Mosh reluctantly listened to Midkar. He felt ashamed that the impression he had given was that he just avoided evolutions because of how they would make him look. Honestly, that was part of it, but another part was that he wanted coherent evolutions, allowing him to evolve as per his vision of himself. He knew he would evolve, change, mutate and suffer from side effects, but he wanted those changes to be something other than just random effects haphazardly thrown together because it was what was on offer. He had tried to explain it to Midkar, who had just told him to be less discerning, but Mosh preferred to take longer rather than to compromise on what, and who, he was.
He was going out, he was going to try and develop a long-range attack, or if not develop one then find something that possessed an evolution that would serve the function. He did not want the hedgehog quills, not because of how they looked, but because of how many options they cut off. No wings if they were there, and while he did not know when he would be able to gain functional wings, at least it was something he wanted. He imagined himself soaring in the sky, diving down onto his prey below! Flight would be welcome, fun and practical, though Midkar scoffed when he mentioned it, stating that though fun, flyers were targets. He did not see it as practical but as more vanity. Mosh did not care, in the end, it was his body, his life, and Midkar could only give advice.
He had hunted much of the area around the ravine containing his cavern in the last few days, and he did not want to go out overnight, which was what was probably necessary if he wanted to find anything new. But there was a direction he had not gone in, down towards the bottom of the ravine.
Mosh went out to the shelf, carefully picking his way down, standing tight to the wall. He carefully watched his footing, avoiding loose rocks, stone and patches of loose Earth that threatened to shift under him and send him to the bottom faster than he wished.
It got darker as he descended, the sky and its light becoming a sliver above him as he descended further, and the path moved under an overhang. In the dim light and heavy shadows, he could not see it but did feel it, a large opening behind him. He crouched, keeping a distance from the edge, as he ignited a mana illumination stone and looked inwards, into the shadows of the opening. He was surprised. It did not look natural, more like the arch of a doorway, and the sides were smooth. He moved forward slowly, and carefully and examined the walls. And with a close examination, ancient flecks of paint could be scratched off, this was not a natural cavern. But who would have lived down here? Near the bottom of a ravine?
He moved closer, examining the ground and walls, but saw nothing. Nervously he stepped into the doorway, inspecting it. It was bare now, but residue remained embedded in the rocks, streaks of rust from where ancient hinges had been placed and long since rusted away. The room it opened into seemed vast, the light from his illumination stone getting lost in it. He knew he could pump more mana in, and increase its light output. But he was nervous of alerting whatever may be hiding within, though with a bit of thought that was foolish. He was lit up; it was just his potential foes that may be hidden in darkness. He regretted not taking the low light vision evolution he had been offered, he understood the point Midkar had made. He needed to evolve to survive!
Mosh killed the light from the stone, moving so he sat with his back to the wall and tried to decide on his next move. He either needed to go back up and take an extended journey to find creatures with possibly useful evolutions, or he had to find a way that he could navigate in the darkness down below. By himself and holding a mana stone, he was making himself a target, and putting a flashing “eat me” sign on. He Checked his Mana record, but nothing there was immediately useful. The only thing he could think of was to try and alter his sensory sensitivity enhancement, but pushing more chi in would make it do more of the same, not change what it would do.
He felt for his mana core, sinking into a meditative trance. He could feel Silky poking his head out of the pouch and looking around, but he ignored him. Even when Silky stuck a cold nose into his ear, he managed to maintain his concentration. Silky emerged and sat on his shoulder, Mosh sank further into his trance, ignoring him.
He felt for the mana channels he hadn’t opened yet, the last ones since he had completely all the ones in his body. He had been reluctant to send mana into his head, to push mana into his brain, eyes and ears. He wondered what would happen once he did, he didn’t know if it would let him see in the dark, but could it hurt?
He felt his mana core, pushed at it, pushed the mana into unused mana paths. The familiar feeling of mana pushing aside the dredge and impurities assailed him, there was nothing new in that. He sat in the dark, pulsing his mana, sending it up into the mana path. At times he stopped pushing, instead sending pulses of destructive mana, to burn away the dross that would build up to block his progress. Time was at a stop, he did not feel it passing, but the first of his senses to be sparked by the mana was his taste. The mana paths into his mouth filled, and he became aware of the mana everywhere, of it circulating through his mouth with every breath. He tasted its colours. That stopped him for a moment since the colours corresponded to what might be associated elements. Red tasted metallic, bloodlike and it felt like ash on his tongue. Blue was cold, it made him think of licking an ice cube. Yellow brought with it the taste of pus in his mouth, the sickly residue left after you threw up. Each colour had a taste, one different and distinct. He concentrated on ignoring it, to putting his attention back on to moving the mana through his paths.
