The Lone Wanderer-Chapter 191: Exchange

Over the next several hours, Percy and the troll fought many more rounds. Every time the creature’s mana ran out, he gave it a few minutes to refill it. At the same time, the troll consumed one of its verdant mushrooms once every few breaks, to remove its exhaustion too.

As for Percy, he’d already mastered keeping Synchronization active since before leaving the Guild. He hadn’t had a choice, as many of his activities depended on it. Of course, that was not to say he wasn’t tired. Dodging the troll’s relentless onslaught took a lot of effort, and he lacked the means to recover. Still, he pressed on, knowing this was a rare opportunity he couldn’t afford to waste.

‘Why is it using up all its mushrooms just to help me out though? Aren’t they precious?’

He had no idea how the trolls even cultivated them on their bodies, nor how easily they could be replenished, but he struggled to understand why his opponent would go so far for his sake. It wasn’t until the creature increased the pressure on him that he realized what was going on.

The troll wasn’t doing it for his sake at all!

It was training too!

Evidently, these guys were battle maniacs, just like him!

‘Well, that certainly explains their scars. I bet they spend all day sparring against one another…’

At first, it hadn’t been immediately obvious, as his own improvements vastly eclipsed the troll’s. After all, it couldn’t compete with the positive feedback loop between his Foresight spell, his Status and his Sorcerer’s Eye. However, the creature still worked hard to hone its own magic, trying to increase the number of projectiles it could launch at once.

’20… 25… 30… 35!’ Percy counted, confirming his guess.

He was confident the troll hadn’t been able to throw more than thirty snakes at him during their first bout. Its improvements were modest, yet undeniable. But increasing the number of projectiles it could fire wasn’t the only thing the creature was working on.

Suddenly, the bolts closed in on him unexpectedly, blocking all his escape paths. The projections that had previously grown clearer shattered at this moment, rendering him unable to predict the spells’ trajectories.

Percy twisted his body as he leapt backwards, evading most of the snakes while guarding his vitals with his gauntlets. Still, he was forced to let a few of the attacks land painfully on his legs, drawing some blood. At least, each individual projectile wasn’t too dangerous.

‘Shit! It’s not making my job easy, is it?’

The creature had clearly varied its attack pattern just now, trying to catch him off guard. And it had succeeded too, nullifying his previous efforts to memorize its movements. That said, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The more the troll pushed back against his Foresight, the stronger the spell would grow once reforged.

Diving back into the fight, Percy opened up the distance to the creature some more, until he managed to adjust to the new pattern. Peering into the troll’s body, he observed how the mana flowed through its channels, and how its soul’s flickers different from before, trying to rebuild his understanding.

Like that, one man and one troll continued to fight, round after round, hour after hour, in a relentless tug of war between offense and defence, each trying to outgrow one another. Sadly for the troll, however, this was a contest it had never stood a chance of winning…

***

Percy tiptoed between the azure snakes, navigating the muddy battlefield with the elegance of a dancer. Over eighty projectiles shone brightly in his eyes, though only half of them were real. The rest were nothing more than projections of a future he had glimpsed.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Bobbing and weaving, he dodged the majority of them, occasionally swatting one or two with his gauntlets, as he steadily advanced towards the troll. Loud splashes could be heard around him, as azure jets of pressurized water pelted their surroundings one after the other. Many of them landed on the trees, the rotting bark having long been shaved clean, revealing the fresher wood beneath, a few shades lighter.

But Percy didn’t pay the noise any heed, having already learned to tune it out some time ago, his focus entirely reserved for his opponent.

Seeing him approach, the creature panicked. It pushed more mana out of its core, increasing both the size and speed of its spells, whilst mixing and matching their patterns in a desperate attempt to stop the human in his tracks.

But it wasn’t meant to be.

Percy had long seen through his opponent’s magic, the snakes now appearing clearer in his eyes than they ever had before. And they grew clearer still, with each passing moment!

[Congratulations! Your spell has evolved: Wild Art: Foresight – Crude -> Wild Art: Greater Foresight – Refined!]

With a satisfying click, something snapped in place within his mind.

Percy blinked, the tension leaving his brows. When he next opened his eyes, the projections were still there, no longer flickering in and out of existence. Better yet, they seemed to have travelled a few metres further from the actual spells, expanding Percy’s window by another second!

Closing the rest of the distance to the troll was now trivial, the creature no longer holding any surprises for him. Percy ignored the remaining spells completely, walking through them with an ease that would have seemed impossible just hours ago.

Realizing it had already lost, the creature finally halted its assault, letting its arms fall weakly by its sides. Upon reaching it, Percy clenched his armoured fist, as the troll closed its eyes, resigned to its fate. It stood there motionless, waiting for the blow to land.

A blow that… never came.

Opening its eyes, the troll blinked twice, seeing Percy’s extended hand. It tilted its head in confusion, glancing back and forth between Percy’s clenched gauntlet and his grinning expression. Only a few seconds later did it seem to understand something, raising its own fist too, letting it hang in the air for a while. Grabbing the opportunity, Percy bumped fists against the troll, his smile widening in the process.

“Graaakhaak!!” “Groook!” the other trolls exclaimed, their deep voices echoing throughout the gloomy depths of the Trollsden.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

Looking at them, Percy noticed their expressions weren’t those of anger, but excitement. He could tell they both wanted their own turn at him, having grown sick of waiting for him to finish.

Percy was about to say something, but the troll king beat him to it. Ignoring his second attendant, he leapt forth, covering half the distance towards him. Next, he let out a guttural roar as he slammed his fists against his chest, each blow sending a tremor through the ground.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to fight the rest of them too?” Nesha groaned.

She hadn’t interrupted him either, having patiently remained on the side, ready to intervene had something gone wrong. Percy smiled bitterly. He felt bad about dousing the trolls’ excitement, but he could use some sleep right now. He was about to try explaining himself, though the troll king cut him off with a proposal.

“Gahak!!” he grunted, gesturing at his wrists.

It took Percy a moment to realize what he was trying to say.

“You mean these? You want them?” he asked, pointing at his gauntlets.

The creature nodded back, confirming his guess.

But Percy shook his head.

“They are too small for you.” he said, placing his arm next to the other troll’s for comparison.

“I can try making one your size, but it’ll just break after a few weeks.” he added a moment later.

To demonstrate his point, he used his willpower to chip a small piece from one of the components. Still, he wasn’t sure if the king understood him. The creature stared at him in silent contemplation for a few seconds, before gesturing at his other attendant. The third troll then walked forward, drawing some mana from its core. It was only now that Percy realized this guy had a pure affinity too.

“You want me to teach him how to build these?” he asked in amusement, pointing between himself and the troll.

It was true these guys were smarter than the average demi-human, but he wasn’t sure they could learn something as intricate as his Phantomscale Gauntlet spell. Crystallization shouldn’t be too difficult for them, but Reinforcement would definitely be a challenge. Even if they could somehow master the Refined spell, how was he supposed to teach them runecrafting? Could they even forge something as delicate as his fingerguards?

‘Well, I guess I don’t need to show them everything. I could stop at Reinforcement. That should be enough for some short-lived weapons…’

The troll king seemed to have misunderstood the source of his hesitation, however. Thinking Percy was just being stingy, he turned around, before pointing at his back. It was full of mushrooms, both their size and numbers far exceeding the ones on his attendants’ bodies! They glowed more brightly too, and there were two types of them!

Other than the verdant mushrooms rich in life mana that Percy had already seen, there was a second variant, these burning in a blazing red. Naturally, he had no idea what these did, but he wanted them.

“You want to exchange these for Reinforcement?”