Cage and Andrew both sat on the floor, they were trying to increase their mana control but for different reasons. Andrew was doing so to increase his strength and hopefully find a way to restore his soul. Cage was trying to get acknowledged by the mana so he could advance to Stage One.
Unfortunately, Cage had currently hit a road block. He had increased his mana control to it's limit that his current Stage would allow, but he was unable to advance. He figured he still needed that final push to reach Stage One. Whether it was a good or bad thing, it forced him to slow down.
'Hmm... How can I reach Stage One? I reached the limit of my mana control, but what does that do.' Cage was in deep thought, if he wasn't even able to reach Stage One, then he would never be able to recover his memories... he felt like he had all the puzzle pieces in place but was missing one piece. The puzzle in question, was like trying to build it face down though.
Cage thought about how Andrew used his wind blade skill. It was made up of mana, but was able to deal damage to the target. He also thought back to the battle between the crawlers in quadrant 7. Back then, he had seen flame swords and rock barrages from his mother and another mage who he didn't know the name of.
'How can mana be everything but nothing at the same time?'
"Old man, what exactly is mana?"
Andrew's head shot up, he opened his eyes and had a confused look on his face. "Eh?"
"..."
"Were you asleep?"
Cage had a look of disbelief on his face. The man who had just given a small speech about how he was going to get stronger and wouldn't give up, had fallen asleep. He had to ask himself who was really the child here... Cage could only sigh.
"I was just going to ask what exactly mana is. I know it's an energy, but that's about it."
Andrew was a little stunned. Although he knew Cage was a genius, he certainly didn't expect such a complex question from someone who was only four years old.
'His intelligence and maturity is truly scary...'
After thinking about it for a moment while Cage waited patiently, he finally had an answer; well it was only the best answer Andrew could give based on his limited knowledge. He was a warrior, not a scholar after all.
"That's a tough question, but to summarize I would say that it is like a sentient energy-based tool. We are able to use it as energy to perform spells or activate skills. As such, it is like a tool in that aspect. It also kind of has a mind of it's own, even to this day we have barely even scratched the surface and even that would be overestimating what we know about mana."
Cage nodded, it didn't really answer his question but he thought he had a better understanding. "Thanks, it helped a litt-"
As if lightning had struck, he realized the missing piece that he didn't understand.
"... That's it! That's what I was missing!"
Cage immediately sat down abruptly to focus. If his theory was correct, then it would be great. If not, then it would be a large setback...
'I can't believe I missed that...'
Cage had realized that mana control without a purpose was as good as his mana collecting dust. He also quickly realized the way he could advance. He currently had half the 'formula' for a skill. Half of it was mana control, the other half was mana technique. While they may seem similar, they are incredibly different. Mana control is like the skills a mechanic would need to build an engine. Mana would be like the engine parts. Mana technique would be like the blueprint or instructions to build the engine. You need all three to be able to build a functional engine. Cage had the mana and mana control he needed, but not the blueprint.
Seeing Andrew's earlier display of his Wind Blade, he naturally wanted a skill of his own. Andrew had said that that was probably the weakest attack skill in his arsenal, but the damage it caused was enough to cut clean through a normal person. That by itself should already be a testament to skills potential strength. Thus Cage asked Andrew, "Andrew, how do I get a skill?"
Andrew turned to Cage, "You need to create it, but normally you would need to be Stage One. I don't remember if I told you or not, but at Stage One your mana sense becomes strong enough to sense elemental affinity's and discover your own affinity."
"No matter the person, they must create their skills by themselves. There are a few exceptions like special treasures, circumstances, or bloodlines, but for the most part to have a skill one must create it. "
"If a mage wanted to learn a basic spell, books exist that can guide them and tell them the theories to make said basic skill, but it will ultimately be up to the mage to create it. To make one you need to make a rune formation in your mind. The hardest part will be the first time, but after you build it once, it will be imprinted on your mind and you will never forget."
Andrew's explanation was helpful. Now he knew that he needed to create a skill using a rune formation, but he had no clue how to make one.
'This is going to be something I'll have to discover my self, if I'm not even able to do this then I should just crawl and die in some corner or rot away here...'
Cage closed his eyes and began to tune out his surroundings. He figured that this would be by no means an easy task, the slightest distraction could probably make him either restart or cause him to fail.
Cage felt the mana around him. He let it enter his body but unlike before, he didn't send it to his soul. Cage sent it his mind. Hour after hour went by, and nothing happened. Cage was about to give up when he felt a similar sensation to when he received his method. A surge of information rushed to his mind, it was the information on runes and rune formations.
'Why did I get this information from the mana? Does just sending mana to different parts of your body randomly give you information? I doubt it, but I'm not one to complain because this information is what I needed...'
Going by the information he received, a rune formation was an inscription that was made up of, you guessed it, runes. The runes were complex and a single formation could contain thousands of runes. A rune formation was like a computer program, and the runes would be like the lines and classes of code. It would take a lot of trial and error, it would also take a lot of time.
With renewed vigor, Cage set off to make a skill. He had an idea for his first skill, but it would be difficult to make the formation for it. He had yet to know his or even sense elemental affinities so he couldn't make any attributed skill. Cage figured that there was no sense in Andrew explaining something that would only complicate his understanding more.
Although he couldn't use any type of attributed mana he could use plain mana, otherwise known as neutral magic. It could be used by anyone regardless of their affinity. As such, it was the best option for Cage (and his only option).
If one stopped building a rune formation it would collapse. So Cage was forced to work on it without stopping. He entered a trance where it was like he was on auto pilot. If you looked at his eyes, you would find them glossed over and like he was looking at something distant. Doing this, he was able to keep working on the rune formation.
It was tedious work, every single rune had to have a purpose and instruction. Only when they all fit together and had a unified front would they make a skill. After toiling over his formation and with hundreds of attempts to make it, he finally had a perfect success. Cage had already succeeded before on the first day he tried, but the skill's mana efficiency was horrendous.
He had discovered that skills had something that he called mana efficiency. It was like how with a program, they take up storage space and resources of it's hardware system but can take up less with a more efficient program. If he had to describe his first success' efficiency, it would be like using a nuclear power plant to give energy exclusively to a light bulb. Now, he had made the best possible rune formation his current skills would allow. It could be considered peak efficiency for his current Stage.
After two weeks, he had finally had made his skill. He could feel his thoughts begin to slip away, 'No wonder they say that you need to be Stage One to make a skill. The mental drain is no jok-...'
Cage didn't even have an opportunity to test his skill. While he slipped into an unconscious state, his Soul released a burst of mana. It wasn't significant, but every soul cultivator in the short vicinity felt it.
Andrew was once again, shocked. 'I've thought this before, but this kid is a true monster but even that would be an understatement... He only started increasing his soul strength two months ago and he already... I can't believe it...'
The stronger existences nearby felt it as well. they all felt the mana fluctuations of someone advancing to Stage One...