Chapter 67: How a Studious Student Designs a Battle (4)
<I will allocate 20 stat points to Agility.>
[Agility: 410→430]
<The remaining stat points are 175.>
Whooosh!
Mutated Minto Morco’s calculated strike narrowly missed its mark.
Astonishment filled its face as Kyung-joon’s hair fluttered in the strong wind.
Crackle!
Simultaneously, Kyung-joon’s Ultrasonic Vibration Mana Dagger sliced through its side.
“Kuwoooo!”
<Its previous movement is reflected in its speed.>
<I will allocate another 20 stat points to Agility.>
[Agility: 430→450]
<The remaining stat points are 155.>
Whooosh!
Again, the attack missed.
Crackle!
Instead, Kyung-joon’s attack grazed its skin once more.
This battle wasn’t a typical fight.
It was like chess, omok, or Go.
A battle of wits, where each move was based on previous ones.
As time went on, the creature with the 『Learning Foresight』 trait would only gain an advantage.
Kyung-joon was relying solely on his brainpower, while the creature benefited from its inherent trait.
It was a structure where Kyung-joon would inevitably be pushed back.
‘But if I introduce a new variable, I can disrupt the information it has learned.’
The new variable here was the ‘195’ stat points that Kyung-joon had left undistributed.
He would use this to add uncertainty to the information the creature had learned so far.
This was the true value of Plan ‘Endurance 2’.
<Take an action that the creature would expect based on the patterns it has identified.>
<This time, I will allocate 40 points to Agility.>
[Agility: 450→490]
<The remaining stat points are 115.>
The creature’s attacks continued to miss.
<To add randomness, I will allocate another 23 points.>
[Agility: 490→513]
<The remaining stat points are 92.>
‘I can endure until I use up all my stat points.’
Whether Ezeri could accomplish what he had asked within the time limit was uncertain.
In fact, it was more likely that she wouldn’t be able to.
After all, what she was doing now was something no one had ever done before.
Even Kyung-joon didn’t know much about elf mana, so he couldn’t easily determine the likelihood of success.
“Huff……!”
Nevertheless, Ezeri was currently crafting a scroll.
The same Ezeri who had said it was impossible, who had resigned herself to the fact that she lacked creativity and was terrible at anything new, was now giving it her all.
She must have had some kind of epiphany.
So Kyung-joon decided to trust her once.
He chose to trust in the outcome, even without any calculations.
Trust is truly an ephemeral and uncertain illusion.
There’s a reason why they say, ‘you will be stabbed in the foot by an ax you believe in’.
However…….
The results when trust is realized are beyond words.
Look at the famous scientists who have made their mark on history.
They always walked the path of impossibility and uncertainty.
When everyone said the Earth was flat, someone argued that it was round.
When everyone said it was impossible, someone left footprints on the moon.
When everyone said such things were only possible in novels, someone opened their eyes in virtual reality.
‘Someone’ always believed it was possible and made the impossible possible.
<This is the last one.>
[Agility: 598→605]
<You have used up all your stat points.>
And now was the moment when the impossible would become possible.
“Kyung-joon, here! I’ve poured 99% of my mana into this!”
Whoosh!
Ezeri threw the completed scroll to Kyung-joon.
At the same time, she shouted.
“Just cut it! That’s the key!”
“You and your good sense……!”
Slash!
Kyung-joon smirked and stylishly slashed through the incoming scroll.
Seeing this, Ezeri smiled with great satisfaction.
Then she collapsed.
She must have passed out from mana exhaustion.
Flash!
The scroll, sliced in two, fluttered behind him and began to glow brightly.
One half became light and went to the mana dagger in his right hand…….
The other half split into ten rays of light and went to the beastkin.
[A powerful force of light permeates the weapon.]
[Light attribute affinity is generated.]
[Light attribute affinity is temporarily increased significantly.]
[Light Attribute Affinity: 10→310]
It didn’t need to be said, but this was a signal.
“Everyone! Now’s our chance! Go and help black-haired brother!”
“Uwaaah!”
Brave Fang and his comrades charged into battle, brandishing their glowing weapons.
Boom! Crash! Thud! Crackle! Splat!
A barrage of attacks from the beastkin rained down on the mutated creature.
“Tiger Strike!”
Wham!
Finally, when Brave Fang’s gauntlet, imbued with bright light, struck the creature’s abdomen……
Crack!
[The powerful light mana completely neutralizes the dark mana.]
[Mutated Minto Morco’s unique trait 『Dark Mana Armor』 is temporarily disabled.]
[Mutated Minto Morco enters a stunned state.]
[Mutated Minto Morco’s magic resistance has been reduced to 0.]
[This will continue until the Dark Mana Armor regenerates.]
The creature’s dark armor finally shattered.
“You look much better without it.”
Kyung-joon slowly walked forward, pointing his light mana-infused mana dagger at the creature.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
He pointed his mana dagger forward.
It wasn’t an ordinary mana dagger.
