The construct closest to him was less than ten metres away. Barrier in one hand and his projectile rune in the other, Nate leaned around the corner, took aim, and started feeding mana to the projectile rune through his core. Focusing on his Runic Intent skill, he changed the speed and chose the direction he wanted the projectile to release. Counting out the seconds in his head, he got to five before the rune was charged enough to fire. The ensuing piece of earth looked like a piece of rounded stone, like a ball the size of his fist. It shot out of the rune with the speed of a thrown tennis ball, which impressed Nate, given it probably weighed forty to fifty times as much.
The resulting impact as it blasted into the construct's leg echoed through the entire production room. Instantly, all the constructs turned towards him, their fingers flexing as they reached for tools on their benches. Hammers and picks mostly from what he could see. That might make this a bit easier if they didn’t have runes to fire earthen projectiles at him. The thought crossed his mind as he surveyed the damage he’d done to the construct. Its leg was still attached, but it was clearly hanging on by a thread as the thing struggled to balance.
Keeping his aim on it, he charged another projectile as the constructs began to move towards him. Five seconds later, a second collision sent another burst of sound through the room. The construct proceeded to topple over and fall to the ground. Nate was about to crow in victory when the larger construct at the end of the room turned and began walking towards him.
He felt a wave of fear pass through him at the speed it moved. It might not be able to match him at a sprint, but it was definitely close to a jog. Worse, he could see that while it had something like four fingers on one hand, the other ended in a cannon-like opening. He would bet a gold bar that the thing had runes in there. As it passed the halfway mark of the room, Nate tried Identification on it for the second time.
Earthen Enchanter Mana Construct: Level 20Identification – Runic Level 3 > 4
Debating whether to stay or run, he quickly decided that if this thing intended to give chase, it would be better if he fought it on its own.
Turning and sprinting back down the corridor, he kept glancing back. Doing so saved him as he saw the Enchanter round the corner and raise its cannon arm in his direction. Swinging his left arm behind him, he put his barrier between himself and the cannon as light bloomed in its cavity a second before a beam of white-hot fire shot at him. Nate felt the barrier begin to fail almost instantly and desperately poured mana into it to keep it from dissipating. It was a losing battle, and Nate threw himself to the ground in a roll as the beam of fire shot over his head.
He wasn’t sure, but he thought he could smell burnt hair. As the construct lowered its arm, the beam vanished, and Nate breathed a sigh of relief. Glancing back as he got up, he saw the cannon arm was super-heated around the end, glowing red in the dim corridor. Even as he watched, the red-hot glow was fading, the heat leaving the stone. Nate bet that the moment it had cooled enough, it would fire again, so he resumed his sprint for the antechamber.
His mind worked rapidly fuelled by his improved intellect stat as he worked through possible plans and options. He could run to the forest, but that posed the problem of some boars interfering in the battle. That ignored the fact that the constructs fire beam would easily burn through trees, and while it offered options for breaking line of sight, it didn’t give him cover. The benefit was that it was wide and open and far enough away from the other constructs that there was no way they would catch up before the battle was decided one way or the other.
The lake could work, but it posed the same problems as the boars, and Nate doubted he could lure the construct into the water. That was ignoring the giant crustacean living in the lake, which could be as dangerous to Nate as it was to the construct. That left one option.
The antechamber had everything he needed. The pillars were stone and could break line of sight, giving him cover beyond just his barrier, which could clearly not compete with the firepower of the fire beam cannon. Griping to himself, Nate spoke out loud for the first time that day, “Never have enough stats. I bet if I had a higher Channelling Speed, I could match the mana required to keep my barrier up.”
Sprinting into the antechamber, he turned at the door and stepped to the side, aiming his projectile rune back down the hallway as the Enchanter construct jogged in pursuit, its cannon arm almost completely cooled if the lack of red in the darkness was anything to go by. The stone projectile launched down the hallway, but his aim was off on the moving target, blasting it in the upper part of its chest instead of at a joint. The stone barely even slowed the thing down, and Nate felt another wave of fear pass through him, coupled with adrenaline. He was going to have to get closer or pray that this thing ran out of mana.
Seeing that it was almost to the antechamber, Nate turned and ran back over behind one of the pillars and started charging up another projectile. As the construct entered the room, it turned its head back and forth, clearly trying to detect him. It noticed him at the same time as his rune finished charging, another piece of solid earth blasting into it with a loud crack. His aim was better this close to his opponent, and it rocked the construct's head back.
