Village Chief Joralf took Mika to his house at the center of the village; surprisingly, his house wasn’t much bigger than the others. It was made around a large tree with a trunk almost 4 meters in diameter, and Mika could see stairs along the outside of the tree going above his house.
Although it looked weird for a house to have a giant 100+ meter tall tree sticking out of it, Mika felt it was really cozy, and she affirmed this notion when she stepped inside.
The lighting inside of the house was dim and smelled like freshly chopped wood. It wasn’t too big or too small. It seemed just the right size for a small family.
‘Family… Yeah, this place does seem fit for a family.’
She looked around and noticed plenty of wear and tear on the wood flooring, counters, and walls. Almost like they had a kid or two running around the house, making a mess of things.
Joralf didn’t bother giving Mika a house tour as he was sure she wasn’t interested in that. Instead, he brought Mika straight to his library, which was actually a room carved out of the giant tree!
When Mika stepped inside the library, she was surprised by how many books there were!
‘There are at least a few hundred books here!’ She explained inwardly.
Joralf turned around with a prideful smile and said, “So? What do you think about my library?”
Mika glanced around the room a bit more before replying, “It’s nice. I didn’t think there’d be so many books. Are all of these about Mana?”
Joralf’s smile became awkward, and he shook his head, “How is that possible? If I had access to so many books on Magic, I could apply for a job as a Royal Librarian,” He then pointed at 90% of the bookshelves, “Most of these are books I’ve written myself in the Elven Language or books I’ve translated.”
Mika cocked her head, “Elves have their own language? Then why haven’t I heard anyone speaking in it?”
Joralf thought about how he should explain it to a small child, “To put it simply, the language we’re speaking is called the Universal Language and is a derivative of all languages spoken by the many different races on Eoburos. Thus, learning and speaking in this language makes learning new languages much easier. Communication between races also becomes less complicated due to this. Though, if you go to the Elven Kingdom, Eldemar, you’ll hear more people speaking Quenya, the Elven language.”
Joralf picked up a random book written in Quenya and handed it to Mika, “Try reading it.”
Mika nodded and opened the book; sure enough, she didn’t understand any of the words. However, she could spot some similarities here and there, which she found fascinating. She was sure that if given enough time, she could learn Quenya.
She returned the book to Joralf, who then brought her to the bookshelves with all the books written in the Universal Language.
“The bookshelf on the left has books about Elven culture and history. The bookshelf on the right is full of kid's books I’ve translated. And the one in the middle has everything I have on Mana, Spells, and Mana Cultivation techniques.”
Mika stared at the middle bookshelf intently, hardly registering Joralf’s voice. She couldn’t believe how easy it was for her to gain access to this information. She didn’t even need to make it out of the jungle!
‘I’ll have to inspire those little kids properly after I’ve finished reading everything here.’ Mika thought as she felt the need to repay Joralf for this favor. It would go against her morals if she took his kindness for granted.
Meanwhile, Joralf noticed how Mika seemed to be entranced and gave her a light pat on the shoulder, “Well, don’t just stand there. Go on.”
Mika snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Joralf, then bent her head slightly, “Thank you, Chief Joralf, for allowing me to take in this knowledge. I’ll be sure to repay this favor.”
Elves here have been nothing but respectful to her, and Mika felt the need to reciprocate that.
Joralf chortled at how polite Mika was, “Hohoho! No need for these pleasantries. Like I said before, just your drive to learn is more than enough payment for me,” He gave her a slight push into the library and turned around, “Stay here for as long as you’d like. Later, my wife will prepare a meal for you, so I’ll come to fetch you then.”
With that said, Joralf left the room, leaving Mika alone. She walked over to the middle bookshelf and picked up a book titled, [Things You Should Know About Mana by Skylar Van Heusen].
Intrigued, she began reading it.
[“Mana is all around us; in the air, in the ground, and even in space. It can manifest itself in many different forms. For example, that lightning strike that almost caught your neighbor's house on fire? That was only possible because there is mana. The forest fire that almost burnt down your village? That was also possible due to mana.”
