Chapter 8

Mixed Mana

When I came to, I felt rested. My memories of what happened after the life mana did its work were foggy. I remembered that I got a level, and I remembered that the System was impressed with what I made. It was a pretty cool new toy! I had to make sure to take good care of it. After that I remembered feeling exhausted, and having Dux be really sweet by bringing the room back so I could sleep comfortably.

I realized I had fallen asleep hugging my new staff which made me feel extremely silly. "Hey Dux, before I leave, can you get me a pot big enough to root my staff in, and a pack big enough to hold it?"

Dux looked at me, "No, and yes." He sighed and looked contemplative for a moment. "A pack is on the approved list, you'll be given one before you leave. That and a large waterskin, But nothing else. I can take you to one more biome, but I've been informed that any further training will be, as they say, on the job after that. That staff of yours… It's very rare that the System fails to account for something, but it changed the plan."

After pausing for a moment and staring off into space the little dragon continued. "While you slept it ran a new set of algorithms, and it decided that you will have enough of an advantage with one more biome. You have several choices. I am not permitted to tell you what to choose. Once we head there, you will be allowed to stay for 24 hours, then there will be a test. You may retake the test as many times as you need if you fail. You must try your best to pass as soon as you can though. Sufficient time will be provided in the bedroom to rest after the test."

Dux sighed, I swear he looked like he was pouting."You won't get any more instructions on how to handle mana from me. I.. don't know anything about it beyond what I've said to you already. In fact I think you would best categorize me as your number one cheerleader from now on, and not much else. Unless you have some system related questions."

My little silver buddy stared into space again. "Now, for the options, you have connected with air and life. That leaves several biomes to choose from. There is a mixed biome, it is large, and the mana densities are meant to resemble the outside world. Or you could choose to dedicate your time to a single type, if for some reason you think you need the extreme density to get acquainted with a new element. The remaining available types are Earth, Water, Light, Fire, Death, and Darkness. Every type is found in the mixed biome." He nodded to himself.

"Thanks Dux, are there any details you can share about the test?"

"No" the little silver dragon snapped out. "Wait, yes! It's not much but I can tell you it is a simulation of a possible real world scenario. I can also tell you that scenarios like that are designed to be flexible." He grinned brightly at that.

I nodded, and thought about my choices. I didn't need Dux's not so subtle hint on what to choose. I was headed to the outside world. It would be best if I knew what that felt like. Plus with a full day, if I made sure not to lose myself to the elements, I might be able to get a feel for quite a few of them. I had one more request before I told Dux my choice though. "Can I have that pack now? I know it's supposed to be before I leave, but now is before I leave right?" My ears perked up hopefully. "I can keep anything I make in the training area, right?" My tail may have wagged a bit, I wanted to use my practice to prepare as much as I could.

"Ah n-oh yes, actually but you can only keep what you successfully make with magic." He unfurled a wing and a very large pack appeared.

It was better than I had hoped, since the System had chosen to size it for my large frame. I shrugged the pack on. "I don't suppose packs can be soulbound? Not that I'd do it right now." I shuddered involuntarily. "Maybe not ever again."

Dux winced at my question "Yes, packs can be soulbound, and when they have non-magical items in them they even get stored away with them but, it's very expensive. If you keep putting points in non-class related stats like you have been, you would be able to bind a pack without going into severe starvation at around level 80."

My tail stiffened as I suddenly realized I hadn't been thinking about my class much at all when I chose what to do with my free stats. "Shit, uh Intelligence gives me more mana capacity right? Why haven't I been considering this, fuck it's like I've been sleepwalking. Is there a build? Should I minmax? But this isn't a game, so a wider spread of stats is probably better to be safe… Dux?"

Dux stared off into space for a moment his whole body froze. "You are right about Intelligence, but for the rest I can't tell you, and I wouldn't even if I could. A person's stat choices are something no one should influence. But I support your choices so far, you started with clear handicaps in two areas not covered by your class. I'd say your choice to enhance your ability to physically interact with the world is a good one. I'm not supposed to give you direction, but you definitely should consider the fact that you are, despite being made of mana, functionally a flesh and blood creature. You'll have to consider that your assigned role will see you facing creatures that will be very eager to consume you. You'll also have to consider things like your ability to interact with an area dominated mostly by humans. You'll be very likely to need to write things down, and simply being able to walk into town without causing terror in the population would probably be rather important."

