The moment the circuit closed, it was like something possessed his body. The rate of mana circulation and absorption spiked as the strands got bigger and bigger, before settling at a thickness equal to the vessel they inhabited.
"Holy shit, I think I did it."
This process was automatic and the mana flowed through his body as easily as his blood did, smooth and uninterrupted. But the main benefit is that he achieved his goal, the flow was constant and didn't need his precise control and attention when not in use and was readily available when necessary. There was no need to convert to a more solid form.
The only negative is that advanced magic often depended on the existence of a mana core, which was a collection of the mana in the body achieved by more advanced mages, which he couldn't form as his mana was always moving. But he wouldn't be able to afford any of these spells anytime soon so he would find a solution in the future.
At this point it was already daybreak and he was dead tired, but decided to update his post with his findings before passing out on his mattress.
The flow kept going even when he was sleeping, but what he couldn't see was that now that he was in a state of total calm, the circulation of mana and absorption from his skin spiked. If one looked closely enough then they could see that the veins on the surface of the body were glowing a faint blue, outlining his circulatory system.
That night he laid like a dead body. From the despair of his low rank, to the shock of his room being ransacked, the struggle of grasping mana and the stress of trying to figure his own way took everything he had and even more.
He woke up the next afternoon, too hungry to just ignore it and continue sleeping.
'I don't know who stole all my stuff but they could at least leave me some food. If I ever see that f*cker again I'll beat the shit out of him.'
Dressing himself to go and buy something to eat, he stopped to look at himself in the mirror. What looked back at him was an average height, short haired, brown-skinned teenager. His curly hair was as dark as ink and his eyes were not far off. His eyebrows sharp and slightly below his left eye was a small star shaped mole. It was so small that unless one was looking up-close, so close that their faces were touching, then they wouldn't be able to determine its shape. This was the only thing that he shared with his late father, and as far as he knew from the few pictures his father had the same.
He was dressed rather well: jeans, a plaid button up and a cheap synthetic fur coat. Along with his ring-like PC and jet black sneakers he was rather stylish.
'Hey good looking, how's it going…' He was complimenting himself as he often did, if he didn't do it then no one would, when his thought process was interrupted by a banging on his door.
"Now who the f*ck..."
Opening his door he saw two men that looked slightly older than him that were dressed in the school uniform, a white pair of pants and shirt with a green tie. They were obviously his seniors but now that he was expelled they should have nothing to do with him.
"What do you two want?" Before he could finish his sentence a fist came flying towards his stomach and he keeled over. All the air was shoved out of his lungs and he was disorientated.
"Now why the f*ck is some F rank trying to speak to me." one of them said.
"I don't know Jim, why don't we ask him?" The other one bent down and pulled up by his head by his hair.
"Hey dumb ass, why did you fix the door? Did I tell you that I was done taking your shit. No it's not even yours, it was mine to begin with and you were just holding it for me. You don't even know how difficult it was to break it in the first place."
"Yeah dipshit, if we have to bother bringing you back here in the first place then it's only right that we take some payment. Just because we went home early a few days ago doesn't mean that we were done."
Ray didn't fully understand what the two of them were saying as he was still seeing stars but there was one thing that he did understand.
"Hey, are you two the ones who took all the food in my fridge?"
They looked at each other in confusion. "Hey James, did you hit him too hard back there? I think you broke him."
"I said…"
"No we heard what you said, it just sounds like a stupid question. I came here saying that I took your stuff and now you're asking me if I'm the one who took your stuff. No shit sherlock."
"Good" Ray smiled, he just swore to get back at them for leaving him starving and now they came back just for him, even hit him first to boot.
"What did he say?" Before he could turn to ask his friend he felt something grab his hand and before he could react, his entire forearm twisted sideways much farther than it should be able to, accompanied by an ear piercing cracking sound.
He tried to scream in pain but the fist that came towards his throat stopped him, knocking him out cold.
All this happened in less than a second and Jim didn't have a chance to defend his friend. And in his confusion he didn't even try to defend himself and soon fell as well.
"If they are so weak then why are they going around acting all tough." He kicked them over and searched their pockets. "And why are they so poor, wait they are also awakened, their stuff is probably in their inventory."
'That reminds me, I should probably learn the skills I bought yesterday too.'
Glancing at the two bodies on his floor, he reconsidered.
'On second thought I should wait until these two wake up and leave. I don't know when they will wake up and I don't want to mess it up.' He smiled to himself in defeat. 'More like I can't afford to mess it up.'
"Then what the hell do I do now? I can't go out and I can't learn any of my skills. Practice with mana I guess?"