“Many people confuse mana as a form of energy, but they’re wrong! Mana is THE energy! It is the origin! The foundation! The source! Things like mechanical energy, chemical energy, and so on are all possible BECAUSE mana is there to support them! It is the reason you, me, and everything around you exists! Some people even speculate that mana cultivation is a way for sentient, 3rd-dimensional beings to cross over and evolve into something higher: a possible 4th-dimensional being. But don’t quote me on that! I’ve never met a 4th-dimensional being, nor am I one, so how would I know?”
“While mana can technically be part of the mechanical, chemical, thermal, etc., energy process, we have not found a way to reverse it and turn potential and/or kinetic energy into mana. At least, not at the time of writing this.”
“Now, you might be wondering how this is important. Well, truthfully, this knowledge might not be necessary to some people, but for many others, myself included, it is crucial to make this distinction. It is important to understand that there is no action-reaction process regarding the foundations of mana. It just is. In theory, unless acted upon, mana will just continue to sit there, keeping yourself and the universe full of potential energy. Conversely, this means that the possibilities are endless.”
“So, the question remains, what forces all that mana to stop lazing around and actually do something?”
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“...I don’t know. I’m just a simple researcher trying to make Mana easier to understand for newbies like you. Though I’ve heard if you get strong enough, you’ll slowly uncover these truths. Whether or not this is true, I can’t confirm, but it’s worth a shot, right? Youths should be ambitious, after all!”
“Finally, what’s the takeaway from all this information?”
“Do you seriously need me to answer that for you? I’ve already given you the circle block. Do you now need me to guide you into the circle hole?!”
“Stop reading this and go out there and start acting upon your mana! It doesn’t matter what you do with it! Just do something! You can start by creating shapes out of mana and go from there. The more you use it, the more you’ll understand, and the more you understand, the stronger and more knowledgeable you’ll become. All the mana sitting in your core and/or the air around you is a treasure trove of knowledge waiting to be harvested. So, get out there and start acting!”]
Mika closed the book and sat on the ground to let the words she had just read sink in. She didn’t fully understand a few terms, but she got the gist of it.
From what the author, Skylar Van Heusen, said in the book, mana is the gateway to a higher power. Not necessarily Mana Cultivation, but mana itself.
‘Then, what’s so important about a Mana Cultivation Technique? Why do I need one if all I have to do is use all the potential mana available to me to become powerful?’ Those questions plagued Mika’s mind, but she felt like something wasn’t right.
Based on her understanding of the Absolute Sword Body Technique, a cultivation technique isn’t just about getting stronger but is, at its core, a manifestation of her accumulation of knowledge and experience.
For example, the next Realm of the Absolute Sword Body Technique will involve tempering her body with her Sword Intent, which is essentially just her understanding of the sword path.
‘If that’s the case, shouldn’t Mana Cultivation be similar?’ Mika thought, and she felt like she was on the right track.
So, she picked up another book titled [Basic Elven Cultivation Technique for Peasants].
Mika frowned as it was clear from the name that this technique was trash. Still, she read it anyways.
However, when she opened the book, there wasn’t much to it. It had a diagram of how one should form their Mana Pathways, which was in the shape of a tree. Only one Mana Pathway ran from the center of the chest down to the hip, further branching off on both sides, extending into the legs, arms, and head.
It didn’t even take Mika a glance to understand how shitty one’s potential and strength would be if one followed that diagram!
“Are you kidding me? A single Mana Pathway running through most of the body? I’m sure children can think of something better than this garbage!” She muttered.
The reason this is so terrible is because the pathways near the Mana Core will be stronger and thicker than the mana pathways connecting to one’s arms, legs, and head, according to this technique! Thus, when they pull mana out of their core and through their pathways, if they aren’t careful, they might overload their mana pathways, crippling them!
That’s not even the worst of it! What if they need to bring mana over to their ribs? Well, if they wanted to do that, they’d have to waste loads of mana from their core since they have no mana pathways leading there.
