Progression of a Magic Fighter Ch. 4

Ch. 4: The Little Creek Grows

<Life: 13>

<Body: 16>

<Magic: 17>

<Focus: 24>

It didn’t take long for Jor to discover a downside to rapid stat growth. He needed to take two days off to relearn his strengths and weaknesses.

His body was greater than ever before. Nearly beyond the physical abilities of a mundane human. He could sprint faster, jump higher, and strike harder.

He had to recognize the physics involved when moving dynamically. That changed the timing on everything he could perform. There were more physical options available to him now.

Thankfully, his growth in focus helped him relearn his body quickly. His focus helped him relearn his magic especially fast.

He had more power to use for his sorcery. He had more mana in his tank to fuel his water attacks. His physical and mental fatigue accrued slower, too.

Because of the changes, he needed to reestablish his limits and know how far he could push himself. Overconfidence and ignorance were a dangerous mixture.

The life stat required no relearning. It had no other purpose than making him more lively and harder to kill. He still wanted more life stats for just in case reasons.

Jor’s days of relearning himself turned out fun, peaceful, and filled with positivity. The bliss was more than Jor had felt in a long while.

The birds tweeted as normal under clear blue days. The babbling creek tempered his mood. The berries, mushrooms, and nuts tasted better than usual. During his breaks, Jor listened to the wind rustling the treetops. When the apes hollered, he heard far less of them than before.

I think there’s one last group remaining. And going by the Game’s rate of escalation, the number they’ll have will be predictable. The greatest factor was the environment.

What did the Game have in store for him next?

The next day, Jor saw that the Game came with many surprises.

Predictably, his next battle would have him faced against sixteen apes. The shocking part was the slow moving and shallow river between him and the apes.

You’re joking. Jor rubbed his eyes and blinked. That counts as a watery area, right?

<Water Sorcery - Mundane - Your innate magic is infused with traces of water mana. You can conjure/control mundane and magical water. You gain an additional 10% to your Magic in a watery area. You suffer a 5% reduction to your Magic in a very dry area.>

Jor reread his sorcery’s description. He looked back at the apes across the shallow river. Then he sat in contemplation, wondering if there was a trick.

Waiting in the bushes, hidden from view, he watched the apes for two days and nights. He retreated, foraged for food, drank water, and contemplated further.

There were no tricks, Jor realized. The Game gave him an advantage. He only had to seize it. But there lay the problem.

The area advantage pitted him against sixteen Tier 4 monsters he would have to beat. The river barely came up to ankle height and would not slow the monsters.

The Game was dangling a carrot while holding a big and heavy stick. Damn, you’re a cunning and cruel thing, Game.

Sixteen apes.

Could Jor beat that?

These apes would be the last warm up monsters. No more apes hollered beyond them. The contest arena would be on the other side of the river.

If he wanted, he could follow the river and go around these sixteen monsters. That was another option. But did Jor truly want to avoid the fight?

That many apes could nab me two loot orbs if I’m lucky. He would certainly reach Level 5, maxing out his experience at the Mundane Rank.

He could then open his loot orbs, receiving rewards outside of progressing his experience. And those rewards could help with the contest, ensuring his victory.

Jor chuckled. “This is me, huh? Going from one conflict to the next to satisfy my progression.” At the very least, Jor liked to make preparations.

He went all the way back to his creek and started practicing with mundane water. It was then he made two wonderful discoveries.

He could infuse magic into mundane water for his sorcery. Using mundane water raised his efficiency, too, costing him less mana.

This required him to change his thought processes. He even had to change up his combat style. All direct strikes without extra setup weren’t efficient while in a watery area.

He also needed to take advantage of <Blood of War and Peace> more.

<Blood of War and Peace - Mundane - Your father is of the Icerath People, an aggressive human group. But your mother is of the Izlandee People, a friendly human group. You gain an additional 20% to your Body when transitioning between offense and defense.>

More counter attacks would enhance his hits and drop the monsters faster. Facing a large group solo required a high damage output.

Jor tried performing other water tricks, but not much else came to fruition. He couldn’t turn water into ice or steam. He couldn’t do a large water wave or torrent.

All of his maneuvers with <Mundane Water Sorcery> had to be sharp or explosive, slick or savage. Like a bare-bones magic fighter.

Strangely, Jor was okay with these limitations. There was plenty of room for creativity with just the basics. Trusting what he had available to him, Jor sat down to meditate and practice circulating his mana.

He felt like the creek, flowing constantly toward his destination. Sure, he was small. Maybe he was slow compared to others. And he knew he didn’t seem like much.

