The sharp smell of ozone still clung to Ethan's fingertips as he lowered his hand, the last crackle of his Lightning Needle fading from the air. He stood alone in the Awakeners Hall testing area, the scorched dummy before him smoldering slightly. The rune-inscribed walls around him glowed faintly, dissipating residual energy.
He exhaled slowly.
It was... satisfying. The kind of satisfaction that came from knowing you made the right choice.
He rotated his shoulder and flexed his hand, electricity still tingling faintly under his skin. Lightning magic was a different beast altogether. It was fast, clean, and sharp—like controlling the strike of a blade made of pure current. Unlike the heavy, explosive force of his Fireball, this felt nimble and surgical.
He raised his hand again, index finger pointed outward like a mock pistol. With a quick thought, he cast the spell.
Snap!
A thin needle of white-blue lightning burst forth with a crack. It struck the dummy dead center in the chest. No dramatic explosion. No billowing smoke. Just the precise burn of power delivered exactly where he aimed.
Ethan grinned. This spell felt... right.
…
After wrapping up at the testing hall, Ethan caught a mana-taxi and leaned back in his seat as the vehicle hummed along the streets of Potsdam. It was a mellow ride, sunlight filtering through the tinted windows while he absentmindedly reviewed spellcasting forms and mana control techniques in his mind.
Instead of heading for the center of town, the taxi veered toward the outer district—a more industrial area where beginner dungeons like Rotwood Den were tucked away. Once there, Ethan hopped out and approached the familiar warehouse that marked the entrance.
He greeted the Guild reps at the gate with a nod. After a quick scan of his Awakened ID and the deduction of the usual 100-dollar fee, he was waved through.
The entrance tunnel was unchanged, though a few new posters advertising Guild-run training courses lined the stone walls. As he walked, the torches on the wall flickered to life, their steady blue flames guiding him downward. The deeper he went, the more the outside world seemed to vanish.
Eventually, the passage opened into a small chamber where the dungeon gate pulsed in the center—a swirling portal of green and brown energy like wind passing through a forest mirage.
Ethan took a breath, rolled his shoulders, and stepped through without hesitation.
He'd cleared Rotwood Den plenty of times—but today, it wasn't for loot or talent activation.
Today, it was just for fun.
Well, mostly. He'd still pick up the crystals—he wasn't that carefree.
…
The dungeon opened with the familiar dark corridor, lit by bioluminescent moss along the walls. The air inside was damp and smelled faintly of mold and rat fur. Ethan stepped forward with a spring in his step, Manaskin quietly active beneath his hoodie. There was no shimmer unless he got hit, and with his current pace, that seemed unlikely.
A flicker of movement ahead caught his eye. His grin widened.
"Here, ratty ratty," he said, voice light.
The first rat darted out—big as a cat, matted fur, beady eyes.
Snap!
The lightning needle tore through its head before it could squeak. It hit the ground mid-lunge, twitching.
"One down. Ninety-nine to go."
He started jogging.
The narrow halls branched in multiple directions, each turn echoing with the soft scuttling of tiny claws. Ethan zigzagged through them like a kid in a maze, finger raised, casting Lightning Needle with casual flicks.
Snap! Snap!
Each cast hit true. Heads, torsos, legs—it didn't matter. The spell was instant, clean, and efficient. His mana bar barely moved. Thirty mana per cast was nothing to him now, and with a three-second cooldown, he could pace himself comfortably.
Rats came in swarms, sometimes three or four at a time. Ethan danced between them, pointing and zapping like he was playing some magical arcade shooter.
Snap!
Snap!
He laughed when one tried to climb up his leg and got flung back by a point-blank bolt.
Snap!
Its buddy didn't even get the chance.
For once, the pressure was gone. No thoughts about money. No stress about surviving the next boss fight. Just him, his spell, and an endless stream of fuzzy targets to zap.
He slid around a corner and double-cast in rhythm, each snap followed by a dull thud as his targets fell.
Left. Snap.
Right. Snap.
Overhead. Snap!
He was smiling so wide it hurt.
Midway through the dungeon, he paused briefly by an underground stream. The bioluminescent moss here glowed a little brighter, casting a gentle green light over the trickling water. A few rats skittered past the rocks.
He pointed lazily and flicked his wrist.
Snap. Snap.
Two arcs of light and two more thuds.
Ethan sat on a rock for a moment, wiping sweat from his brow. He wasn't even tired. His mana was still more than half full, and his heartbeat was calm.
This was new. Normally he pushed himself until exhaustion to trigger his Talent. Today, he didn't care.
