Waking up with 'Mana Perception' was like seeing the world for the second time. Every morning, as sunlight pierced the forest canopy, I watched the golden threads of ambient mana drift through the air like glowing pollen. The roots of trees drank deeply. Mushrooms pulsed with soft, rhythmic light. Even the insects left faint trails of magical residue in their wake.
If they can use it, I thought, why can't I?
I decided to find out.
For the next several days, I did nothing but experiment. I found a secluded hollow beneath an old oak, where the mana flow seemed strongest, and lied on my lizard belly in the center of that invisible current. I closed my eyes and reached out with my new sense, trying to pull mana into my body.
The first attempt was clumsy. I imagined my scales as open pores, sucking in the glowing threads like a sponge. A few strands drifted toward me, touched my skin… and dissipated. Like smoke through a sieve.
Try again.
I focused harder. I visualized a whirlpool in my chest, a core of swirling energy. I pulled. Mana came—a trickle at first, then a steady stream. It entered my body through my scales, flowed through my muscles, and gathered in my abdomen.
For one glorious moment, I felt full. Powerful. A warmth spread through my core, and I thought, This is it. I'm forming a magic core.
Then the warmth faded. The mana leaked out of me like water from a cracked bowl. Within seconds, my body was empty again. The glowing threads slipped back into the air, indifferent to my struggle.
I tried again. And again. And again.
Morning became noon. Noon became evening. I pulled mana until my head ached and my scales tingled with exhaustion. But every time, the same result. The mana wouldn't stay.
Why?
I opened the panel, hoping for an answer.
Gene Upgrade Panel
[Name: Ren]
[Species: Forest Lizard (Adult).]
[Available Gene Points: 0.2]
[Abilities:]
- Clawed Strike - Developed.
- Grip Jaw - Developed.
- Mana Perception (Basic) - Developed.
[Note: Current species has no natural mana storage capacity. Mana cannot be retained without a mana core or compatible racial trait.]
Racial limit.
The words hit me like a slap. Forest lizards weren't magical creatures. We were born, we ate, we hid, we died. We didn't breathe fire or cast spells. The mana flowed through us like water through a wire sieve—briefly, uselessly.
I thought of the iron mantis, with its unnatural size and strength. The Thornspike Boar, with its bone protrusions. Even the green snake had moved with a speed that felt wrong for its size.
They have magic cores. Or something similar. I don't.
Frustration burned in my chest. But I wasn't a hatchling anymore. I didn't give up.
If I can't store mana, maybe I can use it directly.
I extended my claws and activated Clawed Strike. The familiar sharpness flowed into my nails—but this time, I also pushed a thread of mana into them as I struck a fallen branch.
The result was explosive.
My claws tore through the branch like it was wet paper. Wood splintered. Shards flew. The cut was twice as deep as usual, and the edges of the wound were singed, as if heat had accompanied the blow.
The panel flickered.
[Clawed Strike + Mana Infusion - Temporary amplification detected. Damage increased by approximately 150%. Mana cost: negligible but non-retainable.]
Yes.
I tried the same with Grip Jaw. I bit down on a thick root, channeling mana into my jaw muscles as I clamped. My teeth sank deeper than ever before, and the root cracked under the pressure. When I released, I saw deep gouges in the wood.
[Grip Jaw + Mana Infusion - Temporary amplification detected. Holding strength increased by approximately 120%. Mana cost: negligible but non-retainable.]
I couldn't store mana. I couldn't form a core. But I could borrow mana from the environment, channel it through my body in the instant of an attack, and let it dissipate afterward. Like a lightning strike—brief, violent, and gone.
It's not magic cultivation. But it's a weapon.
I spent the rest of that week practicing. I learned to draw mana faster, to direct it more precisely into my claws and jaws. The amplification wasn't always perfect—sometimes I overcharged and the mana burned my own scales—but slowly, I gained control.
