With the help of the notes he took, Lucas summoned to mind the full map of mana formations. Then he relaxed into the most comfortable position the tree hollow would allow, his body wedged between two especially large roots just tightly enough for their to be little room for movement, but not squeezing in any significant way. Luckily, this process would not require him to move around at all.
Lucas pulled his attention back from the world around him and dove into the world of his internal mana. He went through the same process he used to envision the entirety of his mana currents the other day, then he started to compare that image to the comprehensive healing version. Their differences were immediately obvious to the eye.
Where his artificial image was systematic and purposeful, the natural state of his mana currents could only be called ambling and without reason. It was a waste of potential perpetrated by nature, and it made Lucas wonder if it were possible to make his constructed image the default. Like an augmentation Skill that was always on. Thoughts to look into later.
Lucas started from his outermost extremities. The tips of his fingers and toes. He'd chosen to go about this in a certain way: instead of working on each bodily system, and each system of mana formations one at a time, he would do them all simultaneously. Inch by inch, working into his most vital areas, he began to manipulate the shape his mana currents formed.
Or, at least, he tried. Lucas had anticipated some difficulty doing this, but his expectations were so far proving to be optimistic still.
Just...move! I will not accept that this is impossible.
He would've been able to manipulate his mana externally if not for the System's interference and warning, he knew he should be able to do it internally just as well. Sure, the scale was turned up on what he was expected to influence all at once. That was the reason he anticipated difficulty in the first place. The only reason Lucas could come up with for his current level of trouble was that his internal mana had held this shape for so long, it was akin to a tree with formidable, far-ranging roots.
All he needed then, was a strong enough push to disrupt that shape; weaken the roots.
With just the portion of his attention he had meant for the manipulation process itself at first, Lucas 'took hold' of his mana currents. For this to work and be done with all at once, he needed to disrupt the flow of every stretch simultaneously. The theory and mechanism behind what he was doing was not all that complicated--he'd long ago acquired the ability to just pull on his mana at will during the time he spent chasing after external manipulation. That was all this was, simply encompassing every last stretch of his currents.
Lucas pulled. And he pulled. And he kept mentally pulling. There was some give, but the level of force he was mustering was nowhere close to enough. He'd have to do more.
Even though he would have to go through the trouble of reforming it in a short while, Lucas released the portion of his mind that was maintaining the healing-formation image. It looked like he was going to have to put forth all the effort he possibly could. Lucas could deal with the image later.
Once more, he took hold of his mana. Only this time, there was a marked difference in the strength of that hold. This level of concentrated application of his mind would quickly give him a headache if he had to maintain it for very long, which could sabotage the very reason he came out here, so Lucas acted as soon as he was ready.
With a great heave, the streams of his mana trembled and shifted slightly before settling back down into position. It wasn't enough, he could tell, so he did it again. Another heave, and the flow destabilized more. That much would probably serve his purposes, but Lucas wanted to be completely sure and not have to revisit this in another few minutes.
Lucas reaffirmed his insubstantial grip, and heaved one last time.
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"Urgghah...My head," Lucas complained the moment consciousness returned to him.
It felt like a smith had tried to use it as an anvil, only to find they preferred the one they already had and would rather repurpose the materials. Lucas rose up out of the space he's wedged himself into, every movement punctuated by another pulsing ache. This was terrible! He hadn't experienced a headache this bad in...ever, as far as he could tell. And worst of all was the chance it would stop him from continuing with his plan.
Lucas had no idea what exactly went wrong. He'd seen no adverse effects every time he disrupted his mana currents on a small scale in the past. Why then, did a larger disruption fucking knock him out?! One thing was clear: Lucas did not know enough about mana and its relationship to a being's body to just be messing around with all the grace of a rock troll in a potter's shop.
Okay. First things first, let's take stock. From the look of the light entering the hollow, I wasn't unconscious for long. How are my currents looking?
Bad. The answer was bad. He definitely succeeded in destabilizing them. Problem was he did a little too well, and now the various flowing currents were drifting freely--not conforming to a set shape at all. More observation showed the condition was only getting worse by the moment as well. As Lucas watched, the continued flow of mana through each stream was slowing down. He may not know as much as he needed to, but he knew that only bad things could happen if his mana stopped flowing.
After all, in all his teen years in this world, not once had he ever seen mana not in motion. It was an innate law of the energy, according to his observations. Even when metal mages conjured the material of their affinity, the mana they made use of maintained a dynamic state, regardless of appearances to less perceptive eyes.
Why didn't the System issue another warning? Clearly excessive manipulation of mana without expelling it can be dangerous as well...Is it just not able to observe it within the confines of a person's body till they unlock?
Lucas didn't even pause to consider that line of thought. He burst into action immediately. A new obstacle had been thrown before his plan, but it was only made all the more important to commence for it.
He took hold of the drifting streams one by one, firming his grasp as they nearly slipped away. There was no time to go about this slowly--he had to rebuild them into a proper, healthy shape now. With each new stream he seized, Lucas got to work on assembling the healing formation. His progress built as the mental imagery came to him.
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There was no need to go about it in an especially cautious way. The currents were already as greatly disturbed as they could get, so if anything like that brief bout of unconsciousness was going to happen again, the only thing that could stop it was to assemble the pattern before it could. It didn't matter that he wove the streams into formations at random, not progressing linearly, it only mattered that it got done.
Lucas caught himself admiring the work he was doing in a brief lapse of mental discipline. In all the urgency, he was really rising to the occasion and the formations were being built faster and faster. He would double check their accuracy and placement before this was all over.
