Class was not over. As we reentered the classroom, I placed the book back onto the podium. I came here to learn, and no learning had happened. Yet.

“Page 1? Do you wish for me to read it?” Asked the book.

“Yes.”

“Fine.” said the book, who was able to freely open his binding, opening to the first page. There was a pause, before the book spasmed. Then it stopped and a voice projected from the pages. It was not the same voice of the professor larping as a book. It was the voice of a woman, a recording.

“If you’re listening to this, then you’ve taken your first steps along the arduous path of increasing your mana pool. It won’t be easy, but nothing worth anything in this world ever is. There will be pain, cramps, and possibly death. But even death is an acceptable outcome, in the pursuit of absolute power.”

This was a breakthrough. No more would people be forced to remember squiggly symbols such as words, no more would people need to learn how to read. A talking book was sure to level the playing field in education and learning. I turned my attention back to the lecture.

“What I’m about to teach is in its own right, an unremarkable breakthrough for magic users. To begin the process we must learn to exercise. In a similar way to how the body needs to strain and be used, so does your mana pool. You’ll need to start gradually, as too much damage to the outer rims can lead to stabilization. Too little exercise, and all progress that is made will regress.”

I raised my hand, ready to ask a question. The recording stopped; the voice of the professor returned.

“Look. This is a recording. All of my pages are, kid. I can’t be answering questions that I don’t have the answers to.”

“Who’s the recording from?”

“The lady who figured this stuff out. It matches the words on the pages. I’ve learned some of this stuff over the thousands of years of being a teacher, but You’ve just gotta listen to the lecture. I haven’t been able to figure out the technique, hence the exploding.”

“So it isn’t the record, that is, the groundbreaking breakthrough.”

“No. Why would it be? The words can be read perfectly on the pages. There is no need for audio, other than for convenience and group lessons.”

“Ok.” I said, unconvinced that he was right about her. Were they one person or was it just him in the book? The ‘recording’ had yet to speak back to me, so I assumed the book was not multiple entities masquerading as one.

But on a more important note,tThere was an opportunity for these recordings. They were more practical and applicable to everyday life, then the highly specific and apparently dangerous mana pool extending lessons.

“Begin by absorbing the mana around you. This is not something that cannot be done with sight, so you’ll be provided with a source of mana to draw from, provided by your instructor,” spoke the recording.

“Where’s my mana source?” I demanded from the book, the professor portion of the book, not the recording.

“Go to the back. There should be a bucket of water. There’ll be enough residual mana coming from it, for you to stretch your reserves, if you can even figure out the lesson today.” said the professor, not the recording.

I found the bucket of water, which was emitting a small amount of water mana. It was strange how little mana there was in this bucket of water, as if some of the natural mana residing from the water had been stripped from it. I had seen the book siphoning mana into itself, so I wondered if he was the one sucking it dry.

I grabbed the bucket and placed it on my desk. I stretched my hands, stared at the bucket, and waited with anticipation for the lesson to commence.

“Now, that you’ve gotten your source of mana. You need to make physical contact with the mana source, and siphon it into yourself, slowly. This is trickier said than done.” said the recording. It stopped.

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“Now, the problem with the recording is that it doesn’t tell you how to do that. That is where I come in.” said the professor.

“Ok,” I said. I had an inkling on how this was done. Thanks to my mana sight, my mana shaping had grown significantly since I had first met with the dark one. I had never tried to fill my reserves to the brim, but if it only required that I force the mana into my mana reserve, I figured it would be simple enough.

“So you need to subjugate the mana. And use your greater will power to force into your reserves. It’ll feel strenuous at first but eventually you’ll have the strength to force it inside you. Not that you’ll figure it out on your first try.” said the professor.

That didn’t seem right. When I had worked with the Dark One, I had quickly learned that mana didn’t move unless you eased it in a way that it liked. Death mana could only be stretched a certain way, just like the water mana in front of me. Maybe, without the sight of mana, wizards just assumed that all mana was the same, although I doubted that. If that was the case, then wizards would be experts at a wide array of casting.