I listened to Dux, who seemed rather bad at not giving directions, or maybe the System was rather bad at preventing him from doing so. "Thanks Dux." I consciously lifted the sides of my mouth, trying to smile.

Dux, shook his head at me. "No, just no, I don't know what that was, but if you were attempting to smile, you missed the mark by a country mile."

I let out a breath, and proceeded to willfully ignore what he said. I thought for a moment, looking over the room. "Is the stuff in here up for grabs? I know you said only a pack and what I made with mana, but.." I eyed the blanket, and the closet that was stocked full of clothing, it sure would be nice to have some comforts if I was placed in the middle of nowhere or something.

I watched my friend stare off into space, and, though the bond was quiet. I saw his expression shift from questioning to frustration, to pleading, before finally landing on satisfaction. "You can take what you want from this room, but there is a cost. Remember how you saturated your clothing with your personal mana before the soul binding? That's a way to fully claim ownership of something in the System's eyes. You'll have to do that before you leave, and when the realm closes the items will come with you. I doubt I need to warn you that using too much mana to do that would be dangerous, so you'll have to think about how much you want anything."

Stolen novel; please report.

I shivered again at the memory of the soul binding. "It's not going to charge me afterwards is it?"

Dux shook his head "Not for this. Now are there any other questions? Or are you ready to choose a biome?"

I thought for a minute, but nothing came to mind. So I set a plan of action in my head, something to try to make use of the full day I was being given. Then I said, "The mixed biome" with certainty in my voice.

The silver dragonling nodded and looked at the space in front of him. The room faded to white, and a forest sprang up around me. Dux said he would be watching, but I wouldn't see him until the day had passed. He said that what I did in the mixed biome was something of a test too, and disappeared.

Sounds of life started up, becoming progressively more varied and numerous. Then scents flooded in, so, so many scents. The previous biomes had both had a vibrant plethora of scents for me to learn. But this was a whole nother level.

I thought I had gotten used to sorting and categorizing the world of smells this body had opened for me. But there was so much. It was like having a tangled bundle of strings dumped on my head. Some strong thick scents were easy to pick out. So were scents that I had gotten to know before. Everything else though, trying to make sense of it was like looking at a kaleidoscope. Definitely not impossible, but it would take some time to get familiar with. I realized I had been standing there for about fifteen minutes, taking large huffs of air through my nose, with my mouth cracked open. I was getting some additional sensory feedback from the roof of my mouth as well as my tongue.

I shut my mouth. I had managed to sort out several types of living creatures in the area, nothing that triggered my instincts, beyond one animal that they urged me to keep track of for dinner, I was pretty sure it was a deer if my memories of hunting in the dream were accurate. I was able to sort out the scents of the plants around me, and the general scents of forest plants going off into the distance. I could smell some not-forest scents reaching me faintly, a different set in every direction. To the east I recognized a fishy scent, I turned my ears towards it, and picked up a faint rushing sound, so that direction was probably a river I'd probably be able to connect with water pretty easily there. To the north I scented a faint hint of burning and rotten eggs. I reckoned that would be a good way to go if I wanted to find some fire mana. To the west I wasn't sure what I was smelling, there were hints of something metal, maybe? I tried listening in that direction and got nothing conclusive. To the south I smelled decaying plants, and more fishy scents when I listened I heard the faint sound of frogs. A swamp, probably. I got the feeling that this place was several orders of magnitude larger than the other biomes.

Having gotten as much of the lay of the land as I could without actually setting off for one of the locations. I decided it was time to get an idea of what the mana was like right where I was standing, and activated mana sense.

