'The mana of nature is often both basic but also complex in is simplicity, few can properly sense and bring forth this flow due to their bodies innate restrictions and although we elves are still restricted in our usage of energy for combat or even personal usage the energy we use when shaping the wood is not our own but a mixture of ours and the creature we are shaping as the way the mana flows through it imbues it with the creatures own mana along with ours. Most peoples mana's are unable to sense the mana within other creatures and this is the uniqueness behind us elves ability to carve even sharp blades from a normal wooden tree. But over lapping different patterns like that of water or fire when making a weapon takes much time and effort to learn and each step of the process will be unique for each piece. Water is often described as triangular in it's pattern while fire is constantly condensing and dispersing again and again. You have to find a way to have the mana disperse and condense into a triangle shape but mana rarely is so willing to follow direction so easily and unless you inscribe something into the blade it is not possible to find a means of doing so. This book will teach the basic inscriptions to help natural flow of mana between the two creatures.'
Elves are clearly using their ability to sense the natural flow of other talents to their advantage, but these inscriptions interested me.
If I'm right then these inscriptions should essentially be the same patterns ones talent flows in to cause one to be one mana type over another, I flip to the pages and see that water type is all about compress into a shape but still not to tight so as to restrict it completely and fire is rapidly moving the slowing causing the parts to pull apart and then small into each other in the pattern that was similar to a figure eight.
Each one of the basic elements had a shape that means water, wind, earth, fire, and purity though it is mentioned that the purity one requires large amounts of mana to produce even a small effect the main reason it is unable to replace purifying types.
I smile and try and use the mana in my mind to imitate these shape and find the statement on mana being hard to control false as the energy follows my will like another limb.
I can make it bend and change into many shapes and sizes with little trouble and soon have a small figure eight in my mind slowly trying to make fire energy but realize the energy in my mind is to fast for this as each collision is happening so fast the energy simply slips away when it occurs before I can properly grasp it.
I think of the tainted energy style and so slow the mana down but it becomes to slow making the collisions give almost no energy at all, I needed to find the perfect tempo for this and that must be my priority.
Slowly I test different energy tempos over the following time period although I am uncertain how long I truly spend on this as all I do is sit and meditate while eating the tainted meat and sleeping when his mind is to tired from the constant mana control, I finally find the in between section to work for fire but soon realize that this speed for fire only works for this element and water has a different speed requirement.
Slowly I form a shape in my mind similar to a double helix of speeding up and slowing down that feed into the fire figure eight, I pull on the small budding energy produced in my mind.
I find a small flame dancing in the palm of my hand but like that the energy quickly dies out as the mana used to light that one flame was all the mana he had in his body causing him to fall asleep, he awakes to a small pain on his hand and realize that although he can now use fire energy he lacks the resistance natural fire users have.
He feels the small system he set up in his mind for the fire energy still working fine though it only works when he pushes the mana through otherwise his mana is the normal purifying type.
He grins in excitement as he knows that he can definitely find all the different mana types and use them, even if it uses up a lot of mana to do so he is more the willing to study it.
A ding catches his attention and he looks at the notification.
- your mana beginner energy manipulation has become apprentice energy manipulation
He then wonders if this shows on his status screen and brings it up along with an alert he must have got when he fell unconscious.
Status-
Strength-30
Speed-5
Agility-15
Intelligence-25
Regeneration-30
Detection-25
Health-18
Mana-180
-your mana type is purifying, beginning tainted energy resistance, apprentice energy detection, apprentice energy manipulation, beginner blacksmith, beginning
-You have successfully manipulated the fire mana type not naturally occurring for you earning you the title {Beginner Arsonist}
I could hear the humor in the title given by the tower for the title but can't deny it fit for the accomplishment, though I am not the first to successfully manipulate an element not of my own I am curious how others did it as I made the patterns using my brain thanks to where I merged my mana but others wouldn't be able to do so.
Another new thing I will look into in the future when I can purchase more advance cultivation books, for now I need to test out how the fire works in combat and to do that I will use my current sabre arts as it is a mana neutral type of combat style.
