Liam spent the next few hours training with his new Mana Blend ability while working on constructing chairs. Just like the description had stated the ability could only be used on one object. Sine that was the case he rotated between his Arcane Hand, Air Hand, Earth Hand, and Plant Hand.
Through his training and switching between the four Mana Type Hands he was starting to not only get a better understanding of them, but he was starting to get a better feel on how to move them. He was starting to feel how heavy Earth Hand was compared to his other three Hands as well as how much heavier it could become. He was beginning to understand that if and when he could start making Earth Hand heavier than it would be able to hit harder and do more damage than his own physical hands would be able to.
The same could be said about his Air Hand but in the opposite direction. He could feel the Hand could become lighter allowing his tools, weapons, or tool weapons, depending on what he used, to be swung faster. As for his Plant Hand, he felt that it could be possible to strengthen the durability of whatever object it held if there was wood used in it. This, of course, would require him to learn exactly how to do what he was starting to understand and feel.
As for his Arcane Hand, he felt there was something there he could learn. He couldn’t grasp what it was yet, but he felt there was something…special about it if he was able to grasp it. Unlike his other Mana Type Hands, Arcane Hand didn’t really have any noticeable effects. At least none that he knew of or could see.
That made him wonder. If these other Mana Type Hands had effects when used with and without an object attached to them related to their type, then what would Arcane be? Lightning had a shocking and paralyzing effect. Fire had a hot and burning effect, water was wet, plant could increase durability for wooden objects, gravity had a weight increase and decrease almost similar to how earth and air had but different. But Arcane?
From what he could remember when he started learning magic, Arcane was the starting point. Through leveling up his Seed of Arcane he was able to learn other types of magic. So was Arcane the start and beginning of Magic? While he thought the thought process had merit, there was something within him that told him that wasn’t the case.
This confused him. He wasn’t sure what he was basing that feeling on, but he could also say the same thing about his thoughts on Arcane being the start and beginning of Magic. That was something he would need to look into and research more. He would have to get a book on it or ask Uncle Naro what he thought and knew of Arcane.
These were some of the thoughts he was having as he listened to Mercer play through a few of his instruments and while he worked on creating chairs. To his satisfaction, he was getting better at making them. However, that was only with the Mana Hand that he used Mana Blend on. While they were still not the best, he was able to see a big difference compared to the ones he made with the Mana Hands that didn’t have Mana Blend activated on it.
The difference was, the shape looked a lot better and actually was starting to resemble an actual chair instead of the sorry excuse of a tripod that barely held together. He couldn’t complain though. This training actually had another purpose that he was starting to see. It was helping him multitask better as well as help him work on honing his heightened senses.
Through this training he was able to work on his sight, hearing, and touch. He had Mana Sight activated as he worked so he could make sure not only that his swings hit the targeted area, but that the mana string remained at a stable width, so it didn’t suck too much mana at once. His hearing focused on the force of the tools he was using.
He focused to make sure that the sound the hammers made when hitting the nails was similar each time. Through the strikes of his hammers hitting the nails into the wood, he was started to get a better sense of the consistencies of each hit. If the sound of the hammer coming down was too loud then he was using too much force and that could bring down the durability while in the production stage. If the sound of the hammer was too soft then the force used was too light meaning he was being wasteful and needed more force.
While to some these things would seem insignificant, it wasn’t like that to others. One needed to know what the right amount of strength was when wielding a tool or a weapon. Learning what the sweet amount of force needed to swing it would help the user not be wasteful in their movements. This could help a crafter make an object faster and easier while a fighter would be able to strike a creature more easily and not waste any stamina in the process.
That left the last thing. Touch. While this training helped him work on his senses this sense was something he was starting to understand better while using Mana Blend. He had discovered that through his Mana Blended Mana Type Hands, he was able to feel them. It wasn’t only his tool that he was able to feel, like Avery had told him. He was able to also feel his Mana Type Hands.
It was strange at first. When he started his training up again after Uncle Naro, Key, and Avery left he had a strange feeling. When he tried to focus and figure out what it was, he was led to his Arcane Hand. This feeling wasn’t the same as him being able to feel how heavy the hand was or how he could move it. Instead, he was able to feel it like it was like one of his own physical hands.
Staring at it, he flexed it a few times. He could feel the hand open and close. He tried to dig the fingertips of the Arcane Hand into the palm and just like how his physical hand would feel when doing this, he was able to feel it as well. Mercer had noticed his expression when he felt it and had asked him what was going on.
After Liam explained what he had discovered, Mercer was amazed. They went into a discussion on why that was and whether it was the same for his other Mana Type Hands. As Liam shifted through each Mana Type Hand he had unlocked he confirmed that it was the same. Mercer then had him try and see how it felt when he moved the Mana Type Hands around while using Mana Blend on them. He had confirmed a couple of things through this experiment.
The first thing he had confirmed was there was another difference between a Mana Type Hand that had Mana Blend on it and one that didn’t. That difference was how far he could move the Mana Type Hands. With the Mana Type Hand that didn’t have Mana Blend used on it he was able to move it as far as the spell allowed it to. The Mana Type Hand that had Mana Blend on it though wasn’t able to move too far from his body.
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Through some debate, they both came to two theories as to why this was. The first theory was this was due to the spell being low in level. The other theory was when a Mana Type Hand had Mana Blend used on it, the string of mana that he was able to see had restricted length to it and if it went past this length then the string would snap, and the Mana Type Hand would cut its source of mana that Liam was feeding it.
