I woke up slowly, aching all over, and groaned as I rolled onto my back in a shallow pool of cool water. The canopy of trees above me swaying slightly in the light breeze. I could hear a waterfall, about a hundred metres away, that thundered into a large body of water that eventually became a lazy river – the same river in which I lay. I felt the current move around my legs, washing away the dirt and grime.

I looked at my legs and felt confused. There were large rents in my trousers where that beast had torn into me. I was certain I had been cut deeply by that beast. But there were no signs I’d even been scratched other than the state of my pants.

I glanced around the jungle, trying to jog my memory of how I ended up here. I barely remember the fight if you could even call it that. That beast ambushed me. It should have killed me. Why didn’t it? The details at a certain point in the fight turned hazy as the blood loss started to overwhelm my body. Why had the beast let me go? I looked at my legs again, but they were whole and undamaged. Neither limb was missing. I lifted one leg then the other, checking each over for a missing chunk of flesh but there was nothing.

I dragged myself ashore and rummaged through my bag for a pair of trousers that weren't ripped. I didn't have time to change, however, as the smell of a savoury roll I had packed pulled me in. I tore into it hungrily and then proceeded to devour nine more. My belly felt full and yet I felt lighter than usual. I lifted my shirt to investigate and was astonished to find that some of my usual roundedness had disappeared, revealing muscles that were usually hidden under layers of fat. Then it all clicked into place- the reason for this transformation. I had used Torpor to heal some damage, and in the process it had devoured a lot of my fat reserves. It was then I realised how badly damaged I must have been.

I let my shirt fall and hang loose around my middle. The small pause in eating reminded me that I wanted to change my trousers, so I did. Then I ate again. Ten more rolls were gobbled down. My body thrummed with the excess Mana my cooking imparted. It was a lot but it was manageable. I ate more. Ten, then twenty more rolls. I ate somewhere around fifty of the magically prepared rolls before I finally slowed down. It was only then I felt something was off. It was slow at first, then it felt like my mana was growing inside me, expanding painfully like my bladder when I’d waited too long to go.

Then all at once it felt like a thousand needles were stabbing me at the same time. The energy was wild and feral, seeming to burn and tear its way through every part of my body. I fought to keep control, clawing my way towards a plan. I tried to expend the mana by creating one massive sword of shadow after another, but it only gave me a fraction of relief before the violent power surged back to life. Time seemed to stand still as I focused on this task, but still the overwhelming warmth of the Mana grew, pressing in on me until I finally thought I could not take it anymore.

I formed another blade with a burst of energy, and it dissipated without a trace. My muscles clenched, and I thought I was going to be sick. I screamed in agony, desperate for relief as I attempted to create the sword one more time. But all that resulted was a puff of darkness. I growled as a spike of pain shot down my arm and into my hand, making the entire arm go numb for a few seconds. And then I saw it. A single drop of black liquid came out of my hand, spilling down my skin and falling to the ground with a plop. I’d seen that liquid before. It was what came out of me when I circulated my mana in an attempt to learn the skill Mana Circulation. What did that mean? A jolt of unbearable pain shot through my other arm and I saw it again. Another drop of black liquid.

Seeing those drops gave me an idea. I wasn’t sure if it would work but I had to try something. I turned my attention inward and shuddered, my mana lashing against the confines of my body like a savage beast - no wonder it felt like it was tearing me apart from the inside.

I remembered the notebook I had been given to learn Mana Circulation, but my mana was flowing at a vigorous pace beyond anything I had experienced before. I battled against the very core of my being, struggling to corral and discipline the wild energy as it rippled outward from my fingers. The power gathered in my palm felt like an oceanic wave crashing against a shoreline, and panic surged through my veins as I fought to control an ever-rising tide. With all the strength I could muster, I directed the energy up my arm and into my shoulder where I had left an empty space - but even this was not enough. The mana rose with force beyond anything I had attempted before and pain ripped through me as I vainly tried to keep up with its relentless power.

The magic surged through me and I gasped as it forced its way through my veins, wringing an electric current through my arm and into my shoulder. Pushing it onward, it slithered through my torso and abdomen, filling me up with its power until it felt saturated with mana. My body trembled with the effort to contain it all as I struggled to move the magic between my limbs, core, and head. With a final gasp, I completed the circuit for the dense current of mana, feeling its intensity course through every part of me.

