Mana began to gather in his head like a river, and within a few seconds, it filled him with mana, but he did not stop. The mana continued to thicken and become denser, but at the same time, his head began to ache.

The mana became so dense that it turned into liquid, and like real water, it tried to escape, drop by drop, filling his head. At the same time, his head turned blue, and every cell ached.

"If I didn't feel physical pain because my body resembles undead more than alive, I would feel even more pain. But for now, it's just pain from my mind... Indeed, the path is full of pain," Vallynor whispered.

The liquid mana, like a flood, tried to break through the barricade consisting of his head, both in the physical and the invisible planes.

His mind began to tear apart, and through the cracks that appeared, the liquid mana began to flow, drop by drop, in an unknown direction. It didn't come out but disappeared into the void, as if it had never been there.

"At last," Vallynor felt the liquid mana disappear and directed all the accumulated energy into those cracks.

The cracks grew until something burst, and the liquid mana, like a river, poured out through the crack. It landed in a small world full of drought and a small hole, an uneven circle, in the center. The mana filled the circle, and the rest disappeared as if it were sand.

"Is this my chamber of the mind?" Vallynor asked himself.

"Yes... And how does it look, shabby? Isn't that right?" the old woman laughed.

"Yes, it's empty, and there's a small hole in the center. It's not even smooth yet, and only vaguely resembles a circle," he said to the old woman with both sadness and joy. He was happy because he had achieved his goal, but sad because all his suffering had resulted in a misshapen pool in the form of an ugly circle.

"What did you expect? A true mage trains for years to control mana, improving their closeness with it until the invisible wall breaks down on its own. You took experience from the necromancers, so you didn't need to train in control. To open your mental sanctum, you forcefully directed mana into the wall, forcibly breaking it down... But don't worry, everything can still be fixed until the foundation is laid. You've just opened your mental sanctum, and I also congratulate you on becoming a mage."

Her congratulations were warm, like a mother congratulating her son on finishing school. It made him slightly proud of himself, even though he had cheated.

"Don't be proud, my boy. This is only the beginning," said the old woman, seeing that he was starting to get proud. She often saw how pride seized people and prevented them from training hard. This poor child was only just beginning his journey. After all, the weak cannot help her in it.

"Just a little bit... Haha, okay, I understand," he said with understanding. He had seen and read many times how pride could ruin a person. Even the Pope of the Vatican said that pride begets all other sins. If I become proud just because I became a mage out of thousands, what's next? I need to cool down.

"There's still a little bit of mana left. Use it to make a smooth circle in your misshapen mana pool," said the old woman, feeling tired and already wanting to sleep, but wanting to give him a task first.

"But why a circle? Can't I choose a different shape?"

"Hmm. A circle represents infinity, but it doesn't have anything special about it other than being the simplest and most practical shape. But yes, you can choose any shape. If you're ready to make yourself a lab rat...I'll leave you to it."

Entering his new realm of consciousness, he looked at a small pit in the shape of a crooked circle. After some thought, a book appeared in his hand with a triangle drawn on it. As he touched it, something popped into the hole. Memories of people like him who had just opened their realm of consciousness flooded into his mind. How they created circles, triangles, squares, and many other shapes.

At the same time, memories flooded his mind, bringing much mental pain.

Receiving memories from other magicians, he was able to see how they began their path as a magician of the mind or just a magician, because the path of the soul does not start from the very beginning. But what about him? He was forced. Moreover, because of the foundation of his soul, it was recovering very slowly.

Inspecting each memory, he noticed that some of them had a circular shape, as the old woman had told him, while others were triangles, squares, and other geometric shapes.

This gave him courage that increased with each viewed memory. He watched each of them and understood why the old woman told him to transform his meager mana pool into a perfect circle. It turned out that the circle is the most common method, and he can easily find further paths of development. Thanks to the fact that the circle was used so often, many paths of development with their weaknesses and advantages were created.

However, some of the memory owners decided to use other shapes. At the beginning and in the middle of the path, the shape does not have such a strong influence, but towards the end, it can have a very strong impact. But on what exactly, he never found out.

