Arthur closed his eyes as he thought.
He recalled everything he understood about his system.
His power responded to intent.
Skills ford when intent shaped behavior repeatedly. The system didn’t just react to actions, it responded to will, to focus, to what he truly aid to achieve.
And he had already learned sothing from his earlier training.
Intent could influence how he interacted with mana.
Not directly controlling it, but shaping his awareness of it.
At the sa ti, he had noticed another fact.
Creatures affected the mana around them.
Battles disturbed it.
Presence distorted it.
Even movent left traces.
Putting those ideas together ford a simple logic.
Untouched areas should have smooth mana flow.
While areas with activity should show disturbances.
And large groups...
Should create larger distortions.
Arthur slowly opened his eyes, excitent flickering within them.
"If that’s true," he said quietly, "then I don’t need to search for goblins."
He only needed to search for disturbance.
He began testing his theory imdiately.
He stood still and tried to sense the mana around him.
At first, he felt nothing.
Only silence.
Only emptiness.
He frowned.
"Too vague."
He adjusted his breathing and focused his intent. He didn’t try to force anything. Instead, he aid to simply notice, to observe, to identify differences.
His intent ford a clear direction.
Detect the flow.
Find irregularities.
Recognize distortion.
It was difficult.
The mana around him felt like invisible air. There was no shape, no clear form. Just a faint sensation brushing against his awareness.
His concentration slipped.
The feeling vanished.
Arthur sighed and scratched his head. "Harder than it sounded."
But he didn’t give up.
He tried again.
And again.
Each attempt sharpened his focus a little more.
Slowly, sothing began to take shape.
He started noticing a difference.
In untouched areas, the mana felt calm. Smooth. Like still water without ripples.
But when he walked through places where he had fought earlier, the feeling changed.
The flow beca uneven.
Rough.
Like water disturbed by stones.
Arthur’s eyes widened slightly.
"That’s it."
He moved back and forth between two spots, comparing the sensation. One calm. One disturbed.
The difference was faint, but it was there.
And more importantly, it lingered.
Even after the monsters were dead, the distortion remained for so ti.
He laughed quietly to himself. "So presence leaves a mark."
That alone was valuable information.
But he pushed further.
Arthur continued exploring, deliberately seeking areas where he had encountered goblins earlier.
He observed.
He compared.
He tested.
The results repeated themselves.
Distortion appeared wherever creatures gathered.
Stronger distortion ant more presence.
It didn’t tell him whether the source was human or monster. He couldn’t distinguish that yet.
But it didn’t matter.
Large disturbance ant large gathering.
And large gathering ant opportunity.
He straightened and rolled his shoulders.
"So that’s the direction."
Arthur shaped his intent once more, this ti with clearer purpose.
Instead of simply observing mana, he aid to identify irregular flow. To notice disturbances from a distance. To recognize patterns within the ambient energy around him.
The process wasn’t smooth.
His mind strained.
His concentration wavered repeatedly.
Sotis the sensations overlapped and confused him. Sotis everything felt distorted, making it impossible to tell direction.
More than once he almost gave up.
"This might just be a waste of ti," he muttered.
But his personality didn’t allow retreat so easily.
If there was even a small chance of gaining an advantage, he would push until the end.
He continued.
Step by step.
Attempt by attempt.
Minutes passed.
Then slowly, the vague sensations began to sharpen.
Arthur started moving along paths where the distortion felt slightly stronger. The direction wasn’t clear. The feeling was faint and uncertain.
But it was sothing.
He followed it.
Sotis the sensation faded and he stopped, readjusting his focus. Other tis he felt small distortions, only to find scattered goblin stragglers nearby.
That alone proved his theory was working.
He smiled.
"Not bad."
Confidence grew within him.
He continued testing, refining his perception.
Then suddenly, he stopped.
His body froze.
From sowhere far ahead, he felt sothing different.
A disturbance.
Not small.
Not faint.
But deep and heavy, like a large ripple spreading through still water.
Arthur’s eyes slowly widened.
"...There."
The sensation was distant and unclear, but far stronger than anything he had felt so far.
His heart began to beat faster.
He hadn’t confird anything yet.
But instinct told him this was what he had been searching for.
A large gathering.
A strong presence.
Possibly another camp.
Arthur grinned.
"Let’s see if I’m right."
Without hesitation, he moved toward the direction of the distortion, his steps light and eager, his intent guiding him forward.
The hunt had just taken a new turn.
Arthur moved quickly through the dungeon, following the direction of the distortion he had sensed.
He didn’t stop testing the process either. Even while moving, he kept his focus on the flow of mana around him, feeling the faint disturbances ahead like ripples pulling him forward.
The deeper he went, the clearer the sensation beca.
The distortion grew stronger.
He was getting closer.
Arthur’s steps naturally picked up speed, his eyes sharp, his breathing steady. The feeling ahead was far heavier than the smaller disturbances he had followed earlier. It pulsed like a living presence, thick and concentrated.
He smiled.
"I knew it."
The distance was farther than he first expected, and he had already moved for quite so ti, but he didn’t mind at all. If what he suspected was true, then this was worth every step.
His excitent wasn’t hidden.
He was almost certain he had found another goblin camp.
And not just any camp.
A bigger one.
Much bigger than the first.
The thought alone made his heart beat faster.
Soon, he saw it with his own eyes.
From a distance, hidden behind uneven rock formations and broken dungeon walls, Arthur caught sight of movent ahead. Flickering fire light danced across crude structures, and shadows of goblins moved in organized patterns.
It was real.
A goblin camp.
And far larger than the one he had cleared earlier.
Reviews
All reviews (0)