It´s the start of day three and I'm using only my mana to observe my surroundings. The reach becomes much smaller and the cost of keeping it up is annoying, so I take some mana from the mana batteries I have on me, feeding it to the skill. Efficiency isn't as good as my own mana, but it helps me to keep my own reserves as high as possible.
I still haven't touched the Mana Reservoir, and the thermal orb I have prepared is half full.
That's when monsters able to hide their mana signature start appearing.
After the first one bites off a piece of my shoulder, I'm forced to change my strategy.
The monster that bit me I kill with a sharp blast of kinetic energy and can't even check what it was without my senses.
I release dozens of small mana particles into my surroundings and then use [Mana Domain] to observe them and keep them floating around me.
The notifications continue to ring in my ears as I continue to kill anything that moves the particles close to me.
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At the end of day three, the monsters that appear start countering these particles as well by avoiding them, so I release even more of them, my non-regenerating mana getting to half and the thermal orb to twenty percent.
I'm once again forced to start using more heat to keep myself from freezing.
When I fall to the ground, under the strengthened gravity, I also boost my body a bit more, just enough to wobble back on my legs.
The mana batteries I took here with me are empty. The monsters slowly sucked the mana from them without me realizing it.
It's my mistake.
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I boost empty mana batteries through the bodies of the monsters and notifications ring, announcing the kill.
Observing mana particles around me, I sense that they hesitate.
“Come on, you wanted them so much. So just take them,” I say to the dead world.
Then I boost the last remaining mana battery, and another notification sounds.
As many times before, I try to use my epic item, the Ethercrystal shortsword, and when I cut the monster, it sucks in its mana, trying to strengthen me.
But, as many times before, something or someone fights against that. Some of the mana that is in the process of being sucked into the crystal blade starts to get pulled away from it, and fighting over that mana wastes more of it than I would be getting, so I stop. In the end, the sword absorbs only a small part of it.
That makes the sword close to being just a nice decoration, but I continue to use it when the monsters get closer to save some mana.
It's colder than ever before, and the heat I have to generate increases, but with it, my efficiency in the way I handle it. It's not even radiating away from my body and just reaches the skin to keep maximal possible efficiency. I also reduce the amount I send towards my limbs as they are able to endure a bit more than my core.
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I start day four with my mana at forty percent and the thermal orb at ten percent.
All the food and water I did bring with me froze over. The result of me reducing the area of effect of my “heating”. Such a mistake is almost funny and I untie and drop the bag on the ground.
I restore my sight multiple times, but I always see only for a second before I start getting fed the wrong information again, so I blind myself. But even that second is fine, and I find that I have reached the mountains.
They are tall to a terrifying degree, making me feel extremely small. I'm nothing but a speck of dust in comparison to how tall they are. It somehow terrifies me even in [Focus], as I feel the wind that starts hitting my body and vibrations in the air as the lightning continues to strike the mountains in front of me.
The entire ground shakes, and I feel aftershocks even down here; that's how strong it is. It's clear that the area in front of me is much more dangerous than what lies behind me.
My mana is getting lower with each passing second, the thermal orb is almost empty, and the gravity that threatens to crush my body is pulling on my muscles. The place I'm in will become more dangerous as time passes; I'm sure of it. Even if I stay on the plains with worms, leeches, and fire geysers. The difficulty will ramp up. Yet the mountains in front of me are much more dangerous even now.
So, I take a step towards them, leaving the plains behind me.
The entire time I continue to observe my Mana Heart and the weird aura that renders my senses close to useless.
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The mountains tower by my sides as I walk through the valley. From the second I'm able to use my eyes, I find out that the valley is unnaturally straight and flat, and the mountains by its sides are set there in too unnatural a manner.
It feels just like a sidewalk surrounded by trees.
The wind slows down and the air becomes warmer, just in time to leave me with five percent of my thermal orb, but the gravity and pull on my mana increase, even now partially ignoring my Mantle.
