A familiar ping resounded in my ears as my MP bar finally refilled completely again. 95 seconds. I’d managed to empty it out completely for the third time in a row, and it took the same 95 to 96 seconds to fill up. That was important information to know. My MP maxed out at 102, which meant I regenerated it at just a bit above one per second.

I didn’t have enough information to figure out how the maximum MP or MP regeneration was calculated though. It was more important for me to focus on finding ways to increase them anyways. For now, it was simply enough that I knew how long it would take to go from empty to full.

Well, that, and the fact that I had figured out a new Ability that might get the job done. It wasn’t destructive like Gale Slash and was far more controlled. Looking at my Sharkfang Dagger, I thrust it in the vague direction of the river and watched as some of the water rose up and rushed to the blade.

First, all of the water formed a sphere that barely touched the flat of the Dagger’s hilt, before rapidly elongating to twice my height. It was important to keep my arm outstretched until the whole thing formed, otherwise it would just explode like the first time I tried this. After I was sure of its stability, I pulled my arm back and watched the liquid coil a bit before following my movement, trailing through the air quickly. With a flick of my wrist, the air before me shuddered as a thunderous crack announced my victory to the world.

Congratulations, INT raised to 11!

Congratulations, WIS raised to 11!

There was no notification of the actual Ability being created, not yet anyways as it was clearly an offensive Ability meant for battle. Even so, somewhere in the back of my head I knew what the system would call it. I’d successfully crafted my first Water Magic spell, Water Whip. I needed to see if it was fit for purpose, though. So, all that was left to do was to summon another Witchlight and head back to the Temple.

My pets followed me as I ascended the steps to the entrance once more. As I did so, I noted bits of brown fur and blood and flesh scattered about. That rat must have impaled itself on my shield when it first pounced. I assumed those were things that it had ripped out in an effort to free itself from the spikes.

Ignoring that, I stepped over the threshold and into the temple once more. Knowing that the Witchlight followed where I was looking, it was much easier to scan the temple for things I might’ve missed before.

I strained my ears as much as I could for any sound that didn’t originate from my pets or myself. My water whip trailed along the ground soundlessly, ready to move at a moment’s notice. My shield arm was tensed, my body only too willing to protect itself whether I could see a danger or not.

Creeping around the chapel, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. My pets made their own way around the sanctum as well. I was just about ready to give up on finding anything of note.

Then I heard the most godawful screeching I could possibly conceive.

Staring up at the ceiling, my Witchlight was suddenly there to illuminate my vision. They weren’t rats, as I had expected. Rather, I laid eyes on two other rodents, but these ones had wings. The bats were enormous, probably large enough to come to my knees if they stood on the ground. Their wings spread wide; they were probably as long as I was tall.

Immune to [Fear] Status due to [Courageous].

That’s concerning. Well, it appears that the me from before had some idea about what sort of things I might encounter in this place. While I could hazard a guess at what that [Fear] Status might entail, it was probably for the best that I didn’t need to experience it firsthand.

“Monty, take out the one on the right!” I commanded, my voice echoing within the temple. After I had shouted, it dawned on me that the screeching I heard hadn’t echoed like that. Still, that was something to worry about later.

Just as I had wanted, Monty took to the air and was already coiling his body around one of the bats by the time the other began their descent towards me. Another crack resounded through the air as my whip scored a fatal hit right on the bat’s left wing, tearing the fragile membrane in two and grounding it.

[Water Whip] Ability Gained.

You can create a construct of water that is functionally identical to a whip. The whip will last for fifteen minutes before it begins to lose stability. By recasting the spell, you can increase the length of time for a whip created in this way by an additional fifteen minutes.

Before the second bat had even hit the ground, Squishy had jumped from one of the benches and engulfed its entire body. There wasn’t even time for a screech to escape its mouth before it began to dissolve in whatever acidic substance made up a slime’s body.

Nearly right after that, the one that Monty had been coiling around fell and resembled more a crinkled-up piece of paper with hair than any sort of winged rodent as it did. He released his hold just a few feet above the ground, and the corpse unceremoniously crashed into the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust and dirt across the church.

I was nearly able to let out a sigh of relief when another sound reached my ears. It wasn’t that of any of my pets, though their various warning signals followed soon thereafter. Scanning the building for whatever was creating that noise, it took me a moment to gauge what direction it was coming from.

The sound was difficult to put a name to. It sounded quite similar to the chittering and squeaking of a rodent, but there was far too much bass in it to call it a squeak. I wasn’t really able to make sense of what could even make such a strange noise. After I laid eyes on the creature, things began to make a bit more sense though.

It stood on all four legs that wouldn’t even measure up to my calves, and yet its body was immense enough that it was still probably twice as tall as me, with massive incisors that surpassed even the shark fang which made up my current Conduit. Its pink tail cracked the air whenever it moved this way and that, almost as if it was making a mockery of my new spell.

Titanic Rat

Igazi’s influence over this animal has grown to such a degree it is now categorized as a Monster. It still lacks Chaos Magic, but its strength is astounding. Be wary of its tail and teeth.

Using [Observe] only managed to add more questions to the pile. Regardless, I wasn’t about to let myself die, I had what I needed to win. Probably. Readying my whip, I glanced at my pets. Squishy had spit out the half-digested bat and Monty was perched on the back of one of the benches. Sadie stood ready in the aisle between benches, flaming eyes pointed right at the monster. Meanwhile, Charlotte had crawled onto a nearby wall.

As always, they awaited my orders. Flicking my wrist, I made the first move. I had aimed between its eyes, but it moved so quickly that I barely managed to score a strike on its shoulder, and it was far from crippling. “Kill it!” I ordered, hearing the rising anxiety in my own voice. There was no system to keep me calm in the face of adversity this time.

Breathing deeply, I watched as the monstrosity simply moved forward and the stone benches parted before its body without slowing it down. It had been coming for me, but Sadie took the opportunity to latch onto its hind leg with a sickening crunch.

The temple then shook with a noise that I slowly began to realize was the Rat’s howl of pain. It only lasted a moment, but a pool of blood was already gathering on the stone floor. From my angle, I could see that she had taken out a chunk of flesh the size of my fist and ran off into the rows of seats before the rat could react.

Even if it was futile, the thing still tried to pivot towards the direction Sadie had gone, limping the whole time. I took the opportunity to attack with my whip once more, scoring a hit in the middle of its back. Within moments, blood began to coat its brown fur and clump the follicles together.

A new sensation of pain seemed to be the best way to garner its attention. As it began the second-long process of turning back to its original direction, Monty and Charlotte both pounced onto it.

Monty had decided to coil himself around the thing’s throat while it was distracted. Charlotte, on the other hand, seemed to think that the wound I had just opened up in its back was the best candidate to inject her venom into. That was far from the only wound she inflicted, however, as her legs were clinging to the rat so tightly that I could see blood beginning to coat the tips of them.

Another shriek was cut off before it could end. Squishy seemed to be of the mind that it made too much noise and wrapped the thing’s head inside its body. I could already see the flesh melting as I watched.

I waited a few moments more before allowing myself to relax. Nothing else seemed like it was going to come out, so I took a seat in one of the pews nearest to the Titanic Rat’s rapidly disappearing corpse. My pets were as enthusiastic as they were efficient in having their share of our kills.

I, for one, was content to eat a few more nuts and berries and think about what to do next.