Looking at the terminal in front of me, I stood in a daze, lost in my own thoughts.
'What does "minimum mana production threshold" mean? I'm assuming it was talking about me, since I'm clearly the so-called "target", but last time I checked, I couldn't utilize any mana… Is this thing implying that my Mansian actually works?'
From what I've gathered through my initial deep-dive into the world of mana when I went through Nanik's "rehabilitation process", the many years of research across Entwick countries, who were curious about why some people were able to tap into Sethnine whilst others were incapable of doing so, had shed light on the mysterious process of mana production. By running bio-scans on individuals, scientists discovered that the mana that we use originated from an organ known as the "Mansian", commonly found in eukaryotic organisms. Situated near the heart in most creatures, or at the base of the stem in plants, the Mansian branches out into vessels that encompass the entire body.
The mana produced by humans and creatures alike isn't the same as the "mana" that is present around us: that is termed as "Sethnine", or raw mana, and can only be sensed by those who have walked further down the path of mana or are born with an acute sense for it. Sethnine is present throughout the entirety of the universe and cannot emit, absorb, or reflect light, making it impossible thus far to identify using conventional means.
How exactly the Mansian functionally achieves the refinement of Sethnine is still under extensive research, however, what is known is that the "Mana System" of the Mansian, visually, is a near carbon copy of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Through the highway of vessels, Sethnine is suffused. When the Sethnine arrives at the core—the Mansian—some process goes through in which Sethnine is "Purified" and then converted into the aspects of mana we commonly see.
In the case of people who aren't able to use mana from birth, they are found to still possess a Mansian. However, there doesn't seem to be any traces of mana being produced from their Mansians, leading researchers to believe that the Mansians that they possess are similar to vestigial organs in the fact that they seemingly don't have a function, but don't impede normal biological processes.
'This just opened a whole new can of worms…'
Something else that was quite interesting: it mentioned bandwidth and packet loss. Bandwidth is colloquially coined by Entwicks as the maximum amount of data that can be transferred over an internet connection. In addition, Packets are pieces of data that travel over a network that make up all digital files, like pictures, texts, websites, etc. which recombine at their destination to reform into the sent item.
Packet loss is when some of those packets that are traveling across a network are lost during transport. The more packet loss you have, the slower and laggier your connection. Quite some common and often-used terms—I don't quite get its supposed connection with mana, though.
Without realizing it, I began to fidget with the sides of my glasses.
'It seems like I'd have to do some tinkering with this "terminal" thing later to really find out. For now, I should wrap up the whole "initiation" ordeal with those two.'
But first, some rest!
I made my way back to my room and threw myself onto the bed, heaving a sigh of relief,
"I'm beat…"
After some much-needed recuperation, I shuffled out of bed and grabbed my glasses from the bedside table. My fingers brushed against my disheveled hair, tucking the unruly strands behind my ear. As I put on the glasses, the lenses flickered to life, casting a soft glow as they powered on.
"Neuro, call Nanik for me."
Silence. A faint buzz filled the room as I waited for a response.
"...Neuro?"
[What do you need?]
Neuro's robotic voice finally responded, but there was something off about it.
"Could you call Nanik?"
[Affirmative.]
I stood in the dim room, the glow of my glasses casting shadows on the walls, waiting for the call to connect. My initial excitement about catching up with him slowly waned as I grew bored of hearing the soft dialing from my glasses, almost falling asleep again on the spot.
[Tokei?]
Nanik picked up the call, snapping me awake.
"Ah—yes. How have you been?"
[Less busy now. Have you gotten in contact with those two yet?]
'Of course, straight to business as usual…'
"I just got both of those Anomalies back to the headquarters and gave them a little test."
[Oh? Pray tell.]
"Well, we had that massive arena lying around without any use for it, so I sparred with the both of them."
I went on explaining to him the way the spar played out, with him listening in silence. I paused after roughly recounting everything, waiting for his response.
[...Disregarding your expenditures and recklessness, how did you find them to be?]
'Did I call him at the wrong time? He sounds annoyed for no reason…'
"Considering I didn't have much expectations for them initially, I'd say I was thoroughly surprised by their performance. With just a bit more experience, they could probably fight on par with me—"
[You sound like you've got something to ask of me.]
'First Kaelith, now Nanik too? Am I really just that easy to read or is he some sort of psychic as well?'
Putting aside my mental quips, I finally asked him what had been nagging at my mind this whole time,
"How do I put it… You've got bizarre criteria for hiring people—someone from Ishunay who barely has any knowledge about the outside world and an Erbian who is the most stuck-up person I've seen yet."
I could hear a slight sigh come from the other end,
[Hah… it'll be explained through your experience with them, kid— speaking of them, would you mind calling them up to the meeting room?]
"Ah, right, they haven't seen you yet, have they?"
[Well, it shouldn't really matter to you. What you should be concerned about is the lead about you that I just found.]
"What? You found something about me?"
My heart raced, a rush of adrenaline flooding my system. I forced myself to calm down.
"...Just what did you find?"
[I feel this would be better to discuss in person than over the phone. Speaking of which, I'll be back in a month's time. Until then, I want you to prepare the two anomalies for a combat mission; I'll brief you all soon.] His tone shifted, becoming more professional as he mentioned the new mission.
"This lead better be worth waiting an entire month for."
[I'm quite sure it will be.]
The call ended, leaving me alone with the echoes of Nanik's words. Despite the lingering silence, the promise of a lead was a beacon of hope, lifting my spirits. But reality quickly set in—I had to train the new guys for a combat mission.
I sighed deeply, my thoughts spinning. 'Wait a minute… I'm not even a fighter! Why do I have to train people for combat?!'
But then, a spark of realization hit me.
'Well, it might not be all that bad… I can use this time to figure out what that floating terminal and its cryptic text meant.'