Another month had passed, and my growth continued.
According to the status window, I was at layer two mid in terms of magic, meaning I was probably about halfway to becoming a third layer mage.
The training had become slightly more bareable, and I was able to do up to three circulations before my master would step in and heal me.
It was still awful, though.
In addition to this, it seemed that my master's circulation technique had been recorded as a skill on my window.
[Calamity Bursting Circulation Technique - C
An incredibly reckless cultivation technique created by the Lich King Xerxes. Despite the immense pain it inflicts upon its user, its effectiveness is unmatched.]
Currently, it was only at C rank, but that was due to my lack of mastery over the technique.
My master had said it was split into multiple levels, and that I had only been utilising the first level so far.
I shuddered at the thought of how painful the higher levels could be.
'Maybe that's why his skin is so fucked up, all cracked and leaking mana.'
I left my room and went outside of the base, entering the small training ground master had created in the desert.
"Today we'll do something a little different, you have an exam."
"...Okay, what do I have to do?"
I did not question why I was being tested, rather than that I was excited to do anything that wasn't the training I had been suffering for the past two months.
"You'll be hunting a rather large snake, if you pass by killing the snake, you get to continue studying under me, and I'll teach you something new, fail, and I'll let the snake eat you for dinner."
I ignored his disparaging comments about me becoming snake dinner, instead asking him the question gnawing at my mind.
"That snake, would it happen to be the Giant Whitescale Serpent?"
"Oh, you knew about it? That's good then, you're already at an advantage."
It was the target of my 'second objective' of the quest I had received earlier.
Even though the quest had been cancelled, somehow I ended up having to fight it anyway.
But I was not nervous about it.
In fact, I was eager to test out how much my abilities had really improved.
This could be considered my first 'proper' fight since becoming a mage.
The bandits were, well, trash, and I had shamelessly been sniping the coyotes for my quest progress.
"Okay, let's go."
I wondered if my master was at all surprised by my attitude.
"Good attitude."
Perhaps he was.
...
In the distance, I saw a large white serpent half buried in the sand.
It was very difficult to see, as the beast's scales camoulfaged with the white sand of the desert.
The sun reflected of both the sand and the scales, making it even more difficult to see.
It took my master pointing it out for me to even notice it.
"It's big."
I could not help but speak my thoughts.
The snake was probably as wide as my torso.
As for it's length, I couldn't see from here.
"Yeah, well, I'll let you take it from here."
I looked towards my master, intending to nod my head, but he had disappeared instantly.
'Does he think he's batman?'
I was not sure what kind of magic he had used to cloak himself, but the fact he had not even spoken the name of the spell was surprising.
'This is how he stalked me, I guess.'
He had not given me any instructions of how I should approach the task, so I assumed he'd let me handle it however I wanted.
"Okay then, let's begin."
I already had the sneak attack advantage, which I had to use to its fullest extent.
Unfortunately, only part of the snake was visible, meaning I could not cleanly kill it with a headshot.
Even if I could, the distance I was standing at would cause my magic bullet to decrease in strength once it reached the snake.
Still, with the technique I had in mind, I would be able to do decent damage whilst ensuring my accuracy.
Closing one eye, I pointed my index finger towards the serpent about a hundred meters away from me.
In a little under two seconds, the basic circle for magic bullet appeared.
'Now for the second layer.'
I intended to add 'spin' to my bullet.
In my original world, this was a technique known as 'rifling'.
Gun barrels were designed with cylindrical grooves so that when a bullet was shot, it would spin in the air.
This helped to create gyroscopic stability in flight, improving accuracy, range and velocity.
All three of these things were of great importance to my combat effectiveness.
Unfortunately, it was not something I could use up close, as the second layer took nearly ten seconds to construct.
Adding an operation such as spin was more complex than something simple such as improved sharpness.
Zzzt!
Hyieek!
The snake immediately awoke from its sleep after being hit by my bullet.
I could not tell if it had penetrated through fully at this distance.
This area of the desert was quite flat, and thus the snake instantly saw me.
'Fuck, it's still that fast after being shot?'
The giant whitesclae serpent, having indentified its opponent, started slithering towards me at scarily high speeds.
'At this distance, I should be able to get another second layer shot in.'
Rifling was too complex to use quickly enough, so I instead added an operation to increase sharpness.
Zzt!
Unforunately, the serpent had expected it, trying to dodge out of the way.
Keyword being 'try', I had still managed to graze it, slightly damaging some scales on its side.
If I were to target those scales with regular magic bullets, I could probably break through.
Hsss!
I couldn't help but sweat as the snake came close to me.
Without much thought, I started spamming regular magic bullets, being able to shoot three out of a single circle.
Unfortunately, I lacked the mastery to shoot multiple bullets from a second layer circle.
The snake seemed to have recognised that these bullets were weaker than the previous ones and thus decided to ignore them, lunging towards me.
I threw myself sideways, landing on the sand.
I had avoided being devoured, but the snake's body had landed on my legs, pinning them down.
And now, it would have a much easier follow up attack.
Hyieeek!!!!
A sharp scream came from the sound, as from my current angle, I had been able to land a few shots at the damaged scales from earlier.
"Fuck!"
The snake's pain seemed to enrage it further, and it had bitten my arm.
I didn't have much time left to finish off the fight.
I had no idea if the snake were venemous or not, so I could only assume the worst.
As its fangs tore into my flesh, with my other arm, I aimed at the snake's eye.
Understanding what was about to happen, it tried to unlatch itself from my arm.
Hyieee!!!!
Unfortunately for the bastard snake, it was too slow.
Its left eye had been shredded by three point blank bullets.
Adrenaline was probably the only thing keeping me awake right now, I could not even bare to look at my left arm, having been wrecked by the snake's fangs.
As it screamed in agony, I spotted the initial wound I had delivered to the serpent.
'This is my chance.'
It was a shot requiring great precision, but since I was right next to the snake, I thought I could make it.
As it thrashed around, I crawled closer to its body.
My legs had probably been broken by the weight of the snake landing on me earlier.
As I crawled with my single in tact limb, I created a magic circle.
For its second layer, I added 'detonation'.
Crawling as far as I could, I aimed towards the wound and cast the spell.
BANG!
Even I was surprised at the strength of the explosion, with it managing to throw me backwards a few meters.
'How did I even...'
As my head was about to hit the ground, I caught a glimpse of the serpent.
It had been split in two from the blast.
---
LOG 14 - GIANT WHITESCALE SERPENT
A large species of snake classified as a monster due to its great size and hardened scales providing resistance to magic and regular weaponry. They typically live in deserts, using their reflective scales to camouflage themselves in the sand. The adventurer's association classifies them as a C rank monster.