[58:15:37]

Callan threw two pieces of wood one after the other. He placed a grid of three magic threads each above his head. He closed his eyes and the darkness was filled with nothing but these glowing magic lines.

He stood in the middle, his body formed with multiple lines only he had imagined coursing through his body. It was truly unnecessary. However, the magic on his hands was not.

The third vertical line changed slightly and Callan moved his hand quickly. He aimed at the dot representing his hand directly under the curved line.

He grabbed and caught the log, and then behind him, there was another reaction. With his speed, he caught it with no problem. Callan opened his eyes and said. “Okay, that’s… good” He genuinely smiled.

“So how about I put an element in this formless magic?” Callan brought out his pile of wood again and brought his trusty bow.

With the fire burning high, Callan brought his magic thread slowly inside the fire. But he stopped before it was any closer. The fire was too bright, to the point he couldn’t even imagine the line. It felt unsafe… though it really shouldn’t.

Callan turned away from the fire and first tried to place his magic thread up in the air. He imagined fire burning around the thread, waiting for it to actually be caught on fire. But… there was nothing, he guessed it was actually not how it worked.

He went back to the fire and went far, far enough that the fireplace was just as big as his index finger. He moved the magic thread far to Mirai. Then, with his fingers, he imagined picking that thread up, and just like a thread with a needle, he directed it through the fire.

“Huh.” It wasn’t lit. “Maybe I missed.” He questioned, retracting the magic thread back and just striking a long one directly into the fire. Just as expected, it wasn’t caught on fire. “So… this is just invisible? How do I place elements on here or something? Well… I could ask Mirai… but magic is kind of complicated… and…” Just imagining writing a sentence from Mirai was making his head hurt.

Callan walked with a frown on his face to Mirai. “I’m sorry… you probably know how to use magic better than I do… but… hah… okay… fine… I don’t know how long it will take… but tell me.”

[No]

“Huh? So you don’t know?”

[No]

“Wait, no as in you don’t know, or no as in you do know.”

Mirai didn’t reply.

“Okay… so can you teach it to me?” He changed the question.

[No]

“Oh… but you do know how.”

[Yes]

“Then why? Is this the type of magic that’s like your own type shit?” He said, turning around and kicking a piece of wood to the fire. It rolled past it and started to burn alone on the far edge of his eyes. The floor wasn’t really flammable.

[Yes]

“Really?” He turned only his head back around.

[Yes]

Callan just stared with his nostrils up. “Hah… I’m so bored!” Then for some unknown reason, a tiny wind slapped his face. It didn’t really feel like anything… but for some reason… Callan felt the wind.

“Really? Really? Even in real life ****? Fuck my subconsciousness. Ughh! Okay! Okay! Time, Mirai.”

[58:03:37]

“Okay, I still have a very long time. Now with magic on my hand… literally, what else can I do with this… a ball? Maybe?” He formed a ball in his imagination. Well, he can’t see it, but it should be a ball. How will he prove it though?

Callan took out a piece of stone. Stone this time, was running out of wood, and it was starting to get boring too. It was a simple test, he held the ball firmly in his hand, though it was a fake firm, cause he really couldn’t feel it.

Staring at the stone just standing right above it. Callan began to imagine something circling inside the ball, or just for the simple term, he was increasing its mass. He was taking longer just to imagine something circling in the sphere, but his hand felt like something was sucking it. His skin started to hurt and just randomly, he lost grip on his hand and it flipped.

*BOOM

Callan instantly jumped away hearing the loud bang. His arm felt drained, it was worse than when he was punching the walls. At least then it feels like they were just separated, but this time it was like sucked to his hand and it wasn’t even changing back. “Ughh…” His hand was still covered by the black gloves and he just swore at that moment to never see his hand again.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Once the little amount of smoke disappeared, the floor had a huge hole that could fit an entire 1-year-old baby. Callan’s mouth just couldn’t be any bigger. “This feels like deja vu. I mean the mouth thing… ugh… I think I was about to get cramps on my jaws… again…”

Callan turned to Mirai and nodded his head wide. He avoided the sight of the hole and went to his campfire. He took out a piece of meat from the boar and just started cooking it. Though everything was with his left hand, he couldn’t really move his right arm… literally.

“It will heal… it will heal… IT WILL heal… definitely.”

