Chapter 45 - A Sword in the Moonlight

Rynold was still sitting down behind some debris that the Behemoth Ghoul won't bother taking a second look at.

He established that there were two available paths for him to follow but he didn't want to feel limited to a single path alone. After all, his combat style would benefit from both paths, so long as they made use of Mana. But before anything else, he had to at least try to reduce the hindrance in his movements.

Willing his Mana, Rynold tried to do the thing he was worried about ever since he put it on. Shrinking the drill which size holds more comedic value than actual practicality.

So, Rynold willed his Mana to try and shrink down the drill. Maybe it was because the attachment was a simple tool or maybe because he had the sigil, the drill didn't put up much resistance before shrinking into a miniature size on top of his right hand.

Instead of protruding out of the entirety of the hand itself, it now looked like a tiny point wherein the drill was parallel atop Rynold's horizontal hand.

'Well, that was easier than expected,' Rynold thought as he flexed his hands as he shifted his gauntlets back to Speed-form. It's great that it could at least turn back to normal without a hitch otherwise it'll be pretty horrible if he had to walk everywhere with a third leg.

With that out of the way, it was time for him to get to work.

Not being able to decide which path to take, Rynold just sat still and meditated. Apart from the white noise of destruction and loud sounds from time to time, his inner self was calm and focused on circulating Mana on an anatomical level.

Pulling Mana from his Mana Core and then circulating it around his system using the Mana Channels in his body. Rynold continued to study Mana in his body before willing it into some sort of blade. Well, at least he tried to.

Inside the Mana Core, there are a few things that people need to look out for but Rynold didn't know any of this. He continued with his experiment of willing his Mana to a certain shape, only to realize that it was a lot harder than it looked.

People in the New World have an affinity to whichever path of Mana amplification they could follow with the introduction of Mana and the system to them. In a very general sense, a person could go for both being a caster or a battlemage at the same time but increasing the strength of both spells and skills can prove to be difficult.

Regardless, the potential for a certain path varies between each person. Some people find that the affinity for augmenting their attacks a lot easier while some people find it easier to equip battle gear that is made from mana.

Rynold, however, didn't have an affinity for being an Equipper but the Augmenter path was completely and utterly available to him. That was the reason why he could use the skill [Mana Infusion] at such an early stage of the New World.

Not knowing this, he continued to push through with being an Equipper.

Forcing his Mana in the shape of a blade was a tiring task for Rynold and he wasted so much Mana doing it. In fact, at some point, he could've sworn that the system was just plain mocking him. The windows kept piling up that said [Attempt Failed!] for the 15th time in a row.

Around the 23rd attempt, Rynold finally decided to stop for a while. It was getting annoying, after all, and he managed to deplete half of his mana reserves just by experimenting.

Rynold looked back at the Behemoth Ghoul that had managed to finish its rampage. It was obvious that the creature was on its last legs and practically brain dead but he still doubted he could deal a finishing blow against the big monster.

Sitting back down, Rynold sighed. 'There's got to be a trick to this shit,' he thought while he tried to analyze what went wrong with his past attempts.

As an Augmenter, they would just have to pull Mana from his Mana Core and have some sort of conductor waiting for them. An Equipper, however, had a completely different way of doing things.

Instead of using their Mana Channels to constantly draw out Mana from their Mana Cores, Equippers tend to have a denser and purer Mana. Rynold's Mana, for example, was relatively murkier than that of an Equipper.

It was like comparing a vat of glue to a glass of milk.

Even with the Mech God's Candidate Sigil, he wasn't able to completely tell the difference but he knew it shouldn't be this hard.

'Maybe it's because of something that I'm doing wrong,' Rynold thought as he relaxed and laid back on the debris.

As soon as his back touched the debris, all of it fell. He was on the second story of a building that was one of the first ones that were wrecked by the Behemoth Ghoul.

Rynold's heart when up to his throat when he realized that he toppled a bunch of wall and ceiling chunks to the ground. He hoped that it didn't get the Behemoth's attention but, unfortunately for him, it did.

The monster let out a loud roar as Rynold rushed to stand back up. He wasn't prepared to fight the creature if he had no plans on how to take it down. Right now, he could only just stall.

The sun was setting down as the battle raged. The Behemoth Ghoul was obviously out of its element as it was struggling to land a single hit on Rynold. It was clear that the battles earlier had left a devastating change in the ghoul's capacity to fight.

Rynold was constantly dodging the Behemoth Ghoul's attack. It didn't take much to come out unscathed but he still wasn't capable of dealing a decisive hit on the ghoul.

He clicked his tongue in frustration and abandoned the thought of forming a sword. He just wasn't good with it. It was time to change things up.

Rynold changed the drill to instantly shift it right out. It covered Rynold's right gauntlet once more and used Mana to whirl it into life. He then added Mana Infusion into his attack. But, this time, it felt different.

Normally, activating Mana Infusion would place the weapon under some sort of coat of Mana. Like it added a layer of attack onto the weapon itself while simultaneously draining the Rynold's Mana.

Now, though, the Mana was taking a form. It used the drill as a medium and, combined with Rynold's control, coated the attachment. Instead of a shapeless form, though, it had become evident that it took the form of a drill.

The layer was small but it was noticeably different. It had an aura of sorts but Rynold couldn't feel it since the aura was his. The mana coat was sharp, to say the least, and it looked like an extra layer of the drill itself. Then, a new window popped up that made Rynold grin with a bloodthirsty smirk.

[New Skill Unlocked!]

[Mana Augment Form: Drill]

Active Magic Skill Lvl 1

Drains 15 Mana per 5 seconds to augment a drill's damage with the user's pure mana. Requires a Drill-type item to activate.

"Let's kill this thing, shall we?" Rynold said to himself as he readied his drill and attacked.

It was dusk, his drill was coated with Mana that subtly reflected light. As the moon slowly rose from the ground, it was like a sword dancing in the moonlight.

Meanwhile, a battle between Oliver and Shyft was about to begin.

Weapons were drawn, both parties would decide whether they would survive or not in this no-holds-barred fight. Or that's what Oliver thought would happen.

His anger had accumulated to a point where he could not hold on any longer and lashed out without holding back. Oliver's killing intent was shown as a demonic sword out of its sheath and struck. Unfortunately, he had only struck air.

The attack missed. Despite what he initially thought, Shyft didn't even bother staying to fight back. Instead, he ran away.

Shyft activated [Torrential Displacement] which was a spell that used water to move the caster a distance away. The cost was high and the cooldown was long but he had timed it right for that critical moment for him to get away.

Although the distance wasn't large enough for him to leave the immediate area and there was water that marked his trail, Shyft at least got a head start from the vengeful Oliver.

He ran as soon as he landed, making sure that his trail won't be followed. Shyft knew he had no fighting chance against Oliver who had a class and a much higher level than him. So the only logical option was to leave.

The moon was slowly rising from the east and a chase of cat and mouse commenced.