Predictably, he finished the skeletal system first. The muscular system followed that one, then the one with his heart and the one composed of most of his organs. He held them in place as he slowly made progress on the last, and most difficult of all. Lucas was still weaving mana formations in rapid succession, but the sheer complexity of those dedicated to his brain made progress objectively slow. His tension only rose as it continued to take more time, and Lucas had to consciously make an effort to calm himself before the stress ruined it all.
He managed to finish the overall formation though, after an unknowable amount of time. The last pattern fell into place and he nearly sighed with a relief that last only mere moments. All the patterns were as they should be--accurate and in the right place, but the flow of mana through them was still slowing. Lucas held back his initial panic and observed some more over the next few minutes. The rate it was slowing down was slower than when he started, which could probably be explained by the presently stable state of his formation. It just wasn't enough. He was missing something--something that allowed the natural state of his internal mana to exist without him actively holding it together.
A terrible thought occurred to Lucas. If he wasn't seeing something, then maybe what he was looking for wasn't itself made of mana. If that were the case, there would be nothing he could do. His supernatural perception only covered mana, and his hubris would have doomed him.
He tried everything in his growing panic. He shifted the composed formation back and forth, tried to use his ability to manipulate it to bury the patterns in place; tried to directly influence the flow itself. Nothing worked.
Lucas's panic started to bleed away, subjecting him to a horrible indifference that he recalled from the time he slept in the void before this world. Lucas could only accept that he made a mistake, and he had to own up to the consequences. The world was bigger than him, and he probably shouldn't have tried to control something so beyond him.
Wait.
The world?
Lucas fought back the sleep that threatened to take him once more. He would not fail like this. Not when he'd just stumbled on the idea that might fix things.
His mana hadn't fallen out of the formation he'd woven it into despite his...state, moments ago. That was good, it meant the formation was sticking, and it would increase the chances of this all working. He just had to make one slight change.
Lucas grasped at his mana once again, not with exceptional strength, but sure and gentle purpose. What he did was akin to a stretch. Like a plant, reaching for the sun. He took a small portion of his mana, and dragged it to the surface before expelling it just beyond the confines of his body.
Then the sleep took him.
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[*ding Anomaly detected.]
[Modified intrinsic mana structure in place.]
[Disruption appears to have caused circulation failure, stalling imminent.]
[Anomaly logged for further study, System file: #362189002...]
...
[*ding Administrative override acknowledged.]
[Stalling circulation of Anomaly has been given priority interference status.]
[Reharmonizing...]
[Status of Anomaly has achieved a new balance, logged in System file: #362189002...]
...
You aren't getting away that easily. Not till I understand your presence in this world, and why you bear my touch.
See you in a few years, legacy.
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This time, Lucas didn't wake up to a headache, which was a relief. He roused from his latest session of violent napping ready to take on the world. Which was twice over a good thing, because he saw the state of the light coming into the tree hollow and knew he had to run.
It was well into the evening, and he was so much more than late. Lucas would be lucky if his mother wasn't out looking for him, reasonably concerned over his uncharacteristic tardiness. He had no excuse prepared, but he definitely wasn't going to tell her the truth of what he'd been out doing. She would never let him out of her sight again, and he couldn't complain as he would've given his mother the perfect excuse with the danger he'd put himself through.
And he didn't want to worry her like that.
The energized feeling from when he woke up persisted for the entire sprint back to the village, with no sign of stopping soon. It was pretty strange, and Lucas felt at his mana currents for an explanation. He was more than a little pleasantly surprised to observe they were still in the healing formation--this time flowing strong. The pleasantness stuck around, but the surprise faded when his mind processed that the only way he could've been present in this moment was if that was the case, and if his final desperate plan had worked.
Lucas had come too close to death for something so small. But maybe, just maybe, he'd be better off for it.
When he stopped his sprint just within the tree cover before the village, he showed no sign of being the slightest bit winded. Lucas wasn't going to test it, but he could bet if he got a scrape or cut now, he'd heal much faster than before. Maybe not as fast as active healing magic, but probably still at inhuman levels.
A problem presented itself as he eyed the village, looking for a way in. With today's weather, both gates were assuredly locked up at all times apart from during the passing of guard patrols. Hey could find no way in without heading into the open and drawing a guard's attention on the wall, then hoping they would just let him in. Even if they did, there was no way for Lucas to escape any questions in that scenario.
No, he had to find another way. To the west--the side of the village that ran up against the closest mountainside--he may be able to find a portion of the wall low enough to climb over. It was a long shot, but it was better than the lacking alternatives that had yet to present themselves, so Lucas headed in that direction.
Once there, he began his search. The ground was all stone here, and could not be called even through any stretch of the word. To his immense luck, one particular section of the wall was littered with rubble from a small landslide at its foot. This 'rubble' was the size of his torso at its smallest, but the wall didn't even show a scratch from when it all must have impacted. Clearly, Elder Falon's construct was stronger than it looked.
Lucas did indeed find he could scale the wall from there. His luck held up as well when he found no guards nearby. He didn't stop to mentally criticize that oversight by whoever assigned the duties, instead choosing to take the blessing. It wasn't like any invaders would be coming through the mountain, anyway.
He passed through the western part of town and into the district his house was in. He was really late. If his mom wasn't out looking for him, she might have started making dinner already. Lucas didn't like making her take up that responsibility on her own, it was always something they did together.
The journey passed quickly, and he was soon standing before his door. A mix of wariness and relief swirled inside him. It had been a long day, and he was glad to be back.
Without further ado, he stepped inside and was greeted by the smell of sizzling meat and spices. His mother came out from the kitchen and met him in the front room, her look of consternation changing quickly to relief, then frustration, and finally confusion.
"Where were you--and why are your eyes blue?"