Solar Mage

Chapter 38: 3rd Circle

The creator of this dungeon said that there will be a trial in every room starting from this one. And if all of those trials are trials where I have to defeat a monster. So if I have to defeat a monster as strong as, or stronger than this one, I need to become stronger as well.

"Tin, I\'m going to form my third circle now."

I say in a serious tone.

"I am honored that you are willing to trust me with your life. I will protect you, even at the cost of my own."

Wow... who knew he could act so professional? He must still be drunk.

"Hoooooooo..."

I look up at the ceiling, the whole room bright from the numerous lamps attached into the wall

There is even less sunlight here than in the carriage when I tried to form it before. I wonder how long it will take to finish forming the rest of this circle; hours? Days? I don\'t have that kind of time. They say when you need help, pray to Pyro. But I wonder, will she really be able to hear me?

There\'s no use just thinking about it, my ideas can only be proved through results.

I get myself up on one leg, into praying form, closing my eyes, and clasping my hands together.

"Pyro,"

What should I say?

"grant me a miracle?"

Nothing happens.

Ugh– I have no idea what to say! My thoughts are all over the place! Still, a new idea was formed– that I can only reach Pyro\'s realm of flames in the temple, or at least a church. It must be because those places are heavily decorated with orange suns, her divine symbol.

"What was that? You know you\'re not a priest right? Haha"

Tin says, while laughing.

Just– ignore him, Arthur. If there is no sun, and Pyro can\'t help, then all I can do is to do it by myself.

I deeply concentrate and observe my manaheart.

Lets see, I have about 40% of my mana left. If I use all of it to create a giant Orb of Dawn, that might be able to act as a substitute for real sunlight. The problem is, using all my mana will leave me completely vulnerable, and I don\'t know how long the sun will even last– will it be long enough for me to form my circle? I will be completely vulnerable while forming my 3rd circle anyway so having mana, or not having mana will not make a difference. As for whether it will last long enough for me to complete the circle? I\'m just going to have to take a gamble on that.

I cross my legs, into Lotus Position.

This feels a little more uncomfortable than usual. Probably because I fell down over three hundred feet and landed on my legs twice. My body should adjust soon from my super regeneration.

I shut my eyes and sit in complete silence. Then, orange aurora lights begin to slowly rise from my body. They fly higher and higher until they unexpectedly come to a stop and form a swirling ball of fire that continues to get bigger and bigger as the orange aurora continues to steadily rise. Afterwards, the final bit of aurora rises out of my body and gets swallowed in the, now giant, swirling ball of fire.

Did I manage to create the artificial sun? I heard Tin gasp but I can\'t open my eyes or I\'ll break my concentration. I have no more mana and I feel the warmth of something at least so I should just be content with these clues . Okay, clear the mind. Clear the mind...

My consciousness drifts away, the empty void being the only thing left.

My eyes open, the image of a third orange circle having formed around my manaheart being the first thought in my head. My eyes are still focused on myself, making me unaware of the area around me.

I can feel another ring circling my manaheart now. My mana has fully recovered and I feel the amount of mana circuits in my body and my mana reserves have increased by a large amount! My mana output can be much higher now because of my new mana circuits. I want to test how much stronger I\'ve gotten.

"Have you done it?"

A voice, sounding like Tin\'s, says.

My awareness returns to me as I turn my head up, to the direction I heard the voice from.

Tin has all of his armor off and is exercising on the floor, doing push-ups, as Rachel leans, sitting in front of a pillar adjacent to him, silently watching.

Tin is... by no means skinny but definitely not as big as the armor he fits himself in. How exactly did he manage to act as a heavy tank for so long despite not being heavy?!

Tin finishes his set by pushing himself up with his arms, directly from a normal push-up to standing upright.

"Phew, that was intense. I haven\'t worked these old bones like that in a while!"

Didn\'t he say he was middle-aged? He isn\'t even that old!

He chugs another entire sack of water.

"Hooooo... refreshing!"

"We\'re going to run out of water soon if you keep wasting our water like that!"

Rachel strictly screamed.

Tin puts up his arms

"I know I know, I\'m sorry. But I didn\'t want to be a burden to this party anymore.

His happy demeanor shifts to a serious one.

Their relationship is so wholesome, it\'s like watching a father and daughter fight over eating each other\'s food. Only– no one\'s laughing–

The air around Tin changes once again as he turns to me, while averting the gaze of Rachel.

