Luke didn't waste any time. Absorbing the mana was still quite painful, but he soon learned that the more mana he absorbed into his body the easier it became to handle. Which was a relief for Luke, as he never really had a high pain tolerance.
Minutes passed into hours as Luke meditated. Eventually he was able to draw the mana toward him consistently, and he didn't have to reach out and touch it. At first he wasn't sure how he was doing this, and he asked Lila about it.
"It's your mana vortex," she said matter-of-factly. "It's usually the first major step in one's development when progressing as a Knight. Close your eyes and try to sense your inner mana flow."
Luke nodded, closing his eyes again as she'd instructed. Instead of extending his awareness outward, he tried to sense what was inside him. It was hazy, at first, but the more he focused the clearer his mana sense became. Soon he could sense what seemed like large veins. They seemed to give off a soft, bluish-white light, almost like faint rivers of light beneath his skin.
The veins were concentrated along his spine, forming three pathways from top to bottom. They looked raw and unrefined, as if the mana was struggling to flow smoothly through them. As he focused, the veins pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, a faint warmth spreading along his spine. The sensation wasn't painful, but it felt... different, like something had always been there, waiting to be awakened.
His eyes snapped open in shock. "Lila! I see three veins around my spine!" he said excitedly.
Lila giggled and said, "I know, silly. Those are the prime mana veins in your body. At the Alef stage, those are the only three veins that will be open. Advancing to Bet will unlock two more, Gimel two more, and so on."
"How many are there in total?" Luke asked.
"Forty five," Lila responded simply.
Luke's brow furrowed as he pondered that. "So, if there are forty five mana veins, how many actual levels are there? You just mentioned three, right?"
Lila nodded, "Yep. Alef, Bet, and Gimel are the first three levels. In total, there are twenty-two levels that I know of. Each level is represented by one letter of the Divine Language, which has twenty-two letters, the last of which is Tav."
"Wow," Luke replied. "So how long will it take me to reach max level? And how strong will I be?"
Lila laughed again at Luke's excited demeanor. "Don't get in too much of a hurry," she said. "It takes most people at least a year just to reach Bet. After that, the time between levels typically gets longer and longer the closer to Tav one gets."
Luke's smile fell away and a slight frown crept up on his face. "Does that mean I might never reach Tav?"
"I seriously doubt that," she said, smiling reassuringly. ""Most Knights take months just to feel their mana veins, and you're already seeing your vortex? If the others knew about this, they wouldn't believe me. I have a feeling that you're going to progress faster than anyone would believe. Besides, I'm at Alef right along with you, so it can't be that bad of a place to be."
"You're at Alef too?" Luke asked.
"Well, yeah. Don't you remember me saying we are going to grow and learn together?" Lila replied.
"Of course, I just thought that you must be at a higher level because you can literally walk on air and float around like gravity doesn't exist," Luke said.
"Well, I've been at Alef for, like, twenty centuries," Lila explained with a smile. "I've learned to squeeze everything out of Alef that I possibly can."
"So, am I going to be able to float around like that?" Luke asked.
"You'll get there. Alef isn't just about absorbing mana - it's about mastering the basics. Balance, awareness, control. Right now, you're like a baby learning to walk."
Luke laughed, "I guess that makes sense. But, why aren't you able to progress on your own?"
Lila shrugged, "That's just how it is. Celestials have the potential for immense knowledge and power, but our purpose is not to gain these things for ourselves. Rather, it is to do so for the betterment of all Creation. It's this way for you and the other Knights, too. Without a Celestial companion, your progress would be almost nonexistent. It also functions as a way for each of us to check the other."
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
"I mean, if you get out of line, I smack you. If I get out of line, which I won't, it's you who must stand in my way," Lila explained.
"Wait, I get smacked and you just get me in your way?" Luke replied.
"It is what it is," Lila laughed, shrugging again. "But, before we get too off topic. I'm glad you can see your mana veins, but you didn't see what I wanted you to see. Close your eyes again and check your mana flow again."