The world around me came alive with the colors and feelings radiating from the mana around me, and I became fully aware of the tastes of the small amount of mana that I was passively taking in. I spent some of my limited time unpacking the information I was receiving. I turned my attention to the taste first. I recognized the sugary sweetness of air mana, and the meaty savor of life mana. I tasted the refreshing, nothing taste that I had experienced earlier, it was easy to guess that, that one was water. There were three new tastes. One carried the tang of citrus, it reminded me of biting into a particularly tangy orange. Another had a kind of cool flavor that reminded me of mint. The last one reminded me of eating a grainy wheat bread.

With that sorted I moved on to what I was seeing.

The yellow air mana was not as bright or active as it was in the air biome, comparatively small quantities of it drifted in a slow dance around the spaces between the trees, it somehow managed to look bored.

The green life mana hung in the air and clung to the plants in a much smaller quantity than was in the dedicated biome but there was still a larger quantity of it than any other mana type.

Then I looked at the new types

A bright white mana, sped from above coming down in little beams that looked like blaster fire you'd see in old sci fi movies, through a space where the leafy cover was slightly parted. When it hit the ground it splattered, for lack of a better word, and pooled in a patch of light on the ground. It flowed out from the patch, and seemed to disperse when it reached the shadow cast by the canopy. It was pretty easy to peg that one as light mana.

I reached out and touched it lightly with my mana, not making true contact. I could tell the citrus flavor came from that one. I got the idea that it carried the desire to know everything, go everywhere, it especially wanted to find secrets. A kind of amusing picture of a gossipy old lady popped into my head. I sensed that it would help me to see hidden things when I needed it, and that if I held it protected within some of my mana it would love to travel with me, and light my path.

Not far from the patch of light I saw what appeared to be a few dull brown crystals mixed into a bare patch of soil. They barely had a glow to them, the crystals almost looked solid and they just stayed where they were, completely unmoving.

I gently touched one of the crystals with my mana. This one was the source of the wheat bread flavor. It held the desire for solidity, it didn't want anything to change or move. It seemed almost cranky at my presence, though it didn't reject me. I got the feeling that if I asked it for something it would help protect me, but it would take action that changed the surroundings only grudgingly. I decided to picture it as a stern old grandpa.

Then there were the tiny blue dots of mana mixed in everything around me. They were everywhere, but I lacked the fine control to really connect with such tiny, well dispersed pieces of mana. I got faint hints of the taste of water, but not much else. Maybe with practice I would be able to interact with the tiny droplets of water mana that existed everywhere. But I certainly lacked the skills to do so now.

The last one actually evaded my senses for a while. Then I noticed amorphous patches in the darkest shadows. When I focused on them they were black as the void.

When I touched that one, I found the cool mint. It wanted to stay in the background, it wanted to be unnoticed, unseen. It didn't want anyone to touch it. It didn't recoil from me though, I was a friend. I sensed it still wanted to keep its secrets from me. But it would help me hide if I needed it.

Having taken the measure of everything nearby, I had a choice to make.

I quickly decided against the swamp, my instincts didn't want anything to do with the place, and I figured it would mostly be water and life mana. Maybe I could see some of the Death mana Dux mentioned, but something about that idea repulsed me.

The unknown space was just that, I was tempted to head there just to find out what it was, but with my limited time, and unsure of the exact distances involved it seemed like a bad idea.

So the river, or what I suspected was some sort of volcano.

If I was lucky I could maybe find some clay by the river, which I wanted for the pot I was planning to stick my staff in if I found myself inside at night. It was a living plant after all, and it could use the roots at its base to sustain itself if it had some soil. Otherwise I'd have to give it my mana every day. For some reason taking the best possible care of my new walking stick felt very, very important to me.

At the river I could also really meet water mana for the first time, and that seemed like a good idea.

A volcano would likely mean I could find some exposed rock. Earth mana didn't like to move, but I thought I could use it to shape rocks into basic tools. Fire mana was interesting too, though you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to assume it would probably be a dangerous mana to work with.

Both sounded like good ideas. I could probably do both if I headed northeast, so I settled my pack on my shoulders, held my staff like a walking stick, and marched off into the forest.