Charlie emptied his mind of all unnecessary thoughts, of all straying feelings. As Charlie gathered his focus the minor aches that still throbbed throughout his body faded into the background, the sound of the river slowly dissolved into listless static. With all distraction banished from his mind, he finally reached utter focus.

The Mana coursing through Charlie's body was difficult to detect, and even the smallest distraction would pull him out of the deep state of focus. If even for a moment it wavered, Charlie would lose the feeling and lose his grip on the ephemeral sensation.

So Charlie made it a focus point for today. Charlie wanted to become used to not only feeling it but also controlling the Mana that filled his body. The heat of the battle wouldn't allow Charlie the time required to focus and cast an ability using Mana. It was simply too chaotic, too quick to make use of it as it were right now.

Charlie knew it was possible to do so, as he was already doing that to some degree. [Hollow Fang] used Mana, and Charlie wouldn't have survived if he needed to focus to cast it every time. With that simple fact, Charlie knew that the goal was achievable, but it didn't mean that it would be easy.

As even with his focus at an all time high, Charlie still regularly lost control of the Mama within.

Charlie focused on his core, the translucent gem, and imagined it in the center of his body. In his mind, it radiated a mystic mist, like the floor of infinite ash that lined and filled his soul to the brim. It was aimless, and spread out in all directions but, it held power.

Getting the misty Mana to do anything felt like trying to convince a raging creature to calm down - pointless. No matter how much he tried, the vast majority of shimmering energy refused to listen, floating and hovering aimlessly. But there was enough Mana that obeyed Charlie's will, and it would do.

When casting [Worm of Envy], Charlie had to do something similar in the beginning, but instead of creating his own path like he was trying to now, Charlie simply followed the path laid out by [Hollow Fang]. It was simple to follow the Systems lead, but Charlie didn't want to simply follow, he wanted to forge his own way forward. He wanted to earn his abilities through his own effort.

And that's where the challenge lay. The moment Charlie veered off of the Systems carefully curated path, it was like the vast majority of the Mana gave up and evaporated from his grasp.

But that was alright. Today's mission was not to master controlling the ephemeral nature of Mana, but to master being able to simply sense it's elusive presence without needing to turn all of his focus inward. Charlie didn't need to get ahead of himself, but it still frustrated him to struggle like this nonetheless.

Charlie let go of the intense state of focus he had been holding on for so long. Stray thoughts were the bane of his existence, constantly inserting themselves without his permission, and it ruined his concentration. After a few moments of intense focus, Charlie was once again able to sense the faint trickle of Mana within.

Like this, Charlie spent a considerable amount of time alternating between study and relaxation. Turning all of his attention inward, sensing Mana and trying to desperately learn how to make it follow his will. Until eventually Charlie would give up, and return his efforts on speeding up how long it took him to form the connection.

Time flew in the blink of an eye, and Charlie struggled to keep up the intense state of focus required to sense the internal energy.

So instead, Charlie went to sleep. Now that he had recovered slightly, Charlie figured it was time to check out his Soul.

Charlie entered his soul, but didn't find anything particularly new and exciting in the Systems text, but he didn't leave without some information. [Devour] was so close to Level two, that Charlie could taste it. It wasn't enough to throw himself into the face of danger, but it was tempting.

What really piqued Charlie's interest was something that he almost dismissed, there was a minor change to his Soul. More accurately, to the sacred pool of water beneath. It was noticeably larger than before. Granted, it was still a minuscule change, and Charlie only noticed it because of how often he had gazed upon it's beautiful glow, but it was still information he could use.

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If Charlie's theory was correct, then the pool beneath his Soul was Mana. If it was Mana, and it had increased in size, then that would mean Charlie had somehow increased it's quantity without leveling up. It was still difficult to gauge exactly what caused the increase, and why, but Charlie suspected it was due to using it, and often.

It made sense, actually. If Mana was a part of him, then just like any muscle in his body, it would grow stronger with use. Now that he was actively using Mana, then it would only be natural that the pool would increase in size.

