Cipher observed the skill. He had actually unlocked an A-rank skill.
At the current state of the apocalypse, there probably weren't that many people with A-rank skills. And this was passive too. If it was an active one, he wouldn't be able to afford it.
He tried to use the skill, summoning his mana without the use of a skill.
He felt mana spread through his body and his body lit up with a golden light.
He observed his mana - not through the system screen, but instinctually. Although this wasn't a huge advantage since he could already keep track of his mana by calculations, being able to feel it was good too. It would be easier to keep track of as the amount of mana he had increased.
He felt the way his mana was working. Unlike the earlier scoop method the skills used, this time it was more like a continuous stream.
He exhaled and deactivated the mana stream, the light around him dying down.
"Good. You seem to have gotten the hang of it," the Heavenly Demon said, looking him over.
He has some talent in qi emission, she thought. Usually, people would take a long time to sense their qi, but he did it quite fast. Well, she supposed having already been using it subconsciously before helped.
"Do you have a qi recovery technique? It's quite efficient," she said. She had noticed how he consumed and recovered his qi. Although the qi was tiny and was bound to recover fast, this was still quite fast compared to others at the same level.
"Yes, I do," Cipher said.
"How long does it take to fully recover?" she asked.
"About thirty-five minutes," he responded.
"Alright, take your time and recover. Then I can teach you some sword moves," she said.
…
Half an hour later, the Heavenly Demon stood before him, sword in hand.
"Now I'll teach you the basics of the Heavenly Demonic Sword Art," she said. "First, circulate your qi like this."
She demonstrated, her body glowing faintly with dark energy that flowed in specific patterns through her limbs and core. Cipher watched carefully, then attempted to mimic the circulation. His mana moved clumsily compared to the Heavenly Demon.
"Don't move the qi through your body, instead, move it through the qi pathways much deeper," she instructed.
He adjusted, concentrating on his internal mana system and letting the mana flow much more naturally. When the mana flowed through its own pathways instead of the full limb, it became much sharper.
"Good. Now, hold your sword like this." She adjusted his grip, correcting the angle of his wrist. "The circulation should flow into the blade as you strike. Watch."
She demonstrated a simple downward slash. The movement looked effortless and didn't do any damage, but he could sense the qi flowing from her core, through her arm, and into the blade.
He tried it himself. The circulation broke halfway through the strike. Because he was circulating mana through a single path instead of the full arm, it was also harder to stabilize.
"Again," she said.
He tried again. And again. Slowly, the movement became smoother, the qi flow less interrupted.
By the time the sun began to set, his body was drenched in sweat.
"That's enough for today," the Heavenly Demon said. "Rest and recover your qi. The daily three monsters will be coming soon."
She turned and disappeared into the darkness.
…
Cipher stood opposite the three monsters, observing them.
Through his Appraisal, he could tell that these ones were much stronger than the ones from the day before.
He held his sword. He was also different from before, he thought.
This time, thanks to the rest recovering his mana, he was also able to recover his stamina. He should be able to fight much better than before.
The monsters charged.
Cipher channeled his mana into his sword. Golden light coated the blade - not the condensed layer from the Aura skill, but his own manipulation. It cost him about one mana every three seconds to maintain, far more efficient than the forty mana the Aura skill required. Though each strike dealt less damage than Aura's guaranteed crits, he could sustain this for much longer, making it ideal for extended combat.
The first monster's claws came down. He raised his coated blade and blocked. Although the impact was heavy, the mana layer held. He pushed back and slashed across its chest.
He remembered trying to reduce the cost of his Aura skill during training with the Heavenly Demon earlier. He'd discovered he couldn't without affecting the crit damage. The same went for Assassinate - reducing the mana would reduce the damage percentage.
This was why it was better to use mana manipulation than try to optimize the other skills.
The second monster lunged from his left. Cipher channeled mana into his legs and leaped. This was another advantage of mana manipulation, he could enhance himself through mana. He came down on the monster's back, his mana coated blade biting deep.
He rolled away as the third monster's claws raked where he'd been standing.
The fight continued. Slash, block, dodge. His mana flowed naturally now, coating his sword, reinforcing his legs for quick movements, even strengthening his arms when he needed to block heavy strikes.
Although using mana for all these actions increased the consumption to about a mana per second, it was still far more sustainable than before.
Cipher noticed that one of the monsters was bleeding heavily with multiple wounds across its body. This was it.
Cipher deactivated his manipulation and activated both Aura and Assassinate simultaneously, spending 65 mana in an instant.
The monster's head separated from its body.
[You have slain D-rank Demon (Level 33)]
[+32,000 EXP]
[+40 Cheat Points]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
He didn't put the points into Stamina. Since he had been resting before the fight unlike before, he still felt full of stamina. Instead, he put all four points into Strength.
18 Strength now. His base damage jumped from 140 to 180.
With pure mana coating, that became 360 damage per hit. And since Aura was still active, that was 720 damage per hit.
He charged the remaining two monsters, taking advantage of the still active Aura.
With the increased damage and the fewer numbers, he didn't struggle as much now and could equally match the monsters.
He continued attacking, waiting for the Assassinate cooldown to run out.
When it did, he chose one of the monsters and charged, activating Assassinate…
[You have slain D-rank Demon (Level 35)]
[+36,000 EXP]
[+40 Cheat Points]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
Four more points. He put three into agility and one into strength, bringing both to the E-rank limit.
With 19 agility, his movements became much sharper and faster.
He closed the distance in an instant, appearing beside the final monster as if he'd teleported. His blade came down in a perfect arc, cutting its head clean off.
[You have slain D-rank Demon (Level 37)]
[+40,000 EXP]
[+40 Cheat Points]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]