First I go through the movements normally then I begin to focus on transitioning my normal mana into the flame mana type and soon feel it rushing and bursting out all at once without my will for it to do so, in the cultivation book it did say fire type is the quickest and one of the trickiest to control but to drain me dry like this simply while practicing combat arts is proof of how out of control it truly is.
I sit down to recover my energy by eating and once finished begin the practice once more, over and over I am drained dry then recover the truly best part of my type of energy is the ability to gain energy from the tainted meat without loosing most of it.
Although no more abilities gained through consuming it I am sure with new weapons added to my arsenal it will come on it's own, I finally find a way to use the fire mana though it doesn't last more then two rounds before it gets out of control once more but it is progress.
I find that it needs to burst and pull back on the energy like with the pattern for it of spreading out and condensing, with this his attacks are even more powerful and his damage is incredible due to the mini explosion such action produces.
I tested the damage caused on the goblin and it is here I realize that other mana types truly have a upper hand in combat as the small fire all fire users can produce if they have formed a core blasts the chest of the weaker goblin open, leaving a hole and burned flesh behind with a single thrust.
I still can't cause that much damage with me almost having double the amount of mana those freshly condensed ones have, it also explains the massive increase in all my stats despite not reaching that mana level needed for that growth.
Ha, I really am at a massive disadvantage compared to other mana types and even sensing is done better by elves so what position or upper hand could I hold even if I leave the tutorial now that I can cover up my energy type, no I need to be more powerful and have more knowledge so no one can doubt me.
I look for the water pattern and once more use the double helix shape to test each different placement on it to find the right mana speed, it is below the fire as the fire is decently high on the double helix shape.
The earth is below the water while wind is higher then fire on the double helix making it so from fastest needing to slowest is wind, fire, water, earth, each ones speed needs varying but the one that is highest like wind takes less energy to make and use while earth even controlling a inch of dirt takes all I have.
Clearly the closer the speed is to my natural talent the easier it is for my body to produce and manipulate, I am unable to use the earth mana in my martial arts due to it being to little but the rest have all been used and water is tricky as it wants to go to the lowest points like my feet and abdomen while wind is even simpler the fire as it moves with my body though sometimes is not powerful enough due to lack of density.
Each had their own purpose and needs and I find the one I like the most is without a doubt the fire followed by the wind and water while earth is last, the same pattern I learned them in funnily enough.
I have all the basic patterns down and think on how it said using the ones with the same energy got the best effects so used fire with iron as it is it's natural energy type, I forged the ingot after purifying it using all my fire mana to make one then I forged a small dagger using it again and it came out with a red sheen and a small pattern covering the blade.
The figure eight symbol in the blades folds where beautiful and the handle I intend for it's handle to be made of ipe wood the most basic fire compatible wood out there.
I use only my fire mana when carving the basic handle and a ding comes once I fit the handle to the blade melting the metal within the wood to make it a perfect fit using fire produced by my own mana as a last tip of the hat to the fire element, I open my screen and smile.
-Your beginner blacksmith has advanced to apprentice blacksmith while inside the tutorial title given {blacksmith apprentice}, this title replaces the one {Blacksmith noob}
This is an incredible feeling and knowing that the titles will evolve with his achievements inside the tutorial without him needing to advance is the best.
Like this he looks for more energy pattern books and finds several in elven wood working but all of them are expensive and will require some time to even buy the next in the set but he hopes to have all the mana types at his disposal, fire, earth, wind, water, purity, tainted, darkness, light, healing, plants, animals, time, and space.
There are a few others but they can be lumped into one of these and with enough training he can produce it using only the present elements like fire and earth combine to make lava and so forth.
I have to do 7 more before the bases are all covered but time and space are considered the rarest and trickiest to understand and control even more so then fire, it is not a concept most species can even touch upon much less make use of like how the tower does.
