-Zash Zaz Zaz

Cutting sounds echoed across the field, the last wild beast had fallen.

“Perfect, we can continue now”

It was what Veronica said while showing a triumphant smile followed by a sound of applause, it was Nick who would say the applause later.

“Well done, that was amazing Vero. We will rest for a while and then we will go into the ruins”

We had walked for about 3 hours where we found at least several groups of wild beasts, in this last one they turned out to be wolves. Nick and Veronica were the ones who took care of the majority of the time, Nick was skilled with the spear while Veronica who used a scythe was not far behind.

Throughout the trip, Nick assumed the role of leader and Veronica's only flatterer for everything he did. The beasts weren't particularly strong, in fact the three-hour drive could have been cut down to 20 minutes if I had been alone.

What did I do during the trip?

Simple, I spent my time in the rear watching everything, but don't get me wrong, it's not that I wanted to fight or prove something, it's just that the beasts were incredibly pathetic and didn't represent much of a challenge for me, on the contrary, it was like playing a video game in very easy level. Although it wasn't all wasted time, make the most of it to practice the new technique and make significant progress.

At this point, we were already parked in a makeshift camp where Robert was cooking something on the campfire while Maria, Veronica and Nick were talking about the strategy that we would apply later in the ruins. I was well away under a tree avoiding the sun of the day, according to Nick we were lucky that the hours inside the dungeon were similar to ours, and he said it because sometimes one used to enter during the day and it turned out to be at night inside the dungeon. dungeon.

On the other hand, Maria didn't come closer to me after what happened but occasionally she gave me some furtive glances, from the first time she did it I noticed but I started ignoring her glances after the second time, I have no idea what's going on for his head, but he should find some opportunity to talk to her.

Now, about the new technique…

Basically, it was necessary to omit or replace some concepts, but I finally achieved something concrete after thinking so much, in short, to convert mana into an energy projectile I had to materialize enough mana, and to achieve this process, I needed to have a core of energy. mana inside my body to be able to materialize it.

Having a mana core inside the body was basically a shortcut to using mana in many ways, meaning that being part of a person from birth and growing with it, it would be like having an extra limb.

Well, I didn't have a mana core inside my body but I could control the mana in the environment to a certain extent, which means I would need to replace the mana materialization process or find another way to use the mana in combat, and for that, I had an idea.

This idea came to me based on what Master Lucas and Wilson told me about my father and how they met him... The first contact with my father was quite hostile since my father was a demon that gave off an enormous power full of a lot of energy. malice and whose mere presence made anyone tremble with shivers even to the point of seeming that the mana itself feared him.

Wilson was the first to charge forward with his two-handed sword at my father, but not only was he unable to even touch him, but his sword was also broken into a million pieces on the spot, and Wilson was sent flying into a tree.

Several years after that situation they came to a theory of what had happened, that sword that Wilson had was enchanted and was of class S, so the more mana they supplied him, the more powerful his statistics would be. My father took advantage of this by manipulating and even containing the mana inside the sword by forcing it to be static before it could touch it.

Wilson came to believe that the sword needed more power to counterbalance, so he directly supplied it with a massive amount of mana being him, an Awakened SS-Rank at the time.

But the mana core of the sword could only withstand the pressure up to a certain point, that was where my father was compressing all the mana that Wilson was supplying him with, and at some point, he just released the compressed mana inside the sword resulting in an obvious explosion of the core and the sword itself accordingly.

They also came to believe that there was something else behind it, mainly because the said sword was supposed to have no limits on how much mana it could take but it was still the most logical explanation so far.

Not to mention that all of that would have happened in a fraction of seconds…

Going back to my main idea, that whole story summarizes that compressed mana can be extremely dangerous, maybe I could combine the concepts and try to achieve something similar to [Energetic Bullet] but not using materialization but mana compression as the basis of this technique.