“Wouldn’t it be more like a suggestion, than something you force? Why not try to guide the mana based on its properties rather than just force different types of mana like they’re all the same?” I asked.

The book grumbled before speaking.

“Oooh, so you’re the expert now? What do you know about mana? If telling the difference between types of mana was easy, don’t you think it would have been included in the lecture? Well, it’s not. Heck, the idea that mana isn’t all same, is an unproven theory more than anything completely proven. We can only guess that this is the case, because different types of casting need different types of regents.”

“I have a strong suspicion that mana is different. That’s the way I see it, anyway.” I said as I looked at the water mana.

“Well, think of it whatever way you want, I guess. Just make sure to get that mana from point A, the bucket of water, to point B, your mana reserves. It might take you a couple of classes.” Said the smug book.

So I tried, I pulled at the mana. I had little experience working with water mana, but it was weak enough where curving the mana like a flowing river did the trick. I could feel the foreign mana entering my reserves. To my disappointment, once I filled it to the brim, the water mana refused to enter.

It was a strange feeling being stuffed to the brim with mana. In some ways it felt like I was full, but in an ethereal more disconnected sort of way. Physically, I felt no different. It wouldn’t surprise me if the most common cause of death for mana battery students was neglecting their mana reserves.

“This is harder than I think it would be.” I muttered.

“Told you so. Pulling mana into your reserves isn’t something that you can learn on your second day of class.” said the smug Professor.

“No, that part I got. But I can’t push it farther, once I've filled my reserves.”

“Wait? You’ve already filled your reserve?”

“Well, yes.”

“Come over and pick me up, careful with my spine. You twisted it too much the last time you grabbed me. I wasn’t going to say anything, because I didn’t think you’d pick me back up.”

“Where am I taking you?”

“To the other corner of the room. There’s an artifact in the first drawer, probably something similar to what you’re using.”

“I’m using?”

“Yes, the artifact that lets you detect mana.”

“Oh yeah, that artifact… Are you sure you don’t just want me to get it and bring it to you?”

“Actually, that sounds a lot easier. It’s the necklace.”

I went over and opened the cabinet.

“The silver necklace with green gems, or the thick gold necklace, that has a serpent carved into it.”

“The latter. It may bite, so don’t pick it up near the fangs.” warned the book professor.

I grabbed the necklace and hesitated as I placed the necklace on top of the book. Necklaces were meant for necks, and books didn’t have those. It was going to be an awkward fit, no matter how I wrapped it over the professor.

“Touch the other end of the necklace and don’t close your eyes when you do it.”

“I wasn’t going to close my eyes. Why would I close my eyes?”

“Look, the necklace smells of fear. Closing your eyes is a tell that you’re afraid.”

“What if I blink.”

“Still a sign of weakness. So keep them open, if you care for your fingers.”

So I held my eyes open, as I touched the necklace. I did not dare blink, as my eyes dried out.

“Surprising! That was so fast. Filled to the brim, just like you said. I can’t believe it. Your mana reserves are remarkably big for someone who just started. Unnaturally so. Well, the chances are slim but we might have a chance. Was there any event where you were filled to the brim with mana?”

“There was a priest who filled me with holy magic, after I was filled with dark mana. Maybe there is something to that.”

“Hmm. There could be something to that. I’ll have to experiment on future iterations once you die… if you die.” said the book.

“You’re still not convinced?”

“I’ve been alive for thousands of years. There have been others with large mana pools, albeit few and far between. They typically make it far, given they have more leeway and time to gain room.”

“So what’s the trick to forcing my mana reserves to grow?”

“I said it. You need to force more mana into your body. Force it in.”

I sighed and went back to the pail of water. I stared at the pale water. I grimaced at the pail of water. None of it helped.

For the remainder of the class, I tried to ‘force’ the mana into reserve, but I made no progress. The book refused to continue with the recording until I had proven I could increase my reserves. It was disheartening, even if the book told me that my progress was good. Good was not good enough to stop the monster. I had to be better.