Observation

"The target is making no moves as of now. He has recently made a trip to the library with his mother. Nothing out of the ordinary, we have compiled a list of all books he looked at in the library and the ones he checked out for you to analyze later. We haven't noticed any strange behavior since the spectral undead subjugation. We will continue monitoring of the subject indefinitely to see whether he poses a threat or is suitable for research."-A government employee sitting behind a monitor reports to his superiors.

It took a few hours of study to decipher the full ceremony that was used by those 'cultists.' It seems that summoning their being of worship, which may or may not be Void, was a very complicated process. Matt would need to gather a few materials that he could probably find on ebuy along with twenty liters of human blood and knowledge on spatial magic. He would also need to use his new knowledge on runes and dark magic to create the summoning circle and pierce the spatial rift between universes. After he finishes his research, it is time for dinner and he goes to help prepare a fettuccine Alfredo for him and his mom. Making both the sauce and noodles from scratch has his mom giving him weird looks but the smell makes both of them drool. As they take a bite of the food, they simultaneously exclaim in delight and ravenously devour every bit of the food. They both look quite disappointed at seeing there is no more.

So that's what having cooking at level 3 does? That was high class cuisine, I could probably make a living as a chef if I wasn't worried about leveling up. It's not too late, so I should read my last book and see what I can get from it. *Ding* Stealth has leveled up. Learned Mana Clone Jutsu.

Appraisal

Mana Clone Jutsu- The ability to manifest your mana in an appearance very similar to your own. Can be seen by normal people. Has limited ability to act at low levels, best used as a decoy or distraction.

Just what I needed to sneak out later. I can meditate in the meantime while I wait for mom to go to sleep. She normally goes to bed at about 10pm so I've still got a couple more hours. Maybe I can increase my mana by 100 points or so in that time?

Matt managed to increase his mana to 300 points by 10 pm and his mom was unfortunately still awake. Thinking he wouldn't have enough time if he waited for a few more hours, he tells her he is going to sleep. He creates a mana clone, surprised that it is actually like looking at a mirror. He gives it a test prod a few times to make sure it feels realistic. Then he orders it to lay in his bed with its eyes closed before he proceeds to leave through his window. His room is on the second floor of the house but with his current stats, the fall is nothing to him. The city is dimly lit by streetlights, some of which definitely need replacing while quite a few are shot out by local 'gangsters.' In Matt's eyes, most of them are just kids and wannabes thinking they are cool for pretending to be gangsters. While they are not as dangerous as real gangsters, a couple idiots playing with guns is still quite dangerous for civilians. Using his disguise skill and wearing an all black outfit consisting of a hoodie and jeans, it is hard to notice Matt using stealth. Even if you did walk past him on the street, you would be unable to see anything but darkness in place of a face since he is using his disguise skill. He quickly makes his way towards the docks nearby since he knows that there are few people around at this time of night and there are many abandoned warehouses from failed business ventures. The few people around would be guards, both for legit businesses and the shadier ones. Needing a quiet place to practice a few of his skills and to answer his ideas on how to use them, he finds a warehouse that looks like it has been abandoned for many years. There is a padlock so rusted it crumbles apart at a slight touch of Matt. The walls look nearly as bad and the ground is covered in various debris from the many squatters it has seen over the years. The air is so putrid that Matt feels like he will get a disease if he is injured here and the air could probably make a normal person sick if they were to live here for more than a few days. In fact after a few minutes Matt gains a resistance to disease. Taking a moment to understand how absurdly filthy the place is, he realizes it helps to keep people away from this tentative training ground.

I really need to see how many shadow whips I can make at once and if I can create them from any part of my body. It's easy for me to make once come from each hand and I can even add spikes to them both. I can also make them sticky or as hard as steel. I have no problem controlling them at any length, but it does take more mana to modify them. The longer they are the more mana they require. They continuously use mana when they are in use. With my current 300 mana though I should be able to use them for increased mobility like I was originally planning for about 2 hours before I would need a break at my estimation. Fortunately it isn't hard to increase my mana and higher levels of intelligence will increase my regen. It doesn't take into account fighting though. I should be able to use them almost like grappling hooks and I can use them to move myself to a position I've latched onto. I can also just swing between buildings using them. It hurt a few times getting the timing down for how long it will take the whip to get to its destination as I'm falling to the ground... At least my disease resistance leveled up again and my shadow whip leveled up twice during practice. I don't know if I should be happy that tough skin leveled up as well during the errors of my trials. It's a little after 1 am and mom shouldn't be awake until 7am, so I should have time to patrol the city for a bit and maybe even check out a few suspicious places where I might be able to level up.