"Hmm...."

Inside the desolated chamber, Jace was carrying Alec as he inspected the barrier.

"Alright, put me down." Alec said, removing his paws from kookily lax barrier.

"You found something?", Jace asked as he put him down.

"I can't see anything in it, it feels like something is blocking my mana sight from examining this barrier. Or perhaps the skill level is just too low." Alec said, shifting his paws on ground.

"Mana sense is certainly a rare skill, but I don't think that skill level is the case here. As it levels up, it would help you to perceive your surroundings, in a better way. It increases your perception, directly proportional to your agility. If there is mana, you would be able to see it. Only difference is that at higher levels, you would be able to perceive it more clearly, even identify the spell structres. If you are unable to identify anything, then", Jace paused as he examined the barrier, "there is something wrong with this whole situation."

"System information on this skill is vague as usual. It just tells me that it would help me sense mana, nothing more."

Jace paused as he looked at Alec, squinting his eyes before continuing.

"I don't know, it's just... whenever someone gains a skill, it comes with an instinct, a process, about how the skill actually worked. The same is with stats, whenever one increases, we just know what exactly increased. You can feel the difference. For me, I never needed to look up to status screen for any kind of information."

"That's just not fair. Is this an monster thing? I highly doubt it is. If someone told me that those centipedes actually used to swipe down the status bar and learned how to do tango in a blood pool, I would have shot them sixty seven times in the torso."

"So, you don't have an instinct or something similar about how the stats and skills actually work." Jace asked.

"Nothing even close. It's just like I'm shoving a buttload of stuff inside a box and it doesn't feel heavy when I lift it." Alec said, skittering past the spacious chamber, towards the large doors.

"That's certainly weird."

"Nothing new there. Hey you just said something regarding agility. How does agility actually work?" Alec asked.

"Well, it's just as I said, Agility is directly related to your perception, reaction and movement speed. Additionally, every other stat, including agility, always have a hidden effect. These hidden effects varies from species to species."

"And you haven't heard of my species before, so you have no idea what hidden effects, my stats possess."

"Yep." Jace replied, following black kitten back, "And what exactly are you doing? You have been going back and forth around this chamber since you woke up. Is there something on your mind?"

"Well, it's just... weird... the way this barrier works. I can't sense any mana from it. And then, there's this door, I can clearly see the structre of mana circuits inside the door but I don't know what to make out of it. My braincells are kind of messed up at the moment. And then, I have a question regarding you too." Alec said, shifting his emerald gaze towards the big man, standing by the window.

"Me?"

"Yep. Are you feeling better now?" Alec asked.

"I think so, I'm not feeling any pain anymore."

"And your mana regeneration?"

"Still nothing."

"The amount of blood mana inside your body is much lower than before. I think whatever the skill that drake used on you, it's effects are now dissipating. Your mana might start recovering anytime now."

"That's a good news, I guess, but what's bothering you?" Jace asked.

"Well, let me start from the beginning. I want to evolve. I need one more level to do so. For that, I need to go out."

"... And.."

Alec paused for a moment before continuing, "the thing that's bothering me, is about that drake. I need to know something, can you answer me a few questions?"

Jace pondered about this for a moment before finally nodding, "Alright. Ask me anything."

"Perfect! Now tell me everything about that fight, from beginning to end. And don't skip a thing."

Alec pulled the cushion out as he sat and listened to Jace's story of fighting against the giant lizard.

***

"So, that powerful spell actually left you alive?" Alec asked with a bewildered expression on his small face.

"Well, I think so. It kind of underestimated my defenses."

"By the way you explained the spell, I don't think that's the case." Alec said as he looked up to the window, It was afternoon, sunlight stopped passing through the barrier as sun went over the castle. Visible through the window, was a cloudless blue sky, spreading all over the forest.

"What do you mean?"

"That spell... Hey! can you tell me the location of the drake's eyes?"

"What?"

"Eyes, like the exact position. I have never seen a drake before. I can assume where it's eyes must have been, but it would be just better to ask."

Jace started explaining how a drake looks like, the one he faced was a blood drake. A blood drake was a wingless beast, crimson red in colour, size comparable to the blue centipede they had faced, high blood affinity, a massive mana pool, highly powerful magic attacks but low defenses and agility. And, of course, the location of the eyes, present on the sides of it's head.

"Just as I thought, it's just a magically empowered repltile."

"A rep- what?", Jace asked, signifying his confusion.

"Reptile!", Alec groaned as he continued, "and I'll explain later. For now, just tell me one thing. Are you sure that you were actually hit by that spell?"

"What do you mean?" Jace asked with bewilderment.

"It's the question that has been bothering me for some time now. You said that you saw something gleaming at the eye of the blood storm. Are you sure you were supposed to be at the edge..." Alec paused before continuing, "instead of the eye of the storm?"

"... I have no idea what you are talking about."

"My question to you is simple, are you sure that the blood drake, didn't just miss the attack?"