Alex’s mind expanded. There was no other way to put it.
His previous Grand Mana Guidance had similar effects but in a different direction. He’d surpassed his normal capabilities and seized an understanding of Ethereal Drifts that should be impossible at his tier. The Trialbringer hadn’t just lit the way, it had given him the power he needed to achieve his goals. This was the same phenomenon, but so much more noticeable.
It wasn’t that his thoughts moved faster, as they did with his reaction Enhancement. His mind was just more than before he accepted the Guidance. In the span of a second, the need to help Muhammad went from an impossibility to something he might just manage.
His original thoughts of injecting mana into Muhammad to help fight off the ghoul’s Ability had been flawed. That wasn’t what Inspire did best, and he’d be sacrificing some of its potential power by directing it in an inefficient direction. Additionally, doing it that way would require him to make multiple breakthroughs in his mana control just to have a minor positive impact. Even with Guidance, it was too much.
David would be able to do that, and the Stirlings would be similarly capable. Their significantly stronger mana wouldn’t even be necessary, they were just better than Alex was.
The thought was unfair, they had centuries of experience, but it was true. If Alex had sought to gain mastery over his mana from the start he still wouldn’t be near the level of Earth’s heroes, but maybe he would’ve been able to fix Muhammad’s problem.
Instead, he was forced to accept reality. He might not be able to exert influence on someone else’s body, but he could impact the world around him.
Or, at least, he could figure it out.
Controlling mana outside of your body was a feat well beyond most Aspirants. Part of this was Attributes, and part of it was skill. At Tier 0, you couldn’t claim mana from the environment for personal use. You had to maintain control of your personal mana as it exited your body. No matter how good your control was, a good amount would bleed into the environment.
Once you lost control of your mana, it was impossible to reassert yourself. The mana would quickly blend into the environment, leaving you nothing to grasp. Utmost precision was required even for an individual like Alex with significantly more mana than a Tier 0 should possess.
Of course, the easiest solution was to simply move closer, which would make things significantly cheaper. Alex stepped forward, but an armored hand barred his path.
“What are you doing?” Jess asked.
“I’m going to help,” Alex replied, his focus hardly wavering.
“How?” Jess frowned.
“What did you do, Alex?” Becca’s worry was clear in her voice, but Alex assumed that it was because of Muhammad’s situation.
Alex was forced to pull himself out of the Guidance-induced mental state. He could feel that the Guidance was still there in the background, but his friends weren’t going to let him just mess around and risk making things worse.
“I triggered my Grand Mana Guidance,” He stated, “Muhammad is getting through this.”
Jess’s hand dropped, a look of relief on her face, “You think you can handle the outside mana with the Guidance?”
Becca’s reaction wasn’t so positive, “And you didn’t talk to us before making that decision?”
“Muhammad needs help, Becca.”
“That doesn’t mean you do everything by yourself!”
“This really isn’t the time,” Jess interjected, her hand dropping back to her side, “Alex, can I do anything to help?”
Becca’s expression closed off at Jess’s scolding tone. The stress of the moment was getting to her, Alex could tell. Talking to the team about things would generally be smart, but he didn’t want to waste any time.
“No,” Alex replied, “I need to get close so that I can control the mana.” The others understood distance penalties and rushed to get out of his way.
“I’m sorry,” Becca murmured as Alex reached Muhammad. He acknowledged the apology with a brief nod but didn’t spare it too much attention.
“Are you designing an Ability to inject mana into him?” Anthony asked, “Even with Guidance, you can’t destroy the parasitic mana freehand.”
“No time for an Ability,” Alex replied, “And you’re right that I can’t do it freehand.”
“What’s the plan, then?” Anthony’s voice didn’t waver in the slightest. No doubt, he’d expected that response. As a healer, he knew just how easily things could go wrong even better than Alex.
“Muhammad is fighting for his life in a mana-intensive fight that he can’t win without a mana type,” Alex stated, “I’m going to drown the environment in Inspire mana and hope that gives him the boost he needs.”
“How?” Jess asked, “Won’t the mana disperse?” Her previously hopeful tone had dulled after hearing Alex’s explanation.
“That’s what I’m using Guidance to help me prevent,” Alex stated, his focus already returning to the task at hand. He didn’t need to push mana out of his body, as his aura was already managing that. Instead, he focused on controlling the mana that was ejected and pushing it towards Muhammad.
Things were made significantly easier by the mana type. Where the mana of an Aspirant would almost dissolve into the air once it was no longer actively controlled, some parts of Alex’s mana were proving a bit more sturdy.
It was an effect of Inspire being a Rare mana type. It had weight, refusing to lose its purpose so easily.
His aura also played a factor. The Ability wasn’t active, but it still gave the mana it ejected additional staying power. Otherwise, the aura would simply do nothing when it was needed.
Minutes passed, and he found that his biggest struggle was keeping the mana in place. He could direct the mana towards Muhammad, and maintain a mental link, but holding so much mana away from his body proved difficult. The amount was only growing over time, as well.
