After their recovery, the results of the 'experiments' were... well, they were unbelievable.
Manipulating dark matter. That's right, the mass that had been forming in the patients' minds was now finally a fully fleshed out organ, solely responsible for the manipulation of dark matter.
With a thought, Johan Weinechster, also known as the 'Father of Magic', or more accurately titled 'The First Survivor', was able to move dark matter with a thought.
Although not for long, and only being able to do so with a small number of particles, his control slowly increased. With it, came an even more fascinating set of discoveries: the ability to manipulate other elements.
Telekinesis was the first discovery. He could move objects, let's say a spoon, by just surrounding said object with the particles and then commanding them to lift into the air. Through further observation, they concluded that dark matter was an almighty element, superior to all else. It could push around any particles it wanted to, and even contributed in causing chemical reactions like fire.
Imagine this; a man standing in the middle of a room. Then, out of nowhere, an orb of fire appears before him, hovering around him like a moon.
This era was the beginning of what people nowadays called 'The Dawn of Magic'.
More and more people across the world started to willingly subject themselves to this treatment.
Then, through reproduction, their descendants also were born with a gylphian and its full capabilities.
This continued for millennia, humanity's control over dark matter refining and developing every single year.
It reached a point where people could even envelop themselves in dark matter, taking flight.
Due to the considerable amount of time that had passed since the discovery of dark matter, the level at which humanity was at now on average was incomprehensibly far beyond what humans back in 3428 had been able to achieve.
As a matter of fact, due to humanity reaching this standard, an even more fascinating evolution occurred. The development of dark matter vessels and a second glyphian.
Similar to blood vessels, these dark matter vessels or 'circuits' enabled humans to slowly conduct dark matter throughout their own bodies.
The second glyphian gained an even more fascinating attribute: being able to store and discharge dark matter at will. Renamed to 'Tryphian', the body had formed a whole circuit which was responsible for the manipulation of dark matter.
As it is with every body part, the more you use it, the more it develops. Through constant usage, all three dark matter related organs evolved continuously, presenting the state at which humans were now: doing things previously believed only possible by gods.
Due to these magical actions, people started relating dark matter to 'mana', a fictional and supernatural element which allowed similar actions to what dark matter enabled humanity to perform.
So, dark matter was dubbed 'mana', along with the vessels being scrapped altogether and circuit being renamed into 'mana circuit'.
Humanity being the unserious civilization that we are, decided to play along with it.
However, the surprises coming humanity's way weren't over yet. For this though, we had to look back to the far past.
After much discovery, scientists had confirmed another thing; mana had always been present in the universe. From the dawn of time to in the far future when it would inevitable end; mana was supreme.
Even on earth, mana had existed. Before the formation of life or even its own consciousness, mana had rampaged on the surface and caused havoc. However, with earth's evolution as a whole, the mana had calmed down. Finally gaining a will though, the mana had finally been tamed.
Then came along the humans, who were able to control mana. However, no one had ever though of the consequences of mana-usage.
When a person stands in a sealed room and breathes, the amount of oxygen eventually decreases. At first it is extremely difficult to notice, just because there's a lot of it. As the levels decrease however, it becomes harder and harder for the body to stay alive.
In that scenario, one had two options. Open the vents to allow more air to flow in, or die from suffocation or any other means.
The same thing had began happening on earth. Through human's mana usage, scientists had realized that the mana levels had decreased alarmingly quickly. This was a couple of centuries after mana had been first introduced, and it had become an integral part of day-to-day life now.
Being faced with the threat of potentially using up all the mana stored on earth, scientists scrambled to find a solution.
As if blessed by the gods however, it seemed like earth itself didn't want to give up on mana.
How did mana come to exist? Obviously, it was produced! Logically, earth should also have the capability to produce mana, right?
In fact, it did.
A planet's core is incredible. Earth's was especially so.
Inside the core, there were multiple 'organs'. One of those organs was, of course, responsible for the production of mana. However, it had long since become dormant due to humanity not being able to figure out how to utilize it properly until just recently.
That was bound to change.
One day, sometime in the early 4000's, a great rumbling shook earth.
An earthquake of magnitudes scientists never even believed to be capable of occurring. Oceans thrashed and massive waves swept over the lands, sweeping with them homes and people. The earth itself cracked, rivers of magma and lava sprouting from them.
From space it, seemed like glowing orange veins had manifest on earth's surface, pulsating every so often, making the earth seem alive.
The earthquake lasted for a couple of days.
During that time, half of humanity had been wiped out whereas the rest, had been able to take to the air in due time, escaping to the airborne cities which had been constructed in case something exactly like this ever occurred, though not to this magnitude. After waiting out the earthquake, scientists made a shocking discovery:
Mana was being restored!
