Chapter 6: World Spirit Cultivation

“So tell me, how is it that you use magic?”

“I… uh just kind of use it? It is hard to explain. I just think of it working, and then it does.”

Holding my hands beneath my nose and furrowing my eyebrows, I stare menacingly at Isaac. He smiles back, unaware of what I am doing. He just tilts his head after a while.

“Anything wrong?” He innocently asks.

“Yes.” I continue to stare at him angrily.

“Alex, use your words, not your death stares.” Miria says in my head.

“Okay, if none of this works at all, I will just ask you for individual magic things… are they spells when used like this? I’m not even sure.”

“Um…” Isaac closes his eyes to think, “I think it is simply referred to as using magic as there is no need to cast a spell when you are a world spirit, normal spirits need to cast spells.”

“Progress!” I shout happily while raising my arms in triumph. “Now then, why is it that world spirits don’t need to use spells?”

“World spirits are birthed from the world, so they have inherent knowledge of the magic that can be used by using the power of the world.” Isaac sits down and stares at the ground. “The power of the world refers to mana, in most cases. According to my knowledge, this world has faint amounts of other powers, but not enough to be used.”

“Isn’t that really awesome?” I ask Miria.

“To be honest, I had no idea. It seems this guy is too young to be able to reliably give us information. Why do you not just try to do as he says and focus on one thing and try it?”

“That’s a good idea Miria. Yo, Isaac.”

“Hm?” Isaac looks at me slightly confused, “What is it?”

“How do you use body strengthening magic? I’ve heard it’s the specialty of world spirits.”

“That is both right and wrong. The thing about it being the specialty magic that is.” I nod slowly. “When a world spirit is captured the methods used to force it to submit, it makes it, the world spirit, lean towards an elemental imbalance within their mana, which forces them unable to use a lot of magics they normally could.”

“That was a long sentence.”

“Would it not only seem like a long sentence in writing? I’m sure it does not matter too much when we are speaking.”

“True… anyways. Why does the method used to force world spirits in to submission result in elemental imbalance?”

“Because they are trying to use a magic from their respective element as spirits are a mass of elemental mana whereas world spirits could be thought of as pure mana.”

“So using magic that would require a perfect balance in mana are no longer possible use, I think.”

“That is my understanding of it as well.”

I nod slowly as I take a deep breath, once again checking my surroundings. A small clearing within a forest… I must have an unnatural attraction to forests.

“What are the magics a world spirit can use when they have an elemental imbalance?”

“Um… body strengthening and… sorry… I can’t think of it off the top of my head. I’m really sorry. Please forgive me.”

“Uh… I’m not mad if you really can’t remember. After all, I only get mad if it is important information you forget.”

Isaac nods and smiles. The more I look at him, the more I think of a small child. Technically, he is only several hours old. Holding a basic conversation like this is already more than I should ask for.

“Ah, back to strengthening magic, to use it, all I have to do is think of it.”

“What do you think of?”

“Strength?”

“That’s good enough. You can relax, sleep, whatever it is world spirits do after being born.”

Isaac nods, sits down on the ground cross legged and closes his eyes. I watch him silently sit there for a few moments before I wander to go and find some firewood to cook food.

Since I am now a world spirit, does that mean I also don’t need to eat as much as I used to, or do I still have to eat a lot? Oh well, I’ll ask Isaac later, for now I’ll attempt to do some magic stuff.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I stretch a little while I walk out of the clearing. I think of my legs becoing stronger and start to run… Of course, there was no change.

“Why would it be that easy!?” I grab my head and scream.

“Maybe it is even easier than what you are thinking? It is possible that the key to using magic as a world spirit is as simple as just using magic.”

“I’m pretty sure a few people would cry if they heard that. Possibly some high level mages.”

I take a deep breath in and slowly release the air from my lungs. I close my eyes and start to run forwards while thinking of one thing, ‘Strength’.

I open my eyes as I pick up speed and observe my surroundings. I carefully move forwards.

*THUD*

“Ha, you ran straight in to a tree, you should pay attention to where you are going when you are running.”

“Actually, I would call this a great success.” I nod my head and stand back up.

“How is running in to a tree successful in your mind. You are very strange.”

“I may be strange, but think about it. Not too long ago, I was running around with ease through the forest. I could avoid trees in my sleep, I would never miss a foothold.”

“So, you mean?”

“I was moving faster than normal, so I missed a step. That led to me stumbling and colliding with a tree. I think that I was able to move faster than normal because of magic. Maybe, or at least I hope it was, I feel no different after using magic.”

“Try again?”

“I guess that’s the only way after all.” I nod my head as I once again clear my mind.

Forwards. Speed.

