Ren nodded. He felt the link between his and Lucian's Mana be established as Ren let it happen, since he figured Lucian wouldn't be stupid enough to do anything to him. Unfortunately forcing Ren to move was impossible, try as hard as he may. It seemed like it couldn't be used to control people, but Lucian was able to transfer some of his Mana to Ren, something the Skill felt intended to do as it linked Mana Pools. The next task, using a self target Skill on Ren, would take a bit of focus to attempt.

---

Mana Link Test: 30 - 50 Focus = -20

---

It was successful. Lucian was able to send the Mana of the Skill through the link and thus was able to use it on Ren, the shield appearing around him. Ren looked at it, a bit impressed. Lucian felt like as long as Mana Link was active and, if he managed to establish a link with someone, he could use self targeting Skills on them now more freely now without really having to focus. Mana Link, by this point, gained a Level after all three of his tests and was already halfway to its next level as the first two tests leveled it up.

"Well that's an interesting Skill... is that all you wanted to test out or is there more?" Ren was still rather apathetic, but was indeed showing a little bit of interest in Lucian's Skill.

"Jeeze, you could at least pretend that I learned something useful to the group." Lucian was a bit unimpressed by Ren's response to his first experiments, "There is always more, this is just the beginning, and this will lead to many advances down the road," Using the Mana Link, Lucian now gave a tug, trying to force the Mana out of Ren, then returning mana back shot as a Chained mana surge, with a direct connection to hit. He gave no vocal warning of what he was trying to do, he would give his opponents no heads up either, so it was best to just test it just as it would be used in combat.

Ren just gave a shrug, but then his eyes widened a bit when Lucian suddenly attempted to tug the mana straight out of him. He hadn't been resisting or putting up a guard, so he didn't expect it, so Lucian was able to steal 106 MP from Ren right there through the invisible link between Mana pools. After that, the attempted chained surge came. Unlike before, this went through the link directly, like electricity through a wire, and slammed straight into Ren who hadn't broken off the link. It appeared that this did have combative potential, as it sent his basic attack skill straight through the link.

Upon performing this more combative usage, a message that Mana Link had been leveled up as well as another window suddenly appeared. This second window stated the following.





Ren just gave a small smirk. "Alright, that's a bit more interesting... lets see if it has a weakness..." Ren suddenly focused, to see if he could try to counter through the Mana Link, to see if he could act against Lucian through the link as well, attempting to steal Lucian's MP through it just as Lucian did to him, followed by attempting to send a Mana Bolt through it. Unlike how Lucian could do so rather effortlessly, it took Ren a good bit of effort to accomplish both tasks, Ren first draining not as much MP as Lucian did from him, but enough, and then sending a bolt through the link at him, but it didn't do much.

"So there is your Skill's flaw... your enemy can possibly use it against you..." Ren did that for two reasons. One, revenge for suddenly surprising him like that, and two for combative and practical purposes of this needing to be an addressed issue. Lucian felt though when Ren tried to use the Link that, if he had focused hard enough, he could have broken Ren's attempt to use it against Lucian.

"Anything else you want to test out now?" After that bit of being less apathetic, Ren was back to being not as much as before, but still a slight bit apathetic.

Well that was exhausting, but worth it. He finally had his Hyperbolic Time Chamber. While the skill penalty thing sounded dangerous, as long as he didn't fight anything he should be okay. It was a good thing that he only planed to use it for skill grinding. As much as he wanted to test it out, he didn't have the energy for a training session right now. However, there was something he did have enough energy to do "I need to make sure I'm as safe as I can possibly be against Necromancers. I don't want a repeat of last time. I wonder if the Auction has a Skill Book that could help?" Pulling out his crystal ball and turning on Zandaka, he began to use his Divination to search for a Skill Book sold on the Auction that gave a passive skill to help combat Necromancers, and those that used similar powers

Mike would have a hard time concentrating and using Zandaka. With how exhausted he was, he would find that the Skill was draining much more MP than normal, giving him no choice but to turn it off. Apparently his MP Regen was currently 0. He would also feel that Zandaka was less effective as well, probably due to the Fatigue Ailment he currently had. Judging from the info (which is on the front page) the ailment was a pretty bad one. After a mere 10 minutes all of his MP was gone by this point, giving barely any Zandaka XP. Fortunately, Fortune Telling didn't consume any MP, so by the time he would actually be able to find anything or just after a bit of searching, he would find Zandaka soon shut off.

