I did have a few gains from the fight.

Skills Unlocked : One-Handed Weapons Mastery, Longsword Mastery

Longsword Mastery

Grade : Common

Mastery : Beginner

Level : 1

Ability to fluently use any type of longsword. Proficiency in controlling and wielding such weapons increases along with its level.

I added Longsword Mastery to my list to satisfy another requirement for my class.

After reaching the Temple, I stash the extra weapons I found today in a corner of the room and open the monster encyclopedia to research about skeleton-type monsters.

I can slowly get used to that dreadful feeling but I need to find out how they were able to detect me that easily.

Found it.

According to the encyclopedia, any species that doesn't have any sensory organs have an innate magic sense that works in a limited area in their surroundings. This helps them to sense any magical disturbance in their detection range. This range may change depending upon their species and for a normal skeleton, it's ten meters.

The only way to hide from this sense is by hiding the mana fluctuations one emits outside their bodies.

This can be done either by getting a skill, item, or perk to help with that or by being very proficient in mana manipulation.

If one is proficient in mana manipulation, they can do this in two ways.

First, to control the mana in their body to the extent that they don't emit any fluctuations.

Second, by forming a thin layer of mana on their body like a skin-tight bodysuit to stop the outside world from detecting the mana fluctuations emitting by their body.

This mana coating needs to have a very smooth mana flow so that it wouldn't emit any mana fluctuations or there wouldn't be any purpose in using it.

Magic sense huh, neat.

Makes sense as the skeletons don't have any sensory organs to perceive their surroundings and if they don't have the help of magic sense, it would be a miracle if their species doesn't go extinct.

So, I need to stop emitting mana fluctuations in order to sneak upon them.

I don't have any skill, item, or perk that may help in this endeavor. Therefore my only option, for now, is to manipulate my mana to hide the mana fluctuations.

There may be other ways out there but these are the basic ways mentioned in the encyclopedia to hide from magic sense.

If I want to hide using my mana manipulation, I need to be able to perform either one of the options provided in the book. I may be a novice when it comes to magic, but even I can tell that the second option is a lot easier compared to the first option.

But even that second option is difficult for me as I was recently introduced to magic. It would take years minimum for me to reach that kind of proficiency.

First I have to add Mana Manipulation skill into my list and start practicing with it. I can practice manipulating my mana without adding the skill into my list but the improvement would be slow and I'm not naive enough to think that I won't be affected by corruption if I spend that long here without any protection against it.

Even though I know it's a lost cause, I settle down and tried manipulating neutral mana for about two hours without the skill. Not to mention a clear coating on my body, I couldn't even cover my fingers without breaking the flow.

I'm stuck.

Do I stubbornly spend all my time practicing mana manipulation until it is improved to the level I need?

Even when I know it would take years?

Let me check the magic book first. Maybe it has some other ideas I can try.

I open the magic book and check its mana manipulation chapter to see if there are any other ideas that can help me mask my mana fluctuations or to make the already explained process a little easier.

It looks like that isn't possible.

The book says that I have to practice with mana manipulation quite extensively to get to the stage of fully isolating my own body's mana fluctuations and even more than that to perfectly control my mana.

Looks like I don't have much of an option.

As I was going through the book, I stopped concentrating on the mana manipulation process I was trying until then. As I couldn't manipulate neutral mana that well compared to my space mana, I instinctively stopped doing that and started manipulating space mana similar to how I was training daily in the evening.

When I closed the book to continue my mana manipulation session, I was astounded to see what I was doing instinctively and felt silly as to why I haven't thought of that. That was the clue I needed.

The encyclopedia never mentioned anything about which type to use mana to isolate mana fluctuations, it just says mana.

I assumed it was neutral mana as according to the magic book most people don't find their elemental affinity unless they have a Common grade one or if they are of the upper class as magic affinity checking tools price increase with the rarity of elemental affinity they need to check.

There was also the point of most mana types not being suitable for isolation unless you are very good at manipulating that particular affinity.

