Morning comes soon enough. Which is good because by now there is a true hollowness in my stomach. A gnawing beast gnashing its teeth against the inside of my belly, desperate to be fed.
And fed it’s going to be. The pots have all cooled down and after salvaging what I can I’m left with five more or less intact ones. Which I immediately put into the faintly burning remains of the fire I separated yesterday.
Adding a couple of branches to it so it doesn’t go out while I’m getting water, I take the square of birch bark and a second pot to the lake. There I wash the bark, just in case. Hopefully there aren’t any diseases in the water, or if there are let’s hope boiling is enough to kill them.
And then I wait. Boiling cold water takes a while, especially when the only fire available is a campfire. Or should I call it a bonfire? I’m not in a camp after all.
Anyway, while I’m waiting for that I collect a bit more firewood and then just sit around while the water boils.
Maybe half an hour later some bubbles begin to finally rise up, at which point I start adding the bark. I’m not exactly sure how this is supposed to work, but I do seem to recall that it’s supposed to taste like spaghetti. So, I tear off smaller strips which I then toss inside the pot.
Leaning on the safer side, I let it boil for as long as the fire lasts. Which is why I repeat my trick from yesterday and set up another one a little further away. And then, all that is left to do is wait. Again.
I spend this time doing my various exercises for my skills along with an experiment to see whether I can meditate while also doing other stuff. The result: maybe?
Perhaps another hour later the pot and its contents have cooled down enough for me to see about eating it.
What greets me inside is a mockery of proper pasta. Somewhere along the boiling process, the bark separated into two layers, a thin papery one and a thicker one more resembling wood. Thankfully, the sight jogs my memory into remembering which one is edible, so I don’t have to try the wrong one.
Mm, yummy. Can you tell how enthusiastic I am? Of course you can’t, that was sarcasm. Sure, it’s certainly food, but that’s about all the praise I can give it. Maybe if I had some spices, hell even just salt, it would be better.
At least I won’t starve in the near future. Though maybe I’ll die from only eating the blandest meal in existence.
After eating my fill, which let me tell you took all the willpower I had, it was finally time. The time to get me some magic.
Now then, magic, as far as I know… yeah, that’s already a bad way to start. I don’t actually know anything about magic, only stuff I read in stories. And while those same stories also predicted the System, the one I’m stuck with isn’t anything like the ones I used to read about.
So, yeah. I’m running completely on speculation here. Which is not a good way to test things, if I’ve learned anything from the scientific method.
All that being said, there are only a couple of ways I can think of to unlock spellcasting. Most of them hinge on another assumption that magic is based around mana, which can be perceived. But I digress.
The mostly likely method for me is meditation. By emptying my mind of all other stimuli, I should be able to open my mind to mana. Consequently, once I’m able to see it, I’ll learn how to manipulate it and this cast spells.
Another method, which is the same except for the first step, is to expose myself to an enormous quantity of mana. The abrupt shock to my body should also cause me to feel mana. The only problem with this one is that I have no idea where such an amount of mana even could be without already having a mana sense.
Then, the last ‘main’ method is a revelation. Whether it be through a life and death situation or receiving enlightenment about something, a lot of the time in stories it is exactly that which awakens someone to magic.
As you can see, I only have any real chance of doing it through meditation. Which brings me to another issue.
While I don’t know the length of my stay in the Void, it most certainly wasn’t short. And for most of that time I spent meditating. See the issue? In all of that time I’d say I got rather good at it. And yet, no magic. Not even the faintest glimmer of it.
Which means that my meditation wasn’t good enough. Thus, I’ll be dedicating another skill to this pursuit of mine.
Which is also why I’ve already done a bit of meditating, to unlock it. And while I wasn’t able to get a more advanced version, I did manage at least this.
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You have learned the skill: Meditation!
Accept?
Or maybe this is already the better version? What would be the lesser one in that case? Calm down? Seems like something no one would ever take. Anyway, accept. Now let’s get to it.
Putting a sizeable portion of firewood onto the fire, I sit down in front of it, my legs crossed. I close my eyes and focus inward.
And I think. But I’m not supposed to think when meditating, so I try to push the thoughts away. Which doesn’t work. I mean, when has it ever worked to tell yourself to not think about something? Never, am I right?
I couple fruitless minutes later, I remember that I’m supposed to le the thought ‘wash’ over me. Like, what does that mean? How the fuck am I supposed to examine a thought and let it move on? What if it an interesting one and I want to spend a bit more time pondering over it? And tell me anything about returning to it when I’m done. We all know that I’ll forget about it till then. And no, just because I forgot doesn’t mean it wasn’t important.
