The group soon stepped in the cave, Allen leading the way Collin at the back casted an Illumination spell that summoned a small ball of light that floated atop of his head effectively lightening the area surrounding them. Lana next to him had her bow drawn as a red arrow made of mana was there waiting for her to release it.
Laura examined the dark cave as they walked, the walls were smooth, no cracks were on the wall nor was there any type of rocks or anything, the whole cave seemed to be a man-made one not one formed naturally. She closed her eyes for a second and when she opened them they were once again glowing, the cave that was as dark as night suddenly brightened in her eyes as the strands of mana flowed through the air.
As she observed the mana as they walked deeper she could see the different strands, the blue water mana, the red fire strands mana, all types of strands were floating in the air but there was one color that seemed to exist more then the rest, a purple color.
The small strands of purple Mana seemed to seep out of the walls of the cave itself, she watched as a small strand came from the wall and slowly floated in the air and got absorbed by Allen who didn't seem to notice anything.
Laura was shocked at this discovery as usually strands of mana tended to avoid people unless one could will it to his body and use said strands to summon their power, a fire mage is more efficient in summoning fire strands towards their body a water mage is more efficient in summoning water ones.
That's how different type of mages came to be, as a person could not be talented with all types of mana. But this particular type of purple Mana seemed to defy logic as it floated towards their bodies on it's own some even flew towards her own.
She turned her head to Collin the mage of the party, he seemed confused as he looked back at her and asked "Do you also feel it?"
"I can see it." She replied, he looked at her his mouth wide open in shock, Allen stopped walking and turned back to look at them confused, Lana also stopping "What happened?" She asked
Collin seeming to overcome his shock shook his head before speaking "Laura, can see the mana strands."
Lana turned her head towards her in shock as the admiration in her gaze seemed to grow, Allen on the other hand looked confused as he asked "I know mages can feel the mana but is seing it really that big of a deal?"
Collin and Lana both turned to look at him at the same time "Are you stupid? I mean I knew floppy ears over here was a bit dumb but you Allen. Tsk tsk" said Collin shaking his head in feigned disappointment, Lana just rolled her eyes at him and said "Don't mind the idiot, to make it simple mages can only feel the mana in the air, they have no idea how it looks like no the general knowledge amongst mages was that it had no shape nor color. Now Laura over here can see it! Do you have any idea how groundbreaking this discovery can be to mages? The things she can see are ones mages all over Eflore would kill to see, it would help them boost their understanding of mana even more!"
Allen just scratched his head and nodded, Collin on the other hand went straight to Laura and held her hand and started to question her. "So?? How does it look like?? Are there really different strands flying around?? Is the color the same?? and and—" before he could finish however Lana came and pulled him back by his color "Move away from her, did you see the look on your face god."
"Haha—it's okay, and to answer your question yes there are different colors floating around and they all have different colors, the fire ones are red, water is blue, air is white and earth is green."
"Incredible! So they actually have colors! But I feel a different type of mana floating around, I feel it in my body as well even though I did not will it to me." Asked collin puzzled.
Laura nodded at him "Yes, I can see it the color of these strands is purple, it's strange as it seems like the walls of the cave themselves are spewing these strands and instead of avoiding us they seem to be deliberately floating towards us..."
Lana scratched her head in confusion "That's strange I never heard of a mana strands willing to be absorbed."
Collin closed his eyes as he felt the mana in his body "Indeed, I don't feel any type of immediate change and I can't seem to be able to expel it from my body either."
Laura nodded and replied "Me neither..."
Allen still confused at the conversation looked at them before adding "Well then if nothing seems to be wrong let's keep on moving."
After a bit of hesitation, the group continued their journey deeper in the cave. They kept walking for what seemed to be hours upon hours with no change in the scenery nor any exit in sight.
Allen who was at the head of the group started to slow down his steps as he began to drag his feet, his vision started to blur as he yawned, a sense of tiredness and sleepiness seemed to overtake him.
He shook his head, trying to shake of the sleepiness as his body slowly started to slow down, he turned around to look at his companions, Laura's gaze was serious but did not seem very much effected, Collin was a bit worse of but still seemed okay Lana on the other hand looked to be on the verge of falling asleep as she dragged her feet her bow hanging listlessly by her side, it was then that he remembered what Laura had said about the Strange Mana.
"Fuck..."