More accurately, it was being produced so quickly that the mana levels quickly superseded even the amount of mana which had been present on earth before its ultimate discovery.
Rejoicing, humanity scrambled back to the earth's surface and began rebuilding its home. Meanwhile, scientists delved deep under the earth's mantle to figure out what had been going on.
After a while, the conclusion that the earth was sentient, was reached.
As if that weren't enough to run shivers down one's spine, another observation soon turned into a horrific discovery; animals had also started evolving!
Yes, evolving. The same way humans had. Evolving to the point where animals themselves developed a mana circuit, being able to control mana.
Why was this?
Due to earth actively producing mana and therefore raising concentrations of said mana everywhere on earth, animals had began to unwillingly be subjected to the same treatment that Johan and his countless predecessors had undergone.
Having the ability to evolve and adapt even faster than humans, animals quickly became their own manifestation of a collective threat as their abilities were strengthened to a terrifying degree, making them more dangerous than they had ever been before.
However, all of that still begged the question; why had earth suddenly started producing mana?
A prevalent truth of the universe was the fact that matter couldn't be destroyed nor created, only having the leisure to change shape and form. The same law reigned over mana.
This is where things took a complicated turn.
When mana passed through a living being capable of utilizing mana, said user would imprint a sort of 'signature' on the mana particles. After being released from the user's control, the mana signature should naturally dissipate, right?
Well, no.
When one is at the 'bottom of power' when it came to manipulating mana, the principle above did actually hold true! As soon as the user released their control, the mana would turn back into 'neutral mana' which was another name for mana without a signature.
However, the rise of strength of a being would be proportional to the potency of the mana signature. Therefore, it would take an extremely long while for the mana to return to being neutral mana after being put to use by a vastly powerful existence.
Because humanity is an existence theoretically without limits, their average strength sky-rocketed. With it came the issue of too little neutral mana present in the atmosphere. So, the earth had spurned itself into action, trying its best to keep the balance on its surface.
---
Quickly sorting through the memories of this world, Kair sighed.
'Do I actually even have a mana circuit?'
That's what Kair was most worried about. If he had reincarnated, there was no guarantee that he had been granted a mana circuit. Hell, even if he had been gifted one, was it compatible in this day and age?
Kair shook his head, clearing his thoughts with slight annoyance.
'Why do I care so much? The chances of me being reincarnated are next to nil, so if this doesn't work then it must mean that I'm dreaming.'
Sighing again he looked up at Amanda, mustering a convincing smile.
"I'll give the bonding process a try. Could you maybe...?"
Amanda looked at him for a moment before her eyes flashed with understanding.
"Oh, yeah. You probably want to be left alone so you can focus." She turned around, walking swiftly out the room. Before closing the door, she peeked her head back inside.
"Inject your mana into the side panel of the bed after you're done; I'll get a notification once you activate it."
Without waiting for a response she closed the door, leaving Kair and his thoughts alone.
'Finally.'
Taking a deep breath, Kair closed his eyes. Gently picking up the baby bird on his chest and putting it on his lap, he closed his eyes.
Kair let out a breath, relaxing as he sat in a meditative position. Then, slowly, Kair began to focus on his body's senses.
When one meditates, they begin to improve their sensory perception. This meant that all of the 5 senses in your body would 'heighten' to some extent, though temporarily.
What was Kair trying to do here?
Mana coursed through every being on this future earth. This meant, that if one's consciousness was stable enough and was able to enter a highly concentrated state, feeling the 'flow' of mana should theoretically not be impossible.
Of course, residents on this earth were able to feel the flow without really trying, but the difference between them and Kair was that they had been born into mana.
The first breath that they had taken was filled with mana. Hell, even before that, their mother's womb was filled with mana! If we would want to go all the way back, mana was even present in the male's sper-
'Okay, there's no need to go so in depth, is there?'
Either way, every human in this day and age was innately familiar with mana. It was like air to them.
To Kair though, it was a foreign element. He was more knowledgeable about it since he had practically designed mana, but the last thing he lacked was his connection with it.
Shutting those thoughts aside, Kair sent his consciousness to his skin. Trying to feel something, anything. All he knew was that mana felt like air, just a bit thicker. As if it were.. a cloud.
For some reason, another thought entered Kair's mind: The feeling of numbness.
When some people rest a leg on their knee, due to the blockage of some blood vessels and nerves, the leg becomes numb.
After a while, it starts to kind of vibrate. It was hard to explain, but it felt really weird.
Well, that was the blood which was being pumped through the body at quite a high pressure! When the leg goes numb, there's a short period where the person experiences the blood being pumped through the leg, only this time without the body subconsciously negating the feeling.
As if a puzzle piece had clicked into place and revealed something even greater, small explosion rocked Kair's mentality.