No way, there's just no way... Shaking my head in denial as I slapped my face.
"Ow... Is this a dream...?"
No, it's not a dream. I can feel the pain of my slap. Ouch, it hurts. Why did I slap myself so hard?
Now I understand why everything suddenly became so real, unlike a VR game.
The sensation of everything became more vivid, and there's no longer any alien feeling unlike before.
That's because I really did transmigrate inside the game, as my character... This is so crazy to think about...
I felt my heart beating faster, as excitement took over my mind. I stood up and shouted.
"HELL YEAH!!!"
The loud voice made some birds fly away in surprise. I kept punching the air as I smiled.
"LET'S GO!! MY LONG WAITED WISH!! HAHAHAHA!!"
After a moment of celebration, I collapsed on the blanket in exhaustion. Taking a long breath as I looked at the beautiful night sky.
"What do I do now...?"
Should I dominate this world? Oh, then I should get stronger then. I should level up. I patted some dirt off my clothes as I stood up.
I looked up at the night sky; it's certainly dark.
Is it too late to level up? Nah, grinding levels doesn't have a time. Even if it's in the middle of night!
I took the blanket and set it aside, not wanting it to go missing since I don't have any blanket except for that.
After I got everything ready, I steadied myself.
"Let's go."
Walking in a random direction, trying to find a weak monster. After walking for a while, I saw nothing. It seems that monsters are harder to find during the night.
After a while of searching, I found a lone slime. It's about 2 meters big, and it's made of acidic liquid. I can see a metal core inside of it.
[Lv. 16]
Perfect. Logically speaking, I can't kill this monster with my current level. Even with my absurd 99,999 magic stats, it's useless if I don't have any offensive magic.
So my only way to attack is using [Random Skills], and what it pulls is totally up to my luck.
"Here goes nothing."
I cast the skill towards the slime. I stretched my arm in its direction while keeping a distance.
The distance is about 20 meters, enough for the slime not to notice me, and enough for my skill to land.
[Random Skills Activated.]
Praying to god that a useful skill will actually activate, I halted my breathing.
[Rainbow Hair (Legendary) activated (Lv. Max)]
[Duration: 15 seconds]
When I read it, I was stunned. A legendary skill, but sounds useless.
"What...?"
My hair suddenly started glowing and flashing different colors like a rainbow. This made me noticeable in the middle of the night.
Since the night has barely any light, and my hair is flashing bright lights—I was the spotlight.
"..."
The slime in the distance noticed me, then charged at me. This made me panic.
I stretched my arm towards it as I cast my skill.
[Unable to cast Random Skills as it is currently active.]
[Duration: 10 seconds]
"...You're kidding me."
I dashed to the left, barely enough to dodge the charging slime. I stared at it and for the first time intensified my [Magic Aura] to the maximum.
Like a shockwave formed around me, intense mana filled the scene, making grasses sway. The blue mana shootout of my body wrapped the area far beyond what I could see.
Then, like the air was compressed, the scene experienced extreme pressure. Making the ground, air, and grasses vibrate and shake.
"Oh..."
The green field was covered by blue mana, stretched far for one to see. Looking around, I was also surprised by the magnitude.
This is the maximum output of the [Magic Aura]; this makes sense since it is proportional to my magic stats, which are 99,999...
[Mana: -1,000]
[Mana: 99,249/100,249]
[Mana: -1,000]
[Mana: 98,249/100,249]
[Mana: -1,000]
[Mana: 97,249/100,249]
It consumes a large amount of mana, huh? Seriously, 1,000 mana per second? With my current mana, I can only maintain this output for 100 seconds?
Looking at the incapacitated slime that was unable to move due to my [Magic Aura], I figured that I should take this opportunity to attack while I still have mana.
Seeing that my hair was back to normal, the duration had ended. It means I could use my random skills again.
I raised my arm towards it. Aiming it right.
[Random Skills activated.]
Please, be any offensive magic skill. Please...!
[Glacier (Legendary) activated (Lv. Max)]
"Oh—"
I felt the mana around me flow into the ground, forming a massive magic circle. At the center was the slime. The magic circle was a few hundred meters large.
The air pressure dropped, and everything went silent. Moisture in the air froze, forming a pale white and blue haze.
I saw the slime stop—no, it was freezing. From bottom to top, it was as if time was slowing it down.
The slime, originally a monster made of liquid, became a crystal statue.
Then, as if the whole area was shaking, the ground opened up. In the center, a massive continental mass of ice shot out.
Swallowing grass, soil, and the slime, forming a huge mountain of ice and snow. The shockwave pushed me far, but I felt no pain, coldness, or impact.
After landing quite far away, I steadied myself as I couldn't stop my heart from beating fast. I stared at the distance, at something I created.
On top of a green field, there was a massive mountain made of ice. Everything around it was frozen, even the grasses.
And here I was, safe and sound despite being near when it happened.
It was because of the game's skill system, that a user's skills cannot hurt the user.
"Holy..."
I was dumbfounded, looking at the mess I made. Who could have thought that I would have pulled a legendary skill?
Calming myself down, I lowered the intensity of my [Magic Aura], since it was consuming my mana.
The mana wrapping the entire area disappeared like nothing, leaving only the silent night... and a huge mountain of ice.
"I killed the slime, didn't I...?"
Since it was level 16, I should've leveled up as a level 1. Waiting for the notification, the panel appeared in my vision.
[+0]
[+0]
... (99+ more)
[Level 1: 0/30,929]
"...What?"
What's with this absurd level EXP requirement!? Also, why am I not gaining EXP?
Looking at the panel, I clicked on it.
[You've killed a slime! +0 EXP. Opponent is too low leveled!]
[You've killed a goblin! +0 EXP. Opponent is too low leveled!]
...
[You've killed a slime! +0 EXP. Opponent is too low leveled!]
It seems that the area of my attack was quite large and I killed nearby monsters, but...
Every notification is the same. Opponent is too low leveled to grant EXP.
"What do you mean low leveled! I'm level 1!"
I shouted at the panel, only to be met with silence. The panel can't talk... I have no idea why this is happening...
"Sigh... So I can't level up...?"
If I can't gain EXP, leveling up is impossible. Then I should just hunt for artifacts and treasure throughout the map.
That should give me some form of protection, as I can't keep relying on my luck. [Random Skills] are not reliable in the long run.
Luckily, I know where every artifact's location is. I should be able to get all of them by myself.
"No worries, I'll soon find a way to level up..."
For now, I can't level up due to this bug, but I can still get stronger. Okay... Let's go to the town I saw, let's just hide out my horn for now.
As for removing it? No way, I'm a great white dragon. This is my horn.
I removed some fabric off my clothes and covered my head with it before heading towards the town.
***
After a while, in the empire's adventurer guild.
I'm Silver Jake, the guild master. I held my head in pain as my eyebrows knotted. Looking at the man in front of me at the table, that man is Samuel Pie, S-rank adventurer, and also my assistant.
"Have you discovered the cause of the mana outburst?"
I said to him, as I waited for an answer. His face was visibly troubled as he searched his documents.
"...Yes, we found a mountain of ice, possibly caused by the same entity responsible for the mana outburst."
He placed the documents on the table, while maintaining a tense expression.
"When we arrived, there's no other sign of any monster... however, I have a hypothesis."
He paused, his hands slightly shaking as he looked at me. Heavy atmosphere filled the room.
"...A dragon caused it."