Slowly, the real world started to clear itself. Kancor was still trying to Talk to her, but he seemed to have calmed down.
Her vision was blurry, tainted by a blue filter due to the blood that covered her eyes. Her Heart ached like hell, damaged by all the strain she put her body under.
But she was smiling from ear to ear. Between her hands a single thin string of mana could be seen.
Sure, It was nothing to be proud of for a mage like her, but she couldn't stop herself from smiling at her accomplishment.
"Liz, are you alright?" Kancor asked again.
"Look look, I did It" She completely ignored his question and shoved the string at his face.
“Co-Congrats?” Kancor was stunned for a second. “Wait Liz have you listened to me, I was concerned.”
“I was fineee…” She started.
“You were bleeding and completely nonresponding:” Kancor cutted her before she could continue. “I don’t care if it always works out in the end, don’t push yourself so hard, especially not when your body is clearly not prepared.”
Liz and Kancor stayed silent for a while, sorting their thoughts. Finally both reached a similar conclusion.
“You didn’t let mana flow freely didn’t you?” He finally asked, looking at the glowing lines in her arms.
“No…” She replied.
“And you still managed to use its power”
“Yes…”
“This is why I hate special people…” He muttered. “Consider our magic lectures finished.”
“Why?!” She yelled, she understood why he was mad, but she was still his apprentice.
“Because I’m not a mage, all I could teach you were the basics.” He explained. “But you somehow managed to not only miss the normal path, but to create a perpendicular one. I have literally no idea on how to teach you.”
“What you have done could make you an archmage on the spot, perhaps you can’t cast normal spells and you need to create your own, or maybe you are magically impaired for life. Who knows!?!?” He screamed as he waved his hands. “But considering you managed to create the string that is quite unlikely.
Liz just stared at him, trying to understand what this meant. She knew that Kancor wasn’t a mage, so it wasn’t surprising for him to be unable to teach her advanced spells. But the way he said it made Liz think that there was something more to it.
Do people in this world tend to make deals with their mana? At first the idea seemed crazy to her. Why would someone give up the full control of their powers? But then she remembered how strong the strain from the mana was. How hard it was for her, an archmage, to make it submit.
It's not that they want to, they can’t do anything else… That was the conclusion she reached. “I understand…” She said to Kancor, who was leaving the hut.
“Good, I’m going to prepare my supplies for another week, then I'm leaving for another month or two, you will stay here.” He said.
Liz wan’t to talk back, she didn’t want to be caged. But she also understood that the decay was the worst kind of poison, and it would only be a matter of time before she was infected, so the wisest move was to stay here.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Ok, I guess I should check my level ups.” She said to herself. “Status.”
Error: Automatic display of status is currently disabled.
“Why?”
Notice: The user’s mana doesn’t have the authority to perform the automatic task.
“What?”
Notice: Since the user has removed their mana’s permission to freely move through their body and soul, they can’t perform automatic tasks, including but not limited to: Status display.
“How can I see my status, and please don’t tell me to restore my mana’s privileges.” She asked with an annoyed look on her face.
Notice: Manual status review is still available, to manually access your status you must see your soul.
“Lovely…”
Annoyed, Liz sat down and closed her eyes again, she was doing too much meditating lately. Her consciousness started to fade as she stared at her soul. She felt it attracting her, gently dragging her inside it.
Once inside she saw the same pool of mana as before, but now everything was different. The giant pool was changed into a little bird fountain, yet she felt the same amount of mana inside it. It was also calmer, instead of a stormy sea it was a calm pond.
She let her hand glide at the surface of the liquid mana, feeling all the power that was hers to command. She tried to grab some of it by making a spoon with her hand, but she wasn’t able to lift it.
“Hmmm, even if it isn’t resisting anymore, manipulating it is still far from easy.” She thought. “Well, it’s not like water has a will, but it's still hard to force your way on it.
She let go of the mana and took her hand out of the fountain. She observed her surroundings, what once was a great sinkhole with walls that extended forever was now a green never-ending field. Tall white marble columns formed a circle around the fountain and a white pantheon reigned over a small hill.
“This place has changed a lot since my last visit.” She said as she walked towards the pantheon. “This place is quite similar to the sanctuary… I wonder if Kai took inspiration on something similar to create it.”
She thought as she entered the building. 5 orbs of light glowed inside the pantheon, each one was one of her skills. The chains that bind eternal will were smaller, but their influence was still there.
“Hmmm, seems like whatever was restricting my soul has become weaker.” She said, looking at the chains. “I guess I shouldn’t test my luck again.”
She walked away from the orb, giving a last look at the dark stairs that sank deep into the floor, at the place that birthed the chains. Not yet. She thought.
