Kael awoke early the following morning, his body still sore from the clash with the bandits. He stretched, grimacing as his muscles recoiled in protest. He had taxed his body beyond its limits the previous night, and he'd have to bear the repercussions for a few days. However, that didn't mean he could afford to slacken his efforts.
Reflecting on the skirmish, he realized his performance had been woefully inadequate. His body was frail, his aura reserves meager, and he possessed no magical abilities. All of these deficiencies needed rectification. Although such improvements would take time, he couldn't predict how long he had before his inadequacies jeopardized his life or the lives of his family members.
"It's not enough," he murmured to himself.
He roused himself from the bed and set about his daily chores. Following breakfast, he resumed his training regimen. The physical exertion proved challenging due to the lingering soreness from the prior night's altercation, but his renewed determination for strength enabled him to disregard the pain and his body's objections. Since his aura would hasten his recovery, he wasn't apprehensive about causing injury.
He managed to complete his physical training and mana circulation without incident, but now it was time to tackle magic training. His mana sense had advanced to the point where he could perceive up to 30 meters, although the sensitivity diminished the further out it extended. While there was still room for improvement, he could refine that skill within the confines of his room at night. It was time to attempt mana manipulation. Considering the unpredictability of this phase, he deemed it prudent to practice in the woods in case any accidents happened.
How should he start with manipulating mana? The most basic task would be to move it, wouldn't it? But how could he displace something intangible? He pondered the task for several minutes, unable to devise a solution. Suddenly, it dawned on him that he manipulated mana constantly, specifically the internal mana within him. He didn't employ any physical muscles to direct the mana; rather, it resembled a mental muscle more than anything else.
Could he apply the same method to maneuver mana outside his body now that he could sense it? It was worth a shot. He concentrated on the mana directly before him, and as though he was attempting to circulate his inner mana, he endeavored to shift the mana away from him. Astoundingly, it worked! Kael sat there, dumbstruck. He had never anticipated that it would be so effortless. Perhaps he truly was a genius after all!
The gratification, however, was fleeting. Merely moving mana held no practical utility, and it certainly wouldn't be advantageous in combat. Now, he needed to discern how to manipulate the mana to produce tangible effects. To achieve this, he had to be intimately acquainted with the phenomenon he sought to create. He opted to begin with fire. The rationale was straightforward: fire was the typical go-to element for exuberant mages when they wanted to boast about or elaborate on their magical prowess. As a result, he had gleaned a fair amount of knowledge about it in his previous life.
To generate fire, he required an energy source—mana in this case—and the gaseous substance humans relied on for breathing. He didn't need to fret about the gas since the ambient air contained sufficient quantities to sustain combustion. This made sense, considering ordinary people could kindle a fire using alternative energy sources like wood. Therefore, he simply needed to determine how to harness mana as the energy source. Consequently, he required heat.
"What is heat?" he mused aloud. Then, he suddenly erupted in laughter. "What is heat? What an absurd question. I never would have asked such a question in my previous life. No wonder mages tend to be so eccentric and inquisitive. It's inherent to the very essence of magic."
After indulging in his brief musings, he resumed contemplating the nature of heat and fire. "Fire was... kinetic energy? If memory serves, it was said that fire was merely energy transferring from the source to the surrounding area. Heat was simply minuscule particles in rapid motion. What were they called? Atoms? The fundamental components of the world? Hmmm..."
He had never experimented with heating his internal mana, nor did he intend to. In the best-case scenario, he would merely scorch his insides. How could he go about raising the temperature of mana? Perhaps he could attempt to agitate the mana by rubbing it together, akin to generating a flame by friction between two sticks? It was worth a try.
Once again, he concentrated on the mana before him. Initially, he endeavored to isolate two distinct, small areas of mana. The task proved more challenging than anticipated. It was akin to simultaneously focusing on two separate pools of water and attempting to catch a fish from each with both hands. Fortunately, he acclimated to the technique after a couple of hours. Once he could maneuver two separate pools of mana with ease, he tested his hypothesis and briskly rubbed the two pools of mana together. However, he didn't detect any friction between them. It appeared that mana could seamlessly flow through itself without any resistance.
"Well shit. If there isn’t resistance there can’t be any heat right? The rubbing is what makes the heat I’m pretty sure… Ugh. I’m not cut out for this. I’m much better suited for just stabbing things.” He couldn't help but sigh with frustration.
Rationally, it made sense. Mana wasn't a tangible substance; naturally, it wouldn't be restricted in the same way as physical objects. But then, how could he generate heat? Or was his entire approach incorrect? Was heat simply a consequence of fire, and fire just the result of energy escaping? How could he initiate that process? Mana could evidently interact with physical objects, as he could sense them through mana...
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Rather than trying to sense and manipulate the mana, he attempted to perceive the air before him. Instead of attempting to move the mana, he tried to manipulate the air in the same manner he would move mana. He focused on the tiniest fragments of air, endeavoring to set them in rapid motion to generate enough heat to start a fire.
BTOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Kael was suddenly flung backwards. His body tore through a sapling behind him and continued hurtling until it slammed into the trunk of a larger tree. Bouncing off the tree, an unintended grunt left his throat. His body fell to the ground as he gasped, trying to reclaim the air that was knocked out of his lungs from the impact. All he could hear was a high-pitched ringing, and his entire body felt fuzzy. His mind was in full panic mode. Was he under attack? He had to respond, but every time he tried to stand, the world would spin and he would end up on the forest floor again.
He decided to focus on recovering. While channeling aura wouldn’t necessarily heal him, like a mage that knew healing magic could, it would help stimulate the recovery and speed it up. At the same time, he reached out with his mana sense to try to find whatever was responsible for the attack. However, he wasn’t able to sense anything out of the ordinary.
He was eventually able to stand up, but while not as loud, the ringing seemed to persist in his ears. He walked over to where he was before the explosion to investigate the area. There were some damaged trees, some charred undergrowth, and there was a small chunk of earth missing in the ground below the center of the explosion.
“Uuuueh… What the hell happened? Did I do this?”
Once his thoughts cleared, Kael realized that the timing was too impeccable to be mere coincidence. As soon as he attempted to magically produce fire, the explosion occurred. It was most logical to assume that he had inadvertently created the explosion through magic.
“Well, I didn’t learn quite what I wanted, but that could be pretty useful in a battle. The area is a little small though. And it seems it has more concussive force than anything, considering how I don’t seem to have any burns.”
Kael sat down and tried to decipher the sequence of events. It appeared that he had accomplished at least a part of what he had intended. Yet, instead of igniting like wood, the reaction had exploded like gunpowder. What was the distinguishing factor? Could it have been the amount of energy within the fuel source? Upon reflection, he realized that if a fire started in a forest, it could easily spread throughout the entire area. Was the issue that he hadn't limited the amount of mana fueling the fire, causing it to spread faster than he could perceive? This explanation seemed like the likely one.
Determined to try again, Kael selected a location slightly farther away from himself, in case things went awry. He concentrated on isolating a small pool of mana, roughly the size of his thumb. Then, within that minuscule pool, he heated the air using the same technique. For a fleeting moment, a tiny flame flickered into existence.
“Well, I’ll definitely take that over it literally blowing up in my face. But why did it stop?”
Kael focused on the area and discovered that the spot where he had isolated the mana was now vacant. The small region was completely devoid of mana. It appeared that the fuel source would need to be continually supplied. This meant that if he wanted to maintain a flame, he would have to keep drawing in mana while preventing the surrounding mana from being influenced by his magic. The task was more challenging than he had anticipated.
“Wait, does that mean…” Kael suddenly had a revelation. If a mage created a mana void around themselves, couldn't they prevent someone from attacking them using magic? If there was no mana to power the magic, then it would be impossible to use any magic near that mage.
“Only one way to find out.” Kael said with a grin.
Kael focused his attention on the same area once more. This time, he methodically pushed all of the mana away, forging a spherical mana void approximately half a meter in diameter. Then, he attempted to create an explosion right at its core. As he had anticipated, nothing transpired.
“Magic combat is more complex than I thought. If spells can’t be cast near another mage, you’d probably have to throw an effect caused by magic from outside the zone towards them. A fireball probably wouldn’t work, but you could probably hurl a giant rock at them. Rocks don’t need mana to fall on someone.”
Kael suddenly realized just how fortunate he was to have survived as long as he did in his previous life. He had virtually no defenses against magic that he was aware of. A mage could have simply chosen to obliterate him at any moment.
“Looks like I’m going to have to practice maintaining a mana void around me until I can do it subconsciously. Mages are more terrifying than I thought.”
Reflecting on his past life and what he deemed his incredible luck, Kael resolved to resume his endeavors. He attempted to create a flame once more, this time drawing mana into the pool while simultaneously striving to keep it isolated. It required several attempts, but he eventually succeeded in maintaining a sustained flame within a relatively brief period.
“What if I add that gas that he talked about?”
Kael concentrated on his breathing, endeavoring to discern the differences in the air's composition as he inhaled and exhaled. Gradually, he became aware of the diminished presence of one gas and the increased abundance of another. Kael conjured another flame. This time, in addition to drawing in more mana to sustain the flame, he also introduced an increased quantity of the gas he observed to be lacking after he breathed. Then, something intriguing transpired: the flame turned blue.
“What? Blue fire? Now that’s certainly magic…”
Curious about any potential differences, Kael created a regular flame and approached it. He grabbed a nearby stick to test how it caught fire, then promptly extinguished it. Next, he generated the blue flame once more and approached it. Almost immediately, he noticed that the blue flame was considerably hotter. Kael couldn't help but chuckle at his discovery.
“Would you look at that. Knowledge is, quite literally, power.”