He could still use fortune telling though to check whether or not a book he looked at was or was not a Skill Book, as not every Skill Book out there was indeed a Skill Book. The Skill used little energy, but as long as Mike stayed relaxed in his seat and just caught his breath, he would be able to still divine this very basic information. Mike felt like any more of a difficult telling would take even more energy.

---

Searching the Auction: 2 (Critical)

Book Divining: 4 (Critical)

---

The search went very well, Mike's Fortune Telling helping him obtain useful info on a book he was incredibly lucky to find after about thirty minutes of searching. It was definitely a book that would give him a Skill that he wanted to was info that he obtained from his Fortune Telling, and the following windows would appear.





Normally the book, called The Basics of Spiritual Defense, was apparently 150,000 Yen, but the person who was selling it wanted it good and gone, so he was offering 50% off if it was purchased today. A lucky deal. According to the description, the book taught one how to use spiritual powers, meaning spiritual powers were required, to defend one's self from powers that would try to invade their being.

Mike could buy this incredible offer, or look for something else.

Yes! This was definitely a great find. Not only was it just what he was looking for, but it was half off. A quick check of his inventory showed him that he had enough to buy it, so he did just that. "This is amazing!" While he already knew that Divination was something that would pay off in the long run, he was really excited to see it doing something for him this early on.

The book arrived in the same way that his last purchase did, on that UFO that appeared right outside his window now moments after he completed his transaction. It wasn't even clear how it appeared, it was just there somehow. Upon accepting the payment, a box containing the Skill Book as well as an envelope would be included inside. Inside of the envelope was a note, the note reading the following. It was typed on some pretty nice stationary that had a black color to it, the text being white. The total value of Mike's purchase came to 80,000 Yen, since Mike would have not needed to use cash if he had gone to an ATM at some point to put his money on his Abyss Auction ATM Card.

A points reward system? Well that was interesting. While Mike wasn't expecting to get any really awesome prizes any time soon, it was still a nice thing to keep in mind. After using his card to pay for his purchase, he took his new Skill Book. "Yes! Something to keep me safe from Necromancers and their stat draining bullshit!" After his little cry of triumph, he quickly used his new item

When the book was learned, the same experience that came with learning Skill Books, the flow of knowledge into him and the book fading into glowing, yellow wisps of paper. The following windows would appaer before him.

"Woop!" Mike cheered. "This is awesome! Take that Necromancers! I'm ready for you now!" Satisfied that he had a very productive day, Mike finally went to bed. Now that he had his Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he could grind his skills twice as fast. Because of his pathetic attempts to take down an ID of Wisps, he didn't feel ready to go on an ID run. However, if he could raise his skill levels, then he would have a much better chance at taking them down. Plus, he wanted to make sure he was ready in case he ran into a boss mob

Sasha would activate the Skill, it having a high MP/Minute Cost, but when activated she felt as though she could more or less control and shape her own Mana in various ways just as Ren did. It seemed like the Skill she acquired was, more or less, either incredibly similar, or exactly the same to whatever mana shaping power that Ren also possessed. First came some basic practice with it.

---

Mana Focus Practice: 32 - 41 Focus = -9

---

The practice went well. Sasha could tell that she could somewhat shape and mold her mana to her will in various ways, shapes, and forms. Right now, with how low leveled the Skill was she could only do some basics, but she figured that over time she could create more complex Skills.

The first experiment though, after a Level had been gained in Mana Focus through practice, was trying to create a sort of Mana Shield for practical, basic defense.

---

Experiment: 15 - 41 Focus = 36

---

First came stretching out the mana around her body, and after that came flattening it, shaping it into a sort of wall/barrier around her body that would protect her. It was quite the surreal process, controlling this strange energy as an extension of her mind. Soon enough, after about a minute or so of holding this, she would see the familiar windows for getting skills appear.

"Sweet~!" Sasha exclaimed when she got the notification. Mana shield... something like that bastard mage's barrier? Anything that makes me harder to kill would be helpful.

It wasn't very useful at the initial level, but Sasha was sure it would get more powerful. Thanks to her lucky success, she still had some remainder of the morning left. Pondering on her next course of action, she remembered there was something really important sitting in her inventory. She called it up and retrieved the Familiar Gem. The pretty little thing rolled around in her cupped palm.

