Eugene's first response to the giant rabbitoid monster, aside -obviously- from the unconscious scream of half-surprise, and half-cursing his own luck, was crystalizing once again a thin sheet of air, making it fix to his arm. For some reason this was an instinctive reaction, although he had only done it once before. Was it because he had decided to make this the initial move in open battles? If so, it was impressive. It was probably thanks to his -probably- high Intellect stat he had managed to adapt this reaction so fast.

Problems, however, weren't at all dealt with. Although Eugene had spent a couple of hours thoroughly thinking about his fighting strategy, he had no effective weapon in his repertoire... leaving the 'blind and run' strategy aside. He'd have to think of something while fighting the monster. He couldn't afford to experiment indefinitely either, as his mana pool wasn't near that big to cover that. So, he'd have to devise a mana-eficient way of beating a giant monster before said monster killed him.

Yeah, his life sucked as usual. Figures.

The rabbit gave no time to Eugene. It wasn't still while Eugene was thinking, in fact, it was dashing towards him. He realized the animal tank just in time to make a desperate jump to the side, closely evading the... giant antlers on the rabbit's forehead...?

That was... weird. Dream or parallel world aside, he just had problems imagining something like that.

In fact, observing the whole thing Eugene realized it didn't look quite exactly like a rabbit.

It's forepaws were largely more developed than the hind legs. They looked furry and bulky, and some shell-like plaques of a brownish color protected the long, sharp claws the paws ended in. Said claws, by the way, seemed to be retractile, as he noticed they were longer before he dodged the charge. the other curious thing about this rabbit was that, instead of the usual colors rabbit furs had, this one was a dark, leafy green with brown shadows from time to time. Seemed quite out of the place in a plain, although its color would be perfect for camouflaging in forests...

...wait a second...

...Maybe, just maybe, it was actually meant for forest environment... Which would mean this beast came from the forest. If Eugene managed to win this fight, he'd have to explore in the direction the rabbit came from. Of course, that was a big if. It was still a giant mass of muscles armed with sharp claws and a couple of awe-inspiring pointy antlers. And Eugene, in return, was a... human. With nothing but shitty -at the moment- rune magic.

He doubted the Mirror Shield (temp) would do much help, since the rabbit probably relied on its big -and fluffy, so fluffy- ears to locate him. So much for his winning strategy. Great, now he had a sheet of crystal attached to his arm for nothing.

The overgrown bunny stopped its charge, albeit pretty late on. It seemed that it wasn't too good at pushing the brake once it started running... It violently twisted over itself, abruptly changing directions and locking onto Eugene again.

He, on the other side, didn't wait for it to charge again, he used the (Feather) rune on himself, lifting from the ground and therefor out of the rabbit's reach. While having such overgrown forepaws had some obvious advantages, it also had some drawbacks. Sacrificing its jump height was bound to be one of them... Or so Eugene hoped. Of course, he was still prepared in case that wasn't so -hell, knowing his luck, that was probably the case-, but trying would hurt...

There it was. The rabbit monster took impulse, flexed its hindlegs, jumped and...! Missed Eugene's feet by a few inches.

"Fuck yeah! It worked! Haha, how do you like that?!"

Still, it was too soon to celebrate. The spell costed him half of his mana pool, and while resupplying it wouldn't be as taxing as casting and boosting it, it would still take a big toll on his reserves. Besides, he still had to cast other spells to beat the rabit. He had to end this in the next five minutes, or else, he would go down to the ground...

And, speaking of that. He had an idea...

It would be highly mana consuming, but he still had no better idea. Granted, it was dangerous. But it wasn't a suicide race like the previous time...

First, he used his remote crystallization to turn the ground above the rabbit's feet in crystal. By manipulating the amount of mana cast into the (Glass) rune, he managed to make the crystal lighter and weaker than usual, collapsing as soon as the weight of an enormous beast was plunged over it. once the monster's paw was deep inside the soil, he crystallized the air around it, making it even harder to release.

Yeah, that would immobilize it for a bit. Long enough for Eugene to move on to the next part of his plan.

Now that the rabbit couldn't move, everything changed. Attacks that could normally be easily dodged were now very effective.

Eugene raise his hand, softly whispering (Glass) as he formed the rune above his hand. The soft, magical golden light illuminated the area around him. And then, far high in the sky above the trapped monster appeared, like a Damocles' sword, a giant crystalized lance. Eugene's control over the (Glass) rune was so good by now that the design he imagined in his mind was perfectly replicated, making for a fine weapon. Perhaps not efficient in actual combat, but the very long and very, very sharp point would kill the thing, or at the very least cause massive damage. He also cast (Feather) over the shaping crystal mass so it wouldn't deform for casting it as it fell. Surprisingly, the spell took the usual amount of mana to be cast. So the target's original altitude didn't alter the spell's mana cost, huh? Interesting.

The monster, realizing what was coming for it, started to squirm helplessly in the ground, squealing pitifully. Well, Eugene hadn't expected this, but he wasn't about to take pity on a thing that was literally trying to slice, pierce, kill and eat him, and probably not in that order.

