Chapter 65: A New Way to See

Max broke the surface of the water and quickly looked around to gauge the enemy's situation, assessing whether his attack had dealt enough damage to secure a victory.

To his surprise, the [Basic Healing Magic Reversal] skill had indeed inflicted severe damage, causing the snake to frantically thrash its head against the pond's barrier. The attack he had aimed directly upward had landed on the snake's internal organs. It must have drained the life force of those organs; although he could not currently see the exact damage value, the snake's frantic thrashing clearly showed that the injury was severe.

Max quickly swam to the other side of the pond, continuously drinking the pond water to recover to his peak condition. He finally reached the opposite edge and looked at the snake, which had still not recovered.

Max stood for a moment, contemplating his next move. He could either wait for the snake to strike, or he could take the initiative to attack. This thought directly stemmed from his suspicion that the snake might also recover by drinking the pond water. Even if the monster did not currently know of this miracle, if he stalled for time, it would eventually figure it out with its human-like intelligence.

Therefore, actively attacking the snake while it was down was the best choice.

Releasing a huge amount of Mana from his core space, Max ran across the water's surface and readied his attack.

As he closed the distance, the snake's head snapped sharply towards him. Max, who had been confident in landing a second attack while the enemy suffered from its injuries, was startled by the sudden movement. Although a trace of doubt rose in his heart, he continued to advance. However, the snake did not rush forward to devour him as it had earlier.

Instead, it whipped its massive tail at him.

Max's eyes widened in shock. He had expected the snake to attack with its mouth, which would have given him the chance to inflict further internal damage. Now, seeing the tail sweeping towards him, the situation had changed. He did not know if his attack would be effective against it; furthermore, if that tail strike landed, he would be snapped in half. The sheer force of the incoming tail clearly indicated that the snake intended to kill him instantly.

In the nick of time, Max quickly dispelled the [Basic Healing Magic Reversal] skill, unplugged his Mana Path, and activated his Healer class skill, [Guardian Aura]. Max held his forearms before him and pushed a huge amount of Mana to strengthen the green energy protecting him.

Peng!

The attack landed. Max was lifted from the water's surface and sent flying high into the sky. As he launched into the air, a mouthful of blood gushed out. His internal organs were mangled, and his forearms snapped in half.

Max bit his tongue while in mid-air. As his consciousness was about to fade, he activated [Salvation]. The last bit of Mana gushed out from his core, and a white light engulfed him in mid-air.

Instantly, Max flashed through all the good memories of his childhood. His mouth automatically parted in a smile. He even forgot he was still flying as he enjoyed those joyful memories.

Bang!

His body crashed into something invisible at the edge of the pond. Stopped from flying any further away, his body fell directly onto the edge. However, the white light still covered his entire body as he lay there. It did not take long before the Mana in his core depleted; the Skill was canceled, and Max snapped back to reality.

Lying on the water, Max looked up at the sky. It is going to rain here, he thought after seeing the dark clouds. However, he quickly realized the sky had looked like this for a very long time.

Lifting his body up, he sat down and looked around, realizing where he was. He examined his body. Surprisingly, there were no wounds, but he felt tired and fatigued all over. He had spent all his Mana in a short while.

Without waiting, he drank the water, and soon a refreshing feeling permeated his entire body. He felt good, and the tiredness started to disappear. He looked at the snake, which still stayed at the exact spot where it had attacked him. It did not actively come to finish him off.

'Did the first attack injure its vocal cords or something?' Max thought, seeing that the snake had hardly spoken after his first attack.

Max drank a gulp of water and stood up as Mana slowly started to gather inside his core.

"Do you want to continue and die miserably, or will you agree to make a pact?" Max screamed at the snake.

Max did not think he could easily win this fight. Even though he could restore his life force and Mana simply by drinking the pond water, he severely lacked the overall attack output to kill the snake in a single strike. Conversely, the snake held that exact power.

Therefore, Max preferred not to fight. He would stay here until the invisible barrier disappeared, allowing both of them to leave and go their separate ways.

"Let us make an agreement not to attack each other. Stay where you are, and we will part ways when the time comes," Max said out loud for the snake to hear, seeing that it did not speak.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Max stared at the snake, which remained in the exact same place without uttering a word.

'The attack definitely did something to its vocal cords,' Max confirmed to himself after receiving no reply.

Since there was no reply and the snake was not attacking him, he guessed that the monster had agreed to his proposal.

With that spoken agreement, Max stood at the edge of the pond waiting. Soon, the sun disappeared and night arrived, bringing along heavy rain and thunder.

Max stood naked under the downpour in a pond in the middle of nowhere. Just what kind of situation had he gotten himself into?

As the night descended, visibility slowly decreased. Eventually, he could not even see his own hand. His only comfort was the storm itself. Max was glad that the frequent flashes of lightning brightly illuminated the darkness, allowing him to track the snake's exact location.

He hoped the downpour would not stop and would continue throughout the whole night.

However, things never go as desired.

