Yay, more chaps
Second chapter of Sunday, 2 more for Monday.
See ya!
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"A Cycle?" Dale asked, curious
"It seems you are unaware of this term despite reading a book about Mana Circuits… But it's fine, perhaps it was such a basic concept that the book glossed over it, or explained it in a way that makes you unable to recognize this term..."
"It's not a difficult concept to understand."
"Well… I didn't finish the book yet…"
'To be more precise, I didn't memorize everything that I read, much less actually comprehend it.'
"Oh? What do you know then?"
"Hum… So…"
Dale started his explanation, telling him what he knew about the Veins and Arteries, the pathways… Pretty much, what he still remembered.
…
/15 minutes later…/
"And that's about what I can recall right now."
'My mind simply went blank… I hate this feeling when your mind goes white when you try to remember something…'
"You know quite a lot for someone who started studying this a few hours ago…" Testros praised
'His study speed is remarkable.'
"One of the few things I can say for certain about myself is my ability to study." Dale said with a thin smile
'I even have a Skill for that… Although in the real world, it would be nice to have it now...'
'Now that I think about it, do my Skills in the real world change despite me being here? That would be interesting to experiment on...'
"We'll see about this later, for now, focus on the matter at hand."
/Cough…/
Testros cleared his throat and continued:
"I want you to imagine a shape… Any shape really, as long as it's simple to remember."
"In my case, I found it the simplest to image a sword, but some find it easier to image other shapes like strings, balls, and cubes."
"There is no importance to what shape you imagine, this is just a simple exercise and not some type of trial where the complexity of the shape matters."
"Once you think of a shape you're satisfied with, I want you to try and have a portion of your Mana mold into that shape."
"Be conservative, there is no need for you to employ large quantities of Mana at once for this little experiment."
"Also, remember the amount of Mana you used, that will be important, but if you can't remember or find it difficult to pay attention to, don't worry about it and just let it go."
"Hum… I got it."
"Think of a shape, and have a portion of my Mana follow that shape?"
'I can do that… Can I?'
"Yes, if it helps, you can think of your Mana filling an empty space with the shape you want, or anything of the like."
He pulled out a book and said:
"In this book, for example, it says you could imagine your Mana to be a river, and the shape you desire to be a bucket or any similar container, and have it slowly pour inside it."
"Once your Mana is shaped and stable, move it from your Vessel to your left arm, and then towards your left leg, next to your right leg, and following that, towards your right arm."
"Finally, move it towards your Heart, once you do that, I'll continue with this experiment."
"A disclaimer, it's really important that you follow your blood flow, don't try to go against it, I'm serious here, the moment I see you doing it I'll knock you out without a shred of hesitation."
"What would happen if I went against it?"
Testros let out a small sigh, expecting him to ask such a dangerous question.
"... Mana has a certain consistency to it."
"Normally, your Mana is attuned with your body, causing little to no resistance as it moves around it, the most it would cause is heat."
"This resistance is what we call Base Affinity, the less resistance your Mana has on your body, the higher your Base Affinity…"
"It can go from flowing smoothly, to being hurtful, some people have such little Base Affinity they would even get sick from getting in contact with decently high concentrations of Mana."
"However, the resistance will never be 0, and hence, even if you were to have high Base Affinity, if you were to move against the flow, it would cause the pressure within your arteries to shoot up, and possibly cause internal bleeding, or even, serious damage to some of your organs."
"This can be reduced with precise control and other factors, but for now, think that this conversation never happened."
'Some techniques do employ the reverse flow as a method but...'
'Even for me, this concept is still new, each page of these books is enriching my mind with the knowledge I've long longed for, giving me answers to questions I had and to some I didn't even know I had.'
'So I can't say for sure if what I said is correct, the best I can do is try to have him walk in a path I know of, at least until he has what it takes to go on his own, with the power to deal with the consequences of his own actions.'
"Pressure huh… It's certainly something I don't want to feel." Dale mumbled to himself
"Still, you said all 4 limbs and the Heart, what about the head? Wouldn't it be part of the Cycle?"
