*Tap, Tap, Tap*
Grams paced back and forth around the unconscious boy laying on the floor, cane clicking softly as she stepped.
"Shit... Maybe the boy fried his brain with that last push..."
The old woman's voice was solemn. She had a worried expression on her face, even her complexion was a little pale, looking at the young boy.
She had given him the potion to solidify his new pathways and heal the damage done, as well as cleaning up his bloody visage.
"Nothing to do now but wait!" She decided, pulling her large chair from her pocket space and sitting by the fire, eyes still locked on the boy.
Days passed like this, staring at the boy who still lay on the ground with no sign of movement except the rise and fall of his chest and his slightly twitching eyes. From time to time she'd provide him a pill that could maintain his health so he wouldn't die from starvation or dehydration.
During this time Grams only left the hut twice. She continued pondering over the boy's state, and eventually decided to analyze his body to make sure that he hadn't shredded his brain. She'd held off on doing this because of her anxiety about the situation; if he had fried his brain, this world was surely done for. She didn't think she'd be able to find anyone with as much talent as him.
She puffed out a breath as she knelt beside his small form, placing her hand over him as tendrils of mana seeped into his body.
"Hmm..."
*cough*
The boy coughed in response to her probing his new pathways, his first reaction in days.
"Stop it," he lightly cried, eyes slowly fluttering open to peer at the wrinkled face inches from his own.
"Well, at least you're not brain-dead, boy!" She replied merrily, a shit eating grin plastered on her face once more, as if she'd never been worried in the slightest.
"Now stop lazing about, you've been down there for days!" Grams called as she stood up, heading to get some food ready.
'Days?!' Torrin thought in alarm. 'Just how close was I to dying?! My body doesn't feel too bad from being out for days, though...' he thought, patting himself down after stretching vigorously.
He allowed a trickle of mana to flow from his ring, through his new pathways, to his eyes and they widened at what he saw.
By following one pathway, his vision would enhance by a few magnitudes, looking at a rune on the wall he could see what looked like tiny grains of sand, minuscule bumps and ridges, ringing the inside of the entire rune. The rune was over fifty feet away, and he could see such detail.
He tried another pathway and the world instantly bloomed with vibrant shades of color.
'Mana!' he shouted in his mind.
He could actually see the mana that was flowing around and through everything, the runes looked like beams of sunlight.
Mana flowed out of his eyes and into his brain, the pathway he was most curious about. The pathway that he'd been willing to risk dying to forge.
When the mana entered his brain, he didn't notice anything different. He turned his head and it felt like it was moving through a viscous substance, like syrup--it took him several seconds to move it.
He frowned, returning the mana to the ring and pondering what exactly had happened.
Finally coming up with a theory, he looked towards the fire and tried infusing his brain once more. The fire slowed to less than a crawl. He saw the flames slowly lapping upwards, like hands desperately grabbing at something important, but they moved so slow he could distinguish every detail of their movement.
"Booooooooyyyyyy..." He heard a deep distorted voice coming from beside him and stopped reinforcing his brain.
"--What are you doing sitting there staring into the flames like some addle minded fool?" She finished, brows creased and eyes squinted, hunched over with hands on hips to get a closer look, staring at him as if he really had fried his brain.
He rolled his eyes and got to his feet, he wasn't in the mood to banter with the old crone just yet.
After eating breakfast and meditating to process his meal, he sat looking at Grams, explaining what he'd been doing before.
"Oho! So it worked! Yahahaha!" Her cackle had taken on a new tone, one brimming with unbridled arrogance at "her success".
"Yeah, you old hag, though it almost killed me, I've finished your stupid experiment..." He grumbled, though he too was happy at the result.
"Finished? Boy! We've only just begun!" The manic intensity was palpable, it felt like he was being crushed by the weight of her madness.
He pushed back and the old woman hunched down slightly from the weight of his will.
Eyes wide, she turned to face the boy, shock written across her face.
"That's definitely an unforeseen side effect of the project," she said, tapping her chin in thought, "Your will has exploded in strength. Must have been all the torture you put yourself through."
