Elanore looked out from a hilltop at the edge of a forest. They finally reached a change in scenery. Before her eyes, grasslands spread out over the terrain. Intermingling with the blades of grass were flowers, and from a distance, Elanore saw the beginning of a road.
The befuddlement she'd felt earlier when Naela hugged her finally faded. She could now look at the wyvern at the very least, and Elanore pointed ahead. "Grasslands. How does it feel to be away from your homeland and seeing something new?"
Naela chuckled. "This is not new for me. I've seen these grasslands before, mistress. This is not far from where I originally met that wizard."
Ooh, is it time for some not-dragon backstory? Though, no matter how much Elanore looked at Naela's face, she didn't discern that the wyvern wanted to continue. Ella shrugged and pulled two vials of energy drink from her inventory.
[Epic: Vial of Energy Drink - A vial crafted by an enigmatic, delusional witchpire. It gives the user a large boost to their energy and improves focus. ]
The vampire grinned. Who would have thought these would be the first proper potions I created? Just kidding...I knew they would be!
"Mistress," Naela said, "what is the plan today? And can I have one of those?"
Elanore nodded and handed one of the energy drink vials to her wyvern. She watched as Naela chugged it down, and excitement bloomed in the wyvern's wings. The vampire looked down at her own vial of green liquid, and she brought it up to her lips. The taste of sour green apple permeated into her mouth, and she felt that familiar jubilation returning to her.
At one point in her past life, she'd felt anemoia for the place she is now—nostalgia for being in another world, despite never setting foot. Considering she was in a different world now, Elanore's feeling of longing disappeared, but she had a problem.
The vampire sighed. "It seems that I will need to do some magic practice."
"Magic practice?" Naela asked with a tilt of her head. "What more could you need to practice. It seems that if you practice anymore, mistress, the entire world might be…"
Pot stopped her with a flapping of his wings. "I think that her majesty references something else."
Ella nodded. "Indeed, I am not talking about my overpowered capabilities. I am talking about finding a way to use them properly. I don't want to cast a spell and destroy some part of the world unintentionally."
"Oh, that makes sense," Naela said. She placed a hand to her chin and looked up towards the sky. "Though, how do you plan to do that, mistress?"
"I have the ability to manipulate mana, so I should start there. This whole time I have been basing my spells of the ones from the game…"
"The ones from the game?"
"Yes," Ella said, "in the game, spells were more limited. While players had freedom, there wasn't really a way to make completely unique spells. However…"
Elanore channeled mana into her staff, and a pink mist formed on the tip. It spread out and coated several blades of grass, and an entire patch disappeared into her inventory.
"Mistress, what's…"
The vampire put her hand up. "You see, there is only a patch of dirt there now. This was me using my inventory spell. However, I intuited it. I have been doing this for a while for this one particular spell, so I have been wondering if I can do that for all spells. How do you cast magic?"
"Me? I don't know. It's like a voice in my head, and I am able to cast the spell with words or thought. Though, for a couple of them, they became skills, and for those I don't need to even think it."
"Exactly!" Ella cheered, waving her staff around. "The magic system of this world is strange. I've been getting a voice in my head as well. At first, I didn't understand it, but I've come to realize that the voice is like a muddied version of my own."
The wyvern tilted her head. "Mine is not like that at all. It's more incoherent and not in any particular language."
I wonder if that's because she's a wyvern? Or perhaps that is a setting unique to this world, and my character is somehow different? Wait, I should definitely try that thing again…
Elanore closed her eyes for a brief moment before allowing mana to flow into her purple jewels. Once she opened them, the entire world changed once again. It was like staring at the world with a whole new spectrum of colors. The blades of grass blowing in the breeze took on an otherworldly hue. It was like little pink shadows being cast from the glade.
Speckles of white lights danced in over the grass and blinked like little fireflies in the broad daylight. Even though the world through this lens was beautiful, it gave Elanore a strange feeling. It was like someone who only ever looked at a blurry world being given glasses for the first time. It evoked a feeling of awe, but it also made her realize the world's imperfections. Elanore stared into the abyss of drowning inadequacies, and the abyss stared back.
"Mistress?"
Elanore blinked once again, and the effect ended. "Sorry, I was checking something."
"Your eyes were glowing. Was it some kind of spell?"
The vampire looked at Naela and for a second considered using the sight on her but decided against it. "It wasn't exactly a spell. It was more like the absence of a spell."
"Huh?"
"It means those are my eyes' natural state. In this state, I am reversing them."
Naela's eyes widened. "Oh, why does the mistress hide such beautiful things?"
Elanore's face flushed. "It's not like I want to hide them, but using them takes something away from the world. But...it seems that using them would add to the world as well."
"I don't really get it, mistress, but I believe you. What about what you were saying before? What does this have to do with practicing magic?"
"Oh, that's right…"
Elanore looked towards the field once more, and she blinked open her eyes with her [Vampire Sight] activated. Once again, she channeled her pink magic up the staff, and the mist started forming in the air.
Only, this time, she could actually observe what those strange blinking white lights did. They funneled towards her as if she was a vortex sucking them in, and each of them turned into pink specks. When she willed the pink specks to touch another grass spot, they coalesced into a large pink bubble. It was like a swarm of pink insects eating up the grass, and then on cue, the grass popped up into her inventory.
[Congratulations! You have observed mana manipulation in its truest form! Vampire Sight upgraded!]
Elanore's mouth opened and closed. She looked towards Pot floating off to the side of her. "Say, you said that when you were formed it was from the will of spirits or something right?"
Pot nodded his entire body up and down. "That's correct, your majesty. The will of spirits formed this consciousness."
Elanore put a hand to her chin again, straining her brain for answers. Does this mean that I am controlling the consciousness of spirits when I do magic? Is this some kind of spirit magic?
"Mistress, I am starting to get hungry again…"
Elanore chuckled and put away her thoughts on magic and spirits for a moment. "We can try to follow that road ahead. I think there will be another town or village that way. They might have good food."
Naela didn't answer, but her tail waved excitedly behind her.
The vampire grinned. "I will take that as a yes. This will also be another good endeavor, and on the way, I can read more about enchanting."
"Did you start that book, mistress?"
Ella nodded as they started walking through the grassy fields. "I have a feeling that all of this knowledge will come in handy when I am making the ultimate energy drink empire."