Then I checked the panel and saw something new.
[Next Evolution Threshold: 100 Gene Points.]
[Upon reaching 100 Gene Points, you may select a reptilian species to evolve into. The panel will unlock a Gene Library containing available variants based on consumed genetic material.]
[Current consumed species: Ordinary Dung Beetle, Blade-Legged Centipede, Green Racer Snake, Thornspike Boar (partial), various insects.]
[Suggested evolution paths: ]
- Venomous Skink (requires 100 GP, +venom glands, +agility)
- Spike-Tailed Gecko (requires 100 GP, +tail weapon, +camouflage)
- Draconic Newt (requires 100 GP, +fire resistance, +mana compatibility)
- ???(Locked - requires more genetic data)
One hundred Gene Points. I had 0.2. It might as well have been a million.
But the locked path—the one that needed more genetic data—made my heart race. Draconic Newt already had mana compatibility listed. If I could unlock something even closer to a dragon…
I need to hunt. I need to eat. I need to grow.
The next three weeks became a blur of violence and consumption.
I hunted every morning, every evening, sometimes through the night. My adult body grew larger than any forest lizard should—my scales darkened to a deep bronze, my claws lengthened, my jaw muscles bulged. By the end of the second week, I was nearly forty centimeters in body length, with a tail that stretched another fifty. I was a monster by lizard standards.
I devoured frogs, snakes, large insects, and even a small bird that made the mistake of nesting too low. Each meal added Gene Points—tenths, sometimes halves. The panel's total climbed slowly but steadily.
Week 1 total: 12.7 Gene Points
Week 2 total: 31.4 Gene Points
Week 3 total: 58.9 Gene Points
And then, on the twenty-second day, I found him.
The brown lizard. The house-cat-sized predator from my hatching nest. The one who had crunched my siblings like popcorn.
He was basking on a sunlit rock, his mottled brown scales gleaming, his lazy reptilian eye half-closed. He had grown fat on the forest's smaller creatures. He didn't see me approaching.
I was no longer the tiny hatchling that fled from his shadow.
I circled downwind, my bronze scales blending with the fallen leaves. My heart pounded—not with fear, but with cold, focused rage. I channeled mana into my claws before I even struck.
He sensed something at the last second. His eye snapped open. His head turned.
Too slow.
I leaped onto his back and drove my mana-infused Clawed Strike into the base of his skull. The blow cracked bone. He thrashed, his tail whipping, his jaws snapping. But I was bigger now—almost his size. I locked my Grip Jaw onto his neck and poured mana into the bite.
His struggles lasted less than a minute.
When he went still, I sat on his corpse and breathed. The forest was quiet. Somewhere, a bird sang.
For my siblings.
I ate him. Every scale, every organ, every scrap of flesh. It took hours.
[Mottled Brown Predator Lizard consumed - Obtained 18.3 Gene Points.]
[Total Available Gene Points: 77.2]
I was dragging the last of his bones into my hideout when I heard the voices.
Human voices.
I froze. My mana perception flared—and I felt them. Three warm, bright signatures moving through the forest to the east. Their mana wasn't ambient; it was controlled. Organized. Each signature had a core of concentrated energy, small but dense.
Mages? Hunters?
I pressed myself into the shadows beneath a root and watched.
They emerged from the treeline—three humans in leather and cloth, carrying spears and bows. Their faces were sharp, focused. One of them, a woman with cropped hair, held a crystal that glowed faintly in her palm. She pointed it toward my hideout.
"There," she said. "Something big. The residual mana is fresh."
The tallest human—a man with a scar across his cheek—nocked an arrow. "Beast core?"
"Maybe," the woman replied. "Or something else. The reading is strange. Not quite a beast, not quite empty."
My blood turned to ice.
They're hunting me.
I backed deeper into the hollow, my claws scraping against dirt. The crystal's glow brightened.
"It's close," she whispered.
Damn it.