Chapter thirteen
I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamt that there was this illness that gradually turned humans into demi-humans until their bodies could no longer support the transformation, leaving them in a crippled state.
It wasn't in-depth, but I saw a civilization, not unlike the one where my past life came from being afflicted by it. People grew tribal and any chance for a cure vanished along with the global harmony. All that was left was a single doctor leading an organization called… Rhode…? Rhode something.
I guess I'm starting to forget since it's been a minute since I've awoken. I hope I can see it again though.
It's been pretty uneventful since the morning. I had packed all my stuff the day prior so all I needed to do was pick it up and go, which I did well before everyone was up since I woke up early. I literally had to shake grandma for like, five minutes before she got up!
I'd make a pun about how she slept like a rock but I think it's exactly that. Fairies possibly being rock peeps.
After Grandma got up she prepared me a really hardy breakfast. It was a lump of meat on a stick like what adventurers got in my memories.
Awwww..! Just thinking back on it makes my mouth water. Grandma said she special made a broth to soak it in so that even the meat itself was packed with flavor.
So I ate the whole thing, bone and all. My bite force was really insane and the bone was soft from the soak so I just ate it along the way to get a bit of crunch with my savory meal.
At some point, Gydion woke up and came out of the room. He was slouched over with bedhead so wild it made him look like he had a flaming mane. He didn't say anything and just sat down and closed his eyes.
Guess he didn't get a good night's rest, not that I was particularly bothered by it or anything. I just knew the pain. Thoughts of many restless nights were quick to remind me and they suddenly made me feel some kindred spirit with him. Through sheer coincidence, he turned his head and gave me a grossed-out look. I didn't really pay it much attention though.
Once I finished my breakfast we all made to leave the study. Gydion ended up carrying all of my and Grandma's luggage at her insistence. That made me feel pretty guilty, but when I went back to at least get my bag, Grandma stopped me.
From the study, it was a short fifteen-minute walk.
Along the way, we ran into big brother and big sister! Apparently, they were also heading out, though to a different region. Grandma and Big sister chatted about whatever while I ended up talking with Big brother. We hadn't really had the chance to see each other much after he initially brought me back since Grandpa Oberon had given him a lot of things to do as a punishment. Turned out to be good for him though. Big Brother had told me about how he moved up from the lower stratum of mages to a specialized group underneath Master Cain called the "The First Record" Of which he was a captain.
I didn't really have any frame of reference as to how awesome that was so I just nodded and smiled as he spoke. Regardless, I enjoyed the conversation. I think that I hold Poppy in a special place since he is the first person I can remember.
We came up to the portal room and parted ways once we configured two of the portals. Isaea came and nearly squeezed the life out of me by accident as she hugged me, which prompted an immediate scolding from Grandma.
Both big brother and I chuckled a bit before we hugged each other and parted ways.
Gydion came up, bags in hand and on back, and called out to Grandma.
"Lady Tryamon, you still haven't told us where exactly we were going."
Grandma remained occupied with the panel at the bottom right of the massive gate that she was fiddling with while responding to the inquiry.
"And what of it?"
For a second he looked bent out of shape with his face looking as if someone had just spit on his shoe but immediately straightened himself out, Again broaching the question albeit with different phrasing.
"If I know the terrain I can better protect my charge."
Tryamon chuckled and waved her left hand limply.
"I admire your desire to fulfill that parameter, but since I will be along you need not worry yourself with such things."
Gydion rolled his eyes and mumbled something
The portal opened with no announcement, revealing a mountainous forest region among the clouds.
It only took a second of me looking at the portal before my eyes started to heat up.
What is this feeling? Why does this keep happening?
I asked Grandma in the past about my eyes but all she'd say was that they are gifts from the Gods.
After a few moments, I opened them again and made sure not to look directly at the portal.
Grandma looked up at the portal herself before passing through. Gydion and I followed after her.
Passing through the portal felt strange. It was like a thousand tiny licks of lightning had kissed my skin. I held my arm out and observed as goosebumps formed.
Whoa… That's pretty neat.
I zoomed out and saw Gydion looking back at me with a bit of stink myring his features.
"Umm… Is something wrong?" I asked him.
"Yes, you're being slow. Come on, Lady Tryamon is already down at the training ground." He replied in a curt tone.
I furrowed my brow at his attitude but otherwise left it alone. I walked up ahead of him and down from the arch that had likely served as the gateway for us to come here.
We continued down the path for fifteen or so seconds before coming into a clearing the size of a football field. It had a small pond in the middle of it and was scarred from what seemed like the results of prior training sessions. Grandma was standing in the center of the pond of water, waiting for us.
I ran over to her, leaving Gydion behind, stopping just before the water. I couldn't walk on it so that's as far as I was willing to go since I didn't want to take a swim. She began to speak as soon as I arrived.
