Once again at the training hall, Verum decided to explore his abilities, and he started by casting Flamethrower while having True observance activated.
It was... Fascinating, to say the least, the first thing he could see a stream of blue flow from above the navel, through his arm, and to his palm, turning orange as it traveled, before shooting out of hand, However, he could also see particles of the colors, white and brown around him. White, near the windows, and brown, near the ground, which made him realize that there was a color for every element.
'Orange for fire, white for light, and brown for earth?' He thought, casting Rock throw to confirm his guess. which did indeed turn his mana brown. 'So what about the others?' he thought, casting Ice spike, and then Enhance, followed by Black fang.
'So whitish-blue for ice, green for life, and dark grey for shadow.' He sat in deep thought, 'I could feel the mana, which means I should be able to manipulate it, right?' He activated true observance again, and tried to recall the feeling of coursing mana. However, instead of seeing particles, he started feeling them, entering his body at a slow rate, surprising him, and making him lose his concentration.
'Is this how regen works? It's... comfortable.' He thought, and tried to feel the mana inside.
Suddenly, he felt the mana spinning, and as he concentrated more, he could feel that his mana was enclosed, he tried to feel deeper, but he could not, then he remembered that True observance was not active, so he activated it, and immediately felt a strong suction force that pulled him inside his own body.
'Whoa' Was the first thought that came to him, as he looked at the scene in front of him, 'Beautiful' What he was seeing could mesmerize anyone, A spiral of glowing gold and white streams, along with blue stars. He felt a connection with the gold and blue part, as if he could control them at will, however, he did not feel anything from the white.
Then as abruptly as it came, he found himself back in the training hall, feeling refreshed. 'What was that?' he wondered, and the system sounded in his ears.
[You have unlocked the skill 'Meditate'!]
[You have unlocked the skill 'Mana manipulation'!]
[You have unlocked the skill 'Ki manipulation!]
[You have unlocked the skill 'Rest'!]
'New skills? How did get them?'
[Meditate] [Lv:1]
[A skill that can be obtained by trying to feel the presence of mana in the surrounding area]
[When activated in a state of rest, mana regen increased by 3x]
[Passive: When in a state of rest, mana regen increased by 50%]
[Mana manipulation] [Lv:1]
[Having stepped into the ranks of the True mages, you are able control small amounts of mana]
[Ki manipulation] [Lv:1]
[Stepping into the ranks of the Warrior class, you can barely control the flow of Ki]
[Rest] [Passive]
[When in a state of rest, HP and Ki regen increased by 3x]
'So just by sitting and concentrating a bit, anyone can get these skills? Manipulation... This opens up a lot of new possibilities.' He thought, Looking at the little blue streams of mana revolving around his hand, as a smirk appeared on his face, 'Time to start screwing around with mystical forces.'
And so he began.
*****
Later that night,
"Holy shit, that was intense." Verum was on the ground, looking at the burn mark in front of him, "Should have done that behind a wall or something, yeah, that would have been better." he said, looking at his health bar.
[HP: 87/120]
"It was 5 whole meters away, and still did more than 30 HP. Good news, I have a new trump card, bad news, I can't cast any more spells after that." He said looking at his MP slowly climbing back up from zero.
"Grumble-" "...How long have I been here?" He said heading out of the hall after quite some hours. 'Its night? God I've been in there for a long time.' He thought looking at his people eating by a small fire, and headed there.
As he approached, one of dwarves noticed him, and stood up, making him wave his hand in a 'sit down' gesture, "Any reports to give?" he asked, And the dwarf who sat down said, "Yes, my lord, there has been a problem." Verum looked at him, "Name?" "Brindal, sir" "Alright, Brindal, from now on you are the leader of the dwarves, so tell me, what's the problem?"
The Dwarf was surprised at this abrupt promotion, but quickly replied, "Ah, yes, right. The warehouse has been filled up, and we don't have another place to keep the wood, so we just stacked them by the gate." he said, pointing at the hundreds of logs placed neatly on either side of the gate, "We would like to build another warehouse to store the wood."
Verum looked at the logs, then back at Brindal, then back at the logs, then the warehouse, "Why did you not inform me?" He questioned, to which the Dwarf nervously replied, "We, did not want to, uh, disturb, you.. sir." Verum sighed, "From now on, if you run out of space, or need something, just come to me, alright? Good, now after you're finished eating, go put the wood in the warehouse, don't worry, I'm going to go upgrade it now." He said, and walked away.
[Warehouse]
[All slots occupied]
[Wood: 500/500]
[Wood: 500/500]
[Wood: 500/500]
[Wood: 500/500]
[Bow and arrows: 10/1000]
[Stone: 100/500]
[Meat: 89/750]
[Hide: 27/1000]
[Animal claws and fangs: 79/5000]
[Lesser mana herb: 70/5000]
'There's more stuff! Seems like they've been busy.'
[Upgrade cost: 200 wood]
"Just wood? Okay, Upgrade."
[Upgrading, please wait]
[Upgrade complete]
[Warehouse]
[10/20 slots occupied]
[Wood: 500/500]
[Wood: 500/500]
[Wood: 500/500]
[Wood: 460/500]
[Bow and arrows: 10/1000]
[Stone: 100/500]
[Meat: 89/750]
[Hide: 27/1000]
[Animal claws and fangs: 79/5000]
[Lesser mana herb: 70/5000]
'That's it? The outside didn't change at all! Can I upgrade it more?' He thought, glancing at the upgrade panel.
[Next upgrade requires intermediate castle]
'A level requirement? Then what about the barracks?' He opened the barracks tab.
[Size upgrade lv3: Intermediate castle, 50 wood, 30 stone]
[Quality upgrade lv6: 10 iron, 20 wool]
'...'