The moment that the words faded from the air, Nick felt the now familiar sensation of ghostly fingertips reaching into his brain. Their gentle dance rewired the connections between his neurons, laying down pathways that would guide his future development.
Wearing a beaming grin, he felt a door open within his mind. A sense that there were new possibilities for growth that he could choose to pursue. After a final twist, the ethereal digits withdrew. A heartbeat later, an image popped into his head. A vision of a churning vortex of invisible force, the framework for casting piercing ray that had been etched into his psyche.
However, the changes being wrought by the System were far from over. A warm prickling began to build below Nick’s heart, as the System plucked a thread free from his energetic core, winding it up and around his spine before attaching it to the pathway for his new spell. It was an intriguing feeling, thankfully not nearly as intense as when the System had jumpstarted his mana pool after acquiring his first spell back on the Searing Isle.
By this point, Nick was shaking with excitement, eager to open his profile and check out his new and improved stats. But that would have to wait a while longer, because the System wasn’t done with him yet. To his surprise, another message appeared in front of his eyes.
Beginning activation of trait: Force Adept.
With those words, the world exploded into psychedelic color, consumed by swirling hues of the most vivid pigments Nick had ever seen. The scintillating tide washed over everything in a resplendent skein. A living latticework of incomprehensible shades in undulating, dazzling furls.
He watched on in awe. He had no clue as to what was happening, although he could feel the System tinkering with the energetic core resting below his heart.
Nick looked down at his hands, to where the same mysterious substance flowed across his skin like some kind of… magic. The realization came crashing home. It’s mana. Whatever is happening, it’s allowing me to perceive mana for the first time. The image was bizarre, majestic, and heart-achingly beautiful.
Filled with a fierce and rising joy, he dove headfirst into the wonderous experience, intent on learning as much as he could, before the mind-bending effects of the System’s manipulation faded away. With a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, Nick stopped staring at the flowing tapestry as a whole, now trying to isolate the individual flows. To pick out the distinct threads of the weave, each of which featured a unique color and texture.
At first, he could barely make out any fine details. But as he grew accustomed to the intense colors and dazzling patterns, he began to see individual bands of pure pigment, woven together to form refulgent hues that Nick had as of yet no words to describe.
Some of the mana-strings were virulent vermillion and gave off an impression of immense heat, while others were a deep blue-black, emanating a chill pressure like the depths of the sea. Some were soothing and entrancing, others caustic and painful to look at directly. Each was vibrating with limitless potential, raw energy yet to be given form. The ingredients to create thousands of spells and abilities danced before his eyes.
The longer that Nick stared at the wondrous display, the more certain he became that these myriad ribbons of light represented different types of mana, each bearing unique properties, like distinct frequencies of light or notes of music.
There were dozens of types that Nick could discern, along with countless more that he couldn’t quite figure out. Earth and air. Shadow and light. Bone, blood, and beast.
He would have kept on staring until hunger and thirst dragged him away, but at that very moment, the System stepped back in, its words crisp and clear against the riot of chaos undulating behind them.
Deactivating compatibility with all elemental aspects.
Stolen story; please report.
An eruption of heat sprang to life within Nick’s chest. It was followed by a searing pain that lasted for just a fraction of a second. He had the sense that his energetic core was being compressed and reshaped in an instant, like a prism shifting to refract different colors of light.
Both sensations faded away a heartbeat later, and with their passing, color bled from the world like white paint running down the face of a masterpiece. But then he realized that it was more like a curtain being drawn while the set was rearranged, because the show was only halfway over.
Not all the pigments disappeared. The regular world that Nick had been seeing all his life remained, but the eye-rending vibrancy of mana in the air was gone. It was as if someone had briefly shone a light into a dark room, leaving it even blacker than before with its passing.
No. Not gone. Muted. Somehow, he could sense that the tapestry of mana was still there, but it was now so faint and fuzzy that he could no longer focus on it or make out distinct details. It was as if the vivid world of elemental mana was obscured by heavy fog at dusk. It all changed again when the System chimed in once more.
Activating affinity for mana types: force and pure.
Binding trait Force Adept to contestant’s bloodline.
With an electric jolt, the mana collage reappeared. Only now, it looked radically different than before. While most of the threads were still dim and out of focus, two distinct varieties of mana were now crisp in his vision. He could discern and follow their flows clearly, like someone putting on prescription glasses for the first time.
One type was silvery white, or perhaps platinum was the better word. The threads of chromatic mana shimmered like a shroud of mercury, as if the world had been bathed in the light of the full moon. In fact, it was almost the same color as his mana darts, which was enough for him to deduce the rest.
That must be pure mana, Nick marveled at the sight. The metallic ribbons made up only a slim fraction of the full web of magic that he had seen before. Pure mana felt ethereal and clean. Gentle, but hinting at untold power residing within.
He had a harder time focusing on the other variety of mana threads, mostly because they weren’t any color at all. The vibrating lines were nearly transparent, like cables of spun glass or the heart of a flawless gem. Perceiving them became much easier when Nick stopped trying to focus on them with his eyeballs. A frustrating exercise, like trying to follow the individual strands of a spider’s web from all the way across the room.
Instead, he sat back in his chair and unfocused his eyes, like he was looking at one of those magic-eye posters that had been popular back in the day. He let everything else go, immersing himself within the flow of magic engulfing the room and his body. That was when Nick began to see.
There was another force moving betwixt and between the delicate threads of pure mana, flowing in waves like heat rising from an oven. Like the curvature of compressed air that rode the edge of a shockwave, flows of something were rolling across the waiting room.
Nick had the sense of something ponderous and heavy. As weighty and tangible as pure mana was insubstantial. Part of the reason that this type of mana had been hard to pin down was that there was so much of it. This clear force was hundreds of times more prevalent than the ghostly lines of pure silver that represented pure mana.
So this is force mana. Incredible, he watched the writhing cables wind and flow, mingling with the bands of mercury and all the other elements that he could no longer perceive.
He drank in the sight of two types of mana, so different from one another. Each intense and awesome in their own unique manner. It made Nick wonder what he had given up by choosing to walk down this path. But he had no regrets. These were forces that would serve him well on his path to power, and he was more than satisfied to claim them for his own.
He would have watched the mana undulate forever had he been given the choice. Basking in the flow while learning everything that he could from their mercurial dance. But like all things in life, the good and bad alike, the moment was not fated to last.
The otherworldly display was already fading from the air, revealing a mundane world that felt frozen and washed out by comparison. It took him a long moment to readjust, like Nick had stepped back onto land after a long sea voyage.
Soon, he could no longer sense the threads of mana at all, just a vague tingle out on the periphery of his awareness. But he was certain that he would see it again one day. A facility developed from his own efforts, instead of being gifted to him by a fey twist of fate.
As the strange sensations faded away like the remembrance of yesterday’s dreams, he focused as hard as he could, doing his best to commit it all to memory. He’d learned more about magic in the last ten minutes than over the last month combined, and he was certain that the experience would lead to insights and breakthroughs later down the road.
Nick wanted to sit there and rest, reflecting on what he’d seen and everything that had come before, but the System had other plans in store.
Your class change is complete.
Proceeding to distribute the remaining rewards from your tutorial.