A few hours passed and Callan didn’t dare touch his magic for a while, at least until his hand started to actually move again. He just did seat-ups, ran around, and talked to Mirai. Some little breaks here and there, when he wasn’t working his body he was reading the alphabet, trying his best to remember everything.

[55:13:19]

“It will move again Mirai… it will move.”

[Yes] [Yes] [Yes] [Yes]

“That doesn’t even mean anything… I know, I know. I definitely just ran out of mana… that was all.”

…

…

…

“I hope.” Callan sighed leaning against Mirai’s pedestal facing the alphabet. “Wanna hear a weird story Mirai?”

[Yes]

“I wasn’t planning to say it any sooner just because I was supposed to be busy… but at the same time… someone did tell me something.”

***

“Never forget that okay! Oh, also, I know you are… but please don’t be such an inconsiderate son of a bitch.”

***

“So… well, you told me that the fourth floor with be a snow area… and at the same time I would guess it was like the second floor. So… I could just train nonstop, though I don’t plan to go for a million years, I’m pretty sure I still age… right?”

[Yes]

“So… yeah… I don’t wanna make you feel lonely… is it okay if I train on the fourth floor?” He looked above him.

[Yes]

“Well… it feels awkward so what was I saying? Ahh! Right! A story! Okay okay! So I was talking about how when I died on the third floor I was having a lucid dream and there was this weird guy, don’t know what his deal was, but damn was he weird as fuck!”

***

At the 50th hour, Callan was able to move his hand again. It didn’t hurt anymore and never would he make a ball of magic ever again. Well unless he gets more mana, but whether that was from his stats or actual magic… he doesn’t… know…

“Can you take me to the second floor Mirai?” Said Callan, still laid back on the Greek pedestal.

Callan instantly arrived and everything felt different. Not just felt, his eyes were being blocked by multiple spherical orbs. It was definitely magic, it was small and blue. That was mana. Blue. Racist. Blue. Oh, wait what?

“I could cry.” Callan did cry. He took his first step and his entire body shook like a ghost just ran through him. That feeling was something he already felt so he was sure of it. Callan first closed his eyes after just one step.

My body felt like it’s gonna explode, but every ripped skin just felt like it was being exchanged with diamonds.

The orbs that made contact with Callan slowly entered his body. Then the others were attracted to the man like it was a soul mate that you found at the end of your life. The orbs knew it would die but it ran… it entered and died.

Callan exhaled deeply, he opened his eyes. There were no blue orbs around him, it formed an oval shape lacking with this vibrant and thick visible air. “I don’t feel a fucking change other than-” Callan threw up brown mush.

“Ughh… that taste like shit! Fuck!” Callan took a piece of meat and started to brush his teeth with it. “Is this what that disgusting black thing that covers cultivators' bodies? Cause if it is… why out of my mouth… ughh…”

Even brushing it with meat didn’t remove the taste, and other than that the stench under him was also just disgusting. It was like smelling your vomit along with poop. What a deadly combo.

Callan walked to the pond while he absorbed the mana as he walked. Though his face was still compressed due to his disgust. Absorbing the mana didn’t even give any amazing feeling anymore… it just tasted like shit.

“I’m gonna cry! Again! For a different reason! It’s such a beautiful view and it was ruined by this awful mouth shit.” Callan sat on the shore of the pond and washed his mouth repeatedly.

Looking up and down was a weird sight. To a collection of beautiful baby blue orbs of mana to the shit taste on his mouth. Callan had never tasted poop, but that was it. It was worse than poop.

Callan was so confused about whether to be entranced by the view or just cut his mouth off. After almost an hour of scratching and a very bloodied mouth later, Callan was finally able to relax. The pain wasn’t even anything, it was better than the taste.

“I can finally witness this beautiful view.” Callan started to cry again. It was magical. The clear pond, that despite his disgusting mouth still didn’t reveal a change in color. The reflection of the sun in the middle of the pond and the many floating spherical mana surrounded the entire area.

That was the moment Callan knew… that every part of this world… was really fantasy… not fantasy as in something different from the ordinary, but fantasy as in the beauty of the unknown. The fantasy of something you could not even imagine.

Callan closed his eyes again. He laid down on the shallow part of the pond and rested on his head in his arms. “The only thing missing… is that I’m still fucking naked.”

…ruined the mood man.