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As I circulated the mana, I continually tried to refine the path it moved along. Narrowing the river slowly down to an even faster moving trickle. Until it no longer uncontrollably raged through my body and the majority of the pain was gone, but now my mana channels had started to feel raw and over strained. Instinctively, I knew if this kept up, those channels would rupture and yet, I knew I had to keep control or all my effort would have been for naught as the mana destroyed me. I also knew I needed to relieve some of the pressure. I started letting drops of mana escape into my body. Just like I’d been taught in class, I started with my arms, letting a concentrated drop flow into my left arm. I almost lost all control again as pain rippled through my bicep. The single drop was too much for me.

I tried to be more gentle this time. I willed the mana not to just drop in, but to flow gently across my muscle like a tranquil lake. It gradually spread out, gradually filling almost every inch of space. I could feel the muscles stretch and groan, but the pain was fading with every moment. I smiled, knowing I’d finally gotten the hang of this new practise. I continued the same process, letting a calm wave of mana wash over my muscles, when I noticed that my body was starting to get used to it. The pain was ebbing away as if I’d submerged in a hot bath.

I still kept at it for a while longer just to be on the safe side, but eventually exhaustion knocked on my door and I welcomed it gladly. I fell back on the soft grass of the river bank and let sleep wash away what was left of the pain from too much mana.

When I awoke again, it was dark. Not for the first time in my life, I wished I could see the stars in the sky above. I bet they were spectacular here. Still, I stared up at the sky for a few minutes longer. With reluctance, I tore my gaze from the sky I couldn’t see, to the waiting system messages I could.

Congratulations! Your skill Mana Control has advanced to Intermediate Rank.

Congratulations! Your skill Mana Control has advanced to Advanced Rank.

Congratulations! You’ve learned an advanced form of mana control. The Mystic Skill Mana Circulation has been added to your skill list.

Congratulations! You’ve learned to use mana to refine and improve your body. The Mystic Skill Mana Cultivation has been added to your skill list.

Congratulations! You’ve activated your ancestral constitution. The Ancestral Skill Badger’s Constitution has been added to your skill list.

Congratulations! Your skill Poison Resistance has advanced to Intermediate Rank.

Congratulations! Your skill Disease Resistance has advanced to Intermediate Rank.

Congratulations! Your skill Venom Resistance has advanced to Intermediate Rank.

Congratulations! Your skill Torpor has advanced to Intermediate Rank.

Congratulations! Your skill Thick Hide has advanced to Advanced Rank.

Congratulations! You have successfully completed the first tempering of your body with Mana Cultivation. All physical statuses improved by one rank.

It was madness! I blinked several times in disbelief and reread the litany of skill improvements and gains. Then I read it again and grinned like an idiot. I’d never seen or even heard of such rapid advancement in my life. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible. I’d heard of people advancing two or three skills at once, but that always felt kind of far fetched. I had not only advanced six skills, but one of them advanced from Beginner to Advanced in a single day! On top of that, I learned three new skills, one of which was something called an Ancestral Skill, yet another thing I’d never heard of.

As for the Ancestral Skill, just . . . wow! Badger’s Constitution also raised my Constitution an entire rank, which, when combined with body tempering, meant I had my first Great Status Rank. I also knew that in activating the Ancestral constitution, my resistances, Torpor, and Thick Hide all ranked up. If I had the right Job, those status improvements and the unique constitution would have made me an extremely powerful defender, like Robin or Rober. I had no intention of ever taking a Job like that, but it was nice to know I could. There was also a qualitative boost to my Constitution, I didn’t know how to explain it but there was just more life in me. I just instinctively knew it meant I would live longer and stay youthful for a very long time. It was strange to know that I would outlive almost everyone I knew. That was assuming I died of old age and not due to unnatural causes.

Then there was the message about completing the first tempering of my body. How did that happen? Just what was Mana Cultivation? Did no one know about this skill? Or was this something kept secret from the rest of the world? I really wanted some answers, but if I wanted any chance of getting those answers, I needed to get out of the lair alive.

And getting out of the lair alive meant I needed to track down the rest of my lair team. But first, I desperately needed a bath. By the gods did I stink. Black mana saturated mist wafted off my body. It was like the smell of death, not the dead, but death itself, like part of me died during that process. There must have been a centimetre thick layer of the impure sludge clinging to my body after being purged. Luckily, there was a river conveniently located just a couple metres away.