The battle ended in the way I wrote it to be—at least, statistically.
On the bandit's side, twelve were dead, four were heavily injured, and eight were left unharmed.
On Virion's side, it was worse. Sixteen were dead, three were heavily injured, and only three were left unharmed.
To top it off, most of their belongings had been blown to smithereens. There was barely anything they could salvage.
The bandits had taken their spoils and their injured and fled.
Seeing all this, I chuckled and turned around.
A piece of silky fabric was falling from the sky nearby.
This was an easter egg that I had written for fun. It was brought here by the powerful shockwave earlier, and it wasn't a simple piece of fabric. It was a piece of fabric that came from the wizard's spell robe.
An enchanted item.
"From what I remember," I picked the silky fabric from the sky. There was confidence in my smile. Receiving a reward for doing nothing was an exhilarating experience. "Recorded in here should be a spell called Telekinesis—"
No... That's weird. My confident smile crumbled in an instant.
It's not Telekinesis.
"Mana Vision?" I muttered in confusion.
I could have sworn that I wrote down Telekinesis back then. I turned the cloth up and down, scanning it for any other anomalies.
"Is it the butterfly effect? Already?" I wondered out loud. Did my non-participation already make such an effect?
That was worrying. If even this small absence affected things, then how much will the future that I've written change?
Feeling slightly disconcerted, I pocketed the incredibly light fabric.
I looked around, and in the distance, I spotted a cave that I could use for my needs. But before I left, I paused.
There was nothing else for me here. That, I knew for a fact. But what if... what if there were some secrets here that I had not originally written about? Secrets that simply appeared when the world itself turned from simple words in a book into a true, real world.
"That's unlikely," I scoffed at my paranoia. "All of the important secrets have their specific locations. I don't need to worry so much."
...
It did not take long for me to arrive at the mouth of the cave I spotted earlier. It was somewhat damp inside, and the sound of water droplets falling echoed every few seconds.
I calmly walked in, not minding the foreboding feeling of a damp, dimly-lit cave. Every footfall of mine was audible and only added to the eeriness of the cave.
This cave was way deeper than I originally thought. I could feel it already.
After walking towards the end of the daylight-lit area, I took off my cloak and placed it on the ground. I then sat down and took out the spell fabric. I looked at the gleaming lights of the mana programs engraved across its thin material.
In came my memories of my [ Spells ] document. They flowed in like a stream of consciousness, seamless and clear.
[]=[]=[]
Spell: Mana Vision
Mana Consumption: Very Light
Number of Mana Programs: 1-3
Description: Mana Vision augments the eyes to allow one to see particles of mana. At low proficiency, Mana Vision only allows one to see lingering mana particles in one's field of vision. At higher proficiencies, one can directly view mana in the bodies of other organisms and observe its flow.
[]=[]=[]
I pursed my lips as I played with the spell fabric.
'If only I got Telekinesis, I could've gained an offensive ability already...' I thought to myself. Alas, reality was often disappointing.
What I got was a spell that was indeed useful, but not for my current needs. I had to adjust my plans because of it.
"If it's Mana Vision, then perhaps I could take that route..." My eyes flashed with a special glint of light. The glint of one who knows more than even the gods.
I placed my focus back on the spell fabric after that brief commercial break.
Memories of what mana in this world was about flooded into me.
See, the mana of Emerallia was a wonderful energy source that all intelligent species in this world make use of. It can flow like a liquid, can create a sort of moisture in the air, can come out of springs to flow into the world, can solidify into crystals and serve as batteries, or can even be stored in a bottle for people to drink.
It was a versatile resource, and it could exist in two states whilst retaining all of its characteristics despite their differing states.
The first state is physical mana. It is mana that you can touch and feel and is stored in one's body. It can be moulded into different shapes or added to objects to strengthen them. Anything related to matter, physical mana can influence.
The second state is spiritual mana. It is mana that is perceived by one's soul or spirit and can be stored there. This type of mana is used to write mana programs to cast spells that influence reality in a totally different way.
Warriors tend to use physical mana and Wizards have an inclination to spiritual mana.
A thing to note though is that mana can only be stored by either the body or the spirit. One vessel must be empty for the other to be filled, or else there will be consequences.
Only those with special physiques, a special technique, and a metric crap ton of talent can benefit from storing both types. If not, then one would be courting death with a smile.
Of course, as the author, I knew of a technique that could allow me to store and use both mana types... but I was a bit hesitant.
The technique was called Body-Spirit Merging. As the name implied, I would merge both my body and soul, forcing them together and forever making them one entity. However, the side effect of this technique would be the fact that death would be permanent. There would be no reincarnation for a person with a merged body and soul.
Not even the underworld of the gods would be able to accept a practitioner of Body-Spirit Merging when they die.
So yeah, it's a bit terrifying to imagine not having any second chances. But since my goal was immortality, I should take this bit of risk for the amount of power it can give me.
I needed everything I could get, after all. This was a world of calamity.