The next morning Thomas stretched and noticed his knee felt fully recovered. When they went to mount up and leave, he checked Mila over and she seemed to be completely healed too. Those health potions that Tessa made really were potent. After they made it out of the gates Abigail filled him in on what the plan was for the next few weeks.
She explained that for the first week or so they will be able to stay in towns and hamlets every night. They would ask around if anyone had seen or heard about anything odd as they traveled. She said that the guild hasn’t received any reports and there is a large military presence, so it was unlikely there would be any problems. She didn’t think the cultists would risk being discovered by operating around areas with higher populations. Once the towns thinned out the likelihood of there being cult activity would be higher and they would need to be more vigilant, at least that’s what Abigail speculated.
If there are no major distractions it should take them roughly a month to make it to the edge of the controlled frontier. The goal is a fort called Elaina. It is sponsored by the Hill family and is used as an outpost for a small military contingent that monitors dangers to the kingdom. In the true frontier it is the western most town, Abigail explained that it is one of the outposts that keep a look out for mana beasts that may be dangerous to Balmar. Unofficially it was also used as a small outpost on the border between Balmar and Helsara to make sure they weren’t trying to do anything questionable. From there they will get to travel the entirety of the southern frontier in Balmar.
The next goal after making it to Elaina is to make our way towards Ruthmire, which is apparently another more developed town. They will then confirm if there is a new dungeon or not, it was a task Abigail took that isn’t out of the way from their real task or could even be linked to it. Thomas was just excited to actually get to see a dungeon in person, if there even was one that is.
After they got on the main road Abigail pulled up beside him and said, “Since we have all day on the road how about we talk about mana and magic?”
Thomas perked up; he had been anticipating this conversations since he found out what his variant mana type is. Eagerly, he nodded and said “Finally, I have been waiting for someone to teach me since I awakened!”
“Good then answer me this. What is mana?”
That simple question made Thomas pause, he had never really thought about it. What is mana? It was everywhere, from what he knew it was part of everything but didn’t know what actually it was. He decided to answer truthfully, “I actually don’t know.”
Abigail nodded and smiled like she expected him to say that and said “We know what it does, how it affects things and even where it comes from but what mana actually is, is complicated. The simple answer is that mana is power, from what researchers have found it can do practically anything under the right circumstances and conditions. It comes from dragon veins; dragon veins are exactly what the name implies they are mana in solid form that run deep underground. These dragon veins supply the mana to the world. Where the dragon veins come from is like asking where the dirt under us comes from. It just is there, a part of the world around us. Mana permeates everything and in higher concentrations can change things on a fundamental level. For example, it’s not uncommon for a monster to transform into a mana beast. Let’s say a wolf eats a mana stone or eats enough things that have high concentration of mana, it could form its own core, changing it on a fundamental level. Yes, form its own, unlike the humanoid races or natural born mana beasts, most common monsters aren’t born with a natural core. Mana doesn’t just effect monsters either, plants can mutate and become mana imbued plants as well.”
When Abigail paused to let him absorb that information, Thomas asked a question saying, “Wait, if are you saying everyone has a mana core. Then why are there people who haven’t awakened their core and can’t use mana?”
“Yeah, everyone potentially could awaken their core. It’s very rare for someone to truly be unable to. The people who haven’t normally have blockages in their mana veins or channels depending on what you call them. The blockages prevent their body from being able to access their mana. Actually, when people awaken its normally their core being so full it forces mana through the blockages. If someone hasn’t awakened their core get a large concentration of mana injected into them. By either eating something high in mana or having someone strong enough do it manually, they will break through those blockage. Most of the time if someone arrives at a guild and are older than twenty-five for humans, forty for dwarves, elves I believe it’s sixty and beastkin it depends on their race, if they still can’t use mana a higher ranked member of the guild will awaken them. There are also people on the other end, who can use mana from birth, like me. I am not surprised you didn’t know about this; Les is a small town that probably doesn’t get a lot of information.”
Thomas nodded at that explanations that was something he had always been curious about. Abigail continued explaining saying, “Like I said mana is power, another use you know about is runes. Runes take mana and use it as power and convert it into actions that align with the rune. Of course, the type of mana affects how the runes function.” She paused as she thought on what to say.
“What else, oh mana types. As you know there is the standard mana types. Earth, water, fire, wind, light and dark. We call them standard because they appear the most often. Researchers believe that any type of mana could appear given the right circumstances. They don’t know what causes variant types to appear either. What I am trying to really say is that mana is in and affects everything. Same way you need good food to power your body, you need mana to power spells. There is still so much we don’t know about it. That is the breakdown of what mana is without the theoretical stuff, any questions before we move on?” She asked as they rode next to each other.