Shit, I need to calm down and think less. Maybe that’s why I never achieved anything in the Void. Then again, maybe mana doesn’t exist…
No, no, no! you’ve got to stop with this Ra! How are you going to be the most powerful mage throughout all the universes when you can’t even do something simple like meditating! It’s literally doing nothing. You can’t be bad at doing nothing.
Hmm, actually? I may be very good at doing nothing. Or at least I used to be. Zoning out does technically count as meditation, right? And I used to do that all the time as a kid.
Right then, how do I zone out on purpose?
…
Yeah, I’ve got no idea. Maybe I should think extremely much, so that my brain gets overwhelmed and short-circuits? No, even if that’s how it worked, I doubt I’d be able to do that with all my skills. Speaking off, maybe I should stop doing other stuff after all.
Ok, attempt number two. This time completely focusing on just this. Or rather, not focusing. You know what I mean.
…
Yeah, I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this. It just seems so hard. Hmm, let me check the System, the skill should level slower if I’m doing this wrong.
Level Up!
Languages – level 9 -> 10
Visualize – level 28 -> 29
Parallel processing – level 30 -> 31
Improvised implements – level 14 -> 16
Meditation – level 0 -> 7
Shit. Yeah, I haven’t been doing this correctly at all. Only seven level in what, two or three hours? I need to figure this out, and quick!
I did not figure it out. Not that day and not even on the next one. It actually took me more than a week to figure it out.
Except that by now my meditation skill levelled up a bunch, so who know whether or not it was brute force. And since I dedicated most of my time this past week to figuring this out, I wasn’t able to make much, if any, progress in all my other skills.
Level Up!
Fortified mind – level 34 -> 35
Languages – level 10 -> 12
Visualize – level 29 -> 32
Parallel processing – level 31 -> 34
Improvised implements – level 16 -> 18
Meditation – level 7 -> 15
I’d like to think that at least a bit of it was my own actual skill and not just reaching level fifteen in the System skill.
Though it is a bit particular that my crafting skill continued to level. Though when I call it crafting it makes a bit more sense. At least as long as you consider cooking crafting.
Anyway, back to meditation. Now that I can enter the proper state of timeless existence, I think I’m ready.
Soon enough, I’m floating on a river. A river of thought. But I don’t let myself get distracted by any of them, simply floating on the surface, letting the stream and the occasional wave carry me. Up and down, up and down.
And then, there’s something. Which is weird because up until now there were only my thought, which I learned to…
I’m such an idiot. I just had to break it, didn’t I? Alright, let’s get back to it.
Again, on the river. A gentle leaf, letting itself carry along. Uncaring for what may lurk beneath, just passing through. A simple passenger on the waters.
And then, there is that thing again. A gentle sensation, barely there. But the leaf ignores it. After all, it is a simple leaf. It does not care for the complexities in life.
And yet, slowly, barely perceptibly at first, the strange new feeling grows stronger. As if a gentle wind blows into the leaf, trying to disturb its path on the river. But the leaf is stubborn, it doesn’t want to let go and hugs the water. The water hugs back, tensing, unwilling to let its companion go.
And so, it continues, a gentle tug of war. But not for long.
Before long, the wind turns into a gust and then a gale. It’s no longer a gentle plea, but a demand. A demand for attention, for acknowledgement.
But the leaf, ever the thick-headed fool, remains set in its ways. It ignores the order to look upon the sensation, so the sensation acts upon it.
A typhoon of power descends on the leaf and carries it away.
Huh? What’s happening? Wait, what the hell is happening?!
There’s… something all around me. A strange sensation which I can only describe as mist hugging me from all sides. But it’s not mist, because there’s nothing there when I open my eyes. And also, because I can feel it hugging me even a meter from my body, which makes no sense at all.
Is this what I’ve been searching for this whole time? Is this mana? Or perhaps even magic? It certainly feels magical.
I try to stand up, but I’m frozen in place. Um, now I really want to know what’s happening. After a brief experiment, I realize that I cannot move at all. Shit.
What have I gotten myself into this time? Is magic something we’re not supposed to get involved with? Sure, seems like that is the case.
But damn it, it’s magic! You can’t expect me to not try it.
Maybe the System has something to help me. Maybe I need to accept the skill to actually be able to do magic and it’s blocking me until I do that.
But when I try to r bring up my status, a different message greets me instead.
WARNING!
You have attracted the attention of Magic. Thanks to the System, the opportunity to create your magical foundation was given to you. Cast a spell to base your magical journey upon.
You have 0:59:59.