The most dangerous individuals combine power with intelligence. While many races display both qualities, only a few notable ones do so with the same splendour as humanity.

Suko Ryo - Interspecial Expert - Humanity and the Other Races

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The mink zone was the most taxing territory to traverse as it was dense with thick foliage, forcing them to stay on constant guard because of their limited vision. It was only in a stroke of luck that they found the minks before the minks ambushed them.

Armed with menacing spears, the minks were around five foot tall with most of their height coming from their torso and neck. They had dark coats, sinuous tails, and webbed feet. Long white whiskers curled out from their button noses, which alongside their large, bright eyes made them look cute and deceptively harmless.

Silas spied on the group of four and quickly realised they were talking to each other with rapid clicks. One of them discreetly glanced towards his hiding spot.

“Shit, I think they’ve noticed us,” Silas said, his voice low but carrying.

“Good, about time we engaged anyway,” Aengus said, raising his spear and heater shield. He had switched weapons for the extra protection the large shield provided.

“Let me see if I can electrocute one of them,” Mia said, her brow wrinkling with concentration as she pointed at the group of minks. Lightning burst out of her finger and hit one in the back, making it yelp.

At once, Aengus burst out into the open with his shield held high, blocking two attacks before thrusting his spear. He gashed a mink at the edge of its chest but failed to take it out.

Silas followed suit, lunging at a mink as it attempted to flank the man-giant. It swiftly changed targets and clashed its spear against his, holding at a stalemate for a heartbeat before swinging low. He stepped back and struck high, missing as the mink sidestepped. Fortunately, he had expected as much and immediately cut short his chop and thrust into its chest, finally making contact as the spearhead pierced through its fur, tearing into its flesh.

The mink wobbled back and tried to get a surprise attack on him. He parried and was about to follow up when a jet of water punctured through its heart, causing it to collapse. Simultaneously, another jet of water shot towards the electrocuted mink, but it cast a mana barrier in time. The water crashed into the translucent, golden sphere and gushed down.

Suddenly, the electrocuted mink lunged and swung low against Silas, slicing his thigh. He clenched his jaw and hissed, backstepping in panic. Its next attack came for his head, and he barely ducked in time, the spearpoint streaming through his matted hair. Another one of Mia’s spells hit the mana barrier, and this time the golden sphere shattered like glass, tinkling. It threw the mink off-guard, and it leapt back in fear of a follow-up, but it was too late as Silas lunged in anger, skewering it right through its neck. Choking on its own blood, it sagged down, gurgling like a drowning man.

Silas looked around and realised it was over. He pressed his wound, trying to stop the blood flow, before gratefully accepting a potion from Mia. He downed it and felt immediate relief.

Aengus walked over, leaving two halved corpses in his wake. His arms were nicked and bleeding and his shield splintered from frantic attacks. Regardless, a victory was a victory, and they promptly returned to the safe zone.

****

“They’re so quick,” Silas said in between deep breaths as he sat leaning against a tree. It would take a few hours for his leg to regain its functionality.

“I didn’t expect that kind of danger or equipment,” Aengus agreed. “Could have gone badly if ye hadn’t shocked that one at the start, lassie.”

Mia offered him a thin, tired smile. “It’s draining though, and I need all my concentration for it. If you two hadn’t held the front, I wouldn’t have been able to cast anything.“ She frowned sullenly then. “Then again, it seems some of them can set up mana barriers, so maybe my magic will only be effective in ambushes.”

Aengus rubbed his beard in thought. “Perhaps we should just stick to small groups then, at least for the time being until yer a bit more comfortable with it.”

“Or perhaps we should try other monsters,” Mia suggested.

“No,” Silas said, shaking his head. The minks were intelligent enough to communicate in a way he hadn’t thought the monsters were capable of. He feared that when the protective barrier fell, just like Aengus had warned, the minks would leave their territory and organise an attack on them. No, if they were to survive, they would have to whittle down the mink numbers even if they failed to eliminate their boss.

As he explained this to them, Mia eventually relented. He guessed she had already known it, only that she feared what a misstep against the minks could lead to. In truth, so was he but he was even more frightened of the minks skewering him in his sleep.

“Besides, these minks give good battle and level experience. Check yer statuses,” Aengus added.

Silas Wycliffe - 1 unassigned attribute point

Level 17

Mana: 105/105 (recovery rate: 0.45 per minute)

Strength: 15

Agility: 22

Constitution: 13

Arcana: 9

Perception: 30

Despite only fighting two enemies, he had already levelled up! He put the point into agility as it was clear victory against the minks depended on his reaction time and speed.

They split up after this and went to train individually as Silas recuperated. He worked on his runes, refocusing his attention onto the manly chest engraving. If they had the engraving on all of their equipment, that would drastically improve their odds of taking down the alabaster mink. With this in mind, he put his all into it, continuously making small changes to his method to see how it affected results.

It was as his leg was almost fully healed that he finally came upon success. Until now, he had held no notion of time in mind while engraving, so to switch it up he had told himself the rune would only last a year and retried it. When he did it this way, he sensed a minuscule amount of the mana sticking while the rest reacted destructively as usual.

Still, he wasn’t disheartened, rather the opposite, and he kept reducing the time frame, growing more excited as he got closer to a working rune. Then, finally he reached the time frame of an hour and his mana drained into the engraving, and the quilted jacket didn’t rip. His breathing rapid and shallow, he put on the jacket and giddily checked his status.

Silas Wycliffe

Level 17

Mana: 105/105 (recovery rate: 0.45 per minute)

Strength: 15

Agility: 23

Constitution: 13 (+1)

Arcana: 9

Perception: 30

“Yes!” he roared, shooting his arms up in celebration.

****

Over the course of the following days, he grew into the habit of sparring with Aengus, attacking the minks, then practising his mana control from the techniques in the books and improving on his rune building.

There was a direct correlation between mana control and engraving as finer control meant he could make precise changes instead of large, clumsy ones. Because of this, he spent good time improving his control, frequently asking Mia for advice.

She gained her class on the tenth day: Elementalist. It was a rare class which gave generous boosts to her perception and arcana. In addition, it increased her proficiency with elemental spells and doubled her mana capacity. However, it wasn’t just her elemental spells that got strengthened as due to her attribute bonuses, her telekinesis became semi-visible in the form of a translucent hand when she sunk enough mana into it.

While she had been afflicted by tingly skin for a good part of the day, she eventually got over it and began solely focusing on her magic. Because of this, she became an invaluable teacher to Silas, and they spent more of their time together.

With her help, he increased his manly chest engraving’s attribute bonus from +1 for an hour to +2 for three hours. While this wasn’t a massive improvement, he wasn’t too bothered as it was 2 levels worth of points, and when put on his trousers, armour, and boot, it added 6 points to constitution! What was interesting, though, was when he tried to wear an additional engraved item, the System simply ignored the fourth rune. It was a curious limit, but one to investigate at another less stressful time.

On the eleventh day, the trio set off in their newly runed up kit. They were found by seven minks and fought for their lives, only winning by the skin of their teeth. As Silas was trudging back to the safe zone, body covered in blood and sore all over, he brought up his status.

Silas Wycliffe - 1 unassigned attribute point

Level 20

Mana: 110/110 (recovery rate: 0.5 per minute)

Strength: 15

Agility: 24

Constitution: 13 (+6)

Arcana: 10

Perception: 30

You have passed the threshold to gain a class. Do you wish to gain one now or later?

Putting his unassigned point from levelling to 20 into arcana, he grinned widely, and the fatigue seemed to drain from his body.

Right now!