At the end of the day with my work having been completed, and the business of the dungeon done as well, the light had faded so I was left in the dark only the set of sounds echoing in the chamber.
One of course being the sound of my own heartbeat and breathing, the other... was my stalkers breathing, she still just followed me around even triggered more than a trap or two but eventually she started to recognize and avoid them so perhaps she's more like a dungeon tester?
Either way if she doesn't do anything I wont do anything back, after all this game has an infamy counter so I certainly don't want to do anything that could get me flagged as an enemy.
So with her on her side of my room and me on the other i took a seated position, this i figured would be best for my next stage of growth, to enhance my crafting skill i needed magic but since my limitation was set, my only option for obtaining magic or the ability to use it would be to find that out for myself, I did gather information in the city but that can only go so far and the more in-depth analysis that could be gained from books are outside of my reach.
So sitting in my meditative stance with my legs crossed over one another, i closed my eyes falling ever further into the darkness.
Inhale* *exhale*
Inhale
Feel the mana in my body, the guy said it should feel like a liquid flowing throughout my body so lets envision it as being something that flows alongside my vascular system.
Think think think
thump thump
thump thump
All this focusing has allowed me to sense my own pulse which is odd since i shouldn't have one when inside of a game...
But even still while feeling my virtual blood circulating throughout my body i didn't feel my mana...
Though there is an odd sort of feeling.
It's almost like if i heighten my senses and focus super deep there are points in my body that feel like are blocked up with concrete or something.
As i continued to focus i figured this might be the mana though it was described totally different to me, but how does one move hardened concrete within their veins?
Going with the most obvious answers first i tried to saturate the block areas pushing all my my focus to them with the mental image of the blockage absorbing liquid becoming squishier
While the feeling became a little different the blockage wasn't cleared and as soon as i stopped focusing it dried right up again.
So next up would be to try again but this time throw in some brute force to punch some holes in the hardened mass.
The hours passed as i continued my training lost in my thoughts but even with all that time i barely managed to poke pin prick sized holes into the blockages throughout my body, but from those a feeling like thick molasses could be felt flowing beside my own blood, but with all my progress nothing happened when i tried to move that mass of assumed mana around, focusing in my hand i tried to generated everything from the four elements, fire water earth air even light and darkness to no avail.
Next after taking a handful of dirt from the floor i then tried to pour it into the soil and see if i could manipulate it rather than summoning the substance with the mana but even still nothing happened.
In the end though i made progress, i had yet to achieve true magical proficiency and my consciousness faded as i slipped into sleep, a handful of dirt still clenched in my fist.