The moment the first book was on the table, Joe couldn’t wait to pick it up. He was holding a real, physical book for the first time in years. It was a thin book, formed in a surprisingly modern style. Joe appreciated the effort the devs went through to make the mix of medieval, mystical, and modern seamless.

The book, much like the manor house, was a blend of mundane and magic. It was bound and wrapped in what appeared to be wood, covered with a dark blue, lacquered cloth. The title of the book was debossed with bold, gold, rigid serif letters that felt almost militant to Joe. ‘The Absolute Beginners' Primer on Mana' written by So. Witness Tupou. The cover said, ‘this book was made to be studied’, the way the words radiated an ethereal glow said, ‘this book was made to be enjoyed’. Joe placed his fingers over the letters and nearly smiled when he felt that telltale prickle at the back of his neck.

Joe opened the book and rubbed a page between his fingers. The texture of the pages was smooth, the sound of turning pages soothing. He’d noticed it before, in the white room, but he took a brief moment to marvel again at the incredible realness of the game world. Even just looking around, it was apparent in the architecture alone. He wasn't sure if that was an unintentional game feature or something the coding AI had spawned to make the place where they lived feel more established.

Joe shook the thoughts from his head. With knowledge of a new world, even if it was a fictional one, at his literal fingertips, he flipped back to the first page and began to read.

'The Absolute Beginners Primer on Mana was written for those who whish to explore the arcane from the perspective of one from a barren world. For those unused to this term: a barren land is a place without the presence of the mana. A barren world, by extension, hypothesizes an entire world devoid of mana. When I heard of such a prospect, I became determined to write this series. This is because if you are reading this, it stands to reason, either magic has made its way into your lands, or you have made your way into the lands of magic. This is an opportunity to reexamine the world as we know it, to challenge our own assumptions, examine old ideas and to create new ones. Should this book have found its way into your hands, I, Sorceress Witness Tupou, professor of fundamental magics and and researcher of all things arcane want to invite you to a brand-new world of the extraordinary.

This book is an invitation to indulge in the knowledge of the true energy of the world. Unleash your power and learn to understand that which is a part of all things and is yet separate. Seize that which is potential manifest, both inane and mundane, both physical and intangible. Welcome to the wonders of mana. May your path be long, and your breakthroughs profound.'

Joe read with intention, going over the pages slowly, and allowing himself to enjoy the book for more than just its knowledge. The first time he lifted his head was when the librarian returned to stack more books on his desk, flipping his eyes up. He could see a very thick tome on history that he hoped wouldn’t be just a dry recitation of happenings, happened bys, and happened tos that to many of his less fulfilling classes had been. Below the history tome was a book that stated the rules and laws of the principality in which the town of Port Minah was located. Beside it, medical texts and initial primers on mana mechanics, runes, and the languages of power. At the bottom of the stack was a truly unwieldly tome that probably could’ve been used as sturdy building material it was so dense. Its title was ‘Heaven Borne: A Full Accounting of the Onzak Empire.’

Well, that title was ominous. Joe looked up at the librarian (whose name he realized he didn’t know) who was rolling a wooden book-cart away from the table.

“What’s your name?” He asked, his nose still in the primer. He felt more than heard her pause, especially considering how unnervingly quiet the cart was. The librarian turned as Joe looked up.

“You may call me Mrs. Bita,” Mrs. Bita, the librarian said. Joe at her hands, not seeing a ring. Though he supposed he didn’t actually know the common conventions for this world, or even just this town. She made to leave again, but paused. “Is that all?” She asked. Joe shook his head.

“Why?” He asked, pointing to the unwieldly tome siting like a squat, brown, decidedly unattractive lump. For all its immense size, nobody had thought to craft it with any aesthetic consideration. That could mean a number of things, and Joe didn’t have enough information to validate any of his assumptions. The top of which were:

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

* Books are scarce and all books are a treasure.

* It’s part of a mandatory reading list and will be purchased regardless of look or cost

* It’s so popular a book that embellishments are unnecessary to drive sales

* This specific copy was an ugly edition of the book

“Why another book about law and history? Why this book specifically? What would you like to know?”

