Chapter 17: Time To Grind

I might not be able to get my Umbramancy to tier two by next year…

I looked up from the magic book I was reading to raise my hand, summoning the [Screen] to check my status again with Umbramancy again.

[Umbramancy: To gain proficiency, master the shadow and the emotions within it. (Progress to tier 2: 57%)]

I've reached fifty-five percent two months ago and this number has only risen another two percent after so long.

I realised that the first fifty percent was basically knowing and understanding the magic of Umbramancy itself, which translates to knowing the theory about it. That was something easy to do especially when I have the cheat in the form of mother guiding me.

Then I came to realise the other fifty percent was nothing but pure grinding.

It wasn't even the fun kind of grinding either.

According to mother, the saying that it would take years to increase one's magic proficiency from one tier to another was true because of this particular step.

The reason for that was because the mana within the mage's body needed to get used to the magic being used before the mage could cast spells that were of higher tier.

It was like trying to shoot water out from a water hose but the tube starts out full of holes which would automatically patch themselves over time as long as you keep the water running.

That was easier said than done since I've been using all the Umbra spells as much as I could all this time and that only netts me a measly seven percent in terms of the grinding stage.

I looked down at my hands and both of them were clad in darkness that stretched all the way to my upper arm. If this was night time, my arms would have been practically invisible in the darkness. This was something I would just maintain throughout my day as an attempt to grind it.

Doing this does drain my mana so I have to stop every few minutes to rest and recover before starting again.

There has to be a better way to do this but so far I've not come up with a better idea aside from simply using my Umbramancy as much as I could. The good thing is that this also increases my mana with its constant emptying and replenishing so I would be able to use it for longer and longer.

Speaking of which, I did gain a few new spells aside from [Shadow Wall] that cloaks me in darkness and [Shadow Wrap] that I can use to wrap around light sources to either dim or extinguish them.

Naturally, my train of thought had drifted towards being stealthy so I wanted a spell that could help me move quickly and silently.

[Shadow Glide] was thus created, allowing me to muffle my movements and also increasing my speed in darkness, making me feel like I'm gliding over the shadows.

Unfortunately, teleporting through the darkness seems to be out of my reach at the moment.

Instead, on the more offensive type spells, I managed to get [Darkness Paranoia] which, according to my [Screen], disrupts a target's senses to make them perceive as though they are wrapped in complete darkness.

It also increases their level of fear though what they do while under its effects varies.

I've tried it on my hunts and there were rabbits that simply ran around blindly while others just stayed very still.

A boar simply started charging into a tree and ramming against it repeatedly without a care while another one was clearly panicking but also stood rooted to the spot like that rabbit.

I even tried it on a bear and it curled up into a ball and stayed there, shivering in fear.

Best part was, it was so paralysed with fear that I went up and killed it without it moving from its spot.

Pretty interesting.

There was also [Madness Infusion] which does exactly as the name says. The target that gets hit with this loses all their sense of reasoning and simply starts rampaging around with no care for their own health or anyone else's for that matter.

Aside from these spells, gaining Umbramancy also allowed me to see in the dark. It wasn't to the point that night time still looks like daytime to me, but more like the veil of darkness actually enhances my vision than obscure it.

I did realise that there was a lack of direct offensive spells but nothing came up no matter how hard I tried.

That was when I realised that the darkness I controlled were all intangible, which I guess is why they use the word 'shadow'. Thus, throwing shadows at things wasn't going to leave much of an impact.

I'm pretty sure in the higher tiers I should be able to summon minions and even create weapons using the darkness to make them tangible, but right now such a thing is unfortunately still beyond my skill level.

Putting that aside, my lessons with mother continued as per usual though she ramps up the intensity whenever I start getting used to the training. So it's not like much has changed.

Actually… There was one thing that had changed.

I turned to look at the kitchen where faint sounds of moaning could be heard emanating from there.

Yep… The one thing that changed the most was the fact that mother started masturbating more frequently now.

Just the other day when I was practising my magic alone, I realised that mother was nowhere to be found in the house.

When I went out to look around, however, I found her shlicking herself at the back of the house, her hand rubbing furiously in between her legs as she tried to muffle her moans.

Then there was another time I went hunting and found her leaning her back against a tree, also busy masturbating herself there.

Naturally, I quickly left the place before she knew I was even there.

But right now… To think that she was getting herself off inside the kitchen while I'm out here reading my books… Did she want to get caught or something? Or she just plain doesn't care that I knew? Or is she really just that backed up?

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I ignored the sounds and opened up the [Screen] to check my stats.

[Name: Aster Nilm

Stats:

28 Strength

32 Dexterity

54 Endurance

52 Magic

Skills:

Hunting (Tier 1), Cooking (Tier 1), Martial Skill-(Dagger Proficiency (Tier 1))

Magic Skills:

Mana Management (Tier 1), Umbramancy (Tier 1)]

It wasn't a lot, but considering that the bears had an average strength stat of forty, I was already more than half as strong as one despite only being a year old.

Which reminds me of my other magic skill…

I waved my hand and the [Screen] changed to display the information I wanted.

[Mana Management: The raw energy of magic swirls within you. Some believe it to be the manifestation of the very soul. Spells you weave take a little less out of you. Spell casting is demanding work, but your efficiency with the magical world makes it easier. You can also lend this ease to other spellcasters, albeit temporarily. To gain proficiency, grow your internal mana pool and claim mastery over it. (Progress to tier 2: 40%)]

For this skill, mother said that the way to increase proficiency was simply having a larger mana pool and being able to control it.

She claimed that I already have a larger than normal mana pool from the start though she never gave me the reason why. Something tells me it wasn't as simple as just genetics.

I have my own hypothesis that it might have something to do with the fact that I started practising magic practically almost when I was born, increasing my compatibility with mana.

Which is why I have several Mana Crystals on the table in front of me right now.

As much as I wanted to do this outside, there was no way for me to exit through the door without going past the kitchen.

And if I did that, I have no doubt I would see whatever she was doing inside there so I would rather not.

Oh well, I just need to be careful not to screw this up!

'This' being my idea of increasing my mana pool by using the Mana Crystals of course.

Since there's already mana inside these crystals, it should make sense that I could somehow absorb the mana inside them to supplement my own right?

I lifted one in my hands and concentrated, quickly settling in the state where I could see the mana as white blobs of light.

Slowly, I extracted a little of the mana from the crystal and directed it through my hands, pushing it along my arm until it reached the centre of my body where my own mana resided which looked blue in my current vision.

I nudged it into the pile of blue mana and waited… And waited… And waited…

The white blob remained there, sitting on top of my blue blob without being absorbed at all.

Ok… How about I try directing the blue mana to absorb the white one instead?

I did just that and… Oh! It worked! It honestly looked like a white blood cell attacking a bacteria or something with how it consumed it. It actually looks kind of cool.

Emboldened, I directed the rest of the white blob inside me, careful to also disintegrate the crystalized mana outside the shell as well to join the blob.

I repeated the process again and my blue blob of mana ate up the white mana without any problem, though it didn't look like anything else changed.

Opening my eyes, I brought up the menu again to check my progress.

[Mana Management: To gain proficiency, grow your internal mana pool and claim mastery over it. (Progress to tier 2: 40%)]

Well… I expected that to be too easy to be true…

One thing I could get from this is that it definitely replenishes my mana, which means I could use this method to replenish my mana even faster.

That means faster grinding! Speedrun here we go!

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