The next few days were full of interesting discoveries as I made my way to the mountain. The first thing I learnt was upon waking after my level-ups. I had popped back out of the door only to find that no time had passed. I hadn't noticed before, as I wasn't paying much attention, but having entered my door at twilight, I was expecting to come out into the early hours of the morning. That was an interesting surprise, and after experimenting with a wet leaf, I was sure that that was how it worked. This limited the uses for the storage space in combat. I mean, if I jumped in when someone had launched a fireball at me, I would still remerge into a burning inferno. However, it didn't mean I lost time while travelling; it did, however, have one other interesting effect.

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  Seeing as how I didn't have my Refractive Scales anymore, I wasn't as stealthy as I had once been. Combining that with being able to travel without losing time to rest, I met a lot more monsters on my journey. Most of those I encountered fled from me, a sign I took as a sign that I was now a real threat. But a few creatures tested their luck. The first fight I had was against a pair of giant red monkeys that almost fell on me. The two held spiked clubs and seemed to communicate in a strange guttural language. I wasn't sure whether they were fully sentient like the goblins, but they didn't give me room to communicate. They attacked together, swinging their clubs wildly. I almost felt bad about how easy it was to avoid their swings until one of those swings smashed into the ground where I had been and left a crater. When I realised how strong those two were, I decided I was glad they were poor fighters. I made quick work of them using my Void Rend ability.

  ?

  The more I used my Void Rend, the more I grew to understand the nature of the ability. I soon worked out during a battle with a giant snail with loads of sticky tentacles that the blades didn't need me to move my hands to bring them into existence. The blades could be summoned anywhere within five feet of me. The blades would appear as deep black crescents that hummed with cosmic power before launching themselves in whichever direction I willed. I had thought that because they had no mana cost, I could summon them infinitely. Which was probably true, but I did notice that the more I used the ability in a row, the more erratic the blades became, until they just launched themselves in any direction, which often led to a banging headache. For now, the safe limit was five shots in a row with a good minute before launching another barrage. For now, though, the ability was carrying me through most fights. I had gotten ten cores by the time I had gotten three-quarters of the way. Five were from those red monkeys- Emberfangs, the system called them. It seemed that I had entered their territory. One was from that snail thing called a Lou Carcolh. The remaining four belonged to a group of flightless parrot-like birds that were twice as big as a man.

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  Those birds had been tough. They'd clearly been stalking me and watching my fights as they made sure to stay out of effective range for my Void Rend, all while launching volleys of quill-like feathers that had sliced through my scales and actually drawn blood. I was just thankful that the fight had been during the day. My Solar Regeneration worked overtime healing my injuries. I was forced to close the distance and fight the big birds, Ravagers as the system called them. In close quarters, my glass sword made quick work of them. I took them one at a time. I attacked one with a quick barrage of sword strikes, then I moved onto the next one. It had taken me about 10 minutes to get all four. Still, the addition of so many cores left me giddy. I had decided on what to do with them. Some of those creatures had really cool abilities. The snail's adhesive slime was impressive and could be a game-changer for subduing prey. The monkeys hadn't shown me anything impressive, but I kept feeling as though there was more to them. The ones I thought seemed too weak. Despite their impressive strength, they were far too brutish; because they carried spiked clubs, some wore loincloths. I had expected a creature capable of making weapons and clothes to put up more of a challenge. Just another mystery, I thought to myself. I would deal with a power up when I got to the base of the mountain and decided to rest.

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  I had made it about an hour away when another group of Emberfangs accosted me. These monkeys looked different from those I'd encountered earlier; they wore proper clothes. They had thick leather armour made from hides of several beasts I recognised. There were four of them, and each carried a falchion with bone-white handles. The blades were good old-fashioned steel. These guys did not mess around. I had foolishly decided to travel on the ground in the hopes of getting a few more fights where my Void Rend would easily dominate and net me some more cores. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the group was in the canopy, and while I was lost in thought, they attacked. I barely dodged the first swing as it passed inches in front of my nose. My Serpentine Agility allows me to react to the surprise attack in the nick of time.

  Battle Focus showed its full power here as my awareness bloomed and my mind zeroed in on the task at hand. Two of the other emberfangs attacked together while the one whose strike had missed began to turn round for a follow-up strike. I noticed the fourth was preparing to leap from this perch in the canopy. I noticed all of this in a fraction of a second, my mind racing as it mapped out the most likely trajectories of each attack and calculated a myriad of potential solutions. I picked one using my superior speed to duck low, and in a single movement, I swept all three of my attackers' feet out from beneath them with my tail before I drew my blade and parried the strike from the one who had leapt from the tree with the intent of splitting me in half. He was far stronger than I imagined, and I was forced to one knee. But that was fine, all four were in range of my Void Rend. As the three were still mid-fall from me, sweeping out their legs, I let my voids blade fly. They screamed through the air and struck two of the red apes as they fell, bisecting them. The one that had locked blades with me must have sensed danger, and he leapt back, avoiding my blades and pulling his last companion away.

