Yup, in the end, I decided on Dual Focus Consolidation: learning to consolidate my dual focuses, channeling them into a single, more powerful force when needed. It may be the smallest upgrade out of all the options, but I need some good basics for the future. I'm sure that, in this way, [Focus] can become much stronger. I already have a few ideas on how to use it in the future.

So yup, and yes, the pain of upgrade was... easy to endure. Totally easy.

I also leveled up once, and my mana stat is now just three points away from a beautiful 300.

Well, first things first. It's already almost night, and this time I'm going out there on my own.

Is it stupid? Probably. Is it risky? Totally. Will the rewards be worth it? Maybe.

I just can't get the two-question mark monster out of my head. I keep imagining the fight with it in my head. My moves, the monster's moves. The ways to hurt it, ways to kill it, ways to run away. I don't think I'm without a chance.

I believe I can do that. I actually think that. Even though the monster is at least 50 levels higher, I know I can prepare, I know I have plenty of advantages.

It's hard for it to find me as the mist is making it harder for monsters affected by Decay to find humans. And I have a strong attack, and this might be the biggest reason. I just want to go all out and test it. Shooting it against alghouls, buildings, gargoyles, or rats isn't that satisfying. The deer is a beautifully massive target.

So I have already prepared plenty of excuses for why it's a "good" idea.

Also, it's too late to turn back, right? I'm already sitting in the room, a small amount of mana running through my body. I send a pulse of mana through one of the threads of mana that is as thick as a hair, and it makes one of my orbs, filled with tricolored mana, explode.

Far away from me, the orb expands, and then the massive bubble bursts and an immense sucking force makes debris rush and spin at the place where the center of the orb was.

Another pulse of mana filled with [Disruption] makes the thread that connected me to the orb dissipate without leaving any trace of my mana. Then I wait, forcing my heartbeat to slow down, collecting mana as carefully as possible to not let it leak outside my body.

And I watch. I do not use [Perception] and only stare with my eyes that can barely see anything through the mist, looking for that green light the aberrant deer had. And thankfully, I do not have to wait for too long.

The world around me vibrates, and waves of mana hit even my body as the giant deer comes from the air and lands at the place where the orb exploded.

This time, even its antlers are glowing, and three car-sized projectiles hovering over its back start to emit a similar light. I can't see it properly, but they seem to be spinning.

A horrifying sound hits the surrounding buildings, and I feel the pressure on my body as the monster rages, destroying the houses near it.

I can do it.

I CAN do it!

I stand up, and three more pulses are sent through three more threads, quickly followed by disruptive mana.

My heart beats.

Another house explodes into a bubble of tricolored mana, making the monster turn its attention to it. One of the massive projectiles over its back flies towards the bubble and pierces it, and the ensuing explosions send a massive wave of mana into the surroundings.

Another heartbeat, and I open my mouth. An orb the size of a golf ball flies out, filled to the brim with light blue, dark blue, and purple mana. The orb threatens to explode and delete my head and entire body from existence.

The deer starts turning its head towards me and the humming orb of immensely squeezed mana. Then another bubble bursts into existence, triggered by the second of three threads that I used.

The projectile flying over its head hits it, leaving only one more. The explosion grabs more of the monster's attention, and I activate [Focus]. I push it to the brink, consolidate, and then elongate the orb into the shape of a javelin, while more of my skills come to existence, pushed to their current limit with my new upgrade of [Focus].

[Redistribution] moves a massive chunk of my mana, finally making me feel a sizable dent in my mana reserves.

[Mana Surge] boosts the skills even further, making the mana move at dizzying speeds, aided by [Mana Manipulation].

And then, all this mana moves through [Mana Infusion] into the javelin that I can feel it becoming denser with each passing moment. The tricolored mana swirls wildly inside the weapon made thanks to [Armament].

Another heartbeat and more kinetic energy flows inside my body. The undead aberrant deer once again turns to me when the last orb bursts into a massive bubble, meant to take its attention away from me.

It doesn't work.

Through the mist, I can see its glowing blind eye staring right towards me and the last remaining projectile over its back spinning even faster and glowing intensely.

Both of our projectiles shoot at the same moment.

My javelin, longer than me and as thick as my arm, boosted by all the kinetic energy my Kinetic Mana Heart generated. Deer's sickly green projectile, as big as a car and as long as a bus.

The projectiles crash against each other in an immensely short moment. Not even enough time to blink or twitch a muscle. Yet, under the influence of consolidated dual [Focus], it feels as if the black-white world came to a halt, and the only mana that has any colors exist.

Two attacks meet, and two projectiles. One of them is so much smaller than the second. The explosion of green mana lights up the surroundings, making the houses around shatter and the entire street block get destroyed in what feels like even less than a split second. The shockwave even sends my body against the wall of the house I'm in, ignoring the massive tricolored shield floating in front of me and throwing me through the wall and rolling outside.

But then there is nothing. Silence. Not even the wind roars, as it's canceled by the massive shockwave that even clears a huge area of the mist, offering a clear view of the aberrant deer.

It stares right at the javelin stabbed at its feet, the green mana floating around it and covering it in layers and layers of barriers. Then there is a shift. The tricolored wisps of mana stop moving, and the javelin turns bright white.

I close my eyes and only continue to perceive as I build barrier upon barrier around me, all made of tricolored mana and dense to the brim.

Then the javelin explodes, and a short but immensely strong blast of heat and shockwave hits the surroundings, expanding from the epicenter and pushing everything away while burning the wood, heating iron parts of houses to the point they glow yellow, and destroying the massive area of buildings, even pushing and throwing me away with my barriers glowing around me.

The ring of shockwave and heat destroys half of my barriers and expands even further behind me, setting the houses on fire at the same moment as destroying them.

Out of nowhere, a short moment of silence ensues, and my [Perception] turns to the deer, the monster now only burning bones and a little bit of meat and fur, yet alive and with its mana still strong.

And then, all the air and debris come flying back towards where the javelin used to be, filling the vacuum left after the explosion. All are affected by the immense force and pulled back, the force tearing houses, ground, and everything, to fill the vacuum.

The Undead Aberrant Deer gets pulled in first, all its limbs twisting and breaking, even as its mana fights against it. The monster's body gets squeezed and twisted into a shape and size reminiscent of a beach ball while what remains of my creation sucks in even more of the surrounding area.

Finally, as quickly as it came, the force pulling me in disappears. Explosion and then implosion, it all took barely more than a second.

The mist rushes back in, and the wind starts to blow again, and I decide to quickly, very quickly leave the area.

Ten minutes later, I sit inside another hideout, barely bigger than a single room. My hands are still shaking, and my heart is beating wildly as I continue to calm it down to the point where I can properly [Focus] and then open the notifications.

[Focus - lvl 31 > Focus - lvl 32]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 31 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 32]

[Armament - lvl 30 > Armament - lvl 31]

[Mana Surge - lvl 19 > Mana Surge - lvl 20]

[Mana Infusion - lvl 13 > Mana Infusion - lvl 14]

[Mana Infusion - lvl 14 > Mana Infusion - lvl 15]

[Mana Infusion - lvl 15 > Mana Infusion - lvl 16]

[Redistribution - lvl 24 > Redistribution - lvl 25]

[You have defeated the Undead Aberrant Deer - lvl 156]

[Lvl 101 > Lvl 104]

C+*g#atul@t1ons, y>u h$ve m3t two o$ t%e r@qu!rem&nts to e@+er %e^*@d D#ff!culty