The construct raised its cannon in response, and he quickly ducked behind the pillar. The heat washed over him even from the other side as he fed whatever mana he could manage from the mana gem in his pocket into his barrier rune, restoring it to full strength. It might only hold for a second, but that second could save his life or, at the very least, a limb. He knew he had no way to heal himself, so any injury he took could be the end of him.
As the fire beam ceased and the heat dimmed, Nate stepped out from behind the pillar, launching another projectile he had been charging. Blasting the construct in the head seemed to have as little effect as the first time. He spotted the damage from the construct’s cannon and could see it had carved a hole almost a third of the way through the pillar. That didn’t bode well for him. It meant that, at best, he could use the pillars to defend against the beam a total of twelve times. Twelve times, and so far, he wasn’t even sure he’d scratched the thing. He got off another three projectiles as the cannon arm cooled, and the construct pursued him around the antechamber. This was not working.
His mind worked frantically as he tried to come up with another plan. His earthen projectile rune wasn’t going to cover it against this thing. At least not with only two Runic Intents working on it. That meant the only other weapon he had in his arsenal. The mana flow rune. But the Enchanter’s turning speed was too fast to dance with it up close like he had done with the regular mana constructs. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
A plan formed in his mind, and he swallowed his fear. Ducking behind the next pillar as the construct raised its cannon arm, he began testing to ensure he could get the barrier rune to do what he wanted. It worked well enough, and he began charging the projectile rune. This is it. Make or break. As soon as he felt the heat decrease, he charged around the pillar towards the Enchanter Construct. Just as he was about to reach it he released the projectile, blasting it in the head once more, rocking it back. As its head went back he doubled down, putting his barrier between him and the construct before crashing into it.
The Enchanter toppled backwards as Nate fell on top of it, his face smashing into his own barrier from the other side. Tasting blood in his mouth, he climbed to his feet as quickly as he could. Shoving his projectile rune into his hoodie pocket, he pulled out his knife. Keeping his barrier rune in his left hand he managed to carve a single line onto its abdomen before the construct started trying to stand. Implementing the second part of his plan, Nate started modifying the Runic Intent he was applying to the barrier, changing its position from just in front of his hand to starting over a metre from the rune and back again. The second Intent was speed. The rate at which it moved from one position to the next. A notification flashed in the corner of his vision, but he ignored it and focused on the task at hand.
The force was enough to knock the Enchanter over again before it could get to its feet. He dashed after it, scratching another line onto it. He continued the sequence another three times before the Enchanter, while lying on the stone floor, raised its cannon towards him. Holding his barrier behind him, he ran for the nearest pillar. The barrier held long enough for Nate to reach the stone monolith, noting as he dove past it that it was one that had already been burned by the cannon.
As the heat washed around the pillar, he refilled the barrier rune while struggling for breath. All the stone being burned was giving him less oxygen to inhale and the heat was making it hard to breathe. With a dry mouth he felt the heat start to dissipate and glanced around the edge of the pillar, planning to charge the Enchanter again. What he saw sent a wave of hopelessness through him. Using its superheated cannon arm, the construct was melting the carved lines he’d managed to scratch into its abdomen, ruining the sigil in the process.
His thoughts ran wild. He was going to die here if he didn’t do something. He might have to risk the lake after all. Thinking through his options his eyes alighted on the pillar, now two-thirds burned through. One last chance, then, before he resorted to the suicide mission that was the lake. The pillar was clearly already unbalanced. The next one would be the last cannon beam it could take. He just had to make it fall in the right direction.
Waiting patiently, he circled the pillar, moving up and down the steps to keep the same pillar between himself and the construct. As its arm finally cooled enough, it raised its cannon to aim at him again. Keeping the pillar once more between himself and the construct he began charging and firing earthen projectiles as quickly as he could, imbuing them with speed and direction as he fired at the top of the pillar.
With a groan, the pillar began to teeter, and he stopped firing to run forward and lean against it. The stone was incredibly hot, and he knew he couldn’t stay pressed against it for much longer without burning himself. As the pillar began to rock back towards him, he stepped back, firing one last time at the top of the pillar before throwing his weight against it. The lean this time was too much for it to maintain its precarious balance, and it fell away from him as he jumped back, landing on his bare ass on one of the steps.