"So... how do you use this thing. And what would come out of it. Hmmm... a cute guy as my underling would be nice." Sasha began mumbling to herself. She was sure the gem wouldn't fit in her mouth, and breaking the object was too risky. She raised the gem over her head and shook it a few times. "Come out? Heed my call?"

"...anybody in there?"

Indeed. Mana Shield to become useful against stronger opponents it would need to be a much, much higher level and Sasha would need to increase her Focus and INT to make the Skill stronger as well. After that, Sasha decided to spend the last of her morning investigating the Familiar Gem, which according to the Observe Data (by this point, going to just have assumed that Sasha and Silas got it after some point, ill put it on the CS's shortly), contained something called a Soul Familiar. This Familiar was born from a piece of the summoner's spirit and grew as their abilities grew.

At first nothing happened, and it didn't seem like anything would happen. Suddenly though the gem began to glow brightly, and she would feel it making a link with her very soul and spirit. The gem continued to shine brightly, as it slowly began to vanish from her hand and go inside of her very being. After that, like a beating heart, it would slowly begin to be filled with life as it began to shape and form deep within her spirit. She felt as though she could somewhat enhance this process if she focused hard enough, the following window appearing before her.



This window probably felt like the molding the Familiar with her will part as well, as she was literally deciding her familiar's abilities.

Indeed. Mana Shield to become useful against stronger opponents it would need to be a much, much higher level and Sasha would need to increase her Focus and INT to make the Skill stronger as well. After that, Sasha decided to spend the last of her morning investigating the Familiar Gem, which according to the Observe Data (by this point, going to just have assumed that Sasha and Silas got it after some point, ill put it on the CS's shortly), contained something called a Soul Familiar. This Familiar was born from a piece of the summoner's spirit and grew as their abilities grew.

At first nothing happened, and it didn't seem like anything would happen. Suddenly though the gem began to glow brightly, and she would feel it making a link with her very soul and spirit. The gem continued to shine brightly, as it slowly began to vanish from her hand and go inside of her very being. After that, like a beating heart, it would slowly begin to be filled with life as it began to shape and form deep within her spirit. She felt as though she could somewhat enhance this process if she focused hard enough, the following window appearing before her.



This window probably felt like the molding the Familiar with her will part as well, as she was literally deciding her familiar's abilities.

Lucian took a step, back, he hadn't expected Ren to try to use his mana link against him, "Point taken, I guess it will only be good for a quick shot, or on those who lack in magic." He made a mental note about it, also about feeling like he could cut it off prematurely if he felt a shot coming back at him, "Well, I just have two more things I wish to test that would require your assistance. The first has a good chance of backfiring and cause me pain, so I will ask that you do not go full power on it, and the second one will just require you preparing a skill." This time Lucian would let Ren know what he was thinking before they went for it, instead of pulling the carpet out from under him, "I wish to see if I can be used as a spell conduit using the link, Your ace in the hole backfired last time as it missed, but as a mana ability, If I am connected I can't miss, so if I am connect to you, and the target, I wish to see if I can be used to guide the attack, and if so what the cost on me is." He held up two fingers, "The second one has nothing to do with that skill, but more of something I thought of due to you having the element of water. I will request that you make an aqua arrow."

"Sylph, I'm sorry, but I am going to need your aid for a test, it may hurt both of us, but it could save our lives down the road." Lucian called to his in elemental, he would use mana link her, and then wait for Ren to give it a shot, trying to pull the mana attack along like he would a drain, and fire it out the other side. "If you are ready and willing." H looked at Ren.

After this one, I shall see if Ren's aqua arrow counts as water that I can use for my Ocean's flow, and what would happen if I fired it. This could have both defensive and offensive possibilities. Working as a counter spell against water based skills, or as a way to make a stronger ocean shot. Nature and element, they are the same to me.

Ren gave a nod. "Alright, ill give it a shot. Ill just put in 100 MP". Ren used Giga Spiral Bolt, wondering if this would actually work. If Lucian could send that much power through the link, it would be an interesting start. After ten seconds, the large sphere of mana was charged and spinning, so Ren launched it towards Lucian, hoping that Lucian could not only handle taking on that much power, but wondering if Lucian could even take it inward and send it through the link, it no doubt hitting thanks to the Link between them, Ren wondering if it could even handle this much Mana.