He had been thinking for over an hour about which shape to choose. His intuition screamed at him that the circle was not right, but he didn't know what was better. He looked at the triangle and felt that it wasn't ideal either.

His feelings whispered to him that the circle and triangle were not suitable, but what then? He didn't know. But we can talk about how life is shit another time.

Going out onto the street, he began to stroll. He no longer felt the black sand under his feet. He wanted to break off a branch from the rocky tree, but it was easier to steal the virginity of a cunning girl than to break off a branch from this cursed tree.

So, he took out his knife from its sheath and started drawing shapes. He drew squares, triangles, stars, and everything that came to mind.

But he quickly grew bored. He sat on the black sand and began to draw a triangle and a circle next to it. Then he drew a pentagram with five pointed stars. But then he erased it, because only the edges were necessary, and everything inside the circle would be lost, and the energy would be wasted.

He drew a triangle, and then a circle again. Then a square and all kinds of shapes. Erasing everything, he began drawing circles from a lack of ideas.

When he had already drawn many circles and there was no more room for new ones, he began to connect them, still thinking about making his pool round.

"Why did I try to do everything differently? Maybe it's because I want to stand out?" he asked himself. At the same time, he drew lines and watched as Annie went in and out of the house.

Vallynor began to remember how he looked for a job after university. How difficult it was for him at the beginning. He was rejected because he didn't stand out. Until he...

Looking at his drawn circles and lines, he saw a picture that looked like it was drawn by a three-year-old. Slowly, he began to erase it, until his black eyes were filled with the light of revelation.

On the sand, he drew three circles and connected each circle with two others, creating a triangle with a circle instead of an angle. In this way, the three circles were connected to each other.

He was so happy that he was ready to enter the Chamber of Reason, but quickly calmed down and ran inside. He did not want to become prey to passing animals.

When he entered, he was already ready to start working. However, the question arose: "Why?"

"Why don't I want a circle? Don't want a triangle? And what use are these shapes?" - he asked himself questions to which he did not know the answers. And the old woman was not around now. Only he remained, who could answer his questions.

Before saying anything, a book appeared, which opened and showed pages filled with text. These were texts from the book "Basics of Magic", just like the text in the book itself. They complemented each other. Reading, he could understand why shapes were needed for the basin. However, he still had doubts.

He had long since read the entire book "Basics of Magic". And he did not remember reading this chapter from the book. When he finished the last lines, he already understood why all these seemingly useless actions were necessary.

It turned out that at the beginning of the path, the shape was really useless. But when a mage creates high-level magic, the shape of the basin gives the shape of magic circles, which become the basis for spells. For example, a mage who made himself a round basin in the future will be able to create a spell where magic circles are needed. But if, for example, a mage created a square instead of a circle, when creating a magic circle, he would have the shape of a square. What is the difference?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

A mage with a round basin can copy another mage's spells or even combine his own spells together. But a mage with a square cannot repeat the spells of someone who has a circle, or combine his spells with a mage who has a round basin, because the shape of the basin is different.

One might ask: can't a mage just copy spells and modify them for himself? Perhaps, but it still means spending time creating a spell almost from scratch and understanding the basics and workings of the spell itself. And a mage with a round basin can simply repeat spells and get the desired result.

After this, the thought may arise that a mage with a round basin is more advantageous than another shape. But there are also downsides. For example, a mage with the same shape, if he is stronger than you, can take control of your spells or copy your spells, if he is not stupid and able to observe and remember. This may be the fruit of your labors.

As the cherry on top, the imprint will have a shape similar to that of a pool. For example, your magical symbol, which becomes the name for the mage, will have a shape similar to a pool and a design that the mage chooses. For instance, a circle with a rose or skull in the center. A shape different from a circle may be easier for the mage to remember. This is a feature that is pleasant but can cause problems because the shape of the pool cannot be hidden.

Having considered this, he will still take the difficult path and draw three circles connected in the shape of a triangle. He does this not because he enjoys difficulties, but because he wants to be a true mage. If he were to receive spells without effort, he would become lazy. He is sure of this because he knows himself. Besides, this shape looks cooler than a regular circle.

