He was able to match the mana entity only because it had just one arm to fight with. It would have been worse if the mana entity had both arms. The Understanding he gained from it was equal to his own level of skill in spear mastery, the seamless step. Two of them working together will amplify each other.
The Understanding is useful to him and Legion, unlike the last mana entity he faced. The energy he gained on the other hand was just enough to top him off into reaching the energy requirements for his fourth gate.
Soverick went into his next room. He faced off with a spell specialist instead of a warrior. This time, the mana entity was proficient in the element of fire. Soverick's fire torrent spell that he relied on failed him, it could not burn through the enemy's shield as he had expected because this mana entity kept interfering with his spell even when it was disoriented from being tossed back and forth.
Things weren't so bad. He couldn't do anything to the mana entity nor could it get enough room to cast spells. Soverick remained content with just knocking it around which is something very easy to do in a room so small while constantly moving above 300m/s.
The fight ended in 1 minute and 3 seconds. The mana entity simply broke apart after being jostled so much. The impact of the hits finally broke down its energy form. He had been the won toying with the mana entity but it was his most difficult fight yet.
"Note to self. Just badger them to death." He said as he plopped down.
He was tired to the bone. That fight took a lot more out of him than he expected. There are several advantages of being in the mana entity stage. You get an enhanced body and mind. You hit better, faster, react quicker, and have a keener perception. That's just the body.
For the mind, you think faster. It is why no people thought it impossible for a vitality core stage refiner to achieve the second step of spear mastery. All the mana entities he is fighting have the second step of mastery. That means a single move from them can set you down a path of inevitable defeat. He had to use his own mastery of seamless to keep them useless in the fight.
"I am either unlucky or things are just this tough. I wonder how the others are doing?"
He began to think about the other youths are faring. He is having it tough even though he is being underestimated by his opponents. But the other youths might not be finding it as difficult as him. If they can survive their first battle, then they will gain understanding and appropriate weapons. When coupled with their various divine abilities then they might be having things easy in the middle stage.
"I better move on or someone will beat me to the final level." He picked himself off the ground and prepared to leave.
Any mana entity from the main plain in the middle stage that is still alive will possess the advantages of a mana entity and would have acquired more. They may not have been able to match him as a vitality core refiner but that has surely changed. It would not do to underestimate their abilities. If he intends to get the dungeon core then he must be ahead of them.
The problem Soverick is facing is that he isn't growing. Most of the understanding he gets is useless and the energy he got isn't enough to help him break through yet. If he gets the advantages of the mana entity realm, he would be able to steamroll through the middle stage. For now, all he can do is just keep moving forward.
He got his loot. The understanding of fire elemental spells is useless to him. The staff that was dropped would enhance his fire spells but it has also become useless in light of recent events.
"I don't need any of this."
His fire spell can fail him. Casting spells in their level of combat without them being powerful and instantaneous will be futile. He can cast spells instantly but they aren't powerful enough to damage mana entities. Vitality core refiners can't do that at all. He can but it isn't enough. That's why he preps and amplifies the spell.
Since spells can disappoint him, it is better not to keep all his eggs in one basket. He stroked his brass knuckles fondly.
"I'll just stick with you." He said to it.
Using a staff will require him to let go of his brass knuckles. Considering that his spells might fail him he chose to stick with the brass knuckles. It had helped him in pummeling his last opponent to death.
The combination of his fist and spear mastery in harnessing momentum and turning the momentum of his opponent against them helped him when his spell failed him.
The energy he received from the ball of light wasn't enough to even fill the energy requirement of the fifth gate.
He left the room and fought again. It was another difficult fight. He faced a mana entity that was using needle and thread. It was a vestige of a god of fabric. She held the needle like a spear while a spool of thread was hanging behind her. He had thought it a comical sight but his mind changed quickly as soon as they fought. She wasn't as useless as he had thought.
He had approached her with confidence in his victory when she thrust at him with her needle. He dodged but the attack wasn't over. She thrust again in a flash. She didn't move her hand. A phantom needle appeared and thrust at him.
He failed to dodge the phantom attack, and that's when he met the second surprise. Her phantom needle became real and penetrated through all 20 of his barriers.