Charlie couldn't help but grin inwardly. If he could increase his Mana pool, then a world of options would open up. Especially if his current experiment yielded any usable results.

It was exciting.

Charlie's curiosity burnt brightly, day in and day out, always keeping him thinking and working on problems. It kept him on the path of self empowerment and was starting to show it's usefulness - he couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of learning Magic.

Returning to the real world, Charlie woke up and stretched again. It was getting cramped in the little alcove, so Charlie decided to brave the water once more and return to the lizard cave.

He won't be fighting, not yet, but Charlie did want a change of pace. No matter how dedicated he was to studying both Mana and Magic, his human brain still had limits and needed frequent breaks.

Upon silently breaching the waters surface, Charlie laid his eyes on the shore and noticed that there were noticeably fewer lizards than before. A chance like this was exactly what he needed, so without wasting another thought, Charlie made his way towards the empty shore.

Keeping a keen eye on his surroundings, Charlie slithered from the water and onto the rocky sand - quickly slinking into the shadows, before anyone, or anything, had a chance to spot him.

The familiar connection with the darkness clicked into place, and Charlie could feel it's welcoming embrace once more. Though, now having practiced sensing Mana, Charlie could feel a subtle qualitative change within the connection.

Unlike the eerie and cloying hooks of the spongy creatures Mana, the shadows instead felt like they were actively refreshing and energising his body. Charlie really wanted to explore the sensation further, but he was in no place to do so safely.

Whilst he may have been hidden in the shadows, only the foolish Charlie from the past would let his guard down and delved deep into his unending curiosity. Right now, Charlie was committed to actually learn from his mistakes for once, and find a way to quiet his ever-churning mind.

The warm and humid cave was still the same as always, albeit lacking a good number of lizards, and it proved to be a pleasant sight now that it was quiet. The river sent up a gentle and refreshing mist into the air, watery vegetation grew from the seemingly impenetrable stone and a myriad of stony decorations dotted the floor.

Though pleased by the peace, Charlie still couldn't shake the feeling that the abrupt change in the lizards numbers was not a good thing. Rarely did things go his way, so it was only natural for Charlie to doubt even the simplest of changes.

Still, for now he had some breathing room, and if they returned, well at least the river was close-by.

Charlie decided to explore a bit of the caves nooks and crannies - sticking close to the river, of course, and see for himself what mysteries it held. In his limited search, Charlie found a few interesting, and curious, qualities of the cave.

There were gorgeous gems and mystic metals sparsely embedded into the walls. Having only come across a few gems in his life, Charlie felt mesmerised by their sharp beauty. They were small, and tucked away in the corner of the cave, but when the light from the river hit their crystalline bodies - they were simply stunning.

Iridescent greens, reds and blues sparkled in the dark corners, creating a small colourful world of their own. Some of the brighter gems even coalesced into pointed formations and jutted out at sharp angles, cascading the light into pretty projections.

There was an almost physical... Presence to them. It felt very similar to the ambient Mana that connected with Charlie in the shadows, but different; denser, and more wild.

It was hard to describe the exact sensation, but they felt important - somehow.

Unable to retrieve the gems, Charlie decided to eventually come back here when he grew a bit more powerful and use [Worm of Envy], killing two birds with one stone. On one hand, he'll be able to see if [Worm of Envy] worked on inanimate objects, and on the other, he'll be able to find out what exactly the gems were.

Unfortunately, using the {Power} right now would probably incapacitated him, and this deep in the lizard cave, that was simply out of the question.

The metals lining the walls looked a lot like the iron and copper deposits Charlie had come across as a human, entrenched deeply into sides of upturned hills and opened mines. Yet, they too emanated a presence, much like the gems, an aura of powerful Mana.

Whether they were actually metal, or something unique to this cave, was not something that truly mattered to Charlie right now. He was a serpent, and there was no chance of him creating any tools without hands. Even if he were still human, he doubted he'd be able to make much use of it anyway.

Satisfied with his little expedition, Charlie decided to return to his hidden alcove, and get some more training in before calling it a night.

It was going to be a long week, but Charlie didn't have much of a choice.