Finally, she reached a giant alabaster slate. It reflected light almost like a mirror, and she couldn’t stop herself from touching its surface. “I wonder…” It was as if she already knew what to do. What was the purpose of this slate.
Her hand reached towards the mana fountain as her voice echoed in the pantheon. “Come.” She ordered, and started to pull the mana towards her.
The calm liquid that filled the fountain was now wavy, her pull was strong and tried to force it out of its container, but it never leaved the fountain. She intensified her pull, unwilling to yield. “I, said, come.”
A small blob of mana slowly flowed out of the fountain and floated towards her hand. “See, everything is much easier if you just obey.” She said with a dark grin on her face. “Now, slate slate on the wall, tell me, how is my status now?”
The blob sank into the slate and turned into blue letters. She felt it scanning all her body and soul, evaluating her abilities and turning them into numeric values. She felt every single cell of her body at once. Finally, the letters of the slate showed her status.
Name —> Liz
Ч̴͚̯̓͋͋̇̄͗̀͝у̴͉̎͋̐̊͌͝ж̵̧̠̅̀̋̀̅̊а̷͇͖̰̥̤̫̀̐͊̀̇͊̍̀͜ͅͅк̷̠̰̜̟͔̈́͑͊̈́̿̄̉̑͠ —> lvl 6
Stats:
Strength —> 8
Agility —> 7
Vitality —> 6
Endurance —> 10
Intelligence —> 12.24 (12 + 2%)
Power —> 13.13 (13 + 1%)
Available stat points: 6 + 6
General skills:
Advanced magic affinity (passive) —> lvl 2
Advanced mana system (passive) —> lvl 1
Lesser magic sense (passive) —> lvl 1
Soul awareness (passive) —> lvl 2
Eternal will (passive) —> lvl 1 (blocked)
Р̵̳̥͓̭͈̆͛̍͗̆ͅͅе̵̨̻̮͙̓͑͒̒͜͠а̸̧̨͕͕͖̿̀͋̉̐͘л̴̢̙̱̺̬̟̾͋̏̿͋̓͜͜и̷͚̠̼͑̿̄̕т̶̼̒͑͌̆͌̎и̵̝͇́̚-̶̧̟̩͈̥͕̞͉̅͛͊̿̂п̶̏̑̚͜р̶̠͔̜͔͕̠̰́͝ы̴̛̥̠͈̹͐͗̓г̵̻̼̀̓̈̇̈́у̴̧̘͕͓͓̗͇͊̉н̷̋̃͐́͜ —> lvl 1
Subskills:
Adaptability —> lvl 1
Soul energy 169.869 units.
“Why are my stat points divided into two groups?” She asked.
Notice: The skill adaptability allows the user to assign extra stat points to one stat. The stat can be changed every 30 days.
“Well that's convenient.” She said. “I want to give those points to intelligence.”
The letters on the slate rapidly changed to display her new stats.
“I’ll give 3 to agility and 3 to power.” She finished assigning her last stat points.
“What does the evolution of Р̵̳̥͓̭͈̆͛̍͗̆ͅͅе̵̨̻̮͙̓͑͒̒͜͠а̸̧̨͕͕͖̿̀͋̉̐͘л̴̢̙̱̺̬̟̾͋̏̿͋̓͜͜и̷͚̠̼͑̿̄̕т̶̼̒͑͌̆͌̎и̵̝͇́̚-̶̧̟̩͈̥͕̞͉̅͛͊̿̂п̶̏̑̚͜р̶̠͔̜͔͕̠̰́͝ы̴̛̥̠͈̹͐͗̓г̵̻̼̀̓̈̇̈́у̴̧̘͕͓͓̗͇͊̉н̷̋̃͐́͜ do anyways?”
Notice: Р̵̳̥͓̭͈̆͛̍͗̆ͅͅе̵̨̻̮͙̓͑͒̒͜͠а̸̧̨͕͕͖̿̀͋̉̐͘л̴̢̙̱̺̬̟̾͋̏̿͋̓͜͜и̷͚̠̼͑̿̄̕т̶̼̒͑͌̆͌̎и̵̝͇́̚-̶̧̟̩͈̥͕̞͉̅͛͊̿̂п̶̏̑̚͜р̶̠͔̜͔͕̠̰́͝ы̴̛̥̠͈̹͐͗̓г̵̻̼̀̓̈̇̈́у̴̧̘͕͓͓̗͇͊̉н̷̋̃͐́͜ has 3 available subskill, you may choose one of them to permanently unlock it. Keep in mind that the ones that you don't choose will be discarded. Do you want to proceed?
Yes No
“Yes”