Sitting down cross legged, he started to focus more on the mana that was flowing inside him.
'Looks like I didn't dream up last night, It's still going just as well as last time. Actually, it's even stronger than before. I guess that makes sense, my heart doesn't stop beating just because I am sleeping, and the same goes with mana.'
Now that he was much calmer than last night, the flow under his control was much smoother. Feeling slightly strange, he opened his eyes to look at his body.
'Eww. What the hell is that, mana?' His veins were glowing a bright blue and looked like strange tattoos on his body. "I can't decide if that's cool or creepy."
Now that he wasn't focusing, the blue started to fade and his skin turned back to normal.
"Okay, thank god that it's not permanent. Now that I think about it, it is kinda cool. Like my battle tattoos."
Reading over the mana basics book past the stage that initially confused him, he read that besides capacity, the competency of a mage depended on control over small amounts of mana.
Since converting between solid and liquid stages was such a hassle, learning how to do the most with converting as little as possible was essential. In addition, the mana one has access to is limited. With absorbing mana while using it being an advanced method, the micro management of mana is even more important for beginners.
"I guess neither of those problems affects me. My mana is always liquid and seems to be constantly absorbed through my skin. Though that may be different if I am actively using it.'
Trying out of the most basic spells listed in the book, [Light], he wanted to test his micro control. Even if he wasn't affected, practicing control was bound to be a positive.
As mana flowed into his hand it started dimly glowing, along with the veins in his arm, flickering on and off as he was getting more and more accustomed to how the spell works.
"Guess it still gets absorbed even if I am using it.'
When he got the hang of it, the entire room was suddenly covered by a bright, white light and he went blind.
"AH! F*CK! MY EYES!" Holding his head while screaming in pain. "Mother f*cker, why is it so bright. The book said that the first few times it should be similar to a candle flame. Did it lie to me?"
He thought that made sense because of how cheap it was, it must have been an outdated edition that someone had lying around their house. Magic advances every day and maybe the previous methods were found to be dysfunctional and changed.
"Or is it me? I mean, when a normal person has to use mana, they have to convert an appropriate amount for the spell that they want to do. But for me, almost all of it is always available. That should be why it was so bright, right?"
As his eyes were re-adjusting to the dim room, he tried the spell again. This time he severely limited the amount of mana he poured into it, and the results mimicked. The glow was so faint that it was hard to see in the daylight, even his usual strange markings didn't show up.
"That's better, so I have to be conscious of the amount of mana that I use on a spell, more so than a usual mage. If not then all of it would be used."
"But wait, wouldn't that make the spells that I chose much more powerful and a lot quicker? I don't have to bother with converting anything and can almost instantly pour as much as I want."
"But that doesn't make any sense. If this way of doing it is so much better then why isn't everyone else doing it like this. There has to be some major problem that I am overlooking. I'm just an F rank after all. There have been people of much higher rank doing this for much longer than a day and a half."
He looked at his pc with excitement.
"I really want to see the comments on my post but I can't look away from these two idiots. I don't want them sneaking up on me when I'm not focused. And I can't just put them out because they have to return my stuff."
He glanced at the still limp bodies at his door with resentment. "And I'm still hungry."
Kneeling down he grabbed one of them by the collar and started to slap him awake. "Hey, dumbass. I can't keep looking after you two for much longer. You better wakeup before I throw you over the balcony." He lived on the 6th floor so a fall from that height would kill a few years old awakened.
As if hearing him, the one he was slapping suddenly woke up and started balling in pain.
"Ah, you are the one whose arms I broke, sorry I'll ask the next one." He knocked him out and moved up the other.
"Hey, you're gonna have to return my stuff before I beat the shit out of you again."
This one didn't wake up as quickly as the first, so he resorted to drastic measures.
He ripped out a part of his shirt, stood up and…
SNAP… broken leg.
"That should do it." Quickly shoving the ball into his mouth. What followed was the muffled ghastly wails of someone clearly in pain. Thankfully his apartment building wasn't very popular, both as a building and a location, and it was the middle of the day, so his few neighbors wouldn't be there to hear this.
"Get it all out, you're gonna be in a lot more pain if you can't return my stuff."