This was the Light Enchant Scroll, crafted by Ezeri using all of her mana.
Half of its power was fully contained within this mana dagger.
Thump. Thump.
It was time for him to step forward and finish it off with the remaining light mana.
If he missed this opportunity to finish it off properly, the creature’s Dark Mana Armor would regenerate, and they would be back to square one.
No, it would be worse than going back.
If he missed this chance, there would be no other opportunity to catch it.
‘One sure blow.’
Preparation for one decisive strike.
The final knot was finally being tied.
Ding!
[Unique Item 『Malfunctioning Mana Battery』 Special Ability 『Mana Overflow (Weakened)』 ]
▶MP recovers by 1% every second. After MP reaches 100%, MP will over-recover, and HP will decrease by the same amount.
▶Magic attack power increases by the amount of HP consumed (up to 100%).
Sever’s legacy, the Malfunctioning Mana Battery, which he had taken out of his inventory and equipped about 100 seconds before the end of Plan ‘Endurance 2’.
The moment it hit exactly 100 seconds……
[Magic attack power increase from 『Mana Overflow (Weakened)』 has reached its maximum!]
[Magic attack power increased by 100%.]
Kyung-joon felt the mana surging violently throughout his body.
His MP had been recovering by 1% every second, and his HP had been decreasing by 1%.
For a total of 100 seconds, his total HP reduction was 100%.
In other words, Kyung-joon should have already died.
[Deep Mana-Infused Organic Croissant]
▶Increases HP/Mana by 10% for 1 hour and recovers 0.5% per second
However, there was the effect of the unique croissant Kyung-joon had eaten before the battle began.
This negated 0.5% of the HP loss per second, and Kyung-joon’s current HP was around 50%.
However, since his HP had indeed decreased by a total of 100%, the effect of Mana Overflow was applied at its maximum.
His mana was full, and its power had doubled.
‘All the mana in my body, to one point.’
Kyung-joon began to gather all of his mana and pour it into the light mana in his right hand.
He wasn’t just haphazardly adding it in.
He was in the process of applying the information he had read from the light mana to his own mana.
Mana is inherently a very unstable substance.
Like a ping pong ball precariously balanced on top of a soccer ball, even a slight touch would send it rolling off in that direction.
The moment he applied information to the attributeless and alignmentless mana, it would assimilate to that information.
[The drawn-out mana is completely assimilated with the light mana.]
[The power of light is further amplified.]
This wasn’t a process that just anyone could do.
It required the ability to delicately control mana and the experience of scientifically analyzing mana, which Kyung-joon, despite his short time, had accumulated through countless experiences.
Crackle! Sizzle!
The light mana, now several times larger than before, raged uncontrollably in Kyung-joon’s hand.
One wrong move, and he could ruin everything!
Just as a mad dog needs a good beating, this unruly mana needed to be taught a lesson.
[Advanced Skill 『Compression (Lv.1)』 ]
[Compresses the light mana into one point.]
Zwooom!
The light mana, which had been as large as the gourd hanging from the roof of Heungbu’s house, shrunk down to the size of a ping pong ball.
He added one more piece of information.
The simple ‘laser knowledge’ he had learned while studying general physics.
‘The wavelength, phase, and direction of the light mana…… no, the photons, must all be aligned.’
[Created Unique Skill 『Photon Strike』.]
[Mana increased by 20.]
[Intelligence increased by 20.]
[100 hours added to Dimensional Study Room.]
The next part was simple.
Just shoot it forward.
Flick.
As if flipping a coin, he flicked the condensed ball of photons with his thumbnail.
The photon cluster, freed from Kyung-joon’s compression magic, began to unleash itself with all its might.
It soon manifested before his eyes as a massive laser beam.
[Unique Skill 『Photon Strike (Lv.1)』 ]
[A powerful flash of light instantly engulfs the enemy in front of you.]
Flash!
The Photon Strike instantly engulfed the Mutated Minto Morco, which had just awakened from its stun.
“――――!”
It was a powerful strike that drowned out even the creature’s agonizing screams as its limbs were incinerated.
Fizzle.
As expected of photons traveling at 299,792,458 m/s, the light vanished in an instant.
Where the light had been, the creature was no more.
Only grayish particles fluttered down.
[Defeated Named Monster 『Mutated Minto Morco (Lv.319)』.]
[Experience Points increased by 180 million.]
[Kyung-joon: Lv.120→Lv.136]
His level had increased by 16.
Normally, defeating one named monster wouldn’t result in such a significant level jump.
At most, it would be a close call between leveling up or not.
However, Mutated Minto Morco was level 319, while Kyung-joon was only level 120.
He had defeated a monster 200 levels higher than himself.
So, it wasn’t that strange.
After checking his level up, Kyung-joon walked over to the remains of the Mutated Minto Morco.
“What’s this……?”
Among the ashes on the ground, Kyung-joon spotted something shimmering.
It had a black obsidian-like sheen, but it was something else entirely.
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