Chapter 60: Mana shaping
Alex Sandclaw’s POV:
As I exited the school building, I practiced with the swords bound to my hip. I channeled lightning mana through it, and carefully electrified the blade. I had to walk slowly, or I’d disrupt my control and the mana would dissipate, but I could actually do it now.
Between today’s Unconventional Casting Media and Basic Sword Magic classes, I was finally able to figure out the final hurdle that stopped me from channeling lightning through my sword. Oddly enough, it required me to purposefully let go of some of the techniques I’d learned to contain neutral mana. It made me curious how other aspects would affect the way I had to channel my mana,
My control over the mana was still weak, however, and moving too fast broke the effect. The movement imparted small amounts of momentum onto the mana, or so the professor explained it, and that screwed with my control techniques. It was kind of the opposite of what I needed in a fight, so I wouldn’t be able to use it in combat right away. But with time, I would strengthen my control and get it combat ready. The big question was if I’d have enough time before the excursion to reach that point. I’d just have to keep practicing and see.
In the meantime, the exercise was great for leveling my lightning Skill.
[Skill ‘Draconic lightning magic’ has leveled up! 2>5]
With each level, my control increased, and channeling mana through the sword became just a bit easier. It also increased the strength a bit. It had gone from a painful shock, to a slightly more painful shock. Not the greatest difference, but it was still noteworthy. I hoped I could get a lightning resistance Skill at some point, though, because at this rate I might end up killing myself if I got shocked once my Skill level was high enough. That would be an embarrassing way to die. ‘Here lies Alex, killed by his own Skill.’
It was easier said than done, though. Getting a general Skill required effort, and I didn’t even know where to begin with resisting lightning. Maybe I could ask the professor next time.
I pushed the morbid thoughts out of my mind and focused on the sword instead. By the time I got home, I had managed to push the Skill to the next level, and even gained a level in mana manipulation.
I looked around our room, but Felix wasn’t there yet. He must still be walking home. I considered sitting down and waiting for him, but decided otherwise. We’d be going swimming, and the weather was really nice. I figured we might as well take some dinner with us so we could stay there a little longer.
So instead of sitting around, I grabbed a few ingredients and went to the kitchen. I wasn’t the best at cooking, but I could still make something edible.
The kitchen itself was pretty empty. That made sense. Who in their right mind would cook something right after getting back from class? There was one person making a jug of some kind of drink, though. Juice, maybe. Which reminded me I should also see if I couldn’t make something to drink. And if not, water was perfectly fine, too.
About ten minutes in, I heard Felix walking past. His footsteps were quite distinct. A heavier thud combined with the clink of his claws hitting the floor. I glanced around and was proven correct. I called out to him, and he poked his head through the doorway. His face immediately brightened upon seeing me.
“Hey Alex, what are you cooking?”
I smiled back. “Just a simple meal, really. I figured we could eat down by the river since the table is still there, anyway.”
He nodded. “Sounds good. Let me just put my stuff away and I’ll come help you,” he said and started walking away. Then he paused and poked his head back in. “Not to say you can’t cook, of course. I just meant that it might be more fun together.”
I chuckled. “It’s fine. And your help would be appreciated. I suck at this.”
“You’re fine,” he said and sniffed the air. “Although, a little guidance may not be amiss.”
I chuckled again while Felix went to put his stuff away. When he got back, we continued cooking together. He mostly let me do my own thing and only made a few suggestions here and there. I followed them, though I did ask for the reasoning behind them, which he was more than happy to share.
Soon enough we had a decent meal. Some baked potatoes, some salad, and a bunch of medium-baked steaks. Simple? Sure. But I was still a bit proud of myself. Usually when we cooked together, I just did what Felix told me to do, like cutting the potatoes, or stirring the pot. It felt good to have made this pretty much entirely on my own, with minimal guidance.
