You have defeated 2x Desert Wolf (level 17)

  Not wholly unexpected. He had assumed his mana orb had taken out two wolves at the start, so a notification confirming it was what he had expected and secretly hoped for, since the alternative would’ve meant they were still out there somewhere.

  Skill engraving for ability [Sense Mana] has shattered from mana overload.

  Ability [Sense Mana] has been disabled.

  You are suffering from severe mana backlash.

  You are blind!

  Huh… well, that gave him zero information, Matt thought as he reexamined the notification. It seemed what happened to [Sense Mana] was due to mana overload from it coming into contact with… mana. Vague, pointless, and told him absolutely nothing.

  Thinking about it, it couldn’t have simply been his attack. First, it wasn’t even aimed at him, and second, during his stay in the temple [Sense Mana] had come in contact with rooms that had way more mana than his measly orb. It wasn’t even close, which meant there was more to it than his skill simply encountering mana.

  The wolf had done something, that much was obvious. When he was throwing mana orbs at it, he could sense that they weren’t hitting the alpha itself, yet it wasn’t the same as when he had fought the scorpion back in the dungeon. His mana orbs had reached the scorpion but were absorbed or nullified, which wasn’t the case here. The orbs hadn’t even made it to the wolf, let alone got absorbed, and he actually felt the shockwave from the impact, which was also unusual. If you could absorb or nullify an attack, then you’d want it to hit you. Creating a barrier further away from you was both unnecessary and wasteful. Unless… you couldn’t absorb the attack.

  There was another possibility that kinda made sense. Deflection. He didn’t know what was possible and what wasn’t in the system, but if you could throw magical projectiles, it wasn’t that far fetched to assume you could deflect them.

  The reason he assumed it was deflection and not reflection was for one simple reason. During his fight in the hallway, the mana orbs he had fired weren’t reflected back at him. If the wolf could’ve done so with his giant mana orb, then reflecting the ones with less mana should’ve been a simple task. Since it didn’t, Matt felt it was safe to assume that it simply couldn’t. He could be wrong, and that a minimum power threshold was required for the reflection to trigger, but he didn’t really have much to go on.

  Whichever it was didn’t matter at the end of the day since the outcome was the same. His [Sense Mana] coming into contact with the deflected or reflected skill, and shattering. It did pose a concerning question, though. Why?

  It was incredibly inconvenient and dangerous if spotting attacks caused the skill to crash and burn. It wasn’t as big a deal now that he had a way to deal with it, but the momentary confusion could be the difference maker against a tougher opponent. He needed to test it. Try to replicate what had happened to at least have a sense of what the skill could and couldn’t handle before failing. This time he had made it out alive, but next time it could be worse. Much worse. And he needed to be prepared for that.

  Another thing added to the endless to-do list, Matt thought as he moved on to the next part of the notification, being blind.

  The notification, again, told him absolutely nothing. Yes, it did explain that the reason he was blinded in the first place was from mana backlash, assuming he could go by the order of events, but what caused it?

  Was it the deflected mana orb or the engraving shattering?

  Because to someone with absolutely no knowledge, both seemed as likely to be the reason.

  This time, Matt sank into the bed as he tried reenacting his opening salvo in his head. He had fired the mana orb, which detonated, taking its two intended targets with it. It came in contact with his [Sense Mana] pulse, collapsing the skill and causing him to… open his eyes.

  Why had he opened his eyes? It was an involuntary reaction at the time. Had he gotten kicked out of his soul?

  Too many unknowns, but the resulting outcome was that a headache hit him, forcing him to close his eyes once more. The next time he opened them was when he realized for the first time that all he could see was white. Now, logical thinking dictated that due to the order of events, then the skill engraving shattering was the likely cause, but he couldn’t say with absolute certainty that it was. He’d give it a 70/30 just because a delayed reaction wasn’t completely out of the question.

  Not knowing was slightly annoying, and the notification being useless was even more so, but now that he had a way to deal with it, it didn’t feel as problematic. He would rather avoid it altogether, but… beggars can’t be choosers, he thought with a sigh.

  The more annoying part was that there was no timer, meaning he had no way of knowing if the skill shattering and being blind were simply debuffs that would’ve expired given enough time or permanent ailments that needed fixing.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Yes, being told he had risked his life for nothing when he could’ve just waited it out was demoralizing, but it would’ve come with the added bonus of knowing that debuffs were, indeed, timed. That he could wait them out instead of taking stupid risks that may or may not make the situation worse, but since such information was, once again, withheld from him, then… being stupid and risking my life it is.

  Sighing again, he moved on to the next notification. There was still a lot to go through, but at least the ones to come were supposed to be the more… rewarding kind.

  [Sense Mana] (uncommon) → [Sense Mana] (uncommon 1)

  [Repair] (uncommon 1) → [Repair] (uncommon 2)

  [Revitalize] (common 4) → [Revitalize] (common 5)

  [Sense Mana] (uncommon 1) → [Sense Mana] (uncommon 4)

  [Advanced Mana Control (passive)] (rare 8) → [Advanced Mana Control (passive)] (rare 9)

  You have defeated Desert Wolf (level 17)

  Level up!