No monster appears anymore.
It's quiet.
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Day five starts quietly. The wind doesn't blow. There are no vibrations from the lightning. No signs of any monster but the gravity is stronger after every step I take.
In the one-second window I use my eyes, I notice the doorway far in the distance. It is carved into the highest mountain I have ever seen, the doors themselves so tall I can't see their top.
Mana in my body drops to twenty-five percent, constantly pulled from under my control. I'm unable to hold it.
The effect becomes stronger the closer to the door I get.
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I was able to make my heart beat for a few moments. After days without moving, it feels almost weird having it thump and send mana through my body.
While not moving, I continue to [Focus] on keeping it beating for as long as possible, mana in my body filling up slowly once again, even though some of it is getting pulled away from me.
The next ten minutes I spend fighting against the pressure that tries to stop it from beating again and, in the end, I fail and my heart stops again. This time the effect that stops my heart is a bit different and I start examining it over again with the intention of making it beat once more. There isn't even a speck of doubt that I will be able to do so.
It's my body.
It's my heart.
It's my mana.
No one will take it away from me.
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I stop some distance away from the giant doorway and sit down, unable to keep myself standing anymore. My mind examines my body, and I start working on the Mana Sovereignty Mantle construct.
From my time here, I have learned so much, and I start applying it all to myself while being extremely careful of my surroundings. There is an armor around my body that is slowly getting destroyed, and the mana gets pulled from it, but I do it in case something attacks me.
I notice that my mana is getting pulled towards the door, and when I go through my memories, I realize that it has been doing that ever since the start of this trial. All the mana is getting pulled to whatever is inside that mountain, behind the giant black door, densely covered in inscriptions.
The inscriptions feel as though they should have been here to stop that from happening. My limited knowledge tells me that they should shield whatever is inside and not allow it to affect anything outside of the door.
Yet they are not enough; even though they are extremely complex and terrifyingly strong, demonstrating a mastery beyond any human or being I can imagine, they are unable to stop what is inside.
Even through [Focus], I feel fear, unable to comprehend the world around me or the thing behind the door. It's all beyond my knowledge and my experience.
I have never ever felt so small in my life. I'm just a small speck surrounded by powers I do not understand. The system, the tutorial, Absolutes, a thing beyond this door. This planet.
Everything is way beyond me.
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At the start of day six, I make my heart beat again, this time for longer, and my mana fills by a nice amount. At this point it's been long since I had to fight monsters, all of them terrified of the being behind the black door.
The silence in the valley between the enormous mountains is almost deafening, and the safety I feel right now feels so fake it would make me want to scream if I wasn't so deep in the [Focus].
[Focus - lvl 39 > Focus - lvl 40]
I once again move my mana, sending small pulses towards the door, only for them to be obliterated by the inscriptions on its surface, but I observe even that. I learn from defensive mechanisms and use them to constantly improve my Mantle.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Over and over again, I do so and make small changes after small changes, the pull on my mana becoming weaker and weaker, and the heart twitching and shivering inside my chest. I continue to patch and improve the defenses of my biggest weakness - the possibility of someone blocking, stealing, or not allowing me to use my mana.
A big risk I took on myself, fascinated by this power I got at the start of the tutorial.
Fascination that lasts even now.
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At the end of the day, my heart starts beating again and the attempts to stop it from doing so are unsuccessful. I watch as mana in my body starts growing, and I turn some of it into kinetic energy that I transfer into thermal, once again filling the thermal orb floating near me.
I stand up and mana smoothly spreads through my body, strengthening it. Kinetic energy explodes under me, and I push myself high in the air, turning around and floating towards where I came from.
Still unable to trust my eyes, I send mana as far as I can and continue to watch it within [Mana Domain].
When I reach the plain, monsters that appear are stronger than the ones from before.
