[Ding! Basic Spark has reached Level 10.]
[Skill Evolution Available: Fireball.]
Sebastian never stop.
[Ding! Fireball has reached Level 20.]
[Skill Evolution Available: Pyroblast.]
He kept pouring points. The numbers blurred. The interface began to tremble.
100 points...
500 points...
1,000 points.
The text shifted on screen. White. Blue.
Purple. Then gold...menacing, pulsating.
[Ding! You have surpassed the mortal limit for Tier 0 Magic.]
[Constructing Law of Fire...]
[Evolution Complete.]
[New Skill: Solar Flare (Forbidden Tier)]
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[Solar Flare] (Level 1)
Type: Active / Forbidden
Cost: 100 Mana
Description: Condenses star essence into a single point. Devastation.
Effect: Deals 5,000% Magic Damage. 50-meter radius.
Applies [Incineration]...burning targets take 500 damage/second for 10 seconds.
Cooldown: 60 seconds.
═══════════════════════════
Sebastian gazed at the description. "5,000 percent..."
Normal Level 1 Fireball? 150% damage.
This was catastrophic.
Problem though.
[Mana: 50 / 50]
His Drifter class had abysmal base mana. The spell cost 100. He couldn't cast it.
"Right," Sebastian muttered. "I need a bigger tank."
He shifted his gaze to his Passive Skills tab.
The Drifter could learn passives from the Mage tree too.
He found [Mana Well].
Cost: 5 SP.
He dumped points into it.
[Ding! Mana Well reached Level 100 (Max).]
[Passive Evolved: Void Ocean.]
Effect: Max Mana increases by 5,000. Mana Regeneration by 100 per second.His mana bar shot up.[Mana: 5,050 / 5,050]
"Better."
Sebastian closed the interface. He felt a hum of energy under his skin. It wasn't just data; the sync rate with his body was low, but he could feel the heat in his veins.
He walked out of the alley and headed for the village gate.
"Where you going, noob?" the guard at the gate laughed. "The chickens are that way.
Outside is the Wailing Woods. The Demon Wolves there are Level 5. They'll eat you in one bite."
Sebastian ignored him and walked past the safe zone barrier.
The transition was instant. The bright, cheerful sunlight of the village was replaced by the gloomy, oppressive canopy of the Wailing Woods. Mist curled around the gnarled roots of dead trees.
Grrr...
From the shadows, eyes glowed. Yellow, hungry eyes.
A pack of Demon Wolves.
[Monster: Demon Wolf]
[Level: 5]
[HP: 400]
Ten of them.
In the current game stage, a party of five Level 3 players would struggle killing just one. Ten meant death.
The alpha wolf stepped forward. Drool dripping from its jaws. Sensed the weak aura – Level 1 human, rags. Lunged. Claws tore up earth.
"Meat!" shouted a player from the gate's safety, someone who'd followed Sebastian to watch him die. "He's dead meat!"
Sebastian didn't draw his rusty knife. Didn't run either.
Raised his right hand. Snapped his fingers.
"Solar Flare."
Click.
For a microsecond, the world went silent.
Then, the air above the wolf pack screamed.
A sphere of blinding plasma materialized. White-hot.
Not fire – a miniature sun. The woods' darkness obliterated by light so intense players at the village gate shielded their eyes. Had to.
BOOM!
The explosion wasn't just fire expanding. A pressure wave. Pure thermal annihilation.
The Demon Wolves didn't yelp. No time for registering pain.
In 0.1 seconds, their fur ignited. Flesh vaporized. Bones turned to ash.
Shockwave tore through the forest, snapping century-old trees like toothpicks. The ground turned molten glass.
[Ding! You have killed Demon Wolf (Lv 5). EXP +50.]
[Ding! You have killed Demon Wolf (Lv 5). EXP +50.]
[Ding! You have killed Demon Wolf (Lv 5). EXP +50.]
...
[Ding! Overkill Bonus! EXP doubled.]
[Ding! Congratulations! You have reached Level 2.]
[Ding! You have reached Level 3.]
[Ding! You have reached Level 4.]
The light faded.
Where the pack of wolves had stood, there was now a smoking, glowing crater twenty meters wide. The heat radiating from it distorted the air.
Sebastian stood at the edge of the crater, the wind from the explosion blowing his ragged tunic back. He checked his mana. It had already regenerated to full thanks to Void Ocean.
"Physics engine is struggling," Sebastian noted, seeing the edges of the crater flickering slightly as the server tried to render the destruction caused by a Forbidden Spell in a tutorial zone.
Looked back at the village gate.
The guard's jaw was unhinged. Players who had mocked him? Frozen. Pale faces staring at the mana mushroom cloud dissipating skyward.
Sebastian turned away. Walked deeper into woods, stepping over the molten glass.
"Too slow." He checked his EXP bar, muttering. "I need to find a dungeon."