With all of that figured out, he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do with his mana core and channels. Before he dove into that project though, he wanted to experiment with his energy buffing skill to see if the two might end up being related. First, he had to figure out if compressing his energy had a large effect on the effects of the buff. Second, he had to determine if mixing mana into his energy held any benefits. He didn't expect it to, but if it did it would affect his channel and core planning. The only issue with that was figuring out how to do it at all.
First, without looking at liquid mana, Felix slowly pulled a little bit of mana into his energy cycles. As they spun, he essentially tried to weave a thread of mana into the cycle. Unfortunately, he felt it immediately dissipate and fall back into his mana pool. What he wanted to happen was for the mana to dissolve until his energy was saturated, and for it to have some effect on his buff. Felix didn't think it could be done without using liquid mana which seemed to stick itself in reality and not fall back into mana's dimension as gaseous mana did. Luckily, he had a whole container of the stuff that he had no idea how to use.
He didn't think his energy was actually in reality as he was currently spinning it rapidly within his body and yet it spun freely with little resistance. In theory it could also be offset in some extra spatial dimension as it was believed mana was. The only issue with that theory was that there didn't appear to be ambient energy, it was restricted to existing within a living body. The other option was that energy was able to pass between or even through cells but only existed within them. Likely, if it was pulled outside of a cell, it would dissipate or transform into something else, or it couldn't do so at all. That made more sense, but made dissolving mana into it much weirder.
If that were the case, Felix would have to pour mana directly into his cells somehow. He could keep drinking it, but that seemed like a bad idea just in case. Instead, he poured a little bit of mana into the palm of his hand then, using his will, he tried to slowly pull it into his body and into the cells instead of between them. He also made sure his energy cycle that was normally in his arm touched his palm to hopefully distribute the mana around his whole energy pool. The mana slowly disappeared, absorbed through his skin and hopefully distributed itself through his energy cycles. He gave it a few minutes to be fully distributed before he tested it out.
The most quantifiable test he could do was to buff one of his stats as much as he could to see if the increase was more than it was without any mana involved. He decided to buff perception as it was the least likely to end up killing himself with, even though blindness was a scary notion. Felix figured any damage he did would likely be corrected through the magic of vitality over time plus he had a pool of health in his ring he could draw on.
The other options were his spinal cord and nervous system for his agility and dexterity, his muscles for his strength, his whole body for endurance and vitality and his brain for intelligence. He figured his eyes, ears and nose were slightly more favorable if they exploded over those other options. He only buffed his eyes directly though as only one of his senses were necessary to obtain a stat increase and he was most familiar with his eyes. He was more likely to notice a small change in them than any of his other senses.
Felix slowly fueled his eyes with energy carefully watching his stats to try and determine if they increased any more than they usually did. His full power energy buff without mana capped at an increase of about 50% of the stat. With mana, his perception stat was increasing to about 50%.
Damn, nothing?
Felix tried many variations of using energy and mana but he seemed to be stuck with about a 50% increase. He tried funneling the mana towards his cells directly, which was nearly impossible. He also tried slowly infusing his cells with mana first then energy among a huge array of other random combinations.
Well that is disappointing. Moving on I guess.
Next he spent time compressing the energy in his body as much as he could. He chose a point in the cycle and just squeezed it. As the energy cycled through his body, more and more of it was compressed until it was all as dense as he could manage. This also didn't increase the effectiveness of his buffs much if at all. It did make his cycles faster, more controlled and easier to manage. Unfortunately, he didn't currently have a good way of keeping it compressed. After an hour or so, it had all relaxed back to normal.
So with energy I can cycle through a core that I have keeping it constantly compressed, simple enough. With mana though, is there any reason to have channels at all? Why not just a core? All I do is use mana to cast, it's not like I need mana to be physically inside of my fingertips. What's the benefit?
It would be fine if the answer was ‘there is none' but there were case studies in Mind, Body, Mana of creatures with no apparent mana consuming organs that had mana channels. They must have evolved to have those somehow right? or did the mana organs disappear as they evolved further past channels? It feels like that doesn't make sense, even though the logic seems sound.
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It's possible it has benefits at higher tiers of race and when those high tier creatures give birth, their offspring are born with channels in preparation for higher tiers. It's also possible there is a benefit I am unaware of or I haven't figured out how to use it properly. I don't think it will have any negative effects though, so maybe I just do it and hope it helps somehow later on. For now, I want to open the damn puzzle cube, I've put it off long enough. First thing's first though, how the hell do I induce an energy level and attunement without spinning mana around my head like a damn yo-yo.