When he awakened his core, he was sent to a mandatory class about how to control your mana. It went over cycling and mana control, it was a basic course just so you wouldn’t hurt yourself or others. The class didn’t actually explain anything, while her explanations was simple, it answered most of the questions he had ever wanted to know. At least about what mana was.
“Not really but you are good at explaining things.” He said with a shrug.
She chuckled and said “Really? It’s my first-time teaching someone. Next, I think we should go over the different mana stages. Angel and Mila, you both should listen to this too, it can probably help you advance as well. Even if it’s different for you both than us humanoids.” She received a look from the horse and cat that clearly said they were listening as she continued. “The first stage is what you are currently at called, mist or fog, then there is liquid and last solid. Everyone is born at the fog stage; from there you condense your mana down into a liquid state. Getting to that stage will also help you start building your Will. Condensing your mana down again into a solid state is the last known step. Each stage represents a massive jump in power, but it also takes longer to restore your mana at each stage. The liquid state takes three or four times longer than the fog stage. It’s slightly different for each person. Solid stage I don’t have any personal experience but someone I trust says it takes almost ten times longer than at liquid stage to recover mana usage. You can speed up the process with external help like specially made mana potions. The good mana potions have to be made with your mana so they are expensive and time consuming.”
She paused to let that information sink in, giving Thomas some time to ask some questions. Which he did asking, “That is a lot of new information. When do I start working on that? How do you actually condense your mana? Is there something after the solid stage? Wait does that mean you are at the liquid stage? How is it different for mana beast than us?”
Abigail nodded, saying “You won’t start that until you stretch your core as far as you can then you move to the next stage. It is extremely difficult to stretch your core after you move past the fog stage. Condensing your mana is easy but difficult at the same time. Easy because it’s just forcing your mana into itself until it condenses into a liquid. Using your Will to force your mana together, whenever you move your mana it is your Will that does it. Difficult because it’s not painless and feels wrong on an instinctual, spiritual level, like you are damaging your own soul. There is rumored to be a stage after solid, but I don’t know for sure. And yes, I am on the liquid stage, it’s a requirement to reach B-ranked at the guild. Why do you think we call C-ranked the wall? Most people can’t or won’t break past it. As you heard, A-ranked is learning to use your Will to affect the physical world around you. S-ranked is the solid stage but as you know there isn’t a lot of them around. When it comes to mana beasts, I don’t know a lot and we will need to do some research about it. What I do know is they have the same stages but within those stages’ mana beasts can mutate. For example, the shaman and goblin lord we saw were technically in the same first stage. The fog stage, but they progressed differently from outside factors. It is the same with how tiered beasts happen, mana beasts that awaken or born are naturally smarter than their non-mana counterparts, but their mana can affect each of them on different levels. I really don’t know a lot even after having Angel with me for so long, but we can look into all of it more when we make it to a capital.”
She paused in thought for a second before she continued and said, “What is important to focus on right now is cycling and mana control. That is the priority before advancing to the next stage. Stretching your core to the maximum won’t make it easier to compress your core but give you more mana to use. The basic cycling technique everyone is taught is good, but I have a slightly better one that you can use. I will teach you tonight before bed, I will also start teaching you how to sense the movement of mana around you. What I want to focus on in training is mana control. Your mana control is the most important thing in general, if it's sloppy you could run out of mana mid fight, or a technique can fall apart and that’s a death sentence. We have to start learning what your mana can truly do eventually as well.” Abigail paused again but this time had a look of contemplation on her face before her shoulders slumped and said, “This teaching thing is hard, I don’t even know what all I need to go over. Please ask me questions I don’t know what all I need to cover.”
Thomas laughed and reached over to pat her arm as he asked “Oh I have a few questions. What’s the difference between a spell and a technique? How did you heal me with your mana before? How will we actually improve my mana control?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Oh, there really isn’t a difference between the two. The names came from what they are more associated with. Mages call their mana usages spells, while martial artist call them techniques. Mages tend to do long range attacks that focus more on control and are specialized normally. Warriors or martial artists tend to learn more close-range techniques that complement their fighting style. Spells and techniques are both just mana being used in a specific way. Healing is simple, to my knowledge any mana type can heal someone, but some are better at it than others. Light mana is the best and can truly revert the damage taken unlike when I healed you. At least if they got blessed at a church then it does but even without a blessing it’s a thousand times better than any other mana type. Good luck finding a light type mana user that hasn’t been picked up by the church so that’s not really something to worry about.”
