CHAPTER 23  (Patreon)

Before we left, there was one thing I had to finish. I was just so damn close, that I couldn’t leave that hanging. Mother agreed, because she wanted me to have every advantage I could get. So I sat down in meditation. I contemplated this adventure in the jungle. All the things I had learned had consolidated, and I was now stronger. Much stronger. Additionally, my relationship with my mother had changed. Not fundamentally. She was still the same, fussing over me, being protective and all around a pain in the ass, when she reminded me that I should eat. I loved her for it.

But now the dynamic had changed. When we went outside, I would be the one protecting her. That is how it would be from now on.

She was still insecure about this, but I was happy with her being just who she was. I didn’t need her to be anything else.

I recalled the lessons of Mez. His cultivation lessons had transformed my understanding of what magic and the System was. Now I would need to hone my understanding until we met again. I was getting powerful, but I was not yet even close to being able to handle the tier 1 continent. But I would seek mastery in magic until I was. Concentrating on this thought, I went deep into myself and it finally happened.

[Meditation level 20!]

[Skill Upgrade: Meditation → Meditation II!]

[+1 Perception]

[+2 Focus]

[New Perk Unlocked: Multicasting!]

Description: Allows the user to divide their attention between multiple magical processes, constructing, casting, and controlling spells simultaneously. The number and complexity of processes that can be maintained depend on the user's Focus and magical control.

Now, this was pretty good! Not exactly multitasking, but close enough. It was clear that my overall build was affecting the reward. This was exactly what I needed, and I started immediately testing it. The immediate application was clear. Could I keep a continuous spell going, while I constructed another spell formula?

Turned out, after some practice, I could. And it wasn’t even that hard. It just took a few seconds longer. But I was getting really good with the water and kinetic components, although mostly I just generated the water through my cultivation. It felt so natural to use water, like I had a connection to it. I would have to see if I could do the same with other elements. Fortunately mother would be carrying the spellbook back with us.

Once I managed to create a continuous Water Jet spell and simultaneously shoot Water Bullets, I knew I was as ready as I was going to be. So we left the temple.

“Are you sure you can do this?” mother asked.

We were standing in the antechamber of the temple. Both of us were peering outside into the boggy area. It was noon and the sun was at its highest. A warm breeze idly wafted inside the pyramid. The Silverback was nowhere to be seen. But it was certainly around.

“Yes,” I said. I was absolutely sure.

“Remember, we don’t need to kill it,” mother said. “We just need to escape.”

“No,” I said. “It’s been terrorizing the island long enough.”

“But—”

“Mom,” I said. “I’m strong now.”

She just stared at me with conflicting emotions playing on her face. “I can’t help you, you know. We don’t have a Surge Tonic anymore.”

“It’s fine.”

She hadn’t seen the progress I’d made with Mez. She couldn’t see the magical fingertip.

I did some practice to reassure her. I was getting the hang of generating a globe of water with my cultivation, and using a custom spell formula made purely out of kinetic components to launch it.

I fired two consecutive shots against the wall and nodded to myself.

“That looked… different,” mother said.

“It’s much easier for me to cast spells now,” I said. “Faster and more fluent.”

I simply couldn’t wait to train my Arcane Body Art further. But for now that had to wait. We needed to get back to father and the village. Mother had been counting days and the Moon Festival was near. I didn’t need to get stronger right now. I knew I could take out the Silverback.

I used my Mana Augmentation Perk to infuse my body with mana. I was less secure in my physical abilities, even if they were magically enhanced. But I was pretty damn fast for a baby. I had played a game with mother, where she tried to genuinely catch me, while I jumped around the living quarters. Who didn’t love a magical game of tag with their mother?

Ultimately, after several failures, I got faster than her. I could sustain Mana Augmentation for two minutes now. It would have to be enough.

I stepped outside. My mother would stay inside despite her protests. I didn’t want her to get in the way.

I was only halfway down the steps when the Silverback emerged from the treeline. It was as large and menacing as before. The bloodshot eyes were fixed on me with a hatred that told it certainly remembered me.

It rushed at me. Fortunately it had to cross the bog, which gave me enough time to finish the Water Jet spell I had been preparing.

A torrent of water shot from my palm and blasted the monster in the chest, throwing it on its back. 

It struggled to get up, but I was already casting a second spell circle. In this intense situation it was difficult while already controlling one spell, but I managed. Meditation kept me focused and pushed the fear aside. 

The Silverback got up and rushed at me again, dodging the Water Jet. I jumped aside while I finished my spell. The monster roared and readied a haymaker of a punch, but that was when I released the spell.

A Water Bullet smashed into the Silverback’s chest point-black with destructive kinetic energy. The beast was thrown back and I knew I had caused some pain. Now I just needed to keep doing this.

I directed the streaming Water Jet back at the Silverback. The already moist grass patch of land was turning really soggy, and it made the large ape slip when I blasted its face with a firehose.

