(third person view)
Ali returned to his room. grabbing hold of a few essentials like his phone and earphones. a few of his favourite snacks and a energy drink.
all the while trying to find where his "mana" would be. he'd cast [arcane shot] almost a thousand times by now, and upon every cast felt the flow stem from somewhere in the centre of his chest.
learning from novels and manga he's trying to replicate something often seen in eastern media called introspection. where you can visualise your bodies internals. seconds pass into minutes with him looking for that ever elusive mana to no avail before he hear a clutter of footsteps coming down the stairs next to him.
Jamie smith. the spry agility-mage runs up to Ali. perfectly distracting him from his task.
"hey Ali, everyone thought about it and we agree with your plans. big bro said something about sending off the older couples to gather food from the nearby houses while the rest of us clear out all the goblins in the area".
the kid was bouncing up and down while talking, clearly having gotten over the traumatic events that occurred here not too long ago. yet Ali was the same. the minds of the younger generation are a lot stronger than others.
"big bro?" Ali looked over, confused.
"oh Jaiden, the leader here, he's the one you gave your cool sword too, everyone calls him big bro. he's sort of our community leader, even before this stuff all started happening!"
and right as they started talking about him, 'Jaiden' walked over.
"Ali listen up. your the strongest one here, are you okay with leading 3-4 others around the area to clean up all the roaming goblins?"
to which Ali nodded.
"no problem.. big bro? just let me bring George and Jamie. and whoever else wants to explore. and we can easily clean up." pride tinged Ali's voice due to the compliment. however true it may be.
'thinking about it. everyone else here is level 2-3, and we survived a massive wave too. I cant imagine there being many level 4 survivors and yet I'm level six!'. not realising everyone here being such a low level due to him stealing the majority of the exp from one-shotting.
George and his wife allice along with Ali and Jamie all got ready and left their safe-zone the apartment complex, to clear out the town.
it wasn't much of a issue. even without Ali. Alice is a level 3 assassin wielding a particularly strong kitchen knife and George is a almost maxed constitution tank.
they alone could have handled a group of 2-3 goblins. and with Jamie. who's a level 3 mage even a group of 10 goblins wouldn't be able to fight them easily.
Ali took the time to random cast his [arcane shot] whenever it was off-cooldown. following the mana flow backwards and grinding spell exp.
it took nearly a full hour before Ali was able to find the spot his Mana originated from, which he deemed his mana core.
[new passive skill unlocked: lesser mana sense]
[effect: sense mana within close range +1mp5(mana gained per 5 seconds)]
the second he found his mana core. it felt like he opened his eyes for the first time. faint blue see-through light permeating the air around him, flowing in and out of his body and the bodies of others.
but between him and the others. his mana flow was like a small river compared to a stream. incomparable.
"whoa.. is this mana the strength level of the target? no that wouldn't make sense. the reason mine is so much larger is that this is a persons maximum mana" Ali was stunned, gazing around him with childlike-glee. his excitement naturally alarmed the others.
"Ali you okay?"
"yo kid you on drugs??"
"don't speak like that George? I think the boy has just found something."
his three companions all expressed varying levels of concern, logical yet surprising due to how little they know each other.
"yea I just unlocked a new passive skill. I will tell you about it later. lets get back to wiping them all out"
he would proceed to spend the next half a hour of the clearance experimenting on his own mana. finding a joy of playing with it. or at least trying to.
his mana was stiff, and lifeless. entirely unexpected to him for what he thought would be a thing full of energy and life.
he reached out to the mana in the world with his own. trying to connect with it. but even the mana in the environment was stale and dull only responding to changes and impacts he made. but never responding with its own movement.
"it feels.. so lifeless. I thought something capable of making deadly spells would have some sort of action of its own. like all the games say, its supposed to be full of energy..." Ali's felt depressed, all his life he'd been dreaming of magical worlds with spells and dragons. yet from all he's interacted with the stuff of his dreams. the more it feels like he's been let down.
'I can't expect everything to work like it does in my dreams. I need to be more grounded' he kept repeating to himself while grinding out skill levels. 'this is reality afterall. some script-writer could never capture the full experience of what the real-life version would be like when they don't know themselves.'
but even with that notion in-mind a small part of Ali couldn't help but wish for the mana to change with him. he didn't feel close to his spells like wizards do in movies. his magic felt more like a gun. 'all I can do is point it at a target and shoot'.
…
[you have killed 45 goblin wanderers. +450 exp]
[exp: 1000/5000]
the 4 of them easily cleaned up the road and came face to face with the portal. almost enough to touch it.
[discovered tier 2 green dungeon. recommended level: 5]
Ali reached out. nail grazing the glow of its majesty. the portal towered over them, 'it must be at least 20 meters tall' Ali thought to himself.
"well, should we wait here for group?" Alice faintly called out.
"I think we should enter right Ali??" Jamie replied. visible excitement covering his face. he too has clearly dreamed the same dreams as Ali.
all four of them stared at him, pushing the decision making onto him.
He looked at the portal. then at the other 3. "I.. I think we should enter. we are among the strongest in our group and there is four of us. an advance party. clear the way and make a spot for encampment within".
then with a look of fervour and thrill plastered onto his face. Ali and the others pushed their way into the portal, and into their potential residence for the upcoming days.