As much as I wanted to figure out even a smidgen of what magic is and how it functions, I didn’t have much of a starting point. Sure, my forced instincts told me how to do the things I needed to build my dungeon, but that was about it.

Probably another scheme by the gods to limit their slaves. No matter I’ll just have to figure it out myself.

The obvious way to begin would be to get another monster creation going and instead of focusing on the monster focus on the process itself. But, as much as I wouldn’t mind using up my last slot for this, I didn’t have much of an idea on what to actually create.

Besides, it’s hardly feasible to learn from such a complex example. That’s like being introduced to math through quantum math or whatever and expecting to understand basic addition.

No, I’ll need something simpler.

Sadly, even without resorting to this, my other supernatural abilities don’t seem much simpler. The actual conjuring of my monsters is at most just a smidge easier and my other abilities literally involve the absolute creation and destruction of matter.

As much as I had no idea about anything magical, there is no universe in which those things can be considered basic.

This just leaves me with one last option. An option that may not even work, since it’s based on hoe people on Earth believed magical things can happen. Meditation.

So, I’m left with no other choice. Oh well, let’s give it a shot. At least, as good of a shot as I can. I doubt I’ll be able to remember much of how it’s supposed to be done.

Anyway, step one. Get into a comfortable position.

I cannot move. And I’m a floating crystal without any physical sensory input. Does that mean every position is comfortable or that none it and I can never do this?

Step two, close your eyes.

Once again, I am a crystal. No eyes to close. I suppose I could shut off my dungeon perception, but that’d leave me completely deprived of any and all senses! Ah, whatever. I suppose I can give it a shot for a little while. I’ll trust my guardians.

And now, I have to clear my mind.

Wait, is that right? I swear I heard way too many variants of this. Am I supposed to clear my mind, have an empty mind, examine each thought but let them go, or concentrate on just one thing fully? So many options.

I suppose I’ll just see what comes to me most naturally.

Hmm, should I wait for the next step?

The next thing I know I wake up, but not really. It’s that state when you suddenly realize you’ve been staring at nothing without thinking (but not sleeping) and startle awake. Except I don’t fully wake and stay I a sort of halfway trance. I think that’s what it’s called.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Just a simple state of mind. Any thoughts being just temporary additions that float by in a second. Simple, and peaceful.

Just a deep breath in.

And a deep breath out.

In.

And out.

Over and over, repeating.

…

Wait.

I’m breathing? I’m breathing!

What? How? I don’t breathe! I’m made of goddamned crystal! How am I breathing!

Hold on, no, don’t panic. This is most likely what you wanted. Don’t lose it now.

Just focus on the sensation breathing. Examine it. Let’s see what it actually is, because it’s not breathing in the biological sense, that’s for sure.

And indeed, as time passes, I make my first observation. Mainly that it’s not switching between in and out, but both are happening simultaneously.

Also, interestingly enough, both of them are not exactly equal. At least not directly.

As far as I can tell, whatever it is I’m breathing in comes from all directions. But when breathing out I feel it leaving in only one direction. But, likely to compensate for the smaller space, out breaths are much more compact and powerful. Like a hurricane compared to a summer breeze. Ok, maybe not that much of a difference, but still.

Is this magic? Or more likely the energy that fuels magic? So, mana? Qi? Something else? Or is that all just semantics and all are referring to the same thing?

So many questions, but only so many ways to find the answers. But the first step at least should be simple.

Slowly, I begin to once again expand my perception from my core. But unlike before, where I only had the same senses as a human would, there’s something extra now.

As my sight (and other senses) fill out the whole of my dungeon again I can also sense a little something extra there. It isn’t anything visual, audible or perceptible to any of my other senses. After all, if it were, I would have noticed it much sooner.

But as strange and arcane this feeling is a different quality of it pulls my attention to itself. Its quantity. The energies of the world are dense between my walls. And not only dense, they are also rushing down the tunnels, twisting back and forth to reach something. My core.

I shift my attention back to myself. My true self that is, my core.

Whatever this torrent of energy is, it’s continuously entering inside through the facets of my crystalline core. Huh. Is that what I interpreted as breathing?

It is then that I notice what I must have interpreted as breathing out. One of the facets or my crystal is not only letting this river in, it is also releasing a smaller, albeit more concentrated, stream of it.

As far as I can tell, each moment only a small amount of it stays in the core. Never increasing. Always staying constant.

Damn it, this just open up more question! Argh, fine! Let me see what is happening with the stuff that doesn’t stay trapped in my core. Which is the vast majority of it.

Not much, is the answer. At least, as far as I can see. All that happens is that it disperses throughout the whole dungeon.

Actually, now that I see this, I think I can differentiate the huge river heading to my core from the passive energy that I released. Hmm, but the one that is mine appears to be constantly diminishing and being refuelled by what doesn’t stay in my core. Strange.

Anyway, one last thing. How do my abilities interact with all this?

As I go through the motions and conjure up a toad (I really should name them at some point) I watch what happens with the energies.

A small spark separates from the small amount that is constant in my core. That pool is almost instantly refilled by the giant stream of mana though. And yes, I’ve decided to call it mana until proven otherwise.

Then the spark passes through one of the facets of my gem. Strangely enough, it’s a different one that the one the stream of unused mana leaves through.

Then it just floats over to the space I wanted the monster to be. Where something happens, causing the nearby passive/claimed mana to lower for a second. And then there’s a frog standing before me.

Ok, it’s getting rather clear to me that whatever is going on is way too delicate for me to perceive. I suppose I’ll have to hone this new mana sense like many other things.