There was no sound aside from my screaming as I fell down what felt like a deep hole. Everything was dark, and my noisy hisses kept echoing back to me in the endless void.

Echo? Hold on.

An echo meant this place had a surface, or at least something solid.

The wind rushing swiftly against my body made me realise I would surely break into a million fragments, if I didn't stop my descent now.

Grasping my situation, I quickly spread out my wings.

My body shot up weightlessly like a kite, before settling down to an aimless drift and I peered this way and that way to try and pick up something.

Just when I started contemplating my surroundings, the system dinged.

〚Skill『Blink: LV1』has been acquired〛

Kyaa! No way!

Was that like teleport? How cool!

Suddenly my drifting stopped, as I struck something hard ahead of me, but instead of falling, I rolled across the object until the pull of gravity simply stopped.

Ouch. What just happened?

I was just flying and suddenly I was rolling – this place was way off!

I glanced around in curiosity, but I was in complete darkness, so the smoothness of the surface I was on felt even more real.

I already knew I was in trouble.

I essentially decoded the shadow creature's spell, or at least I thought I did. When I recreated the skill, there had to have been some misstep, because I couldn't understand where I was now.

"Sensei?" I called out.

I heard a lazy «hmm» which suggested he couldn't be bothered to answer, but it immediately put me at ease.

I was alive!

If he was still here, I'd simply been transported to another plane.

But where was this?

I slithered around for a while but I encountered nothing but smooth ground.

Just where?

My confused hisses echoed back to me like a greeting.

I wanted to see how far the surface went, so I sprinted across it for a while, but after several minutes it still hadn't come to an end.

Sensei sighed in exasperation. «Recreating that skill was too advanced to start with. You should have done something small like improving the basics of your [Mana Control] before attempting something like this.»

I frowned.

It was a bit too late for that now. If he didn't want any accidents, he should have said something sooner!

Perhaps this was a separate dimension or some kind of dark realm, although it was nothing at all like what I imagined, but I was intrigued.

Since I recreated the skill from the shadow, was I truly alone here? Or was the shadow going to show up at some point?

The thought made me shudder.

Yet, after wandering the plane for a while, I encountered nothing else, which convinced me the area was empty.

This place was mine, and I slithered around cackling in delight.

«Since you're so free. Why not let me teach you how to control your mana?» Sensei asked dryly.

"No thanks!" I firmly shook my head, a wide grin on my face. I didn't want his help.

One thing was clear – my plan had worked!

Although the use of magic was unconscious for monsters, [Mind's Eye] was not a typical skill. When I observed the shadow, it revealed its skills to me in the form of a language I could now understand.

If magic which was normally hidden was revealed to me through [Mind's Eye], did it also work for other things?

Perhaps, I would also be able to see my own magic in symbolic form if I used [Mind's Eye] on myself?

I was delighted I had done it.

But the problem now was how to get back.

〚Skill Aptitude Increased:『Blink: LV1』has become 『Blink: LV2』〛

Ah...that was fast!

I activated [Mind's Eye] to stare at myself and was delighted to see the same symbols surrounding me that the shadow had.

Recalling how I used it before, I simply deactivated Blink's effect.

In an instant the darkness of the plane vanished and I found myself freefalling high up in the air, several leagues away from any rocky plateau.

The shadow's lair was also nowhere in sight.

I hissed in panic.

It worked, but what the heck!

Beneath me was a chaotic swarm of Abyssal monsters tearing apart a monster. And as if the height wasn't scary enough, my falling trajectory would bring me right to them, and some of the monsters had already spotted me and were making their way over.

In my panic, I activated [Blink] and found myself back in the dark plane again.

Hahh!

I took several deep breaths to calm myself. That was dangerous – too dangerous!

Why did I come out in the middle of the air? I should have been in the same place I left.

What if the next time I came out trapped inside a rock or something?

My breath hitched in panic. This was bad!

I'd moved around too much since getting here to retrace my path back to where I started. Instead, I tried to recall the landscape I saw when I returned, moving backwards enough to get away from the monsters but not to impact anything solid.

However, I began to question if the three dimensions existed here. I did just travel across space after all.

In the midst of my turmoil, Sensei's voice interrupted my thoughts. «Stop moving without thinking, you'll only hurt yourself.»

Hmph! As unhelpful as always.

When I didn't answer, Sensei growled in annoyance. «Why the hell are you sulking now?»

I'd been annoyed with him ever since I learnt about the Abyssal monsters, it was only now that he was getting the hint.

"I don't know. Maybe because you didn't tell me there's some secret war going on out there that could potentially affect me and my Pit. Don't you realize how dangerous it is for me not to know important things like that… before I find myself in the midst of it."

I knew this wasn't the time, but I couldn't help venting my frustration.

«It wasn't necessary for your survival at the time, that's why I never mentioned it.» Sensei calmly replied. «Too much trivial baggage will only slow you down. And why do you care, it's not like you will participate.»

How could he decide that on his own!

"I care because I'd like to have that information so I can make my choice."

«Perhaps. But it's still unnecessary.» Sensei deadpanned.

He didn't even understand that? I was more upset with him now. Did I have an airhead for a system?

Sensei sighed. «You should stop using [Blink] for now.»

"And why is that?" I grumbled.

«You replicated a skill your opponent has already mastered. At its current level you won't be able to move quickly across this space or see where you're going, until it's at least LV5.»

"What!" That would take too long!

«To improve faster, you have to learn to control your mana first. Right now, you're merely moving blindly across two planes, it's very dangerous.»

I scowled, because he was right.

"Tell me one thing. Does time flow differently here, or is it the same?"

Sensei's irritatingly smug voice chuckled. «Finally asking the right questions. At LV2, time moves twice as slow, you should be able to guess the rest.»

Did he have to say it like that?

Regardless, I was relieved. If I learnt to control my mana first, maybe it would increase the accuracy of my jump. For, now it was worth improving my [Darkness Magic]. I wanted to try creating a solid object, like the rods of the shadow.

And for that, I had to 'observe' how it did that.

"Fine, we'll do it your way." I grumbled. "How do I get out of her safely now?"

Sensei chuckled. «Move backwards.»

I frowned as I inched back a few metres.

«A bit more.»

I felt myself twitch. He was totally enjoying this.

«Stop. Now fly upwards.»

I did so, until Sensei instructed me to stop. When I came out, it was on the edge of the rocky chasm, but several feet below where I started from.

The reason soon became clear.

There was a large feline Abyssal monster resting near my original vantage point, completely blocking the view of the shadow's lair. I seemed to have travelled several leagues in an instant, the frenzy of creatures I witnessed earlier were nowhere to be found.

I was amazed. [Mind's Eye] and [Blink] were truly awesome!

I cloaked myself before flying past the Abyssal monster to reach a higher peak. The shadow creature was still in its lair, so I ventured closer to observe it with [Mind's Eye].

There was no point going after the monster below me, I was only interested in one thing. When I checked my stats, the first thing I noticed was a new language under [Glossary of Aeon], and I was overjoyed.

With that thought in mind, I busied myself with practice.

Soon all the skills the shadow creature possessed were going to be mine.