“Why is it ugly?” Joe asked. That was not what Mrs. Bita had been expecting. She schooled her features quickly though.

“I suppose, because it doesn’t need to be pretty.” Mrs. Bita stated. “You could probably find one of these in every standard household in the Empire in every language of the Empire.” She placed her hand on the frayed cloth of the giant tome. “Will that be all?” She asked. Her face unreadable to Joe.

Joe just nodded once. His eyes unfocused slightly as he highlighted the entry in his mental notes in green. He then had his AI synthesize his conjectures and the librarian’s explanation into a summary while he resigned himself to reading the giant book… Next.

First? Magic.

He almost fell back into the habit of rushing his way through the book, speed-reading while he boosted his mental processing. Yet, the chair beneath him was so real. The space around him, actual wide-open space where he could just be, was something he hadn't even realized he yearned for in the cramped apartment that he shared with his mother. He was so used to reading from a tablet, or from the projections sent through the subdermal that he wanted to savour this opportunity. Sure, technically the game was rendered through that same digital-optical connection, but it didn't feel like it, and that mattered.

He flipped to the next page.

'Inside every person, there is the capacity to store mana, manipulate mana, and enhance oneself with mana. Whether or not one has the aptitude is entirely dependent on the individual. Much like the blood in one's veins, mana spreads throughout the body in channels known as mana veins. These quasi-metaphysical mana veins exist throughout the physical and spiritual bodies*…'

Joe followed the asterisk to a footnote mentioning that ‘Spiritual Bodies’ would be covered more in depth in a separate primer.

'…including inside of and around major arteries, veins, blood vessels, bones, organs, and the skin. However, despite mana veins being the primary way to channel mana throughout one's body, mana saturates the body from within and without.

One's capacity to hold and store mana is based around a the manapool. The manapool is not simply a name for the space in which mana accumulates inside the body. Instead, one's manapool is directly linked to one's spirit. One’s spirit should not be confused with one’s spiritual body, much like one’s physical body could not entirely encapsulate all that makes you a physical being, neither does the spiritual body fully encompass all that makes you a spiritual being. Indeed, such a concept may seem unscientific for one who has lived a primarily physical existence. It may be difficult for many to come to terms with, were they to grow up in a world with no mana. To simplify terminology for the purpose of education, ‘spirit’ may be defined as: Ephemeral energy possessing will or exerting influence.

Just like a fingerprint a spiritual signature is entirely unique. The depth, strength, and quality of one's spirit can be generally understood through the formula of one's body mass multiplied by one's mana capacity. This formula may look different several significantly less measurable factors. These factors include one's strength of will, one's power of conviction, one's quality of gathered mana and methods of mana refinement, one's determination, one's education, one's level of understanding, one's view of external aids and stimulants, and other such factors.

Age, of course, plays a factor. Aside from body mass increasing, so long as one’s depth of knowledge and prowess expands with age, so too will their spirit. This has a direct correlation to mana capacity and control.'

Joe continued to read about specific attributes of the mana pool and how it existed both in the spiritual body and the physical one, how mana was both physical and metaphysical, and the term ‘pool’ in manapool didn’t literally refer to a blob of liquid, but rather a collection point for mana.

Fascinated, Joe kept reading until he paused on a page called Mana Affinities.

'Theoretically, there are as many, or more mana affinities than there are stars in the sky, or grains of sand on the beach. The main mana affinities can be broken down into eight categories: Creation, destruction, light, dark, earth, wind, water, and fire. All but the most esoteric of, manner affinities on our world fall under these categories.

Perhaps, on other worlds, things are different. A desert world might have water as a rare affinity, and a world made of ice may have lightning mana as abundant as common dirt. Perhaps even worlds devoid of mana have affinities.’

The idea arrested Joe. Make a note to investigate testing mana affinities he thought to his ever-silent vAIA, the AI dutifully adding an entry following Joe's naming conventions.

Joe’s eyes drifted to the huge, squat tome. Well, time to find out what in the developer-daydreams was a Heaven Borne.