I run through the trees with increasing speed. It wasn’t like ‘Hey! I can run at the speed of sound!’ but more like a ‘Hey, I can run almost fifty percent faster than I could before!’ I still think that is enough to be proud of.

I finally noticed the mana that was flowing through me.

At first it was this warm sensation, but as my speed increased, so did the heat. It felt like I was melting from the inside out!

“Ouch, that’s insanely hot you know!”

“Mana feels hot?”

“Right now it does, or that could be my muscles exploding!”

“Why not both!”

“Please not both!” I shout as I lay on the ground back at the clearing with Isaac.  Isaac walks over to me and smiles.

“It looks like you were able to use magic. How do you feel?”

“I feel like I am being burned from the inside out!”

“A normal reaction, that’s good.”

“Normal my ass! Tell me what’s happening!”

“Ah, when you use mana for the first time it has to find the pathways in your body, and since they have been there for um… twenty years in your case, they were quite dusty. Think of it as the pathways clearing up for more visitors to pass through.”

“It makes sense in theory but why does it have to hurt so much!?”

“It’s only normal to feel pain when you use magic. If you use too much at once, or if you attempt to use magic that is not within your reach.” Isaac grabs some water and puts it on a cloth. “This might help… maybe.” He places the cloth on my head. The cloth feels really cold on my head.

“Why does it feel like it is the same treatment for a sickness?”

“It might be likened to a sickness… I think?” Isaac frowns and shrugs his shoulders. “For me, it is natural to use magic.”

“I see. So what is the next step?”

“Next step? Um… I think it would be just using more mana. A world spirit will continue to grow more powerful as they use more magic. The only reason world spirits in captivity don’t rise quickly in power is because of the elemental imbalance as well as the lack of opportunity to use magic.”

“Really? Just use it more?”

“Right now you feel like you are on fire, optimally, you would go until you pass out. This is what is told to me in the knowledge given to me… but it is advised to never do it unless the situation demands it.”

“Is it because the chance of getting captured are higher when you are unable to resist?”

“That is correct. Not only that, but sometimes, a dramatic rise in power will be experienced and you will be unable to use magic for several days. After several days you will be more powerful…”

“But you run the risk of getting caught and an imbalance being created before that?”

“Exactly.”

Isaac and I stay quiet for a while. Miria casually floats around above me, spinning in the air in attempts to relieve her boredom.

“Hey Miria, why do you float?”

“I float because I do?”

“Isn’t it weird to float around? Is it because you are unable to interact with thing that you can float, but how do you control the direction you float?”

“I just do?”

“Isn’t that weird though?”

“It is. Now that I think about it, why am I floating, why am I only a shadow?”

“Um… I’m sorry if I am causing an existential crisis for you… it was only my own curiosity.”

“No… they are good questions. How do I control the direction I float in? Why do I float?”

“If I can add anything…” Isaac speaks up, “maybe she is not floating because she is there, but rather, because she is not?”

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense.”

“It kind of does, doesn’t it? I mean, I am floating because I am not actually within the world as you are, but within a separate are viewing the same things?”

“That is extremely complicated.”

“Perhaps it is me existing within the space between objects?”

“Like the fourth dimension theory?”

“Not quite, I’m more thinking a four dimensional object. An object that can exist infinitely closer to other objects than a three dimensional object can.”

“Nope. I will now stop you there. This is where you always lose me and I feel I will never understand complicated things like that.”

After a short silence, Isaac speaks up.

“So… what do we do next? How and where do we go to where we are going?”

“Um… get stronger for now?” I shrug my shoulders as I sit up on the grass.

“Like a farmer has to feed and water their livestock, we have to cultivate ourselves?” Isaac asks with a smile on his face.

“Exactly like that, Isaac. Exactly like that.” I nod my head and smile back to Isaac, “We should use body strengthening for now to run faster and get further away.”

“Okay, it sounds like a plan.” Isaac stands up and stretches his limbs.

“Now then. Do world spirits need to eat food and drink water?” I finally ask Isaac.

“Um, sometimes? Water and food are good for replenishing energy, but are not necessary either. Mana will do in a tight situation. Just think of not being hungry, I guess.”

“Okay, that’s simple. Now then…” I look up in the sky and see that the sun is already setting. “Should we get going?” I stand all the way up and wince as my legs still slightly hurt.

“I think using body strengthening is a great choice as well, because after a while, you will get a permanent strength increase.”

“Tell me important things sooner!” I punch Isaac to the ground again.

“I wonder when I will be able to make physical contact with my own husband. I feel he has touched Isaac more than he has ever wanted to touch me.”

“Come here! I’ll touch you real good!” I shout towards Miria who was floating behind me. I insert my arm in to the shadow that was floating there.

“No~! It feels weird!” Miria shouts as she flies higher than I can reach.