Lee continued to watch Neia’s onslaught from up high upon the battlements. Gone were the one on one fights. They had quickly been replaced by one on two, then one on three. He couldn't make out much of what was happening in the fighting as she had been traveling away from Neldam towards the Shadowgrove forest’s treeline, where the leader Troll resided.

Lee didn’t know if Dark Elves had naturally better eyesight or if stats like dexterity enhanced vision, but he noticed that the Dark Elves around him watched carefully without much squinting.

He was missing a quality learning experience here. Neia was of a much higher level than he had originally thought, and watching someone of such a level would surely be valuable. He didn’t have a frame of reference for what levels could truly accomplish. He wasn’t even sure if his new levels would change much if he used his stat points.

Figuring out an optimal path was going to be difficult. During his original trek through the Shadowgrove, Lee discovered that he would heal his enemies in close combat. Now that he had Antithesis of Healing, he could potentially learn some up close and personal combat-related skills. His original thought of ignoring strength, dexterity, and luck still seemed to be the most efficient route though. The cooldown of Antithesis of Healing being one hour was a big enough downside to disincentivize melee combat fully, but at least he had a minute of reprieve if the need arose. He would like to be prepared for that eventuality.

There is one downside to the intelligence, wisdom, and constitution route Lee had originally planned. What he learned during his multi-hour-long battlefield experience was that if he did the math correctly, his intelligence and wisdom didn't seem to add to his healing power. With wisdom, that was to be expected, but he thought his increased intelligence should have done something.

He assumed the ‘Determines magical power’ part of intelligence would apply to his healing numbers. He didn’t know if his Earthen Strikes increased their damage with higher intelligence either. He could tell how much percent one of his strikes did thanks to Medical Attention, but he didn’t know if his strikes did 20 damage, then changed to 21 with an extra point in intelligence. People must have already researched and discovered this information. So Lee didn’t feel the need to test it himself with the risk of ‘wasting’ a stat point. He just needed time to read up on it.

Neia was now and truly out of his vision range now. He could make out her shape and the colors from some of the magic she cast, but that was about it.

He needed to make a new spell. Lee had a few thoughts on how to create a spell that would increase his sight. His original thought was to use light mana in a similar way to which he created his Blind debuff spell. After thinking for a few seconds, he quickly got rid of that thought. He didn’t know how adding light would increase his vision. Most likely, it would just be another way to blind someone.

Instead, he thought about using water mana. Light refracted in water and could magnify objects easily. Lee remembered going to the local community pool and diving for sinking pool toys as a child. They always seemed to be much closer from above the surface. A drop of water fell on his old tablet while reading his favorite story as well; it made the word underneath much larger.

He knew it was possible, but he didn’t know the most optimal shape. Neia was also over a mile away. Lee assumed it would take a lot of water to see clearly at this distance.

Time to experiment.

Lee felt for the wet water mana and willed it to create a long horizontal tube of still water. At first, it was a small disc right next to his eye. The small coin-shaped lens of water rapidly extended outwards, creating an elongated pole of crystal-clear water.

Sadly, it didn’t seem to work like he wanted. All he could see was a blurry silhouette.

He discarded the spell and began another. This time, he tried to create a large sphere of water. A large beachball-sized sphere of clear water materialized and floated directly in front of him. He squinted and decided that it was better, but not what he wanted.

Thinking about the process of refraction led him to think of glasses. The slight bend of the lenses and the effects they caused. He was no genius and didn’t know exactly how it worked, but he didn’t know how most of his healing spells specifically worked. He just knew enough.

On his third attempt, he created a half sphere with the flat side facing himself. He used a skill he had never used before as well, Mana Manipulation. Slowly, he began altering the flat-facing surface of the water, giving a very slight concave bend as most lenses have. Almost immediately, he could tell that this was the way to progress. He carved the watery surface away and added water back when a mistake was made for over a minute. He even slightly altered the half-spherical back to flatten it to that of an oval.

It was still slightly blurry, but it seemed magic could cause its own effects. The spell solidified and immediately became a crystal clear image of Neia’s battle.

Lee smiled as he finished reading the description. He gazed into the viewing pool, and his smile quickly faded. The cause? He just saw that Neia had taken a blow from a Giant.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neia made a mistake while fighting two Trolls and a Giant. A silly mistake. A mistake that had consequences. She underestimated her opponents.

She saw the blow from the Giant coming and did not fear the two Trolls blocked off by her Wall of Fire. But she did not expect to be caught off guard by a tiny mound of earth raised by magic. From one of the trolls, presumably, they are capable of magic, but it is rare. She hadn’t seen any of them cast magic and had grown complacent. This was her punishment.

She tried to dodge the incoming blow but tripped. It wasn’t a plan of pure genius. It wasn't overwhelming strength. It wasn’t any sort of elaborate trap. It was simply a raised bit of earth that caught her foot.

Survival Instinct kicked into overdrive, causing her to use a skill she didn’t want to use this early. She was hoping to save it for an emergency versus the leading Troll, but it seemed this was an attack she couldn’t ignore. Quickly she raised both khopeshes to her right side as she was tilting towards the ground and performed her active skill, Parry.

The Giant slammed his fist into the khopeshes, but Parry caused her blades to shine, enabling the blow to be slightly deflected. Even though she stopped it from being a direct attack, she was still launched across the battlefield like a rag doll. She flipped head over heels as she skipped well over thirty meters across the terrain.

Her left side was battered and beaten. Her forearms were maybe broken, or at least cracked, from the deflecting efforts. Her shoulder was dislocated during the knockback from skidding across the ground.

She gasped and withdrew a healing potion. She shakily poured it into her mouth as the Giant and Trolls escaped from the Wall of Fire spells. They gave her little time to get her bearings or recover.

The potion tasted of Illitai berries and healed her worst injuries first. Her bones healed, her shoulder popped into place with burning pain, and her right ribs shifted, causing her to lose her breath as the monsters surged ever closer.

She hadn’t dealt much damage to these three quite yet, not enough to end the fight quickly anyways. So she used more of her valuable mana, casting a spell to end the confrontation—another card she didn’t want to reveal early.

She reversed her grip on her khopeshes and began a slow, graceful, and beautiful dance. A large icy plinth materialized in front of her. It was made of opaque dark blue ice and upon it a sculpture of art was being created. Starting from the feet upwards, a figure of a woman began to coalesce. A very loose and revealing icy dress that sparkled with magical runes etched into the icy fabric covered the female Nymph. Her arms were spread wide in an inviting gesture, welcoming all those around, and she wore a kind and loving smile. A smile that she normally never wore. It reached a height of thirty meters tall, becoming a beacon in a bloody battlefield.

The monsters diverted their charge toward Neia and ran directly for the icy statue. Their bloodthirsty visages dropped, and their faces turned blank.

Neia instantly turned and sprinted away. She knew the effects of this spell.

The monsters from all around quickly climbed the plinth and began to awkwardly embrace the statue of Selene, the Goddess of the Moon. The statue moved—the glacial arms wrapped around the monsters, flash-freezing their bodies and embracing them in a hug. The kind and loving smile shifted instantaneously into fury and rage. The statue detonated in an enormous explosion of glacial frost. Icy shrapnel flew for hundreds of meters, and a cloud of snow and mist filled the entirety of the area.

Neia dodged a few of the icy projectiles as she made her way deeper into the battlefield toward the leading Troll.

The leading Troll glared at Neia, seeing a true threat on the battlefield. It raised its staff and screamed with bloodshot eyes. It began to run to meet her halfway.