Chapter 23: The swamp
He looked around and noticed his bag on the ground next to him. He grabbed it and investigated the surrounding. It was a swamp, a lot of trees, water and wet mud everywhere he looked. It was still daytime, so there was no problem looking around. But he was standing in a rock in the middle of the water.
'This place looks really bad. Usually it's dangerous to go through a swamp. It is filled with snakes, crocodiles, lizardmans and such. Sometimes even dragons...'
His thoughts went back to what happened, but he did not feel any emotions about the whole thing.
'Did I lose all my emotions? It is interesting the least... Now where to go?'
He leaned above the water. It looked shallow, but it's mud under it. He might just sink if he stepps in. Fortunatelly he still had the goblin's spear in his backpack. He pushed it into the water. He found a part where it was strong enough to hold him up.
'Let's hope for the best.'
He started to move slowly and went close to one of the taller trees. He looked at it's top, but did not see anything on it, so he climbed it.
From the top he looked around once more, but he only saw even more swamp.
'Where did she put me to? Also these mosquitos are annoying.'
He chose a direction where it seemed safer. After an hour of slow progress he found a road like place. The mud was higher than the water and it looked just like a road. Except that, it was so narrow that only one human can stand on it. He tried to feel around the manna in the air, but he felt it everywhere. The whole place was filled with it.
'This would be a good place for nature magic users. Unfortunatelly I can't extract manna from air. Or can I? Let's see!'
Name: Joseph Smith
Race: Human
Age: 21 Gender: Male
Job: None
Level: 1
Experience: 50/100
Health: 90/90
Manna: 230/230
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 9
Intelligence: 23
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 10
Corruption: 0
Abilities: Imaginative Magic D, Examination D, Survival E, Magic infusion B, Meditation D, Wood chopping F
Titles: Friend of the elfs, Beginner magician
Imaginative Magic D
You can create different kind of magics with your imagination. The higher the rating of the skill, the better things you can make with it. The magic's strengh will depend on your manna. If you don't have enough controll over your manna you might even fail the casting.
'Huh! It is somewhat different. What I want to do is magic, so it should work, shouldn't it?'
He looked around once more carefully. He did not see anything amiss around him.
'One can only try!'
He closed his eyes and felt the magic around him. He imagined breathing in the magical energy with air and processing it into his manna core.
Alert!
Your manna core is overcharged by manna. If you don't use up the overlapping manna it will explode and kill you!
'Oh no!'
He stopped the process and leaked out manna through his breath.
'Seems like I can't store more than the maximum. But this seems great. If I use this method I can practice magic and recover the manna fast! I'll try it out once again.'
He leaked out even more manna.
xx
Manna: 200/230
xx
'Let's see.'
After a breath.
xx
Manna: 220/230
xx
'This place is rich. Also this new ability seems I got something interesting.'
Manna absorption F
If you find something that is rich in manna and concentrate on it for one minute you can absorb manna from the source.
'Huh... It seems like it works with other sorces as well. But it takes one minute to use? This way I can't use it in battle. But again, it is good for practice. I'll look for a safer place and then train for a bit.'
He looked at both way of the road. He did not see difference, so he tossed a coin in the air. Head for right and tail for left. He got a head, so he headed right.
After hours of walking he spotted shimmering lights in the distance.
'Will-o'-the-wisps? I shouldn't follow them. They are usually dangerous.'
As he ended the line of thought he spoted something on the road before him. It was a big snake. It was at least five meter long and it was really thicc.
'Snake... I hate snakes... Now what? It did not notice me yet.'
The snake was folded up in sleeping position.
'Should I speak with it?'
He looked at it once more. It is a spotted giant snake.
'That's the worst idea I ever had... So either evade it, or fight it. It might give a lot of experience, but I might won't be able to kill it.'
He thought about his abilities.
'Can I one shot it? If I combine absorbtion with a spell and just collect a lot of manna in one spell it might work. As I remember the imaginative magic should be stronger the more manna I use. But again I have to concentrate on the absorbtion... Let's try the wand for it.'
He held out the wand and filled it up with magic. It was shimmering with blue light. He absorbed more manna and put all of the manna in the wand.
'It seems it can contain a lot of energy. But if I go overboard it might explode. I've put around 600 manna in it. That should be enough. After all 230 manna blew up half of the head of a troll.'
He copied the same process he made against the troll. Three little lenses and than shoot all the manna out against the snake. The moment he shoot it out the snake awoke.
The shot hit the snake in it's head and it blow up with a big sound and made smoke all around the palce.
'Just for good measure.'
He shoot out and arrow he practiced with. It hit the smoke.
'It is definitely dead.'
Than the snake sproung out from the smoke. It wasn't even scratched.
"You little pesssssk dared to attack me?! You'll pay for it with your life!"
'It spoke?'
The snake constricted him in a second and looked into his eyes.
'I'm done for...'
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