A sharp nail immediately pierces my belly. Teeth break my armor and burrow into my flesh. A strong hit breaks my ribs and throws me against the ground. And I continue to fight, releasing all the frustration I felt, unable to use my powers properly.
I boost mana projectiles with kinetic energy. I create tricolored orbs, and explosions and implosions scar the planet.
Burst after burst of brilliant golden flames melt the monsters, keeping me warm against the cold that surrounds me and heal my body through my passive.
And I continue to get hurt. The monsters are just that strong. A big chunk of my leg gets bitten off, unable to be fully restored with my passive. A big wound in my side, carved off by some extremely fast monster that passes by me.
I fight and fight. I get hurt and I kill.
Over and over again as my mana roars and hums, free at last.
That's when the biggest monster appears. As tall as a small apartment building, a few floors high. The monster is bipedal and with long front legs with mana circuits all over its forearms. The monster reminds me of a gorilla with an extremely muscular body and four eyes.
I restore my eyes for a second.
[Skystrider Beast - lvl ??]
Javelins filled with thermal energy crash against the monster, barely doing any damage. My flames burn its skin, being weakened the closer they get to it. Kinetic energy disperses on the beast´s skin. Tricolored orbs burn the monster, even making it stagger a bit, but the implosion does nothing.
Spending more time forcing my mana through a javelin that is three times my length and filled to the brim with thermal energy, I boost it while my heart thumps loudly. The monster is hurt by that, golden flames burning its body, the smell of burned skin and hair filling the air.
Yet it's durable, extremely so. Much more durable than the undead deer from the third floor.
I move closer, then, pulling out the sword and covering the blade with resonating mana that I extend.
Just a small human jumping against the big monster while surrounded by pale blue armor and with a glowing sword in hand. Using everything in my arsenal, I continue to avoid deadly attacks while I feel disrupting properties from the glowing forearm of the monster.
All the damage I deal is barely a scratch, the monster is just that big and durable, and that's when the monster roars as I dash at its head, a shockwave throwing me on the ground where I hit it and continue to roll, pieces of my armor breaking together with my bones.
When I finally absorb the inertia of my crash, the monster stands in front of me, moved there with one big leap, and its fist heading down at me.
At the last moment, I release all the kinetic energy I collected, propelling myself to the side and then immediately again to avoid another shockwave.
The lightning starts cracking on the monster's pitch-black skin, and its red eyes seem to glow with malice. It roars again, this time redirecting the shockwave and boosting its body towards me in a similar way I used my kinetic energy.
Watching the monster move towards me, I slide into deeper [Focus] and the world feels as if it slowed down slightly.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
My mana radiates from my body, creating an armor around myself that becomes a darker and darker shade of blue. It becomes as big as the one Maya showed me, making me three heads taller than before, surrounded by my mana. But I do not stop there. I push more mana from my body and with a speed that would tear me apart without my newest epic passive.
The armor around my body grows more and more, lifting me in the air until I'm at the chest of the translucent blue armor, surrounded by all this mana.
[Armament - lvl 37 > Armament - lvl 38]
[Armament - lvl 38 > Armament - lvl 39]
My domain encompasses it all, allowing me to stop it from dissipating and increasing my control over it.
[Mana Domain - lvl 13 > Mana Domain - lvl 14]
[Mana Domain - lvl 14 > Mana Domain - lvl 15]
And I continue to infuse more mana into it.
[Mana Infusion - lvl 35 > Mana Infusion - lvl 36]
Mana radiates all around me, making me over twice as tall as my normal height.
The effect of the sub-class Pride doesn't allow my [Armament] to look shabby, so it gains some delicate ornaments, and the pieces of armor are functional and deadly, yet beautifully looking.
I reach out my own hand, and the giant one made of my mana mirrors the movement. With a strong push, more mana flows there, and a sword made of mana, much bigger than the original in my hand, is created. A blade of a darker shade of blue than the armor and with wisps of light blue mana flowing through it.
Then I grab the sword and, taking a stance, I face the monster.