But like the creek, he could find other sources of water, other sources of power, as long as he kept flowing. He could go from being a little creek to a mighty river. Maybe he could go from being a mighty river to a great ocean current, master of the seas, weather, and creatures of the deep.

Jor finished his meditation on the morning of the next day. He ate very little, drank some water, and relieved himself. He performed a little morning exercise routine before he started jogging, keeping his body warm while holding back his sorcery.

The morning brightened into another blue and cloudless day. Green and brown blotches of forest blurred by Jor as he picked up speed. He ran without struggle, letting his body move like water coursing on its predestined path.

He felt zen, incredibly so.

Time seemed to blur by as he traversed the rock clearing, the rock hill, the ravine, and all the forest areas in between. He ran out into the open river area with no hesitation. His feet barely made a splash as he continued his course straight at the apes.

“Ooh?” voiced an ape before breaking out into wild whoops. “Ooh! Ooh!”

All at once, a wall of muscle and dirty fur united. Void-like eyes glared with hatred, contempt, and hunger for the solo human.

Some apes dashed forward wildly, splashing up heaps of water while raising their claws in preparation to strike. Others shook their arms about, hammered the river bank, and dug up large rocks to throw.

In no time at all, Jor faced a big squad of Tier 4 monsters. They rained down rock and extended their claws.

Jor flashed them a smile. “Let’s dance!”

The first ape to reach him slashed down with its claw and hit nothing but air. To its surprise, it seemed like the little human disappeared from under it. At the same time, the ape suffered a deep cut to its leg that forced it to tumble out of control.

A second ape ran up from behind the first, aiming a deadly kick at the black and platinum human. The kick missed. Blood sprayed from a deep cut on the standing leg, forcing the second ape to stumble and fall.

The same strange and bloody circumstance happened to the third ape. The same happened to the fourth. The apes couldn’t comprehend how they could see the human right in front of them one moment, and miss him the next!

At the same time, their brethren tossed rocks en masse without care. The downed apes howled in pain as river rocks came crashing down, smashing limbs, breaking ribs, and busting up faces.

All was chaos on the slow moving river. Water and blood splashed everywhere. Apes became confused during the crimson melee and raining rocks. Nothing made sense until everything became still and the apes on the banks stopped their rock throwing.

Jor stood perfectly fine. He was breathing a little hard, but he gave the apes no sense whether he was truly tired or wounded.

He remained dry, too.

Completely untouched.

His appearance was a frank contrast to the howling and crying apes rolling in the water behind him. Nine apes struggled to get back into the fight or were so damaged, they lay unconscious. These nine painted the river redder and redder.

How could this happen?

The last seven apes standing would have to rush Jor to find out. Without any plan, the monsters got to experience for themselves the terror of a focused human.

Jor’s entire scheme was simple.

Move steadily. Then rapidly.

That was the heart of his scheme. That seemed impossibly simple, which it was. Jor had a number of factors helping him. But the scheme stayed the same, requiring the utmost of diligence for Jor not to deviate. Not against this many foes.

Jor started by waiting for an ape to attack before moving to counter attack. This transitional period between defense and offense gave him an extra buff in body thanks to <Blood of War and Peace>. At the same time, Jor used water blasts under his feet for extra propulsion.

The next part of his scheme took the momentum of his dodge to swing a short and choppy kick while he flew by his target. Tendrils of water flowed where his feet went and cut like razor-sharp swords on the apes caught by Jor’s passing.

Lastly, his next step ended with sorcery in mind. That helped him stick the landing and not slide with his momentum. From there, he would enter another loop of moving steadily before going rapidly once an ape attacked.

Why did this work on the apes?

The answer was simple. They lacked focus.

They were relentless. Fearless. But unfocused.

Yes, they honed their sights on Jor whenever they aimed to strike. But that was it. All they cared about was hitting and hurting him but not truly fighting him.

The apes thought of themselves as predators when they were truly prey to their own bestial instincts. In other words, Jor beat the apes by letting them beat themselves.

This could only happen with Jor sticking to his game plan, not changing it whatsoever until he felled all of them. Then he loosened up when the apes hopped around on one leg for a second go at him. That allowed Jor to have his fun practicing magical things that seemed like pure fantasy.

He slid backwards from an ape swipe and glided across the water with the grace of an ice skater. Then he entered a spin and kicked out back-to-back water crescents that were both four feet wide and angled differently. The double crescents carved the ape into slabs of furry meat and explosions of blood.

