Aodh’s scream petered out, as did the flames, and he let his hands drop. He felt like he was burning up. It was almost like his nerves and muscles were aflame. It was like the wolf all over again, with the fire consuming him. He could feel the residual heat in the air battering against him. Once the pain had eased, and he had gathered himself, he pushed up to his feet.
“Wow. I did that.” Aodh looked out over a cone of land, extending out from where he stood and going for at least 100 metres. Where there was once fresh green grass, was now burnt, barren, harsh land. The contrast between the vivid grass and the blackened rocky ground was stunning.
“How did I do that?” Aodh remembered the strange feeling, almost as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, freezing him through. In that moment, he could remember feeling every molecule of water in the air, the earth he was lying on, and the faint wind as if they were part of his body. It was a strange moment of total consciousness that he could barely begin to comprehend.
The question remained though, how did he produce fire from his hands? Aodh remembered the feeling of the cold flowing through him, concentrating in his hands. The scream just served as a trigger to release it. What ‘it’ was, Aodh had a fairly good idea. I guess this is what it meant when it said mages could fight at close range. Although, I wouldn’t like to have to replicate that situation every time I want to do something with mana.
Lost in his thoughts, it was a while before Aodh noticed a small envelope icon floating in the right corner of his vision. “Oh shit, I completely forgot about this System stuff.” He swiped at the floating icon but there was no reaction. He thought for a second. “Notifications.” That triggered a slew of information.
Congratulations! You have managed to manipulate mana without the aid of skill.
You have gained the skill {Mana Manipulation}
Level Up! You have progressed by 3 levels.
You are now level 4
Congratulations! You have gained the skill {Fire Manipulation}
{Fire Manipulation} is now level 3
Huh. I suppose I got what I was looking for. Some sort of mana manipulation. Makes sense why I couldn't do anything earlier. And I got levels, I'll check those out later. And I gained a skill. Sounds a lot more impressive than Inspect. I wonder if I can view a list of my skills? “Skills” This caused another screen to appear, cluttering Aohd's vision.
Skills
{Inspect - Level 2}
{Fire Manipulation - Level 3}
{Mana Manipulation - Level 1}
As Aodh looked at his list of skills, small as it were, he was filled with a feeling of accomplishment he rarely felt. It just felt so good to be progressing in some way. This is an addicting feeling. I should test out this skill.
Just before Aodh could test out his newly gained skill, he heard a small noise from behind him. He spun around, arms raised. About fifty metres away stood a solitary sheep, far bigger than any of the three he had fought earlier. Unlike the other sheep, this one had horns. They were blood red and extended straight out from its head. From the distance, Aodh couldn't really see them clearly but estimated the horns were at least one metre long. As soon as he saw the sheep he wasted no time in identifying it.
Vicious Sheep Enforcer - Level 10
Shit. Immediately he started thinking of exit strategies. Based on the previous sheep, this one will be too fast to run away from. I do have my new skill but I have no idea how to activate it. I'll keep that for a last resort. He stepped backwards, and his foot landed on a rock exposed by the fire he produced earlier. Slowly, he bent down to pick it up. The movement seemed to be a trigger for the sheep and it charged. “Fuck,” cursed Aodh as the sheep was far faster than he anticipated. He had just gotten his hand around the rock before the sheeps head crunched into his chest. Again, he was sent flying backwards through the air.
Both his chest and his shoulder screamed in pain as he crashed violently to the ground. Surprisingly he had managed to keep a grip on the small rock. As the sheep charged again, he braced himself, and just as the sheep reached him, swung the hand holding the rock straight towards the sheep's head. That was a mistake. The rock crumbled to dust without seeming to do any damage. The sheep kept on going and trampled over Aodh, its hooves doing even more damage to his already battered body. I might need to figure out that fire manipulation quicker than I thought.
He rolled over and pushed himself up as the sheep ground to halt fifty metres away. I can't take many more hits like that. Slowly, he felt the feeling return, the coldness seeping down his back and into his limbs. He thrust his hands out, expecting fire to blaze from them and obliterate the sheep. Nothing happened. “Fuck.” The sheep was charging again. This time, instead of aiming its head towards Aodh, it was its horns. This better hurry up and work. He could feel the cold continue to accumulate, saturating his hands and going up his arms.