He just liked zapping things.
…
The boss room opened into a cavernous chamber, its ceiling high and lost in shadow. The floor was littered with broken crates, torn sacks, and the faint glint of discarded monster crystals. At the far end stood a mound of debris, atop which crouched the Diseased Fangrat—Rotwood Den's F-rank boss. Its fur was patchy, mangy in places, and its diseased skin oozed in small boils. The creature's oversized incisors jutted out from its mouth, stained yellow and red.
It let out a screeching hiss that echoed through the chamber, its beady eyes locking onto Ethan.
Ethan cracked his neck and chuckled.
"Boss fight time. Let's see what lightning tastes like, rodent king."
Snap!
He stepped forward slowly, then suddenly broke into a sprint. As the boss lunged forward, he sidestepped and zapped it in the side. It spasmed and skidded sideways.
Snap!
Another bolt hit, this time in the chest.
It shrieked and charged again.
Snap!
The final strike landed square between its eyes. The Diseased Fangrat let out one last wheeze and collapsed with a thud, its body twitching from the residual energy. Within seconds, the corpse shimmered, then vanished into light particles—leaving behind a single, palm-sized monster crystal that rolled to a stop at Ethan's feet.
He bent down, picked it up, and slipped it into his pouch with a satisfied nod.
"Three shots. Not bad."
He turned to leave the chamber, humming lightly to himself as he walked back toward the dungeon exit.
…
Exiting the dungeon, sunlight stung his eyes slightly. He shielded them and stepped onto the cobblestones of the warehouse district. His hoodie was damp with sweat, but his smile remained. He had cleared Rotwood Den two more times after the first, zipping through the rats with quick, practiced shots of his Lightning Needle. Though he hadn't pushed to the point of exhaustion, he still collected all the monster crystals—he wasn't about to leave free money lying around, after all. He had earned $16.950.
That had been fun. Really fun.
No pressure, no urgency. Just spell slinging and movement.
And somehow, it felt like he had learned more in that one run than several before it.
As he walked back home, Ethan mentally pulled up his System.
[SYSTEM PAGE - ETHAN VALE]
Class: Mage
Talent: Mana Overflow
Class Rank: D
HP: 270 / 270
STA: 210 / 210
Stamina Regen: 210 Stamina / Hour
Mana: 2310 / 2310
Mana Regen: 2310 Mana / Hour
STR: 15 → 21
VIT: 15 → 27 (+6)
AGI: 28 → 48 (+10)
STA: 15 → 21
Mana: 183 → 231
Spell Power: 168 → 196
Spells: 4 / 6
Spell Memory:
D-Rank - Surge step (Mastery 1.02% → 5.25%)
Agility increase: 50% (base increase) → 148%
D-Rank - Manaskin (Mastery 0.00% → 8.32%)
Damage reduction: 20 (base reduction) → 59
D-Rank - Lightning spell (Mastery 0.00% → 3.69%)
Damage: 300 (base damage) → 888
E-Rank - Fireball (Mastery 1.89% → 6.03%)
Damage: 200 (base damage) → 592
He paused, reading the stats and logs, blinking a few times.
"Huh," he muttered. "I've really been grinding."
He scrolled through his progress: multiple F-rank dungeon clears, new spell acquisitions, improved spell mastery, stat increases from Talent activations and spell unlocks. It was a lot.
Too much to take in at once.
He glanced at Manaskin, noticing its mastery had jumped significantly. No surprise—he'd been running it nearly nonstop the past two days. It was subtle and quiet, but it added up. Manaskin is probably the next spell to rank up first.
He smiled to himself. This time, it wasn't a tired grin or a smug one. It was the kind that came from realizing that yeah—maybe he was doing okay after all.
He slipped his hands into his hoodie pocket and kept walking, sparks still dancing in the tips of his fingers.
Tomorrow, I will go talk with Lena, then I can really begin to move forward.
//Authors sad little corner -.-
I got some bad news, and wanted to share it with you. When I got home from work my dog couldn't walk that well anymore, he was stumbling all over the place. He has been treated for cancer three years ago and survived, but I think this is the end for him. It was 11pm at night when I got home to him, and no veterinarian was open this late, so I will be taking him there first thing in the morning. My good little boy may not be coming home again with me after the vet visit tomorrow, and I honestly don't know if I will be able to focus on writing tomorrow, if he isn't coming back home with me. (I wrote this chapter before going to work today, and just edited it after I came home)
So yeah, not good news, but for anyone interested I will be uploading pictures of him here for anyone wanting to see my good little boy. Hope to see you all tomorrow as well, much love.