“I’m almost out of mana,” Anthony stated, exhaustion creeping into his voice, “I can’t keep pace.” Over the past minutes, the situation had only worsened. With Alex struggling to make an impact, Anthony and Muhammad had lost ground.
“Focus on the vitals,” Muhammad rasped. His voice was far quieter than normal.
“We know,” Jess said, “Just focus, you can trust us.” Her voice nearly broke at the end. Any additional hope from Alex stepping forward was draining away.
Alex returned to his task with renewed vigor, deciding to approach things from a different angle.
The Inspire mana didn’t seem to be Inspiring, even as it started to permeate the air more and more. Alex wasn’t keeping as much as he wanted, but some was better than none and he produced a lot of mana.
He needed to activate the mana, much like when his aura boosted the attributes of his friends. Just the passive presence would help Muhammad a little, but he needed more.
The solution could be found in his aura. Alex had always wondered why the Ability was useless until he called on Inspire’s impulses, and the Guidance illuminated things. When he followed the impulses, the mana in his body would be slightly altered. This would empower his aura, and now also his reaction Enhancement, to ridiculous levels.
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Now, Alex had to manage that alteration without an impulse.
The question was how. The alteration seemed to be a fundamental shift, not something he could mimic. If it was possible to manage through sheer control, he wasn’t close to the level required.
The mana outside his soul seemed to be the key. His attempts to empower the mana in his body personally proved fruitless after forty-five seconds of trying. While he’d loved to work at it more, there was no time to waste.
If he was going to do this, he needed to take mana from the parasite, but wasn’t that the whole point of this Guidance? It was time to move past the halfway measures.
For days, Alex had struggled to direct his soul. He’d tried to take action, to sever his connection with the Inspire mana that caused him so much stress. The Guidance wasn’t enough to change that, but it didn’t need to be. David’s mana was perfectly capable of interaction with his mind. Alex reached out and found Inspire patiently waiting. A bond was formed with agreement from both parties.
David Alvarez breathed in deeply, and the world breathed in with him. Forming a domain was generally considered a task for Imprinted who neared the peak of the tier, but he had no plans of waiting so long.
Alex pushed through the vision, having no interest in David’s contemplations on his exceptional Achievements.
Mana poured out into his surroundings, but the leakage from his body was no longer a hindrance. All the mana in his Domain was his, power that he could access more easily than ever before.
The vision started to fall apart as Alex frustratedly tore through it. What was even the point? The vision showed David accomplishing something tangentially related to Alex’s current goal, but it wouldn’t help him control Inspire. The vision came from before the mana type was even created.
He felt a rebuke from the Guidance, a demand that he look deeper. The Inspire mana seemed to push him in the same direction.
Alex couldn’t form a Domain, the mere thought was laughable. What was the point of the vision?
Alex’s focus was intense. Intense as an eleven-year-old could be, at least. Mana control exercises had begun years ago, and the novelty wore off over time. The weirdness helped him remain focused to an extent, but his thoughts still drifted occasionally.
Today was different, today he was going to pull it off. He had been improving faster than the other students for a while and had even managed to form the letter “H” a few days earlier. Today, he was going to form a rune.
The mana in his body, which had once felt completely alien, was his to direct.
Alex pulled himself out of the memory with some confusion. He didn’t need a vision to recall that moment, it was still clear as day in his mind. That had been the day he’d officially reached the Aspirant standard of mana control by forming a basic Tier 0 rune in an illusion chamber.
The fact that the visions now extended to his memories was bizarre and probably had worrying implications, but Alex couldn’t spare time to focus on that. The two separate visions had a clear connecting line.
He didn’t need a Domain to maintain control of the Inspire mana in the environment around him. The mana was his, and it was time to stop thinking of it as an unwelcome parasite.
A shift in perspective was all it took. His mana shifted, and power flowed out into his surroundings only to be directed towards Muhammad.
Anthony let out a breath, “That helps. I can keep going for a while longer with your aura active.”
“How did you manage to activate it?” Becca asked.
“Let Muhammad focus,” Alex replied, “We can talk after.”
A few minutes passed as Alex focused on channeling his mana towards Muhammad. The amount of mana surrounding Muhammad and Anthony wasn’t increasing, instead the environmental mana was being pushed out by Inspire mana. The aura was improving their attributes, but it was also pushing Inspiration.
Alex was paying close attention to Muhammad’s condition, so he noticed when things suddenly changed. The foreign mana suddenly rushed towards one of his friend’s legs, where it faced significantly reduced resistance.
He didn’t dare to interrupt, even though he wanted to know what his friend’s angle was. Had he given up on a direct fight and was now trying to delay the Ability?
Surprisingly, the mana had gone completely willingly, following the path of least resistance. Alex could, if he wanted, solve the entire problem by amputating Muhammad’s left leg around the thigh. Anthony would be able to stop the bleeding.
Of course, they would have to leave Muhammad behind if he did that, and he’d be nearly helpless against any zombies that found him alone and injured.
He’d trust that his friend had a plan.