I feel my control and understanding of my martial arts increasing with each use of new elements and soon try and integrate different aspects together allowing me to produce a more heavy blow with my purity energy while also allowing it to flow cleanly and pool more in advance in the spots I am going to use, I integrate certain aspects of the way I use other mana types when practicing and soon a new ding came.
-You have advanced in your sabre martial arts to apprentice sabre martial artist, you're title of {Newbie swordsman} advances to {Apprentice swordsman}.
One after another I am advancing my titles due to the new experiences and knowledge I have gained form the manipulation of new elements.
I decide now is the time to attempt the 21st wave of the tutorial, so I step in the ring and begin cutting through the creatures and when I get to the black mage I tie it up and take a break to refuel my mana before going into the next fights, after finishing off the 20th wave I bite my lip and wait for the next wave to come.
A goblin with armor and a mace appears with red veins all over it's body indicating it to be a berserker goblin known for incredible speed and strength as well as high defense but are very simple due to their low intelligence making them overly predictable, but that doesn't make them easy as to make use of that predictability you need to be quick and strong enough to and a blow that can kill as it heals quickly from any non-fatal injury
I wait for it to come and it just runs straight at me with all it's might while I dodge to the side as it swings it's mace at me, it is a simple dodge thanks to the way it indicates it's moves before hand.
I take a jab at it's neck which the armor doesn't cover and with all my force cut it's head off though it took a lot as even with all my mana put into the attack it was like pushing a dulled blade through meat, it is clear this is a level that I am barely able to match due to the pure resistance the things from this point on have.
I decide to see what the next wave will be and if it is to much then I will back out for now, I wait for it to load and a dark green goblin with daggers and a blow darts appear.
A ninja goblin that deals in poison and mana debuffs thanks to it's tainted mana that will prove ineffective with me, but they are intelligent as around a fifteen year old human making them on the smarter end for goblins and a tricky opponent as they sneak attack and runaway if they are outclassed making killing them before they alert more goblins to your presence a pain.
I am in an enclosed space with no way for them to hide or run as they normally would do making it so that they are massively disadvantaged and hold little worth in practicing with as their skills in frontal combat are around the same as the warrior goblin. But if they put it with a bunch of other goblins then the worth of it increases due to the poison it can shoot from the blow dart and the poison laced on it's dagger.
I decide the best thing for now is to gain some resistance to the poison and that means subduing this one and injecting the poison in me in the ring.
I sigh before running at the thing that tries to dodge but I have already predicted it would and so my sabre strikes sharply to my left rather then the straight in front as my actions would indicate, I am to slow for many of the goblins and so can only use this type of snake eyes tactic to trick them into my blade.
I have cut off one of it's leg but creatures at this level are more resistance to death by blood loss and so it only screams and tries to run but can't, I tie it up and take the blow darts out of it's pouch at it's hip before jabbing one into me.
I feel woozy and nauseous like the world under my feet is moving while I go in the opposite direction, I heard that many have trouble dealing with poison due to it's effect on ones aim and coordination but the sensation it brings is terrible but I need to be able to fight even if poisoned and so I get into my stance and try and go through them without my mana for now.
Once I go through it enough to feel like I am doing it correctly I then use mana and it goes down the drain as my mana is now heavy and seems almost to have stopped listening to my commands.
I found the weakness of my cultivation as usually mana is not effected by such poison if not tainted but now I can barely use mine, if something effects my minds coordination and recognition then my mana will also be effected by it making poisons my biggest enemy.
I need to work through this, force my body and mana to work even in such state and so begin to train in it bit by bit getting the martial arts while under poison back up to beginner level at least.
By the time I am done I have used up the ten poison needles the goblin had and finally gained poison resistance though the poison here is a mid-F grade and so beginning poison resistance still only lessen the effects not completely gets rid of it, I will need to train some more on the 22nd wave before I continue to build up a complete resistance to this poison and train my body to work through such poison.
I really have to much on my plate now, blacksmithing, martial arts practice, wood working, weaving, cultivating, earning coins, and now poison resistance training in the ring I am glad I remained here as I would lose a massive amount of time if I did this on a normal floor.