- - -
Tutorial #394
“Yo, Holly, how do I get this skill to work?” Holly stared back at him like was stupid. “Seriously? Alright. Explain to me what you're trying to do.” Thomas huffed and sat down on the rocky ground. He had a feeling this was going to take a while. “So, I keep trying to visualise the mana flowing through me, and out through my hands.” Holly nodded. “How much mana are you visualising?” “Well, usually I think of it as a small stream.” Holly frowned at that. “Do you not think that's too much? She said as she sat down as well. “From what I know, you should really only visualise that large amount of mana if you're extremely confident in your control. If that goes wrong at any point you could explode.” Thomas paled. "Dont worry about it," Holly said, waving away his concern. That won't happen. "Visualise the mana coming from inside of you, that's what the energy attribute is for."
“It's not my fault this thing is confusing. You're just lucky you got the skill with your class.” Holly sighed. “Come on Thomas, you won’t get it to work acting like that. Just think; the faster you get the skill, the faster you can go out raiding with the group.” Thomas let out a groan and lay back, staring at the cavern's ceiling many miles above him. After a moment of silence, Thomas responded. “Alright. I'll try again” He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. Gradually, he became more aware of the earth mana around him. He could still feel the other elements, but the sensation was muted, similar to a conversation you were far away from. You could hear the people talking, you knew they were talking, but you couldn't make out individual words.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Slowly, Thomas focused on the small ball of coldness he could feel somewhere in his chest. He shivered as he a tendril reach out from the ball shaped object and flow through his body. He could never get used to the feeling of moving mana through his body. Carefully, he pulled the mana from his chest down into his arms and hands. It was a weird sensation. It felt like his bones were replaced with an icy coldness. Every so slowly, he could feel the mana in his hands stabilise until it was safe to use. In one big push he expelled the mana out through his palms, while keeping a clear image in his mind of what he wanted to happen. He opened his eyes just as he saw a shard of dark coloured rock blast up towards the ceiling. Instantly he opened his status.
Skills
{Mana manipulation - Level 1}
{Earth Manipulation - Level 1}
{Basic foraging - Level 5}
{Basic Swordsmanship - Level 3}
Without wasting a moment he inspected his new skill.
Skill
Description
{Earth Manipulation}
Makes the manipulation of earth mana easier, allowing the user to perform more complex spells and manipulate more earth at the same time.
He jumped up and roared “YES!” Holly smiled. “You got it?” Thomas held out his hand, his palm directed towards one of the walls of the cavern. He pulled mana into his body and let the knowledge he gained from the skill do the rest. Another shard of rock appeared in front of his palm and sped off towards the wall. It cracked against it and the sound echoed throughout the chamber. Thomas smiled as Holly jumped up and wrapped him in a hug.
- - -
Tutorial #1001
Just before the sheep reached Aodh, a brown blur appeared in front of him. He heard the snap as the sheep collided with the earthen wall that had appeared from nowhere. What the fuck? In the corner of his vision, he saw the envelope icon flash up again but ignored it. He would deal with that later. Cautiously, he moved around the wall and saw the sheep with its horns stuck in the wall. Quickly, Aodh rushed forward and kicked out. There was a crack as his foot met the body of the sheep. The sound did not come from the sheep. Aodh cursed and limped backwards. He was sure his foot was broken.
He leaned against the wall and stared at the sheep. He didn't know how to finish it off. Its body was too tough for him to kill it without breaking almost every bone in his own body. The only thing he could think of was the fire. He sighed. This felt wrong. Even though the sheep wanted to kill him, it still felt cruel to leave it stuck in the wall, suffering, while he tried to work out how to kill it.
He breathed deeply, trying to remember what it felt like when he produced the flames. Obviously there was the cold, which was mana, but he had no idea how he managed to move it through his body like that. Then, something he had seen a while ago seemed promising. The description of the perception attribute.
Perception
This is a measure of the six senses. The higher the perception, the more sensitive you will be to the world, and to mana. This is one of the three attributes that did not exist before the System.
Hurriedly, he didn't want the sheep escaping, he brought up his status.
Name
Aodh
Age
19
Race
Human - F
Class
Mage - F
Level
4
Strength
3
Vitality
4
Constitution
N/A
Dexterity
4
Stamina
2
Agility
N/A
Intelligence
24
Energy
18
Perception
N/A
Free points
3
Quickly, he said, “Put all free points into perception.” He saw the three go down to zero and collapsed to the ground. He covered his ears and groaned. Everything was amplified. He could hear the sheep's heart beating, he could hear the minuscule movement of the earth in the wall. He could almost taste the grass and could smell the burnt ground a hundred metres away. Worst of all, he could sense the mana. It was like he was deep under the ocean, and it was intent on crushing him. It was like he was buried under thousands of tonnes of earth, slowly suffocating to death.
All worries about the sheep were forgotten. He was just focused on surviving the sensory assault. He could even see the sheep without looking at it. He could feel the mana that made it up and it was like he was seeing it in his mind. Every so slowly, the sensation abated, and Aodh stumbled to his feet. He could still feel the mana everywhere although it wasn't nearly as overpowering. Whether the sensation had faded or he had grown used to it he didn't know.
Suddenly, he remembered the sheep and his head snapped towards the wall. He sighed when he saw it was still there, struggling to get free. Let's try this again. He held his hands out and concentrated. All of sudden, it felt like he had an ocean flowing through his arms and towards his hands. “What the fuck-”
There was a massive explosion and Aodh was thrown backwards, his body flying up into the air. Desperately he twisted, trying to land as comfortably as he could. He braced just before he hit the ground. On his bad shoulder. He groaned as pain lanced through his body, red spots appearing in his vision. As the pain faded, he lay there staring up at the cloud free, blue sky.
“This is crazy. I still suspected I was dreaming when I was talking to the helper, but this confirmed that I'm not crazy. Even with the illness I was never this beaten up.” Thankfully, Aodh was used to pain so he would be able to manage for a while. What he was concerned about was the various injuries he had. He doubted there was some instant healing functionality of the System, it seemed to want him to suffer. I may as well check the notifications. As unlikely as I think it is, something there could help me.
Congratulations! You have gained the skill {Earth Manipulation}
{Earth Manipulation} is now level 3
{Fire Manipulation} is now level 8
Due to killing a creature five or more levels above you, you have been awarded extra experience.
Level Up! You have progressed by 6 levels.
You are now Level 10
Congratulations! As the first person to reach level 10 in your tutorial, you can accept one of the following:
-Basic sword
-Basic bow
-Basic staff
-Basic healing potion
-Basic foraging kit
Aodh took a quick look at all of them, but focused on the last one. Nice. Very coincidental though. He paid no attention to the other rewards and immediately selected the healing potion. Although, the staff could have been promising. From movies and books, wizards usually had a staff that amplified their powers. Of course, it could have just been a long piece of wood meant to be used as a weapon instead of something for a mage.
After Aodh selected the healing potion, a small glass flask, similar to a conical flask, dropped into his lap. It contained a reddish orange looking liquid that was bubbling ferociously. This looks disgusting. Despite his misgivings with the appearance of the potion, Aodh popped off the cap and drained it in one gulp. He could feel a weird heat spreading down his throat and into his chest.
Then the really weird stuff started happening. He could see his foot start to slowly move back to the position it was supposed to be in. It was like time was going backwards. He could feel his shoulder click back into place and his chest, which was almost caved in, returned back to its normal state.
It was only after that his body was recovered and he went to get up that he notified his hands. “Holy shit.” Stretching from his hands up his arms were horrific looking burns. Cautiously Aodh rubbed his finger against them. It just felt like it was normal skin and there was no pain. Interestingly the potion didn’t heal this.
He held his arm out, watching as the sun reflected differently of the different parts of burned skin. Wonder what happens if I try to channel mana. By now, he had a good idea of how to pull it from the world and into his body, and how to direct it the way he wanted. Thats weird, how do I know that? Ill come back to it. He took a deep breath in as he felt the shock of the mana entering his body.
He portioned a small amount and sent it towards his arm. Thanks to his newly increased perception attribute he could feel it flow through his body. He watched eagerly as the mana reached the part of his arm where the burns began-
The darkness closed in on him faster than he could react and his arm slumped back down to the ground as he lost consciousness.