"Alright. Now we're going to practice projection/manifestation. Generally speaking, projection is a process that requires molds for the mana to take form. This is generally understood as an Incantation. Let me show you."
She held out her arm, which began to glow a faint purple and began to invoke a spell.
"Fireball"
A ball of flame appeared hovering in front of her.
I raised my eyebrows in mild surprise as I saw the display.
"This is the most basic way Mana is utilized and what you will find throughout the world, but this inefficient, or rather, it would be for you. You see, If you're capable of providing a mold for mana without the use of an incantation, you can create new configurations and possibly even entirely new spells. All that is required is the mold. This is why magic favors the imaginative."
Tryamon snapped her fingers, turning what was once a mundane fireball into a flaming bear the size of a two-story building.
"I believe that you are perfect for this and as such, I will not teach you incantations until much later. They become useful as the complexity of the manipulation increases, for example, my wormhole. You're not at such a level though so just focus on trying to manifest something. I'll be carving Mana veins into Gydion while you do this."
Suddenly I heard a yelp of surprise from behind me.
I turned to look and only found our travel bags lying haphazardly on the ground. I turned back and saw the pond completely empty.
I think a younger me would have been surprised by this display, but I just figured that Grandma could do anything as far as Mana was concerned and left it at that.
Anyway! She did give me a pretty good explanation! I already had an inkling that this was how mana worked from the memories I've already assimilated, but the confirmation solidified it.
I held out my hand and thought of a simple dagger composed of water. A ball of water came to be in my hand and slowly took the shape of a dagger. Once done, the dagger fell into my grasp. I held the dagger up and looked closely at it. It seemed as though the water was so densely packed it appeared as a solid. I swung in a downward arc getting a feel for its weight. It seemed to weigh about fifteen pounds.
Hmm. That's a little too heavy for something this short. Whatever I guess, it's my first one so I shouldn't be too hard on myself. I looked around and found a boulder to test the water dagger on and began to head over to it. Once there, I once again swung in a downward arc. To my surprise though the dagger had cut through with zero resistance.
I looked down at the dagger and giggled stupidly before doing a horizontal slash and getting the same result.
Was I actually insanely strong? Oh, Goddess lady! Maybe you weren't such a cheap bastard after all!
"Let's try… releasing the dagger now," I said aloud
I dropped the dagger in my hand and watched as it lost its form as soon as contact with my hand was severed.
I could feel my eyes slowly heat up as I looked at the water.
It's completely saturated in Mana energy, which is to be expected, but still, that made me wonder.
I hadn't given thought to how much mana I used when I cast the first spell so I wonder now if I could attempt to control that.
I closed my eyes and imagined the same mold, but put in as little mana as I could to manifest the dagger.
Another Dagger formed in my hand, but as soon as I took hold of it, it disintegrated into water.
Huh.
So I can control the output… and that didn't take a noticeable amount of effort either.
Let me try to make something a bit larger now.
I held both my hands out and imagined a longbow.
Powerful wind suddenly erupted from nothingness into my hands in the form of said longbow.
I held it up and brought my other hand to where the string would be. A wind string flickered into being. I pulled back and watched as an arrow of pure wind formed. I didn't know how to shoot a bow though so I released my hold of the mana giving form to the bow and let it dissipate.
I was beyond excited! I had successfully manifested my mana with literally no effort at all. I really need to thank the Goddess if I ever get to meet her.
Alrighty. I suppose I should try to make more stuff just to see what my limits are.
Ten hours later:
Uuugh…. I think I expended a little too much mana. My whole body is aching like mad…
I was sitting by the pond, looking at the reflection of the moon. I had spent the entire day trying things out and learned quite a lot.
I could manifest things that I've seen before with relative ease, but the quality of the manifestation would vary greatly depending on how familiar I was with the object I manifested. The more precise I got, the greater its quality was. This also carried over with the time invested. I did learn that I could also pour an enormous amount of mana in to compensate for something with poor structural quality. That was a sink for mana though so being more precise would pay off more in the end.
As far as things that covered broader concepts like spells were concerned though, mana was the only factor that mattered. It could change a small wind breeze into a tornado, Which I made a few of.
What really perplexed me though was higher-level stuff beyond just giving form and utilizing. For example, grandma's wormhole teleportation thing. I had absolutely no way to understand how to even begin manifesting something like that. It just seemed beyond reality.
Well, whatever I suppose. She'll probably teach me one day.
*Yawn*
I rubbed my eyes and laid down, drowsily fighting the urge to sleep
Mana… kinda feels like cheating… If you have a way to mold your mana you can basically do anything…
*Yawwwwwwwwwn*
Oh jeez body, would you stop? I don't wanna sleep out here…
My eyelids became too heavy for me to keep open and so I let them close. Shortly afterward I felt myself slip into the beautiful bliss of sleep.