The minutes continued to extend as Alex could do nothing but watch. With the energy focused on one area, things were easier for Anthony to keep under control. Alex could see the sweat that was now falling down the healer’s face, though.
What was Muhammad doing?
Mana continued to pour out of Alex into the surroundings. Anthony went from kneeling in front of Muhammad to lying next to him, maintaining contact to allow his Ability to work. Becca and Jess could only watch as the minutes crawled by.
Finally, something gave. After what felt like hours of work, Anthony passed out from exhaustion.
Alex cursed and went for his sword, but he knew that it was too late. Without Anthony’s healing, the kind of cut he’d need to make to remove the parasitic Ability might result in Muhammad bleeding out. Was that a risk he needed to take at this point?
“I’ve almost got it,” Muhammad panted, “Don’t worry.” His legs were completely covered, but Alex could see that things were quickly escalating.
The minutes continued to crawl by, and Alex was starting to feel the same fatigue that had claimed Anthony. The decay had completely overtaken Muhammad’s legs, the flesh was left dead wherever it passed.
Alex had hesitated for too long, deciding to believe that Muhammad could handle things. There was no hope that amputation would work by now as the mana spread into Muhammad’s stomach. Alex could vaguely hear one of the girls crying behind him, but they were staying quiet in fear of ruining whatever slight hope was left.
Alex prepared to send his own mana into Muhammad’s body, aware that he was more likely to hasten his friend’s death than help when Muhammad’s eyes opened.
A smile spread across the archer’s face, and his mana began to fight back with renewed vigor.
“It took me a while,” He panted, finally letting his focus slack enough to speak, “Because I needed something that would help with this situation.”
Alex nodded, continuing to diligently watch as the Ability’s spread across his friend’s body was significantly slowed.
He immediately noticed that it had not come to a halt. Muhammad’s grin faded as he realized that his mana type didn’t immediately fix the issue.
“I was too slow,” He realized, “The Ability has already claimed so much of my body that it’s far more powerful than it was before.”
“Can you alter your Heart Rune?” Becca asked, “That could help your mana fight back.”
Muhammad frowned, and then shook his head, “I don’t know anything that would be powerful enough. My mana type doesn’t fit any of the designs I’ve researched.”
“What’s the mana type?” Alex asked, “Maybe one of us can help.”
“Thirst,” Muhammad replied, “The ghoul’s mana type was Claim, as far as I can tell, and I copied it with a few adjustments.”
Alex frowned, “Adjustments?”
“The Inspiration helped,” Muhammad grimaced. He was clearly in significant pain, “I gave up my legs so I could see the mana at work, and then copied the mana while adjusting it to better suit me.”
The conversation was interesting but didn’t help, so Alex just nodded.
Becca spoke next, “If you copied its mana type, can you copy anything else?”
Realization dawned on Muhammad’s face, and Jess had started moving before Becca stopped talking. The ghoul’s body was dragged over, and Muhammad stared down at it.
“Take the Soul Aperture out of its stomach,” Muhammad stated.
“That’s the hardest part to copy,” Alex replied but moved to do so anyway. Jess beat him to the punch, her spear puncturing the ghoul’s torso so that she could dig into its stomach with her bare hands.
The aperture was easily removed and Muhammad stared at it in distaste.
“Can you clean it off a little?” He asked, “This next part is going to suck.”
Jess did so immediately. Once the gore was removed, it had the appearance of a silver/black orb less than half the size of a golf ball.
The Ability was starting to approach Muhammad’s chest, and would soon start to ruin his vital organs. Somehow, he spoke anyway, “Claim was a mana type that was very good at taking things and making them the user’s. Thirst is the same. I’m not going to copy the aperture, I’m going to make it mine.”
No one asked if he was certain, they were far past any easy solutions.
“Put it in my mouth.”
Alex would admit to some revulsion, but he didn’t look away as his friend held the aperture in his mouth. The parasite started to spread more quickly as Anthony’s focus shifted to the orb.
It all happened so very slowly. Alex watched as the Thirst mana attacked the orb, slowly changing the runes. He watched as Muhammad’s body continued to wither as the parasite rushed to turn him into a mindless zombie before he succeeded.
Jess placed a hand on Muhammad’s chest, wanting the reassurance of feeling his heartbeat as the breaths grew more shallow.
Muhammad’s lungs stopped working, and his ragged, shallow breaths were no longer coming. His heart gave out only seconds later.
Alex sagged, falling to his knees as he stared down at his friend’s body. The parasite spread rapidly after overtaking the archer’s Heart Rune, and the spreading decay soon reached his neck before claiming his head.
Muhammad was definitely dead, which made the mana that poured out of the orb in his mouth all the more confusing.
A notification from the Trialbringer made itself known, but Alex was too busy staring at his friend in confusion. The Soul Aperture was a clear sign that his friend was alive. Still, Muhammad didn’t move. His breath didn’t resume. His heart remained still.
None of them spoke for a few more seconds, and then Muhammad’s body vanished.