But before he starts drawing, he taps his finger on the book several times and says:

"Why did you hide this chapter from me? I don't remember reading it before," he asked the book with dissatisfaction.

A message appeared on the empty pages: "This chapter was hidden for a while to protect you from foolishness. If you had learned about it earlier, there would have been a chance that you would create a form that is too complex for your first step, which could become your chains in the future."

"And what made you show it to me now?" - He nodded in agreement, partly realizing that if he had known about it earlier, he might have tried to create something insane. He felt that not everything was so simple and that this book still hides something from him. After all, some pitfalls have not been discovered. Maybe he missed something.

"Have you decided yet?" - the book asked. A drawing of three circles connected by three lines appeared. Inside one of the circles was a triangle.

"Where..." - He wanted to ask, but stopped himself, realizing it was a silly question. He had already drawn the symbol in the sand and the book probably saw or felt it. "How do a book's senses work, and do they even exist - who knows," he thought, shrugging.

Leaving the book behind, the hero entered the forest. He sat down comfortably, closed his eyes, and entered his inner world. Like last time, he felt emptiness. In the center was a small pool of mana, slightly crooked in the shape of a circle.

He didn't look at the pool, but began to manipulate the mana from it, causing it to flow like a river. The mana began to swirl, becoming a small cyclone. With each passing minute, it became faster and more dangerous.

When the cyclone became strong enough, he directed it towards the walls, causing it to break and turn into a triangle. To make it a triangle, he reduced the size of the cyclone at the corners, directing its destructive force towards the walls.

When he finished creating the perfect triangle (at least that's how memories of other wizards showed it), he began to direct the cyclone straight into the corner. By destroying the corner, he made the cyclone expand, turning the corner into a circle, connecting or overlapping it with the triangle.

Then he directed the cyclone towards the other two corners, also turning them into circles. The mana, which became the cyclone, destroyed the walls of the mana pool, but at the same time reinforced it, filling the walls with small cracks.

"So this is the price for a quick way to destroy a wall," Vallynor said, seeing how the walls of his mana pool were filled with small cracks.

When he finished completely changing the shape of the pool, the mana from it was almost gone, just like the one he had collected. He couldn't do anything else until he filled the pool with mana again.

Opening his eyes, he took a two-handed hammer and began to swing it as instructed in the book. He felt the connection, but it was very weak. He swung for over an hour and stopped. Even if he didn't feel pain or fatigue, there was still discomfort in his hands.

"So, a sword, a scythe, and a two-handed hammer. Not bad," he thought, looking at the pile of weapons that didn't suit him. And then he looked at another pile of weapons he still had to check. "So much, but I have to."

Before continuing, he entered the chamber of the mind, where he looked at the mana pool. The mana in the pool was not increasing much. It would take him 200 hours to fill the mana pool.

"The old woman was right. If I want the pool to fill with mana faster, I have to start with the body. Damn, I was never a sports fan."

The mana pool was filling very slowly because the body cannot gather more mana at once. It was like an old pipe, full of debris and holes, directing mana straight into the pool.

Every mage, whether they like it or not, must start their journey with the body, at least to a minimum, so that more mana can be brought into the chamber of the mind at once.

"What the hell, I understood everything the opposite way! I thought everything was separate, but they are all interconnected. If one is missing, the other won't exist," he realized when he thought about what he had read. And quickly realized that when he read, he learned what a mage gets if they are focused on one path.

"What does this mean? Do I have to do sports? No, no, NO! I hate it with all my heart," he whined under his breath. He remembered how his father forced him to do sports from childhood, and since then, he began to hate sports, which led him to become a programmer and level up his fingers to 1000.

Annie suddenly appeared next to him and began licking his hand. Vallynor saw that the mass, where all the impurities are held, was full of all sorts of scribbles and monsters.

"How much time did I spend making the pool shape?" he asked himself, seeing that the area was filled with monsters. As far as he remembered, Anni no longer brought monsters very often because most of those nearby had already been caught.

"More than a month, almost 37 days. You little necromancer," the old woman replied, as if she had been waiting for the right moment to appear.

