I swallowed loudly and laughed wryly. It was impossible for me not to recognize that boy... since he was myself. My same height… my same complexion… and above all, my same face… The only thing that differentiated us was the pure white color of his hair and his blood-red eyes.
"We finally meet… Have I woken you up?"
"I've actually been awake for a long time... Long enough to see what a moron you are," he replied with a yawn.
"Wow, I didn't think you would speak to me directly. I was beginning to believe that you were half-deaf or something like that. Do you only answer when it interests you?"
"Of course."
"I see…"
His attitude bothered me and at the same time worried me a lot. I wanted to reproach him for some things, but at the same time, I didn't know how to deal with him. I kept my guard up, trying not to show fear. He showed no signs of hostility, but he didn't seem very happy either. In fact, my words didn't seem to matter to him... His gaze kept roaming the place from one side to the other, paying more attention to the energy threads than to me.
"You should fix this mess you caused here. What is this lack of control? Put some order at once, moron," he pointed to the thin rivers that surrounded us.
"Put order? Ho...?"
"Yes, that exactly. Well, bye," he interrupted me as he turned around and said goodbye, moving his hand slightly without looking at me.
"Wait, don't leave me halfway! ... Damn..."
Before I knew it, he had disappeared and I was left alone in the dark again. After thinking about it a bit, I decided to listen to him for the moment. I headed back to the empty pool. This was supposed to be where the mana accumulated. I should be able to get it out of there and move it freely to any part of my body.
"The place where I accumulate mana... Put a little order in this place."
I began to scratch my head when I realized the real problem I had... My whole body was a real mess. The energy was scattered everywhere aimlessly. I needed to control it and store it diligently in its place. Easier said than done though.
"Okay, he is right. I will have to fix this disaster…"
I had no idea if I could control that energy at will, but if Mirthia was right, I should be capable somehow. Since I was not gaining anything by simply breaking my head and lamenting, I decided to try the stupidest thing I could think of. I raised both hands and directed them toward the empty pool.
"And now, energy, get together!"
I concentrated as much as I could on that empty container, remembering the moment when I made it appear in front of me for the first time. Surprisingly, as if reacting to my intentions, all the tiny rivers of energy began to converge on top of the container and spill into it. Soon all the yellowish water had been collected inside.
"Incredible... it really worked..."
I watched my achievement. Despite having collected all the water, the container was barely 10% full. Apparently, the amount of energy I had collected so far was not as much as I imagined. Anyway, that was progress. Now all that remained was to find a way to control it correctly… Gathering it, after all, hadn't been that hard, but using it at will was a completely different matter.
I decided to go back to reality for the moment. I got up from the log and threw myself onto the grass, hands behind my head.
"Really, was it so difficult to give me a simple hint? Damn cat..."
I closed my eyes, but this time only to rest and think about it a bit. The forest was exaggeratedly silent. I could barely hear the sound of my thoughts, the wind blowing, and… boom boom… the sounds of my heart.
"Ah! Of course!" I jumped to my feet.
What I needed was to control the flow of energy. In other words: "channel it", create a circuit. I sat in the same place and closed my eyes once more. This time I did not go into my internal world, but I tried to have a more extensive vision of myself.
If I had been able to create a container from scratch, I could also do the same with a few pipes, couldn't I? I created a mental image of what I wanted to build and these began to appear. I was building something like a vascular energy system. After an overwhelming effort, I managed to fill my entire body with veins and capillaries, from the heart, which turned out to be the container, to the tips of my fingers.
"Well, it's done. Now there is only one thing left to do... Circulate!"
I stopped holding the energy in the container and almost instantly it began to flow through all those newly created veins. The moment I had my energy under control I noticed a great change in my body. When I opened my eyes I feel like I entered into a new realm. I was surprised at what I could see around me. No, see was not the right word. It felt like another sense was just born. A mix between sight and touch, something very difficult to explain in words. Anyway, I was able to perceive that energy around me with total clarity. On the ground, in every grain of earth, in the trees, everywhere. Some strands of energy also floated through the air in small amounts.
'Is this really mana? No... definitely this has to be natural energy... The energy that makes up the world... The power from the earth.'
I was still unclear on the concept itself, but there was no doubt that it was the power of the earth itself. Since I had managed to incorporate it into my body, I could clearly feel it. I put my hand close to the ground and tried to attract the energy. Slowly, it was absorbed into my body. Definitely, I did not produce this energy inside my body, I absorbed it from the outside. It wasn't mana, it was 100% natural energy. I no longer had any doubts about it.
I started walking around the clearing, looking from side to side with the face of a stoned idiot. I finally arrived in front of the sacred tree. The amount of energy emanating from there was ten times greater than that possessed by the entire rest of the clearing together.
'A forest filled with a mysterious energy, whose power is even capable of healing mortal wounds.'
That was probably why those cats decided to live there. Although they didn't seem to be affected in the same way as me. In reality, no one other than me seemed to be affected by this energy. Raidha herself did not undergo any change despite falling right next to me.
"Could it be because of Vurtalis?" I wondered as I drew it out.
I had no idea how that sword worked, so I decided to do some research. I nailed it to the tree. The energy began to flow towards me. I dropped the sword and tried to collect energy from the same place. I could, but the speed couldn't be compared. Anyway, it was not even close to the large amount that I accumulated after killing an animal.
'Why does it flow slower than when I kill an animal? This tree should have a lot more energy...'
The difference was like drawing water from a practically closed tap to a completely open one.
"I really don't understand," I sighed as I removed the sword from the tree.
I formulated a little hypothesis. Considering their habitat, forest animals probably stored natural energy slowly in their body and when they died it returned to nature, but it did not suddenly disperse. Thanks to that, I could collect that concentrated energy with ease. It was not the same to fill a bucket than take a full one directly. This was the most logical thing I could think of...
"Anyway... Now, what am I supposed to do with this to use magic? Rather... will I even be able to use magic with this energy? Hmm, mana emulates natural energy... Therefore, I should also be capable... right?"
If I didn't try I would never know. Mirthia told me to try to create that mana sphere first, so I got down to business. The power was finally circulating correctly through my body, there was no doubt about that... The problem was that it was not exactly mana. After trying for a long time to create the sphere, all I managed was to get something like a thick liquid out of my hand.
"Perhaps it will be enough. Anyway, will I need a spell or something? Let's see..."
How I knew absolutely no incantations or spells, I began to recite everything that came to my mind foolishly.
"Abra Kadabra! Earthball! Stonewall! Create golem! Entangling roots! … If digestion is not good, makes mud at my butt!"
"What the hell are you doing, meow? Did you eat a poisonous mushroom or something like that?"
And the catgirl appeared at the moment that I was trying spells with strange and bizarre poses. Thus ended the magical training of the day...