Seeing her waving her hand in the air as if it was just a trivial thing, Torrin almost lost his mind.
"Put myself through?!" He shouted, the pressure in the room intensified and a flicker of fear passed across the old lady's face, causing him to instantly regret his outburst.
Sighing, he said, "I apologize, Grams... I didn't mean to do that. But please don't joke when speaking about the torture you signed me up for... I've already seen the benefits, but it was definitely a hellish process that no one, especially not the body of a six year old, should have to go through."
His expression was weary and he felt drained, even though he was brimming with energy. Though his mind was whole once again, even thinking about his fragile state after each session made him feel empty inside.
With a serious tone she replied softly, "You're right, boy... I forget myself. Please forgive my thoughtless words. What you've done could only be described as miraculous. You've done something no one even thinks is possible. You've upgraded your pathways to such a degree that even on a high-tier would, you'd be praised."
Hearing her tone, he let go of his anger and weariness. He hadn't done it alone, the old hag had provided the necessary support for him to accomplish this.
Nodding he said, "I understand. Thank you, Grams, for everything. Without you, I would have already been dead just outside Velin, never having a chance to get revenge on those that plan on taking over my old world... Thank you."
He replied just as softly, standing and bowing over his fists towards the old hag. Though the process was hellish torment, he couldn't deny the results. She'd also given him many insights into the Way of the Sword. Not only that, she'd provided him clothing, shelter, and food infused with mana.
'All in all, a shattered mind and endless pain isn't that big of a price to pay for my advancement...'
Grams' usual grin appeared on her face seeing the display and she stood up.
"Alright then, boy, come over here. There's one last thing I want to test, and it shouldn't be painful."
Hearing her words, Torrin froze in his bowed position. Cold sweat instantly adding a sheen to his forehead and back.
'Should I make a run for it?' Quickly passed through his mind before deciding that she'd be able to catch him anyways, so he might as well see what she wanted to test. She even claimed it wouldn't be painful.
"Fine..." he sighed in resignation, walking over to her.
"I've been teaching you runes for your core, but I am curious to see if maybe..." She trailed off as she reached out and grabbed his hand.
She held his hand, palm up, and used her finger to trace something across it. Torrin nearly giggled at the touch, it tickled.
His eyes opened wide as he saw a gleaming black rune appear on his hand, the intent inside of it a mystery, it pulsed with a hidden power.
It felt cool at first, like an ice cube was on his palm, but slowly it began to warm up.
"Uhh, Grams, is it supposed to be getting this warm?" He asked, worry evident in his wobbly shrill voice.
"Warm, is it? Hmm..." She said, holding his hand closer to her face, squinting her eyes to get a better look.
Smoke started to rise from his flesh as it began to burn and Grams quickly wiped her hand over the rune, causing it to disappear, leaving only a slightly burned pattern on his palm.
"Damn it! I thought you said it wouldn't hurt?!" Torrin roared, leaping away from the crazy old lady who wore an expression filled with curiosity.
"Oh, whatever, boy. I guess we can't just apply the runes directly to your flesh."
Torrin thought about what she said.
'If this happened to my hand... Will this also happen to my core? If her plan for my core doesn't work, did I really go through this torture for nothing? Will I not be able to get revenge? Will I cripple my core and not be able to use even basic magic?!'
*Thunk*
Torrin fell to his knees. He looked pitiful with his shoulders hunched over, hair covering his face and eyes that stared at the floor with an empty look. This last thought seemed to have shattered his mental state once more.
"Hmm?" Grams mused, head tilted as she examined the distraught boy.
"Boy, what are you doing on the floor again? Get up! Just because that didn't work, doesn't mean we don't have things to do today!" She commanded, poking him with her cane.
The cane just caused him to wobble back and forth, hair swishing back and forth in front of his face. He looked like a small tree, shaking in the wind.
"Boy?" A slight edge of worry tinted the word.
She crouched down to get a better look at him. Seeing his vacant expression, she snapped in front of his face.