"More than a month? Hmm, not that much... You said a month?" Vallynor was surprised to hear the old woman talking about time. But when she said that 37 days had passed, he realized that it was almost more than a month. So how many days were in a month?

"Yes, a month. Is something wrong?" she asked, not understanding why Vallynor was asking these silly questions.

"Tell me, how many days are in a week and a month? And how many months are in a year?"

"Hmm... 7 days in a week, and 30-31 days in a month. And 12 months in a year," the old woman answered, not understanding why Vallynor was asking these foolish questions.

"How is it that in this world, weeks and months have the same number of days as they did in my past world?" Vallynor wondered.

"It's simple, the God of Time," the old woman replied. His ignorance amused her.

"The God of Time? Can you explain more?"

"The God of Time is the ruler of time and everything related to it, such as days, weeks, and months. To make it convenient for everyone, he systematized these concepts and made them universal for all worlds. So one week has seven days, and a month has 30-31 days. Only the number of days in a year can vary. One day can be 20, 24, 30, etc. hours. However, in this world, 24 hours are used for a planet to make a full rotation around its axis, like in most other worlds. Only on huge and small planets can the number of hours differ. As for the year, it is determined by the number of months needed for one full revolution around the Sun," the old woman began to explain, sounding like a teacher.

"And how did the God of Time make everyone use his system of time concepts?"

"Very simple - through a dream," said the mysterious old woman. Damn, she purposely answered so mysteriously to tease my curious nature.

"Through a dream?" I asked, cursing the old woman for my rebellious spirit.

"The God of Time sees into the future and finds the people who will create a system related to time. And when a person is in a desperate situation, he sends him the whole system in a dream, including the names of each unit of time, such as minute or second."

The old woman's answer brought back memories of high school chemistry and the periodic table. According to her words, Mendeleev also created his chemical table in a dream.

"Are there other gods who also give their system through dreams?" asked one of the participants.

"Yes, there are many. For example, there are gods associated with magic, alchemy, and so on," she replied.

"If that's the case, then the God of Chemistry created the periodic table. And if there is a God of Chemistry, maybe there are also Gods of Chemicals or Gods of E362, E345. The God of Chemistry, Chemicals... Drugs. Is there a God of Drugs?".

***

At the same time, in a dark room where there was no daylight, only the light from weak rainbow lamps melted. They shone weakly, as if covered with a thick blanket of smoke. Three couches were placed in front of one of the fireplaces. Two guys were sleeping in the first one wearing only underwear, holding some cigarettes of various kinds of herbs in their hands. A man sat on the second couch, looking very strange - a drug addict at level 1000. He was smoking three types of herbs together, and a beauty sat beside him, satisfying him. The third couch was empty until another man joined them.

"Bro, try it. This is my new type of cigarette," one of the guys from the first couch said, handing the cigarette to the man on the second couch.

The man took the cigarette and sneezed several times before starting to smoke quickly.

"Bro, you sneezed. That's very strange and funny," said the man from the third couch with a big smile on his face.

"Bro, someone remembers me. And I'm too lazy to check who it is. Better tell me, where did you get the weed from? It's not bad," replied the other man.

They talked like this until the girl took the hookah pipe and started smoking.

***

"Vallynor, what are you doing sitting there? Start training with sports instead," the old woman said with malicious glee, remembering how he reacted when she talked about the body's path.

"Damn it... Arghh, Annino. Make me do sports every day. Okay?" Vallynor didn't know what to say. He didn't know what day it was, or if it was something to eat. And the owner wanted him to do something many times. And from the tone, it was unclear if it was important to the owner or not.

"Don't worry, I'll be kind and remind you, little necromancer. So, do some sports," the old woman said.

Vallynor wanted to say something, but stopped and started doing push-ups. After doing more than 50 push-ups, he stopped. Not because he was tired, but because it started to annoy him.

"Little necromancer, if you want to make any progress, you need to eat a lot of meat and fill your muscles with mana when you train," the old woman said.

"Oh, you... Couldn't you say it earlier? Did I do those 50 push-ups for nothing?" he growled angrily.