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I took a few breaths and focused on my right arm, feeling the mana contained inside.

I consumed a lot of it today, but it shouldn’t be a problem. I’d say I had less than a third of my maximum capacity. It could be helpful for another test I had in mind, so it was better this way.

After I felt ready enough, I let the strength on my arm go and tried to lift the whole limb with mana.

It gave a sudden jerk, making me lose focus for a moment.

Again, I thought.

It took a few tries before I got a result, but I did it.

I lifted my arm to shoulder level without using my muscles.

It needed a lot of mental energy, but I managed to keep it there for a few seconds before letting it fall down.

Wobbling, I grabbed my head and steadied my breath.

I did it! I thought as soon as I felt better.

“Hahahaha.” I couldn’t help letting out a low laugh.

I was right then, I thought, thinking back at when the idea struck me.

While I was sitting there waiting for Freya and Zeph to reach me, after I searched the backpacks and the bodies, I sat down and reviewed my fight as was my habit after each battle.

When I finished, I just let my thoughts wander, while waiting for time to pass.

Like that, one thought led to another until, at one point, I was thinking about how it was so hard to feel the small amount of mana contained in my blood.

It was at that point that I had one of those peculiar feelings; like there was something more to that.

Something in that thought that bothered me.

It was quite annoying, like having something just out of reach and not being able to get it, so I stubbornly clung to that it until I got my answer.

It was difficult to feel the amount of mana in my blood because it wasn’t much.

When I got that, the following questions came naturally, like I had removed something blocking my sight.

What if I did it wrong all this time? What if, instead of controlling a small amount of mana, I should focus on a bigger chunk?

Until that moment, to train, I always focused on moving just a finger, since I was trying to move a part that I thought used less energy.

Go from small to big; to avoid problems. That was what I was thinking before.

But what if it’s not energy expenditure that matters? What if it’s just mental energy? Or focus? Or sensitivity? That seemed extremely plausible to me, since I always felt a mental strain after I tried to control mana.

Moreover, the more there was, the easier it was to feel. It was a bit obvious in hindsight.

It was really hard to control myself not to try it out at that moment, but I held it in. My overexcited mind though, started thinking about all the implications of that.

For example, I already tested out that I could concentrate my mana on one part of my body. It was hard and didn’t know what I could do with that, so I momentarily put it aside. But what if that helped me control it better?

Since the first thing worked, I tried that too.

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Unfortunately, it was a dud.

Since I have to concentrate on two things at the same time, it becomes harder instead, too bad.

I have one last thing to try though, I thought standing up.

I distanced myself from the tents and threw a few punches to get the feeling right, then I paused, focusing on the mana on my arm, and punched again with all my might, trying to have it help the movement.

It worked.

It was also much easier than when I was just moving mana.

I’ve been doing a lot of useless things, I thought, letting out a breath as I looked at my fist. It seems that moving it in sync with my movements is much easier than trying to move a still limb.

It also made sense.

I had my reasons why I thought of moving unresponsive limbs, but that didn’t mean I had to start with that.

I would get there eventually but this is what I needed now.

I still couldn’t use it in battle, since it required too much concentration. It also made it hard to control my blows, which was a big no for me.

But it was just a matter of time.

After that, I proceeded with my regular training, while trying to mix in some mana-enhanced movement from time to time.

Doing it on my legs made me almost faceplant on the ground, so I shelved that until I could move my arms better. They had less mana than a leg, but at least I wasn’t going to risk running straight into a rock.

When I went to bed, I saw another level up.

Eh! I’ll never get what makes me level if I keep this going, I thought as I dismissed my screen.

Nothing I could do about it anyway.

The next morning, I had one last test to perform before we got going.

So, with my mana topped up, I tried to move my arm again.

Since I failed to condense my mana and move it at the same time, I thought I could try to do it when I had more, so I could see the difference.

My guess was right again. The more mana I had, the easier it was to feel, and therefore control.

Mmm… this may have various implications on my fights. One of which is that I won’t be able to use my Attributes too much, or I’ll get weaker as the fights go on.

It also meant that I needed to find a way to get more mana.

Well, thoughts for another day, I thought as the others woke up.

After that, we kept running from dawn to dusk for a week and a half, without stopping.

When I thought it was about time, Zeph spoke up.

“We can stop running now,” he said tiredly one evening. “We passed their last lookouts a few days ago, and even if there’s someone following us, they won’t be able to catch up to us before we reach Rivergate.”

“Fine,” I agreed with him.

He looked quite haggard.

Potions could help, but they weren’t without drawbacks. He’s been taking a healing and energy potion regularly, but he had reached his limits it seems.

Moreover, the terrain became more difficult as we approached the city. Hillocks became hills, and the vegetation was getting more dense.

By tomorrow evening, we might not be able to run anyway.

We already had to circle a few places, and we’d probably have to make our way through a forest or two in the following days.

“If we don’t find any complications, we should reach the road connecting Rivergate to Thornbridge in around five days. There should be people traveling there, so we should be careful and blend in. It won’t take more than a day to reach the city after that,” he finished.

Then, after a moment of thought, he added, “I also heard that goblins are everywhere in this mountain range, so we should pay attention to that.”

I scoffed, “It’s been a while since I saw one of those vermin. It will be nice to kill a few after so long.”

Just the thought of those little fuckers was enough to make me want to kill.

He mustered enough energy to raise an eyebrow on his tired face. “They may not be strong, but they come in groups usually. We should be careful.”

“It matters not. If they come near me, I’ll kill them all,” I said, waving away his concern.

He shrugged and they both went to sleep soon after.

The next day, Zeph brought out our backpacks since there was a risk of meeting hunters that roamed the place.

Freya’s was loaded with a few light things to make it look full.

She hadn’t walked much in the last few weeks and the terrain here wasn’t really easy to walk on, so we didn’t want to burden her too much.

Zeph had quite a variety of foods inside his ring, and she had been eating nicely for the past month, so while she still looked a bit thin she was able to put some meat on these bones. And she also grew a bit taller too.

That evening, when we stopped, I had a task for Zeph before he went to sleep.

I have been thinking a lot these days about the direction I should take with my life.

I was still set on traveling the world, and I still thought that being a mercenary was the best way to gain money, but I had to think about other things too.

There were debts I had to repay with a few people of this kingdom and while I was still not strong enough to act now I would get there one day.

Still, those were for the future, the most pressing thing now was dealing with Freya.

I looked at her, noting how tired she looked.

Unfortunately for her, she had to stay awake for a bit. We would reach the city sooner, and I wanted her to make an informed choice instead of choosing in the dark.

“Zeph, I need a favor,” I said to him after dinner.

“Could you tell her how Classes work?” I asked, pointing to Freya.

I could also give her an explanation since I wasn’t ignorant of how they worked, but Zeph seemed to know more about them, and I was curious about what he would say too.

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