The ensuing crash as the pillar fell onto the floor left his ears ringing, and he shielded his eyes from all the dust in the air. The pillar had broken up on impact, and the pieces rolled slightly across the floor before running out of momentum on the uneven stone tiles. In the corner of his eye, he saw the flashing indicating a new System notification. But he didn’t need the messages to know he’d won as he felt mana flowing into him once more. It did nothing for the slight burns on his hands, and he looked down to see if there was any damage to his hoodie. The remains of his clothing were unburned, and he was thankful he’d improved them as they were all that had kept him from burning half his body.
Walking over to the remains of what was once the Earthen Enchanter, he smiled. He’d been victorious against the odds. The construct was now just a pile of red and yellow dust, much like the other constructs. That was unfortunate as he’d hoped to copy the runes it used in its cannon. Sighing, he searched through its remains. He quickly found a large tile, white in the shape of a diamond. Shoving it into his spatial storage, he glanced over at the corridor. He could see the closest construct was already three-quarters of the way down the corridor.
Nate flicked his eyes to The System message.
Accrued mana applied to Primary Class.Level up…Level up…
Stats adjusted: +4 Dexterity, +2 Endurance, +4 Intellect, +4 Creativity, +2 Perception, +4 Mana Reserve, +10 Free Stats
Nate focused and applied all his Free Stats to Channelling Speed without a second thought. Standing up, he brushed some dust and stone fragments out of his once blonde, now red-stained hair. It was time to finish off this lot of constructs, and with his newly minted thirty intellect, he had just the method.
Walking forward, he extracted mana from the mana gem and controlled it to flow into his barrier. It refilled twice as quickly, and Nate smiled. He hadn’t been sure, but he had suspected that doubling the stat would double the speed. Going from ten to twenty in Channelling Speed would let him shoot the earthen projectiles once every two seconds. The additional modification he could make with Runic Intent would let him add density to the speed and aim. Find the original chapter at novelping(.)com.
Raising the projectile rune, the fist-sized piece of stone blasted across the room two seconds later, right as the first construct exited the corridor. The rock hit it in the leg, blowing it clean off. The construct toppled over a moment later. He sighed in relief as he began to methodically pick off each of the constructs until they rolled on the ground, unable to stand, missing at least one leg and arm each. They looked like misshapen crabs as they struggled to stand.
He wasn’t sure he could’ve done this if they’d been living things. It was one thing to kill for food but quite another to see things alive and scrabbling fruitlessly. But they weren’t. They were machines. Machines made of stone and mana that had tried to kill him. Those were his thoughts as he moved from one construct to the next, scratching the mana flow rune onto their torsos. The stone was too thick to blast a hole in easily and get to their internal workings, so this was his best method of ending them.
As he moved through them, he felt the mana flowing into him. It felt like it was taking more and more mana to fill his core. Previously it had only taken two of the constructs to fill the ball in his chest where his Class lay. However, it took eight before he could see the System message pinging him in the corner of his vision. Is it diminishing returns for defeating the same enemy, or does it take more and more mana to advance as I go up in level? He wondered. A while later, after he had finished drawing runes on the struggling constructs and the last of them had ceased moving, he finally gave his attention to the System notifications, trying to get his attention.
Accrued mana applied to Primary Class.Level up…Level up…
Stats adjusted: +4 Dexterity, +2 Endurance, +4 Intellect, +4 Creativity, +2 Perception, +4 Mana Reserve, +10 Free Stats
Runic Intent Level 1 > 2
Looking at his ten Free Stats, he knew he should probably show patience, but he could just think of so many uses to having more Intents to work with and put four of his stats into Intelligence, taking him to forty. With the remaining six, he quickly invested four in Mana Absorption and the last two in Magic Control. Satisfied with his choices, he glanced back at the System messages to see there was more this time than just levels.
You have completed a Dungeon challenge!Dungeon: The Temple of Q’ivalChallenge: Defeat all enemies in the Mana Construct production facility.Challenge (Special): Defeat all enemies in the Mana Construct production facility as a party of one.
As a reward for completing a Challenge (Special) all reward options are enhanced.
Challenge Rewards (Select One):1. Knowledge2. Wealth3. Assistance
Please select your reward.
Nate looked over the options in confusion. Seriously, that’s all the details I get? he thought.