Holy shit.

After expanding my domain of shadows, I could see… everything. The entirety of the training court, Jonet trembling near the door and halfway into the service wing. Wherever I wished within the radius and from whatever angle I wanted, the entirety of my domain bared all for me to see in the gray-on-gray rendering of darkvision. And like the shadow realm, I could move freely around the space as I pleased.

“AHHHHHH!”

I saw it before I heard it- the increasing panic preceding Jonet’s bloodcurdling scream. She was practically fainting by the time I swam through the darkness to try and dissipate the spell.

Within a second or two of moving next to her and absorbing the darkness, the umbral cloud in her immediate surroundings began breaking apart like a handful of soap bubbles popping in slow motion. Allowing the pale light of the training court to once again shine on our surroundings.

“Apologies,” I said, attempting to hide the excessive pride from my face. “That was an accident.”

She regained her composure with a deep breath and fully turned to me before bowing. “Thank you, Your Grace. However, there is no need to apologize. I will be fine.”

‘Sure.’ I shrugged to myself before turning back to Grandpa Lich.

He had a wide grin on his face that remained until I stood before him, wherein he knelt to give me a vigorous rub on the top of the head. Much to my contempt. “I couldn’t even make a domain that large until I was ten years old!” He bellowed proudly. “I see you becoming a great Sorcerer in the future. A Magus, even!”

“What’s a Magus?” I asked, desperate to pry as much information as I could from the sly old man.

He bared his palms before me, grinning wide before flooding them with mana. Mere seconds later, a scroll made of some type of solid black ashen smoke unfurled before his palm.

“Magus Everandus 'Necro King' Cole.” I read a little slowly, as I was still ‘learning.’ "Evolved, 60th Step combined. Barbarian. Paladin. Sorcerer. What’s all this mean?” I asked with semi-ignorance. If it was anything like the ranking systems from the various media on the outside, that meant Grandpa Lich was ridiculously overpowered.

Like many other hypotheses, however, that was based entirely on my preconceived notions. I needed to know more. Both of magic and of this world.

“Magus is my rank seen by the Guild Association. It is the highest attainable rank, afforded to only a few in the realms.” He proudly declared. “Evolved refers to my spirit. Something you will gain at the Arcane Institute. As for the last part.” He sighed. “Those are my Classes. Things you will also obtain at the institute. I have fulfilled all the tasks of my three classes. Hence the 60th step.

“In other words, it shows others how powerful and great I am!” He arrogantly boasted. “But you’ll learn about that later. First.” He paused to groan as he reached into the shadow beneath him to withdraw a stack of three textbooks and a rolled scroll. “You are to read these and come back to me with what you’ve learned.”

I contained my grin as I took my time reading over the spines to peruse the contents of my new collection. Prompting a heavy, impatient sigh to escape my grandfather’s lips.

“Remember what we spoke of, Amun.” He growled. “You can fool anyone; even your father, but not me. You have one week to learn this tome.” He held up the scroll. “And one month for each of these books.”

'Dammit.'

“Yes, Sir.” I nodded, trying not to sarcastically drag on the word for too long before squatting down to begin placing the texts in my shadow pocket.

While I was putting on an act in vain, I was undoubtedly excited to be able to finally get my hands on some noteworthy reading material. With my Eternal Eye, it was by far the fastest way to absorb information. Making things like schools or tutors entirely obsolete for me. Though that did pose a question for whenever my education inevitably began. Hopefully, I could prove to my parents that instructors weren’t necessary, only textbooks or other documents coupled with some type of condensed education. Leaving me an abundance of time to train my body and magic.

And my vassals as well.

With my bounty of knowledge secured, my grandfather gave me a complacent grin before turning off to step into the darkness. Seconds later, I did much the same and saw him floating toward the formal wing of the house- the region reserved for guests. Wanting nothing to do with the place, I swam past Jonet scurrying off toward my room and crawled out from the shadows under my bed with books in hand to read the rest of the night away.

Even with my training regimen, my need for sleep was only around four hours for one or two days per week now. Otherwise, it was meditating for the same length of time before I stirred awake fully rested. Which; even without the Eternal Eye, gave me more than enough time to extensively read through the books and learn as much as I could about this strange world.

