I say that I found something interesting in the center of the forest, but that’s not strictly true. You see, to find out what’s at the center of the forest, I would first have to get there. That was already a tall order, what with my leg having been broken. At the moment, I couldn’t put any weight on it, and just had to be patient, letting it heal.

No, the thing preventing me from reaching the center of the forest was pressure.

As I reached the halfway point, it began to become harder to breath, like the air was getting thinner, and everything felt heavier.

It looks like whatever’s in the center of the valley, there’s also a high-mana zone around it.

To those not familiar with mana and magic, an area with a gross over-abundance of mana would sound like a gods-send, where spells could draw in that thick and potent mana and utilize it to devastating effect.

Those same people, who try it without prior preparation or thought tend to explode, the wild mana expanding within their energy channels, and destroying the core of their being. 

There are some things that people are not meant to touch upon naturally.

That’s not to say they can’t—It just takes patience and laborious work.

Well, no physical work, that is. 

Anyway, the pressure got to be too much for me only a little past the halfway mark, and I slumped onto the ground, gasping for breath and muscles twitching like I had just run a marathon.

I figured that this was a good place to start, since I was obviously right at the edge of my limits.

Leaning against another of those stone walls, I began breathing rhythmically, timing the inhale and exhale in very specific ways.

While I was doing that, I started slowly releasing what was left of my mana after the fight with the lich. It felt like the thinnest and most delicate tendrils of energy were extending away from me in little bursts coinciding with my breaths.

After an indeterminate amount of time, my mana pool was nearly empty. This was as nearly perfect as it was going to get, I guess.

I began drawing in the crushing mana around me, carefully and slowly. There was a definitive difference between the mana I had just released, and the stuff I was bringing in now. Whereas my own mana pool, when released, had felt like the smallest cotton fibers being let go of, the stuff coming back in feel like the world's most delicate lead chain being force feed through my mana channels.

It was nearly too heavy for me, and I could feel the channels straining under the density from even the tiny amount I had drawn in. A drop of sweat rolled down my face, as I strained to prevent the mana from going berserk in my channels.

I circulated the wild mana all the way through my body, finally depositing it in my mana pool, where it violently expanded. It did no harm though, since my mana pool was nearly empty anyway. It encountered no resistance.

I continued to repeat the action of drawing in bits of the wild mana one by one, and circulate it through my body.

I was so concentrated on the task that I didn’t notice the sun sink behind the mountains circling the valley, nor it rising opposite to where it had fallen.

I had to be—after all, one wrong move, and bad things could happen.

That’s why most sane people wouldn’t dare meditate in a high-mana area—Too many risks involved. It’s basically gambling with your ability, and your level of control. If it falls short, then you’re turned inside out. If all goes well, then almost miraculous things happen to your stats.

I won’t lie, when I came across the high-mana area, I nearly fell to my knees, and thanked whichever god/goddess is in charge of luck in this realm.

It’s exactly what I need at the moment, considering that I can’t raise my level. Now, I can just train my stats directly, with a huge pay-off in the end.

Even better, through this type of training, I can gain a resistance to the high-mana area’s density levels, allowing me to creep closer to the center of the valley.

Well, It’ll take some time, but that’s something I have an abundance of at the moment, due to my leg. And, I want to get used to using my left hand for now.

While I’m not abandoning hope of finding someone capable of regrowing it, that seems like a distant possibility at the moment. I’m taking up the ‘hope for the best, but prepare for the worst’ mentality.

Anyway, since it somewhat of a rarity for me to have a peaceful moment, I’ll just enjoy this, looking at the whole thing as a vacation.

One where if I breathe in the air too forcibly, I’ll be scattered amongst the tree-tops.

Oh well.

I started seeing results from this training only a few days later, when I looked at my status.

Due to the strain put on the whole body by the pressure of the mana, both inside and out, all physical stats are raised.

Due to the concentration required to keep yourself from exploding, your wisdom and intelligence are raised.

And, due to the circulation of high-density mana through the body, your mana increases explosively, especially since the mana within your body begins to match the density levels of the surrounding area.

Mana’s an odd thing.

You can increase the size of your mana pool relatively easily, through mediation and level gains, but normally, the density stays the same, since it’s rare to find areas of high mana density. Most of the mana existing is spread out evenly, with all places getting the same amount. When someone powerful drains the mana from an area, it replenishes itself after a day. Areas of high-mana are unexplained, though they tend to be drawn to ancient magic, or god relics. And even then, you would be hard-pressed to find an area so pure as this one.

Whatever’s at the center of this valley must be huge, power wise.

Anyway, when you increase the density of the mana in your body, you can’t go back. It’s a one-way road, one that has its inherent advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, the spells you cast are more powerful. On the other, it takes much longer for you to replenish the mana spent powering that spell, since you have to compress the naturally occurring mana to match that which is within your body.

I really lucked out this time, finding this place.

All in all, my mana had increased by fifty in four days, though that was secondary to the density increase. All my other stats increased by anywhere from two to twenty during the same time.

Another unexpected benefit of the meditation was that I began to remember things from my current life.

I now recalled that my brother had chucked me into a special grove to save my life, and that my mother was nothing like what I had expected, though I didn’t get to see much of her. It’s a shame—She was the most interesting person I’ve ever seen.

Unfortunately, the most recent memories I had, besides those involving that damn lich, were from a human city, where I sold blades.

At first, I had gone there to find some peace and quiet, though that ended up not happening. I wonder what happened to the city after I left.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Nothing good I’d suppose. They would have been viewed as a rebel fraction, and dealt with accordingly. I know nothing I could have done would have saved it, since my only real authority lay in the Elven Empire. Authority I had only gotten after leaving that city, wishing for a way to protect it. I think I found out what had happened to it, but I just can’t recall it at this point.

