Chapter 5:
Reincarnated as a Golem: I'm Stronger than Most!
I finally beat it, I couldn’t believe I could. Looking at my HP bar so low in the red, I REALLY couldn’t believe I won. Still, I chose to enjoy the moment and revelled in my Level Up.
What was that message I got before? Didn’t I receive a new skill as well?
{Sense}
{You are able to sense minor changes in yourself and your surroundings. Boosts ability to sense traces of Mana}
I knew it, what I was feeling was magic! That means magic can hurt me no problem, even if physical attacks don’t. That could be dangerous going forward. I have no idea how rare magic is in this world, nor how many monsters can use it… The feeling filled me with anxiety.
I wasn’t sure if it was my new skill at work or just paranoia, but I had the sense I was surrounded by traces of magic. I glanced around me and focused on it, like a guide. I reached the tunnel's walls and looked up at the Luminous stone slightly above me.
Its glowing white hue seemed normal, but this chunk was slightly larger than the ones I saw before. Weird, is this some kind of new stone?
{Luminous Stone}
Nope, appraisal says it’s just a regular light stone. You’re telling me, this rock is holding mana? It has so much compared to the others… How does that work?
{Unable to provide information}
Useless as always, I see… Well, even though it’s mana, it somehow feels slightly different from the spider bite I got before. This feels…brighter. Thinking out loud led to some weird thoughts, but I was sure that one made no sense. Still, it’s exactly how it felt to me.
I focused on the sensation it gave off and went into a small trance, slowly approaching it until my head leaned against its surface.
It started small, almost like a slight bubble of light that radiated in the darkness of my empty thoughts– it grew larger the more I focused on it, and eventually it was brighter than anything else.
{You have gained the skill <Glow>}
{You have gained the skill <Basic Light Manipulation>}
My eyes opened to the sudden notification and found myself letting off a powerful white glow. The darkest corners of the cave had completely opened up and erased every shadow.
This is incredible, I’m using magic! I think I get it now, the stones must be holding magic and converting it into this glow. I was so caught up in the excitement that I barely noticed the MP bar draining in the corner of my vision.
H-hey now, why’s it dropping so quickly! Stop!!
I focused on the brightness, creating an image of a bubble of light and just like how I imagined it growing, I quickly snuffed it out, and the light disappeared. Darkness quickly crept over the room and my MP bar had stopped lowering. It went from a bright cyan to a foul greyish blue.
{Unamed Golem Lv7}
Attack: 90
Agility: 10
Vitality: 10/150
Defence: 200
MP: 11/40
I won’t be using it full blast anytime soon. Still, that was a bit intense, maybe I can tweak it to a lower dosage? I gave it a try, imagining the bubble of light as only that, a small bubble.
Looks perfect, I can still see and best of all… the MP bar is only draining over the span of minutes! This is a really useful ability to have!
Still, I couldn’t help notice the glaringly low HP bar either, I knew I could regain it over time, but maybe a small rest would be good as well. So with that in mind, I took a small rest and came back to a full bar of HP and MP!
***
I was determined to raise my level, especially since a beast nearly twice my level blocked my chances at freedom and I still had no idea what abilities it had.
If I’m going to beat that spider boss, it’s best to assume it has some kind of magic abilities like the Toxic Scout had. That being the case, I’ll need a good counter. I bet it’s got poison and some life drain of its own, so in that case, I’ll try to wrack up some useful skills too!
Of course, I had no idea how to do that. Well, I wasn’t completely clueless. I realised after levelling up a few times that the sure-fire way was just getting stronger and hopefully something good would come along… Okay, it wasn’t a great plan when I said it like that.
I’ll just have to gain some more levels and find out. For now, where are some good monsters to hunt? I followed the path from where I came and took a different turn, my path had led deeper into the cave system, close to the boss room I saw before.
I don’t want to get too close to the Boss, but I have a good feeling about this place. I’ve never been this far before, so I hope my gut doesn’t fail me… wait, I don’t even have a gut anymore. Does that take away my gut feelings, too–
All support was lost under my foot as I went from a small tumble into a full-blown roll down a slope. The world shifted onto its side. Before I knew it, I was in a whole other area completely.
I know I couldn’t get hurt from stuff like that, but it was really annoying to fall like that. Where am I anyway? I took a look around the massive dome-shaped cave room and felt more lost than ever. This feeling…
A room, covered in glowing Luminous stones–no, these ones seemed different. They ranged on a spectrum of colours, but the vast majority of them glowed a pretty purple that filled the room. They didn’t seem familiar, nor did its mana, so I came closer to investigate.
{Myranite Shard}
It really is a new stone! This one looks so pretty, though, definitely more fantasy-looking. I glanced at the walls higher up, and a similar stone glowed a rich emerald colour that I appraised as well.
{Myranite Shard}
Weird, this one's the same stone but it’s glowing a different colour? I wonder if it works like the Luminous stone and changes depending on what mana it’s taking in? Weird, I guess I’ll keep an eye out for those in the future.
With such a massive distance, I couldn’t get an accurate sense of what made its mana different and instead went for the ones closer to the ground.
Closing the gap, its empty glass-like complexion reflected me perfectly into one of its sides. I finally got to see how I looked. A full body reflection!
I’m a pretty cute Golem if I do say so myself~ Woah, I never noticed this weird orb thing on my chest… is that supposed to be my heart?
I had a bulky body, comprised of large stone pieces, white as snow. My eyes were two glowing circles that didn’t carry a lot of emotion, but it was clear at a glance what I was feeling, if I really tried to show it. At the centre of my chest was the orb in question, its rich golden colour stood out like a diamond among snow.
{Unable to provide information}
I figured as much… I just wanted to check. Well, for now, let’s focus on the task at hand. What’s different about this stone?
The {Sense} skill was at work again, and I picked up on a slight difference between the Luminous stones and the Myranite.
It’s almost like the mana is more compressed. It’s so strange. Does compressing them tighter make them sturdier? Could there be a science to this?
I replaced the mental picture of a bubble with that of a stone. This time, I envisioned the mana tighter and strongly bound. Hard as a rock.
Not like that, make it stronger… is it more like this, no, that’s not right either… It was a struggle making it exactly right, but once I felt the image matching the sensation from the Myranite, I latched onto that feeling and replicated it.
There!
I opened my eyes to the sight of stone forming in the air in front of me. There was no doubt in my mind, it was my doing. It was the result of my little experiment. Just like when I had created light from my body, I had created stone from magic.
{You have gained the skill <Basic Earth Manipulation>}
Woah… that’s pretty cool. So I guess magic can do things like this, too. No need for chanting or spells then. I wonder what else I can do with this…? My eyes lit up with excitement as I reacted to the floating ball of earth in front of me.
The next few hours went pretty similarly. I tested the magic in all sorts of ways, bending and shaping the mana, which allowed me to create all sorts of different outcomes. It didn’t take long for my mana to deplete, which meant I had to take breaks in between. Not that I minded.
He-he-he! Not bad, I’d say I learnt quite a bit today~
I celebrated my accomplishments, which hovered in front of me weightlessly across the air. A ball of earth and light circled around each other in an orbit with controlled motions. Once I focused a bit, with small guidance from my arm, the orbs shifted and turned through the air at higher speeds.
Now I put a little more spin on it and…
Carrying out my curiosity, the ball of earth spun and launched forward as if it were flung by a catapult. The impact barely made a noise. It wasn’t enough to kill anything and I wasn’t sure it would hurt either.
W-wow, I didn’t expect it to be so hard to control… I was trying to break the wall, but I only managed to tap it. Well, I’ll make sure to keep practicing then.
Please log in to leave a comment.