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  I kissed my teeth in frustration as they left my blade's range. The guy fighting me was unlike the others; he'd not only noticed my strike but had also figured out its range. The pair stood there, weapons drawn, watching me but not coming close. Normally, I'd call that a sound strategy. But I had magic!

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  As the two stood there staring at me, I ran forward, casting Dust Cloud and Tremor Sense. The one emberfang that had shown high battle IQ tore a piece of his leather armour and covered his face an instant before the cloud made contact. The other was caught off guard and howled in pain as dust filled his eyes. I didn't give him a chance to recover and smashed him over the head with my tail. I used the momentum to launch myself at the second one. His preparedness stopped him from getting dust in his eyes, but it had also left him open. Not wanting to take chances, I cast Earthen Spikes, and a sea urchin of rock erupted beneath him. He must have sensed it as he started to move away. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't quick enough, and one of the spikes ripped through his leg, pinning him to the spot. With him immobilised, I swung my blade and cleanly decapitated him.

  ?

  I stood there after the fight, panting a little. That whole fight had only lasted a minute, but they were way too organised. If there had been more talented ones like that dude, or even if they had some ranged attack option, I would have been finished. Still, a win was a win. I walked over to the corpses and pulled out their cores. I was a little bit worried about how easily removing cores came to me now. I had grown numb to the gory nature of it.

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  The core of the one good fighter was interesting. Turns out he was a Greater monster. I was intrigued to see what skills his core would give me. I had a feeling he had had more to show me. The others were regular emberfangs, which I found suspicious, as these were so much more intelligent than those I'd fought so far. Pushing the thoughts out of my head, I began the grizzly task of stripping the corpses. Clothes were a luxury, and I would not let any slip by me. Besides, I had an idea using the clothes for when the humans returned.

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  As I continued my journey to the mountains, the Jungle grew sparser, giving way to open grassland. This unnerved me; the area was far too open, broken only by deep pools left by the floods. I dreaded to think what would happen should that torrential downpour happen again. That spurred me on. I ran across the open plains for the first time since the beach, really experiencing what my new form was capable of. The world around me blurred into greens and yellows as I zoomed across the open landscape. I cackled like a madman, revelling in the sensation of running. It was a shame when it came to an end as I reached the base of the mountains.

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  The grassy landscape turned to rock as I reached the mountain's base. I slowed, staring up at the stone wall. As I neared, I felt a physical change in the air. A pressure I hadn't felt was released from my mana core. My magic flowed smoothly through my body, no longer blocked. I checked my status and focused on my Mana Nexus.

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  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Mana Nexus- level 1

  Mana pool 10(30)/10(30)

  Mana regeneration: two mana per second (2MPS)

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  Affinities:-

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  Well, that cleared that up! What a pleasant surprise! 300% increase in my magic abilities was a godsend. One of the issues I'd been struggling with was how to level up my Nexus. This was an opportunity I did not intend to waste. Not to mention, I could start work on that free channelling book. I'd given it a brief look over, and it was a very complex tome. It was going to take me some time to wrap my head around it, but with my little space and this mana-rich environment, I would soon crack it.

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  I was pulled away from my status screen by the sound of something running towards me. I looked up, trying to see where it was coming from. That's when I noticed a rocky outcrop that was shaped almost like a spearhead. The underside of it was in shadow, so I didn't notice at first, but there was a small opening, and something had popped out of it and was running towards me. The creature was hard to miss and was one of the more unique things I'd seen since the world went topsy-turvy. It was the size of a young child, probably no more than three feet high. The creature was a bipedal, lizard-like thing. It was covered in hard, rocky scales that would have provided some protection, but, unfortunately for it, its body was crisscrossed with bioluminescent patterns. That made the creature stand out like a sore thumb in the bleak landscape.

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  I watched the thing running towards me, trying to work out if it was a threat. As I watched it, I noted it was clearly wearing clothes. Simple clothes made from some rough spun fabric, and he wore a belt with a series of tools attached, and didn't look like a fighter. It kept going from a bipedal run to leaping on all fours in a strange gallop. As the creature grew closer, I noticed that it kept looking back, and now I could see its face clearly. I noticed it had two backwards-curving horns that looked like crystal. My title then decided to give me a little more information.

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  Name: Kiko

  Species: Vulcarotl

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  Vulcarotl live deep within the earth, preferring to stay in areas rich in Earth affinity mana. They are renowned for their metalwork and the art of spell inscribing. They are generally a peaceful species and prefer to avoid confrontation where possible.

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  Well, that only made me more curious as to why this guy was running. I don't even think he'd noticed me. Unfortunately, I soon discovered why this guy was running. I heard a loud series of familiar hoots and howls. It seemed there were many more emberfangs. I looked around and couldn't see any of the red monkeys, but taking one look at the glowing lizard, or I suppose axolotl-looking thing, I knew it would not be long before they spotted him, and if they spotted him, that meant they'd be coming straight in my direction.

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  I made a decision then and ran towards the glowing bastard. I didn't want to kill him as he was definitely sentient, and from the description, they seemed like chill dudes. As I neared the creature, I summoned my door right where it was about to step and let it fall in. With my new potential friend secure, I dismissed the door and then turned around, fleeing as far from the approaching howls and hoots as I could.

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