For the first test, I had one of the chimps, namely Chia, to try and leave the dungeon. It worked, and now more options are possible. I asked her to look for any monsters or animals that are weak enough that they can’t pose a threat to the dungeon, and lure them inside here.

I waited for a few minutes before Chia came back, a raging boar in tow. Needless to say, gorilla threatened, gorilla smash. The boar was smashed to a pulp, leaving behind a nasty corpse, blood and guts spilling out of its body.

Defense Successful!

Trespassers repelled: 1 = 20 DP, 10 EXP

Okay, so the luring method works. How about killing them outside the dungeon?

I had Gong go out and had him kill the first animal or monster he sees. Waiting for a few moments, Gong returned with a bloodied club, but no DP or EXP was given to me. Okay, this method won’t work, so it is only possible within the dungeon… Shit, this limits my options, as well as make this cave a goddamn hotspot for strong people to come and investigate/subjugate.

But if I want to survive, I’ll have to risk everything, and since it won’t be long before another party of trespassers comes along, I need to work fast.

I also need to increase my level, as well as my skills.

A plan settled, I immediately went to work. I had the three chimps run outside and lure only groups of animals/monsters that they are sure we can defeat. Since this dungeon is still relatively new and unknown, monsters and animals will surely ignore them being lured. Do it a couple of times more though, the luring method will have its chances lowered since most of the targets would be cautious and attentive against the monkeys.

So strike while the iron is hot, eh? The three chimps nodded and ran out of the cave, off to lure unsuspecting monsters and animals into a slaughter pit. While they were doing so, I began trying to control my mana so that I can increase my control over it.

I first made a very simple ball of mana. It came instinctively thanks to the skill, but in no means was it easy. It took me the very good half of an hour just to make this tiny sphere the size of a tennis ball. I tried throwing it towards a tree and it just dispersed upon contact.

I furrowed my brows. Am I doing something wrong? Hmm… maybe…

I concentrated again, gathering the mana within my body. Next, accumulate it in the spot where I want it to gather. After that, imagine that mana changing into something that could harm something… like fire…

Heat began to gather around my stretched right hand. I didn’t open my eyes for the fear of losing control and having it burst or just plain disperse.

Next, initiate a command, what do I want it to do? What shape should it take? How big should it be?

I thought all of it through gritted teeth. My mana was beginning to be unstable after every second. I had to hurry up.

Size, small, shape, 7.62 mm caliber, command, spin at about 300,000 rpm, then fire at a velocity of 2,600 feet per second.

The moment I finished giving the command, I opened my eyes and the bullet made of flames flew faster than my eyes can see and punctured a tree, piercing through it and piercing through another tree and finally stopping before being dispersed due to the lack of sustaining mana.

Skill learned, [Fire Manipulation]

Fire Manipulation – grants the user control over fire. Only applicable to fire the user created or natural fire. Passively increases VIT and END by 15%, and INT and WIS by 45%.

[Apprentice Mana Manipulation] leveled up!

… Holy shit, that was tiring. I almost blew myself for that. My mana was extremely drained just by doing that, and I feel exhausted. Even worse, creating that bullet took me more than a minute, extremely useless in a battle.

I checked my MP values just to be sure I won’t faint the next time I use magic.

MP: 254 / 754

… One tiny flame bullet costed 500 MP a more than a minute to create… dude, inefficiency at its finest…

I’ll have to practice managing my mana before I think about using it in fights. Thankfully, now that I have Fire Manipulation, I can now cast flame magic instinctually, for the same reason why I was able to use Earth Manipulation like breathing.

I created another flame bullet, and this time, it formed in 10 seconds and fire not a moment later. Checking my MP, it dropped by 50 points, and now I have another tool to use against enemies, although I had to practice with it more like stone bullet so I can get it to lower its casting speed and mana cost. But also, magic is something way beyond I expected. I mean sure, there are tons of media talking about magic back in my previous world, such like it needed calculation, some others just needed imagination, but since magic wasn’t real back there, they had no idea how magic actually worked.

Now though, I have magic, and I somewhat know how it works. It runs on calculations, commands, and imagination. When I had [Earth Manipulation], everything was done instinctually, and over the course of three days, I was adept at it, but not fully mastering it. Such is the reason why my efficiency with those spells were damn awful. My stone bullet was slow, it couldn’t pierce through armor or skin, as demonstrated by the earlier fight against those trespassers, and my sinkhole was so mana inefficient, a tiny hole cost me more than a hundred mana.