"'Don't kill unless you're prepared to be killed...' Now I understand what they meant when they said this." But there was no use on making this any longer.

"Rest in peace..." He was about to negate the effects of (Feather) when something else snatched his attention.

System Notification

You acquired the Combat Spell "Aerial Javelin"

Aerial Javeli: Summons a giant crystal lance. The lance is imbued with magic to strengthen and sharpen it. Costs 10 mana points.

Chant: (Desuper Mortem Invoco)

Ohoh...?

Interesting. So this kind of thing could also happen. Also, the initial cost was more efficient than first casting (Glass) and then using (Feather) to stabilize it, albeit only five points so...

...Hm?

Wait a second.

"Imbued with mana to strengthen and sharpen it" you say...? You mean you can imbue crystal with mana to make it stronger?! How comes he hadn't heard of this?! Damn system, keeping things in the dark for him...!

The rabbit's squealing brought him back to his senses, of course, he had to end this matter first.

He unceremoniously fired off (Feather) causing the crystal lance to drop over the monster. It was frighteningly effectively: the monster's flesh made didn't resist a bit against it, and it skewered the rabbit's back, probably severing it's spine and damaging whatever organs it had inside. Eugene didn't know monster anatomy and he sure wasn't about to care... He did, however, want to test out his new "Aerial Javelin". Besides, leaving the rabbit there to die a painful death would only fit a sadistic psycho. He raised his hand.

"Desuper Mortem Invoco"

As he chanted the words, a magic circle -it could only be described as such- appeared above the rabbit's head. Apparently realizing what was happening, the rabbit tried to break from the crystal trap. it was far too weakened to do so, anyways, and even if it managed to break free, he wouldn't go anywhere far with such a a big injury. He was done for.

Eugene somehow knew he was supposed to make mana circulate the right way inside the magic circle. As for the how, it was probably thanks to the system's spell. However, he could see why rune magic was far more convenient. It was highly inflexible, as the spell had only one possible outcome. Small alterations could probably be done, but the general layout was: normal magic was inefficient. At least, it would be when he had better runes, anyways. Right now, Aerial Javelin was the best weapon in his arsenal.

Realizing the spell circle was ready, he closed his eyes, focusing on the the feeling of... letting go. Or something along the lines of that, anyways. He felt the activation command, which unsurprisingly was the name of the spell itself. He reopened his eyes, looking at the rabbit for the last time.

"Aerial Javelin!"

As if the magic circle was some kind of portal, the tip of the lance appeared first, the the whole blade, and finally the rest of it. Smashing with moderate force, it landed on the rabbit's head, pulverizing it as it sunk deeper in the ground. With a final, loud popping sound, the whole head blew off, painting the surrounding grass with blood and brains. Some of its teeth and part of its tongue landed somewhere near, mixed in a red muddy pile of God-knows-what, and an eyeball jumped a few times before rolling in the ground and finally stopped moving.

Thanks God Eugene had seen lots of gory stuff before. The scene had given him some serious urge to throw up, but he somehow managed to force his meal back into his stomach. Something else suddenly grabbed his attention, though: both antlers landed nearby with little to none damage.

He nullified the floating effect over himself, dropping to the ground as far away from the bloody mess as possible. He picked one of the antlers, giving it a quick examination...

Hmm. It shined quite nicely under the sunlight. It didn't seem to be made out of bone... Maybe a mineral? Well, that would be rare but nothing in this world or dream or whatever seemed impossible. So, these were resistant to some exempt...

Also, no matter how hard he tried, a status display never popped out of the monster. Maybe you had to be a partially sentient being to be a part of the system. It didn't look like this thing was acting on something else than instinct, and the orc warrior, while it wasn't much, did have Intellect...

System Notification

For defeating an enemy stronger than yourself, your soul soul has grown stronger! Your status has been updated accordingly.

Ah, there it was. No title, probably for the same reason he couldn't see the rabbit's status. Nevermind, that would come later. For now, it was time to check his own status.

Status Name Eugene Progression 7.00% to reach Progression Race Human Vocations Title Orc Slayer

Runologist: C (5.00%) Blessings Phanes' Bless (None) Attributes

Physique

18

Charisma 20 Intellect

37

Magic

42

Wow.

That was a nice surprise. Progression level hadn't risen up that much, and neither did his Runology. Physique and Intellect hadn't risen up all that much, either. But Magic rose seven points in that single fight... Well, he kinda formed a new spell and all, but this was surprising even for that.

Oh, just in case, he had to check his Runology as well.

Acquired Runes (Glass) 100%

(Feather) 100%

Available Runes

0 (7.5%)

Max Spell Length

2

Well, that was it for big leaps. It seemed this side as well was normal as ever...

Well, it didn't mind. Elliot earned new magic -albeit fairly inefficient one-, raised up his Magic stats and slowly, but surely, was growing stronger. Progression didn't seem so impossible as it once looked, either.

But more important than anything. He had won this battle without risking his life, or spending too much time or effort on it. Granted, this enemy was weaker than the orc warrior -much, much weaker- but a win was a win, and he would take it as such.

Making preparations in advance was starting to bear its fruits.