A few hours passed since I started gleaming through the book. After receding it several times, I could already make out a rune. It looked like a hieroglyph of a purple palm with a swirl at the center.

By now I had a general sense for what was supposed to happen. Once the rune had been activated, a portion of my mana would leave my heart and concentrate in one of my palms. It would than flow according to the book and release outwards.

“Will my hand be okay from using this? I know my veins are protected, but what about my skin? Shouldn’t the mans rip apart my hand as it leaves?”

“Don’t worry, the Bestowal improved your physique as well. Also, what do you think the directions on how to control the flow of mana are for?” said Rurika, who was sitting in the grass not to far away, not even bothering to look up from her own book.

Well, that half assed explanation didn’t help. Why do I feel like the more they teach me, the more lost I feel?

“Try not to dwell on it too much. As Rurika mentioned, the way mana flows is key. You have to think of it more like a baking recipe in the spell casting process. In this step mana begins to take on the properties of the spell.”

“Not exactly sure what you are trying to say, but I’ll just roll with it,” I sighed, rubbing the back of my head.

Trusting their insights, I nervously forced my mind to focus solely on the on rune floating in my mind.

“Confusion Palm!” I shouted as I raised my left arm.  

Almost immediately, there was a warm feeling rushing from my heart to my left hand. Such a foreign sensation caused a shiver to go down my back. It was an unpleasant feeling, as if my strength was sapped from my body. 

A drop of sweat rolled down the side of my face, as the mana finally reached the my palm. I couldn’t feel exactly how the mana was flowing in my veins, but it kind of reminded me of a spinning fan.

When the spinning fan reached its maximum speed, a faint shimmer began to be emitted from my hand. It lasted about half a minute before beginning to disappear.  

I blinked a couple of times as my legs shook from weakness. I had kind of expected something a little more exciting to happen.  

Sounds of applause carried over to my ears. Mr Suzuki, who had been observing me the last few hours was flashing me a wild smile.

“That was marvelous Yuta. Very few people can learn a spell that fast, especially a beginner such as yourself.”

“Really? I fee---”

Before I could finish my sentence, a wave of exhaustion swept over me, and I fell to my knees. I felt every muscle from my arm to my chest constrict to the point I thought that they would snap.

Rurika dashed over and placed a hand on my chest. She closed her eyes with furrowed brows. “Calm down, it’s just some exhaustion from using too much mana. I bet you thought that you could make the spell more potent by just pumping out more mana.” 

“Is that not how it works?” I asked through gritted teeth.

I would never admit it, but she was spot on. I wanted to make the shimmer more pronounced so it looked more impressive. To achieve this I came up with the idea of using more mana. 

“Idiot, you need to also adjust the flow as well, otherwise you will just cause unnecessary strain on your body with little gains.”

Reaching into his pocket, Mr. Suzuki took out a small black pellet. Bringing the pellet to his nose, he took a whiff. “Hmm, yes this should do the trick. Here swallow this and use your breathing technique.” 

“Okay.” 

CRACK

  As I was reaching for the medicine, there was a loud explosion that resembled thunder. Moving my line of sight in search for the source, I saw massive cracks in the sky. It was like the space above our heads was breaking like glass.

Cold sweat raced down my back as a strong sense of danger made my entire body shake uncontrollably. Despite being an occult otaku, my interest in manga and anime was not as much as you would expect. I mostly stuck to the fantasy related genre. However, it was common for overpowered bad guys to show up this way. 

The old man had a grave face as he watched the cracks spread out and slowly expand. “Rurika, I want you to take care of Yuta. I don’t know who is about to show up, but they have enough juice to break in here and restrict my space travel. Follow the Rabbit Hole Protocol.” 

Stolen novel; please report.

“Yes, stay safe grandpa.”

Not even bothering to explain to me what was happening, Rurika put me over her shoulder and started to run towards the forest.  

“Wait what is going on? Who are we running from?” I shouted in hopes for some answers.

To my dismay, there was no response. At first I thought that she was just being snobby again, but when I noticed that her body trembling, I swallowed my insults back down my throat.  

She had an expression warped by fear and frustration. It was clear that she was scared by whatever was coming, and was laser focused to getting to where she was going.

A couple of minutes after running into the forest, a second giant explosion went off. The force was so great, Rurika stumbled and almost fell from the ground shaking.

“Madman Suzuki! It truly has been too long!”

Not long after the explosion, a deep, almost growling, voice boomed across the land. I could not get a good look at what popped out of the cracks because of the trees, but its dominating aura reminded me of the old man.

“If it isn’t Mr. Goodman. What brings you to this part of the Slip.” 

There was no response, only a spiral of fire that reached up so high that I could see it through the gaps in the trees. Despite being so far away, I could still feel the heat. It is important to take into consideration just how much ground Rurika and I covered.  

Personally, I thought it was amazing how the girl that was not only had shorter legs than me, but seemingly as petite to the point where it might borderline unhealthy if she lost any weight, could carry me.

That spiral of fire served as a good marker in terms of how far we had run. If I had to ball park an estimate, in the last two minutes we had traveled no less than a mile.

Each of her steps were filled with uncharacteristic strength. Leaving small indents in the ground with each step. We traveled through the air in a gliding manner with each step, dodging the trees as we went.

 Now that I was able to observe her body up close and even touch it while I was being held over her shoulder, there was more to this girl than meets the eye. I could feel that despite the way she may look at first glance, her muscles were extremely toned and filled with power.

Unlike how the old man was ripped enough to resemble a bodybuilder. Rurika’s body had a similarly tyrannical physical power all condensed into such a tiny package. It was no wonder I had always been intimidated by her.

Sort of like when a wild animal stares at its prey. No that is not right. Even if she is Rurika, comparing her to a beast is a little too mean. I guess you could say she was like an armed thug you might meet in a back alley? No, that comparison didn’t feel right. Maybe more like Hulk Jr.?

A sharp pinch to my thigh broke my train of thought. “I know some contact between our bodies is unavoidable, but stop caressing my back you pervert.”

“Ah, sorry,” I said a bit flustered. I guess it was only natural for her to be mad at me for that.

“Nevermind, we are almost at our destination. When we get there you have to stay near me at all times,” grumbled Rurika as she started to slow down.

Where are we going? I thought to myself. Our current location wasn’t too far away from where the old man was fighting.

“Here it is! Hold onto me tight Yuta.” 

Hm? Hold on why? 

“AHHHHHHH!” I screamed as everything around me went dark.  

No, it was more accurate to say that where we currently were had no light. Rurika had just jumped down a large hole in the ground that was hidden by the vegetation.

Couldn’t she have had at least warned me? What if I accidentally bit off my own tongue?

The bottom of this hole had to be very far down, because we had been falling for almost half a minute and there was still no ground in sight. Than I remember what Mr. Suzuki said, something about a ‘Rabbit Hole Protocol.’ This had to be the ‘Rabit Hole’.

“Air Barrier!” shouted Rurika.

Suddenly a gust of wind wrapped around us as a light could be seen beneath my feet. We were finally reaching the end of this damn hole.  

A couple seconds passed as we descended towards the light. To my surprise, it was not the ground, there was a good forty to fifty yards of space from us to the ground. The area around us was very different than the surface. For starters, the light was coming from the ceiling, and we fell from a hole the structure.

BOOM! 

We had finally reached the ground, and I opened my tightly shut eyes. I definitely going to have to ask Rurika to teach me that spell. It seemed very handy.

Breathing heavily, Rurika tossed me off of her, and I fell on top of some weird bushes. They smelled bizarre and were blue in color.