I dashed through the forest in the very light of day. It was mid-afternoon, and the many canopies were rustling in the wind.
As far as I was concerned, my mind was filled with curious thoughts and reflections. And a bit of rising excitement.
'It's strange...' I failed to surpress a grin.
It really was...
It was the same, but the world seemed so different. Clearer and more pronounced.
I was right, indeed. The Mental Sphere spell had begun to display it's passive effect against my mind, which meant I had indeed successfully managed to absorb the spell from the rune.
'That was why it vanished... ' shrouded in the embrace of rustling trees, each falling leaf had never seemed so clearer and pronounced. My mind worked at an amazing speed, instantly deducing my surrounding area into minuscle details I had failed to realize once before throughout my life, and simultaneously fixing intio place the obvious puzzle i had failed to determine the previous day.
The previous day, X'xebecc's rune vanished into oblivion all of a sudden, while I was practicing with it. This strange happening warranted my concern and questions, but by then I was too exhausted and mentally drained to make much of it.
The rune only vanished because it had served its purpose; to temper the human mind and brain. In other words, I had absorbed the spell.
The strange dream I had the previous night was proof of this.
It wasn't a dream, as whatever that happened then was real. I had somehow reached deep into my inner subconsciousness, and the large floating orb was my Mental Core. The grey still word was my inner mind, and the small pond held in the dome was most likely the Mana stored in my brain.
The Mad King created X'xebecc's rune to store Mana in the brain.
All of the dull, lightless runes carved into the walls of the dome and even the still skies of the grey world, were real testaments that I had successfully created a Mental Core.
'And then there were those strange visions, ' the original purpose of the spell, was for the King to interact with eminent concepts caled Laws and Principalities. I had no doubt, that even for a very brief second, I had 'seen' those 'Laws'.
But I had forgotten what exactly happened.
All I vividly remembered was the crushing pain of having my soul shredded and twisted.
I shuddered.
There are just certain things man aren't supposed to touch upon in the universe, last night was a painful proof of that.
I was perhaps only lucky my Mental Core ran out when it did. The small pond was still, and raged only when I had accidentally activated the runes. I also remember watching the pond drain at a visible speed to the naked eye.
I shook the thought out of my head and stopped my advancement when I judged I had gone in far enough to not get noticed.
If the rune vanished when I absorbed it, it also meant it was safe to say, I was the first and only person...the inheritor of the Mad King's will. Much contrary to what I had pondered about possible others already possessing this spell.
Wouldn't that mean I was possibly the only one in this world with something this incredible?
My base perception and sensitivity had drastically skyrocketed, my senses were far sharper than I could ever imagine. Each minuscle details from the very hair in my head to the breath sinking into my lungs were so clear that I asked myself how hadn't it been so obvious before?
After finishing up with Don and the guys, I had been experimenting with myatest capabilities and ability.
The Mental Core spell raised my overall perception and increased the clarity of my senses. When I became aware of that, it felt overwhelming. All of a sudden my brain was raised with countless more information I had no idea existed before.
I was slowly adjusting my mind to cope with the extent of this ability by limiting it consciously. This was only possible, because the Mental Core spell also allowed me complete and precise control of the functions of my brain.
I could limit thoughts I wanted, and completely erase those I didn't. This allowed me a drastic level of focus and concentration with terrifying precision if I simply thought of it.
Apparently, I was now also immune to mind attacks and illusions, but I had no way to find out. My mental fortitude was strengthened, making it exceedingly easier to keep my emotions in check and maintain a level-headed control at all times. I still haven't sought the extent of this as it had only been less than a full day since I obtained the spell.
But the one that got me the most excited was having my raw consciousness interact with the material world.
I didn't know how this would work but the spell description implied, my brain waves were dense enough so materialize and affect actual matter in reality.
Increasing my brainwaves also meant a more cognitive effect to my behavior, and this can also ve realted back to having full control over my affective abilities and emotions.
Ultimately, all other abilities can be traced back to this very singular effect of my brainwaves.
I stood still amongst the forest of trees, listening to the passing winds and chirping birds. The sound of flowing streams and chirping insects from distances beyond my eyesight.