I jumped to a safer position with a few leaps like a flea, while the Silverback was still getting up. I landed another sharply aimed Water Bullet into the beast’s shoulder. The monster roared in anger. But now that I had hit the same side’s shoulder and pectoral, I could see it was slowing down. A nasty dark bruise was forming under the gray skin. The monster looked at me with pure rage and charged again.

I was already casting another Water Bullet. I aimed at the exact same spot I had struck before. Between the shoulder and the chest muscle. I fired the spell, and it struck the Silverback with a loud snap and the beast roared. I was leaping away, across a few spots of bog to make it difficult for it to approach me.

This went on for some time. I was having such a thrill. It was extremely dangerous and stupid. But it was also so exhilarating. I had never felt such a rush. Using magic was awesome. Because of the abundant mana in the temple area, this was a special circumstance. I wouldn’t get a chance to go ham like this for a while.

So I was going to enjoy it fully!

I kept jumping around, crowd controlling with the Water Jet spell, and slamming crushing bullets of water into the Silverback while keeping my distance. 

The Silverback started to slow down. That was good, because my Mana Augmentation would run out soon, and I was getting slightly slower already.

But it was clear the monster gorilla was getting the short end of this stick. The injured side of its torso was basically unusable. I had also started attacking its thigh and knee from the same side. The rage in its eyes had gotten desperate. There was hesitation in its movements now. But I didn’t slow down. There was abundant mana to be used, and I took to it like a fish to water.

Using magic like this felt amazing!

I was using Mana Absorption and Mana Manipulation to fuel my magic. Mana Augmentation kept me agile enough to evade the Silverback. Cultivation transmuted mana to water. Structured Spellcraft applied kinetic components to the water. Continuous Casting kept the Water Jet going. Multicasting allowed me to charge Water Bullets while doing all this.

It felt crazy. Like solving a Rubik’s Cube in a crashing plane while being chased by zombies. I had never had so much fun! This might become a problem…

I kept going, until attrition reached a tipping point.

At this point the Silverback was dragging itself towards me. It rushed at me with a final charge, but I jumped away and aimed another Water Bullet into its side. It groaned and started to limp away. It had had enough. 

But I wouldn’t let it escape. Who knew how many Junglers it had killed. It had tried to kill my mother and I would not let that go.

So I shot another Water Bullet and broke the wrist of the arm it was using to drag itself towards the treeline. It toppled and fell on its back.

I walked close to it and prepared to charge my final spell. It looked at me with a blank expression. It was a beast, but an intelligent one. It knew it had lost and it knew what was coming.

“Good fight,” I whispered. “I enjoyed it. Thank you.”

The final Water Bullet struck it dead center in its forehead. Its head snapped back and it died.

[Achievement Obtained: Beastslayer I!]

You have slain the Silverback, a Minor Famous Beast of Tier 0!

[Reward: Perk — Apex Predator]

Description: Allows the user to project an intimidating presence that instills instinctive fear in beasts weaker than themselves. The effect strengthens with the difference in power. 

I sat down next to the corpse of the great beast I had just slain. The achievement was interesting. It would make further exploration of beast-infested areas much less of a hassle. Beastslayer I also implied this effect could be strengthened, if I found further worthy beasts to defeat. 

But the learning, the thrill and the overwhelming sense of victory was better. Goddamn, nothing felt as good as winning. Well, except learning magic, but that was a given.

I wanted to do that again. I wanted to fight with magic again. That had been so crazy! I wondered what it would feel like to fight another magician. How did they even fight? I wanted to learn all this and at that moment, as I looked at the dead Silverback, I understood what mother had been saying.

This island truly was too small for me.

I wanted to venture out. I wanted to find other magicians. I wanted to sail the Silver Sea and find Mez again. I wanted to fight in the sky with Immortals.

“My little gem!” mother cried out and rushed to hug me. “That was amazing!”

I grinned and hugged my mother back. “I told you I’d defeat it.”

“I— oh by the spirits, I’m so happy you are okay!”

“Now the Silverback won’t terrorize anyone.”

Mother untangled from me and grinned widely. “You have no idea what this means for our village. And the other villages around! Oh they are going to give us so much stuff! You’ll be a hero.”

With that, Mother produced a knife and started working on skinning the Silverback.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking a trophy,” mother said. “They will all recognize this. By the spirits, the skin is hard. Your water magic must be powerful.”

I grinned. “I have improved a lot.”

“I can tell. You are much stronger than I thought. I didn’t realize how much you were holding back when we played tag and you were testing your spells.”

“Mez was a good teacher. This cultivation technique makes using magic all around easier.”

Mother chuckled as she cut into the silverback. “It’s funny how it’s always this Perk or this Skill with you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Mother slid the knife under the skin. “It’s never how hard you trained or how you pushed yourself until you basically passed out.”

“It’s not like that. It’s not hard because magic is play for me.

Mother shook her head as she took a large pelt from the Silverback and even cut some meat for us to carry. The village would later come to collect the rest of it if the animals didn’t get to it first.

After we were done, we started heading back home. I missed my father, the village would throw a big party for us, and I had some unfinished business with the Moon Festival.