"I am ready to listen," Seth said
[Good, think of me as your training wheels and the bear as a practice dummy]
"Training wheels and a training opponent," he muttered.
"And here I thought you'd be on my side for once."
[Always, Seth,] Zera replied, her voice laced with dry amusement.
[But I'm not here to pamper you. You need to survive and thrive. Everything in this world is tied to mana. Until you learn to be in tune with it, you're a mouse in a den of hawks.]
Seth frowned, his golden eyes narrowing.
"I can sense the mana around me. But ahead of me... It's there, but… rigid, resistant. It's like it's already tied to something else."
[Exactly,] Zera said.
[Sensing mana is step one. Using it, manipulating it, that's step two. And the mana around you isn't free; it's in tune with the bear.
