“My Ux? Is that what this is called?”

Savekio nodded, “Care to share what you’ve discovered with the rest of them? I’ll clear any misconceptions you might’ve gained.”

“Alright, well the first thing is that ‘Ux’ is what allows us to resist magic, heal, and gather strength.”

“Half correct. Ux is capable of removing the biological limitations inherent in acquiring strength, resisting the elements, or healing your wounds. Think of it less as a cause and more of the magnifier.”

Dreiki nodded, “Right, and that means Ux is something which allows you to ignore things right? Such as these winds, or the damage inflicted by a spell.”

“Indeed. Ux will allow you to ignore certain things and up to a threshold. That threshold is different depending on how strong your Ux is.”

“Ux is also the bridge between mind, body, and soul. If our souls are the opening, then Ux is the pipe.”

“Not quite, although that has been a common misconception. Ux connects those three aspects of yourself because Ux is the culmination of those three parts. It represents the harmony of your existence, and the balance you have achieved as a person. Think of it this way, why do we separate the mind and body if your brain is a part of your body? Is it truly separate? What about our souls?”

“Well perhaps the mind and body are the same, but the soul doesn’t exist in the physical realm, does it? So it has to be different.”

“But your magic, a manifestation of your soul, is, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“And how is it brought into the physical world?”

“By how I imagine it to manifest.”

“Bing-bong!” Savekio chimed, wagging his finger, “Your heart and lungs are parts of your body, but we distinguish them because they serve different purposes of the same whole. Your mind, body, and soul, are different aspects of your Ux, but we distinguish them because they serve different purposes of the same whole as well.”

“I get it now!” Dreiki said, looking to everyone else who seemed completely lost, “Er- basically, I just focused on the force that was protecting me from my magic and figured it I could harm myself with my own magic I could also manipulate it to protect me from nonmagical things. I guess, in a way, that’s unifying all the aspects of mind body and soul together by accident.”

Savekio nodded, “And it’s not unlike the way the first Ux users discovered this technique, either. That is the first step. What you’re using now is called ‘mana skin’, which is a catchy name even if it’s inaccurate. After all, it requires no mana to produce.”

“So… if it’s not magic then what is it?” Gornax asked.

Savekio shrugged, “Fuck if I know.”

Gornax nearly stumbled off a cliff, “Wait, if you don’t know, then-”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“What is luck if not magic? What is consciousness if not magic? What about love? Empathy? Time? Fate?” Savekio paused, “There is surely an answer to all those things, but knowing that answer does not always help us control it. In the same vein, even if we cannot fully understand what it is, or why it exists, we can still learn how to use it to our benefit.”

“So what does any of this have to do with reading those pages?” Dreiki asked.

“I’ll explain in due time. Focus on maintaining your ‘mana skin’ for now. Get familiar with its qualities, and see how much you can manipulate it. We’ll take a break in an hour for lunch.”

Dreiki spent the next hour toying with his mana skin. It was incredible. After he had summoned it, the mana skin was as natural to maintain as breathing and required no additional concentration. Even though it was winter all around him, within his insulated bubble it felt like spring. On top of that, while there was no more wind, he could still breathe.

Normal air can come in and out, but the wind and the cold can’t. Why is that? He thought to himself. It did not restrict him like armor nor did it deflect the wind. It was almost like the wind itself did not know he existed anymore.

He pulled his knife from its sheath, wrapped his hand on the blade and tried to pull. His hand slid across it. He could feel his fingers being forced away from the sharp end of it. He tried to grip harder, but it only pushed back harder. So it protects from anything harmful, but Grandpa said there was a threshold.

The mana skin acted like some sort of magnetic force that repelled harm equal to or less than the force it could generate. Dreiki had no doubt Savekio would be training him to strengthen that force.

He fell back to the cart that Ezo was pulling and rummaged through it. He plucked a thin rag and held it out to his side. It flapped wildly in the wind, reminding him how cruel the weather was right now.

Maybe if I focus a bit I’ll be able to cover the cloth too?

He imagined the mana skin covering the rag, enveloping it, and protecting it from the dangerous wind. Almost immediately, the rag fell as if the wind no longer existed. So I can envelop objects with it too if I focus.

The cold bit his shoulder, leaking through an invisible hole in his defenses. It seemed there was only so much space his mana skin could cover.

He put the rag away. Once the hour had passed, Savekio stopped in his tracks.

“Let me see the sword.” He said.

Confused, Dreiki obeyed, watching him unsheath, and plunge it into the ground. There was a moment of silence as he stood there. All of a sudden, a metallic ping resonated. His grandfather pulled the sword from the snow, wiping away the dirt on its tip, and sheathing it. “This way, there’s a small cave we can take refuge in. We might as well set up camp for the night.” he tossed the sword back to Dreiki.

“But it’s only midday! We can keep going,” he said.

“Take a look at your allies, and tell me that again.”

Dreiki turned, seeing how exhausted everyone else was. While he had been caught up in his own head experimenting, the rest of them had tried to maintain their spells.

“Wait, you guys should know how to use Ux now, right? Come on! Once you figure it out, it’s easy!”

They didn’t respond, but they all reflected the same emotion back at him. Frustration.

“There’s a reason I chose you as my final disciple, Dreiki,” Savekio said, “Ux comes easier to those who have not neglected a part of themselves. Most will not be able to awaken their Ux like you. Many awaken it through trauma or loss. Others from a desperate struggle for survival. To awaken Ux like you’ve just done is more rare than being born with the lightning element.”

“Right. So then…” He turned to look at Savekio, “Is that why we’ll be fighting Malaki with the Tibur?”