---

Lucian Focus: 48 - 50 Focus = -2

---

Lucian would barely, having succeeded by just a hair, be able to guide the not all of the power, but a good bit of it along through the link, having to do it rather quickly, but doing so drained a bit of his own MP at the same time, about 75 MP was drained in order to handle the power of the not full powered Giga Spiral Bolt to send it along through the Mana Link and then towards Sylph, who would accept the test since she trusted Lucian as they had bonded after all.

The blast, like a surge of power, would travel through the link somehow, and send the attack straight towards Sylph.

---

Damage Dealt: 198

---

Sylph was barely able to endure the immensely powerful blast. She only had 8 HP left. If anything, the attack weakening through the leak, since not all of the initial strength could be guided, was what actually saved Sylph as if the full strength of that weakened blast had gone through, Sylph would have been destroyed once again. Ren also noticed this and had a concerned look on his face. "A-Are... you alright?" Usually Ren was apathetic, but even now that was temporarily broken in concern for the elemental and her summoner.

After this experiment, a window appeared and it showed the following, Mana Link also having gone up in Level.

The test was a success, though, it was a brutal test, it took his own mana to do it as well, but otherwise, he was left unharmed, Sylph on the other hand, took a nasty short from the Giga Spiral bolt. "I'm sorry for the Sylph, please rest up, we shall play some games latter on as an apology." As happy as Lucian was for the success, it was a very bitter sweet, watching Sylph take such a strong shot, was not something that he liked doing, never mind knowing that he directed it himself. "The final test will be fired over the ocean, no one should be hurt in this last test I have. I just need you to make an aqua arrow, and I will see if I can take it, after that if you have anything, I'm up for it, as long as it won't involve Sylph." Lucian looked out towards the ocean, his face a little red, "...and thanks for caring."

Ren's face also reddened a tiny bit as Lucian made that last remark. "S-Sure..." he seemed to turn away for a moment, his head anyway, soon regaining his composure with a small sigh as he aimed his hand towards the ocean. "Alright, lets do this". He looked towards Lucian, gave a nod, then out towards the ocean once again. "Aqua Arrows!" After a couple seconds of buildup, Ren launched several arrows of watery element from around him and out towards the ocean, Lucian using ocean's flow in an attempt to try and control them with Ocean's Flow since for him, Elemental and Natural forces were one and the same.

---

Nature Invoking Practice: 52 - 28 Nature Invoking (WIS) = 24

---

Lucian, with the initial strength of the power, was able to stop one of the arrows for just a moment, its power dissipating after it was stopped. He was able to redirect the arrow wherever he wanted, but this took a bit of concentration, and most likely doing it as a spontaneous means of defense wasn't recommended, but spells needed to be chanted, so if he could tell that the enemy was about to use a water based power, then perhaps this would work. Suddenly, another three windows appeared, one stating that Ocean's Flow had gone up in level.





"I take it your experiment was successful?" Ren reached into his inventory and took out a Book. "I'm not going to involve your elementals, I can use my own summons. But right now... I am going to see about learning Dark Magic, which is different than Black Magic apparently...." Ren took a deep and used the Skill book, Ren taking a look at the new window that appeared. "Interesting... it seems I am a true blue Dark Mage now... and now all of my spells can be Dark Magic Spells..." While it was incredible, it seemed a little anti-climatic that all he had to do in real life to learn Dark Magic was just press a button.

Lucian gave a nod, "Well, I am ready for whatever skills you plan on testing." Although he said this, in reality, he was hoping fire wouldn't be involved again, last time hurt...a lot. Being burned alive was probably on the lowest end of his to do list, "So you are going to try the Dark magic version of your skills? or converting them over?" He really had no idea what to expect from Ren, with their gamer ability, sticking to just one thing wasn't really a thing, well maybe Sasha and Silias were, as he didn't train with those two, but from what he had last seen of Mike, and how he himself was rolling with his skills, things got diverse easily, and new things always popped up.

Ren gave a nod. Sure practicing Skills on their own leveled them, but when practiced on actual opponents who could put up resistances or experience affects, the leveling was a bit quicker. "Well first... as a safety precaution..." in all honest, Ren should have did this when they first started. "Request Duel". This would prevent them from dying in case anything went wrong. Ren was pretty sure it could only be done when there were no enemies around, which made sense as otherwise it would be extremely exploitable, although Ren was sure that it was like Mabinogi, where you would still be at low HP after the duel ended instead of healing back up, a rather annoying, but realistic, thing.