Luke nodded and closed his eyes once more, directing his awareness to inside his body. He saw the three mana veins again.
He heard Lila speak softly, "Follow the flow."
Luke did so, trying to see from where the mana flowed. For several minutes he wasn't able to make out anything more than he'd already seen, but just as he was about to give up he became aware of a spot that was slightly brighter than the rest. Right in the middle of his torso, at his solar plexus, he could sense a force of some kind.
He focused harder on that spot and soon the details became clear enough for him to get a sense of what it was he was sensing. It appeared to be a small, slow moving vortex, the same bluish-white color as the three mana veins along his spine.
Not only was there a vortex, but Luke could sense that the vortex connected directly to the three mana veins, absorbing ambient mana and feeding it into the veins. From there, the mana flowed up and down away from the vortex connection point.
"Whoa, that's pretty cool," Luke said softly, keeping his eyes closed. "I can see the mana vortex you mentioned, and the ambient mana moving slowly toward and into it, then into my mana veins."
Lila smiled, "Just like I said: you're going to progress quickly."
"Why do you say that?" Luke asked.
"Generally, it takes weeks, sometimes months, for a person to be able to see their mana vortex and initial mana veins. The fact that you can see that after only a day is unheard of. I had a feeling when we first met that you were going to be special."
Luke blushed, not knowing how to take such high praise. "You mean when you were stalking me in the dark?"
Lila's face went red and Luke laughed aloud.
"I was not stalking you!" she said loudly.
Eventually he calmed enough to say, "It's just a joke! Don't be so serious!"
They chatted for a few more minutes before Lila encouraged Luke to continue meditating. He became mesmerized by the process of mana absorption and found that the longer he watched, the clearer it all became.
Hours passed like that and before he knew it the sun had set outside. His body felt both satisfied and energized beyond anything he'd ever felt before. His eyes flicked open and he looked around the room, spotting Lila sitting in her invisible chair several feet up the far wall of his dorm, her head nearly touching the ceiling. She was leaning back a bit, holding up a book in front of her face.
She seemed to sense his eyes on her and she closed the book, slipping it into a bag that Luke didn't even know she had.
Luke stretched his arms and legs as he stood. Shouldn't he be sore after sitting still for so long? Instead, his body felt energized, his breath steady and full. It was subtle, but unmistakable—something inside him had changed.
"I was starting to get a little bit antsy," Lila said, lowering herself a couple of feet closer to the floor.
"Why's that?" Luke asked.
"Well, remember that threat I told you about?"
Luke nodded, motioning for her to continue.
"I'm pretty sure it's about to happen," she said.
"Huh?" Luke asked with a dumb look on his face. "What do you mean 'it's about to happen'?"
"Just that," Lila replied. "I can sense a massive mana disturbance not far from here, and it seems to be getting wilder and more chaotic."
"I don't sense anything," Luke said.
"Well, I doubt your mana sense is developed enough yet. The disturbance feels weird, though. I can sense that it's about ninety to one hundred miles from here, but it's not confined to one location. It's like it spreads away from there in a circular ring," Lila explained.
Luke furrowed his brow and thought about what might be that distance from his town. His head snapped up and he said, "That's just past Tulsa, Oklahoma."
Then, his eyes went wide and shock spread across his face.
"What is it?" Lila asked, concern lacing her voice. "What's wrong?"
"That's about the right distance from here to the APA." Luke said disbelievingly.
Lila's expression turned inquisitive. "The APA? What's that?"
"It's the Arcadium Particle Accelerator," Luke replied. "It runs about 800 miles, completely encircling the entirety of the Ozark Mountains, though it's actually underground."
"That… doesn't sound like a simple machine," Lila said, her golden eyes narrowing. "Particle accelerators, energy fields, experimental physics… I've read about places like this before. If what you're saying is true, Luke, this might be far worse than I thought."
Luke's stomach twisted. It couldn't be a coincidence. The largest scientific experiment in human history, the thing meant to push the boundaries of physics itself… and now there was a mana disturbance radiating from its location? The weight of realization settled like a stone in his chest.