Chapter 127: Last Hurdle
Axel continued to hunt one creature after another without rest, he carefully avoided being spotted by any other groups. He hunted almost 50 of the 2nd tier beasts in half a day without too much problem. While engaging with the beasts in a frontal clash, he would activate his runic eyes for a small moment because of their tremendous expenditure of mana.
But that small moment was more than enough for him to see through each of their weakness and make the best possible attack. Unlike the gorilla-like beast he fought at first, most of them did not go down in one strike, unlike that one.
But it only took him a few minutes at best. Magical beasts were harder to deal with compared to monsters, who mostly used physical strength, but the magical beasts often used various strange spells and used their home terrain to their advantage.
But it was nothing too difficult for him, Axel understood a few things about his runic eyes. Which was that there were 2 types of use to it, one was its passive use, normally Axel would need to put some external spell or the help of something to conceal the runes on his iris.
But now he could automatically hide it, but its passive effect would remain. It was the same as before; it mostly helped him heavily on the engraving procedure, but also allowed him to see gaps in magic as well as understand its workings.
Second was its active state, which kept consuming his mana reserves and enhanced his mind by twice, and improved his general comprehension by twofold. But the real boon was that he could intuitively understand anything and everything, depending on the subject.
Like identifying the weak points of a beast, the best courses of action against it, etc.
Axel had also tested out the skill called ‘Energy Sense’ and he had to admit it was truly a broken ability, part of him almost felt like he had taken over a chunk of mana and seeing the world through it, it was truly a strange sensation, almost like seeing everything from different dimensional point of view. He did have to do a large part of the fighting, understanding, and getting used to his senses.
He recalled the last moments within the void when he understood and gained the skill. He had to accept that he was the water, the flow. While adapting to that state of mind barely succeeded for a moment in between the hunts, he could already feel at those moments, his comprehension and mastery over the ability had increased just from those understanding mental thoughts. When he was done testing, and had a rudimentary level of capability to use that skill.
He went out towards the academy shop. Unlike the last time, he would not drop all 50 of the 2nd-tier specimens in front of everyone. He decided to approach one particular and calm-looking staff member. He privately discussed with the man that the things he would sell should remain private, it was basically a way quite dealing. So, that no one else in the academy knows of it, of course, that person already warned him that they would need to tell this to the higher-ups of the academy.
He did not have the authority to do this, not to mention it was Axel himself who made the request, so even if it was something that was not agreeable, he could not outright refuse him on that note. The man said he would contact them after a day, while having a talk with his immediate higher-ups.
The man obviously agreed to his request on the day after, with a newfound enthusiasm. Likely because of the academy authorities’ instructions. Axel handed over all 50 corpses to him, and he showed utter shock on seeing that number. The man asked Axel if he did indeed hunt all those creatures alone, to which Axel nodded uncharacteristically.
He signaled to the man, putting his fingers on his own lips, prompting the person that this matter must stay quiet. He nodded his head vigorously at that response and handed him a batch of new materials. Axel would now start selling his low-quality weapons, meanwhile making better ones in large numbers for himself as a backup.
Axel, having done all the outside activities for that day, went back to his apartment. Now it was time to take the next step in his Seeker’s path. With a mental command, he entered his sanctum, passed through the large gateway, and appeared directly in his primary aspect chamber.
There was only one step left for him to advance to the mid-stage of the 1st phase. Since he needed to defeat a total of 8 phantoms individually, holding 8 different rune swords. There was only 1 left, he had already defeated 7 of them, meaning he now had 7 optimized runes under his belt. He picked up a certain runic sword from the pile of engraved swords.
He walked through the doorway that led to the arena. The same looking phantom of his appeared, holding the same runic sword. Axel’s runic eyes activated on their own, and so did his magic circuit, as the phantom was already using it.
Both charged forward and clashed for the umpteenth time. He showed far more dexterity and smoothness in his movements. By now, he was 10 times or more combat efficient than he was initially before fighting any of the phantoms.
The only way to truly beat your phantom is to progress through mid-battle within a single fight. Let’s say you defeat a phantom by improving mid battle, but the very next fight will have the level of power and expertise when fighting you then, so you have to develop again to defeat it.
To a certain extent, it does sound impossible, like there would be a point eventually when you cannot develop any further. Axel didn’t exactly know how to explain it, but he always did find a way to defeat his phantom. Somehow, after a lot of tries, it takes time and patience, but it is doable. As such, he finally defeated the last hurdle which stopped him from advancing one minor stage.
{ This chapter is sponsored by [Zamir] for gifting the magic castle. }
50 Golden Tickets = 1 Extra Chapter
200 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1 Magic Castle = 4 Extra Chapter