First, I forcefully take control of my mana, straining my brain to do so. But I already know what to do. I tried it on the man who wanted to kill me; I also tested it on so many monsters. I gave it a lot of thought and testing. So, it's time to do it for real.

I take a wisp of my mana and use it to etch the construct inside my body. Then I add more and more skills to do it.

I use [Mana Manipulation]

I use a super weak version of oscillation [Oscillation]

Then, [Mana Surge] fires up, boosting my [Mana Manipulation] as I am creating the construct.

It's not exactly like Sophie's; it has similarities to my trait, and mana circuit as well.

While doing so, the world outside of my mind becomes distant thanks to my deep [Focus] and I feel a few more stabs at my body, the monster delivering the poison again.

But I ignore it, and I ignore the mana that starts tearing through my body as I have to focus on creating the construct.

Every fiber of my being screams against the onslaught of mana, yet I grit my teeth and endure. I've always known that this would be no easy task. It feels like a maelstrom is raging inside me, wreaking havoc on my internal organs and threatening to consume me. The raw, wild energy of mana refuses to be tamed.

Yet as the world around me fades into the background and my existence narrows down to this singular task, there's a sense of calm that permeates my consciousness. Like the eye of a storm, calm amidst the chaos. The sensation is surreal like I'm observing myself from outside, detached from the pain. The harshness of my environment, the cold stones under my battered body, cold air, it all become secondary, put to the back of my mind.

I can almost visualize the intricate patterns of the construct, its complexity resonating with the very essence of my being. The inelegant yet beautiful pathways. In the end it's not only about surviving and taming my raging mana, it's about creating something new. Something mine. I'm just pulling strings of energy, shaping it, crafting it. It's a task that pushes me to my limits, a constant struggle against the raw, untamed force that is mana.

My arm twists and cracks, blood starts flowing from my nose and ears, one of my ribs breaks, and bruises start appearing all over my body. But I do not let it bother me. I continue to focus and slowly, carefully etch the pathways for the construct on my bones, connecting them to my circuit as well.

The construct slowly comes into existence and I make it stronger and more resistant against skills such as [Disruption]. I cover it in my mana, I hide it under my circuit.

My ears ring and I feel lightheaded. The pain of creating the construct is even worse than the pain of my body being ravaged by my own mana. It takes a lot of time - it feels like days, but in the end, I succeed.

A notification lights up. My first construct is as simple as this - the maximum I can do right now.

Congratulations, you have created your first Construct. The name will be kept as such and it will be shown in the status under active skills and over passive skills. Well done!

You have acquired Reinforcement (Construct)

The versatile enhancement that uses mana to bolster the user's physical, and mental abilities. By infusing specific aspects of their being with mana, it can improve strength, agility, defenses and mental resilience, providing overall support and stability for the user

Immediately, I feel the pressure of my mana lessen, and quite a bit of the amount starts flowing inside the construct and through the pathways I created. I feel my body strengthening up, almost the same amount as when I'm strengthening it actively.

The efficiency is not that good and it's wasting a lot of mana, and it's running the entire time instead of how I liked to use it - by sending pulses of mana through my body to strengthen the parts I wanted.

But it's a start. I am sure I can improve it in the future. I like that it's boosting multiple things.

Physically, thanks to my experience with boosting my body.

Mentally, thanks to my [Focus] and the fact that I wanted it to give me some resistance against mental attacks and the testing I did on all those Razorwings that had some sort of mental attacks.

But finally, some pain alleviates and the mana I have to deal with right now lessens. Maybe 20-30% of it flows into the construct.

The efficiency is terrible. I could get the same results with 10% of my mana if I used it actively.

But there is a huge advantage. It's passive. I don't have to use my mind to do it and anyways, I can't use all of my mana right now. And as I found out, the amount of mana I have is much higher than I thought.

There's also another advantage. I can turn it off and on any time I want to.

One part of my [Focus] immediately uses [Mana Perception] and I start sending threads of mana along with it into my surroundings. I also send pulses of mana, using it as a sonar, trying to calculate the room I am in and to find the monster.

I stop controlling my mana that's not such a problem now as the Construct sucks it up and uses it, and at the same time, my strengthened body handles it better.

I am excited. This opens up so many roads in front of me.

Your skill [Mana Perception] has evolved into [Perception].

[Mana Perception - lvl 15 > Perception - lvl 10]

My levels!

Give them back!

The heck!

What the hell?

Did I just “upgrade” my skill? Judging from the name, that's not it. So have I acquired a skill that's a higher version of my [Mana Perception] and they combined? That would confirm my theory that every skill has a tier or something like this. For example, Lily's [Disintegration] should be an exceedingly high-tiered skill as it allowed her at such a low level to hurt Cinderbear.

Good!

I fire up [Perception] and much more information comes back to me this time. I can still track mana but there's more of it. I can create a map of my surroundings in my head. It's all mostly visual as there is no sound feedback and the area is smaller than before, much smaller.

But I love it? The reason?

This little shit glued on the wall right over my head.

The monster immediately starts running away but I send even more mana inside my body to strengthen it together with my construct and dash at it.

My speed is higher than I thought so I crash against the wall but I ignore it and dash again after landing on the ground, quickly reaching the monster.

I still can't sense any mana from it, even as I grab it by the neck. Suddenly, a tiny flame flares up from the monster's mouth, lightly illuminating our surroundings. Now, I can see the text hovering over its head.

[Venomous Needle Imp - lvl 40]

Another little asshole that gave me so much trouble. Once again I am reminded that even someone much higher level can be fucked over by having a bad matchup.

Through my [Perception], I continue to observe the monster after tearing off one of its arms, that has a stinger on it.

It's similar to a goblin, just smaller and even thinner. Its skin is red and its ears sharp and big. Also, its eyes are massive; they continue to look at me while the monster screeches, trying to kick me.

What are your skills? Show me. This can't be all. You are level 40.

Slowly a fire starts glowing around the monster. Just a few wisps of flames here and there around it but soon it's set ablaze.

Before they can burn me, [Disruption] clashes against the monster, making its flames die off.

The monster screeches and tries to do it again.

And I watch.

[Disruption]

I watch.

[Disruption]

I track the flow of its mana, following it carefully. Watching as fires come into existence.

[Disruption]

Unfortunately, the monster stops after a while, totally out of mana and not even screeching anymore.

So I grab its leg and swing the monster against the wall.

Crack

And again.

Crack. Splat.

[You have defeated a Venomous Needle Imp - lvl 40]

I wait for a bit, but nothing happens. I'm still here, and there's no portal. Okay, Granny, let me show you what I am capable of.

[Perception] fires off, and I start walking deeper inside the web of tunnels.

POV Maya Jones

"He has a sister?!”

“Yes, she's five years older than him.”

“Damn, it's hard to imagine that guy having an elder sibling.”

“I know where you're coming from, but just imagine a female version of him, only more sociable and significantly less forgiving.” The young blonde silences.

“That sounds terrifying.”

“More than you think.”