My practices for the last 3 hours focused on compressing the mana as much as I could and I was getting better and better at the attempts, but it was at this moment that my thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

“Thank you for not ruining the moment. By the way, here is your portion.”

It was Veronica who was handing me a bowl of food, I guess some of what Robert was cooking. I am grateful though...

"Why do you think that?"

I was looking into her eyes and it was only after I had received the bowl that she answered me.

"The boys nowadays are very arrogant and presumptuous, if you had behaved like one of them wanting to fight up front. Without a doubt, we would not have even reached the middle of the dungeon "

Oh so that's it, she was assuming from the start that I was behaving so I wouldn't get kicked out of the group, right?

Well, I suppose it is better that I make some things clear to him before misunderstandings occur, so I smiled and told him.

"Hey… make no mistake, I don't pretend to be a good boy who stays behind. I come to learn what real combat is and I don't think I'll get that from beasts as weak as the ones you faced during the whole trip, instead, I prefer to practice new techniques"

After those words, I could see how his expression twitched for a moment and his face began to turn red, but it is better to make things clear...

“Besides, if I have endured the arrogant attitude of that Nick, it is because I feel very grateful to your father that I have agreed to accompany you without thinking about it”

"I take it back, right now you're a jerk like those guys. You are aware that those creatures would easily kill a crippled like you, right?"

Now it seems he doesn't want to thank me.

Well never mind, that's fine. I raised one of my eyebrows and with a sarcastic expression, I replied.

“How can you know if you've never seen me in combat? Do you think my sword is for decoration?

At this point, it's more than obvious that she's angry, but she takes a deep breath and then calmly looks at me.

“Well, if you're so confident then how about…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Nick cuts her off with the ridiculous look of a supposedly serious leader.

"Everything's fine?"

I wasn't surprised and remained indifferent, but instead, Veronica had been startled by his sudden appearance, but that didn't stop her.

"Nick, I've thought about this, but I think it's time for Rafael to fight with us up front."

However, Nick frowned.

“Sorry Vero, but we are already nearing the end of the dungeon and the creatures that will appear from now on will be stronger, with the formation we have established we have progressed very quickly and efficiently. If we put him up front he can break our synergy."

'This guy wants to keep me out of combat at all costs, hehehe…'

It was what I thought, although right now it's quite convenient for me to stay behind doing nothing, that way I can continue to practice the technique with the abundant mana in the dungeon so...

"I also think I should stay in the rear"

Veronica made a confused face when I said that, but Nick replied almost instantly with something I didn't expect.

"Shut up parasite, here you are just an insignificant G-rank warrior, I don't know how you got the duke's sympathy but I'm sure you don't deserve it"

He looks at me with a defiant gaze and is drastically letting his mana out to intimidate me...

Telling me so directly is not something I would have expected, but…

I guess the fact that Wilson views me more favorably than him is a thorn in his mind that he hasn't been able to get rid of. However, that is your problem, not mine.

Matching his defiant look with a relaxed look.

"And if I don't shut up, what are you going to do?"

Oh, that face you just made is hilarious, but I didn't stop there.

"By the way, since when do you decide who should have Uncle Wilson's sympathy?"

"ENOUGH!"

Veronica, who could no longer hold back, screams, causing our attention to focus on her.

“Nick, please leave it. Let's just continue with the training we've had so far."

Then Nick and I met again, only this time I shrugged and sat down to eat my portion while totally ignoring him.

On his side, he turned around to leave talking once more before returning to the rest.

"We're up and running in 5 minutes, we'll get this over with quickly"

Veronica just gave me a complicated look before going back to the group and I could tell the other two were looking at us, it seems the ruckus here got their attention.

Well, let's see if I can get anything more concrete with the new tech and mana compression before I get out of this dungeon. I'm sure it will be easier for me to practice outside the dungeon if I get a full result here first.

Also, according to what the idiot said, stronger creatures are waiting for us later, maybe I'll have a chance to fight...