Chapter 32

Somewhat Subtle Influence

I woke to a feeling of vague discomfort, I stretched out and cracked open my eyes, as I tried to figure out what had woken me up. It was fairly easy to come up with the reason. It just took a minute for my brain to actually start functioning enough to notice the complete lack of mana around me.

It had never been a problem before, but the quality of the wards on the walls of my room was causing me a serious issue.

They were designed to prevent any magical observation among other theoretical threats. They accomplished their job quite well by acting as a barrier to mana when the door was closed and locked.

I had always consumed the mana around me, it was a big part of how I fueled myself, it acted as a secondary food source for me. But before it was like I was simply tasting the mana that came in contact with me. Unless I had to fill my core I just wasn't very hard on the ambient mana levels.

With my new class I had to eat more mana, quite a bit more. I could feel it running through every part of my body if I paid attention to it. My core was constantly pulsing tiny bits out to the rest of me. When I looked inward, I could see that the core, which had been full when I went to sleep, was missing a sliver of mana.

My body was instinctively trying to take in mana to fill it, but there simply wasn't any around. It made me feel uneasy, like I kept reaching for something that should be there, and finding it gone. The slightly emptied core also made me feel hungry. Which was odd since it woke me up from sleeping off what could only be described as a food coma, and I still felt a little full.

I mentally shrugged, hopped off the bed, and padded to my door. It might be slightly risky to do, but I nosed the magic circle above the handle, sending in a tiny amount of my mana to unlock the door.

If anyone tried to use magic to spy on me, they'd get to see my furry ass in all my Mana Beast glory. My tail swished a bit at the thought, I didn't like hiding things, I was generally bad at it anyway.

I chuffed a little, thinking that they could spy if they wanted, I'd almost welcome it. Even if it could cause me some problems, like possibly being hunted for materials. It would mean that I wouldn't have to worry about using my bigger, stronger, more powerful Mana Beast form when I went out to slay monsters.

The moment my door was unlocked, mana flooded in from all sides, it was like opening a vacuum. Once the mana levels equalized with the world outside, I found myself breathing much easier. It only took a moment for my core to return to full.

I luxuriated in the feeling of the mana touching my skin. Even with my new class, the air mana greeted me exuberantly. It ruffled my fur with a slight breeze, and I felt it was begging me to come play. The life mana made its way to me in a more leisurely manner, some of it sank into my skin, some of it clung to my fur. It shared with me the feeling of a warm embrace. It kindly offered to help me connect with the web of life, it wanted to help heal the slight exhaustion I didn't even realize I was feeling.

In my still sleep-addled state I reached out a small tendril of my mana to try to make a slight connection with the life mana. No connection happened, the mote was even pushed away slightly.

I felt an immense sense of loss, the System seemed to have removed my ability to connect with mana like I used to. I could still feel its desires, but I couldn't do anything about them. Tears formed in my eyes, making those connections had become such a source of comfort to me in this life.

I am not sure what I was thinking, I definitely wasn't in my right mind. But I felt compelled to change my primary core, just so I could feel the life mana like I had before.

When I did so, I felt the warmth of the mana contained in my life core begin to suffuse my form. I let out a sigh of contentment. The mote I had pushed away sang to me as it sank into my flesh, adding to my total saturation with life mana by a large degree.

It made me happy to realize that I wasn't fully cut off from working with the mana around me, I just had to use the correct core to do so now. It potentially limited me, but the transformations I was capable of with the mana would likely make up for it.

I felt myself shift forms, but nothing seemed to have changed. I felt comfort, but no impulses to do anything strange. No feeling that I shouldn't do anything either. I was just me, I was no longer groggy, but otherwise I couldn't detect anything different.

I stretched, and decided to shift to my demihuman form so I could go for a walk before I hit the arena. Maybe grab a snack on the way.

The shift to demihuman worked as normal. My clothes seemed a little different when I summoned them, the material was thicker, more coarse than the soft stuff it had been before. My Jewelry had a different weight to it. When I checked, the metal parts of it had become some sort of wood.

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I heard a creaking sound coming from where my staff was rooted in its pot. It had grown larger, and had tiny leaves growing from its shaft in some places. The whole knob end was covered in them. Its roots, which were usually only a few inches long and spun together to form the staff's tip, had grown large and long enough that they spilled out of the pot. There was dirt on the floor all around it. It seemed happy with the situation if the feelings I got from our link were any indication.

My wooden companion lifted itself out of the pot using its roots before floating into the air. It let its roots hang loose instead of twisting them together like it normally did.

