Mana was an odd thing. Henry wasn’t sure if he could call it matter or not. When he used a Skill, he could feel the cool and slightly tingly energy run down his limb, or collect around his beak before the Skill would trigger. He could feel it spread and diffuse around his flesh when he activated Trickster’s Resilience’s effect. He could feel it sink into his flesh to make it tougher.
It didn’t behave like a physical thing. When he studied the cross-section of one of his extremities, he saw nothing that looked like a mana vessel. He saw veins. He saw nerves and muscle tissue, but no glowy-vessel to transport mana. And when he looked at the stump and activated Arcane Regeneration, he didn’t see mana percolate out of his flesh. He felt it move down his arm, sure, but by the time it arrived at the stump, it appeared as a green hue that regrew the extremity of his arm.
But he didn’t think that was mana. Not pure mana, at least. It was the magical effect of the Skill. But what did a Skill do, exactly?
That had been the impetus for all of this. When Henry used Krakenbane’s Wrath back in the cave, to dislodge the tooth, it had felt weaker. As if the Skill needed to have a kraken nearby to work at 100%. It still had given him a boost, but nothing as potent as the first time he’d used it.
It still ate up his mana, though.
So what if Skills were just… mana that had been told what to do? Somehow?
Arcane Regeneration told it to heal. Krakenbane’s Wrath told it to make him stronger if there was a kraken to defeat. So if he was able to tell his mana to do something for him, would that work?
Henry felt that theoretically, it should. Practically though, getting it to move out of his stomach was easier said than done. But he did at least figure out where it was stored.
Through a couple of hours of meditation–after expending a sizable amount of mana–he could feel it build back up somewhere a few inches above his beak and behind his brain, though closer to his stomach and arms.
Getting it to move out of that reserve without using Skill was tough. Why did mana respond so well to his Skills but not to his own will? What were the Skills doing that was special?
Still, he managed to make it move down his arm for a foot or so before he’d lost control over it. The arm had tingled for nearly half an hour after that.
“[Henry. It’s your turn. Taking this long doesn’t mean you’re going to win, you know?]”
Henry glared at the crab in front of him, then moved his knight to defend a rook from Maurice’s bishop.
They were playing Chess. Henry had the board projected in front of both of them, flat–like the website and app he used to play on–and Maurice would use his own illusions to draw arrows for his desired movements. After which Henry would modify the board.
Chess was a good exercise for illusion work and for the Octominds that weren’t on Blood Clone duty. Unfortunately for him, Henry was a middling amateur at best, and the Octominds couldn’t create chess expertise out of thin air. He could visualize the possible outcomes of certain moves better, sure, but Maurice seemed to have a knack for puzzles.
Maybe if Henry used all eight of his Octominds he could force a win. In the meantime, a dreadfully red and giant arrow drew itself on the board. It brought the queen right in front of Henry’s king, and it was backed by the damn bishop from earlier.
“[Checkmate. I win! One more?]”
Henry sighed and reset the board to its starting position. This time he played white–not expecting that to matter much, but maybe he could draw. Maurice pulled a handful of kraken roe out of his Maw and began munching. He was annoyingly smug about his win. Both the crab and the human form.
Henry moved his pawn and Maurice drew his response on the chessboard.
“[Are we leaving soon? It’s getting boring. I’m not leveling from the ants any more.]”
“[It’s barely been a day and a half. We were in the cave yesterday night. The Trickster’s fight was two days ago.]”
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
“[Exactly. I want to see the world. Get stronger. Find more fish roe because you didn’t want to store the Trickster’s. I’m almost out…]”
Henry’s human face shook his head. “[We’ll leave in a few hours. I want to figure out something. With mana. You should work on it as well… I don’t know how useful it will be, but I’m sure it won’t hurt.]”
“[Oh. You mean moving your mana? I can do it already. I can show you.]”
Henry looked down and would have lost his control over the illusion if it wasn’t for his Octominds. Maurice grinned and his human persona stepped around the crab and presented the raised claw. It took a few seconds, but before Henry could say anything, the claw began to glow with a soft white-blue light. When he moved, it seemed as if it left an afterimage that quickly faded. “[See? I even got a Skill for it. It’s called Mana Manipulation.]”