"Huh?" Torrin said, finally coming out of his spiral of depression, looking over at the old hag who was once more beside him.
"Stop playing around, boy, today you'll be doing some fighting."
The words were like a soothing balm to his mind. He had been wanting to fight since he got to this world, but he'd been too weak.
"But aren't I still too weak to fight that group? I don't even have a core!" Torrin suddenly remembered that in truth, he was definitely still too weak to fight those shadows. His pathways were a future improvement, but didn't necessarily add anything to his strength right now.
Grams stood up, rolling her eyes with a huff. "Of course you can't fight them, you're nothing more than a squalling baby in front of giants compared to them."
Her words hurt. Surely he wasn't that weak.
"You've gotten much better at using your sword aura, so that's what we'll be focusing on since you still haven't learned all of the runes, you'll also be able to practice strengthening your body with mana, understanding the ins and outs of your new pathways now that they're complete." She explained, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"Okay, so who am I fighting?"
"Not a who, but a what. I've brought us to a forest that is inhabited by Mana Beasts. Here's some supplies for your trip," she said, handing him a backpack nearly as big as he was with a stick attached to its side.
"You should have enough food to last you three days, but beyond that, you'll need to fend for yourself. I've got some business to attend to, so I'll be back in a while. Just stay alive."
She was already pushing him out of the door before he could ask any questions.
As he turned back to her to ask her something, he saw her in the doorway with a sinister smile on her face, waving at him in goodbye.
"But-" The door closed and in the next moment the entire hut was gone.
"What the hell!" He shouted, running to where the hut was moments ago, but all that remained was a square on the ground, flattened grass in the shape of the small hut.
Sounds could be heard all around him. Bushes rustling, birds squawking as they passed above, and dried twigs snapping.
He immediately removed the stick from his backpack and formed a blade, while simultaneously trickling mana to his brain to slow everything down so he could think.
'Of course she doesn't give me any more information! Sadistic old crone!' He silently cursed her ancestors for birthing such a monster, not daring to cause any more noise than necessary in this dangerous forest, he'd already messed up by shouting.
He stood in a circular clearing, about fifty feet in diameter. He was near the center, and surrounding the clearing were tall trees, the shortest soaring at least one hundred feet up, blocking out the sun and providing shade for the ground below.
Bushes ringed the entire clearing between the trees, dense growth that he could barely see through because he was so short.
He was still only six years old, and though he had gotten slightly taller from the nutritious food Grams made, he was still just under four feet tall, and the bushes would come up to his chin.
The bush in front of him waded apart, as if in slow motion, revealing a Mana Beast heading towards him. The beast must have been fast, because it looked like it was still crawling towards him and he knew that things should have been almost completely still during this state.
The Mana Beast was some cat-type beast, looking like a panther. It was as tall as he was with sleek midnight black fur. Its yellow eyes shone in the daylight piercing the canopy of the trees. Its sharp dagger-like teeth gleamed as saliva dripped from its open maw as it approached to bite him.
That mouth could fit his entire neck inside it easily, with one chomp he'd be dead.
Mana flooded from his ring into his legs, strengthening them and providing him speed. He moved to the side to avoid the extended claws slowly approaching him and mana rushed into the arm holding his stick.
With mana flooding his pathways and strengthening his limbs, he was faster than the beast.
The stick flashed forward, cleaving the beast's head from its shoulders with minimal resistance.
A fierce headache was pounding to the beat of his heart and he let his perception return to normal.
'Fuck! I can't use that very long or often, it feels like my brain is being squeezed. If I sneezed right now, it might just come out!'
Torrin scanned the surroundings, sending his will forward to detect anything. The pain of making his new Mana Pathways had strengthened his will far beyond anything he could have imagined. His will sped through the surroundings as he continued moving his head back and forth, slowly turning his body in a circle to double check everything.
His will was able to stretch almost 100 feet in every direction away from him. He couldn't sustain it being that far away just yet, but he could send it out in a pulse for a quick scan, like the ripples of water when rock a breaks its surface.
