Chapter 25 - Inner eye

His eyes, newly bathed with white mana, adjusted to the dark environment as he continued to stand as still as a statue. The rhythmic shaking of the rocks all around him was the only constant when the world around him went black and it was still present when the rocks became visible once more.

The body of the snake was stretched out along the ground beside the large bolder. It still blended into the rocks with its natural camouflage but now its core was visible. It was a reddish-grey color similar to his own. Adam got closer to the dead snake and began to absorb its mana by placing his hand on its body.

He sighed with relief when the mana got absorbed without any issue by his core. This snake didn’t have a special type of magic so he could devour its magical core without having to worry about his core struggling to process it. The amount of mana was considerable so it took several minutes to fully consume.

This gave Adam plenty of time to reflect as he sat beside the dwindling white ball of mana inside the corpse. What this encounter had shown him was that not only do creatures have their own ways of hiding their mana cores but also that he was currently a beacon to any predator that could see him since his core was completely visible to any creature's mana sense.

This would definitely be a big problem as time went on since many stronger predators would be more than willing to engage him compared to when his core was lower grade and therefore not as appealing. He would definitely need a way to hide his core in the future but for right now, the second thing he learned was far more exciting.

His silver flame not only looked like a fire but also acted like it towards other souls.

“Well, I guess that answers how I killed the red bastard. Burnt his bloody soul… Seems like a fitting death for that monster, I’m more surprised a monster like that actually had a soul, haha.”

It was good that he was getting some sort of answers for his new magic but it also brought with it all sorts of questions.

If the mana burns souls, then was he wrong for sending his silver magic into his soul these past few days?

No, that can’t be right. His soul was feeding off that magic and growing more stable.

He kept thinking back to the first time he noticed the silver spark and how it felt like his entire body was in pain when he regained consciousness. He had assumed it was because he met with the guy who claimed to be a God, but now he was rethinking that.

The more he thought about the pain he was in, the more he recalled how the snake’s soul had been ravished by the flames. But then he remembered how much better he felt when he used soul circulation.

This contradiction meant that he was missing something. How can the exact same energy do two entirely opposite things?

The answer was obvious of course. Him, his will shapes mana, and his wish and mental power are the driver even for his soul mana. It may be a completely different energy from standard mana, but it is still an energy under his control.

He had considered his white and silver magic to be completely different since, well, they are. Except they also aren’t at the same time. It's like a cat and a lion, both are felines, yet they are entirely different from each other.

But they still share a similar feature, the ability to be shaped by a person's will as if there is some sort of mental energy connecting his brain with the energies. But that energy seems to be the soul energy once again. It wasn’t the kind of soul energy he could make with magic, but something that seemed more intricate and complex.

It would make sense that his small fraction of soul affinity mana is only a drop of the grand structure it could become. His soul had a distinct shape and texture to it as it flowed slightly within him.

Adam stared at the flowing silver flames of his soul for a long time, almost forgetting his situation and surroundings, only waking from his trance when his soul slowed its movement, and he suddenly remembered what he was doing.

Stolen novel; please report.

The snake's core was completely gone so he quickly removed his hand from the dead snake and got to his feet. He looked around but everything was black. Then he realized what he had just done. He was so transfixed on the silver flames of his soul that he hadn’t even realized that he had unintentionally switched his core to his soul version, but had still continued to absorb the creature's mana.

His brain started racing for answers since he didn’t know he could use his soul mana to absorb standard mana. He didn’t switch his core back to its solid state but instead looked inwards at his core and repeated what he had been doing for the past few minutes.

And there it was, standard mana streaming out of his semi-transparent core. He had unintentionally solved one of the biggest downsides of his new affinity, he had managed to use both at the same time.

Well at least, he was able to use standard mana while observing his soul. He still couldn’t directly use the two quite yet but this was the first step on that path.

Observing one’s mana and core is very simple. Ever since Adam had accidentally formed his core when running for his life on that beach, he had discovered the ability to ‘see’ his magic inside his body. Now this didn’t mean he had some sort of X-ray ability to scan his body for his magic.

