Lewis starred in surprise at the unexpected message. He hadn't seen anything like this before, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it actually made. After all, the first time he used the spell, he had done some serious damage to his own body. If he had tried reactivating the spell in that state, then the effects could be potentially deadly. Still, he wondered why this spell had a cooldown when none of his other abilities did, nor had anyone else spoken about such a limitation.
"Have you guys heard anyone talk about a spell being on cooldown?" He asked Matt and the commander.
"You have a cooldown on your skill?" Matt asked loudly.
"Yeah, my [Spiritual alignment] spell can't be activated for another two minutes," Lewis replied.
"Oh, that must be a really powerful spell then. Usually, a cooldown is only used in games to avoid people spamming overpowered abilities." Matt said excitedly.
Thinking on that, it made sense. He didn't know precisely how it worked, but based on the name, it likely had to do with his spirit attribute, which just so happens to be his highest stat. Lewis believed that it somehow magnified his mind, body, and magic simultaneously by some variable factor, likely heavily dependent on his spirit attribute. The way he was able to kill those creatures with relative ease was proof of the increased strength the spell provides, along with an enhanced ability to utilize that strength effectively.
However, he didn't feel like he had reached the boundaries of the spells' potential quite yet. He had it active for a few minutes the first time and only stopped because his body couldn't keep up. Same for just now, when his mind was able to analyze and process far more information through his mana detection than he normally would. It was always his body and mind that were holding him back, never because the spell had reached its limit. He could tell since he had seen how that worked with Matt's barrier and fireball spells, both having hard limits as to their duration and strengths, but not his spiritual alignment.
With that in mind, if he increased his base attributes, then he would assume that it would allow him to get more out of the powerful spell. The cooldown was likely a result of his mind and body needing to recover before being able to withstand the strain of having the boosting spell active once more.
"Anyway, with your unique skillset, I guess you're our ideal counter to any enemy mage. We don't know what's out there, but I'm guessing not every creature will mindlessly charge at us until they are completely wiped out, and I fear we have stalled here for too long already. Your skills will be invaluable in keeping us alive." Patch declared, patting Lewis on the shoulder as he spoke.
"What do you mean we have stalled for too long?" Lewis couldn't help but ask, unsure what the man could be referring to.
"Were not alone, remember. The system said there are others here with us, and not just humans from Earth. Even if the creatures in the forest don't attack with magic, I'm willing to bet those alien races have similar class options as we do." The commander clarified in a grave tone, Lewis's heart racing as he was reminded of this fact.
Testing his new abilities and uncovering the basics of magic had almost made Lewis forget the very real danger they were in simply by being here. That fact should have been more than apparent with that horde of Primavendy back there, but thanks to shooting the large majority with rifles, they didn't end up posing a serious threat. Then again, they were all level 1 or 2 creatures, and the soldiers all had plenty of ammo, something that's no longer the case. Not to mention using their guns can't give them the experience they need to level up, and facing higher-level creatures with modern weapons doesn't seem likely. Imagining fighting that horde without firearms painted a very grim picture in his mind. And that was what they were planning on doing from now on, venturing into the wild to slay beasts and level up.
A dangerous thing to do, but also the only way they would be able to survive the next three months. The angle Lewis hadn't even thought of was that they may encounter other people or even aliens from other worlds. If they took too long to level up and encounter higher-level beasts or tutorial attendees with bad intentions, they would be totally screwed. Thinking about that, Lewis had to agree with Patch on this one; they needed to go hunting.
"Alright, everyone, gather round, gather round. Now that we've all processed what is happening and gotten a grasp of these new abilities we have been granted, it's time we pushed deeper. We don't know what's out there, and we need to find a suitable place to set up camp as well. Since this is some alien world, when night will come is entirely unknown, so let's try and figure this out before it's upon us, yes?" Patch called, all the soldiers gathering in a loose circle around him as he spoke.
"Alright, those at level two will take the front along with Lewis and Matt. The rest of you move quietly and stay close."
"Eh, why are we at the front?" Matt voiced Lewis's own question, the middle-aged commander turning to them with a carefully blank expression.
"Because you're barrier spell is our best defense against physical projectiles, and Lewis is the only one who can deal with enemy spells. But don't worry, Jonny and I will take the front as the strongest warriors, so you guys don't need to worry about juggling defense and counterattacks." Patch explained, about to move on, when the archer suddenly spoke up.
"I have a skill for my archery called [Far sight], it lets me see nearly twice as far as I normally would when aiming my bow."
"Perfect, you will be our primary lookout in case anything tries to sneak up on us. Notify us at the first hint of company." Patch declared, and with that, the group left the isolated rocky terrain they had used for a respite and ventured back down into the dense forest in search of prey to test their mettle against.
***
Lewis felt jittery as he walked alongside Matt at the head of the group, Patch and the Florida soldier, Jonny close behind as they navigated through the alien forest, all the unfamiliar sounds keeping him on edge, even Matt's usually cheery attitude had been dampened as he carried himself with the air of a true soldier, alert and tense as he walked purposely through the forest, still holding his rifle unlike some of the others, as he hadn't yet run out of ammo, and being a mage, he didn't have a weapon to replace it either.
It didn't take more than a minute of walking to realize not everything in this place was actually out to get them as they encountered surprisingly normal-looking birds flying above the trees and some slow-moving, boot-sized beetles. Lewis had begun identifying every creature he came across to level up the skill, but hardly any of these creatures were above level 0. Then again, Lewis himself was still only level one and considered himself plenty dangerous to creatures of similar level. But he didn't plan on staying at such a low level for long; a sense of urgency brought on by Patch's forboding words pushed Lewis to keep moving.