The first thing Felix had to figure out, was how small of a unit of mana could he induce an energy level and attunement on. He pulled out the smallest unit of mana he could control and experimented with spinning it at different speeds and orbits. Turns out, with a tiny speck of mana, it was trivial to induce an attunement and energy level. That also meant it was harder to be precise, any tiny adjustment greatly changed the mana's properties.
Felix was out of ideas and growing bored so he decided to take a break. The sun was just starting to set and the torches that lined the streets were just starting to be lit. Felix put on his mask, set his level to 35 and set it to randomize his face, then headed down into the city.
Felix hadn't spent much time at all in the city and was only vaguely aware of what was going on, mostly from Noah. He ran across the mountain, avoiding the stairs to hopefully prevent people from putting two and two together. He ran all the way around the mountains and looped back to the entrance of the city. The first thing he saw was what was once the stable. Before, it was a simple stable with a large barn as well as a fenced in pasture for grazing. There were individual mounts, caravans and individual carts for hire pulled by boar or stags, likely from the forest.
Now, the barn was gone. The fenced in pasture remained, but the area with caravans and carts was entirely missing. The rest of the farms seemed untouched by the upgrade, with the possible exception of their fences and barns being touched up slightly. Felix did find it impressive just how many farms there were though. Even without heavy machinery to speed up the farming process, the farms remained just as big as any he had seen back on earth. Stats and skills likely had a large part in keeping them manageable. As far as Felix could see though, to the south, were farms to either side of well maintained dirt road that seemed to travel all the way to the combat dungeon, according to the signs.
Felix continued on towards the city which was significantly different. The walls for one were much more intimidating standing at least 20 meters high with parapets on either side. The entrance to the city remained a large stone ramp upwards which now passed between two towers at the ends of the walls. On the towers hung multiple massive gates that could be closed simply by dropping them. They were currently lifted high in the air so anyone could pass through. Felix spotted many people patrolling the top of the walls, though he wasn't sure why they were necessary. Maybe people were worried about the invaded fort to the north, but as Felix saw it, that was very far away from them, especially for an army.
Felix passed through the gates and into the city itself. Felix immediately noticed that the walls seemed to have moved outwards slightly to accommodate the stable or more accurately, transportation hub being placed inside the walls. There now stood a wide two story building with carts, caravans and individual mounts that entered and exited from multiple different opening on all sides of the building. Instead of the wooden barn it used to be, the building was now a stone building with vents along the top.
Last time he passed through here a few days ago, he was moving quickly and didn't take time to admire the progress of the city and it's residents while he was away. Just past the upgraded stable Felix passed into the market area. The buildings along the sides of the road had large glass windows with wares on display. Felix spotted all kinds of armor, weapons, clothes, furniture, and general goods on display. There were a few restaurants as well with their doors open in the hopes that the smell of the food attracted customers. In general, all of the shops on the main road right as you entered the city were high quality and sold widely applicable goods. There were no specialty shops or small outlets here. Felix suspected these were some of the more expensive buildings so the shops here were likely the most profitable ones.
Felix walked by a particularly busy restaurant and couldn't help himself from getting in line when he walked by. It had only been a couple months now, but Felix was really craving fried food as soon as the smell reminded him it existed. Luckily, the line moved faster than he had ever expected it to and though he started outside the building, he was at the counter ordering in just a few minutes. Felix ordered a bucket of french fries and fried chicken for just 30 credits which was handed to him within just a few minutes.
The bucket was bigger than Felix had expected, almost twice what he would have gotten back on earth but he finished the whole thing in less than 10 minutes. At first Felix was absorbed in the food but he also managed to observe the customers and cooks as well. A good chunk of the customers were picking up food to deliver to others throughout the city, which was surprising to Felix.
We have a food delivery service? How does that even work? Without the internet to pay the restaurant through, do people just trust each-other? There has to be some overarching body regulating things, right?
When Felix was finished with his meal he decided to shake things up a bit and randomize his flask again. He ended up with something that reminded him of a soda though he wasn't quite sure why. It wasn't fizzy but it was sweet with a strong earthy and slightly acidic flavor. Overall, it was delicious. Felix was quickly realizing his only complaint with the flask, was that once he randomized it, there was no guaranteed way of going back to one of the previous drinks. . . . . .