The third day, or Friday, of Mike's preparation for the Quest they were all going to undertake had begun. School went by as normally as ever, no real tests or quizzes today.
Mike Studying: 87 - 22 Knowledge = 65
Mike didn't really learn a whole lot this day so studying didn't really go all that well. Mike was pretty smart already, but even then today was just an off day for him. After that came Kendo Club, everyone practicing diligently as he always did.
Mike Kendo Practice: 38 - 20 Seishin no Ken - 15 Skill Bonus = 3
Mike Stamina: 12 - 20 VIT = -8
Mike did alot better today than he did yesterday. Needless to say, all of the senpais of the club were very impressed with Mike's skills today. He won, with a bit of effort, most of the matches he fought. Katana Mastery and Physical Endurance both leveled up, as during some of the free sparring Mike was still hit a bit especially when he sparred with Keiichi as Keiichi was still alot better than him at Kendo. One thing that did happen, during Mike's practice, was that this window also appeared.
Doing very well in quick sparring and matches has made you swifter. +1 to DEX.
It may have been because his DEX was somewhat low that he was able to get the free point a bit more easily, but it was still a free point in DEX, something that needed to be improved. After the club when everyone but Keiichi left Mike decided to ask Keiichi about creating a sword out of energy.
"A sword out of Spirit Energy is a pretty uncommon. I know that the energy you use is Mana thanks to your... strange power, but the way you handle it is how one controls Spirit Energy. Spirit Energy isn't very malleable like Mana and techniques for controlling it aren't really meant for shaping it into a solid mass. Not only that, but creating a mass of energy such as that usually drains a person very quickly. Plus, it'll most likely be more like a Spirit Bokken then a sword, lacking in cutting power, but..." Keiichi scratched his chin, deep in thought. "It will be a strong weapon if you manage to succeed. Plus attempting to do this will give you a better grasp of your Spirit Energy. Of course, even if you do manage to create this... weapon... I still recommend carrying around another weapon anyway. Immunity to energy, ways to absorb it, or other such things could easily make your sword useless and it is highly possible for the sword to be broken. Still, if you wish to take this path then I recommend doing so, it'll be good training for you."
After that advice, Keiichi said goodbye to Mike, as he needed to clean up and lock up. Mike would be able to get home, just a bit of time in the afternoon and the evening were all he had to work on the Skill, probably making a Pseudospace in his backyard to try and make a sword of spirit energy, or Mana in his case. It was probably going to be very difficult, but his training in swordsmanship and also his experience harnessing spiritual energy may give him the thoughts and feelings needed to help him create this new Skill.
Experimentation: 80 - 37 Focus = 43
The first attempt was a failure, Mike draining alot of MP in order to attempt this task, but it was no good. The good news was that both Spirit Channeling and Spirit Harness gained a bit of EXP, as did Meditation for refilling his MP, but the attempt was an overall failure.
Experimentation 2: 32 - 37 Focus = -5
Mike felt alot closer this time than he did before. Still, this attempt was also a failure as he drained all of his MP trying to make this Skill. Still, those two Skills again gained some EXP, Spirit Harnessing getting a Level Up now, Meditation getting some more EXP to get his MP back up to full.
Experimentation 3: 27 - 37 Focus = -10
It was hard. Mike was straining his mind, body, and spirit to the limit to slowly form that mass of Mana in his hands and expand it into the appropriate shape with an ability that wasn't meant for this use. Soon enough though he would get it. Around the same sign as a bokken, but it was wavering and shaking, it being very hard to keep the shape. Still, Mike was able to keep the shape for just a few moments before his MP ran out and the spiritual bokken dissipated into nothingness. He would be a bit tired, but Meditation would help recover that and his MP. Several windows appeared now.
Spirit Harness has gone up in Level by 1.
Spirit Channel has gone up in Level by 1.
A Skill has been created through a special action. Through the nearly impossible practice of attempting to shape Mana with a Spirit Energy controlling technique, the ability to shape a sword out of Spirit Energy (MP), Spirit Blade, has been created.
Spirit Blade (Level 1: 0/100 XP) (Active: 60 MP/Minute): You gather spirit energy (Mana) into your hands and, with sheer willpower, perform a very impressive feat of shaping this energy into a blade. This blade deals 1 ~ 12 + 50% Wisdom Damage and counts as a Katana for the purpose of other Skills. This mass of energy, however, wielded like a sword and used to strike people deals Physical Damage instead of energy damage, but still counts as a Spirit Energy (Mana) based attack for other such purposes. To Level Up: Create the Spirit Blade, Attack with the Spirit Blade, Parry with the Spirit Blade, or get a Critical Strike with the Spirit Blade.
