Utopian System

Elio took position, his body tense while charging the three movement vectors.

The water bomb floated in front of him, ready to unleash chaos.

Everything would come down to a fraction of a second.

Elio Mana: 47

Quick Charge: 7

When he fired his attacks one after another...

Elio Mana: 41

Quick Charge: 1

The combination of the explosion and wind vectors didn't work exactly as Elio had planned.

Although he managed to destroy the barrier and direct most of the corrosive gas toward the chamber, the combined force of the recoil threw him back more violently than expected.

A part of the intensified gas reached him, attacking his nickel protection. For a terrifying moment, Elio could feel the metal reacting, but the protective layer barely held.

'I only have one accumulated mana point left,' he thought while stabilizing himself. 'Better accumulate more before facing the monsters...'

His planning was interrupted when 16 creatures emerged from the chamber and came into the tunnel.

They were flattened beings that floated similarly to his eel, their bodies radiating their own corrosive nature. Elio thought they might not leave the chamber if he didn't enter, but…

He was wrong.

Fortunately... The gas attack seemed to have affected them, but not as much as he expected.

'They must have thirty-nine resistance points,' he quickly calculated. 'The enhanced corrosion wasn't critical for them like it was for me...'

The monsters didn't give him the time he needed to accumulate more mana. But while observing their fluid movements, an idea began forming in Elio's mind.

With only one accumulated mana point but more than 40 in reserve, Elio made a risky decision. He channeled some neon toward his eel, which still maintained its normal size, and then allowed the creature to begin extracting mana directly from his body.

Elio Mana: 40

Quick Charge: 0

But when the eel turned red, instead of attacking, it quickly used more of Elio's free to take mana for something else.

The process was intense.

Elio Mana: 32

Elio could feel the energy leaving his body while his familiar began to grow, its form expanding while the neon gave it a threatening reddish glow. The sensation was different from any previous extraction; this time, the eel seemed to have a specific purpose for the mana it was taking.

'Eight points,' Elio counted, observing his book. His eel had reached a considerable size, its reddish body pulsing with contained energy.

The monsters approached in formation, apparently unconcerned by the eel's transformation.

That's when the familiar released its attack.

Elio Mana: 30

The red energy arc that emerged was different from anything Elio had seen before. It impacted the first monster and, to Elio's surprise, didn't stop there. The energy bounced, finding the next target, and then the next.

Elio's eyes opened in amazement as the arc continued its path, bouncing between monsters like a crazed lightning bolt.

Eight impacts, each as powerful as the first.

'Only 2 points,' Elio automatically registered, noting the attack's cost. Much less than the 32 the eel would have needed to fire 16 times in its small form.

His eel, still in its augmented form, didn't waste time. A second energy arc emerged, finding the eight remaining targets with the same deadly precision as the first.

Elio Mana: 28

When the last energy arc found its final target and destroyed it, the transformation began to reverse. The eel, which had maintained its increased size during the attacks, started to shrink gradually. The reddish neon glow faded, returning the creature to its familiar electric blue tone.

The total cost had been surprisingly efficient: eight points for the transformation and four for the attacks. Twelve points total to eliminate sixteen enemies. The economy of movements, cadence, and mana would have been impossible with any other tactic.

As the magical mist that had filled the environment during the battle began to dissipate, Elio felt the familiar system regeneration recognizing his victory.

Level 9 was complete.

'I have to learn to make it grow on my own,' reflected Elio, observing his eel now swimming calmly around him, as if it hadn't just demonstrated devastating power.

The familiar statue appeared in the center of the chamber, repeating its usual message.

"Congratulations on overcoming the Fourth challenge of the second level of elemental control. Fortunately, this ninth test of that... Goddess, didn't overcome you. Now you have power over Fluorine, continue learning to use its power and don't forget to keep improving with the other elements."

"P.S.: Sorry for the lack of originality in the message. Sometimes, even gods run out of creative ideas. But hey, at least you have a new element to play with!"

Elio didn't pay much attention beyond reading the name of the element, and just touched the statue to get the extra armor stats.

The new element, Fluorine, joined his arsenal, though Elio had mixed feelings about its extremely reactive nature.

Elio Von Elian's Statistics

Skills:

{5 Basic ones}

Heaven's Frost

Heaven's Spark

Heaven's Gale

Heaven's Synergist (New)

Familiars:

{5 Basic ones}

Frost Penguin

Spark Eel (+35 MD)

Gale Roseline-Shark (157,070,903/1,000,000,000)

Corrosive Glaucus (157,070,903/10,000,000,000) (New)

??? (0/100,000,000,000) Level 10 required

Emblems:

Wind

Level 9

Mana: 90/90

Resistance: 90/90 (+900)

Stamina: 14/14

Attack: 9 (14)

Magic Damage: 9 (+9)(+35) / (53)

Strength: 9

Defense: 9 (18)

Magic Defense: 9 (+5)(+9) / (23)

Speed: 9

Perception / Agility: 1.9

Superior Mana Spear / Attack 5

Superior Mana Dagger x10 / Attack 5

Superior Elemental Resistance Cloak / Magic Defense 5

System's Armor 9 / ((Defense 9) (Magic Defense 9) (Magic Damage 9) (Resistance(900/900))

Portable oral oxygen stone

Balance: 100 mana points

His eyes stopped at the new entry in his book: "Corrosive Glaucus" with extreme requirements, 10 billion cores.

The figure left him momentarily breathless.

Even if he collected all the cores from the ground to the end of the monster sea, he would need to repeat the process in five different locations to reach that amount.

'For the level 10 summon...' Elio shook his head.

Not even the cores accumulated during a hundred years would be enough. But that was a problem for another time; now he had more immediate concerns.

His magical damage had increased to 53 points, an improvement that in any other situation would have been significant. But against the monster waiting outside...

Elio vividly remembered how his previous attacks had barely managed to scratch the creature.

'The corrosive attack could add an additional effect,' he thought while experimenting with his new element. 'But against something so powerful, will it really make a difference?'