"It is, but forget about it for now."
"No one starts training with a real sharp sword, a kid plays with a wooden sword first, so do yourself a favor and learn how to move it around your arm without mistakes instead of committing them inside your head."
"I don't think I need to go over what would happen if you were to commit a mistake there, right?"
Dale shook his head, he was merely curious, and to be honest, he expected this response.
"I'll start." He said in a low tone as he closed his eyes
'A shape… I think I'll do it like him, I'll simply imagine a ball…'
Inside his chest, a portion of his mana slowly gathered, becoming a small ball.
'Okay, that was simple enough, now, move it to my arm.'
Following what he knew about the internal Circuits, he tried to move the Mana through them and found the process to be rather smooth-sailing.
From his left arm to his legs, and back to his arms once more…
However, as he moved it back to his chest, he finally felt… Sore.
Just like when you push a weight several times and towards the end, your arm simply doesn't want to move anymore…
Against his expectations, Dale still lost some stamina after a single Cycle.
And once his Mana went back to his heart he said:
"Okay, I did it."
"2 minutes 32 seconds."
Dale opened his eyes suddenly.
"That long?"
'I swear, I thought it had been lower than a minute…'
"That's normal, when in deep focus, people can lose their sense of time…"
"Alas, enough of that, there's work to be done."
Testros pointed towards Dale's chest and asked:
"I told you to remember the quantity of Mana you used, do you remember that?"
"Yes, I do… Although I lack the words to convey how much that is…"
'A mouthful? A spoonful? A teacup?'
Testros shook his head.
"That is irrelevant, what I want you to do is compare."
"Tell me, how much Mana is there remaining from your starting point?"
Dale pondered for a moment before having a slight 'Eureka!' moment...
"Huh?!"
Dale now understood what Testros was trying to achieve with this exercise.
'This is… Unexpected… But uh…'
"I would say… A little over 80%? I lost quite a substantial amount, I wasn't paying attention to retaining it."
'If I were to try again with that in mind, I would surely be able to retain more of it.'
'But then, wouldn't I take longer… Hum…'
'Why did I lose a part of it in the first place? Interesting questions…'
"80% You say?... Good."
'That's considerably more than I had expected… As always, he went over my expectations.'
'And this is just the start, he'll become faster and better at this, and one day, what he took 2 minutes and a half to accomplish, he'll do it within 1.'
'Although it's shameful to admit, it took me 3 years to perfect my control and do that...'
'But for him, this is a good start.'
"I'm starting to have an idea of what you can do… But this is enough practice for now."
He grabbed another thin book and passed it to Dale.
The Book read: Origin of Mana, Volume 1, Ver 13
"Read this book, once you're done, we'll continue."
'There is power in knowledge... And Dale needs it.'
Dale grabbed the book with an interested gaze, although he felt disappointed that they would be stopping practice for now.
"Aside from this, do you still have the other books? I need to look for some things."
'Although I think all of these books should be enough, I know there are some others that could help enrich his mind.'
"I'm not with them..." Dale replied as he shook his head
"Fortunately, I already found a place to stash those books, they are currently with Misgurd in the Guild, you can go there anytime now."
"In fact, he told me to spread this news to everyone in the Village, if they wish to, they can go there and study whenever they wish."
"Oh? Perfect." Testros replied as he got up from his chair
'Another reason for me to go there... Although I'm in favor of sharing information with the Village, some books contain sensitive information that could potentially give some bad ideas...'
'Especially for the Kids... Perhaps I should be thankful that most of them don't know how to read...'
"I'll go there and grab what we need, in the meantime, you read the book."
"If you're done with it before I come back, read it again."
'I'll have you memorize that book completely, there is nothing more important than understanding the basics properly.'
He started to walk towards the door, but he stopped midway, saying:
"Don't even think of slacking off."
"I understand..." Dale replied as he turned his face towards the book
"..."
Testros smiled.
/Creak…/
He opened the door, and left outside…
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Notes