One particularly nasty thing I came across was a nest of so-called [Forge Wasps]. While they were all probably not that strong individually, there was no chance I was stepping up to fight against a nest of wasps for my first fight down here. I hated them back on Earth already, I could do without them here.
Though, if you think about it, I don't think they actually pose much of a risk to me down here. At least not so close to the magma. Due to the overwhelming heat around us, I was a lot more powerful than I had any right to be for the level I was at.
As I observed more and more of them from a safe distance, I changed my mind again. There's absolutely no way I'm fighting them. While the main workforce of the nest seemed to only be somewhere in tier two, the bulkier individuals among them were solidly in tier three.
On top of that, they also didn't hunt with just fire-based attacks. While I probably had a great chance of surviving even tier three attacks if they were entirely
Another creature I came across, from a great distance, mind you, was a truly gigantic turtle-like behemoth that looked like a moving volcano from where I saw it slowly moving through the hellscape of magma. It identified as [Volcanic Tortoise, Lv. ???], which placed it solidly in tier four. While I couldn't be sure about that, I was almost certain that it was the highest-level being I have ever identified, even including instructor Austen, who self-reportedly was at level 211.
The tortoise itself didn't seem particularly aggressive, but who knows what it was capable of if provoked? It certainly was far from being in my weight class. After all, I had to remember that I wasn't immortal. While ticking damage like the initial burning of the magma was easy for me to withstand and recover from, I doubted that I would survive being crushed by tons of rock or being sliced in half in one way or another.
I was also uncertain how my regeneration would handle missing body parts. While it somehow managed to regenerate my head and body hair, as well as any finger and toe nails, which were inevitably destroyed by the onslaught of magma, I couldn't be certain that it would also regenerate my fingers if I were to lose one of them.
I hoped that it would stay that way as well, I was far from being keen on losing any of them anytime soon.
But then again, the skill did manage to restore any damage I accrued in the lava, and even my eyes were built back after being burned to ash. Losing an eye or chunks of flesh from various parts of the body couldn't be too different from losing a limb, right?
In that moment, I finally saw something that piqued my interest. It was a single [Ash Wolf] that stalked around the pools of magma carefully. Identifying the creature gave me [Ash Wolf, Lv. ?]. Tier two meant doable. Well, maybe 'doable' wasn't quite the right word here, 'not certain death' was more like it.
Curiously, though, was the fact that it was alone. I had seen them before, but they were always hunting in packs of around five or six individuals. They didn't have anything like an alpha, that was a complete myth anyways. Packs were better described as families and related offspring that were led by the breeding pair and not by a dictator-like creature that alphas were often portrayed as. This didn't change much for me, though. The packs I had seen around always had at least one tier three among them. Not something I could handle right now.
Luckily for me, the fields of magma were actually very well suited for remaining unnoticed. The only sense truly applicable here was sight and maybe hearing. Smell could be disregarded completely, it was way too hot for any lingering scents to exist for any longer period of time. The constant existence of an ashy fog that polluted most of the air wasn't helpful in that regard either.
This way, I could mostly remain hidden from all those dangerous creatures. Well, most of them wouldn't care much for me either. I was just a weak tier one and not even big in size physically. I wouldn't be much more than a snack to any of them. Maybe I would already be dead if that wasn't the case.
Back to the [Ash Wolf] in front of me, though. It was alone, but it didn't seem hurt in any way. Maybe its pack got into a losing fight and scrambled to flee, splitting up in the process? Possible, but nothing more than a guess. Maybe it also liked being alone or was excluded by its pack for some unknown reason.
I didn't particularly care anyways. It was alone now, and that was an opportunity I couldn't pass by. Who knows when I would get such an opportunity again?
With that thought concluded, I rushed at the creature. It spotted me the moment I left my hiding spot behind some rocks. It instantly grew wary of me and growled as a sign of warning.
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The [Ash Wolf] was a lot bigger than me, standing at a height of just over two meters. It had dark grey fur that blended well into the surrounding colors of ash and rock. Its orange eyes that almost seemed to glow also fit well into the whole volcanic theme this place had going on.
I threw a [Minor Fireball] at the creature, but it dodged effortlessly with a nimble jump to the side. Damn, that thing was quick. My increase in level since my last fight meant that I was a lot stronger than I used to be, but I still needed to adapt to my newfound power. The fireballs I threw finally looked like they actually packed quite a punch, far from the weak balls of flame they used to be.
Unlike [Candlelight], the fireballs were rigid in structure but still very flexible when it came to modifying the skill. I had worked on compressing the fire, just like I did with the other skill, and also brought the temperature up quite a bit.
