One Last System

'It's time,' I thought, forcing my eyes open.

I only had about three hours of relative rest before the first rays of the sun shone upon the world again.

'I need to get going,' I reminded myself, forcing my legs off the bed.

I took a quick glance over at my job's system.

My warden ability reached the middle ranks of the fifth level while the bolt broke into the fourth level.

'This should be enough,' I thought as I packed up and left the tent.

I was up and out so early that Lucius didn't even wake up yet, even though he would usually be the one to wake earlier.

"There is no time," I muttered angrily while I fought with the lock on my compartment's entrance.

A moment later, I was already running through the undergrowth. Due to how early I went out, it took only a second for the bottom part of my robe to absorb all the morning rose present in my path.

To find the beasts on the level of the one that I fought with yesterday, I couldn't just keep to the outer parts of the forest. In order to achieve my objective, I had to exit my comfort zone and push farther than ever before.

'Faster,' I thought, jumping from foothold to foothold.

'Quicker,' I thought, grabbing a nearby vine and Tarzan-ing my way by swinging on it.

'Swifter!' I ran out of the synonyms for the same worlds just as I slid down a small hill to gain some momentum.

And there it was.

A monster that left nature itself paralyzed in its wake.

"HISS!"

This time, it was a massive snake.

It was at least five meters long, with its body as thick as the ego of the politicians.

In other words, it was a wonder it didn't collapse on itself!

"Come at me," I muttered, raising all five of my wardens.

In an instant, the quality of the magic surrounding me changed. With five wardens applying their effects all over the place, I felt as if I was consuming spiritual stones just by breathing.

"HISS!" the monster released a low cry before lunging in my direction.

"Not so fast!" I shouted in response, allowing two of my wardens to shatter while taking the hit.

Even though it was only my second day of using those abilities, I could already see the main methodic behind using them.

It wasn't about being the fastest, the strongest, or the smartest.

My class abilities, although simple, were all about deploying my force and then using it most efficiently!

'Bolt,' I thought, sending a flurry of three small, magic bullets right at the snake's frame.

'Disturb!' I ordered my magic when the snake attempted to dodge my attack.

I didn't even need to go for such length. Over the period of constantly using those abilities instead of sleeping, I learned how to home in the attacks instead of just shooting them straight in a certain direction.

Rather than taking the fight seriously, I actually took it easy, making sure to test the qualities of my abilities.

And it appeared that my disturb spell didn't affect the spells I already cast!

The body of the snake partially evaporated when my bolts crashed into it.

For a split of a second, the law of the universe didn't apply to the three fist-sized areas where my magic struck, turning parts of the monster's body into a total mess.

A second later, its massive body fell to the ground.

Even a monster like that couldn't deal with the concentrated firepower like that.

'With its size, those injuries shouldn't amount to much more than some cuts and bruises,' I thought.

Sure, a fist-sized hole in the monster's body looked impressive. Damage of this kind would mean an instant kill against a human...

But this snake was several times bigger than any human I ever heard of! And yet, with just three bolts, I managed to end it?

'Well, it's rude to look at the gifted horse's mouth,' I thought, raising the replacements for the destroyed wardens before getting to the job.

In the end, testing my abilities was only a side hustle for my current adventure. And the one thing I had to focus on was gathering resources.

The time continued to tick away while I buried my hands deep into the bloody insides of the monster, all for the sake of extracting its core and several of the mana-rich elements that I could sense inside it.

And then, as if I didn't just defeat a powerful predator, I picked up all my stuff and left the place, granting the rights to the remains of the monsters to the nature that birthed it in the first place.

'I still have some time,' I thought, looking at the timer of my mission.

The core in my storage ring was tempting me. The hunger for the mana that I sated during the night has now returned, unpleasantly tickling my senses.

But my logical senses prevailed.

'If my guess about my ultimate ability is correct, then it's better if I save all the resources for now,' I thought before picking up my sprint through the forest.

Each of the wardens acted like an array on its own, making any sort of cultivation easier.

I had several different arrays that I could deploy, each of which beneficiary towards cultivation.

And then there was the Mage's Tower, one that required six wardens to be raised at once in order to activate.

'It will be far more effective if I cultivate only in the very last moment,' I decided as I picked up the scent of mana on a level equal to the monster I defeated a mere moment ago.

'Yeah, let's do just that,' I thought, swallowing my hunger for mana down my throat as I rushed in the direction of more resources.

'If there was ever a time when I needed to mindlessly grind,' I thought, already taking notice of several other hints announcing the presence of a powerful monster, 'it is now!'