It worked, Mike now had the ability to create a weapon at will. Still, he already had the ability to pull a weapon out of his Inventory, but it was a cool thing to have indeed. After he had meditated a bit to recover both Stamina and MP, it would be a bit early in the evening now. Still, he had the time to fight some Wisps now with the new Skills he had acquired. The Wisps looked like floating balls of energy, or more accurately exactly like how souls would look in all sorts of anime or games. The eight of them had a strange glow about them and were all Level 13.
The Observe Data for the Wisps was the following.
Name: Wisp
Species: Spirit (Undead)
A Wisp is a wandering soul with no identity or will. It is mainly a mindless soul, an ethereal zombie if one will. They are still quite tough though, able to manipulate the energy that comprises their body to attempt to absorb the essence of the living. They have no Mana, as the more they fight, the more they use up the essence of their being. They are highly resistant to Physical Damage, but energy damage works normally.
Level: 13
STR: 1
VIT: 10
DEX: 25
INT: 1
WIS: 35
LUK: 1
HP: 300
Resistance: 25
The Wisps were incredibly tough the first time around. Their strange abilities made them very tough opponents, especially since their main attack damaged both MP and HP. Mike had nothing to parry, having no choice but to dodge, and his speed wasn't exactly great. However, despite how much at a disadvantage Mike was, he was fighting superbly. He overcame numbers, speed disadvantages, and other such things that were all making the fight in his favor thanks to perhaps willpower, the adrenaline rush of a very hard battle, and maybe even a good bit of luck.
They each gave 3 XP, possibly because he was soloing. Not a whole lot, but the tough fight made for some great Skill Grinding, Acrobatics and Seishin no Ken also getting a free point, Acrobatics probably being something that needed to be increased a bit more. He also unlocked a new Skill judging from the windows that appeared after he had gotten hit by one of the creature's strange bolt like attacks, the Skill also leveling up once during the fight when he got hit by one more. The drops from them all were 3 Tiny Soul Gems and 4 Medium Soul Gems. The Observe Data for each of them was as follows.
A Skill has been created through a Special Action. By enduring a metaphysical attack, the ability to better endure metaphysical or magical attacks, Magic Endurance, has been created.
Magic Endurance (Passive) (Lv 1: 0/100 EXP): +1 Concentration, +5% MP. To Level Up: Successfully endure a magical attack. Successfully endure a Critical Strike from a magical attack. Successfully survive a fatal strike.
Tiny Soul Gem: A small gem that contains the energy of a soul. Useful in many different fields. Rank: A little less than common.
Medium Soul Gem: A slightly larger gem containing more of the energy of a soul, useful in many different fields. Rank: A little bit more less than common.
Mike used a large bit of MP. Not all of it so he wouldn't need to recuperate, but a good bit. Not actually too much though, probably 40% of it since he went through that fight very quickly and efficiently, having enough time to Meditate for a bit to recover his MP, Mike having only taken a small bit of damage. He managed to mostly heal his HP and heal all of his MP before he had probably time, and energy, for another few grinding sessions.
Mike's fight this time was of much lower quality. It was a stalemate Mike ran out of MP too quickly to continue the fight for much longer, showing that he couldn't really fight for too long with his high MP/Minute cost Skills. He managed to destroy a couple of them, but wasn't able to secure the drops as he had to use ID Escape before he was overwhelmed. He had to take a bit to regenerate, but still had one more bit of the first half of the evening.
These wisps were really tough on their own. Their strange attacks were draining both HP and MP and they were also incredibly quick. Mike was quickly overwhelmed by the Wisps within just a few short moments into the battle, not but ten seconds as they all blasted him with their strange attacks, draining a good bit of his HP and MP. Mike had no choice but to retreat now lest he risk death. Magical Endurance leveled up twice from the barrage of attacks.
Mike had no choice but to rest, as all of those attacks all drained alot of his stamina. By the time he was done resting there was probably time for one more grinding session before bedtime. He managed to destroy a couple of them, but alone these things were just a bit too strong for Mike to handle on his own, especially since 12 of them appeared. Their attacks were highly accurate and their draining of MP and HP with their attacks left Mike quickly defenseless. Not as defenseless as before since he managed to dodge and destroy a few of them, but he was just too slow to handle these creatures and they were much faster than him, always getting off several of those before Mike could do too much.
Mike would have to probably increase his DEX a bit more if he wanted to be a match for them, increasing Acrobatics for the purpose of Dodging probably being a good idea as well. Still, he made pretty good progress today nonetheless, and even Leveled up once more.
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