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nWatching the creature carefully, Eldrian tried to gauge its strength and speed before the next clash. The previous attack had informed him that it was far stronger than him, luckily, its speed seemed to be around the same as his.

nEldrian had no idea why sometimes mana sense would give him an attribute or two and sometimes not; but, right now he certainly wished it would. He knew he couldn't take the time to get used to this Blaidd creature, as the shaman was already busy casting another spell.

nDodging another attack and attempting to counter, Eldrian found himself unable as a small sharpened rock missed him just barely as he dodged at the last second. His instincts having warned him of the danger more than his sights or hearing.

n'Shit! And I can't cast without focusing fully on it and-' Blocking the bite with the shaft of his spear, Eldrian lost this train of thought as he was forced onto the backfoot.

nGripping his spear in hand as hard as he could to not lose his weapon, the wolf-like creature threw its head side to side. Nearly lifting Eldrian from the ground and most certainly causing him to lose his grip on the spear. Especially when he had to dodge another wind blade.

nEldrian didn't lose in this small trade, instead, he made the most of it. As he jumped back to avoid the spell, he pulled out Aoidos and thrust forward with all his strength. Using Augment to increase his strength as he pushed the wooden spear as deep as it would go.

nEldrian immediately jumped back after the attack, taking Aoidos with him as the Blaidd spat out Crystoi and snarled at him. Immediately storing it again as the cave limited his maneuverability.

nIn reply to its snarl, Eldrian waved his left hand right in its face and sent out a healthy amount of fire mana. Not as a spell, but rather simply as bright as he could. Filled with a good batch of light mana too.

nThis caused a bright white trail of flames to spring into existence for just a second. Having expected it Eldrian had closed his eyes, the creature and shaman had not. Momentarily blinding both.

nEldrian made the most of this. Moving past the creature's head, he slammed one of the random swords he still had in his inventory into its side. After which he was forced to distance himself again as another spell finished forming and came for him.

nThis time, a small dense fireball with far too many fire elements for Eldrian to dare take the hit.

nNow, Eldrian finally had time to breathe as the shaman had to start his next spell and the Blaidd was wary after taking two good hits. It had only done 80 damage, but it still hurt and made it fearful of charging this elf who could randomly summon weapons into his hands. And seemingly flames too.

n'Spells are blocked and will have a cast time if I try to force them out. Skills work, but I don't have much that would work here in the cave. Shield is already used... Right! That's it!'

nEldrian smiled as the plan quickly took root. Taking out Aoidos again, he charged forward. Naturally, the Blaidd tried to dodge the thrust. But at the last second, a burst of wind erupted from one of Eldrian's gauntlets.

nThis caused it to stumble, which Eldrian promptly made use of to drive Aoidos into and through one of its front legs. After which Eldrian stored the spear again as he went to pick up Crystoi.

nAs he was reaching for it, the shaman had finished his spell. This one having taken twice as long to cast, but Eldrian having kept his distance to think of a plan had given him the time.

nA small snake-like black mist flew at Eldrian.

nSpell: Safidi (Hybrid - Dark and Nature)

nTier 4

nDamage (Rot): 48 (48)

n{Rot damage ignores armor but is countered by resistance, healing, and blessings}

nDamage (Decay) : 24 (11.04) {per second}

n{Decay Damage is slowed by resistance and high constitution}

nSeeing how nasty the spell was, Eldrian really hoped it was going to work. Moving Stama (his other gauntlet) to intercept the spell, Eldrian activated its ability 'Block and Absorb'.

nTo his relief, the spell was stopped right as it made contact with the gauntlet. Quickly being sucked into the gauntlet via some sort of vacuum. He even gained 60MP from it!

nOf course, the shaman was stunned, not understanding what had happened. It didn't help that Eldrian made use of the seconds this gave him to gather his strength and drive Crystoi through the wounded and limping Blaidd's heart.

nIts yelp of pain filled the cave as Eldrian retracted the spear and swung downwards to end the resilient monster's life. Somehow, the thrust had only inflicted 594 damage. Not enough to kill it.

nBeheading it however did the job, and as the sound of XP echoed in Eldrian's ear, he rushed at the shaman who was scrambling to cast a new spell. Eldrian saw the mana gather and condense, and before it could fully form into a spell he threw his spear.

nGoblin Blaidd killed: XP Rewarded - 3.78M

nThe spear sailed through the mana with ease, seemingly even absorbing some of it before it struck the shaman slightly of the mark. Missing its heart but landing solidly in its chest.

nThe hit threw the shaman back as the spear impaled it to the ground. As the shaman gurgled a curse, Eldrian could feel that the mana in his surroundings returning to normal. So he quickly ended the fight by casting Konos Pagou and sending the arm-sized icicle through the shaman's head.

nGoblin Shaman killed: XP Rewarded - 1.1M

nOnly once Eldrian made sure that the rest of the goblins had fleed did he check the XP rewards, a smile quickly forming as he nodded that that was more like it!

nWith these amounts of XP rewards, it would still take many battles to level up but that was normal in games. Even if this wasn't truly a game, the world functioned similarly so Eldrian was happy that it seemed to indeed be true.

n'Just forty fights like this and I will reach level 33...' Eldrian paused and nodded, 'Yup, quests are far more rewarding. I mean, I am going to get two levels for this one.'

nWith that thought, Eldrian suddenly felt that the XP reward was quite lacking again. He was also quite curious about how XP actually worked. He hadn't thought about it in ages.

n'What is XP then, Ziraili was capable of manipulating it; for both me and Ceph. Does this mean that XP is another aspect of magic, or is it the cornerstone of magic?'

n'Right, I also converted XP into mana once. Which means it must be related to magic in a very significant way. I could understand somehow how my HP, life essence, or my stamina, bodily energy was converted. But XP...'

nEldrian stood still as he pondered this, missing as the other players rushed into the caves to kill the retreating goblins. He only came to as one of the goblins bumped into him, luckily it hadn't tried to kill him or Eldrian might have just lost three levels!

nAN: Changed the use of <> to {} as I can't copy text of <> for record-keeping in campfire.

nAN: Remember to vote to show your support and comment to share your insights!

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