[Gift: Visionary]
He could turn his imagination into reality. Whether it was a physical object or a specific skill, he could manifest it as long as he understood it and could visualize it clearly at the cost of his Spirit.
"As expected, it consumes Spirit for each use." Adam already knew this from Liz, so he wasn't surprised, but his mood was complicated.
Spirit was vital for Magus. It could only be raised by consuming Essence Cores. Only by pushing Spirit to its limit would a Magus have a chance to breakthrough to the next realm and evolve.
"Well, I'll have to test my ability eventually. Why delay?"
If he lost a few Spirit points, he would just hunt more monsters and absorb their cores.
"But what should I visualize?"
Despite this being his first test, he didn't want to waste Spirit on meaningless things.
He thought for a while before slapping his thighs. He had figured out his needs: he needed a way to measure his abilities.
He closed his eyes and visualized a simple, translucent interface. He imagined the layout, the fonts, and the specific data points he needed.
He instinctively knew the cost and proceeded with the test.
A pale blue screen hovered just before his eyes, just as he pictured it.
[Status Panel]
Name: Adam Winter
Rank: Adept (Exp: 2/100)
HP: 100%
- MP: 5500/5500
- Gift: Visionary (Rank: Unknown)
- Attributes:
- Strength: 16 (physical strength, carrying capacity, explosive power, and other kinetic output)
- Agility: 19 (body flexibility, dynamic coordination ability)
- Constitution: 18 (stamina, physical fitness, injury recovery, cardiopulmonary metabolism)
- Intelligence: 15 (memory, focus, willpower, mind resistance)
- Spirit: 55/65 (Mental Power, Soul Resistance, Perception)
- Skills:
[Mana Bolt], [Mana Missile], [Mana Coating], [Mana Detection], [Light], [Mana Shield], [Earth Wall], [Water Ball], [Fireball]
The Attribute Panel recorded his various stats, which were above the average person. His MP was remarkable, as it was directly linked to his spirit, where 1 spirit equaled 100 MP.
"So 65 Spirit points was the requirement to awaken my Gift. And it cost me 10 spirit points to create this panel, so I'm down to 55," Adam thought. "Looks like I need to absorb quite a few cores to recover."
He threw a side glance. "I'm glad you rabid dogs could contribute to this cause."
Viperwolves emerged from the thick bushes, growling at him. Adam already sensed them with his detection, so he wasn't surprised. Instead, he felt a strange surge of excitement.
He wanted to quickly gather Essence Cores and create all sorts of unique skills.
His greedy eyes sent shivers to the Viperwolves, who thought they were cornering prey.
Adam raised his hand, and a [Mana Missile] shot out, blasting two off their feet into trees. The Viperwolves yelped in pain as they struggled to get back up.
The other three monsters lunged forward, only to slam into a shimmering [Mana Shield] that erupted around him, protecting him from the snapping jaws and claws.
Adam took advantage of the distraction to cast an [Earth Wall], blasting them into the air.
With swift casting, he followed up with several [Mana Bolt], striking them multiple times. The helpless monsters arced through the air, limbs flailing wildly before crashing to the ground.
The remaining Viperwolves didn't last long, their bodies soon joining their packmates on the forest floor.
As the last creature fell to the ground, Adam let out a satisfied smile. He had taken them down with ease, proving that E-class monsters were no longer his opponents.
"Not bad," Adam muttered to himself. "Not bad at all."
He moved through the bodies, cutting into each chest and pulling out the glowing Essence Cores.
After dropping them into his pouch, he climbed a nearby tree and sat on a thick branch with his back against the trunk.
He set the pouch beside him and began absorbing the cores.
A faint panel flickered before his eyes. Spirit: +1. EXP: 87/100.
EXP represented the energy stored in the Essence Cores. Each E-rank monster gave only ten to twenty-five points. Only after reaching one hundred could spirit rise by a single point.
Progress was slow, just as he expected.
"Raising spirit is hard," Adam furrowed.
He recalled Mark's words: Adepts couldn't direct essence energy to strengthen specific attributes. Only after reaching Magus rank could one channel the absorbed energy into chosen stats like strength, agility, or constitution.
For now, all he could do was endure the grind.
"Wait... what if I created a unique skill to guide essence energy myself?" Adam's eyes lit up with interest. "Something like a leveling system, where after gathering a hundred EXP, I could choose which stat to increase."
The idea lingered for a moment, but ultimately he shook his head. It sounded clever, yet the cost was too high.
Physical fitness wasn't that important for an Adept, and the spirit points required to create such a skill would make it pointless.
Adam steadied his breathing and used the mana circuit technique, drawing in energy from the atmosphere to recover his mana.
Adepts must create a core to store mana inside after building Mana pathways in their bodies.
Once his reserves felt two-thirds full, he jumped down from the branch and walked aimlessly through the forest, greedily killing any monster he came across.
Along the way, he playfully spent 2 spirit points to merge the Mana detection spell with his system panel.
The function was quite simple: to use his memories to identify creatures' information and show their level according to their mana level.
Level 1-9: Adept level
Level 10-99: 1-star Magus level
With this, he could compare the monsters he encountered with his own strength.
He lightly evaded the claws of the monkey-type monster falling from the trees and stabbed it in the chest with his dagger.
And then… he orderly sliced the necks of the black panther-like creatures jumping at him from his sides.
[You've killed a naked monkey lvl 5.]
[You've killed a horned panther lvl 4.]
[You've killed a horned panther lvl 6.]
Adam's eyes twitched. The monsters he didn't recognize would automatically gain names based on their appearance, but what the hell with those nicknames. Did he create a broken system?
After three hours of hunting monsters, his daggers finally snapped after failing to slice a rhino-like monster.
He quickly fired five consecutive fireballs, roasting it.
'Looks like I need a new weapon!' Adam clicked his tongue and threw it away.
The dagger wasn't made of ordinary iron but mana conduit steel, which allows him to easily channel Mana through it without breaking.
Adam thought for a moment, then focused on his Gift. He wanted to create a sword.
He visualized the shape, the weight, and the feel of the sword in his hand. With a brief thought, a sword materialized in his hand.
It was a simple but well-balanced sword, perfect for close combat.
[Status Panel]
...
Spirit: 59/65
Adam smiled, satisfied with his new sword. He spent 3 Spirit points to create it, but it was worth it. He sheathed the sword and checked his pocket watch.
'There's still less than an hour before the dungeon ejects us.'
Adam was surprised by this new dungeon's vastness. Despite 3 hours having passed, he had yet to see any classmate.
"I should make this last hour count."
He had yet to recover all the Spirit points he lost and needed to gather more cores.
He noticed a slope ahead and decided to climb it, thinking the higher ground would give him a better view and maybe reveal where monsters were gathering.