He didn't feel anything living besides a few small critters climbing in the trees, or hiding in burrows.
He quickly used his sword aura to cut into the dead Mana Beast's chest, removing the Beast Core.
'So it was a Mana Beast, eh?' he thought, analyzing the translucent orb that seemed lit within by a yellow-tinted light. The Beast Core looked like a marble in his hand, it wasn't big at all.
He quickly placed it inside a pouch on the side of his backpack, and removed a burlap sack from the backpack. He knew that the entire corpse was highly valuable, but he couldn't take the entire thing with him. He took out a knife and bolstered it with sword aura to cut through the thick hide of the beast, eventually removing its paws.
After removing the paws and the four biggest fangs from the corpse, he speed off into the woods, stick in hand with a bloody burlap sack hanging from the side of his pack.
'I guess that cat was the main predator for this area.' He thought as he didn't sense anything near him.
Continuing his journey, he found a few weaker Mana Beasts that he dispatched without much fuss, taking the cores and valuable claws, teeth, or tusks. Each time he fought, he would have to re-make his blade with sword aura as he couldn't keep it up constantly.
After six hours of traveling, he was able to find a mountain range ahead. He thought about his trip so far; He'd killed one orange-tier and four red-tier Mana Beasts along the way, only taking a few small scratches during the fights. He'd learned the ranking system that was officially used from Grams a few days ago.
Mana Beasts with a red-tier Beast Core would be considered a D-Rank Beast. Each color of Beast Core followed the same as Mana Cores; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and Blue, with the corresponding ranks denoted as D, C, B, A, and S. Beasts without a fully formed Beast Core were just considered E-Rank beasts. Their flesh could still provide a small amount of mana if eaten, though, as well as their body parts could still have traces of mana as well so they were valuable.
His mind returned to the present as he saw a small cave entrance in the mountain ahead. He needed to find a place to rest for the night if he was going to survive this trip, and that seemed like his best bet.
He scanned the entrance of the cave once he arrived, noting that there were old remnants of an inhabitant. The cave extended about ten feet in, with a ceiling about six feet high, so he could stand comfortably. Dried twigs and grass from some sort of nest sat against a wall, fallen into disrepair over time. Whatever stayed there previously was definitely not human, and long gone.
He placed his pack on the floor and sat against the wall, sighing in relief. He still had a slight headache from earlier, so he was glad to be done running around. He took the time to cycle mana through his entire body, not enhancing it, but softly providing strength and restoration.
After twenty minutes or so of mana therapy, his headache faded with the rest of his aches and pains, the small wounds on his body already scabbed over, looking like a few days had already passed.
Looking at a healed scratch on his arm he'd received earlier, he could see dirt had been pushed from the wound and thought, 'Mana sure is useful. If I had tried this with Chi, it would have only stopped my bleeding at most.'
He took the time to properly remove the claws from his first kill, and dashed a small amount of water on his hands to clean them. He took the bloody burlap sack he'd been using and went back into the woods a ways, tying it to a tree. He didn't want too much attention drawn to his little cave.
After returning, he took the time to actually check what all Grams had packed for him. He spread everything from the main compartment on the small cave floor before him, analyzing it.
There was a coil of rope, another couple burlap bags, a pouch that contained a few silver coins for whatever reason, two waterskins filled with water, a small bag of dried jerky, a large pack of salt, a thick blanket, a thin book, and a small clay jar with the small word "Emergency" written on it.
Everything he saw was quite obvious in its use, except the book, so he took a closer look at it as he held it in his hands.
'Common Alchemical Herbs and Uses' was written across the front.
'Ah, this should be useful. I'd better read it before there's no more daylight.' He thought.
The book was quite dry, and straight to the point. It had illustrations of many Alchemical ingredients that are useful or rare, as well as dangerous ones. It differentiated edible plants from poisonous ones as well, so he believed this would help keep him alive in this place.
'I wonder how long Grams is going to leave me out here...' he pondered, reaching into another side pocket and finding the sheet of runes he needed for forming his core, 'If she packed this for me, I don't think she'll be coming back soon...'