Azura was suddenly awoken by a tremendous force. It was beyond magic, beyond dragons, and even beyond the spawn that dwelt in the mists. It could topple mountains and make the greatest of kings cry. It transcended all of existence and left those in its wake begging for more. The unstoppable smell of bacon and eggs.

Azura bolted out of bed, all drowsiness forgotten. She would topple any foe foolish enough to get between her and sustenance. Wars had been declared over less.

The bedroom door flew open as Azura dashed to the table a tendril of drool escaping her lips.

“Well at least you appear to be back to normal today,” her mother said.

“Huh?” Azura said as she piled eggs and bacon in unhealthy doses onto her plate.

“You were acting weird yesterday. Do you feel better?”

Azura looked up her cheeks stuffed like she was a chipmunk-kin as she stared blankly at her mother. Then it all came back. The endless folding of her mana. She was tempted to stop eating and examine the culmination of her efforts. But, the bacon was too good.

“I’m fine.” Azura attempted to say but the food impeded her speech.

“This isn’t a competition. Chew your food. And please take reasonable bite sizes.”

Azura continued eating, but this time at a slightly reduced rate.

“You’re still in trouble the rest of the week. I want you here back in the afternoon to help with the clothes. I also want you to apologize.”

“I won’t apologize to those boys!” Azura said hotly. “They deserved it.”

“If they are anything like you I don’t doubt it. I was referring to Miss Grassfoot.”

“Oh,” Azura said. She did feel a bit bad about that. Well not really, it was pretty funny. Azura was wise enough to keep that to herself.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“I’ll swing by the great library after lunch,” Azura said.

Her mother nodded and gathered up the plates as Azura made a quick sandwich for later. The task complete Azura headed out to check the results of her late night efforts.

Azura’s home was one of many in the local district and it was hard to find any place of solitude. Fortunately there were seldom used alleys and a few abandon buildings that looked like they could collapse at any time. She longed to head out of the city but it wasn’t safe even during the day. A mana beast might be prowling around.

Azura found a secluded spot soon enough. This was it. She closed her eyes and mentally dove inside herself. The mana well was no bigger than before. She expected that. What she didn’t expect was everything else. Her mana, previously a thin silvery cloud, was now separated into two parts. One part was the same mana she always had from her passive absorption from the environment. That mana was resting atop a noticeably thicker cloud of mana. The mana she folded all night long. It had worked. The mana she folded was changed, thicker and the ambient mana had filled the void she had created.

“YES!” Azura shouted and then tried to calm down. Barely containing her excitement she tapped into her condensed mana as she ready the only spell construct she knew, the light spell. The spell formed quickly as her magic energized a sphere of light on her palm. Azura held her breath her eyes closed, waiting. She waited for the weakness, the mind crushing headache that always accompanied her previous casting. Slowly she opened one eye and then the other. She looked down to the light still in her hand, then grinned.

“I AM THE GREATEST!”

“SHUT UP!” Came a distant return yell but she ignored it.

Azura threw the ball of light which traveled a short way before winking out. Then she casted another and another. She fed more magic into the latest spell making it brighter.

Azura was elated… right until she checked her mana pool. Her condensed mana she spent all night creating was nearly gone. Instead her pool was slowly refilling with the thin ambient mana.

“No…” Azura whispered as she collapsed to her knees. Of course it couldn’t be that easy. All that time and effort gone. No wonder mages never bothered trying anything like this. Why would they? They had large enough mana pools to cast whatever they needed and they could refill their pools after a short time. Why would they waste time making thicker mana when it would be lost whenever they used it? Defeat held her down before her iron will made her stand back up.

Fine! If she couldn’t cast spells like light perhaps she could cast something else. All she needed was magic that was efficient or had a one-time cost. There was all kinds of magic out there. She just needed to find one that fit her. Well, she had to go to the library and apologize anyways might as well see if she could find something out there.