“I can’t… explain,” Glade whispered, his voice a pleasant mix of surprise and awe. Not only had the room come to life in a kaleidoscope of color, but the phosphorescent mushrooms were no longer simple sources of muted light. Each one blazed with hues of vibrant blue and brown with small streaks of gray so dark they might as well be black.
“Can you at least try to explain?” Kedryn pleaded.
And so, he tried. Nothing he conveyed even came close to the magnificence of the ethereal lights floating around the room, let alone what he saw when looking at Kedryn and Riya.
Eight distinct strings of color resembling a cardiovascular system wove throughout the Kid’s body. The brightest among them was an angry red, the remaining being so subdued he could barely register the colors. What was even more captivating was the strings originated from a ball of ghostly light centered just below his naval.
Riya had a slightly smaller ball of light but had only three woven strands running through her body. One a burnished gold, another of stuttering white, and the last of muted yellow.
A pulse rippled through Glade at the same time he watch his mana bar drop by another 10 points.
Not knowing what was happening, he explained the situation as best he could to Kedryn.
“It must be the cost to keeping the spell going. And from what you’re describing, I bet you are seeing our mana systems! The red one for me is obviously for fire and it makes sense the other channels are muted since I haven’t opened them yet. I already know that Riya has both a celestial and light attunement, which would account for the gold and white you saw. So awesome! Can you see your own mana channels?”
Glade looked down but was met with the ruined black uniform he had been wearing since coming to Veil. Apparently, he couldn’t see his own mana structure. Which was fine by him as he had no interest in seeing his own inner workings.
After a few more minutes of discussion, where Glade kept paying the spell upkeep, Kedryn finally asked a more direct question instead of merely speculating.
“I wonder if the purpose of the spell is to see ambient mana and mana systems. That could be useful, but I thought there would be more to it.”
“There is more,” Glade hesitantly replied. “Don’t ask me how I know, because none of this makes a lick of sense to me, but I believe the spell allows me to pull a small amount of one type of mana from an existing source.”
“And do what with it?”
“You’re guess is as good as mine,” Glade replied, still mesmerized by the flowing colors.
“I bet your astral attunement is for crafting things. Oh, I know! Maybe it's for disrupting spells!” Kedryn exclaimed.
Another pulse shot through Glade at the same time as a low level headache hit him. Glancing at his screen, he saw the bar had dropped to 20%.
“What happens if I run out of mana?” Glade asked.
“I’m not sure. In the games I played you simply lost your ability to cast spells until you regenerated more mana. My flame only costs 1 point of mana per minute to maintain so long as I keep it small. I’m not too worried about it seeing as I have 170 mana to play with. Why?”
“I’m down to 20% and I’m getting a headache. Before I bottom out, I’m going to try using the spell for its intended purpose,” Glade said, looking back at the glowing mushrooms.
Each mushroom had both blue and brown mana running through it, which he assumed was water and earth. The gray mana Kedryn had confirmed as shadow. Now that Glade knew what he was looking for, it was easy to identify the dark gray mana throughout the room, like creeping threads of mist that flowed from one side of the grotto to the other.
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Looking closer, Glade couldn’t help but think the presence of the shadow mana was… off. It was simple to see that the earth and water mana within the mushroom was in perfect balance with the other. But the darker energy felt more… invasive, like a plague.
Another pulse came from the center of his body, quickly followed by an even worse headache.
Glade forced the pain to the back of his mind as he focused on the misty threads of shadow and pulled.
The threads of darkness spreading into the fabric of the mushroom melted away, coalescing into a ball of shadow floating above his outstretched palm.
The mushroom immediately brightened.
“Whoa! What just happened?” Kedryn exclaimed.
“Removed the shadow mana,” Glade responded, inspecting the ball of dark mist in his hand. Little wisps slowly floated off the mass, dissipating in the air above him.
“That. Is. Awesome!” Kedryn exclaimed loudly. Riya gave them both an irritated look but had glanced back and forth between Glade and the mushroom with barely concealed interest.
“What did you do with the shadow mana?” Kedryn asked with barely restrained enthusiasm.
“Nothing yet,” Glade replied, another pulse emanating from his core at the same time as intense pain erupted behind his eyes. His mana bar was now zero, the pain causing him to lose focus for an instant.
The world of color vanished, causing Glade to groan.
“You ok sir?” Kedryn asked.
“Just a headache,” Glade responded through gritted teeth. “Give me a minute.”
Two prompts were waiting for him.
Congratulations! Your skill level in Astral magic has advanced to level 2!
Congratulations! Through rapid mana depletion you have taken the first steps on your path of training your magical capacity. Remember, the eternal journey of advancement passes through joy and pain in equal measure. Most shy away from this universal law and fail even before they begin. Your earnest drive has been noted. +1 to Wisdom.
Glade shared his last two prompts with Kedryn.
“You’re kidding me!” he responded, eyes staring at Glade hungrily as if he had just dangled a particularly nice steak in front of a starving man. “It’s like finding a cheat at the beginning of a game! We can use this to do some serious grinding!”
Glade knew, deep down, the Kid was once again trying to communicate with him. Before he could even question what Kedryn meant, the Corporal sat down and quickly increased the size of his flame.
“Medve…” Riya hissed just as she and Glade jumped back from the instant ball of heat and flame. While he didn’t understand what the elf was saying, it sounded very much like a curse word directed to the young Corporal. Whatever it was she said, Glade fully agreed with her.
For what felt like the hundredth time, he wished he could communicate with the elf girl. It would make everything much easier while saving both himself and Riya the headache of relying on Kedryn as their intermediary.
As he contemplated their situation, a sliver of blue returned to his mana bar. Glade frowned. A single point of mana had taken a great deal of time to regenerate, which meant he would likely have this headache until it was back up to the 20% mark.
As he contemplated what to do, a memory of his recent skill gain came flooding back to him.
In no time he pulled up the details of his mediation skill.
Meditation (Basic). The journey to greatness often begins with a single breath. +.5% to mana regeneration while in a meditative state.
Not having much else to do, Glade settled down to meditate and breath. Before he closed his status screen his eyes fell on his ability, Will.
Will (Legendary). Through determination, faith, and sheer bullheadedness you can shape outcomes, change realities, and cast down angels and demons of the highest orders. The only limitation is yourself. Converts willpower attribute to points. 1 point regenerated every 24 hours. Further exploration is recommended.
Total points available: 11
Following the recommendation to explore, Glade instinctually expended a point of willpower to aid him in his meditation and mana regeneration.
1 point of willpower expended to increase mana regeneration through meditation. Regeneration increased by 10% while in a meditative state for the next hour.
“Not bad,” Glade mumbled as he closed his eyes and began to breathe.