I took a moment to scoop up the dirt, and place what I could back in the pot. I noticed that the soil was in bad condition, it had become dry, light, and crumbly. I could feel it lacked some important things, and didn't just require water. Energy flowed from me into the soil, I felt the life attuned energy supply the dirt with what it needed to serve as an appropriate bed for my friend. The dirt turned black and thick, I would still need to remember to bring some water for it.

I dusted the previously flakey dirt off my hands and headed for the door. I felt no real need to switch my core back, the life mana I was currently using just made me feel vibrant and healthy. The mana flowing through my body felt warm and loving. I didn't know what it was doing, but it certainly didn't feel dangerous, and I really couldn't feel it affecting my thoughts.

When I exited the guild apartments, I stopped to enjoy the scents and sounds of what nature existed in the compound. The birds were singing, the grass was green and vibrant, motes of life mana floated in the air around me. It was a beautiful day, the sun was high in the sky, I thought it must be around noon. I felt its warmth through my fur.

I was taking in all the various scents, when I noticed one that stood out. Torill was out in the compound, somewhere near the gates. I decided to go say hello. She was such a friendly person, I really felt like I should get to know her better. It didn't hurt that she was easy on the eyes.

I jogged through the compound. My mouth cracked slightly open, tasting the air, following her scent. I felt a growing excitement to see her.

When I found her she was sitting under a tree about halfway between the guildhall and the gates. She wasn't wearing her normal robes. What she had on was much more heavily enchanted than what she normally wore. She had a pack on her back, and a staff laying on the ground next to her.

She waved and stood up as she saw me coming. The sun brought out the warmth in her skin, and the subtle dark stripes on her body. She looked so beautiful. Her smile, vibrant as always, showed off her tiny adorable sharp canines, my heart leapt when she looked at me.

"Hi Torill!" I said, far more enthusiastically than intended. "It's a beautiful day to be outside!"

She laughed, a lovely tinkling sound. Her eyes filled with joy. I felt my heart skip a beat. "Hello Angel, it is a lovely day isn't it? I was just trying to enjoy it a little before I leave. I'm off to do a mission with Krassis, I need to get moving soon. But it is really nice to see you."

I felt a little jealous, I didn't even know this Krassis guy, and he got to do a mission with her. I thought about who it was, I didn't know much about him. The only things I knew were that he was always drinking, and I wasn't sure I'd ever really heard him speak. I kept myself from growling and pinning my ears only because I didn't want to scare Torill.

My tail whipped back and forth, there had to be something more to the man than I knew. "What's he like? I never see him do anything but drink."

The beautiful demihuman's expression grew somber, her eyes grew sad. "He's a good man Angel, his class just causes him so much pain, he drinks to forget. I'm the only one that can really go on missions with him, and he needs someone to watch over him."

My mood fell, and I got a lump in my throat seeing the sadness in her eyes. My tail stilled, and fell limp. I felt like I would do just about anything to bring her smile back. "I'm glad you're there for him then." I said glumly.

She smiled, a small sad thing compared to her normal vibrance. "Yeah." She paused looking towards the gates."I should head off, it was nice seeing you Angel. Maybe one of these days we can go for a walk together? Either way, I'll see you tonight at dinner if you're there."

She walked up and gave me a hug. Her head was pressed against my chest. She wanted to go for a walk together! My tail actually wagged like a dog's. I couldn't stop myself from grinning like a fool.

"Yeah! We definitely should go for a walk! That would be great! And of course I'll see you at dinner. You, be safe out there!" I sounded like an overexcited teen.

She pulled back from the hug and reached up to pat me on my cheek. She had a very serious look on her face. "I will, don't worry about me. I'm tougher than I look."

Her smile lit a fire in me, I wanted to be the one to go with her on that mission. I wanted to protect her, and impress her with my… what exactly? I wasn't all that impressive as an adventurer yet and I knew it. I didn't know what level she was, I'd never checked, but the faint pressure I felt from her told me it was much higher than mine. My face lost its goofy grin, and my tail slowed. I had to get better, raise my level, and not just for my contract.

"Still, take care of yourself, I'd hate to see you hurt." I said with real concern in my voice

She just smiled and nodded, then walked off.

I had the strong urge to follow her, but I knew better, I just stood there and watched her walk off.

My knuckles popped from how hard I was clenching my fists thinking about that drunk, Krassis. What did he do to deserve having an angel like her watch over him?

I couldn't stop thinking about how it should be me, and I should be watching over her. I felt a determination to get stronger so I could do that. My core pumped hard, and my muscles bulged in response to those thoughts.

I turned to walk towards the arena, I had to practice. I needed to become powerful enough to be worthy of her.

As I walked my anger at Krassis faded, and I daydreamed about going for that walk with Torill. Her scent clung to me from the hug and I enjoyed the smell.

I still didn't think the life mana running through me was having any influence on my behavior.