It wasn't a long walk back to the inn, but it was long enough to plan what to do next. The obvious step was to get stronger, but that brings up a problem. I said I'd be focusing on magic this time around, but I had no idea where to start. Sure, I can use mana to strengthen my body and weapons, I was pretty used to that. But that was completely different to slinging spells.
For example, body or weapon enhancement magic requires you to circulate your mana internally. While spells are external, only using your body to forge the energy and shape of the spell, at least, that's what I heard.
Arriving at the inn's entrance, I pushed the door open. Inside were much more relaxed than when I left it, as most were further intoxicated. A group of locals were playing some cards, with a few coins on the table. A few others were sitting, relaxing with a pint of ale after a long day, doing whatever they do in the village. But what caught my eye was the large table of players, each talking about their day and what they had found, a show of friendly boasting.
Amongst the players showing off several skills they obtained. My eyes focus on the player who sparked a flame in their hands and a young man who summoned a warm light in his hands as well.
I activated [Mana sense] and focused some mana into my eyes on instinct. As I did, the tingling at the back of my neck and moved slowly up my head. As it tickled my brain, I began to feel like a wind was swirling around the inn. I guessed that I was sensing ambient mana of the world, but I had never felt or seen it before, so I wasn't sure. It was a strange feeling as it was like the world was alive and was trying to sense what I was.
Passing through my brain, the mana entered my eyes, and the world drained of colour and became slightly murky as I saw what I felt, mana swirling and moving in a seemingly unnatural way.
As I focused on the players casting magic, I noticed the spells were bathed in a colour that resembling the spells themselves, red for fire and bright yellow for the young man's holy spell. I noticed a thin thread connecting the spell and the player. The thread was colourless as it left the person and connect to the spell.
It's strange, the longer I looked, the more I realised, the thread wasn't a thread at all. It was more like a pipe carrying fuel to the spell, I suspected that without it the spell would fizzle out.
The Elementalist player turned to look me straight in the eye and I realised that I had been staring and been found out. Luckily for me, it seemed that the player just thought I was amazed. However, I had spent too long staring and quickly scurried back to my room having a lot to digest.
Climbing the stairs with my eyes still seeing the secret world of mana. A stabbing pain assaulted my eyes as my brain started to pound, and I felt dizzy. I quickly stopped the flow of mana to my eyes, and the world returned to colour once again.
Entering my room, I made my way to the bed and collapsed onto it, as I felt the feeling of a completely drained mana pool. And the pain in my eyes was probably from trying something that I couldn't handle. In fact, I was lucky that I could still see at all as the mana could have easily burn my eyes completely.
[Mana sense: level 3]
I lay on the bed with a hand on my pounding head. I would usually be surprised at how fast the skill had levelled up, but my pounding head took any amazement from it.
Most skills had only 10 levels and so, are incredibly difficult to level up. If you do reach the max level, then it will evolve into a new skill, depending on if you have the prerequisites for it. Though some skills don't evolve, like [Tempered body] even [Mana sense] doesn't evolve, it simply adds a new skill, as it was a required skill for other skills.
So, to equate those level-ups to actual time, I'd say it'll be around a week of nonstop use, if you have talent in it, that is. But I think the reason I gained so many levels were I had inside information, even if I risked causing permanent damage, which in hindsight was stupid. But I learnt something interesting at the very least.
By the time my mana recovered, my headache vanished, which was a by-product of low mana anyway. My eyes were nothing but a dull ache, so I decided to do some testing as I had a lot to digest and was feeling a bit restless.
Sitting up in bed, I closed my eyes, as they were a bit sore still and I didn't need them at the moment. My plan was to recreate what I saw downstairs myself. Though, I had no idea how I would even go about that. For now, I didn't want to waste my time, so I used [Mana manipulation] to get a feel for my body.
At first, I didn't feel anything and wondered if I actually activated the skill at all. But as I shook my mana about, to see if it was awake, I felt it sloshing around like water in a mug. Now knowing that the skill was in effect, I began to take time moving my mana around my body. I didn't have a goal or any secret technique, I was just getting used to what it felt like. Everyone had a unique mana signature, sometimes known as an aura.
In my past life, it was a habit of mine to meditate, not for any spiritual reason. But to simply focus my mind on the present and my body. But that was because my whole bread and butter was the physical force and my body.
However, I doubt that it meant I had to be an oblivious airhead to be a successful magic user. It's funny though, a lot of magic users I came across were quite oblivious. But that didn't mean I would paint them all with the same brush. I met a lot of magic users who were greedy, materialistic and very present, so I felt comfortable in saying you didn't need to take a vow or something like that.
Reigning in my wandering mind, I was shocked to find my mana was swirling around my body and creating a whirlpool of energy. I could feel my body ever so slightly swaying back in force, which was strange considering internal mana had no form or density.
The more I sat with the swirling, the more I became worried about it, I didn't know what to do, letting it go after it created so much momentum didn't sound like a good idea.
My mind was spinning just as much as my mana was, trying to figure out what to do. 'Maybe I can make use of this.' was the thought that sat on the surface of my brain.
Like skimming the scum off the top of a stew, I began to funnel the energy down into my arms. As I did, my fingertips were the first to become hot. But soon, the heat crept up my arms until it reached my chest and became blocked. My breath became ragged and sweat pooled on my forehead as I felt the force of the ever-swirling maelstrom pushing more energy into my arms.
'I need to do something, or my body will explode!' the fear gripped my heart as I became increasingly worried. Then, something clicked, 'I'm such an idiot.'
Lifting my arms up, I opened my hands outward. Then, I pushed open the doors of my mana.
Suddenly, the sound of wood cracking filled my ears. Opening my eyes, I saw that the wooden wall on the other side of my room had cracked and splintered slightly.
*Ping*
[Force bolt: level 1 *New*]
A bolt of pure mana is created inside the user and then expelled at high speed. On impact inflicts physical damage and due to its magical nature, can inflict damage to intangible enemies.
I was breathing heavily as I read the description. The swirling vortex inside me had vanished, as with a large portion of my mana. Looking at my red, numb hands, I squeezed them slightly feeling slightly stupid.
In my foolishness, I had subconsciously used the maelstrom as internal mana, meaning it couldn't escape my body, no matter how hard it pushed on the doors. But as soon as I let it flow outwardly, it exploded out in such a force that it could have blown my hands and arms to bits. Looking at the splintered mess of the wall, I gulped thinking about what could have happened to my arms.
'Well, at least I'm still in one piece. And I learnt a spell on my own. Plus, my [Mana manipulation] increased by a level as well.'
I felt an itch to try my new spell, but I didn't want to ruin my room any more than I had already. Plus, my eyes were getting heavy, and I felt pretty tired. It was already pretty late and if I stayed up any longer, I had the risk of getting a debuff. So, I decided to call it a night.
As I lay in bed and closed my eyes, a message window opened.
[Your character has entered sleep mode and won't wake up for 6 hours. The capsule will log you out for this period]