LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 136: The Final 12 Days (LAST)
"Damn it," punching the air in frustration, Aoni collapsed onto his butt and held his left index finger in front of his face.
"It makes zero sense; how is it that even with minimal concentration, I am able to condense and rapidly fire multiple Ice Bullets, but the moment I move my body even an inch out of place, everything falls apart." Glaring at his fingertip as if it held all the answers he sought, the Lad sighed before leaning back on his arms and staring up at the night sky.
He'd attempted every possible idea, changed the entire construction process, and even imagined himself moving like a gunfighter, but nothing worked.
It was as if fate itself had determined that Aoni was locked into the life of a sniper, and for the Lad, who fully understood how important a weapon his Ice Bullets were, it was far too big a pill to swallow.
"Maybe it's some type of counterbalance having to do with my Ratings." Aoni mused while turning his head and reading through his Traveler's Display for the millionth time in the last hour.
"With my Energia Stat being at D- my Energia reserves are several times what those my Rank should have, but that is mainly due to all the abuse, the fruits, and, of course, the Chimera meat."
One of the first things Aoni had noticed upon starting his training was the fact that he seemed to have a bottomless pool of Energia to draw from, and because of that, he had believed himself to be a perfect Mage type, one who could literally be a monster on the battlefield, slinging spells, and magic attacks willy nilly.
To some extent, he wasn't wrong; even after firing hundreds of Ice Bullets over the last three hours, all he'd done was work up a sweat, and the Lad surmised that he could probably go another 3 hours given the mental fatigue didn't knock him out first.
After all, the concentration required for manifesting his Ice Bullets was off the charts. If not for his astronomical willpower, he'd probably already be snoozing away on the wall.
"There has to be something wrong with the imagery behind my attack," thinking back to the way he drew in Energia, aka the Vortex method, Aoni immediately shook his head and tossed that idea away.
"No, that makes less sense than the fact that I can't move and shoot; literally, Every single thing I've ever read says that's how it works, and unless you have a specific technique to draw in the Ambient Energia before mixing it with what's stored inside your EC, you can't manifest the attack."
"Hold on…what if the Ambient Energia is the problem, like it some kind of conversion issue? What I'm drawing doesn't match the required activation cost." Bouncing back to his feet and taking his usual pose, Aoni changed his method of activation; this time, instead of drawing in Energia, he went ahead and tried manipulating the Energia stored within his body.
Within seconds, there was a reaction, as the familiar sight of a bullet formed of pure Elementalized Energia appeared, not even 1/4th of an inch away from his skin. However, after adding rotation to his attack, everything started going haywire.
It started as a faint pain in his chest, which rapidly spread out to his arm, and before he even realized what happened, Aoni's entire left arm was coated in a thin layer of frost.
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck," freaking out because he didn't know what was happening, and too far into the manifestation to stop, Aoni did all he could to control things before speeding his way through to the firing phase, and then subconsciously, he took a single step backward and…
BOOOM!!
With a loud explosion rivaling a cannon shot, Aoni was rocketed off the wall backward as if he'd been hit by a wrecking ball, sending him flying through the air, where he landed not far away from the campfire in a heap.
"Ahhhrgggh," feeling an immense strain on his body not unlike what happens when he upgrades his Defense, Aoni curled into a ball on the ground, gripping his chest with his right hand…as for his left, his entire left arm was completely numb.
"Dumb, dumb, that was fucking dumb," managing to spit out a string of curses, the Lad crawled over to the pit and propped his arm up close to the fire just in time to pass out; the last thing he noticed before the world faded to black, as expected, was a thick armorlike coat of ice covering everything from his fingertips to his left shoulder.
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When Aoni came too, he realized he was no longer sitting by the fire, and instead, he was in his bed, with Glacia using his left arm as a hug pillow and Nyria taking up whatever space she could fit into.
'Fan-fucking-tastic, not only did I pass out after nearly losing my arm, but my summons found me and dragged me to bed…hm?' part way through his thought train, Aoni noticed his arm felt perfectly fine and even wiggled a few fingers to triple-check.
It was at that moment he realized the gooey residue coating his exposed flesh.
'These too, not only did they hug me for warmth, but they treated my arm with the first aid herbs and fruits we found,' wearing a soft smile, Aoni clenched his teeth and stared up at the dark cave ceiling.
'That was dangerous. Had I held the attack any longer and not fired it when I did, my arm would be completely useless. It still tingles a bit, but everything feels intact.' Using his right hand to cover his face, the Lad sighed and thought back to what had gone wrong.
In the heat of the moment, he could tell that something changed in his Manipulation output, spiking the power allotted to the bullet, almost like it was overcharging automatically. Before he knew it, things were completely out of his control, and the only option was to brace himself and release the attack.
"heh, hehe, it worked, though," Even with things being the way they were, as he replayed everything that occurred, Aoni didn't miss the fact that he was able to take a step back when bracing himself and was still able to fire the bullet.