"Apparently it only affects my Spells, more accurately ones that aren't already considered darker magics. Just gives them a different function that makes them use up my FoC, but... I think that this is what that Blank Mage used". Ren aimed his hand towards Lucian. "Dark Aqua Arrows". After two seconds of magical buildup, four arrows of water appeared around Ren. Like what happened with the Blank Mage, two of the arrows merged, as did the other two, creating two more powerful arrows as the dark magic merged the magical power of the individual arrows with incredible speed to make more powerful projectiles. Right after they merged, Ren launched them both at Lucian.

Ren made sure to hold back so the arrows didn't hit him dead on, but they would still most likely deal some major hurt. Each of the condensed water arrows, that were two arrows combined into one, dealt 179 Damage for a total of 358 Damage. Lucian's resistances weren't great, and there was alot of difference between him and Ren, so that single spell, since he just sat there and took it, decimated him. If it hadn't been for Duel Mode, Lucian probably would have died right then and there. Luckily he was just knocked down instead and left with 1 HP, a notification appearing in front of him saying that Ren had won the duel.

Lucian got something out of it though. The familiar windows indicating that a new Skill had been obtained, a useful one at that.





Ren was looking down at his hands, then at Lucian a little wide eyed. That was much more powerful than the standard usage of Aqua Arrows. "Takes a ton of FoC though..." Ren aimed his hand at Lucian. "Dark Healing Wave". 10 Seconds. That was how long the Casting Time was for this Spell, just as long as Giga Spiral Bolt, although the Dark Magic reduced the Casting Time by 2 Seconds. Still, 207 HP was healed, which was indeed nice. It was kind of strange, a dark magic healing spell. "It seems that one is best used when there are multiple targets to heal... since it applies the full healing amount to all nearby targets instead of a % of the healing to nearby targets".

Ren checked his status window next, scratching the back of his head. "There is one more thing I need to test. When I run out of FoC... which I need for my dark powers and magics... this ailment known as Corruptive Encroachment appears. I haven't acquired it yet... so I want you to help me out in case something happens as I don't know what will happen, and using dark spells takes up alot of it". Ren decided that healing Lucian back up to full was the best idea, so he used a regular Healing Wave this time. "I don't think it'll affect my mind, since The Gamer's Mind prevents mental ailments. Still... better safe than sorry".

Ren sent yet another duel request. He wasn't going to fire at Lucian, but instead at a tree. Figured he would get a level out of Dark Magic by firing off two more sets of Dark Aqua Arrows, combining all four arrows into one this time instead. "Each Dark Aqua Arrow uses 7 FoC and that Dark Healing Wave used 19. It may not seem like alot, but I only have 44... so this last Dark Aqua Arrow should do it". Ren sighed heavily, took a deep breath, and aimed his hand one more time. This was going to probably be painful.

Ren shot out one last Dark Aqua Arrow, sending his FoC down to -3. The moment he did this, his eyes widened as he let out a loud cry, 29 HP being drained right then and there, that number appearing above his head. Blackish-greenish energy that also had a dark red tint to it began to surround Ren's body while covering it slightly. Ren's HP was draining as the corrupted energy was building up more around him, Ren gritting his teeth as it wasn't painless.

The HP drain was a bit slow, but as more energy built up some dark color could be seen covering his hand and creeping up his arm from where the black mark was. Once it got to a certain point, Ren had to use that built up energy for something. "Dark Aqua Arrows!" From there, another 19 HP was drained, along with the continual HP drain that came from the energy building up, but when he used that spell the energy was unleashed, making a much more powerful spell. It was clear that this was quite painful. When that spell was unleashed though, only a small bit of the energy was let out, making the dark color recede down his arm just a bit.

Ren had to keep using Dark Aqua Arrows while the energy built up so that not too much of it would build up, HP being drained not only while it built up, but whenever he used the spell as well. This was definitely taking a tole on his HP bit by bit and causing a good bit of pain, but the power that came out of each spell Ren used was alot greater. While Ren's life may not be in danger as of yet, that didn't mean they could take any chances, Ren not having any idea when this would end.