She paused realizing she was slightly off topic before she continued saying, “When I healed you, I just used my mana as power source for your body to speed up the natural healing process. Since you were close to being fully healed anyways it didn’t take much. The bigger the power difference and with the other person’s consent the easier it is to heal someone. You also have to make sure to use your mana in a way that won’t cause more harm. Your intent, which is based off of your Will, has a lot to do with what your mana actually does. That is something else we will go over when you start learning mana control.”
She paused again as if thinking before nodding to herself. “Mana control is simple. I will want you to pull mana out of your core and manipulate it without losing control of it. Like this.” She raised her hand and a wintery blueish-white string of mana appeared. She made it move in different directions around her hand. Then she said “That’s step one to make a and maintain a string of mana. Mana types do have some effect on what mana is inclined to do. For example, making earth hard and ridged is easy but making it more fluid is difficult. With enough control, Will, and understanding of your affinity you can make it do almost whatever you want.”
Abigail then made her string of mana turn into various shapes. Rapidly changing its form, snowflakes, a ball, spikes, then she got even more complex shapes. Like different types of animals, and monsters. She even made ones of Angel and Mila who preened at the little ice sculpture of themselves. Abigail explained “It takes more control the more detail you put into it. We will start with a string and after you get the hang of it move on to other shapes. As you know, when you manipulate your mana, you have to have a clear mental image of what you want your mana to do. I want you to get to the point where changing its shape is almost second nature to you. That will help when you start making techniques. It ultimately gets you really good at splitting your concentration. Getting you to a point where you can be in a fight, throwing around techniques, and knowing what’s going on all around you.”
That made Thomas have to ask, “Am I wrong in assuming then that you could technically use your mana in any form of attack or defense with enough practice?”
She smiled at his question, like it was exactly what she hoped he would ask and said “It’s possible, but the truth is most people only practice four or five techniques. Like muscle memory, it’s the same with techniques you want it to become second nature to you. In higher level, more intense battles, an almost instant attack or defense you have practiced for hundreds or thousands of hours and can do on reflex can save your life. If you try and freeform something new it will take longer and possibly lead to your death. It also comes down to what your mana is the most compatible with as well. For example, I am an ice user; it has a lot of similarities to earth and water actually. I have a lot more versatility than those other types, but I can’t be as fluid as water or solid as stone. My mana does likes to be ridged and hard, but I can almost make it morph shape rather easily like water. I only have six techniques I use. One pure defensive, one defensive and offensive, body reinforcement, and the rest are pure offensive in nature.”
“Body reinforcement? Is that the same as body strengthening?” he asked. He didn’t feel comfortable asking more about her actual techniques. The fact that she openly admitted how many she uses was a show of trust. At least from what he knew. He had never heard of anyone back in Les being open about their techniques.
“Yeah, they both mean the same thing. It’s just flooding your body with mana to increase your strength, speed, durability, reaction time.” she said with a shrug.
Thomas let the silence hang between them as he went over everything they discussed. Abigail seemed content to leave him ruminating on what he just learned. He was almost reeling from all the information he had just received. It opened up possibilities with his mana but first he would listen to Abigail and practice his control. Turning his hand up, he pulled a thin whisp of mana into his hand and held it there. The roiling and twisting mana wanted to be released, he let it. Doing so again but this time he formed a clear mental image of a string of mana and pushed. Forcing his mana to comply, it went from a loose collection of mana and started forming into shape. Just as fast as it did, he lost control, and it billowed out from his hand into the air. Luckily it was such a small amount of mana no one was in any real danger, and it dissipated almost instantly.
As time passed, he kept trying, it took him hours before he finally got it into the stable shape of a string. He heard a small cheer come from beside him, turning to Abigail who had stayed relatively close beside him. She smiled brightly at him but his excitement and satisfaction was quickly dashed when Abigail said, “Not bad but now the hard part, create it faster and move it without it falling apart.”
As soon as he tried it fell apart and he let his shoulders slump. Abigail laughed and said, “It’s already past lunch anyways so let’s stop, you need to recover anyways.”
That made him evaluate himself and he realized he had a headache and was sweating. The pain hit him, with a groan he massaged his temps and said, “I didn’t even notice.”
“Well, you have been at it for a few hours without taking breaks. Your mana is probably pretty low, and you have been in intense concentration. A headache makes sense.” She said with a chuckle.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to ignore you. I just really wanted to try it.”
She waved off his concern and somehow managed to reach over to poke him in an unarmed part of his arm while chuckling. She just said, “Its fine we have a lot of time to discuss everything. Plus, I am impressed with how hard you worked. It’s nice having someone around who is dedicated to improving themselves.”