***
Maurice went to fight some more ants while Henry focused back on mana manipulation. He tried on and off for nearly an hour, and, deciding to take a break, he went through all the upgrades he had available in the Aspect Workshop. Upgrading the ones he could afford left him with around 150 D-Tokens.
“I should assign my stats as well… and start looking into the next stat points I can buy. Actually, nevermind that. If every point’s going to cost in the C-Tokens then I should focus on the expensive upgrades first. I probably have to upgrade Alter Physique and Shapeshift Arm before I can get the next six points in any attribute.”
Henry looked through the abilities he’d upgraded. Mind Weaver’s Tongue’s upgrade to E-Rank made his Telepathy into a broadcast instead of single-target. Trickster’s Resilience was a D-rank upgrade, and it made his mana consumption spike. But in exchange, toughness rose significantly as well. Henry had to really, really push to cut deeply into his own flesh.
The last upgrade was Mana Nexus, which also became E-Rank, and it was the most noticeable change. His Mana Vision was sharper and seemed to pierce further into the screen of ambient mana, while his reserves felt thicker. If his mana had felt like thick smoke before, now it felt more like a fresh and electric mist.
“And it does respond to my will better. Maybe I’ll get Mana Manipulation soon.”
It would be nice if the Skill was offered as an upgrade to Mana Nexus instead of a new standalone Skill. Still, he couldn’t help the thought that came to him when he thought of acquiring that specific Skill.
If he actually could move his mana, why would he need the Skill?
“Would be real nice to know what Skills are. Are they like… shortcuts? A way to automate magic?”
Henry planned to get some answers from the System the next time he heard from it. It hadn’t been around the last time, though to be fair, Henry had been a bit busy, to say the least.
“Maybe the next one. I should prepare my questions. Have a list. That’ll have to be memorized because I can’t take notes. That actually should be my first question. How to keep notes.”
Henry glanced up and saw Maurice already coming back toward him. He guessed they were moving on soon.
“Time to work on my traveling skills. But before Maurice gets here, let’s see the gains.”
Even his Blood Clones had evolved. Well, the Misdirection had, but that confirmed that with levels he’d be able to send them further. For now, Henry recalled his Blood Clone and took a quick glance at his recent levels.
Shiftiness of the Trickster (D): Level 5 -> Level 6
Misdirection of the Trickster (D) - Level 1 -> Level 2
Arms of the Trickster (E): Level 8 -> Level 9
Arcana of the Trickster (E): Level 7 -> Level 9
“Not a huge list, but that’s two Aspects on the cusp of an upgrade and I don’t have enough to pay for that…”
Arcana got a good workout though, clearly. Between his heavy use of illusions, Telepathy, and Mana Nexus, the Aspect jumped two levels in two days.
“So many abilities are close to upgrading, and I don’t have anywhere near enough Tokens for all of them.”
Yeah, it was probably a good call to move on from this place. Henry needed a large prey to afford all of this.
He looked back toward the island and shuddered. Nothing as large as whatever had been in that cave, though. Whatever that was, they weren’t ready for it.
Maurice finally reached the top of the slope Henry had settled on and dropped down on his shell. Slowly, reverently, he pulled a claw from within his shell.
In it was a blob of kraken roe.
“[It’s the last bite. I’m out,]” said the crab. A human-face appeared above the shell and gave Henry a betrayed look.
Henry stretched his arms and ignored the guilting attempts of the crab. He’d heard too many already. “[Then you should enjoy it. We’ll try to find some aggressive krakens on our way.]”
Maurice looked up, the sour mood suddenly gone. “[We’re leaving?]”
The Blood Clone arrived and stopped above both of them. “[Yes. Time to move on from this place.]”
Maurice looked down at the handful of eggs, and stored them back in his shell. He nibbled on whatever stuck to his claw, then threw both pincers up. “[Adventure!]”