, as he knew his one was the best combination he could need for this floor.
He planned to make a staff like that for Little Phoenix at the next Ruin City Hideout too, but he needed to test run it more for himself. Little Phoenix's staff wouldn't be as complicated but will change only to the Elements she had, meaning Dark, Earth, and Gravity.
It could be easier to go the other way and first make a staff for her first, but this never was how Shingi did things. It wasn't because he would use the staff, but because of the challenge to create it and use it. Of course, he still couldn't use it at its full power as he couldn't use all the elements at similar power, but he was certain that he could do it, especially after a recent notification from the System.
The last Challenge he completed was called FIRST STEP TO THE OMNI WAY, which made him think of the Omni Mage Nyhm. If there was a first step that meant there was a second one, and Omni Way could refer to becoming an Omni Mage.
Nihm had a way to communicate with people in this world, maybe even move between the words, which could be a secret of the power of Omni Mages. If he fulfilled all the steps, he might have access to that power and find a way to get Annoue back. Of course, he could also wait for that Omni Mage boy he saw at his last Scry to do something similar, but who knows how long it would take him.
Shingi tried to learn more about the Omni Mages from Syra, but other than being monstrously powerful, and in most cases, somewhat crazy, there wasn't much to learn about them.
They kept their guard up for Dark Guild members or signs of Mikhail's people, but there were none for either.
Finally, they reached the cave entrance, where the corruptions of energy seemed to be mostly emitted out. The Lich wasn't the only source of corruption, but it was the greatest one. There existed some Semi-Liches it had created, but Shingi and his party had already taken care of them by tracking them and killing them.
Of course, the Lich knew about them, as it was connected with all of them, and would feel their absence the moment they died. But Shingi knew they couldn't surprise the Lich either way, and they would clear the floor for the extra exps either way.
Not killing the Semi-Liches would also make the battle with the Lich as it could teleport them to it, but they couldn't do the same for any of the other Semi-Liches or the Lich itself.
They started walking in, and Shingi had to dispel a few magical traps and needed Little Phoenix's with a few. He normally could take care of all of them, but the Spirits were getting louder the deeper they went into the gave, throwing off his focus a bit. Combined with his weakened MANA MANIPULATION Skill, his chance of failure had increased, so he asked for help to be safe.
He told the others about his Weakened State, as it was a matter of time for them to notice, but he didn't tell them about the Minor Spirit Madness. He wanted to ask Syra more about it, but not yet, as it would draw too much attention.
Even with the Spirit voices, he could still fight, but they just made his training more challenging, which he enjoyed. He never backed away from a challenge.