I spat out whatever was still left in my mouth as soon as the message had appeared, making sure to summon some water to wash away the nasty aftertaste.

“Well,” I said in an optimistic voice. “At least it was worth it.”

“New skill?” Cellestra asked curiously.

“An upgrade to an existing skill, but I’ll take it. Let me have a look.”

Cellestra nodded as I forced the blue square with possible enhancements to appear.

With 907 Evolution points to spend, and keeping five hundred in reserve to get the spiderling options, I still had plenty left to upgrade my ice lance spell. It had become one of my favorite abilities to use due to its effectiveness, range, and accuracy, so I didn’t feel like missing out on it. I confirmed both upgrades that had to do with the spell and found a headache swell up as my mind was filled with information about the restructured flow of mana needed.

I closed my eyes during the process and heard Cellestra calling out if I was okay, to which I nodded.

“Just taking the new enhancements. I also came to know something which I’d been wondering about.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“Was hoping you’d say that,” I replied with a chuckle. “You see, I told you earlier about enhancements having levels instead of a prefix like strong or advanced. This creature gave me the option to enhance the ice lance spell to superior, but also gave the ice lance level one skill. Apparently that is stronger than superior, which is stronger than what most of my skills are at right now. I suppose that means there is still plenty of growth for my already existing spells and abilities.”

“And what does it look like now?” She asked.

“Let’s see…”

I conjured an ice lance at my side but didn’t shoot it. Instead, Cellestra and I both watched and checked out its properties. Not only was it larger in size, but it also had rough edges smoothed out, which, I could feel, would aid its ability to fly fast and improve its accuracy. To test it, I launched it far into the distance, with no particular target in mind.

I observed its journey and noted that it hardly swayed from its path. It could indeed fly further than my previous version, which would be a great boon when combined with my immaculate eyesight.

“No doubt this is going to take out targets from quite a distance,” I said in amazement. “Did you see that?”

“I saw. That’s incredible. You’re going to have to teach me that one next.”

I grinned audibly at her suggestion.

“I’d be happy to teach you, assuming it’s possible. Then again, the mana cost to cast the ice lance spell has always been fairly low, and this one is no exception, even though it’s more than previously. I think this one is well in your control.”

“That’s reassuring to hear. Shall we continue? Possibly test it?”

“Oh, for sure. You didn’t think I was going to pass up the opportunity to get some proper practice done with this, right?” I asked mischievously.

“Didn’t think so,” Cellestra replied with a giggle. “I know you too well.”

I chuckled as I left the corpses behind and skittered forward, towards the living trees. I circled around them, keeping plenty of distance between them and me while keeping my eyes peeled for sudden changes in temperature, anything that could indicate the presence of more of the phasing lizards. Their habit of ambushing was annoying, but fortunately, we didn’t run into any, which led me to believe we’d left their territory.

After leaving the ent area behind, we soon found out that what Felmar had talked about was some kind of deer, but it possessed some unique characteristics that set it apart from ordinary ones.

This one was a stag, that much was clear from its immense size and body shape. It possessed a fur that was orange, near red, and sparks flew off of it, giving the illusion it was on fire. In addition to that, instead of a pair of antlers, its head was decorated by two tube-like appendages, a hole clearly visible at the outer ends. When it noticed us, it turned its head, and I noticed two fiery red orbs stare intently at us.

Then, it lowered its head, tucked back its ears against its head, and raised a front leg which it put down on the grass before raising it again.

“Uh-oh. I daresay that’s a sign of aggression,” I let out, clenching my halberd while taking aim, preparing to fire an ice lance at its underbelly, usually a vulnerable spot.

I was right, as the next second, it came charging at us. I fired my spell with deadly accuracy, but saw it shatter moments before it was about to hit the creature.

“Magical barrier,” I said. “Should have expected this wouldn’t be easy.”

I prepared to stab with my halberd, but the beast ran at me with incredible speed. I was certain I’d have trouble holding on to the weapon, even if I did impale it properly, so I opted to sidestep the charge instead. After telling Cellestra to hold on tight, I jumped out of the way, forcing the creature to come to a halt and turn around.

I expected another charge, but instead, I saw the tubes move until the openings were directed at me. Then, from within, two small balls were launched in my direction, which I’d heavily underestimated.

Seeing the attack coming, I summoned a wall of fire to absorb the attack, but instead of hitting it, the balls exploded into a sea of flames which engulfed me. I was only partially successful in blocking it, as part of the flames were negated by my own spell, but the collateral damage was simply insane.

I quickly retreated and asked Cellestra if she was okay.

“I’m fine. The multi-barrier kept me safe, and this armor is no laughing matter either.”

“Refresh the barrier,” I called out. “There is little I can do to block an attack like that.”

“Gotcha.”

I came to a halt and turned around to see the stag stand still. As soon as I faced it again, it started another charge, firing off two more balls that far exceeded the beast’s charge speed. In an attempt to reduce the damage from its attack, I hurled two ice lances on a collision course with the explosive balls and managed to hit one, which detonated far out of each. The other one missed, but I did manage to project my now empowered fire wall further forward, where it absorbed a much greater amount of damage.

I side stepped the attack a second time, but after it came to a halt again, I charged at it with my weapon now imbued by the elemental magic skill.

As soon as the beast turned around, I attempted to deliver a lethal blow with a stab under the chin, but it managed to retract its head fast enough. I still hit, and blood ran down its chest, but the attack wasn’t enough to kill. In retaliation, it fired off two more spheres that were hurled above my barrier.

I barely managed to summon a new fire wall above Cellestra to protect her from the flames, but I took the full brunt of the attack. My multi-barrier exploded with holy light as its strength was drained fully, and some of the flames set parts of my hair on fire. I completely ignored the pain that it caused, especially where the attack had hit my eyes, and stabbed again, seeing an opening to finish this.

This time, it couldn’t withdraw its head in time, and although its fur was tough, my brute strength pierced its vitals and caused the creature to collapse. As soon as it did, I extinguished the few flames on my body with water while I let out a contained scream of pain.

Without hesitation, Cellestra cast her healing spell on me while asking me if I was okay.

“I’m fine. The damage isn’t so bad, but my eyes, without the protection of the barrier, are very sensitive.”

“I can imagine,” She said surprisingly calmly. “Thank you, by the way.”

“Not a problem,” I said before letting out another grunt of pain. I joined the brunette in casting a healing spell on myself before checking the damage its attack had done.

I wasn’t in a terrible state. If anything, it looked way worse than it was with some of my hair burnt away, and other parts blackened by the flames. They hadn’t caused me any significant injuries as they couldn’t pierce my carapace, but still. Without the barrier and protection of my other spell, I might have been cooked alive from so much fire.

“Well,” I said, looking at the bloodied tip of my weapon and then at the dead animal. “At least we got the hide. Now, what do we do with it?”