I could hope that nobody died, but that’s always a false hope for me.

Still though…

----------------------------------------

On the academy grounds, as Kai began her somewhat lengthy and world-changing training regimen, a single cloaked figure walked through the entrance gates.

The clothing he wore were in tatters, the cloak looking like a massively oversized rag. Because there was nobody around to see the figure enter, there was no astonishment upon seeing how his hooded head reached the top of the gate, over two meters tall.

Curly locks of fiery red hair peaked out from under the hood, which was actually a tad small for the big man.

On his back, a beaten and battered greatsword hung from a special sheath, designed for an easy draw. 

He looked around for a moment, before spotting something across the well-lit campus grounds.

It was the administrative offices, where people would go to see about jobs, or money owed to the academy.

He walked into the building, squinting slightly at the well-lit and clean interior, which seemed to only accent the poor condition of his clothes.

There was a row of desks set up, with only one being occupied that late at night.

The white-haired old man behind the desk looked up as the big man entered, and smiled, as if saying ‘Can I help you? Now, please don’t dirty my nice lobby.'

(Hogvir) “’Ello. I’m here to see about a position as a smithy’s apprentice?”

The old man looked Hogvir up and down, evaluating him. There was a name tag on the desk identifying him as Dowsy.

(Dowsy) “Bit old for that, aren’t you? You’re what, twenty, thirty?”

(Hogvir) “Thirty-five. Just means I have more experience. I’ve run a forge before, and decided to give this place a look…”

(Dowsy) “No, you’ve heard that Master Giden is working here, and wanted to work with a legend, right?”

Hogvir looked at him sheepishly.

(Hogvir) “That’s right. Do you get many others like that?”

(Dowsy) “*Sigh*. You have no idea. Luckily, Master Giden has said that anyone who comes should be given a chance. He should still be at the school’s forge. If you hurry, you could make it.”

Hogvir thanked the old man, and left hastily.

Dowsy shook his head. It was true that all those who had shown up, asking for a job working with Master Giden had been given a chance, but only that. All but one had been shown the door after about a week, their ability’s not up to par.

Hogvir found the forge easily, from the directions given to him by Dowsy before he left. Sure enough, there were three people in the forge—One old elf, and two assistants. They seemed to be concentrating on forging a blade from multiple pieces of steel. They were inscribing runes on the steel before heat welding them together, working carefully to avoid deforming the runes.

Off to the side, a gleaming blade sat, likely an earlier product of this technique.

Hogvir stood silently, watching the delicate dance of the smiths working to birth a new blade.

There was a beauty in it, plain to see, and Hogvir didn’t move at all, hardly daring to breathe, afraid that he would ruin the harmony before him.

Unfortunately, a chiming sound was heard as the blade was dipped into a tank of water, and it split down the middle.

The men groaned at this failure, the similarly broken blades scattering the workplace attesting to repeated results.

The elf noticed Hogvir at this point, and beckoned him over.

(Giden) “You, are you here for a job?”

Hogvir nodded.

(Giden) “Good. Can you clean up all these broken blades?”

Again, Hogvir nodded.

He bent down to pick one up, when he heard a gasp behind him.

It was Master Giden, looking at the greatsword on his back. The blade was mostly visible due to the special sheath, and something the elf had seen astonished him greatly.

(Giden) “Your sword, was it made by that bladesmith, Kai?”

Hogvir shook his head this time.

(Hogvir) “No. Well, yes, it was indeed given to me by a bladesmith named Kai, but he didn’t make it. It channels mana—nobody can make those anymore, right? It was a gift.”

The elf had a gleam in his eyes now.

(Giden) “He? No, the bladesmith I know as Kai is a girl, a little thing. She’s somehow figured out how to make mana-channeling blades again.”

Hogvir, predictably, looked flabbergasted.

(Hogvir) “Kai, a girl? No, no. We must know different Kai’s.”

(Giden) “Well then, why don’t we compare notes? See if there are truly two different Kai’s, both having mana-channeling blades. Tell me, did you ever see your Kai’s face?”

Hogvir shook his head. The Kai he knew had always worn that mask, concealing his face…

But had Hogvir ever asked him why his face was covered?

He didn’t think so. The fact remained though, that he had never seen Kai’s face. 

(Giden) “Then how do you know they’re different? Kai likely hid her face to avoid persecution, and other troubles. Now then, could I see the blade on your back, young man?”

Hogvir let Master Giden take the blade, and didn’t watch as he examined it closely, occasionally sending out a little probe of mana, testing the blade’s functions.

Hogvir was preoccupied. He was pondering all of Kai’s actions, and little personality quirks. He was actually beginning to realize that Giden’s suggestion made more than a little sense.

(Giden) “As I thought. It was made with the same techniques as that other one. Furthermore, it’s not an ancient blade. While it is considerably damaged, it isn’t aged. This was made recently.”

(Hogvir) “So they are the same person?”

Suddenly, an idea occurred to Hogvir.

(Hogvir) “Wait, since you know Kai, then he..no, she must have been through here before, right? Do you know where Kai went?”

Giden shook his head sadly.

(Giden) “Kai disappeared only recently. The Headmaster is out looking for her, off at some island. More than that, I can’t tell you. Hopefully, she'll be back.”

Hogvir sighed. There were some questions he had for Kai, things he had wanted to ask since they found her house empty, the wards gone. 

He decided that the academy was as good a place as any to wait. 

And so, it came about that Hogvir apprenticed himself to the legendary elven smith, Giden.