Fir a moment I basked in this feeling. It was scary at first and hard to control. For every sound I heard, I had to isolate the necessary ones out of the forest and extract what I needed. But my mental abilities made taming this particular ability comparatively easier.
After making sure I really wasn't followed, I began my experiments till sunset.
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Couple of days later
Reo drew deep steady breaths, sitting cross legged at the center of his room. His eyes were closed shot and his expression was calm and still. Motionless.
It were the final weeks of spring, and Reo found himself meditating and refining his core.
The air around his still figure shimmered slightly and flowed like a current swirling around his body and permeating his core. Any one with magic perception could watch this strange phenomenon with their eyes, and further understand with their sensitivity.
What was happening was simply impeccable.
The atmospheric Mana was coalescing around the little boy in a gentle embrace...and was directly sucked into his Core, forcing the organ to periodically expand and contract within short intervals of minutes as the Mana was immediately being refined and purified.
The process of refining a Mana Core was a long and arduous one. The Mana user would first have to absorb Mana into their core from the world energy, either consciously or passively.
And with each wisps of Mana, the walls of the core would expand ever slightly until a certain capacity before the Core contracts and condenses all of the accumulated energy, refining it and disregarding the excess out of the body.
The cyclical period of expansion and contraction too months or weeks, if at all not years. But this al depended on the dedication of the Mage aspirant and talent.
Magic talent varies, and the last stage, the refining process continues for as long as a person leaves.
What Reo was doing however, was accomplishing weeks of refinement in less than ours.
Rather that he slowly process of refinement as the core expands then contracts over a period of time, each wisps of Mana sucked into his core upon entry is condensed and refined by an instantaneous contraction then expansion.
As such, his absorption capacity of the atmospheric Mana was insane. This technique at a glance poses serious risks against the Mana Core as severe strain is put on it while it is forced to complete years of process in minutes and hours
But Reo's case was different. In the first place, only he could pull something like this.
The Mental Sphere spell was Reo's cheat code. He spent days experimenting and adapting to his latest abilities and learned a variety of things from them.
He discovered his current range of his brainwaves were only with five to six meter radius with he as the center. His mental waves could interact with the material world, but at his current level, he could only perceive the world on a much grander scale from multiple dimension. It was like having his perceptive abilities once again multiplied.
Akin to having sona powers like bats.
Whatever his waves spread across, would be simultaneously imprinted as an image and broken to pieces of information in his mind.
This proves exceptional, for with his vision impaired, and his hearing and other senses like touch or smell rendered all of a sudden obstructed, Reo would have no problem or differences interacting with the world, but even on a much larger and better scale.
At the moment, his mental waves were limited to those capabilities, in relation to the current growth level of his Mental Core.
The book described, the growth of the Mental Core can be directly influenced and connected to the growth of the Mana
Though, not exactly. To be precise, the level of the Mana refined in his core determines his current level over his mental waves.
In order to expand and grow his Mental Core like the Mana Core, Reo had to perform similar process since the former was designed with the latter as a base.
Except in the case of his Mental Core, atmospheric Mana isn't absorbed or required, but refined Mana directly from his Mana Core is.
In short, Reo draws Mana from his Mana Core to refill and expand his Mental Core in the brain. As such, the Mental Core, unlike a Mana Core is unable to slowly replenish itself overtime without the body actively trying to do so.
In this manner, Reo will always have a shortage of Mana for his Mana Core
This was oneof the drawbacks that made the Mental Sphere spell incomplete. But yet, for someone like who seemingly has an endless supply of Mana, or a considerably larger pool, it wouldn't pose too much problems.
Yet.
What would happen if he kept Refining his Mental Core to an equal or superior level of his Mana Core? At present, his Mental pool and capacity, as he saw that night, was the size of a small pond. Although, he has been steadily trying to expand his core, his Mental capacity was still lacking, and as such, his levels of his ability were limited to what they were.
But even with that, his mental waves were still incredible. He couldn't yet move things with his mind, but Reo was offered an all round twenty-twenty vision and perception.
And he also discovered his mental waves could interact with the atmosphere Mana...this was how he was drawing in a lot of Mana to be absorbed into his core and hastening the contraction and expansion process, that would usually take years.