Soul Eater Sword (Rare)

It grants you the power to steal five hundred points of mana from a target when causing damage.

Strength + 500, Speed + 500

Durability: 300/300

Instead of just using the rings all at once to create a single sword. Luke had another idea. What would happen if he transmuted two equal weapons to create the same weapon but improved? He did something similar before, but he always used several items to create another one different from the original. Still, his first attempt failed for some reason, but when he tried to transmute three of them, he managed to raise the rank of the weapon, and when he used four, he succeeded again. To improve the rarity rank, he had to sacrifice two equal pieces of equipment on the first try and three more to reach the rare rank. It was a simple concept, but in the end, it was a bit flawed since the effects didn’t stack completely.

"Well, I am broke now... I will need 124 million gold coins to reach the heroic rank," Luke said while frowning. "This weapon better work, or I will go mad."

Luke returned to the real world and didn’t waste time and attacked the wall in front of him. Much to his surprise, he felt a lot less resistance than before. His swing opened a hole in the wall big enough for him to pass, but he didn’t feel the mana being absorbed by his weapon. The sword could be used against anything related to magic, but it wouldn’t restore his mana like that.

"Well, it isn’t like I need mana right now..." Luke thought and then began to destroy the walls and walk in a straight line. "Hopefully, I will be walking in the right direction."

While slashing the walls apart, Luke wondered why the whole projection still was standing without trying to repair itself. If he were to go as far as to create something that massive, he certainly would have the mana to add that feature as well. Regardless, at least he could feel that the weird presence caused by the excess of mana was decreasing. That helped him to keep his guard up a little more since he knew that he was causing the ruckus. It was clear that he would be attracting some troublesome individuals.

It didn’t take long for Luke to feel that something around him had changed. It didn’t seem like it was the layout of the maze. He wasn’t quite sure, but he felt that he was being watched. However, it was different from the other times he felt like that. That was why he wasn’t sure... In any case, he decided to keep moving without showing any signs that he was feeling like that.

"Letting the other side attack first isn’t my style... Shall I summon the frozen world sword and strike first?" Luke thought.

An opponent that reached that place shouldn’t be underestimated. Still, attacking first with a large area of effect spell probably won’t do much unless the other part is close to Luke. In any case, he decided to be a bit more brute while destroying the walls while showing that he was losing his patience. All in order to make more debris fall around and spread across the area. If someone approaches, it will be harder for them to do so without stepping on them and making some noise. Unfortunately, Luke didn’t have many chances to do that. He suddenly felt a shiver, and soon after, something began to pierce his neck. Almost at the same time, he summoned his shadow clones to attack whatever had attacked him, but they found nothing. At the same time, just when Luke was about to enhance his endurance, the feeling disappeared.

Luke turned around, but he didn’t see anything either. One didn’t have to be a genius to understand that the enemy was approaching him while invisible. Still, to think that they could keep the spell active even during the attack... that skill was more than a little bit troublesome.

"An assassin type of enemy, I don’t remember facing one..." Luke thought.

Since Luke didn’t have any experience dealing with them, he had no idea what he should do. Still, he didn’t feel that pressured since the enemy was someone who felt the need to stay invisible. Someone with so little balls couldn’t become a threat to Luke. Still, all of a sudden, Luke felt something cutting his neck slightly, just where his jugular was... The wound wasn’t deep, so he didn’t lose much blood, but things could get messy if he let himself get cut like that so easily.

"I didn’t feel any approach to presence nearby. This is some level of invisibility..." Luke thought.

Without many other options, Luke decided to buy a magic staff at the shop, one that granted him the power to fire mud balls. He immediately spammed the spell on the ground and covered it with mud. Still, it didn’t take long for another cut to appear on Luke’s face. It was slightly bigger than the previous wound, so Luke began to wonder if the enemy was messing with him...

"Are they flying or using the walls or something?" Luke thought. "Either way, they could have added poison to their weapons to make things end faster... A wound of this level can be healed in a couple of seconds, after all."

Luke thought of using smoke to see the movements of the enemy and to make himself harder to detect, but at this point in time, he doubted that such a simple trick would work. The enemy must have experience dealing with that kind of countermeasure.

Regardless, Luke was attacked again and again, and the wounds began to increase in size, with him unable to defect the enemy getting close even only once. It was clear that the enemy was making fun of him, even though they were a massive coward, and that pissed Luke so much...