The cold tingly sensation still lingered on my tongue from the potion, but a surprising warmth began spreading throughout my body.

At first, it was pleasant, like I was filling up with boundless energy, but the sensation soon turned unpleasant, escalating to an uncontrollable heat that made me want to rip off my own skin.

When I looked down, the blood was rising out of my wound in puffs of steam and I was also trembling uncontrollably, the feeling, utterly excruciating, like the energy amassed from the potion was trying to break its way out by any means.

Just breathing felt like there was fire coursing through my nostrils and when I checked my stats they had increased once again.

---------------

Name: Aurelia [LV23 Small Cerastes]

Specie: Cerastes Vipera

HP: 110/536 Defence: 1060>1750

MP: 480/480 Intellect: 900>1590

SP: 574/574 Magic: 1038>1728

Attack: 1224>1914 Agility: 1232>1922

---------------

What sort of potion increased stats like this? And it didn't look like it was going to stop. At this rate, I might explode from excess energy!

"You bastard! What did you give me?" I hissed in agony.

«An incredible potion.» Sensei nonchalantly replied.

Then after a pause I heard him mutter.

«Hmm...It's effects are still not up to par. I'll have to make some adjustments.»

'Not up to par'?

Did he not see how much it was boosting my stats?

And what sort of adjustments? Some other way to kill me faster?

But the most frustrating thing was, even with all the increases, the most important thing, my HP, had not improved at all!

Just what was he playing at? I really wanted to strangle Sensei.

However, while my body was going through tribulations, my insides felt frozen solid.

My stomach that contained the potion, felt like it had swallowed a heavy block of ice, and this icy sensation was spreading to other parts of my body in a freezing rush that crept up my spine.

Still, this did nothing to subdue the heat, and I felt myself getting angrier and frustrated at the contrasting build up of sensations so intense as though I was about to shatter at any minute.

In the midst of all this, Sensei's voice was the only thing that was clear

«You have four minutes until the potion's effect runs out. Make the most of it and escape.»

Only four minutes? And you are telling me this now?

But then I realized that all my senses had been heightened and the numerous flying creatures hovering around appeared to move very slowly.

Their attacks were upon me but not quite there yet. Across from me, one of the serpents had its fangs reared, poised mid leap to attack, and I moved back to evade.

However, I miscalculated my speed and the tiny movement ended up becoming explosive. Before I knew it, I had crashed into the rocky wall of the chasm in a shattering explosion which took out even more of my HP.

〚HP Status: Extremely Critical!〛|Bleeding|

〚HP Status: Extremely Critical!〛|Bleeding|

〚Skill Mastery Achieved:『Meteor Scales:LV9』has become 『Meteor Scales:LV10』〛

Ughhh! Just why?

Blood continued to ooze out from my wound, and my body was now surrounded by hot steam vapours. I shoved the rock debris away from my body and slowly slithered out of the wreckage.

But then, I saw the creatures rushing towards me in an onslaught, but they were moving too slowly to be a threat, like I was seeing them in slow motion.

While this was exciting, the shadow creature was nowhere to be seen and I tensed immediately, my heart thudding wildly as I eyed my surroundings.

The creatures above were also converging in a fierce horde that blocked my way out. But somehow the strain from the build up of energy seemed a bit less now.

My skin no longer trembled, and the tingly sensation was gone, almost like crashing into the wall had diffused it somehow.

Suddenly I could think clearly.

To my surprise, I noticed my stats had finally stopped climbing.

---------------

Name: Aurelia [LV23 Small Cerastes]

Specie: Cerastes Vipera

HP: 109/536 Defence: 1750>2300

MP: 480/480 Intellect: 1590>2000

SP: 574/574 Magic: 1728>2400

Attack: 1914>2500 Agility: 1922>2800

---------------

And I was filled with a rush of euphoria and excitement.

If crashing into something had reduced much of the strain, then I could use all these creatures to use up the excess energy and relieve my pent up frustration.

With that thought, I no longer felt the rush to leave, not when things had become so exciting.

This was far too good an opportunity not to test my newfound strength!

So even as the system continuously dinged critical warnings, I rushed towards the mass of creatures.

But in the midst of my attack on one of the serpents, the massive shadow of a blade snaked its way above the ground and at my speed, I nearly ran into it.