"Anyways, Nameless, to any other person who tried forming their circle in the amount of time you did I would ask them if they failed and comfort them, since it would normally take a whole week of non-stop meditation to form the third one. I was just making small talk after you startled me in my training but I know that you can\'t fail, so how is it? Do you feel stronger now?"

"You finally understand me, Tin! I feel a lot stronger, I want to test out my powers right now."

"Well that\'s great news, because we want to get out of here quickly as well!"

How much time has passed? Please tell me it hasn\'t been more than four days since we\'ve entered the dungeon!

"Wait– how much time has passed since I started forming my circle?"

"Uhh, according to your cracked pocket watch, the time is 10 PM, it\'s been two hours."

Two hours? That\'s not too long but it\'s also not a small amount. I don\'t know how long it will take to get past the rest of the rooms! Counting the time I need to get back to the capital city and get the other ingredients from the Temple\'s vault, I don\'t have any time to waste!

"We can\'t take any more breaks. I need to get out of this dungeon within the next six hours."

The both of them stare in silence, shocked by what they just heard.

"We understand. I didn\'t want to stay here anyway."

"Thank you. We can take a five minute break before we set out."

Tin goes back to stretching and Rachel joins him.

Looks like I won\'t have to worry about them. Now, let\'s take a look at my new status window shall we?

I grab Sage out and hold him in front of me.

"Show me my Status Window."

"ORDER RECEIVED"

***

STATUS WINDOW

Name: Arthur Ventrike

Class: Mage

Rank: 3rd Circle

Strength: 400

Agility: 420

Stamina: 500

Mana: 30000

Intelligence: 210

Active Skills:

Mana Blade (Mastery: Max)

Enhance Body (Mastery: Level 6)

Aura Blade (Mastery: Level 5)

Heightened Senses (Mastery: Level 2)

Swift Wind (Mastery: Level 2)

Iron Body (Mastery: Level 1)

3rd Circle Solar Imaginary Technique

Passive Skills:

Nameless Sword Technique (Mastery: Level 1)

Heavenly Martial Physique (Stage 1)

Solar Mana Gathering Technique (Mastery: Level 2)

Eyes of Truth (Stage 1)

Pyro\'s Blessing of Body (Stage 1)

UNKNOWN SKILL

Status Abnormalities:

Demon Curse

Overall Combat Rating: B+

Accuracy: 100.00%

***

Nice! Now I have as much mana as someone like Dustin now! I mean, sure, I can\'t use my mana as efficiently as a swordmaster because of my mana circuits but still, to have as much mana as a swordmaster! Wait– why doesn\'t it say that I have super regeneration, or any kind of regeneration in the passive or active skills? Could it be because my heavenly martial physique awakened or something? I don\'t remember it saying stage 1 before. Hmm... but the skill doesn\'t say super regeneration; and if just the first stage gives me that much–

I wipe the saliva seeping out of my mouth.

I wonder how good the abilities I gain will be in further stages. Let\'s see what else changed, my physical stats have increased a lot even though I haven\'t done any training. Probably has something to do with Pyro\'s Blessing of Body. Hmm... all of my swordsmanship and footwork techniques have disappeared and seemingly been replaced by the nameless sword technique? One last notable change is the Eyes of Truth, except, I only have it in one eye, so why is it plural? The stage not saying max also implies that there is more to come. I should really thank Pyro the next time I see her, these blessings are... amazing!! Forget the unknown skill, worrying about that will just make me agitated, and why would I want to be agitated when I\'ve seen such changes in my stats? Oh, this is a glorious day!

I smile widely to myself as I continue to observe the Status Window.

Hold on, that wasn\'t there before–

"Sage, analyze Status Abnormality, Demon Curse."

"ORDER RECEIVED"

"ORDER DENIED. ACTION FAILED. UNKNOWN STATUS ABNORMALITY."

What? This is the first time this has happened! How is it possible that there is something Luke Wolkan doesn\'t know?! And it gives me the same response as the unknown skill in my passive skills! I am certain of it, both of these unknown things have something to do with that Sin of Wrath!

Suddenly, I hear Rachel\'s echoing shout.

"Nameless, are you finished? We\'re all ready to go!"

I turn off the Sage System, putting it aside, and see both Tin and Rachel standing at the entrance to the next room.

Right, I\'m the one who told them to hurry up, I can\'t go back on my word and be the one to fall behind.

"Yeah, I\'m coming!"

I pick myself up and put Dustin\'s sword back in my inventory before running after them, without the use of Swift Wind.

Time to test out how strong I\'ve gotten. I wonder how strong the next boss will be.