They quickly ate and headed back out after he recovered. Once he was back to normal, he kept practicing until they made it to the first town. He learned form his first mistake, this time when he practiced, he didn’t empty his core completely. He made sure to get Mila settled in and spend some time with her. When he made it inside the tavern to eat with Abigail, he finally relaxed somewhat. After they finished up Abigail said, “I am cleaning up and changing before I come to your room so I can show you that new cycling technique.”
Thomas nodded and did the same. There wasn’t a shower or bath in each room, but each floor had a bathing area for each gender. Getting cleaned up and changed, he waited for Abigail to show up. He took advantage of one of the inns services by leaving his dirty clothes out for the cleaning service to takes care of them during the night.
When she got to his room, she got straight to business saying, “The cycling technique is simple. You slowly inhale mana as you rotate the mana in your core while pushing it against your cores wall. As you are pushing against your cores walls to expand them you need to push more mana into your core during the inhale. You will reach a point where it feels like there is no more room in your core, but you have to keep trying to fit more in. Trust me you will know when you truly can’t fit anymore in. When you slowly exhale you spiral your mana out of your core and into your body. Spreading it as far as you can, with the goal of getting it to every inch of your body. The slight pause before you inhale again you pull the mana back to your core and you start the process over. It takes longer because you aren’t breathing in mana as quickly as the normal technique, but it has a better overall outcome. It will stretch you core faster and help saturate your body with mana which does a lot of things. Like make your body reinforcement easier and more effective overtime, you will heal faster, and it will increase your natural strength too. That’s why when we spar often and why I don’t want you to use mana, building natural strength will improve the end results when you move to the liquid stage.”
“I feel like you’re implying that it isn’t as effective after you move from fog to liquid.”
“Yes, the more you advance the more your body naturally aligned with mana. S-rankers’ bodies are almost more mana than not. They still work and function the same, but it does improve their bodies to an insane level or, so I have seen. Either way the more muscle you have before you advance the better. We have gotten off topic though, back to the cycling technique.”
She explained it to him again and even showed him with her ice. She made a visual representation of a core with her ice and showed him step by step. Having her ice match her breathing and showing him exactly what he should do. The worst part was going to be slowing down his breathing so he could actually get good results. she made it clear the slower the better. When he sat down and got in a comfortable spot, he was ready but before he could begin Abigail said, “I am going to watch as well, if you feel anything don’t resist.”
She placed her hand on his abdomen just above his navel where his core is. He felt something, it was hard for him to describe but to him it felt like something invading him, spreading through his body. It didn’t feel malicious and when he looked at Abigail she said, “Using my Will like this I can get a clear picture of what’s happening in your body. You could easily push me out if you wanted, your body is your domain and it’s difficult to do anything to someone like this unless they allow it. It is a good sign that you can feel it already. We will discuss it later but now get cycling!”
Closing his eyes and sinking into himself he followed the pattern she went over. Following what she said he slowly inhaled making the mana in is core rotate while pushing it against the walls of his core. What he wasn’t expecting was the pressure and difficulty he had pushing more mana into his already full core. It caused him to faulter and have to start again. After a few attempts and guiding words from Abigail he got a decent understanding of the inhale part. As he exhaled, he spiraled his mana out of his core, down his mana veins, and into every part of his body he could. He failed to reach every inch of his body before he had to pull his mana back into his core and start again. The entire time Abigail was giving him tips and things to improve on.
It took him, he didn’t even know how long before he almost collapsed back from trying. He felt like a rung-out dish rag, his core ached, his mana veins were sore, but his physical body felt good, really good. Looking up to Abigail and asked, “Why is that so hard? I feel like I just shoved a boulder in my core and tried to move it through my mana veins.”
Abigail chuckled and said, “Well you were at it for over an hour. It is hard because you are trying to do multiple things at once with your mana. Keeping it rotating as you evenly push it against the walls of your core all the while you trying to fit more mana into your core. And that’s just the first part of the whole cycle. Then you have to push it completely out and into your body, that takes concentration and control. You are using your Will the entire time. You were straining your core and mana veins the entire time too. You will notice the difference rather quickly though. Just so you know this technique is not the best one for recovering from an empty core, use the original one for that. It seemed like you got it down pretty good there at the end though. Any questions before I head off to bed?”
He asked, “Does it have a name?”
“The Hammel technique. Well, I’m tired and want to sleep. Good night Thomas and good work!” She said with her beautiful smile.
Thomas, seeing an opportunity to finally get some payback from all the teasing she had done to him. He said with a cheeky smile “If you are tired my beds right here.” While patting the bed next to him while wiggling his eyebrows.
She snorted and said, “No thank you.” And made a pebble sized chunk of ice smack him in the forehead. Thomas laughed as she left his room.