Gordanus winked out of existence, disappearing from the room, and leaving Sam and Pelar together. The large alien seemed to be vaguely uncertain of what to do around Sam, and he paced along the ground, seeming to be thinking of something. Sam waited patiently, not wanting to offend an E Ranker, and he stood there, watching his companion pace again and again. Eventually, he cleared his throat gently, causing the other man to look up.
“Oh, I apologize for that, my boy. I was lost in thought. Your mana situation is quite complicated, and it might take me some rumination to sort it out. Now that Gordanus is gone, I can finally focus once more.”
“Is he really that distracting? I’ve only known the man for a few hours at most, but from what I can tell, he’s pretty easygoing,” Sam answered, trying to be diplomatic.
“Easygoing? You must have gotten lucky. That man has more moods than a court whore, if you’ll pardon my crude turn of phrase. He is quite annoying to be around,” Pelar said, smiling at the end. “However, that is not why we are here. Come with me. I want to set you up with some exercises as I decide what to do with you,” the other man said, clearly sinking back into his role as a teacher.
He strode into the other room, and Sam hesitantly walked after him, unsure of what was about to happen. The room was filled with all manner of plush seats, from sofas to what looked like padded stools, at odds with the rest of the house. Pelar was a man who loved his comforts in moderation, it seemed. Again, Sam wondered why exactly this was all being done in the Interweb, seeing as nothing here was as satisfying as back in the real world. It was like drinking air instead of water.
Pelar gestured to a nearby sofa, and Sam took a seat, ready to absorb whatever information that he could.
“Now, as you start to meditate upon your mana core, focus on excluding it from the rest of your body. Imagine it as the sole energy source within yourself, eclipsing even your central core. This is so that you can conceptualize the idea of relying solely on mana. Can you do that?”
Sam nodded in response, and closed his eyes, starting to draw upon his mana. This time, as he beheld his glowing blue orb, suspended in the center of his corespace, he filtered out his Daos and his core, focusing solely on his mana core. He could tell that the other things were still there, but he was able to ignore them, and this time, when he tried to draw a tendril of mana out, it took far longer for it to be tainted by the energies of his Dao.
Sam raised one eyebrow, surprised at just how much of a difference this made. Of course, it would be useless in a battle, but he could always refine his technique later. The tendrils of mana still fell to the encroaching power of his Dao and elemental energy eventually, but it had a far better run of it than before, and Sam couldn't help but be excited about the possibilities that this could bring.
He opened his eyes, and saw that Pelar had gone. Sam shrugged, and then went back to his corespace. He had no idea what the other man was doing, but he was not particularly worried. Even if he had the intention of harming Sam, none of it would work, as they were in the Interweb. It was more likely that he was simply trying to figure something out about Sam’s mana, and needed space to do so.
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Sam closed his eyes once more and returned to his core. Now that he had gotten the basic principle of the training exercise down, he started to expand upon it, drawing upon larger amounts of mana than before, as well as extending the amount of mental energy that he was using to shield it. He still was unable to get anywhere near his skin with the tendril of pure mana, but it was at least a start.
Soon, he had become quite adept at manipulating the pure mana within his body, and although he was unable to extend it into a technique, he was still able to make it work for him. Sam eventually opened his eyes, upon finding Pelar’s hand upon his shoulder. The alien was standing over Sam, with a look of excitement on his face.
“I think I have found a way for you to separate your Dao from your mana fully, at least for practicing. Have you ever heard of the Manemon Principle of Mana Shielding?” The man asked, obviously expecting an answer from Sam.
“The what?” Sam asked, not understanding a single word of what the man had said.
“Oh, right. Newly initialized universe. Well, the Principle posits that mana is only able to remain pure while it is under no influence greater than itself. The problem is that mana is one of the weakest natural energies, below the power of the Dao and elemental energy. It is far more widespread than the others, but it is akin to gravity, which is the weakest of the fundamental forces, but the most noticeable to us.”
That last bit, Sam did understand, and he started to make sense of what he was being told.
“So I need to limit the power of my Dao and element energy within my body in order to practice with my unfettered mana?” Sam asked.
“Exactly. You’re catching on fast. Now, there is no reason why we should not start now. Before I tell you how to do it, try yourself first.”
Sam nodded, and closed his eyes, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. The first step was clearly to limit the influence of his Dao and elemental energy upon his body, which he could presumably achieve by expanding them. He opened his eyes once more, and looked up at Pelar.
“We should probably do this outside,” he said to the man.
“Oh, I see. So you’re going to go about it that way. Whatever floats your boat, I guess,” Pelar responded.
The man made way for Sam, and they both walked towards a nearby veranda. Sam stood facing the glittering sea outside, and began to force all of his Dao energy and elemental energy towards his new skill. A lance of rock and red energy dropped into his right hand, but it seemed to be far more rough hewn than before. Sam had purposefully not placed any mana into the skill, and as a result, it was far more primal in appearance than with the stabilizing addition of his mana. It looked like some ancient weapon of the gods, sparkling with deep red light.
Sam threw the thing into the air, where it streaked off, landing in the ocean some moments later. It exploded, and the sea around it boiled, before returning to its normal state. His energy stores were down to half now, and he formed another one, bottoming it out.
Sam swayed, but the backlash was far less intense within the Interweb than it would have been in the outside world. With his Dao energy and elemental energy now expended, he started to work with his mana. As he did so, he began to come to a realization about how energy worked within the Interweb. It was all a grand simulation, and the amounts of power within his real body were untouched, no matter how much he used in here. It meant that it was a great place for training, but it also meant that he could not gain any concrete bonuses within this place. There would be no titles for deeds within the Interweb, nor were there monsters to fight. However, for Sam’s current objective, there was no need.