Chef in the Apocalypse

"Ha... Hahaha!"

Jayce couldn’t help but let out a triumphant laugh, after reading the notifications that popped up in front of him. He had just resolved himself to fight a brutal battle, merely picking the skill which would benefit him most in the future.

Yet it turned out that by picking Mana Manipulation, it synergized with his Mana Affinity and produced a whole new skill. He quickly moved to his skills and read the new one.

Spell Creation (lvl. 1): - As a result of high mana affinity and deft mana manipulation, player can create spells. Upon creation, the spell will become a skill with its own independent cooldowns

Jayce’s eyes shined with excitement and pure unadulterated joy. ’Does this mean I can create mage spells now?’ his thoughts began to run wild, imagining himself wielding fireballs and ice lances like Amber and Jackie.

He quickly calmed his imagination, in order not to get too far ahead of himself. Jayce placed his hands together, willing the mana within his body to flow into his palms and fingertips like he had seen mages do countless times.

Unlike when he only had the Mana Affinity skill, he now had complete control over the mana within his body. It followed his directions seamlessly like an excited dog, hoping to please its master. Before long the mana began to accumulate in his palms, causing a tremendous wind pressure around him.

Jayce stared at the ball of mana which had pooled in his palms, blinking a few times. ’Uh. Now what?’ he thought, not knowing what step to take next. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Unlike mages who could use spells and intuitively feel how to create elemental magic with their mana, Jayce had never used a spell in his life. While he had the ability to create magic, he didn’t exactly know how to.

The Draconic Panthers which had been watching him like a hawk, felt the overbearing might of the mana pooling within Jayce’s palms and began to feel fear. The Adult Panther’s gloating looks turned serious, eyeing the human with wariness.

However when the attack had still not been formed after 30 seconds, the Adult Panther’s eyes gleamed. They looked at each other briefly, nodding as if they had come to an unspoken agreement. In the next moment they dived towards Jayce, their wings held close to their bodies to increase their speed.

Jayce’s eyes widened at the sudden change in the Panther’s attitude, panicking slightly. He had been staring at the mass of mana which had been sitting idle in his hands for the past 30 seconds, trying to create a spell, any spell. Yet with the approach of the Panther’s, it looked like his time was up.

Gritting his teeth, he tried to focus and recall any spells that his party members had cast while he had been close enough to see. Closing his eyes, he suddenly remembered when they had assaulted the forest full of Arachnids.

Amber slowly gathered her mana, the tendrils were like his own, yet they had a certain quality to them which his mana seemed to be lacking. He reenacted what he saw in his memory, frame by frame, trying to emulate what Amber had done to cast the spell.

What he noticed was that by repeating what Amber had done, a heat began to emanate from his hands. The mana particles rubbed together, creating friction which in turn created heat. In the next moment he opened his eyes, seeing the ball of mana beginning to turn red, then in the next moment it burst into flames.

Jayce did not have time to relish in his success, he had to think of a way to cast the ball of flames within his palms. The first thought that popped into his head was to fire with both his palms, much like his favorite fighter Ryu from Street Brawler 17.

However, he did not have the time to change his stance, let alone create enough torque to send it out accurately. His gaze turned to the closest Adult Panther which was now only 10 meters away with its large maw open, giving him only a fraction of a second to throw the damn thing.

Without thinking he threw it towards the oncoming set of jaws, like he was holding a hot potato. No, even that would have shown more grace than what Jayce had just performed. His throwing action looked more like a toddler who was off-balance, throwing with their non-dominant hand. It was appalling to watch.

As soon as he let go of the ball of fire, he quickly backed away, only to see it fall into the open mouth of the Panther. Although this would be the perfect time to counterattack, he had no idea what results the ball of fire would yield, so he decided to be patient and see.

The Adult Panther stopped in its tracks, feeling something hot enter its throat. It raised its behind and began to act like a cat who was trying to cough up a furball, heaving to and fro and creating a comical sight.

Jayce scratched his head, feeling a bit underwhelmed with his first ever mage spell. ’Did I not do it right?’ he thought inwardly. Well technically he had been under a lot of pressure, without a proper reference or teacher so he shouldn’t be too upset with the results.

The other Adult Panthers, which had been just a step slower than the other, quickly diverted their attention to Jayce who had now finished channeling his spell. Seeing that he had once again brought out his deadly dagger, they quickly retreated back into the skies, avoiding him like the plague.

Yet in the next moment something unimaginable happened. The sound of a giant explosion rocked the cavern, sending rubble flying in all directions and shaking the whole place. One of the bits of rubble happened to hit Jayce in the leg, however with his increased vitality he hardly felt any pain.

He looked down at the piece of rubble and noticed that it looked a bit weird. Upon closer inspection, it was not rubble at all, it looked more like... flesh?

[Congratulations, you have created the skill Exploding Fireball]