The reason for this latter theory was because each time he tried to move the Mana Type Hand with Mana Blend, he could see the string of mana straighten to the point it looked like a stretched out piece of rubber. However, the part about it snapping and ending the mana being sourced to the Mana Type Hand was a theory because when he tried to stretch the string even more the hand just stopped. It felt like it was stopping itself from going even further even though Liam was commanding it to do so.
The second thing they had confirmed was that the string of mana felt like a strange new appendage. Like an arm that connected his Mana Type Hand to his hand. It was a strange feeling. One that Liam didn’t like at all at first. However, the more he trained and leveled the ability the more he slowly got used to it. By the time he and Mercer decided to take a break Liam had several notifications to go over.
[Congratulations! Sub-stat Fine Motor Skills has reached level 25! Progression to level 26: 23%!]
[Congratulations! Sub-stat Crafter Endurance has reached level 23! Progression to level 24: 15%!]
[Congratulations! Sub-stat Mental Absorption has reached level 19! Progression to level 20: 13%!]
[Congratulations! Non-Class Ability Mana Blend has reached level 3! Progression to level 4: 100%!]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
[Congratulations! Non-Class Ability Mana Blend has reached level 5! Progression to level 6: 10%!]
[Congratulations! Non-Combat Ability Mana Sight has reached level 18! Progression to level 19: 5%!]
[Congratulations! Non-Combat Ability Mana Channeling has reached level 17! Progression to level 18: 100%!]
[Congratulations! Non-Combat Ability Mana Channeling has reached level 18! Progression to level 19: 11%!]
[Congratulations! Non-Combat Ability Mana Control has reached level 15! Progression to level 16: 100%!]
[Congratulations! Non-Combat Ability Mana Control has reached level 16! Progression to level 17: 1%!]
[Congratulations! Non-Combat Ability Mana Manipulation has reached level 15! Progression to level 16: 100%!]
[Congratulations! Non-Combat Ability Mana Manipulation has reached level 16! Progression to level 17: 1%!]
Those weren’t the only notifications on level ups he had received. His Arcane Mana Manipulation leveled up from fourteen to level sixteen, Earth Mana leveled up from ten to twelve, and even Air Mana and Plant Mana Manipulation went from level eight to ten. His Arcane Hand leveled from ten to twelve, Earth Hand from twelve to fourteen, Air Hand from eight to ten, Plant Hand from seven to nine. Even his Construction Craft abilities leveled up again. His Small Creation Knowledge leveled from eight to ten and Construct Wooden Creation went from seven to nine.
After Mercer and Liam left the room they were in they had noticed the sun had gone down and the moon was already making its way up in the sky. They had emerged in time for dinner. While they ate they had talked to the others who were excited to share what they had done.
Ariyana was excited because her talks with Omira had led her to start her journey on being able to get her racial benefits to work. The solution to her problem? Nature. She needed to surround herself around nature itself and focus her mana through something that considered itself a part of nature. In other words, plants.
However, she had another issue. They were in the middle of the ocean and the only plants she would be able to work with were at the bottom of the massive pool of water. So now she needed another way to do this. Omira had suggested to wait until they made landfall and try it out there. While it was a good idea, there was an issue with it. They didn’t know when they would come across land again.
They had just left the last city earlier that day. Which meant they wouldn’t make for land until the captain decided to. And since they were unfamiliar with travelling by boat, they didn’t know when that decision would be made. So they had brainstormed for another way. The suggestion surprisingly came from the last person anyone had expected. Roman had suggested she grow her own plants so she would have a part of nature around her all the time.
She had several pots of dirt that varied in size. Inside the dirt rested seeds she had planted. The seeds were different flowers that grew from different circumstances. One needed certain water to help it grow, another grew only from dirt richer minerals or had Earth Mana saturated in it, and another needed Plant Mana fed into the soil to help it grow.
These were just some of the requirements some of the seeds had. Liam had felt these plants were a bit of a pain if they each required different things in order to grow, but then he thought about the plants back on Earth. While they didn’t require things like Mana or specific types of Mana, each plant did have different needs.
Speaking of Roman, since he made the suggestion he offered to help Ariyana with the dirt. Since one of them required Earth Mana, he looked at it as training and offered to treat that soil with his own Earth Mana. He claimed that it would help him with his Earth Mana Manipulation, and it turned out to be true.
Avery was still working on trying to get Mana Blend. Her dissatisfaction with Liam getting it before her was written on her face and her teasing of him grew because of that. She did tell him that she felt like she was close and asked him for some hints that he believed could help her. He didn’t know what kind of advice he could give her, so he just bounced some ideas off of her.
Artem was successful in leveling his Water Magic and Healing Magic while training his manipulation in both Mana Types. He stated he believed he was close to something, but also said each time he felt it was close to his grasp it would slip away. Blair patted him on the back and told him not to worry about it. The smile on her face was noticeable to everyone as she looked like she was trying to hide but failed in doing so.
Before anyone could ask what was going on with her, Uncle Naro came out with cups of alcohol and placed them in front of everyone. With a grin of his own he said, “Everyone. We have a wonderous moment to celebrate tonight.”
Everyone around the table looked confused as they stared at him. Before anyone could ask him what was going on, Uncle Naro continued as he said with a wide smile, “Blair has evolved her class!”