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Moving mana into his eyes brought pain, he felt a burning in his pupils, and he opened his eyes in shock. The world swam before him. Streaks of light pulsed before him, and spots danced as lights flashed. He closed his eyes, but it made no difference. The lights flashed, the spots danced, and the two wove between each other in a demented dance. He dove back into his concentration, finding it hard to ignore the tastes and sights of mana. He knew he had to complete the paths, if he did not gain control, this would drive him mad!
Once again, he lost his sense of time, and the next time he was dragged back to reality was when the mana paths to his ears were completed. A cacophony of noises joined the shooting lights and weird tastes. It almost sounded like a chorus of beings shrieking in the background and fighting for his attention, but there was no sense to the sounds, no meaning, just varying notes that joined into a cacophony that pushed further at his sanity, pushing him closer to losing control!
In desperation he fought against the distractions, pushing mana into the final channels, knowing he was not being careful enough, knowing that he risked damage through his haste. He could almost hear the voice of their martial arts instructor, usually accompanied by a kick to the offending body part not being where it should be, “Less haste, more speed! Think where it must go, just not getting it somewhere!” It was good advice, but right now he needed to get the mana paths to complete, join at the crown, complete the path and hopefully allow him to form some semblance of control over the chaos of his senses.
His world was one of chaos. Random streaks and bursts of light tastes bursting in his mouth only to disappear moments later. Disconcordant notes sounded into his ears. A migraine was forming, but there would be no relief, not yet. In his desperation, he even considered severing his mana path, but he knew such an action was permanent, it would be him handicapping himself. He fought against the rising madness, the voice of Midker getting lost, until Midkar shouted out, and forced his way into his consciousness and beyond the chaos of the mana.
‘Kid, if you don’t control this, it will drive you mad! I would have told you not to do this until you were within a guild or at least had a proper guide. But you seem determined to avoid me as much as you can. If you don’t like me, so be it, I am an adult and don’t need you to like me. But I need you to listen to me!”
Mosh was incredulous, ‘Listen you bigoted arsehole, right now I have more important things to worry about than your hurt feelings. Unless you have something useful to tell me, go away!”
Mosh felt Midkar withdraw a bit then speak again ’You want something useful? Here are your options. Option one, Kill the mana channel. It will mean you are unable to make use of those and suffer some disability as a mage, but you will be alive and sane. Option two, start absorbing atmospheric mana Yeah, absorb as you push. Gonna be hard, to pull and push at the same time, but if you can get mana to enter through your crown, it will automatically travel down the channels and will meet you where you push. Difficult, but right now that is all you can do unless you give up!”
Mosh grunted but did not reply. He would try to do what Midkar said. He activated absorption and almost lost hold of the mana he was pushing. Another distraction, another element trying to divert his attention. He gritted his teeth and continued.
The candidate is being offered the Psi enhancement of
Mosh was almost insensate, on the verge of unconsciousness and, most likely, on the losing of his consciousness of self. He barely recognized the notification but had the presence of mind to accept it. Instantly a void of nothingness descended. He could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing, taste nothing, smell nothing. Not in the mundane world or with the chaotic mana-enhanced senses. He revelled in the complete lack of sensory information, knowing how this kind of isolation was used for torture, but at the moment it seemed to be absolute bliss. He knew he was still pushing his mana, he could see his mana absorption was still active, but he had no sense of it, and had no way to measure or know what was happening. And with the complete lack of sensory input, he lost all sense of time. In a normal deprivation chamber people could feel their heartbeat, he did not even have that luxury. The enhancement blocked all sensations. Briefly, he wondered what use this would be in the future, and then let the thought go. The future would be, he needed to save himself now! He pushed, he pulled and he had no idea of how he was progressing.
The candidate has forged the Upper mana paths. All mana senses enabled. The skill
All mana paths have been forged. Mana body is complete. Mana Index raised by one and the current level is retained. The skill
Mosh saw the notifications and opened his eyes while disengaging his enhancement. The chaos of his mana senses was tamed. He still had too little control, they were still largely incomprehensible, but they did not overwhelm him. He looked around him, at the flakes of mana that floated through the air, shedding their colours. It was a weird form of vision, but it was vision. He could discern the walls from the air, and a bright green patch turned out to be moss clinging to the wall. So, life would show, as would the difference between air and wall. He would not need light until he needed to see details or to be able to discern differences. His mana vision was too crude, though hopefully it would allow him to navigate with enemies around, and to know when it was safe to use normal light!