His thoughts turned back to the blue screen floating before him.
'The level of my 'Basic Mana control' skill increased, but I don't feel any different then before. I did notice that I was gradually getting better at controlling mana while I was practicing though.
Based on that I will consider acquired skills to just be indicators that show one's proficiency in doing something, in this case controlling mana, until proven otherwise.'
Ezren looked around the train cart and noticed that the others were gradually waking up.
'I wasn't paying a lot of attention to their discussion yesterday, but I am pretty sure that they decided to take the longer and more dangerous path towards district 18 because they are all worried about their friends and loved ones.
Since I can't remember anyone, it doesn't really matter to me where we go, and I would rather take the safer path towards district 20. But going there alone might be even more dangerous than following the others to district 18.
I am also quite interested in the abilities of others and want to observe how their abilities change and improve as they gain levels.
So, I will have to follow the others towards district 18.'
After making this decision, Ezren spent some time on creating two stable crutches for Sarah using as little mana as possible. He also made a plan for an improved version of his hammer which would be lighter than the previous one and thus make it usable with one hand.
By that time the others had woken up were eating breakfast. While eating Alexia looked at the members of their group as if she was evaluating something.
"I am fairly certain that we will encounter danger during our journey today and it is important for us to know each other's abilities. We should also think of a basic combat strategy based on our abilities."
After that everyone shared what skills and classes they had, and they came up with a combat formation and strategy together.
Andy and Alexia would be at the front of their small formation and do most of the direct combat. Jason would stay in the middle of the formation and use his magic to provide support wherever it was needed.
That left Ezren, Lily and Sarah in the back of the formation. They would stay as far away from combat as possible since Lily and Sarah were both incapable of fighting. Ezren was there to protect them in case something attacked them from the back.
Alexia placed her two 'Guardian's Marks' on Ezren and Andy respectively because they were the two who would have to face the enemies in close combat together with her.
After everything was settled, they collected as many supplies as possible and started their journey towards district 18.
They decided to walk alongside the train rails since there was a 100-meter stretch of flat land on both sides of the rails separating them from the vast stretches of uninhabited buildings.
This stretch of land would hopefully allow them to spot any danger from a great distance away and would thus allow them to avoid dangerous encounters.
_______________
They walked for multiple hours without encountering any danger, but they sometimes heard roars of animals and other sounds they could not quite describe from inside the uninhabited city.
They took a short rest once Sarah's crutches disappeared, allowing Ezren to create a new pair for her and giving Sarah as well as Lily an opportunity to rest.
Then after everyone was refreshed, they continued walking.
Ezren had initially tried to train his mana control while walking, but he soon figured out that it was very hard for him to concentrate properly while walking and that it was very exhausting. Thus, he gave up his attempts and just walked quietly in the back while listening to the conversations of the others.
The others talked a lot with each other, especially Jason who constantly tried to start up a conversation with Alexia which, understandably, annoyed her a lot.
A few of their interactions that Ezren overheard included:
"Alexia has anyone ever told you how are so amazing are at… at everything?"
"Yes"
And
"Alexia, do you think Mages are cool?"
"Depends."
As well as
"Alexia, do you have a boyfriend?"
"No, but right now, for the first time in my life, I wish that I had one."
"Why?"
"So that you would finally shut up!"
"Oh…"
After that Jason looked rather gloomy and stayed silent for a while.
But Alexia's relief didn't last long as not even half an hour later Jason stopped looking gloomy and a weird kind of resolution appeared in his eyes. After that he started talking to Alexia again, however he was at least a bit more restrained than before.
Ezren could only guess what was going on inside the guy's head, but Ezren imagined that Jason was thinking something like:
'She doesn't like me right now, but I will surely win her over at some point, yes, I will work hard and earn her affection.'
Ezren's impression of Jason thus far could be summarized as 'Idiot' or more precisely 'An Idiot who happens to be in love'.
Meanwhile, Andy was busy laughing his ass off every time Jason spoke to Alexia. When Jason asked her if she had a boyfriend, he laughed so hard that he tripped and landed, face first, in the dirt.
Their banter and managed to brighten the mood of everybody and time flew by while they continued walking towards their destination.
_______________
It was already past noon, and they would have to take another break soon, when they noticed a few small shapes moving in the distance.
After walking a bit closer they managed to make out the rough shape of the animals. They were rabbits, around a dozen of them hoping around on the grass.
They decided to stop far away enough from the rabbits so that they would not be noticed.
Alexia as their silently approved leader shared her opinion first.
"I doubt that those are just normal rabbits, from a distance they might look fairly normal, but the human mutations would also look normal from such a distance.
Considering that humans suddenly started to mutate it would be logical to assume that the same happened to animals.
Now we have to decide if we want to avoid them by walking through the city for a while or if we want to continue along the railway and encounter the rabbits."
After a short silence Andy, who was serious for once, answered.
"I think we should continue along the railways. Entering the city might be just as or even more dangerous than the rabbits. There is also the issue that out food won't last long and hunting those rabbits could supply us with quite a lot of meat."
After a short discussion they decided to vote on the issue. Alexia, Jason, Andy and Ezren voted to fight the rabbits while Lily and Sarah were neutral.
Thus, they started their preparations for the upcoming battle.
They decided that both Lily and Sarah should stay back while the other four went into battle.