Luckily I have space mana affinity which is suitable for isolating and I have that affinity at Perfect rank at that. That means I can quickly gain more experience if I start practicing with it than neutral mana. So instead of focusing on neutral mana, I started manipulating my silvery space mana.

At first, it was similar to when I tried with my neutral mana but as time passed I was able to coat one finger with my space mana and maintain it for a few seconds. Now it wouldn't take years but months if I can keep practicing like this.

After finding another way to isolate my mana fluctuations, I focused on manipulating space mana to form a mana coating around my fingers into the night.

The next morning, after my daily training, I went back to Sentry Tower to continue training my combat instincts and when the night came, I focused on forming a mana coating on my body.

I repeated the same process for another two weeks.

Of the two weeks of combat, my first week was mostly focused on getting used to that dreadful feeling. And after getting used to it, the fight became much easier.

At first, I would have to move a lot around the skeleton to dodge its attacks but as the days increased, I was getting used to its movements and slowly started to decrease my range of dodges, from moving all over to just moving a step away from the attacks.

This also helped in decreasing stamina consumption and increasing the opportunities for a counterattack. This opportunity also helped me gain precious combat experience against monsters.

Later when the combat became a lot easier, to up the ante, I even tried giving the skeleton a dagger but it didn't take it.

As for the mana manipulation side, I was able to coat both my hands and maintain the coating evenly and use other skills and if I don't care about the uniformity I was able to coat both my arms but whenever I tried to use any other skill, the coating collapses.

It looks like it's gonna take some time to get where I want. But I did get the skill I was hoping along with a few other upgrades.

Skills Unlocked : Corruption Resistance, Pain Resistance

Longsword Mastery reaches level 2

Space Mana Manipulation reaches level 5

Space Mana Manipulation reaches level 6

Meditation reaches level 5

Corruption Resistance

Grade : Rare

Mastery : Beginner

Level : 1

This skill decreases the damage taken and the rate of corruption caused by a corrupt source. Damage taken decreases while the immunity to corruption increases with its level.

Effect :

Decreases the effect of corruption by 0.5 %.

This skill helps me resist the corruption.

Its effect may be abysmal right now but as it grows, it will be a lot more useful. I would like to add the other resistances that I've unlocked to my list as well but I'm sorely lacking in the skill slots department.

That is all the progress I've done in the last two weeks and today's the day I'm going to kill the skeleton I've been fighting for the last two weeks and progress with my scouting which I've stopped after finding that skeleton.

I move towards the Sentry Tower and from there onto the wall. As I already know that it can detect me, I didn't bother sneaking towards it and just moved slowly.

The moment it sensed me in its magic sense range it turns around and charges towards me. The moment it turned, that dreadful feeling is back but now I can easily push through without it affecting my combat ability.

I wait for the skeleton to reach me and duck just before its ungainly attack can reach me and attack its left leg just below the knee with Spatial Slash.

The moment my longsword that was flashing silver due to the spatial mana touched its left leg below the knee, the lower part of the leg below the knee fell to the side, and subsequently, the skeleton fell to the ground.

I stood still, shocked by what happened, and almost allowed the skeleton to grab my leg.

Although I practiced swinging my sword against the skeleton these past two weeks, I never actually meant to harm it so I stopped my sword swings just before they made contact with its body, and that is also the reason I've never used my attack skill on it.

Although I understand that this attack negates physical resistance, I didn't understand the enormity of that. Now that I'm looking at it in action, I understand this skill is going to be my bread and butter for attacking.

That's after I invest enough Attribute Points into Intelligence to gain enough mana. I already have to bear the raging headache I'm getting due to zeroing my mana.

The fight, if you can even call it that, didn't last a minute.

You have defeated a Corrupted Imperial Archer

Your class has gained a level

I invested the five Attribute Points from my level up to my Intelligence, now I can unlock Spatial Storage.