After nearly five minutes of the group trudging through the forest, Peter, their archer, halted the group, pointing at a patch of trees to the east. Lewis squinted in that direction, looking for anything unusual, but found nothing.
"Movement ahead. Multiple targets in hiding." He whispered, his words making the entire group turn their attention to the inconspicuous patch of trees as the commander and Jonny prepared themselves for a fight.
It didn't take long for the hidden figures to show themselves after realizing they had been spotted. Several short figures rushed out from behind cover and charged at them, a volley of arrows flying towards the group as Matt immediately cast his barrier spell to deflect the projectiles, and the two warriors rushed forward to meet the charging creatures.
[Goblin - lvl 5]
Lewis was mildly surprised to find that the short creatures attacking them were real goblins, their small stature and tough green skin making them almost appear to have leaped right out of a fantasy game. After all, this was the perfect mob to farm for levels in any fantasy game. But instead of rushing in along with the two warriors, he stayed back and instead looked out at a different patch of trees.
Since entering the forest, Lewis had kept his mana detection constantly active in order to better spot threats. The group was leaning on him to deal with magical attacks, after all, so knowing where their coming from would help. As a result, when the familiar sensation of a fireball entered his mana detection range, he had first assumed that it was Matt, but he was busy intercepting the occasional arrows shot from cover, and the spell he was sensing was coming from further away.
Thanks to all the practice with Matt, he was fairly familiar with the strength and power of fireballs by now, as well as the time needed to form the spell, a delay between when the spell was activated and when it could be fired. Thanks to that, he was able to get in front of the line of fire before it was even launched as he began running towards the mana signature, a football-sized fireball emerging from the trees moments later.
The size and power of the spell surprised him; it was nearly twice as strong as Matt's largest, and that one had just about managed to get through his anti-magic. Right away, Lewis knew he wouldn't be able to entirely dispel the attack, but if he dodged out of the way, the main group would be hit, likely killing someone and disrupting their formation, potentially even giving the goblins a chance to overwhelm them.
No, letting that spell land wasn't an option, but neither was taking it head-on. With his increase in both speed and strength, he was able to move at a considerably faster pace and rapidly came up with a plan.
He didn't know if it would work, but it was the best shot he had to avert this incoming disaster, the spell only needing a second to close the distance, but it was more than enough for Lewis to activate [Spiritual alignment] and [Anti-magic mantle] while swerving to the side as if avoiding the spell as it reached him, his hand flying up and catching the fireball from below, slapping it with his anti-magic covered hand, the spell boosted with spiritual alignment as the fireball's magic was partially eaten away by the anti-magic, its fiery intensity dulling as he slapped into the air like a volleyball where it detonated against the canopy.
A wave of flames lit up the trees as the spell exploded, the magical fire rapidly disappearing, only leaving behind singed leaves and black patches on the bark, but otherwise doing no lasting damage. Lewis himself was rather surprised that it had worked at all. He had half expected his arm to catch fire from the amount of mana packed into that spell, his mana detection having allowed him a much better view of the spell as it was hurtling towards him, and the density of mana packed into that thing made it fire like a spotlight in his mana detection. The explosion was more than enough to scatter the group of soldiers if it had landed. Once again, Lewis realized he had yet to find the limit to his spiritual alignment spell, deactivating it after only a brief second and hoping he was right about his hunch.
But he didn't have time to stand around and pat himself on the back for averting this attack; the magic-wielding goblin remained the primary threat and Lewis's first target as he recovered from his awkward slapping position and kept running, his kitchen knife still clutching in one hand as he was separated from the battling group and moved to engage the enemy mage.
Within moments, he rounded a huge tree and found the culprit of this attack, the goblin appearing rather surprised at his arrival, as it had slumped down against the tree immediately after firing the spell, its green face unusually pale with sweat beading its forehead as it stared up at Lewis with dawning horror. He idly wondered if it had seen him deflect the attack or had slumped down from pushing too much mana into it, and simply assumed the explosion was the attack landing. If that was the case, then Lewis could understand its shock.
Without hesitating, his kitchen knife lashed out, the weapon penetrating straight into the creature's large, slitted yellow eye, reaching deep into the back of its skull where the blade embedded itself into the thick bone of its skull.
You have slain Goblin - lvl 7 (+5 TP)
Lewis was surprised by how many TP he received. That one goblin doubled his points, but considering its level, it wasn't that surprising. What was surprising was that he managed to instantly kill it without the use of spiritual alignment. Lewis had always been a fairly fit and strong guy, but those points he put into strength must have done a lot for him, as his blade even wedged itself in the creature's skull. This was an issue, however, as he couldn't pull it out, and gross blood and eyeball juice were leaking onto the handle and down his arm.
Stepping back and frantically shaking the bodily fluids off his hand, he took a breath and hoped his spell wouldn't be in cooldown as he reactivated spiritual alignment for the second time in a few seconds.
To his relief, he felt its now familiar power enter his being and sharpen him considerably. Having learned his lesson, he had deactivated his other skills beforehand so that it wouldn't put any further unnecessary strain on him, before grasping the handle with none of his previous hesitancy and pulling it out with a single strong yank, the creature's face disfiguring further as the blade exited, ripping open a sizable portion of its skull, its brain now becoming clearly visible through the crack.
Once again, he couldn't help but notice the surprising jump in physical power when in this state, his extra stat points appearing to have a multiplicative effect with the spell rather than simply additive. If he were to fight the primavendy with what he knew now, he probably wouldn't have needed to push his body so far.
Then again, there were no primavendy left, but the goblins were more than good enough to be his targets as he hurried back to the group, wanting to get at least one more kill to get him over the threshold into level 2. After all, that mage goblin had brought him most of the way there on its own.