It was more akin to imagining, he could close his eyes and sort of ‘feel’ his core and magic inside himself. If he had to explain it, Adam would describe it as a sort of third eye that could see his body from an outer body perspective.

He could focus on manipulating magic inside his feet or traveling across his head like when he developed the mana sight ability. Using his internal third eye was like having a digital version of himself on a computer that he could zoom in and out on as well as use the different mental controls like a keyboard for directing and commanding his mana.

That being said, he didn’t think he used up mana in order to use his third eye. It was simply an added magical organ, maybe even a function of the mana core itself. As a result, using his inner sight to view his soul didn’t require him to use his soul mana.

The reason he was able to discover his soul probably wasn’t because he had awakened his soul mana but actually, because he knew what to look for. It’s like asking a blind person to point out a specific color. It would be completely impossible for them to do so unless you give them sight and show them what red looks like.

That was what the God did for him. Both in their talk and in the status window. Therefore, using his core’s standard mana while also utilizing his inner sight to observe his soul wasn’t ever impossible.

The reason he had assumed it to be so was because of the inherent difference in the energies. How could he ever use standard mana with his soul affinity state core since the soul magic doesn’t seem to interact or recognize the presence of anything other than itself?

That fact and his misunderstanding of inner mana sight led him to believe it wasn’t possible, but now he knew what was possible might be far greater than he had ever imagined. After all, he now knew that when he ‘switched’ his core’s state, he wasn’t completely changing it but rather how he and others perceived it.

It wasn’t very useful currently since he was simply controlling his white mana while being blinded by his soul. But it was the first step to being able to use his soul and standard mana at the same time. The biggest benefit this would give him is the ability to bypass all camouflage.

Mana is great for discovering the location of mana beasts, but it is also something that creatures like that snake have learned to hide from. Souls, on the other hand, can’t be hidden or disguised. If he was able to combine both his soul and mana sight, then the likelihood of something getting the jump on him would drastically diminish.

He reactivated his greater sight spell and continued his way further in while now being more careful around rocks with odd shapes and paying closer attention with his normal augmented sight.

The uneven and rocky terrain never changed much so he relied more on the rhythmic vibrations from the crab. They were growing weaker and more distant as he got further away. The white rocks to Adam’s eyes were suddenly tinted a darker shade as a shadow passed along the rocks.

Adam immediately froze as the shadow passed along the rocks and away from him. He didn’t understand what it could be since there was absolutely no light down here. Not even any fluorescent plants lived in this large cave. Not to mention that the shadow only appeared in his mana sight. It didn’t look like the shadow had noticed him as it had passed by in front of him, moving in the direction of the vibrations.

He really wished he could figure out how to get a soul vision spell since he really had no idea what kind of creatures lived down here in the dark. He based most of his assumptions about these creature’s abilities on animals that had evolved back on Earth, but magic was a really powerful tool for increasing natural abilities to the point that he had no idea what to even expect.

He had seen a killer tree, giant birds that shouldn’t ever be able to fly, ants the size of a car, and even a glowing red Eldrich monster from hell. None of these creatures should ever exist and yet they are given life thanks to this strange and ever-changing energy of magic.

Who’s to say what some special type of magic might provide to an alien being, like the power to blend and travel in the shadows?

A truly terrifying ability for Adam since he was currently in an underground cavern without a single light source and no real way to defend himself from a surprise attack.

It was his biggest weakness, he was still only in his underwear might I remind you. And he had absolutely no defensive magic of any kind. His only victories until now have been surprise attacks.

Adam continued his hunt in the opposite direction to the vibrations but knew that he would need to make a breakthrough in his magic soon if he wanted to get out of there alive.

He still hadn’t come across anything that he could consistently hunt for mana cores and was beginning to get worried. He was honestly lost down here in this maze and knew that he had to get to red before he could attempt to make his way back up past the red-cored creatures like the tarantula he had managed to avoid when carefully traveling the tunnels.

And so he continued his search with a little more speed than before. If he could be attacked from any spot at any time, then he would need to get a lot stronger and fast.