For the next several days Johan only studied the book regarding elements, as well as different mana types. He had eventually found what he had been looking for.
'Spatial type Mana - Mana that is used to cast space magic, these are magics such as teleports and its variants, as well as distortion spells, making distances longer or shorter. It is rather volatile, and it's also rather difficult to properly gather enough spatial mana to cast spells in a meaningful way.
Usually mages that utilize this magic will create a small mana storage space within their body, uniquely configured to store spatial mana. Due to the strange qualities of spatial mana it never seems to overfill a space, making it potentially impossible to have too much of it. It is recommended to obtain this type of mana after reaching the 3rd construct at minimum due to the cost of many of the spells, as well as the difficulty that ensues with controlling such a mana type.'
Was what the book had said. Of course, Johan would rather not wait, and since he had managed to already figure out how to control light mana more effectively than almost any other mage in the world, he figured that he would probably be able to control it. The real issue he had was how he would even get it in the first place.
The book said that spatial mana was difficult to obtain, but didn't state any way *to* obtain it. Nath probably knew how to do so, given the bag he gave to Johan, but he hadn't left any notes for Johan if he did or not. So this left Johan at a bit of a standstill. It was during this time that he felt that he may as well look into the summoning book more. Summoning magic likely used spatial magic, after all basic logic dictated that if you are pulling something from somewhere else it should involve spatial magic, so perhaps it would aid him?
Johan touched the book, and put just a sliver of magic into it, the book slowly changed as if it was a heat changing pencil, slowly the book had gilded letters forming across the front of it.
*Summoning: The Basics*, is what the title read.
Flipping the cover open he was greeted by a small table of contents, Johan decided he should just read the book in its entirety instead, though he did note that the book seemed to have a chapter regarding spatial mana and how it functions, as well as a subchapter labeled *Capturing spatial mana* which seemed to be exactly what he was looking for.
'Summoning magic starts with knowing how to use spatial magic. It is thus essential to have a collection method for spatial mana. I have detailed here a basic and relatively simple way to collect spatial mana. A warning first however. Spatial mana has the special characteristic of making you feel like you are moving even if you aren't. This is something that can easily make you motion sick. Moving on.
The way you collect spatial mana is simply by wandering. It is also possible to collect it by finding spots of broken space. These spots are often found after imbuement has recently taken place.'
Johan paused there. It explained a great deal about what he had experienced the other day, when Clara had imbued her potions. It wasn't a deep dread, but rather it was the feeling of broken space, and thus the increased concentration of spatial mana. Most mages didn't feel the effects of mana unless directly interacting with that specific mana type with their mana, but Johan was odd in the way that he had started to naturally feel different mana types around him in the manaspace without interacting with it. He supposed it was possibly due to his forming his mana heart, as he hadn't ever noticed this happening before that point.
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This was very good for Johan to have learned about, although he was a bit disappointed that he had thrown away a perfectly good chance to learn imbuement from someone who was skilled in the subject. Well, maybe not thrown away per se, but he doubted that Clara would have enough time for him again this week. Though he would go and find her before leaving to let her know of his findings, as well as ask her if she has any idea about why he could feel mana without interacting with it, since she had many years more of actual training than Johan did.
For now though, Johan decided to continue learning about this method.
'For actually being able to collect this mana you will want to create a special mana construct in the body. This is something that usually involves things like blood and flesh magic, which are both part of nature mana's domain of influence. It is recommended that you actually learn those magics, enough to claim proficiency, before you proceed with the next step.
Once you have moved a small amount of your organs away from the spot you plan to use, I personally used a spot near my spleen, you will want to create a small orb about half a fist big in that spot. You will need to crystalize your mana here, meaning you need to be able to generate enough mana to do that in the first place, so you ought to be at least a 3rd construct level mage. You could do it piecemeal, but that might have consequences depending on how well reinforced your organs are, as piecemeal usually means that you will have a jagged edge or two during the long creation process, but if you can make it a small marble via having great control, feel free to still continue.
After creating your space orb, you will then start to try and find a place that has a high concentration of spatial mana, this is easily achieved by imbuing something and then standing in that spot. After that, try to use your mana to interact with the space, depending on your mana sensitivity, it may take a moment. Once you feel a sense of dread, usually associated with spatial mana as your body can feel something wrong, but also doesn't know what it is, try to capture that feeling. Take that mana and pull it into the orb. Rinse and repeat until you can feel the mana in the orb increase on its own.
At this point, you may be saying to yourself, that sounds like a monster core! That is correct. This was a method devised by considering how monster cores actually function and using that to harness less accessible mana types! Originally it was designed with light mana in mind, but it has proven difficult to actually obtain enough light mana in a singular location to start gathering it organically.'
Johan was impressed at what this book was saying. It seemed that he wouldn't be able to use this knowledge for a bit, but it was still quite informative for him. The idea of using crystalized mana was interesting as well. It was unfortunate that it needed to wait until he was at his 3rd Construct before he could do much with that knowledge however. He didn't know how long that would take, not even having his first one yet.
Johan sighed. He was feeling a bit stuffy recently due to his mana filling up more quickly, though he wasn't sure why it was filling faster. Honestly, he was debating whether or not he should start on his first Construct, so perhaps it would take less time than he thought.
Johan dismissed that thought as soon as it finished, however. He would need to talk to Clara before he did that. He had a general idea of what to do, since it was well described in a book about the progression of magi, one of the several books Nath had given him in the bag of holding, but it helped to have someone to talk to about it as well.
He sighed once more. He wasn't sure he really wanted to talk to Clara again, she had made him a bit uncomfortable after all, but he also desperately wanted to seek council for this decision... He silently made fists, and unfolded his fingers a few times, and he decided that he'd go find Clara. She had told him to come back if he had changed his mind. Now that he knew the feeling was just mana, he didn't mind trying to imbue, and while he was there, he would ask about making Constructs.