The three books he gave me were focused on mana and its interactions with various physiologies; affinity cores; and basic spellcasting. The latter of which I was particularly excited about. But I wrestled my haste to the ground and went through the books in order.

The book regarding mana contained far more information than I’d guessed it would. In addition to the descriptions I was already aware of- that mana was a fluid much like gas or water that existed everywhere in different densities- there were more detailed explanations of the aspects of mana and its interactions with the body that Grandpa Lich skipped entirely.

Mana Pores were, as the name suggested, pores that would open or close to regulate the flow of mana traveling into an individual’s mana well, thus determining the rate of mana recovery in that individual. Like the brain preventing the body from biting itself hard enough to draw blood- if you were sane- one’s mana pores would never take in more mana than the well could handle. Under normal circumstances at least.

They were more or less fixed at the time of birth and could only be expanded by either expensive potions or acclimatizing to a mana-dense environment. And they were scaled numerically- with .01 being the smallest size possible for a given species, granting a faint trickle of mana into their core. On the contrary, 1 was the largest radius possible for that species. For humans, the average range was between .45 and .6.

‘So.’ I began to internally hypothesize. ‘Perhaps that implies that an elf with Pores rated at .45 would probably have a higher rate of mana recovery than a human with a wider pore radius. But how much wider?’

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Setting my question aside for a later time, I went on to the next section about Mana Tolerance and Mana Fatigue. Which referred to two phenomena. First was the pain, fatigue, and sanity loss one would experience in an area with denser mana than that found in their well. I interpreted it as mana crushing someone in much the same way the Venusian atmosphere would. Minus the heat. The second phenomenon was akin to a sort of magical fatigue. Where; regardless of the radius of one’s pores, the constant circulation of mana on the well caused the spiritual organ itself to tire. Causing magical burnout.

More interesting to me, however, were the effects of both too much and too little mana. If one were to cast too many spells and deplete their well faster than it could replenish, they’d experience excruciating levels of pain and fatigue until their Well recharged. If they were burnt out and still tried to cast in vain, those spells came with a large risk of stroke or cardiac arrest. And without the presence of mana in the Well at all, each spell cast would consume the life energy of the caster. Too much mana on the other hand, and the body would become oversaturated with energy. And much like an electrical current, the wire; or body in such case, would short circuit.

Mana Wells, on the other hand, were more or less described just as I’d observed them over time. All but confirming just one of my hypotheses: Like its namesake, it was a cylindrical object said to be housed within the Spirit, only capped on both ends like a can of soup. Through those pages, however, I learned that the ‘walls’ of these cans- Mana Pores- constantly circulated mana in and out of the Well. A phenomenon most notably perceived by the sentient races as the 'emission of mana from all living things.'

While potions, enchantments and sometimes armor could act as a quasi-second mana well or temporarily boost one's own, it was generally considered impossible to expand the Well permanently. And like Pores, mana wells varied from species to species in terms of depth and density; and were alphanumerically ranked by the civilized races.

The size of a Well was numerically ranked from 1 to 12. At 1, a Well will be the smallest size possible to sustain life for that particular species. The smallest well of a plant would be akin to a grain of sand while the smallest human mana well was around the size of a bottlecap, allowing for only a single powerful spell or a handful of weaker ones before exhausting completely. 12, on the other hand, would be slightly larger than that creature’s heart. Much like my own.

On the other end, the density of a Mana Well was determined by the visual appearance of the energy within and was represented by letters. A Mist Well was at the lowest end of the spectrum; and among humans, this demographic consisted of those who could only manipulate the elements for practical matters. Roughly a quarter of the population. A Water Well consisted of those who were still unable to utilize higher forms of magic but could at least train to use their natural manipulation abilities for self-defense. They comprised the majority of the population.

A Slush Well was akin to the concentration of mana within my abode- a fluid held between the liquid and solid phases. Creatures with a well of this density were said to be touched by mana and were capable of using higher forms of magic. They were your average magical creature or lower-ranked mythical beast with superpowered levels of strength mixed with the humans born with affinity cores and those who awakened cores later in life- known to civilized races as Mystics. Conversely, those who were loved by mana had an Ice Well, generally bringing them on par with the strongest magical beasts or your average mythical creatures. As such, a well-trained mystic with an Ice Well of average size was capable of single-handedly defending a city from a platoon of magic beasts. Or destroying that city altogether.