To unlock Spatial Storage, I use space mana to coax the spatial fabric to open a pocket space to store my things, just like the book said. It's slightly harder at the beginning, but I was able to do it which I've immediately added to my list.

Skills Unlocked : Spatial Storage

Spatial Storage

Grade : Epic

Mastery : Beginner

Level : 1

Ability to open a pocket space to store objects. Size of the pocket increases along with its level.

Cost : 150 Mana

I activate the skill Spatial Storage to check the size and I can feel that I am now connected to a space pocket created by the spatial fabric, which is of the size of a regular six by six room and this size increases as the level increases.

This would be more than enough to store anything valuable for now. I rest for a while to deal with the headache.

Now that there is no skeleton to disturb me, I can calmly investigate the surroundings. I look outside of the walls to see huge trees all around and mountain peaks above that, very far away from where I am. The wall spreads both to the left and right of the Sentry Tower and there are similar towers on both sides.

I search around the area and find another skeleton laying on the floor, just a normal one but it isn't intact, it's missing a few bones here and there. I search it and find a similar pair of daggers on it which I appraise and store in the storage. I guess not all the dead have been corrupted and raised as monsters.

Now that's done I move towards another tower.

The width of the wall that I'm standing on is at least fifteen feet wide. If I had a car, I can easily move around using it here.

Of the two directions, I'm moving towards the Sentry Tower's right which I'm hoping is going to lead me towards some kind of entrance. It took me around thirty minutes to reach the surrounding area of the next Sentry Tower.

Of those thirty minutes, I spent most of it investigating the surrounding area, both inside and outside. I saw quite a few monsters roaming in the forest but strangely enough, they seem to avoid this place. Another weird thing to add to the list about this ruin.

Are they also avoiding this place because of the source of corruption that's somewhere in this ruin?

As I reach the surrounding area of the Tower, I can see two black skeletons moving around in front of it. I can see them barely from here but from what I can see, they appear similar to the last one, with no armor and a pair of daggers in their hands for weapons.

I may be able to take down one of them comfortably but taking two of them at once seems to be a risk. I can divide and conquer them but why waste another chance at combat practice.

I can easily take care of one of them but what about two?

I can try them and find out but before that, I would also like to face one of them to check if its movements are similar to the last one. I appraise them both, their details are similar to the last archer but they all have different levels.

I settle down and observe them for over an hour to see if there are any patterns to their movements but there aren't. They just seem to roam randomly around the surrounding area of the building, that's about it.

I wait until the distance between both the skeleton is more than ten meters and throw a stone at the one nearer to me. The skeleton at which I've thrown the stone focuses on it and moves towards the disturbance, whereas the other skeleton moves towards the sentry tower as the place where the stone fell is out of its magic sense range.

I repeated the process and lured the first skeleton until there is sufficient distance between both the skeletons and then moved towards it. Same as the others before, as soon as I enter its range, it charged towards me.

I wanted the last skeleton I faced to take its daggers so that I can check if a skeleton wielding its daggers is going to be a problem. I wasn't able to do that as that skeleton wasn't intelligent enough to pick up weapons but now there is another skeleton in front of me with weapons in its hands.

I guess I'm going to find out the difference.

Name : Janus Arthridge

Race : Human

Level : 1

Bloodline : N / A

Class : N / A

Level : 2

Health : 100 / 100

Stamina : 150 / 150

Mana : 150 / 150

Attributes

Strength : 10

Dexterity : 15

Vitality : 10

Endurance : 15

Resilience : 10

Perception : 10

Intelligence : 15

Wisdom : 10

Willpower : 10

Attribute Points : 0

Skills

Appraisal Lv.1

Stealth Lv.2

Meditation Lv.5

Space Mana Manipulation Lv.6

Blink Lv.1

Spatial Slash Lv.1

Longsword Mastery Lv.2

Corruption Resistance Lv.1

Spatial Storage Lv. 1

Skill Slots : 1

Perks

Otherworlder

Summoned Being

Polyglot