Ren gave a nod. Sure practicing Skills on their own leveled them, but when practiced on actual opponents who could put up resistances or experience affects, the leveling was a bit quicker. "Well first... as a safety precaution..." in all honest, Ren should have did this when they first started. "Request Duel". This would prevent them from dying in case anything went wrong. Ren was pretty sure it could only be done when there were no enemies around, which made sense as otherwise it would be extremely exploitable, although Ren was sure that it was like Mabinogi, where you would still be at low HP after the duel ended instead of healing back up, a rather annoying, but realistic, thing.
"Apparently it only affects my Spells, more accurately ones that aren't already considered darker magics. Just gives them a different function that makes them use up my FoC, but... I think that this is what that Blank Mage used". Ren aimed his hand towards Lucian.
"Dark Aqua Arrows". After two seconds of magical buildup, four arrows of water appeared around Ren. Like what happened with the Blank Mage, two of the arrows merged, as did the other two, creating two more powerful arrows as the dark magic merged the magical power of the individual arrows with incredible speed to make more powerful projectiles. Right after they merged, Ren launched them both at Lucian.
Ren made sure to hold back so the arrows didn't hit him dead on, but they would still most likely deal some major hurt. Each of the condensed water arrows, that were two arrows combined into one, dealt 179 Damage for a total of 358 Damage. Lucian's resistances weren't great, and there was alot of difference between him and Ren, so that single spell, since he just sat there and took it, decimated him. If it hadn't been for Duel Mode, Lucian probably would have died right then and there. Luckily he was just knocked down instead and left with 1 HP, a notification appearing in front of him saying that Ren had won the duel.
Lucian got something out of it though. The familiar windows indicating that a new Skill had been obtained, a useful one at that.
A Skill has been created through a special action. Through experiencing damage and pain, and resisting a bit of it, the ability to better resist magical damage and other forms of damage from mystic powers, Magical Endurance, has been created.
Magical Endurance (Level 1: 0/100) (Passive): +1 Concentration, +5% MP. You have some resistance against mystical attacks. To Level Up: Successfully endure a magical attack. Completely nullify a magical attack with Concentration alone. Successfully endure a Critical Strike from a magical attack. Endure a Critical Strike.
Ren was looking down at his hands, then at Lucian a little wide eyed. That was much more powerful than the standard usage of Aqua Arrows. "Takes a ton of FoC though..." Ren aimed his hand at Lucian.
"Dark Healing Wave". 10 Seconds. That was how long the Casting Time was for this Spell, just as long as Giga Spiral Bolt, although the Dark Magic reduced the Casting Time by 2 Seconds. Still, 207 HP was healed, which was indeed nice. It was kind of strange, a dark magic healing spell. "It seems that one is best used when there are multiple targets to heal... since it applies the full healing amount to all nearby targets instead of a % of the healing to nearby targets".
Ren checked his status window next, scratching the back of his head. "There is one more thing I need to test. When I run out of FoC... which I need for my dark powers and magics... this ailment known as Corruptive Encroachment appears. I haven't acquired it yet... so I want you to help me out in case something happens as I don't know what will happen, and using dark spells takes up alot of it". Ren decided that healing Lucian back up to full was the best idea, so he used a regular Healing Wave this time. "I don't think it'll affect my mind, since
The Gamer's Mind prevents mental ailments. Still... better safe than sorry".
Ren sent yet another duel request. He wasn't going to fire at Lucian, but instead at a tree. Figured he would get a level out of Dark Magic by firing off two more sets of Dark Aqua Arrows, combining all four arrows into one this time instead. "Each Dark Aqua Arrow uses 7 FoC and that Dark Healing Wave used 19. It may not seem like alot, but I only have 44... so this last Dark Aqua Arrow should do it". Ren sighed heavily, took a deep breath, and aimed his hand one more time. This was going to probably be painful.
Ren shot out one last Dark Aqua Arrow, sending his FoC down to -3. The moment he did this, his eyes widened as he let out a loud cry, 29 HP being drained right then and there, that number appearing above his head. Blackish-greenish energy that also had a dark red tint to it began to surround Ren's body while covering it slightly. Ren's HP was draining as the corrupted energy was building up more around him, Ren gritting his teeth as it wasn't painless.
The HP drain was a bit slow, but as more energy built up some dark color could be seen covering his hand and creeping up his arm from where the black mark was. Once it got to a certain point, Ren had to use that built up energy for something.
"Dark Aqua Arrows!" From there, another 19 HP was drained, along with the continual HP drain that came from the energy building up, but when he used that spell the energy was unleashed, making a much more powerful spell. It was clear that this was quite painful. When that spell was unleashed though, only a small bit of the energy was let out, making the dark color recede down his arm just a bit.
Ren had to keep using Dark Aqua Arrows while the energy built up so that not too much of it would build up, HP being drained not only while it built up, but whenever he used the spell as well. This was definitely taking a tole on his HP bit by bit and causing a good bit of pain, but the power that came out of each spell Ren used was alot greater. While Ren's life may not be in danger as of yet, that didn't mean they could take any chances, Ren not having any idea when this would end.
