Assassin Crow Evolution

[-200 mana points]

[Remaining pool: 2,000 points]

The Blue Fireball raged forward, and despite that its color shade was supposed to promise a dim source of light, the fireball was, in fact, blinding.

Jimmy could even feel the temperature rise within the tunnels. His heightened eyes certainly didn’t like the sudden flash. He was blinded for a moment, and needed a second or so to adapt.

The moment his eyes adapted, it already seemed too late to carry out part two of his plan.

The fireball had hit the staff nearly from below. Most of it ended up hitting the ground, but as he expected, the Blue Fireball was powerful enough to move the staff.

It had jerked the staff upwards by a couple of feet, and had developed a forward trajectory. It was about to hit the bottom of the wall at the end of the tunnel.

The moment he re-traced the staff, he saw that it was close to hitting the ground again.

Mathematically, it seemed like a bad idea to carry out the rest of his plan, but he did so anyway, by reflex.

"Blue Fireball!" He shouted.

[-200 mana points]

[Remaining pool: 1,800 points]

The fireball’s hellish blue flames sizzled through the air a blink later, and surprisingly, managed to hit the staff.

Jimmy heard a thud before he could see where the staff ended up.

After he got a better view, he saw that the staff had been propped upwards, but it was nowhere close to the hatch-like exit above.

Instead, it was simply laid against the wall.

"Looks like the third shot will do the trick, but this is getting expensive." He said, "Why do they cost two hundred mana points now?"

[It’s because you ascended.]

The system was quick to answer, and if he didn’t stop her, she’d give a lengthy explanation of his current Arcane Comprehension.

He didn’t interrupt her.

[Your fireballs burn hotter now, as I explained before, but this means that they also cost more. It may seem like a bad deal, but compared to how much stronger your overall magical arsenal became, the mana they cost to cast is actually cheap, and tightened. If the cost went up equally with your Arcane Comprehension, you would’ve paid 400 mana points for the same Blue Fireball, not 200.]

"I suppose that makes sense, then." He sighed.

Afterwards, he swiped the system tabs away, and focused on the stone staff once more.

The way that it was propped against the wall, made him feel like the staff was mocking him. It was as if it was taunting him to spend more mana on it. The tip of the staff pointed directly towards the exit above, with such precision that one would think the universe aligned on his behalf.

Unlike the greater sins one would struggle with, he gave into the temptations of an inanimate staff.

"Blue Fireball!" He shouted, quite unnecessarily.

[-200 mana points]

[Remaining pool: 1,600 points]

Once more, he hit the staff with a nearly vengeful ball of fire.

Forced to blink a few times, he then saw the staff flying towards him, instead of towards the exit. Fifteen kilos of hard, and seemingly sharp stone projected towards him as if it was a heat-seeking missile!

"Holy shit!" He cocked his head.

Within a blink, he then rolled to the right, as if he was a human once more. Crows weren’t supposed to roll with such agility, it wasn’t in their biology, but the three outwards spikes of the staff encouraged otherwise.

Jimmy dodged the blow. The staff landed, and nailed itself to the ground.

"Oh, that’s great," He grunted, once he saw how the staff was positioned, "It’s stuck."

Jimmy shook his head so much in irritation that his neck muscles started twitching. His plan didn’t work, it almost killed him, and to add salt to the wound, he spent six-hundred mana points too.

"Why did I think that would work?" He said, almost embarrassed.

After hanging around for a while, he came to terms with the fact that there was no easy way to get the staff out of this tunnel. He was irritated by the fact that Gundor hadn’t mentioned how heavy the staff was.

His best guess was that Gundor either over-estimated how strong Jimmy was, which sounded unlikely, or Gundor was so strong in his prime that lifting the staff was no challenge for him. He liked to think that it was the latter.

Regardless, he got another idea, and it was a tiresome one. He estimated that it would take at least one hour to pull through with it.

"It’s gonna take a while, but at least it’s guaranteed to work." He said.

Nurturing his new plan, he walked back to Virena, and checked up on her progress.

To his luck, she was almost done absorbing the last piece of the Mana Core, otherwise known as the Flesh Core, that she had sliced away for herself.

Once she absorbed it, and gathered herself, he explained what was going on.

"So what, are you asking me to lift it for you?" She asked, "I’m strong, but not that strong, Jimmy."

"That’s not what I meant," He said, "We just have to make a new exit-point. That’s the only way to get the staff out of here safely. Follow me, the plan is pretty simple."

Once they made it to the other side of the tunnel, he pointed at the wall with his wing, and explained what he had in mind.

"Your Fire Sphere burns hotter now, right?" He asked, "It should burn hotter, so you’re gonna have to make a new tunnel, right here on this wall. One that isn’t too steep. After you break through the wall, I’ll drag the staff through our new tunnel."

"I don’t know if I can melt a stone wall, but let’s give it a shot." She said, fighting a pain-triggered headache.

Virena positioned herself a foot away from the wall, and started swinging her sickle.

At the tip of her blade, a white flame erupted. Hotter, more powerful, and just as always, concentrated into the symmetrical form of the Fire Sphere!

A moment later, she flung it against the wall.