"To make your body effectively gather mana for your mana pool, you must fill the area you will be training with mana. When you train, your flesh and muscles will absorb and assimilate mana. But it doesn't happen immediately. At first, it will be almost imperceptible, but with each time it will become more efficient. This way your body will get used to mana, making it easier to gather and also increasing your mana size," the old woman explained.
"What should I do during training to make it more efficient?" Vallynor asked. This time he didn't rush to answer, but wanted to know everything before starting his training.
"What kind of question is that? Of course, good old sports. Push-ups, squats, running, and so on. There's no shortcut," the old woman answered with a smirk. She hadn't felt so alive in a long time. And she was starting to appreciate what she had lost. Before, all these little things seemed annoying to her, but only now did she realize that they had colored her life. How she missed her children.
"Is there no other way? I don't know, some spell or something like that," Vallynor asked, still hoping to find an easier and faster way.
"If there was, I would know. But I can't deny their existence. But I've never been interested in what I can't use," the old woman replied, watching as Vallynor's dead eyes came to life. She was ready to keep joking, trying to mock him. As soon as she noticed that the young man had pulled out his book.
How much time had passed, but she still couldn't remember the existence of such a book. It was very similar to the Necronomicon, written by the God of Death himself, but it should have been in the hands of its creator. Or so she thought, until she found out that the book contained all the necromancers of the world.
Something is wrong here - the book, created by the God of Death, has fallen into the hands of necromancers. It's a shame she didn't know when or how it happened. And now it's in the possession of this boy. Was it all planned by this God? And if so, why? He had long since renounced everything.
Vallynor looked at the Necronomicon with a trembling voice, asking her question in anticipation of good news. But first, she tapped it a few times to get its attention.
"Do you know any training techniques where you don't have to move much?" she asked.
The book opened and on a white page appeared: "Yes and no. Yes, because there are many techniques to train the body where you don't have to move much. But no, because all of them, on the contrary, make you move even more. There are also techniques where you need a minimum amount of time for training, which is usually no less than 7 hours to achieve the desired effect."
The old woman began to laugh heartily, seeing Vallynor's distorted face while reading. She didn't even try to hide her joy, which made Vallynor curse the old witch.
Vallynor gritted his teeth and began to ignore the old woman's laughter, which didn't stop. He started exercising, starting with push-ups to train his body and fill his muscles with mana. Unconsciously, he began to assimilate it.
But his muscles assimilated mana very slowly because they were forced to work. When he reached 200, his patience ran out and he stopped. But instead of resting, he started training his legs. He repeated in his mind that this was for his own good.
The old woman had long since left, leaving him alone. While Vallynor was training, Anino hunted and ate meat. Previously, he ate the prey completely with the bones, but recently Vallynor asked him to leave the bones and bring them next to the house. The goal was to create undead with spells, not through runes. He wanted to create living skeletons.
Unfortunately, Annino often forgot, and the bones were already torn apart. As a result, not many bones were gathered.
Annino left the bones on the sand and looked at the house before running away far, far away. Since he started hunting, the population of monsters near the house had decreased almost to zero. This worried Vallynor because if they belonged to the cycle of nature, it would be sad. But they couldn't eat sand and stones, so ecology could be forgotten. It had long been dead.
Slowly, Vallynor trained all parts of his body, including his face, lips, and tongue. He even tried to train his penis, but it was dead as a log and hopelessly remained so.
When he finished a round of all kinds of training, he stopped, realizing that further training was pointless. He desperately wanted to learn a spell and become a real wizard, but he needed to learn spells that could cause real damage. The soul hand didn't count, at least because it was cool and had many uses, but it wasn't a fireball or an icy icicle that could fly straight into an enemy.
Right now, he needed to learn a spell that could cause damage, such as a fireball. However, to train the body, he needed to eat meat, and Vallynor was too delicate to eat disgusting and rotten meat that was usually offered. He wondered if Annino could help him with the meat.
Taking the book in his hands, he tapped it three times and said, "Show me all the minor fire spells."
The book opened and displayed full pages dedicated to fire spells. Reading through each spell's name, he came across "Small Fire Stream," "Small Fire Shield," "Small Fireball," and so on.