Soon, the rain started to slow down, and the lightning also stopped. Max slowly began to move from the location where he stood, perking up his ears.

If the snake were to move through the water, it would definitely alert him, allowing him to stay a step ahead of its attack. This was just in case the snake broke their agreement and attacked him.

After moving a few meters away from his previous spot, Max slowly crouched down to make his presence smaller.

Crack!

Suddenly, a large flash of light illuminated the entire pond. Max, whose eyes were still fixed on the snake's location, surveyed everything on the water.

However, he could not see the giant snake. Max immediately stood up as various thoughts raced through his mind. His first realization was that the snake had shrunk its body, preparing for a surprise attack.

Max had completely forgotten that the snake could change its size. This shattered all his previous assumptions; the water would no longer serve as an alarm to indicate if the snake was approaching him.

God damn it, Max cursed inwardly. He activated his Archer class skill, [Eagle Vision], hoping it would enhance his vision in the dark.

[Eagle Vision] Skill Proficiency: 2%

Description: Sharply enhances the user's eyesight, greatly increasing visual range, target tracking, and accuracy with ranged attacks for a limited duration.

Immediately, his vision enhanced, allowing him to see clearly for a distance of a few meters. Although it was not as bright as daylight, the darkness was greatly reduced. Now, if the snake were to enter that range, Max could easily identify it.

However, the problem was that the snake did not need to come this close to attack him. It could easily launch a surprise attack from far away.

Currently, Max was in a dire situation. He either had to use his Mana pathways to sustain the [Eagle Vision] skill just to see a few meters, or he had to deactivate the skill and use his Mana to keep himself ready to escape from a possible attack by running.

Eventually, Max decided to deactivate the skill. It was of no use to simply see a short distance when an attack could come from long range.

He blocked his Mana Path, closed his eyes, and concentrated on extending his senses. The rain had completely stopped. There was no other sound aside from a running water stream and the water dripping from the trees and bushes near the pond.

While he concentrated on detecting any sound anomaly other than the dripping water, his mind suddenly remembered something.

He could use Mana to do more than simply run fast. The old Academy Head Teacher used to speak directly into his head, and he even detected Max every time he arrived at the entrance of the office.

Although he doubted whether those feats were made possible by a skill, he did not want to discard the chance that Mana could be used in different ways.

Currently, he could run, react, and think clearly simply by releasing Mana from his core space. But could he use Mana to see in the dark? His skill, [Eagle Vision], did not work in the dark. Could Mana be used to see through the darkness like night vision?

Well, trying would not hurt, considering his current situation.

He quickly concentrated, pushing his Mana towards his head. He slowly moved it towards his eyes, trying to fill his retinas. However, when he opened his eyes, nothing happened; he still could not see anything.

'Simply filling my eyes with Mana does not seem to be working,' Max thought. While pushing Mana through his entire body allowed him to run faster, but filling his eyes with Mana did not allow him to see at night.

Following this failure, he decided to experiment. He pushed his Mana to fill his entire eye, including the pupils and other parts. Soon, his eyes started to glow blue, but he still had no vision.

Max did not know what to do, nor did he have any idea how to proceed. This overall ambition had simply come from when the old man spoke directly into his head. Therefore, he thought it must have been a Mana Technique. Now that he had failed, he could do nothing but accept that it was not a Mana Technique, but rather the old man's Skill.

Accepting his failure, Max extended his hearing, concentrating on detecting noise instead of relying on vision. However, while doing so, his mind still lingered on the topic of Mana Techniques.

What could the old man have used to speak into his head? Could he have filled his head or mouth with Mana? Filling them with Mana did not seem right. Slowly, he understood that filling his eyes with Mana would not work, especially when he thought about the old man's direct telepathic communication.

Because how could filling his own head with his own Mana make the technique work? There had to be some connection, right?

Suddenly, a thought came to his mind. What if that connection was Max's own Mana? What if the old man had manipulated Max's Mana using his own Mana to speak directly into his head? That seemed to be the correct method, unlike what Max had just attempted.

So, how do I do it? Max thought.

'Maybe I can extend my own Mana through the ambient Mana and search for the specific Mana of another person to connect with.'

In the next second, Max pushed an enormous amount of Mana from his core, releasing it to spread throughout the environment.

As soon as his own Mana spread, he could fell everything around him. Whatever his Mana touched, he could perceive without even opening his eyes.

He pushed further, extending it one meter, two meters, and then three meters. When it reached ten meters, he felt a strain in his head. He could not push his Mana any further than ten meters, but ten meters was enough for now.

He maintained this sense continuously. Whenever the Mana in his core decreased, he drank more of the water.

Time passed on that dark hill. Suddenly, he felt a very strong Mana detection within his senses, and Max immediately knew what it was.

"You do not want to do that. I am warning you for the last time," Max said, looking in the direction of this alien Mana detection.

In the next second, a dark green energy manifested in the dark night.

"I am going to finish you this time," Max said as he rushed towards the small snake that was slowly gliding towards him.