Fortunately, I was able to swerve aside at the last second to avoid a repeat of the previous accident, but I still ended up crashing into something before I could stop.

How wicked was this creature? Any further and it would have cleaved me in half!

And as I shook off the rubble, I saw the shadow creature emerging from the ground nearby, between me and the two serpents.

I moved quickly to evade whatever it could throw at me, but the shadow's hollow eyes merely tracked me. It didn't even need to turn around as it's partly submerged body spun on its own strange axis, while it continued to watch my movements.

Its pensive stare only made me more uneasy, so I instinctively spread out my shadows to hide from view.

However, what spread out was a billowing cloud of darkness, far larger than what I intended and so thick and smoky, it was like a solid wall of darkness.

It was then I felt something strange happening.

The familiar dark energy that I knew seemed to increase, more flowing away from the shadow creature and towards me, as my shadows swelled to become even larger, leaving all the creatures present in confusion at my whereabouts.

Then I heard the system ding.

〚Skill Mastery Achieved:『Shadow Shroud: LV9』has become 『Shadow Shroud: LV10』〛

And I hissed in excitement. How the tables had turned!

When I looked at the shadow reaper, its silhouette was no longer as dark and I could see waves of darkness swirling several meters away from its body, in a circular outline. The other creatures had something similar as well, but theirs were much smaller and not as concentrated.

But it didn't stop there.

Now, I could see a pattern of flowing streams everywhere within the dark mist, the surging lay lines of power that formed the chasm's structure which was once invisible, were now clear and so mesmerising that my attention was transfixed.

Unlike the slow moving creatures, this energy was fast and tumultuous like a destructive stream, and the longer I observed it, the more energy amassed within my core.

Was it because my magic stat was so high, that I could see the flow of mana now?

The second the thought entered my mind, a fraction of that energy slipped away from the surroundings and flowed towards me, like a portion of that destructive force was being redirected, and I soon felt a sharp pain in my upper body.

But then.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase:『Mana Sense:LV7』has become 『Mana Sense:LV8』〛

〚Skill Aptitude Increase:『Mana Sense:LV8』has become 『Mana Sense:LV9』〛

〚Skill Mastery Achieved:『Mana Sense:LV9』has become 『Mana Sense:LV10』〛

〚Skill:『Mana Control: LV1』has been acquired〛

The system's repeated dings made me wonder if I'd grasped something profound from what I discovered, and as my magic swelled in abundance, I experienced a clarity much deeper than mere heightened senses.

Suddenly, the creatures advancing towards me didn't matter anymore, as everything seemed like child's play.

My bleeding wound didn't matter either.

The second I concentrated on recovery without caring how much magic I expended – the two halves of my wound quickly cinched together, my flesh exploding exponentially in new growth that left no trace of any injury behind.

And to my surprise, the system dinged once again.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase:『Regeneration: LV4』has become 『Regeneration: LV5』〛

Regeneration went up as well?

That it would do so, when I only used my body's normal healing capabilities was truly an outlandish feat.

My critical status was gone too, and all that was left was for my HP to recover to full.

As I was being excited by my new prospects, a dark shadow formed beside me. But it was still too slow as I burst out with incredible speed and slithered away from the curved scythe that extended from it.

Trying to stab me again? This shadow truly had guts!

With the two winged serpents flanking me, I focused on subduing the sinister creature first, but it quickly vanished below the ground without a trace.

And as one of the serpents got close with its fangs reared, I easily dodged its attack with my explosive speed, before cutting through the second with a much more condensed version of my darkness blade.

The creature staggered back and fell, as the destructive energy wreaked havoc by eating through most of its midsection and wings.

With my eyes glowing hot with magic, I felt invincible, because I knew I could beat them all in an instant and without much effort.

However, the winged creatures approaching behind the serpents were truly a bother.

They were smaller and too numerous to take out individually. And so, without wasting any time, I condensed my shadows into a massive darkness blade and aimed it at all the creatures that were flying around in the air.

It simply disintegrated everything as it hurled towards the flying horde. The space above was suddenly enveloped in a crackling darkness that took out all the creatures in its path with one hit.

Soon all that was left behind was a massive gap in the rocks and a deafening silence, without a trace of anything living.