Still, all of this was a bit useless if I couldn't hit my opponents with them. That damn wolf was so fast that I had basically no chance of hitting it from where I was. I don't think it even saw me as an actual opponent yet. It was still carefully observing me instead of retaliating with attacks of its own.
I got a bit closer to the wolf. Fireballs didn't work well, so I wanted to test out [Candlelight] instead. It was the highest-level skill I had, and I needed to get used to fighting with it. I could already use it very well for all kinds of utility, but it had unfound potential in combat. The only problem with it was the distance. While I could haul the fireballs very far without any problems, it was different for the malleable fire.
Fireballs were outside of my control the moment I chucked them away. The structure of the fireball then prevented a collapse of it as it burned. They couldn't fly forever, though. Fireballs were unstable existences. The exothermic violence of a fireball stood in direct contrast with a persistent existence. Constructing a stable fireball that didn't just dissipate after a couple of seconds or minutes was basically impossible, even for stronger casters.
In a fit of enlightenment, I used [Candlelight] to construct a flaming sword that looked more like a stick and a handheld shield that wasn't actually handheld. I pushed the density of both things as far as possible, which made both constructs lose the unpredictable fieriness of a wild flame and take on an even glow, which made them look like they were created with molten steel. Testingly, I grabbed one of the sword with my right hand. It felt damagingly hot to my touch, but not something I couldn't handle. Mages had an inherent resistance to their own magic anyways, and the heat it gave off immediately mended any damage caused by it.
Swinging it around felt like I imagined swinging around a lightsaber must feel like. It wasn't completely weightless, but it was very lightweight when compared to an equivalent sword made out of steel.
I know I should take this fight seriously, but I didn't think I was in that much risk playing around a bit. If I never tried new things, I was going to be stuck without making much progress. If using [Candlelight] for fighting was actually a viable strategy, I could base my fighting style around that. Right now, I didn't do much apart from throwing around fireballs. While that would work for quite a lot of possible opponents, only having a single way of attacking was never good. If my enemies had a reliable way of blocking the fireballs, I'd be as good as dead.
At that moment, the [Ash Wolf] decided that it had observed me enough and went on the offense. I didn't know what it was doing exactly, but the ever-present ash all around us suddenly got a lot denser. It felt like a film had been laid over the world as everything turned grey. I could maybe see a couple of meters at most in the ash rain, which definitely wasn't good.
I had recently acquired [Mana Sense], but I still sucked at it. The skill had some kind of problem with me. It worked to the level it should at level one, but I couldn't improve it at all. While my non-existent talent for this skill was circumvented by getting it as a reward from my personal achievement, I still had no talent for it in the end. Maybe that would change in the future, but for now it was stuck at level one.
While that wasn't the end of the world, the skill would have been extremely useful to have in this ash-covered world. At the level it was at, I could only barely perceive hints of mana that didn't belong to me. In this storm of ash that was fueled by the [Ash Wolf], there was mana being used all around me, which made the skill completely useless here.
Luckily, I did have the skill [Heightened Senses], which made it a bit easier for me. As a human being, I was very reliant on being able to see, though. While I wouldn't lose precision like if I were truly blind and couldn't rely on hand-eye coordination, having to rely on my other senses felt a bit awkward.
On the other hand, I had no doubt that the [Ash Wolf] had no problems knowing exactly where I was. This was its domain after all.
I heard a movement to my right and turned immediately, only to see the gaping maw of the wolf coming straight towards me as the creature charged at me, intending to rip me apart with its teeth. It was only a couple of meters away at that point, so I could see it rushing through the sight-inhibiting ash wallowing around us. Suddenly, its glowing orange eyes looked a lot scarier than they had before it conjured the storm of ash.
At this point, it was already too late to think of dodging the attack. I didn't have any movement-related skill, and the creature was way too fast for me to even think that jumping to the side could avoid its attack. With a hint of panic, I made use of the only defensive option I had. I raised the shield of solid flame I had made for myself and braced myself for impact.
The clash between me and my shield against the wolf's scary maw was like a military-grade battle ram against an old door made with half-rotten wood that looked like it would fall apart on its own any second now. In other words, I stood no chance.
While the shield did prevent it from biting off any of my limbs, I did nothing to diminish the amount of kinetic energy transferred from the two-meter-tall beast of a wolf rushing at me. I was flung away like a rag-doll, losing my primitive sword and shield in the process. I then collided with a couple of rocks a few meters back that unceremoniously stopped me.
Shit, this wasn't good. Back on Earth, due to the efforts of Blake, I had broken some of my bones before. This was exactly what that had felt like.