  You are now level 14

  You have 18 free stat points to distribute

  You have defeated 2x Desert Wolf (level 18)

  [Sense Mana] (uncommon 4) → [Sense Mana] (uncommon 5)

  You have defeated Alpha Desert Wolf (level 20)

  Level up!

  Level up!

  You are now level 16

  You have 20 free stat points to distribute

  [Sense Mana] gaining levels even while the skill was disabled was surprising, especially the three levels before he had killed the wolves. The mana sphere must’ve given him quite the boost, proving how powerful it had been.

  Training it just shot up in importance. It had incredible potential—if mana intensive—and the system seemed to agree. It might even provide an extra evolution option now, which was always welcome.

  His remaining skills barely leveled up, gaining 1 level each. It was underwhelming because while [Advanced Mana Control] was close to evolving, his other skills still had a long way to go, especially [Revitalize] which was still common rarity. He would have to work on it more, or it might start falling behind. He wasn’t worried though, because if there was one thing he always needed more of, it was mana, so leveling it up should come naturally.

  The three levels, however, felt rewarding. Most of the experience was probably courtesy of the level 20 alpha, but levels were levels, especially since it had been less than a day of fighting. He also wasn’t counting the one he had gotten after his first fight with the wolves. Golems had mostly fueled that one… probably.

  Overall, it was a fairly decent hall for an honest day’s work. And yet, there was still more to unpack.

  [Revitalize] (common 5) → [Revitalize] (common 6)

  [Advanced Mana Control (passive)] (rare 9) → [Advanced Mana Control (passive)] (rare 10)

  [Advanced Mana Control (passive)] (rare) evolution requirements met.

  View evolution options?

  Yes/No

  “Well, that’s something,” Matt muttered as he stared at the notification. He didn’t think he had met the requirements just yet since he hadn’t really done anything special, but he also had no idea what those requirements entailed. However, the fact that his only rare skill was already evolving was incredibly promising and showed that he was at least doing something right in that regard.

  As for starting the evolution process, he was gonna hit pause on that. He still had a few more notifications to scroll through after all.

  Having made up his mind, he moved on to the next notification.

  [Repair] (uncommon 2) → [Repair] (uncommon 6)

  Significant feat of power performed

  Title unlocked!

  Title rewards increased for unlocking a higher tier title at a significantly lower tier.

  Etched in Mana

  Alter a skill engraving through your soul.

  +5 all soul stats

  +5% all body stats

  +10% all soul stats

  Focusing on the term ‘soul stats,’ a clarification appeared.

  Soul stats: Spirit, Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower

  Body stats: Strength, Agility, Vitality, Endurance

  “Huh… Apparently it wasn’t just a paint job,” Matt muttered as he reviewed the result of his earlier meddling with the skill. Who would’ve thought that infusing mana into an engraving would constitute altering it, because he certainly hadn’t.

  He also refused to believe he had done the thing he had repeatedly been warned not to do.

  They couldn’t have meant this. This was barely even adjusting, let alone altering. Like how adding a spice to a recipe was altering it. They probably meant something like ‘don’t swap the meat for eggs’ kind of altering, Matt thought as he considered in his head how fucked he would’ve been if something had gone sideways. He didn’t know whether to be happy it hadn’t or simply shiver at the thought.

  When he had seen the 4 levels [Repair] had gained, he strongly considered doing the same for [Revitalize]. The levels were nothing to scoff at and would save a lot of time and effort. Finding a shortcut and not using it was a wasteful use of resources, right?

  But after learning that he had been stupid and what he had done was also stupid and definitely not just ‘a paint job’ he decided there was no shame in some good old-fashioned elbow grease to get [Revitalize] up to bar with the rest of his skills. It was definitely better in the long run, drilling into him the value of hard work and perseverance instead of shady shortcuts, and Matt was nothing if not a hard worker.

  “Hard work it is,” he nodded to himself assuredly, trying to play the decision as his own and not at all influenced by outside factors.

  You are weakened!

  “Thank you captain obvious!” Matt saluted as he yelled in mock gratitude. He didn’t know what was more infuriating, the useless notification or simply stopping there and not elaborating further.

  It was obvious he was weakened, he didn’t need a notification telling him that, the same way a blind man didn’t expect a doctor to simply say, ‘you are blind’ and fuck off. Instead, what he had wanted to know was why he was weakened, what was being affected, and for how long, instead he got fuck all, with the system choosing to confirm to him the simple fact that yes, he was indeed, weakened, then turn around and leave like some ‘my job here is done’ meme.

  He also found it idiotic how the system would clarify what ‘soul’ and ‘body’ stats were, but refuse to elaborate further on ‘weakened,’ deciding it was better off as some DIY project.

  Guess that’s another thing added to the list, Matt thought, deciding there was nothing he could do about it now.

  [Advanced Mana Control] are going to be? It's his first Epic skill, so it's bound to be incredible, right? RIGHT?

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