Jor stopped and stared at the pile of hacked-up monster meat. He rubbed the back of his neck. Then he concluded that this was bloody gross and awesome at the same time. Unfortunately, Jor’s energy tank had its limits even with the area advantage.

So he backed off, meditated far down the bank to recover mana, and then returned to try other moves. Jor even decided to let himself be a little silly in the face of horrid monsters.

He windmilled his arms like a wushu weirdo, gathering water in a thin shiny stream around him. Once an ape tried to attack him, he ducked the swipe and thrust a sturdy palm strike into the monster’s abdomen.

The water blast whooped loudly and eviscerated the ape. It flew backward and hit the river with a splash, already dead before it settled. Giblets of intestines and water rained down, some of it pattering on Jor.

Jor paused to stare at the damage. That’s sick.

His gaze lowered to a chunk of stinky ape meat on his shoulder. Motivated, he windmilled an arm again, bending a little river water up to wash over him. With a final flourish of his arm, the water flung off his body and took the intestines with it.

He became clean and dry. Cool.

Back and forth, Jor slaughtered and meditated. He reddened the slow moving river with blood and sat under the blue sky day in the lotus pose.

Jor tried different moves and discovered he could pull off efficient water crescents with an elbow strike after some setup. Water blast knees were especially powerful and quick. Using his legs outperformed attacks with his arms most of the time. The lower limbs had the advantage of being closer to the water.

That changed when Jor tried a more impractical move.

He cartwheeled out of the way of an ape attack and pulled water up into his hands while upside down. Once back on his feet, Jor sprung at the ape with his trusty water blast punch.

He disintegrated half of the monster’s skull.

Jor felt a little weird about that impractical move being so successful. However, he reasoned more body stats would make impracticable moves more reliable.

Nothing was off the table. After all, he had pinball himself between two bridges some time ago to kill eight apes. He certainly had an aptitude for being impractical under the right circumstances.

Impractical wushu fancy moves would, of course, require more testing and practice. It would require live fire sessions with monsters he could somewhat predict and control for maximum study.

Unfortunately, there was a limit to how much these monsters could endure. The last couple of apes had to be put down while they lay unconscious or too damaged to keep fighting. So Jor whirled around, swinging out water crescent kicks from different angles.

He even performed a forward flip that ended with an axe heel kick. The result sent a vertical water crescent that was six feet tall, his biggest one yet!

It barely made it four feet before breaking apart. But it did slash through a downed ape like a hot knife through butter, killing the last of them.

Jor stood alive and completely unhurt. His fatigue was not as drastic as usual. Monster parts surrounded him. Exposed bones. Chopped up muscles. And lots and lots of blood.

“Huh,” Jor said, feeling strange. He was both content. And worried. “This is abnormal, isn’t it?”

The beginning of the fight placed Jor a hairbreadth away from disaster. He’d dodged savage strikes and raining boulders with barely any room to breathe. He’d kept going. He’d kept flowing.

Hell, he could barely remember that part of the conflict. It was like he’d been outside of himself, and someone else took control.

Jor knew what that all meant. He’d been there before. The zen. The combat nirvana. The flow state. That was probably even more extreme for him because of his high focus.

He also had the moral high ground if that concerned him. Every ape had taken a counter from him, not an outright attack except for the last ones he had to put down. In a sense, he’d defended himself first and made them suffer for their aggression against him.

Still, all of that left Jor in a weird funk. He should be happy. But he wondered if it was okay to be such a butcher. He wondered if he had gone too far. Like an Icerath mongrel.

It’s stupid. Don’t let that talk of blood relations get to you. This is me being me, not my father’s blood. My soul is forty years old, after all.

Yet, Jor had the <Blood of War and Peace> attribute that said otherwise. He couldn’t help but ponder.

The Game gave no answers to his ponderings. It didn’t care about his doubts and anxieties. The Game merely rewarded him since Jor had put on a good enough show.

<You’ve slain sixteen Mundane Darkened Apes, Tier 4s.>

<You’ve gained three Mundane Loot Orbs. You now have five Loot Orbs.>

<Your Experience progresses, Gamer. You’ve leveled up from 4 to 5.>

<You’ve gained +2 Life, +2 Body, +2 Magic, +2 Focus.>

<You’ve maximized your Experience as a Mundane Gamer. Please complete your ascension challenge and become an Adept Gamer to continue progressing.>

Jor sighed, lolling his head back and letting his arms hang limply at his sides. He felt the changes in his stats, the pleasure of progression. He stared at the blue sky as blood and water flowed around him.

“Well, I guess it’s time to check what loot I got.”

And face the arena contest.