At the far end of the spectrum were Diamond Wells. Wells that had mana at such a density that it appeared as a crystal. Creatures with Diamond Wells were described to be the nobles or royals of the humanoid realms, high-level demons, a vast majority of elves, and ancient entities or divine beasts. Regardless of species, they were all said to be regarded as living deities or walking calamities. Singular entities, possessing the power to permanently change an entire region.

‘Interesting.’ I nodded to myself after closing the book. There was a mystery to be discovered here, I was sure of it. So I immediately delved into analyzing what I’d just read with my Eternal Eye to see if any logical holes could be brought to the forefront of my mind.

After perusing through each line and remembering Grandpa Lich's words on the subject, a few things stood out to me. Aside from the likely overdramatization, of course. First, was that it was never stated by either him or the book that one couldn’t induce their mana well to increase in size. The words were, 'generally impossible.' Not 'impossible.' A subtle but not insignificant distinction. Second, Grandpa Lich's hesitation when he initially told me of Mana Wells. ‘More drastic measures,’ were his words. The last data point was that he himself told me that his spirit was evolved. Though not entirely his mana well, it was what his well dwelled in. That had to mean something.

At a fundamental level, however, these points of data definitely implied that it was possible to expand one's mana well. If at great risk. The only question was, 'How?'

‘Ah well.’ I shrugged the question away, placing the book to the side. It wasn’t as if I’d have been able to find the answer at that moment. So I added it to the ever-expanding list of mysteries before I moved on to the next book. A book that I quickly became immersed in. As it gave me insight into the non-human races of this world and how they; particularly the elves, were central to humans evolving into what they were today.

According to the book, the first recordings of humans using anything other than the four types of elemental manipulation dated back to 1,480 years ago, when five magical portals opened up on the far continent of Ulai, on the far side of the Caldera Sea. Though the individual portals spawned on the same landmass, they themselves were thousands of kilometers apart from one another and were responsible for a sudden increase in ambient mana. Turning the surrounding lands into more extreme versions of the environments they already were and giving the denizens of the far realms free reign to invade humanity's homeland of Maru.

Most importantly, it spurred a mutation within humanity that would give rise to their Affinity Cores. Or so they believed.

Even those didn’t stop them from learning of the devastating power of the races from the far realms, however. Each of them was terrifying and horrific in their own right, yet it was the dominant races of the different realms seen as the most formidable in humanity's eyes; for each of them could manipulate mana in dissimilar ways.

Vampires could use mana to control blood, for instance. And the goblins and orcs of Betrarth could manipulate bone and plant matter respectively. Elves could manipulate and cast with magic in addition to mana forging. Humans could manipulate elements. Dwarves could mold metal. Gnomes could create illusions. Halflings could charm. And demons, most feared of all, could use mana to feed off of emotional energy and in turn use it to physically empower themselves.

“Now that is interesting!” I commented aloud as I slammed the book shut. Vampires and goblins and elves and dwarves. This life was truly magical. And as such, I had an endless slew of questions.

I was a scientist, after all. Sure, I delved into fantasy virtual worlds and lost myself in more pieces of literature than I could count. But the potential for what was reality in this world was nigh limitless. And my pool of knowledge was laughably small. 'How big is this world.? How old? Just how many creatures live- thrive on it?' These were the questions burning most deeply in my mind. Driving my need to explore and see and learn these things for myself.

Frustratingly so.

As a five-year-old, I had at least a decade until I had any semblance of freedom. Meaning the only other thing I could do was get my hands on as much information as possible and train as much as I could until that coveted moment came. So no more charades, I decided. My family already thought of me as a genius, so there was no point in trying to play as if wasn’t.

It wasn’t as if I was fooling anyone, anyways. So with that decided, I tossed the second book on my bed and slid off my seat and into the shadows beneath my desk. Then turned toward the kitchen upon entering that blissful realm of darkness.

It was snack time.