After reading all the names, he wanted to learn all the spells at once but quickly calmed his desires. Everything in its own time. After that, he contemplated which spell to learn first.
After reviewing the spells several times, he was left with choosing one spell from "Small Fire Stream" and "Small Fireball."
The first one would be very useful in close combat and cooking meat. The second is suitable for long-range combat, but I am not sure I can cook properly by throwing balls at meat.
Considering everything that had happened to him in the past, all the previous battles helped him choose "Small Fireball." This spell allowed him to attack from a distance, just like flying beasts. The first spell is also good, but I have swords, scythes, and so on. Why do I need a stream? Of course, I will learn it, but not now. Having chosen "Small Fireball" spell for himself, he started reading the entire page.
Mind Magic and Soul Magic are very different. For Mind Magic, no runes are needed, only understanding how the spell works, magical words, and imagination. While for Soul Magic, a circle created from runes, magical words, and energy in the form of mana and soul energy is needed.
After reading about how "Small Fireball" works, he did not close the book and started practicing. He started reading it again, not because he did not understand, but to fully understand everything about this spell.
Valynor already had an understanding of the foundation and theory of magic from the book "Basics of Magic" he read. It described how magic works, the first steps in becoming a mage, how to properly control the created spell, and methods for training.
I read through it several times, and Vallynor was very grateful for his desire to learn magic and was willing to repeat it again and again. And it paid off - he found several paragraphs that had multiple interpretations, for example: "Fire is material and at the same time not." One can only guess what he meant by these words, but knowing a few details about fire, you would understand that his fire cannot be physically touched, but one can feel that it exists and is material because it has a chemical reaction with the world, which gives it the ability to have matter. Because otherwise, it wouldn't burn or exist if there was nothing for it to burn on.
"And what's the point?" asked Vallynor. "Very simple, the 'Small Fireball' spell. It creates a small ball of fire that has a physical shell. Because of this, it doesn't disappear from strong winds. At the same time, for it to burn, it needs fuel, which is mana."
"In order for the fireball to be dangerous to an enemy, the caster must fill the inner ball with mana. But one must be careful not to make the fire inside stronger than the physical shell in the form of a ball, because it will simply burst and harm the caster."
Repeating everything he had read in his mind, Vallynor went outside and approached one of the stone trees. Directing mana from his mana pool into his hand, he began to imagine how mana turns into fire, which compresses and becomes a fireball. After that, he said "Ignis Pila." A small ball of fire formed in his hand, which quickly extinguished, leaving new memories.
New memories flooded his mind. Giving him the opportunity to watch each one, like Fili, in the first person, Vallynor was able to see how men and women created fireballs. A delicate female hand created a small fireball that emitted a strong explosion upon impact. A thick, hairy hand created over ten balls that flew towards the enemy. The enemy dodged, but the balls also turned towards him. As a result, he was struck in the back.
As he watched and observed the woman and man create a fireball, Vallynor was able to see many methods for using the spell. Someone increased its size to incredible proportions, while another caused the fireball to not explode upon contact with the enemy, instead slowly entering them and burning everything in its path.
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Vallynor realized that it wasn't the spell itself that mattered, but rather the one using it. He understood that with a simple spell, one could do anything as long as they had enough mana and a good imagination. But he would think about that later.
"Now I need to understand why the ball went out," he thought, reflecting on each step and comparing it to his memory of what he had seen.
After a few minutes, he created the fireball again. And, like the first time, it went out after a few seconds. Creating it once more, it stayed on his hand, eliciting admiration. He threw it at a tree, but unfortunately, it fell into the sand halfway there, and a small explosion raised some sand into the air.
Vallynor was already dancing with happiness, but quickly calmed down and began analyzing what he had done wrong. He began comparing each step and quickly realized what the problem was. If before the fireball went out right after a few seconds, it was because as soon as it was created, the connections to the spell were severed, depriving the fireball of the energy and will necessary for its existence.
Now the problem was that there was not enough mana in the ball. The fireball, without enough energy, simply lost its power and fell to the ground, like the recent one.
When he created the fireball, he imagined mana gathering in his hand, turning into fire, and compressing into the shape of a ball. He filled the ball with mana until he threw it at the tree. The ball flew to the right, leaving the tree untouched. After that, there was a not-too-powerful explosion, and a cloud of sand rose into the air.
