I accepted the offered branch from the white Aurean wolf, taking into consideration my body language at all times.
A part of me understood intrinsically that this wolf pack was grateful that I sent off their former packmate instead of letting him continue onto the path of destruction. That they probably cast him out before the Madness would consume the pack as a whole.
Watching as the wolves left, I saw the pale alpha female throw her head back and let out a mournful howl. The air of loss among the pack made me wonder if Mana Madness really was incurable.
Contemplative about what just happened, I glanced down at the living branch, staring at the green leaves and small, bright-red fruits. The berries reminded me of hawthorns.
[You have been given a blessing, Nori. You have also leveled up.]
I was Level 5 now.
The branch disappeared from my hand without prompting, the AI putting it away, as I straightened up and mentally shook off my last encounter.
Level 5 meant magic. Magic meant fireball! I cackled in my head; the dream spell of any fantasy geek was possibly within my grasp!
[…]
I quickly moved on to find an area where I wasn't liable to accidentally start an uncontrolled forest fire.
I stopped as soon as I found a brook, absentmindedly told 37 to jar me if there were incoming animals that were going to try to eat me, and immediately started. I had hours to come up with various methods to try out based on various fictional systems, after all.
"…"
[Nori, how…?]
I almost missed the flabbergasted emotion from the AI I shared headspace with, too preoccupied staring at my hands with a shit-eating grin stretched across my face.
I made fire.
With my mind.
Pyrokinesis all the way, baby!
[Nori… was there really no magic on your Earth?]
'As far as I know, nope!' I replied with only part of my attention split, focused on seeing if I could shape the lick of flame hovering over my palm.
[I am sorry for doubting you. I will not do so again.]
'Hm?' I could feel him metaphorically recalculating what to expect from me.
[I did not expect you to have the level of focus and concentration needed for something most use mnemonic aids to accomplish.]
Tilting my head as I played with the size and temperature of the
"My older sister is a black-belt judoka though she's mostly swinging around swords nowadays. When she taught me some moves for self-defense, I learned mokuso. Archery also requires a certain state of mind. And, well, I'm just used to getting into the zone," I shrugged as I replied out loud so I could concentrate a bit more easily.
The imagery was also easy, considering fire was basically a chemical reaction. I just used the energy—let's just call it mana from now on(yes, I gave in)—as the fuel. The heat was produced by agitating the molecules and oxygen was found in my surroundings.
Easy as pie.
Of course, it meant I would need to occasionally refuel the fire but the rate that mana was consumed was, logically, based on the rate of combustion. I would need to experiment a bit more but 5MP would last a good ten seconds, satisfactorily enough for a long-distance attack, I think.
After stepping into the brook and successfully pitching the
And wuxia. Yeah. I admit pulling off qinggong in real life would be badass.
I liked freerunning for a reason, after all.
'Right, so I peripherally interacted with gravitational force and velocity with the
[…]
Um.
[Congratulations Nori, you just learned an advanced technique:
I fell with a light splash, the shield protecting me from the rocks of the shallow brook as I lost concentration from shock and stopped floating.