But now, with the [Apprentice Mana Manipulation] skill, I now have an idea of how mana really works. Imagine something like being able to do something instinctually, and knowing the theories behind it. That’s how [Apprentice Mana Manipulation] skill works synonymous with other Manipulation skills.

So, all I need left is practice, and before I know it, I can skillfully and efficiently use any type of spell within my repertoire to repel trespassers coming for me and my dungeon.

While I was busy with training my magic skills, a window appeared telling me that trespassers have arrived. Since I needed some combat training as well, I had the monkeys stand by and block the exit if they wanted to escape.

Approaching the screams and yells of combat, I appeared through the groves of trees, and within my sight, I saw about 8 goblins trying to flee the dungeon, which then failed spectacularly against Gong and Manny.

I roared, catching their attention. The goblins however looked at me and trembled in fear. I can’t blame them though, I am covered in badass armor that looks somewhat reminiscent of what the samurai of the Edo period would wear, although a very bastardized version of it complete with spikes.

One good look at me greatly increased their motivation to get through Gong and Manny, but I didn’t let them. Focusing my mana again, I fired a flame bullet after 9 seconds of casting. A second lower, good. More practice, then I can get it down to instantaneous.

The flame bullet pierced through the head of a goblin, and lodged itself in the chest of another goblin before dispersing to air. The goblin that got headshot dropped to the ground like a sack of rice, while the other one who was hit in the chest screamed in agony before meeting the same fate as its companion.

Seeing the death of their species, the goblins did their best to escape, doing anything and everything, even as far as going to step on their fellow goblins just to jump over Gong and Manny. They did not let them however. With an outstretched hand and a yelp of pain later, a goblin was flung to the ground, ragged and in agony.

I then proceeded to mash the goblin into paste with my club which was in dire need of repairs. 3 goblins down, 5 more to go. The goblins, seeing that they could not escape, threw all caution to the wind and rushed at me, teeth snarling in anger and fear.

I responded by roaring back, freezing them for a bit due to the intimidation factor, before pounding another goblin to paste. Another one of them down, they then rushed at me, forgetting their fear, their survival instincts the only thing driving them forward.

One goblin tried to bash me with a stick of all things against my heavy, metal armor. Long story short, the stick broke, and in some unfortunate event, skewered the eye of the poor goblin, making it shriek in pain. I gave it mercy and quickly ended its suffering by grabbing its head and slamming it against the ground, blood splattering all over… I now regretted my decision of using my bare hands to kill the goblin.

Ignoring the blood coating my hand and body, I rotated, swinging the club around me, hitting 2 goblins close to me and flinging them away, smashing into some trees. With the force I was giving, the two goblins instantly died due to having their spines broken.

2 goblins left and the both of them, no longer caring about their life, jump on my back and began pounding at me with their tiny, green fists. I snorted in amusement. As if those frail hands could break metal, at least go for the gaps.

I shook them off by jumping and running around, one of them releasing its grip, causing it to fly into the air. I grabbed it before it could land and gave it a good slam on the ground, instantly dying due to another broken spine.

The last goblin furiously held on, but I was pressed for time, so I decided to end its life by slamming my back against the tree. It got squashed in the middled, more bones breaking as audible by the crunching sound. Surprisingly, it was still alive, but not for long.

I grabbed its head, then twisted it, its body going limp under my hold.

Defense Successful!

Trespassers Killed: 8 = 25 DP each, 20 EXP each.

Level up!

I checked my status page and… oh? I got bonus EXP?

Name: Jionni

Age: 0

Gender: Male

Race: Gorilla

Class: Juggernaut

Level: 7

Exp: 200/ 700

HP: 1380/ 1380

MP: 819/ 819

Str: 36 119

Vit: 40 = 128

End: 35 = 112

Agi: 26 = 33

Dex: 27 = 45

Int: 21 = 53

Wis: 20 = 50

Cha: 17 = 21

Luc: 1 = 1

Last I check I had 440 EXP out of the 600 I needed to level up. With 160 EXP from the goblins I killed, it was enough to put me at 0 out of 700, but why do I have 200? Quick mental math gave me a theory that the goblins I killed gave me 25 EXP each, but then… Ah, now I get.

I get EXP for defending the dungeon, and more EXP from directly killing enemies. A good method to gain levels, so all I have to do is land the killing blow and if not the killing blow, then at least fight against the enemies trying to have my head.

Anyway, with that done, I need to go back to grinding.