This time Vallynor was at fault. He had tilted too hard, which meant he needed to train and train again. Although it's not a sport, is it?
He created a new ball and threw it at the tree again and again until he had created 24 balls. But a strange pain enveloped his mind, and he realized that the mana from his pool, located in the inner sanctum of his mind, had almost run out. This made him stop. He looked at the tree and saw 6 fire marks, which meant that Vallynor hit the tree six times, but not where he intended. Oh well, it will do.
After he returned inside, he saw the array of full-bodied beasts again and began to gather souls and necro-energy from the corpses. When he had collected more than 30 corpses, he tried to communicate with his undead and realized that they had been dead for a long time.
"Now I can appreciate the merits of undead created by spells. The blacksmiths who wanted to undermine necromancers were certainly suffering from the eighth-grade syndrome. This technique is full of holes and weaknesses. Even creating undead is as stupid as a cork, which is why I always have to command and observe them, or teach them, just so they die after a while... The next spell I will learn will be for creating undead with a spell, not runes."
Reaching out his hand, he summoned three resurrected corpses. The undead were taken from the ring and after receiving orders, they entered the array. When Vallynor created undead, he was able to assess their slowness and clumsiness. He wondered if he could take the undead into the ring. This idea came to him since he created the first rat-undead. He thought about how he could have a ready-made army of the undead, which would be ready to serve him when needed. And when he created a new group of undead, he tried to take them into the ring. Success! And the future army was in his pocket. Not bad, not bad.
Killing and collecting corpses from the forest, Vallynor left a few, or rather four beasts. Taking a scythe in his hands... No, he exchanged the scythe for swords and entered the forest. All the remaining living beasts looked at him, but only two pounced on him. One looked like a cat the size of a tiger, with chicken legs instead of paws. Its paws were very thick and flexible, and instead of a tail, there was something like a finger that rose to the level of the back and lowered like a finger that tightened the oblique belly.
The second one was... was... I don't know how to describe it correctly. It looked like a lump of thick threads that together created either a human head or imitated some kind of animal. The form of this animal always changed from one beast to another.
Both beasts pounced on him. Clenching his swords in his hands, Vallynor blocked the cat's attack and dodged the lump of threads' attack. Both beasts were very fast, and Vallynor struggled to block and dodge the attacks.
After that, he tried to attack the lump of threads, but the threads were as strong as steel, causing the swords to almost slip out of his hands. At the same time, the cat tried to attack from the side, but a sword strike to the head and a dodge to the side made the cat hit the wall and disabled it for a few seconds.
The lump of threads changed shape into a snake and began to crawl under Vallynor's feet, ignoring sword strikes. Then it turned into a bush, started growing, and tried to trap its prey, but Vallynor was fast and stopped it. Invisible hands held the lump of threads and the cat, throwing them at the two remaining beasts, who were watching, waiting for the moment to attack.
Exiting the grove, Vallynor returned the swords to the ring, contemplated everything that had happened, and considered the possible courses of action of his opponent.
"I need to become stronger if I want to penetrate the enemy's skin... I hate sports," he said, recalling how every strike had not harmed the enemy for months, and could even slip out of his hand.
Taking a scythe in his hands, Vallynor entered the grove again. And again, the cat and the ball of yarn rushed at him, while the other two remained inactive. The cat tried to strike him with its chicken paw, but was blocked by the handle of the scythe, while the monkey-shaped ball of yarn attacked him.
Vallynor turned the handle so that the chicken paw slid aside, and then attacked the monkey with the scythe, trying to chop off its head, but as with the sword, nothing happened.
The cat attacked again, as did the ball of yarn, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes alternately. Sometimes they even attacked each other, which made the audience think about intervening, but invisible hands quickly stopped them.
After several hours of training with the scythe, Vallynor left the grove and returned the scythe to its place. Then he returned to the grove that he used to gather mana and began to fill his mana pool, training in the path of the mind.
Entering his chamber of the mind, Vallynor began to repair the cracks in the pool. Mana slowly expended to restore the pool.
At the same time, unfortunately, Anino was only able to catch a few animals, and due to hunger, he ate them. Returning empty-handed, he entered the house, where he saw the owner in the mana grove. Feeling tired, he approached the owner to kiss and touch him, but at the same moment when he wanted to lick him, he fell asleep.
