Chapter 41: Freely Using Flash Step
Noah and Alice got on their way to GreenCloud town. They had gone through enough dungeons for the day and wanted to spend the rest of their time travelling.
At night they set up camp again. After Alice fell asleep Noah got up and moved to an empty spot. He wanted to try something out now that he had gotten the staff.
The Levitation Staff gave him a high amount of mana and a new skill. He wanted to try out Flash Step now and see his limitations.
He took a step forward and disappeared. He then reappeared tens of meters away. Excited that he still had a lot of mana left Noah continued the use of his skill.
Blessed Mind's Limit Break effect allowed him to ignore the cooldown of all his skills. The combination of it with Flash Step and enough mana meant that he could flicker around the battlefield like a ghost.
Noah looked around and noticed he had moved quite far away from camp, it had taken moments to go so far that he hadn't noticed. But he didn't stop, he had something else he needed to try. He sat down and recovered his mana, it was still ten minutes of meditation even after his mana attribute had increased. After that, he took off the staff from his back.
Levitation!
Noah dropped the staff as he activated the skill. The staff fell and floated horizontally in front of him. Noah jumped on it as if it was a skateboard. The thin wood was enough for Noah to balance on. He stood straight facing the left.
"Let's try moving now." Noah then controlled the staff to slowly move forward.
The staff carried him forward. After getting used to how it works Noah had it speed up. The amount of mana the staff used was gradual and something he could support. But as he sped up his mana depleted faster and faster. At maximum speed, it would deplete his mana in ten minutes.
Using up all his Mana, Levitation deactivated and the staff fell to the ground. Noah jumped off and landed on his feet next to it.
"So It'll just fall when my mana runs out, that could be dangerous if it happens in a middle of a battle or when I'm too high up." Noah recovered his mana and jumped on it again. "Let's see how high I can go."
The staff moved vertically up carrying Noah who now sat on it. His feet dangling off at one side as he didn't bother holding the staff. The staff was balanced and would automatically correct its movement and tilt to make sure that he wouldn't fall off it. As he sat on it, he felt safe like it was stuck to him.
The staff rose from the trees and floated above, Noah had it rise higher until he was 30 meters high. He was used to high heights and didn't worry about the fall.
Between the dark moonlit cloudy sky and the dark green monster-filled forest, Noah enjoyed the liberated wind rustling his hair as it brushed past. His vision was limited by the darkness. The forest floor was completely blocked by the branches and leaves of trees.
Taking out the rifle and aiming with it. He used his spatial sense and explorer map to locate a monster more than a 1000 meters away. Sitting on the staff he held the gun with his left hand holding the forestock and his right hand back with a finger on the trigger. He found a spot in the monster's path that was open enough to see it.
Accounting for all factors affecting his trajectory, with E class Firearm Mastery and high attributes such a feat wasn't too difficult. He sat and aimed, waiting for it to run by. It was a Grey Wolf running through the forest. The moment it entered his line of sight he pulled the trigger. Bang! The mana bullet went straight through the wolf's head.
Noah used one hand to hold the staff under him and push up his body so his feet could land on it. His other hand still holding the rifle. He stood and tilting forward to look down, the staff moved to stop him from falling. He was moving diagonally down. He picked up one foot one and the moment it touched the staff it again he disappeared.
Flash Step!
Noah teleported downwards, the staff still underneath him, he appeared a few meters lower than he was in the same position. He stood straight to steady the staff.
"So it teleports with me, this brings a whole other dimension to my fighting style." Noah tried it out a few more times, teleporting in all directions. Even upside-down form which he fell off. The staff rushed down with him so he was able to catch it with his hand, pulling himself back up onto it.
He thought of the staff lowering, the staff followed the command moving down until it was near the ground. Facing forward the staff sped up, moving fast towards a tree. Flash Step. Noah was on the other side, passing the tree instantly. Keeping the speed he whizzed around the trees in front until he came to a stop. He got off and recovered his mana.
"I need a strong monster to fight." He got back on the staff and with the explorer man open he looked around. They had travelled 60 kilometers into the forest, the monster variety had increased and so had the range of levels. Where they had even seen level 20 monsters.
He finally saw a monster walking.
[Tree Golem]
D Class
Level 19
The tree golem was 5 meters tall and towered over everything as it moved through the forest. Its body was humanoid as it was made from intervening tree bark and roots. It had leaves and branches coming out from its body. It wasn't his first time seeing a D Class monster he had seen a few along the way but he had avoided them and walked around them.
His attributes were rather high and he felt like he had a chance. Noah landed on a tree branch and watched the tree golem move. It was rather slow but had force with each shaking the nearby land.
After his mana had completely recovered he got on the staff, standing and with Black Wind held in his hands. He then shot as he moved rose up.
The Tree Golem had three holes form on its body before it roared and turned to look at Noah. Thud! Thud! It then ran at him shaking the forest and air.
Noah moved back shooting the Tree Golem but it pulled up its arms using them to block the bullets from hitting its body. Its thick wooden arms tanked through the mana bullets. At a close distance, it swung its arms at Noah. Large vines grew out and lashed towards him like whips. Noah Flash Stepped away appearing to the side, having the vines pass by.
The tree continued its attacks but Noah weaved through them using Flash Step. With Bullet Rebound, it didn't matter where he shot from he could have his bullet hit where he wanted. The Tree Golem's bark-like wooden skin took each bullet with ease.
The battle went on as Noah focused on shooting at a single point trying to break through its defence. The level 2 mana bullets were much stronger but they were only able to leave a slight depression. It was only after multiple shots in the same place did the wooden armour crack and break.
Noah saw the open spot he teleported forward appearing just before the place he had broken open.
Black Wind Burst!
The black bullet went in, pushing the tree golem back and also went straight into its body killing it.
The Tree Golem fell to the ground and dropped a few silver coins. Noah picked them up and started walking back to camp. Thinking about the fight.
It was his first time fighting a D class monster and he had to praise it. He had shot hundreds of times merely to break its defence. Combined with its strong defence, the Tree Golem had long-range wide attacks, which were hard to dodge, using an attacking speed faster than the Black Werewolf. The vine whips had locked him in multiple times, without Flash Step he would have been squashed into paste.
Internally, it was weak which helped him finish the battle faster. The jump from F to E class was nothing compared to E to D class.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone