Magic and Mana. These two concepts were new to us. We came from a world where these concepts were just fantasy, one used as a way to tell a story. It could be weak, it could be strong. Now, it’s a reality for us, something that may become extremely important. As I looked over the documentation from the mana refiners who were researching magic, I pursed my lips while thinking over what we knew.

Using Fireball then Frost Orb, I saw my mana deplete by 800. At the cost of 400 each, the power these two spells weren’t even close to what Jupiter or Aerith could produce, even as a Lvl 3 it’s still much weaker. When they cast their respective spells, it only cost them around 50 mana and is nearly three times as strong. But when Aerith used Fireball or Jupiter used Frost Orb, the cost would be 200 mana and the strength was still stronger than what I could produce.

The strangeness of spell casting is one mystery that we need to understand before we can start developing our own spells, even the research by Juliana and her team concluded as much. Mana is also something we need to know more about as it acts as fuel not only for our spells, but for our bodies as well. At least in theory.

“So why is it that when I use my own magic it uses very little? Is it really a hidden talent that reduces mana cost?” Muttering to myself, I stand up and pace my office while deep in thought. My magic revolved around my eyes. Hawkeye and Expose both changed my vision to see the world differently. Even Hunter’s Mark used my eyes, the spell launched from my eyes and I required line of sight. The Aerathil spell for spirits didn’t use much mana and was more like another language.

Writing my thoughts down, I then sat down and looked at my hand. After becoming Lvl 3, I’ve started to notice minute details of my body, including where my mana drew in from. Mana naturally circulated my body, every inch, every millimetre mana ran through my body but when I used a spell, mana would surge from a point within my stomach.

Closing my eyes, I felt mana circulate my body as I motivated it. Slowly tracing how it spread, I noted it’s like it travelled through veins around my body. Mentally following the circulation throughout my body, I slowly trace it back to its origin, to my stomach, where I felt something large and powerful. As I focused on this source, I felt my consciousness suddenly start to sink, causing me to jerk and open my eyes. Looking around, I saw that I was still in my office as I frowned and shook my head.

“What was that feeling?”

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes again and slowly focused on the spot where mana came from in my stomach once more. Once again, my consciousness starts to sink away and allowing it to, I became aware that something had changed and opening my eyes, I saw a really strange scene before me.

I’m floating in the air, looking down I see a massive island, a large lake in the middle of it, waterfalls coming off the edge, flowing into the void below. The island is covered by lush grass and trees, nothing living within it, but the scene of the island is beautiful beyond words.

Looking around, I saw three more islands all branching off the main island. One island in particular felt…stronger than the others. Looking at one of the other two, I saw one had small embers burning in the middle of what looked like a large, burnt out forest. Turning my sights to the next island, I saw a tiny circle of frost in the middle of a lake that covered the island.

Both of these islands looked…weak when compared to the last island. In the middle of the second one, a large observatory sat in the middle of an old, bullet torn battlefield. The observatory overlooked the island it sat on and it gave me the feeling of being…watched.

Very quickly, I understood what this is thanks to the various anime and manga I’ve read. It’s a mana realm, and those islands represent my mana and elements of spells I know. Fire, Ice and Vision. The Vision island felt the strongest because it’s my main element…if it can be called an element, while the Fire and Ice were weakest.

Looking at the Fire island, I imagined the moment I would cast Fireball. Would the embers burn more when the spell is being cast? If it’s barely burning does it mean it needs more mana to produce a fire that eventually releases into a Fireball? Comparing the Fire Island to the Ice Island however, I felt a strangeness coming from Fire Island and with a thought I suddenly appeared in front of the dying embers on it.

“Weird, super weird. This strange feeling…why is it that it feels like I can make the embers stronger?” Frowning a bit, I ‘closed’ my eyes while allowing my body to move on its own…is what I’m occupying my body, or an imaginative version? I felt my hand raise towards the embers as I ‘drew’ mana towards myself.

A deep trembling came from the island as I felt a strong flow flood out of me and opening my eyes I saw what I thought to be liquid mana surging into the embers and surroundings, which were slowly getting bigger, the surroundings changing quickly from a burnt down forest to a small encampment with a small stack of wood on top of the embers.

Suddenly, the embers erupted into flames, the bonfire lighting up in a fire. The flow of mana slowly recedes as I feel a cold shiver run up my spine. Looking around, I felt the Fire Island to be stronger. Not as strong as the Vision Island, but just as strong as the main island and stronger than the Ice Island. What I just did…did I make the Fire Island stronger? With just a thought, I was looking from the top down once again, the Fire Island had also changed, but only in the middle.

Hearing the gushing of water, I turn my head and see a surprising sight. A blue ring hangs above the Mana Island, mana pouring from the ring and into the island that looked a lot emptier than before. Realisation dawned on me upon seeing the blue ring…this is the function of the twin rings Rebecca and I wore.

With a thought, I appeared on the Ice Island and somehow knew immediately that I couldn’t replicate what I had done with the Fire Island here. I had a hunch that the Fire Island had been upgraded and that it wasn’t quite time for the Ice Island, but I felt that I might be able to do so soon. With another thought, I appeared within the observatory of the Vision Island.

It overlooked the battlefield, the glass allowing me to see everything with a simple turn of my head. I knew that this island wasn’t upgradeable, in fact it felt…new. Withdrawing myself back to above the islands, I then wondered how to leave, but at the thought of leaving my consciousness faded. Opening my eyes once more, I found myself back in the office with a flood of messages from the System.

You have discovered your Mana World.

You have unlocked your Mana and Elemental Tiers:

Mana: 1

Fire: 0

Ice: 0

Vision: 2

You have upgraded your Fire Island to Tier 1!

“Mana World? Tiers? Wait, is that why using other types of magic costs so much?” Checking my mana, which now sat at 500/1000, I raised a hand and invoked Fireball once more. This time, it cost 100 mana and was nearly as powerful as Jupiter's would be, about 75% as strong.

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“T-this…” Frowning, I knew what this meant. It wasn’t some sort of hidden talent stopping us from getting stronger with other types of spells, it’s our Mana Worlds. But several mysteries still remained about it and quickly grabbing my pencil and a sheet of paper, I started to write about everything I had just performed and what needed to be figured out.

How do Islands upgrade? Is it related to how often a spell is used? No, that can’t be right, I’ve used Frost Orb and Fireball often. However, I have used Fireball in a life or death situation, is that why I could upgrade it? Then what about Vision, why is that Tier 2? Is it because it’s a part of my main Class, Sharpshooter? Then why is Mana Tier 1? Is there a way to upgrade it? What’s the highest Tier these elements can get to? As my pencil moved with thoughts and theories pouring out of my mind, I soon set the pencil aside before looking out the window as a dangerous thought came to mind.

“Should I tell anyone about this?” Standing and walking to a window, I looked out over the base, looking at those who were walking around, working on various different projects that were going on. I wasn’t oblivious to the hidden danger of bringing in so many people, I knew the risk of a group forming within so many people that might plot to betray those around them.

Laws of our world didn’t exist here and all it would take is a handful of people to overturn the current peaceful base that we had into a battlefield of its own. Whether because of greed, fear or power, sooner or later we would have to deal with an enemy within our own ranks. Of course, the chance of that happening is tiny and in fact may not happen, but it’s still a possibility.

Strength is what is needed in this world. Not only just to survive, but to lead as well. By upgrading our Elemental Tiers in our Mana Worlds it would give us a huge edge of power over those who haven’t done so. If I could learn more spells from Jupiter now, would it not also turn me into a Fire Magician? Even if I’m a level below Jupiter at all times, the versatility it brought would put me a level above everyone else.

“What a damn difficult decision.” Sitting down once again, I leaned back and closed my eyes, deep in thought. If I revealed this, then it would indeed put everyone onto another level altogether, meaning our chances of survival as a group would rise.

“Then there is the problem that it’ll be discovered by others at another point.” A big problem would be if others discovered it and learnt that I kept this information hidden. Trust and reputation would all but crumble instantly, no matter the excuse I would be in huge trouble.

‘Babe?’

‘Oh, you're done using my mana?’

‘Ah, sorry. Can you come to my office?’

‘On my way!’

Not even five minutes passed before the door to the office opened with Winter walking in. Potentially because of my serious expression, she sat down next to me as I explained what I had just experienced as well as the various factors I had been thinking about. Upon hearing my explanation, she tried it herself and after several minutes she woke up and looked at me seriously.

“This isn’t something we can hide. You’re right, if we try to hide this and it’s later found all trust will be lost in you. I can’t blame you for wanting to keep this hidden though, the potential for power this brings is immeasurable. It would bring an entirely new level of power for those who know it and on a level of our clan, it would make us very powerful.

“I think, Ruby, for the time being we should only let a few know before we let it go public. We can make the excuse that it’s for research purposes to work out the full extent, though we can’t do it for long. I suspect you might need to be Lvl 3 to be able to sink yourself into this Mana World.”

“Mm, you’re right. Thanks, Bek.” Turning to my laptop, I started to type up everything and document it on a Vice-Leader level first before standing and stretching. Holding my hand out, which Winter took, we headed to the mana refiner’s building to inform them of the Mana World and to ensure they kept it secret for the time being.

Unexpectedly, Juliana’s team’s reaction to it went as expected, with them going crazy with theories, all of them quickly either trying it out or writing it all down. As it turned out, even at Lvl 1 or 2, you could access the Mana World, granting them the ability to look at their Tiers. None of them had more than two islands, their Mana Island was Tier 0 while their main Elemental Island was Tier 1.

“So you wish to keep this as top secret for now, Midnight?”

“That’s right, Juliana. Until we can figure out how this Mana World operates and works, I want to keep it on the downlow for a while. Perhaps after the Nexus event we’ll reveal it since the majority of people won’t benefit from it for the time being.” Those who had entered their worlds had sensed their islands to be ‘new’, similar to how the Fire Island for me felt now, meaning it wasn’t close to being upgraded.

“One of the biggest mysteries will be how to unlock upgrading an island. If we can find an efficient way of doing so, we could eclipse this world's level of power very quickly.” Juliana looked excited before I shook my head and spoke again.

“Don’t get overconfident. Remember, the previous iterations failed and the likelihood that they knew about their Mana Worlds is high. For the time being, continue research on the Mana World as well as what we discussed before. You’re authorised to open up recruitment for additional researchers, up to another ten if you need it.”

As Winter and I left the very excited mana refiner building, Winter suddenly turned to me with a grin.

“Wanna go shoot things? There is a Dimension about three kilometres from here that I discovered.”

“You’ve been roaming around exploring?”

“Mm, I was bored so I wanted to have a look around.”

“What does a Dimension look like?”

“You’ll see, come on!” Grabbing my hand, Winter led me to our house where we equipped ourselves before heading in a direction.

Perhaps it’s due to seeing a pair of heavily armed Elves, but we drew a lot of stares, salutes and/or greetings. Thankfully with Melody and Ghost now advancing this would be a short lived affair where we would be stared at like this. It’s hard to get used to this level of attention though, even in our world with our fame we wouldn’t be stared at this much.

After exiting the base and jumping over the half-completed wall, we continued to walk until what looked like a crack in the very air appeared in front of us. I felt a sense of power coming from it and stopping in front of it, I felt a bit hesitant before Winter spoke up.

“Use Information on it.”

“System Call: Information.”

Dimension: Ruined City of Delict.

A city ruined by the forces of Destruction, which gather in the hopes of invading a new world…

1 Lvl 2 and 1 Lvl 3 is recommended for this Dimension.

Dimension Break in 4 months and 28 days.

“Dimension Break? I’m guessing that means when the Dimension will open? Can we exit it at any time or are we trapped in until we clear it?”

“No idea. Rather exciting, isn’t it? What do you think, should we jump in and check it out?” Seeing her excited face, I couldn’t help but chuckle before looking at the crack in the air once more.

“I’m down, but first we need to let Sheep and the others know. I am worried though, if we do go in and find no way back until we clear it then we might put everyone at risk come the Nexus event.”

“Argh, that’s true, that’s only a month away isn’t it?”

“Then again, gaining insight into these Dimensions and their rewards might be a very good opportunity as well. Let’s go talk with Sheep first and go from there.”

After walking back and talking to Sheep, the three of us came to the same agreement. The opportunity to learn about Dimensions would be really good, but the time limit of a month posed a threat.

“High risk, high reward…Alright, you two have yourselves an adventure into that Dimension. I’ll hold the fort here. If there is a way out, come back after a week. Right now you both don’t have much to do anyway. If there isn’t a way out, try and get out as soon as possible. If the rewards from these Dimensions are worth it, it might be worth clearing a few before the Nexus event.”

With a bit more discussion with Sheep, Winter and I headed back to the Dimension and looking at it we wondered how to enter. Moving closer to it, I raised a hand and ‘touched’ the crack as a new System message came up.

Do you wish to enter The Ruined City of Delict?

If you retreat from it before clearing the Dimension, you will incur a one month penalty before you can enter another.

Y/N

“Oh, so we can retreat from it?” Turning to Rebecca, we nodded as she touched the crack as well. As if synchronised, we both selected Y at the same time.