Flight Test
“For safety’s sake, I need to check that thing first.”
I held back my impatience and took a small blue crystal out of my pocket.
Through the skull mask, I stared at the faintly glowing stone resting in my palm, the [Mana Measurement Crystal].
Activating the UR boots that were about to become my lifeline required mana.
If I ever ran out midair and crashed because of “empty tank,” that wouldn’t be something I could laugh off.
“… Hmmm. Yeah, I really do have mana, don’t I.”
Judging by how brightly the crystal glowed, I tilted my head in puzzlement.
In this world, within the skill system of Gnosis Online, there existed two fundamental “Blessings” that formed the basis of everything.
They were the [Blessing of the Warrior] and the [Blessing of the Magician], the ones I had lost as the price for obtaining my “ultimate skill.”
I thought of those two as the trunk of a tree.
Most players would first acquire one of them, or both, and then branch out from there, evolving into various advanced classes and derived skills.
First, the [Blessing of the Warrior].
It was a common skill that any adventurer or soldier would naturally have. Swing a sword, train your body, and you’d pick it up without trying.
Its effect was simple: based on your level, it enhanced your “physical abilities.”
More specifically, I suspected it increased the two hidden parameters, [Strength] and [Agility].
Then there was the [Blessing of the Magician].
This one was absolutely required to “generate” and “circulate” mana within the body.
Those without this Blessing fundamentally couldn’t refine mana inside themselves, meaning they couldn’t use magic at all.
Unlike the [Blessing of the Warrior], this wasn’t something “anyone could obtain through effort.”
Only those born with innate “talent,” or a select few “elites” who had studied expensive grimoires from early childhood while undergoing academic training and meditation, could acquire it.
By the way, I was the former.
From the moment I was born, I could handle mana as naturally as breathing. One of those so-called chosen geniuses.
Well, that carefully cultivated [Blessing of the Magician] was something I’d already lost, though.
Now then, my current situation.
All I had left now was the loathsome [Blessing of the Murderer].
As far as physical ability went, I could feel myself steadily growing stronger with each level-up.
Leg strength that let me leap higher than my own height. Sprinting speed that sliced through the wind.
This [Blessing of the Murderer] was probably a variant derived from the [Blessing of the Warrior].
That said, the bonus values weren’t especially high.
If this had been a rare upper-tier skill like [Sword Saint], then even at the same Level 27, I should’ve had far more explosive physical power.
From a practical standpoint, the growth rate felt almost identical to a normal [Blessing of the Warrior].
Despite the grandiose name “murderer,” my physical performance was just plain “warrior-level.”
… The real problem was mana.
I looked down once more at the softly glowing crystal in my hand.
“This is the biggest mystery.”
Normally, someone who only had skills from the [Blessing of the Warrior] line shouldn’t possess any mana.
To have mana at all, you were supposed to also have skills from the [Blessing of the Magician] line.
And yet, I had mana.
Despite [Murderer] being such a blatantly physical, blood-soaked name, it somehow allowed for the “generation and storage of mana.”
When I first noticed this, I’d been genuinely shocked.
That said.
The crystal’s glow was “below average.”
I did have mana, but compared to true magic specialists who possessed the [Blessing of the Magician], my total mana pool was small.
“… Well, I guess it’s better than having none.”
I clenched the crystal and let out a small, wry smile.
Warrior-type classes that normally lacked mana couldn’t use powerful magic tools even if they wanted to.
But thanks to having mana, however little, I could use UR equipment like the [Sky-Treading Leather Boots].
“Alright, check complete.”
I tucked the measurement crystal back into my pocket, threw the window wide open, and stepped up onto the sill.
Below me lay the mansion’s garden, already asleep. Ten meters down. A height that would normally make your legs freeze up.
The issue was… fuel efficiency.
As a general rule in games, the stronger a magic tool’s effect, the more absurdly high its mana consumption became.
UR gear was completely out of spec, something meant for veteran magicians to use.
With my “below average” mana tank, how long could I actually keep it running?
If a single jump drained me dry, these boots would be nothing more than wasted treasure. In the worst case, running out of mana midair and plummeting to my death was a very real possibility.
“… Well, it’ll work out somehow.”
I curled my lips into a grin and, without hesitation, leapt into the void of the night.
Hyun!
The wind howled.
Gravity seized my falling body, and the stone pavement rushed up at terrifying speed.
I focused my mind and poured the mana inside my body into my feet.
The instant…
… BOOM!
An explosive burst of wind erupted from the soles of my feet, forcibly killing my downward momentum. It felt as if an invisible air cushion had deployed beneath me.
I softly absorbed the recoil with my knees and drifted down to the ground.
… There was no sound.
Thanks to the [Complete Silence] effect, even the impact noise of landing was erased.
“Alright, landing successful. So, how much mana’s left…?”
I immediately checked the amount of mana remaining in my body.
I’d generated that much wind pressure, it wouldn’t have been strange if half my mana had been drained…
“… Huh?”
I couldn’t help staring at my own palm.
“It barely dropped…?”
No, more accurately, it had dropped by a tiny amount.
But practically speaking, it was at the level of “margin of error.”
Despite unleashing such an explosive blast of wind, the mana consumed was less than even a single beginner-level spell.
The Blessing of the Wind Spirit King residing within the boots was amplifying and converting the tiny amount of mana I supplied into energy many times, dozens of times, greater.
“… Hehe. This is perfect.”
With this, even my unreliable mana pool would let me run around all night without worrying about running dry!
And if mana depletion wasn’t a concern, then all that was left was to hunt to my heart’s content.
TAN!
The moment I kicked off the ground, the boots wrapped themselves in wind and propelled my body forward.
I became a gale slicing through the darkness and sprinted toward the city where my prey awaited.
What do you think about this chapter?