After we finished cooking, I went to grab us some towels while Felix made us something to drink for later. We checked if we had everything we needed and went to the river.
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The cool water flowing around my feet was refreshing. With my new Skill, the cold didn’t bother me nearly as much and just made the entire experience pleasant. The company made it even more so.
“Come on, Alex!” Felix called from deeper in. “Stop dilly dallying in the shallows and jump in! The water is great!”
I looked up from the water and grinned at him. He was standing in the deepest part of the river, half his body submerged. “Yeah?” I called. “Want me to jump in?” He nodded, and I smirked. “Careful what you wish for!”
I pushed off and jumped directly towards him. In a panic, Felix reared up and raised his arms to catch me and as he did, he stumbled sideways before falling over and dunking both of us in the water.
We came up sputtering and laughing while I clung to his neck. He was sitting in the water now, so only his head and part of neck poked above the water. Finding some purchase with my feet, I stood next to him and let go.
“You know that’s not what I meant,” he said, still laughing a bit.
“I know. It’s more fun, though.”
He looked my way, then stood up and smirked. “Fun, huh?”
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I took a step backwards as Felix grinned and crouched down to pounce. “Now, now, I don’t think that’s nec—”
My voice was cut off as he catapulted into me and dragged me underwater. His grip was loose, though, so I climbed out of his grasp and over his neck to end up on his back, where I grabbed on and didn’t let go. A moment later we resurfaced, and Felix was laughing again.
“Alright, alright,” he said. “I think that’s enough wrestling for now. Let’s stop before you get hurt.”
I nodded, then realized he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, sounds good. Was fun, though.”
He chuckled. “Maybe when you’ve gained a few more levels, we can go for a little longer without me fearing I’ll accidentally crush you. You can let go now, by the way. I’m not gonna throw you off.”
“I think I’m good up here,” I said, still lying on his back. I did let go of his neck, though.
“Alright, then,” he said, then submerged himself while he swam us back and forth down our little stretch of river, acting like a scaly boat.
After half an hour of swimming and playing around in the water, we decided to get out. We’d gotten a little tired and could use a break.
Outside the water, we let ourselves air dry while lying on the towels. Well, I was, anyway. Felix just shook the water off him like a dog, then blasted the rest away with magic. I asked how he did it—a combination of water and wind magic, he told me—and he used that as a transition into teaching me mana manipulation.
“Speaking of magic,” he said, “have you done shaping exercises yet in class?”
I shook my head. “We’ve been focusing on drawing on our mana so far, and controlling simple streams of it. Professor Sesharan did tell us about it, and even gave us some examples, but we wouldn’t be starting with it until after the fall break next month.”
“Alright then. Oh, before I forget; you can consistently draw on your mana, right?”
I nodded. “I've been successful about ninety-five of a hundred times. Roughly, anyway.”
“That’s good enough. That last bit is just practice. I bet you’ll have it down by the end of the excursion. Now then, let’s talk shaping. The concept is really simple, you make your mana take on static shapes. The easiest example is making your mana take on the shape of a sphere. There are more complex and abstract shaping exercises too, like levitating small objects with just mana, but the concept remains the same.”
As he spoke, he used his own mana to show what he was talking about. I had trouble detecting it, but I could vaguely sense his mana taking on various shapes as he talked. I couldn’t say which ones, though. Sensing mana was also a part of manipulating it, and it was definitely something I needed to work on. I could feel and sense my own mana just fine, but I still had great trouble sensing foreign mana—like Felix’s.
He also showed me how he levitated a small pebble. He made it hover, made it stick to his talon as he moved, and made it dance around in intricate patterns. It was fascinating, and I wondered if I could do something similar someday.
“Hovering a pebble like this doesn’t really have any direct combat value, of course. But the better your control, the greater your efficiency. It’s the difference between taking the long way around a wide river and knowing how to cross through it. It saves time and effort when spellcasting.”
