Kaz sat cross-legged on his bed. He'd meditated before, but with zombie crystals, all he did was absorb the energy out of the crystal and into his body. His body then fundamentally changed as he mutated, strengthening the abilities he had. Kaz's space powers, for instance, meant his spaces got larger. One hundred square feet doubled, and so on.

Kaz's powers were diverse, but he traded power. He knew other space users whose storage spaces started at five hundred square feet, conversely Kaz knew those with only twenty-five square feet, but they could meld with shadows.

Not the time, he thought.

Kaz closed his eyes. He took a breath and tried to look inside himself. It sounded easy when Zyaire explained it, but he wasn't sure where to look or what he was looking for. Mostly he was being literal and staring at the black void behind his eyelids.

Kaz tried again, his brow furrowed in deep concentration--or an attempt at it. "Focus," he muttered, consciously relaxing his muscles. He tried to blank his mind, but it refused to cooperate, summoning images of random moments. The picture of dust fluttering in the air was the most frequent because of her words.

Kaz huffed, opening his eyes, and running his hand through his hair. His thoughts were a tangled thread leading him down a rabbit hole. Each time he tugged, Kaz ended up farther away.

This wasn't working. Kaz rubbed his temple. Magic was an integral part of this world. Zyaire could probably identify it with her eyes closed. Kaz, on the other hand, didn't know what magic felt like. He'd interacted with it, but only in passing. He took out the mana stone he'd gotten in class and focused on it.

There was a hum to it, a beating heart--no it was more like static, making the hair on his arm stand on end, too much and you'd get a shock. He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly. He connected with the rock, imagining a path from his hand to it.

It wasn't perfect, but Kaz 'saw' something. They appeared. Tiny fuzzy particles of energy. Maybe visualizing worked better for him. The mana stone contained energy in a defined space that he found easier to see. The particles were bouncing against each other and it was volatile.

Kaz let the mana stone fall from his fingers moving inwards. He searched for that energy inside himself. This time he didn't hesitate, it wasn't perfect but he could feel it, his mana. It moved through his body like blood. The chaotic flow took shape, rough and uneven but real, there. Kaz's focus sharpened. He pushed away the distractions, hovering like shadows in the corners of his mind.

He sat with it for a moment, interacting with the mana in his body. As he did, the form of him in Kaz's mind's eye became clearer. The black void shaped itself into the form of a human sitting with crossed legs, whereas before it was a blob. Kaz noticed three places where mana gravitated towards.

One was the phenomenon Zyaire mentioned. His mana pooled below his belly button and sat there naturally. Interacting with the mana there was harder, like it disconnected from him once it settled there.

The second was in his brow, a small concentrated point between his eyebrows. Mana circled there, and it integrated with him better. It was purer, and he had more control of the mana that passed through there.

The last was his heart. Mana collected around it in a delicate yet intricate pattern. It was black silken threads shimmering silver under the faintest light emitted by his heart. The strands radiated out from a central hub connected by spirals in a shape that was precise and in perfect symmetry.

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Kaz knew about spider webs. Despite their delicate appearance, each line was deceptively strong—capable of trapping and holding prey that was several times the spider's size. It was a structure that was flexible while remaining unyielding. A trap that was elegant and lethal. Spiders were creatures associated with assassins and darkness. They were subtle things that often went unnoticed until they attacked. He wasn't sure how well that description suited him, but the gossamer threads around his heart felt right.

Able to fully visualize the mana in his body, Kaz stretched his senses out. The mana in the air reacted, vibrating and resonating with him as the focal point. He tried to latch on to a particle, but it slipped away.

He frowned, feeling his concentration slip. Kaz retreated to his body, looking inward until his mind focused. He tried again, but this time Kaz entangled the mana with threads, fishing instead of blindly pulling at nothing. He reeled in the particle, but let it go before it touched his thread. Kaz repeated that until he didn't have to visualize the thread. As he breathed in, mana moved towards him. It was a slow process, and there wasn't much mana around him to begin with. He pulled the mana into his body, and it integrated with the flow that was already there. He did it again, and again until the process was seamless and he didn't have to think about moving the mana towards him or merging it into the stream. It was a slow process, soothing but frustrating.

Kaz realized why mana stones were so important. Without them, collecting enough mana in the body would be a long, arduous process that would take years. Kaz didn't open his eyes, afraid the slightest disturbance would break the state he was in.

He held the stone in his hand, more aware of it now than he was before. The energy burst at the seams of its confines, trying to flood into Kaz. He could see why people would burst if they carelessly absorbed mana from mana stones.

The stone was hot in his hand, and it was harder to keep the energy out than pulling it into his body. Kaz switched tactics with the stone. He connected a line from his palm to the stone. Using the principles of water, he imagined a small trickle moving along the line, mana clinging to it like a dewdrop at dawn. Kaz stopped just as he was about to absorb the energy.

It was harder to get a feel for this. The energy in the mana stone was unstable, so there could be more or less at the point of contact. He felt that a moment's inattention could have it bursting out and into his body with disastrous consequences.

Kaz continued practicing until he felt comfortable. The flow of energy was smooth and constant no matter how much mana wanted to flow from the mana stone.

He touched it against his palm, pulling it into his body. Kaz inhaled sharply, his body set abuzz. Kaz dropped the stone, the balance in his body broken. His heart raced, thumping an unsteady rhythm as it fought to free itself from his chest.

Did I go too fast?

It hadn't felt that way. His gut told him he could have gone further, but his instincts warned him that proceeding would lead to injury. Kaz pulled out his notebook, double-checking that he was doing it right.

Kaz tried again but stumbled at the same spot. When he tried to integrate the mana touching his palm, he lost control. Each failed attempt pushed him further out of his meditative state.

The height of insanity was doing the same thing and expecting different results. He was struggling with integrating chaos into order, so it might be better to change the order of Zyaire's instructions. He took out the manual, and read the mantra, memorizing the mana flow.

Kaz closed his eyes, falling back into the meditative state. The mana in his body reacted to the mantra, smoothing out further and flowing easier. He moved the mana into the suggested flow, forming a circuit around his body. Everything clicked into place. This time, when Kaz picked up the mana stone and pulled mana into his body, it flowed and combined seamlessly, without conscious thought.

He settled deeper into the lull, losing track of time. When he opened his eyes, the energy in the mana stone was gone and the quantity of mana in his body had increased.

Kaz looked over, jumping in surprise. There were words on the system's screen.

Quest: Form the first circle.