Ezren then spent a lot of mana to create a one-handed hammer for himself and one for Alexia. They also organized themselves into a new temporary formation with Jason staying in the middle, Ezren and Andy on the sides and Alexia walking in the front.
It was time for their first battle as a group.
Once they got closer to the rabbits, Ezren could see that those were indeed no normal rabbits. The rabbits' eyes were bloodshot, and they were missing large chunks of their fur and skin exposing their twitching muscles.
The rabbits were currently busy eating the corpses of other dead rabbits until the first rabbit noticed them.
Instead of running away as one would expect from a rabbit it started to crazily rush towards them with crazed bloodlust shining in its eyes. The other rabbits soon noticed them as well and followed the first one.
Upon seeing the approaching rabbits Jason started moving his right hand as if he was drawing invisible lines into the air in front of him.
To Alexia and Andy, it looked like Jason was just swinging his arms around without doing anything. Ezren on the other hand could see thin threads of orange energy, which he assumed to be mana, leaving from Jasons fingers and forming a simple circle that contained two symbols.
Once the circle was completed a small orange fireball appeared above Jason's hand which he then threw at the rapidly advancing rabbits. It hit right in the middle of the horde of rabbits and incinerated two of them immediately while lightly wounding a few more.
Ezren had so many questions he wanted to ask Jason.
How did he manage to prevent such a thin thread of mana from dissolving in the air?
Why was his mana orange while Ezren's was blue?
How did he learn the two symbols contained in the circle?
Could he see mana as well? Surly he had to be able to see mana if he managed to draw such an accurate circle with it, right?
But sadly, there was no time for that as the rabbits had reached their small formation.
Ezren tried to hit a rabbit that jumped at him with his hammer. He missed the tiny and astonishingly agile animal, and the rabbit managed to bite its tiny teeth into his right thigh.
"Ugh."
He let out a small grunt because of the pain, but his mind stayed crystal clear, after all the pain from this little bite could not be compared to having a human mutation chew through your entire leg.
Before the rabbit could take another bite Ezren used his free hand to punch the rabbit with all his might. The force of the punch sent the rabbit crashing against the ground.
The rabbit, after taking such a strong hit, was momentarily dazed and did not get up immediately. Ezren, sensing this opportunity, grabbed his hammer with both hands and swung it downwards with all the strength he could muster.
As soon as the hammer made contact with the rabbit, it exploded into a bloody rain that stained the lower half of Erzen's body.
[You've killed a Lv. 0 'Mutated Rabbit']
'That was way, way more force than necessary to kill a rabbit.' Ezren admitted to himself upon seeing himself drenched in… in pretty much everything that could be found inside a rabbit.
'These rabbits are very agile and small making them hard to hit, but they are neither strong nor durable. Fighting them is not nearly as dangerous as fighting 'Unstable Mutations' but it is very annoying.'
He did not take a break after he killed the first rabbit and instead intercepted another that was about to jump at Jason's back.
_______________
[You've killed a Lv. 0 'Mutated Rabbit']
[You've killed a Lv. 0 'Mutated Rabbit']
The battle ended rather swiftly and none of them had received any serious wounds. All of them had only received a few scratches here and there, except for Alexia. To everyone's surprise she had stayed completely unharmed even though she fought at the front of their formation the entire time.
All of them would ask Sarah to disinfect their wounds later to prevent any risk of infections.
After making sure, that everyone was all right Ezren focused on the screen floating before him that had appeared after killing the third rabbit.
[Your class 'Mage of Creation' reached Level 2. Select an upgrade:
1.) +7 Intelligence
2.) +7 Magic
3.) Level up for innate skill: |Mana-Matter transmutation (Lv.1 -> Lv.2)|]
'Making a choice is hard since I don't really know what each options means. From looking at my status I have already figured out that my mana capacity is likely my 'Magic' stat times ten, but the 'Magic' stat might have other uses I am not aware of yet.
'Intelligence' sounds rather obvious, but I can't imagine that it really increases my IQ in a linear way. Otherwise after one or two more levels I would be the smartest person in existence which would be kind of weird.
And lastly, I have no idea in what way Mana-Matter transmutation will improve once it levels up.
Will it allow me to create more kinds of matter?
Will creating matter be cheaper?
Will my creations last longer?
I did not even have time to figure out what I can and can't create yet!'
After thinking about it for a second, he decided to choose the '+7 Magic' option. It was the only option that would certainly bring him immediate benefits since it would increase his mana capacity.
Having more mana would then allow him to experiment more with his 'Mana-Matter transmutation' and he would then be able to figure out its limitations. Not to mention that having more mana would allow him to survive even more gruesome injuries.
After making his choice he opened his Status to check if anything else had changed after his level increased.
[Status
Name: Ezren
Last Name: None
Race: Sentient Mana (fixed Human form)
Age: 19 Years
Rank: 1
Level: 1 -> 2
Classes: Mage of Creation (Rank: Unique, Lv. 1 -> 2)
Mana: 190 -> 310 (73)
Constitution: 9 -> 11
Strength: 8 -> 9
Agility: 9 -11
Intelligence: 15 -> 19
Magic: 19 -> 31
Innate Skills:
|Separated from the arcane Elements (Lv. Max)|, |Mana-Matter transmutation (Lv. 1)|
Acquired Skills:
|Basic Mana control (Lv. 2)|
Achievements: None]
'Well, that is not what I expected.'