I nodded. That much I already knew. The professor had already explained it to us. The metaphor did help me with understanding it much better though. The professor had told us better control made spellcasting easier, but she hadn’t really told us why. I guess she figured it wasn’t necessary to know quite yet.
After going over the basics, Felix then went on to explain how to make a simple sphere. Well, simple maybe wasn’t the right word for it. The shape was simple, but getting the mana into that shape certainly wasn’t. I was used to having my mana constantly on the move.
“It’s easiest when starting out to work with limitations rather than directly controlling the mana,” he explained. “Bundle the mana to a single point, then let it spread out equally in all directions. You’ll notice it will spread out in a sphere shape.”
I followed his instructions, and let mana flow out from my body and in between my hands. With some effort, I stopped the mana’s flow and shepherded it to a rough point—it was more like an uneven pebble, but it was good enough for a first try—then let it go. I watched as the mana did indeed spread out in a spherical shape. Neat.
I nodded. “It does, yeah. Now what?”
He smiled. “Now do it again, but limit how far the mana can spread out. And then you’ll have it—a sphere.”
I blinked at him. “But how?”
His smile faltered a bit. “Ah. That part came instinctually to me. Let me think for a moment.” He sat quietly for a moment, then spoke again. “I’m not sure how to explain this, really. By now, I just think of the shape I want and my mana just listens. It’s been years since I had to deal with basic control like this. Try holding the idea or an image of a sphere in your mind as you try to limit how far the mana goes. Mana is easily influenced, especially with the System to help. It should be enough.”
I did as he told me and tried imaging the image of a sphere as I let the mana spread out. With concentration, I did my best to limit how far the mana went. It was only partially successful. Some of the mana stayed within my imaginary boundary, but most of it ‘leaked’ out.
“Try again,” Felix said. “Maybe with a different image.”
I did so, imaging a small sun this time. It worked even poorer than just the plain sphere. So I tried again, this time using the idea of a mathematical formula—a volume integral with a constant density to be specific. That worked a lot better, with most of the mana staying inside my imaginary boundary.
“That’s better. Whatever image you’re using, keep working at it and you’ll get there.”
And so I did. I practiced again and again and again until my mana ran out, and I was forced to stop. A few times the ease of the process shot up suddenly as my manipulation Skill leveled up, and by the end of the session, I could keep almost all the mana inside the limit I set up. I was even able to somewhat change the distribution of the mana within the sphere by altering the density function of the integral in my mental image. Feeling the System prompting me with another message, I finally looked at it.
[Skill ‘Mana manipulation’ has leveled up! 7>10]
“I’m out of mana,” I said to Felix. “I also leveled my Skill a few times.”
He nodded. “That’s great. I’m glad this is helping. Since you’re out, I’ll tell you a little about some of the future exercises we’ll be doing, then after we could go for another swim?”
“Sounds good.”
“Alright,” he said. “As you can imagine, this way of shaping your mana—using limitations—is very impractical for anything but the most basic of shapes. Just imagine doing this for a complex shape like a house, it’s downright impossible. It’s why the next few exercises will be focused on moving away from that.”
He paused, giving me a moment to process that. He was right of course. Was there even a mathematical tool or formula for such a shape? If there was, I didn’t know it. He continued.
“But this way of shaping is excellent for starting to think in terms of control. Whether you realized it or not, what you did was think about a shape and made the mana take on that shape. The method with which you did it was a bit unwieldy, but you still did it. I suggest that the next few times you try this, you ditch the idea of limiting the mana and focus on making the mana take on the shape directly. It shouldn’t be too big a leap.”
“I think I’ll practice a few more times with the limitation technique so I can really get the shape to not leak, then try out what you said. You’ll help me when we get to that, right?” I asked.
“Of course. Though, there are things I won’t be able to help you with as you need to figure them out on your own. Now then, want to go swimming?”
I grinned at him, and instead of answering, ran to the edge of the water and dove in.