All in all, this technique is trash. No, it’s lower than trash! Having someone practice this technique is no different than crippling them and in this world, being a cripple is almost equivalent to death.
It should be considered murder to even have this technique available to the public, especially to young, impressionable youths.
Mika almost put the book down, but she didn’t, as there were still things to be gained from it. Mainly in how one is supposed to cultivate and raise their Mana Core Stages.
[“To increase your mana cultivation, first, you must fill up your core with as much refined mana as possible. Then, once you’ve reached this stage, forcefully shove even more mana into your core until it enlarges, and that’s when you know you’re ready to break through to the next stage. Finally, to advance, condense all that by half and restart the process.”]
Although Mika could hardly trust those words, she still learned something here.
‘So, it seems one way to advance to the 2nd Stage of the Black Core Realm is to increase the size of my core and then condense my refined mana to complete the breakthrough.’
Though, she had a few questions, such as: What is Refined Mana? Why should she increase the size of her core? How should she do that? Why does she need to condense her mana to complete the breakthrough?
She didn’t have answers to these questions. However, combined with the knowledge she gained from the previous book, an image began taking root in her mind on the direction she should take to advance her Mana Cultivation, but she knew it was far from complete.
After she finished that book, Mika put it back on the bookshelf and decided to pick up one more for the day, as she’ll need time to assimilate this knowledge before moving on to something else.
The last book she picked up had various elements such as fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, light, darkness, ice, and many more on the cover. Unsurprisingly, the title of the book was [Affinities for Dummies by Skylar Van Heusen]
‘Skylar Van Heusen again, huh? This should be good.’ Mika smiled and opened the book up to the first page.
[“Ah! Affinities! A crucial component in how we sentient 3rd-dimensional beings interact with mana. I’m sure many of you reading this have seen fires, lightning strikes, or rocks in nature, but have you ever wondered why these things appear in nature? No, of course you haven’t because you’re an idiot who’s stuck in some shack reading my books!”]
Mika’s lips twitched, but she continued reading.
[“You’re probably just thinking, ‘Welp, that’s just the way the world works.’, right? And you aren’t wrong. That is how the world works, but how does this correlate to you and your affinities? What does seeing rocks in nature and having an Earth Affinity correlate?”
“The short answer to that question is, that’s how it’s supposed to be. The universe created suns and planets because too much energy and debris clumped together. Fire, earth, water, air, lightning, and ice all came to be because that’s how they were supposed to be.”
“You aren’t any different! Your affinities are innate and are something you’re born with! You having an affinity is your body’s way of telling you which path is most suitable for your ascension through the various Cultivation Realms. It’s a manifestation of how your body views and interacts with the world around it.”
“If you have a fire affinity, sure, you can try and use water spells, but 99 times out of 100, they will be weaker than any fire spell you can conjure. Not only that, but it’ll take you more time to comprehend a spell or technique of a different element as well! So, if you use a water-based cultivation technique but have a fire affinity, you’re effectively crippling yourself and your potential.”
“Work with what you got, not with what you want. And remember, Fire Mana, Water Mana, Earth Mana, etc., are all just different types of mana at the end of the day. If you can master mana, you can master all! I go into more detail about this in my other books, so go check out Things You Should Know About Mana and What’s the Difference Between Elemental Mana and Neutral Mana?”]
Mika closed the book and put it back on the bookshelf, feeling enlightened. Although this book wasn’t as information dense as the other one, she felt like this one might be the most important. She’s always wondered why she had affinities in the first place, but this cleared up some of her doubts and also inspired new ideas.
‘It seems my affinities will play a major role in my development of a Mana Cultivation Technique. I’ll have to delve more into this later.’ Mika made a mental note of this in her mind and stood up.
Suddenly, she heard Joralf’s voice from the other room, “Dinner’s ready, young Mika!”
She smiled and left the library to have dinner with Joralf and his wife, whom she had yet to meet.