Waking up, Vallynor saw his pet next to him. At first, he worried that something had happened, but quickly calmed down. After playing with Anino's fur for a bit, he left him.
When he went outside, he picked up his swords and started training, remembering how he fought. After several hours of sword training, he picked up a scythe and started practicing with it until he realized he needed to gather mana from the array again. Going inside, he saw a wolf sleeping in the center of the array, but not moving.
Entering the center of the array, Vallynor began gathering mana to create spells again and train his body so that in the future, he could gather mana without the help of an array.
***
Waking up, Vallynor saw his pet next to him. At first, he worried that something had happened, but quickly calmed down. After playing with Anino's fur for a bit, he left him.
When he went outside, he picked up his swords and started training, remembering how he fought. After several hours of sword training, he picked up a scythe and started practicing with it until he realized he needed to gather mana from the array again. Going inside, he saw a wolf sleeping in the center of the array, but not moving.
Entering the center of the array, Vallynor began gathering mana to create spells again and train his body so that in the future, he could gather mana without the help of an array.
A month had passed. During this time, Vallynor had slightly improved his muscles. He no longer looked like a skeleton wrapped in skin. Now he resembled a child from Africa who ate poorly but trained to build muscles. The skin, which used to be black as night, gradually lightened and was now gray.
At first, Vallynor thought he had a mutation, but the black color of his skin was actually caused by irregular eating habits and a lack of clean water filled with impurities, which made him weak.
However, he began to feel better thanks to his training, becoming faster, stronger, and better at controlling magic, especially mana. He became even more adapted to mana, making it easier to gather. Vallynor also changed his diet, starting to eat only fried meat that was fresh and without harmful worms or parasites.
He trained his magic, especially the "Small Fireball" spell, using techniques from other mages and necromancers. He believed that necromancers could also be called mages.
In the end, he found a method of using the Fireball that was perfect for cooking meat. Thanks to this method, he was able to improve his training and gain weight. He was grateful to the girl who came up with this method and even planned to use it to cook meat. But if she found out he used her method to prepare food, she would have strangled him as a heretic.
At the same time, the casting time of the "Hand of the Soul" spell was reduced from 10 seconds to 9. It's not much, but it could be a lifesaver. In addition, I've gathered about 10,000 souls, although their number has, of course, decreased a bit. So, my soul wallet has reached a mark of minus 991,178.
Currently, Vallynor is fixing all the cracks in the pool as usual, but he can only continue his path of the mind after the complete restoration of the pool. Meanwhile, he is replenishing his mana reserves and practicing the "Small Fireball" spell.
The spell has become smaller but stronger, and now I've learned to throw it at enemies and use several methods, such as homing fireball. Although this method costs twice as much mana, it's worth it.
After completing another mana pool restoration run, Vallynor felt that mana was not being depleted as quickly as before. This is due to the cracks limiting the ability to control mana at will, and some mana leaks out when using spells.
But with each crack restored, the loss of a large amount of mana in vain decreases. "Praise the array that chooses mana," he thought. "It might be crap, but it gathers enough mana for me, which is very suspicious." But according to the old woman's stories, the world is already filled with mana that isn't used very often.
Exiting one array, he immediately entered another with a sword in hand. There were two clumps of threads in the array: one was a spider he recently caught near his house, and the other was a fly with teeth instead of a proboscis and human-like eyes.
He had already killed all the previous monsters, except for the lump of thread that changed shape every time, which made him have to change his strategy. Besides, it was more profitable for him to keep it alive rather than dead. So he left it, and eventually, he found another one.
Fighting against three opponents, the fly flew back and forth, watching the battle, waiting for its chance. But unfortunately, after a few minutes, the spider and the fly were killed, and two lumps of thread were wounded and ran away to the corners.
Stepping outside, Vallynor began to survey the surroundings. After that, he picked up a book and opened the page with the spell "Summon Lesser Undead." He had already read this page for a long time and knew that the summoning was successful. But at the same time, controlling such undead was difficult, which required him to practice with new undead. When he became mentally tired, he sent it back to the ring.
The most important thing was to keep the undead under control. If he lost control, the undead would become useless, forgetting everything about its creators and orders.