Age of Gods - A VRMMO Story

Thomas moved through the passageway into the next section of the dungeon while reloading his crossbow. He intended to try to emulate something Jeff had taught him in a previous game. He didn't know if it was possible and, even if it was, he was certain that his 'Mana Control' and maximum mana weren't strong enough to maintain it for long. At the end of his path, Thomas stepped into the room and eyed the six goblins within. Two of the goblins were shield bearers, while one of them was one of the one and a half meter tall ones he'd seen earlier.

Thomas lifted his wrist and fired the crossbow to pick off one of the shield bearers. While the goblins screamed and charged at him, he reloaded his crossbow and picked off the second shield bearer. He intended to leave the taller goblin for last to test out if he could perform the trick Jeff had taught him so long ago. Gripping his kukri tightly, he dove into the group of goblins to hack, slash, and chop them to death. Once the three regular elite goblins had been defeated, he focused on the taller goblin.

The tall goblin had carefully watched Thomas as he fought the other five goblins. It hadn't approached closely and had stayed far enough back to not be attacked by Thomas's kukri. When it was just the two of them left it growled deeply and lifted its longsword in both hands. Maybe it was better to refer to it as a bastard, or hand and a half, sword? It didn't really matter what the weapon was referred to at the moment. As the goblin held its sword at the ready, Thomas gathered his mana and urged it to pour out of his body in every direction. He used his 'Mana Control' to attempt to keep the mana contained in a somewhat spherical shape around his body that reached out about a meter.

The point of the technique was to use the mana as an extra sense. With the mana cloud around his body controlled by him, Thomas could, theoretically, 'feel' when something entered the boundaries it. He should, again theoretically, be able to 'feel' every movement of everything within the cloud of mana and 'see' it. If he had to pick a way to describe it, it would be like mana sonar.

With the mana being emitted from every pore of his body, he could feel his mana draining at a ridiculous rate. Even worse he felt like at least eighty percent of the mana he emitted escaped his control and simply evaporated into thin air. The goblin watched Thomas for a few seconds that felt like an eternity to Thomas as his mana drained. Thomas didn't want to attack first, the point of this was to see if his technique would work or not so killing the goblin immediately was pointless.

Unable to wait any longer the goblin let out a throat-rending scream and charged at Thomas while brandishing its sword. Thomas waited in place and let the goblin charge him while he crouched down and assumed a stance. Thomas grinned broadly as the goblin charged into the cloud of mana being emitted from his body. Unable to contain his excitement he shouted out loud, "I can feel it!"

It was true. The moment that the goblin entered his mana cloud he could feel its entire body. It wasn't necessarily a pleasant thing to feel every inch of the goblin's body, in fact, it was a decidedly unpleasant sensation to have assaulting his mind. However, none of that mattered. What mattered the most was that he could feel the exact angle of the goblins slashing blade, knew the exact position of its feet, and knew exactly how much the goblins muscles had tensed for its swing.

Thomas carefully moved his body to the side and let the slash from the goblins sword pass by his body by no more than a few centimeters. Once he got better control of the technique he would be able to dodge attacks by a hairsbreadth. As the goblins sword slash passed by him he struck out with his fist and punched the goblin right in the face. He didn't use his full strength so he didn't risk accidentally killing the goblin outright. The blow knocked the goblin back a couple of steps and pissed it off. With blood red eyes and black blood gushing from its broken nose, the goblin let out a loud scream and charged in to slash at Thomas again.

Feeling that his mana would only hold out for a few more seconds, Thomas decided to end the fight now. Feeling the goblin putting all of its power into a downward slash, Thomas spun to his left. Without even looking and relying only on his new technique, Thomas swung his kukri at where he believed the goblins neck to be. After the slash, Thomas was forced to stop using the technique as he felt his mana dipping below ten percent. So he couldn't instantly know the results of his attack. Though a moment later he heard the goblin's body collapse to the ground and when he turned to look it was already disintegrating into dust.

Thomas couldn't keep a smile off of his face as he sat down with a happy sigh. He felt mentally and physically drained from using the technique and running out almost all of his mana. He pulled out one of his remaining mana potions and drank it then retrieved one of the snacks he bought to munch on while waiting for his mana to recover. He didn't feel comfortable using 'Serenity' while in the middle of a room where goblins could spawn while he wasn't paying attention. As he chewed on his snack he opened his character sheet and looked for something new. He couldn't stop grinning at what he found.