Chapter 5: Fight of his Life
"Hey big bro, why are you handling this all so well?" The little girl suddenly asked while the two were enjoying their breakfast.
"I don't know... might have to do with my dad? He was in the military, and he hammered into me risk analysis and problem solving growing up. It's actually why I'm here, I'm visiting him at his base for summer break." Mark said with some nostalgia in his eyes.
"What about you? You seem pretty strong too!" Mark said to the little girl with an inquisitive look.
"My mommy taught me to be strong, just like a superhero!" The little girl said proudly, her chest puffed up and arm akimbo.
Mark chuckled and replied, "With your new class you really can be a superhero now!"
"I just wish I knew how to cast spells, I've been trying my best since I wanted to help you, but nothing seems to work!" The little girl slumped down and took another bite of her food.
"Ask her if she is drawing mana from her core to her hands when she tries to cast a spell." Clye suddenly chimed in and informed Mark.
Mark immediately asked the little girl and she responded with a no, before going silent and trying what he said.
Pointing her hand forward, a small ball of pure mana formed on her hand and shot out. After hitting the wall it left a dent and dissipated.
"I did it!" she exclaimed in a muffled scream as she jumped around giddily.
"Congrats!" Mark responded, before attempting it himself.
Soon a small ball, slightly smaller than the girl's formed on his hand. He noted that his mana had dropped by one, before he launched the spell.
"That's pretty cool, not gonna lie..." Mark said with an amazed look.
Suddenly an idea came to his head and he wanted to ask Clye immediately, but he couldn't with the little girl here.
'I need to see if Clye can make a telepathy skill or something later.' Mark pondered, as he stood up.
"I'm going to go hunt some more monsters nearby, and before you ask no you can't come. That spell you just cast has no way of killing a monster... other than apparitions maybe." Mark told the girl who closed her mouth with a dejected look.
"Don't feel down; train the skill and we'll see if it's stronger tomorrow." Mark patted her head before leaving the room.
Walking a bit down the hall, Mark finally felt comfortable talking to Clye again.
"Hey Clye, you said you are basically a software in my body right? Does that mean you can use my mana supply to cast spells? Like when I'm fighting you can participate and attack as well?" Mark asked excitedly.
"That's a great idea! I don't even need to write a new program for it, I can just update some existing procedures to allow for it!" Clye said extremely excited.
Before Mark could even ask how long it would take she was off working on it.
"Welp guess I'll know when I know." Mark shrugged before heading down to the end of the hallway and into another room that was full of bodies.
"What the hell happened here..." Mark began before noticing a quick movement to his right. He quickly raised his sword and a ting sound reverberated in the large room.
The impact threw Mark off his feet and he rolled a few times, stopping on the corpse of what looked like a large goblin with an underbite.
{Inspect}
{Creature: Ogre
Core Density: Hollow
Mana Circuit: Beginner (Stage 1)
Info: Deceased. Demon species with low intelligence, but extremely high base physical strength.}
Mark quickly stood up and looked towards where his attacker was, noticing it recovering from the shock from his sword.
{Inspect}
{Creature: Ghoul
Core Density: Hollow
Mana Circuit: Beginner (Stage 2)
Info: A ghoul that has sucked the blood of a hundred different beings.}
"Shit..." Mark lamented, preparing himself for an arduous fight.
The ghoul suddenly lunged at him, bearing its teeth like a wild animal. Mark jumped to the side at the last second and heard the clear chomping sound behind him.
Cold sweat dripped as he prepared himself for the hardest fight of his life. He coated his sword in mana and used his slash skill while the ghoul was recovering from the missed attack.
Slicing down, it left a large gash on its shoulder. Mark clicked his tongue, dodging the frenzied scratches the ghoul attempted on him.
'Its skin is pretty tough. I'll need to aim for the neck and eyes if I wanna finish this any time soon.'
Mark looked down at his unsharpened sword and grimaced. He only had nine effective attacks left with his current mana pool, and he had to use them wisely.
Making a rough plan in his head, Mark led the ghoul over to a small pile of bodies. Quickly circling around it, he made it where the ghoul had to climb over the bodies to get to him.
The ghoul did just that, making the perfect opening for Mark to pierce forward with his sword, stabbing into the creature's eye and shocking it.
*Screeeeeeee*
It bellowed in pain as the electric currents flowed into its head, stunning it. Taking this opportunity, Mark pulled his sword out, before immediately slashing down on the creature's nape.
{Ghoul killed}
{[Mana Circuit] progress 26%}
Mark sighed in relief and collapsed on the ground panting. His first real life and death battle was a success, and he felt immeasurably proud of himself. As he was recovering he decided to take a look at his status for the first time in what felt like ages, but only hours had passed.
{Status:
Name: Mark Tellin
Age: 18
Race: Lesser Human
Health: 10/ 10
Mana: 6/ 10
Title(s): None
Class: [Warrior]
Sub-Class: [Artificer]
Physique: 13
Spirit: 10
Core Density: Hollow (5%)
Mana Circuit: Beginner (Stage 1- 26%)
Innate Talent: [Life Bestowal]
Active Skill(s): [Slash]
Passive Skill(s): [Warrior's Body] [Nimble Fingers]
}
After spending some time to recover, Mark slowly walked up to the large window. As he took a look outside, he stood frozen for a moment, processing the pandemonium he was seeing. All kinds of creatures slaughtering each other, running, or hiding... He was thankful not to be trapped within that mess.
The carnage in front of him reminded him of the horrific depictions of war that his father shared with him over the last few years.
Remembering his father, the teachings he imparted resurfaced in his mind as he began to remember a certain quote by Sun Tzu, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."
Taking this to heart Mark began to scan everything he saw with inspect, filling out his bestiary. He even began memorizing their attack patterns in order to build strategies against them.
He continued to watch for hours, absorbing information constantly until he heard his stomach growl and decided to make his way back to the hideout for lunch and check on the kid.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone