The world faded away into the colors of magic and the smooth layers of dirt and rock. Yana lets out a loud sigh as he feels comfortable for the first time in days since he had left the Dungeon. He liked to think that his desire to be underground would fade over time. Especially with all the things to look at up there, and the feel of the wind on his face was very pleasant. Yet, it was a small nagging on his mind to go dig a place to curl up in under the earth, and he sometimes found it making him feel stressed. Now, running his fingers across the layers of earth changing suddenly into the worked blocks that he had found the other day. It was almost like when he had first taken a step out of the dungeon and into the world above. A sense of relief and a wave of relaxing muscle passed through him, and he stops to take in a deep breath of the earthy, stale air. It had been clearing up since he had finished the digging the other day, but it still held the smells of a place long resting beneath the ground.
Holding his hand in front of him, he found a thread of the green-purple mana that didn't just wisp away, and seemed to remain stable in his mental grasp. So, he began to follow the "flow" of the thread along the almost pitch dark tunnel. He momentarily wonders about the other explorers of this place, for it was unlikely that the ruler didn't know about this place, and how they managed to wander around. A torch would slowly poison the air since it didn't seem like there was vents letting in clean air in. Which likely meant they had to use a magical item, which weren't common, or a mage using the script magic to create some light source. He chuckles slightly thinking about those snobby humans wandering these halls basically acting like a lantern.
It hadn't taken him long to learn about how the "Hold" was organize, and just how badly the humans were are managing anything. Though, he had to admit that his Mother was just a far superior being when it came to all aspects, and she also had absolute control over her domain. Where these humans had to put people in charge of small things, and then people in charge of all of those people, and then someone above those. Which only got more complex as a place got larger and different people got involved. Honestly, in the first few days he understood the feelings of his Sister, at least the visions that his Mother had shown him. They just seemed to live to cause others of their kind more frustration and take their things. Which was so inefficient and the Mages often were worse since they had skills that other people didn't want to take the time to learn.
At least that was Yana's thoughts on the matter, since spell scripting only required knowledge and not some innate gifts or talent. With the sole exception being the beastkin, and that was something he wanted to take some time to explore more. Though, particular line of research would have to wait, because everyone around here was on edge about magic.
"Not, that I don't understand it considering." He says out loud to himself, looking around at the various flows of green-purple mana around him. It was trying to affect him, but seemed to be having issues with his body. Elementals were highly resistant to mana that wasn't their own type, which he did discover that his type was pure Dark element. Which gave him an affinity to various combinations that held his element, but the less of it the harder it was to both script and use. On the other side of things it was also the same for his resistance to effects. The more Dark element or the closer to pure Dark it was the more it effected him, but the more complex or more Light it was the less. It was an interesting thing to learn during his time in the Void within the Orb, since the space was almost pure mana. So he had a good amount of time to experience it for himself, and discovered that the altered mana the System used was some kind of balanced type that slowly adjusted itself to the user to be more compatible.
This made it affect a person more the longer they used it, and likely why they were limited in their growth. Since as it became stronger in their bodies, it was able to pull more mana out of them. Which made it possible to roughly guess a person's level by the amount of mana present in their bodies even in Mages. Though it was clear that it organized the mana within the body to do specific things almost like a spell script. Which is why Yana was also curious about trying to alter a person's internal mana paths to see if they could be changed and remain changed. But, in the end it just meant that the System allotted a certain amount of mana to each individual and took the rest over time. Though he had a theory that beings had to give some kind of permission, which is where leveling, classes, stats, and all the screens came into play. You were giving it permission to take more of your potential for easy progression now.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
He holds his hand up in front himself then begins to pull at the threads of Earth and Dark to form a twisting braid of mana that suddenly snaps into a silvery gray mana; Metal mana. Twisting his finger the mana continues to spool together as he thinks about a sphere of perfectly pure iron, and the mana spins into a ring around his finger. The threads of silver-gray twisting together, tighter and tighter until they collapse into a ring of pure iron. The mana still flowing around the newly made metal object until Yana snaps his fingers and the mana stops. Then, the ring starts to give off the same mana.
"Maybe a day or two," He comments to himself, seeing the ring only through the aura of Metal mana that surrounds it. Mother had shown him this trick long ago, but it would only remain a real thing so long as his mind could prevent the mana from leaking from it, or it was fed with the right combination of mana. Sadly, it was far beyond his own abilities to hold the mana together without focus, and was too easy to see it feeding on ambient mana for any Mage. So, he had only done it when he was alone and wanted to distract himself from something. Right now it was the winding tunnels he was walking through.
The mana in the air was trying to confuse him, but failing, so he was able to move forwards into the complex. Yet, there was so much of the stuff as he walks down the stairs that it was starting to affect even him. Any attempt to unravel the mana was failing, so he decided that there was some kind of mind connected to this place and keeping it all together. Or something beyond his understanding of magical theory. Which he had to admit was all speculation and experiments with Mother. Not, that he thought there wasn't a lot that the Mage's College could teach if he ever got there, but he didn't think it would be as much as he hoped sometimes. They didn't seem to understand how the System worked, though his interactions with the Mages was from a distance. He didn't see why they would use skills as much as they did if they knew it was limiting them.
He steps into a larger room with a series of doors in the walls. Though the doors in the wall to the back were the largest by comparison to the others, and seemed to be surrounded by an aura of the green-purple energy. He glances around the place trying to make sense of it, and having a hard time deciding how much the mana was affecting him so far. It was doing something to his perceptions, but he couldn't decide just how much. It was possible that it was altering his vision or his perception of his vision. Each would have their own issues even if they were similar in what they would do.
If it was his vision then he might just be looking at a single wall at the end of a tunnel. Something that he had worried about since he used a scripted spell that sent tremors through the earth to sound out the size and rough dimensions of the complex. It was a mess of tunnels that seemed like a maze to the scan, and would likely work far better depending on the effects of the mana on the mind of the person walking through them. Though, if it was just affecting his perception of his vision. It was likely that he was in a larger room, and there were doors that he was seeing. Though which one was what size, and how much of the mana was coming from them could be affected. So, he decided to cheat a little.
"Earth, Dark, Air, with a touch of Fire...." He mutters to himself as he pulls the relevant threads of mana from the air around him. Watching how they flow in his mana sight, and seeing no inconsistency. Then, he closes his eyes before he draws from memory a scripted spell.