3 New land

As my vision cleared I finally could see clearly around me. By the looks of it, I was on the outer edges of a forest. Trees on my right and a green pasture on my left. Also I could see a road in the distance, or at least that's how it looked to be.

"Doesn't look like I'm in any immediate danger at least, thank god."

Thank god huh...now I'm gonna feel weird saying that. Maybe I should change it to thank goddess? or even mistress?

"Ok useless thoughts go away, let's focus on what's important."

As I looked up to the sky I could see one sun, judging by the position it should be almost midday, by the known standards. Thank god I have time until the night, at least I hope so, don't want to know what stuff can live in, or near a forest.

Before moving though...doesn't look like any humans live in the near vicinity, so I should be safe from curious eyes as long as I keep my distance from the road.

"Time to do some testing." I said that with a wide grin.

Finally I could take my time and do some more experimenting.

"Well then, let's see what you can offer, 'eyes'." The moment I uttered those words I heard the classic ticking and felt a slight discomfort in my eyes followed by an interesting change. All I could see around was a lot of green, sometimes there would be more, and sometimes less, but overall everything around me was enveloped in a green aura.

"Ok so it does look like everything around is 'alive' and vibrant with life force. So this is the so called life mode huh, how do I change it to mana mode then...'eyes'." After being casted again the scenario around me changed, now I could see blue auras around a couple of objects.

"So mana is something that not all beings possess, ok interesting but the fact that I have to chant the spell is annoying." As I understood it, chanting makes invoking the spell easier but it isn't a must.

"Ok so what if we try it like that then."

I tried chanting the spell in my head and also blinking, the idea I had was worth the shot and also was proved to be possible by none other than Death, so I think there is a possibility it might work. It consists of me 'binding' the spell activation sequence not to the words but to some specific movements and also wordless chanting. In this case I tried to bind the 'eyes' spell to the blinking motion.

At first It didn't succeed but then after a couple failed tries I managed to do it.

"Nice, here we go!" I was pretty happy with this small achievement.

After a couple more tries and experiments I found that it's possible to choose which eyes will be activated, so I could freely choose if I wanted the mana or life eyes to be firstly activated, quite convenient if I do say so myself.

I guess there is no reason for me specifically binding every spell to a different motion but I'll do it for some of them at least.

"Ok so the next one, this one should be fun, 'scythe'." The same reaper that previously appeared in the sanctuary was behind me again, it's like he never left me.

"I guess you're my lifetime partner now huh." The answer to those words was silence.

"I guess you can't talk huh, shame, could really use some normal company right now. I mean ok you're pretty far from the 'normal' I was talking about but hey, at least you're not literal Death."

Ok I feel like I'm going slightly crazy here, talking with a big ass hooded skeleton that judging by the spell definition only I can see, what's next, talking with actual Death....right....scratch that.

"So little friend....big friend? how do I actually make you....I don't know, kill stuff?" And again silence was the only answer.

"Ok it was a rhetorical question anyway, let's try this then." I looked at a weird red flower nearby and said.

"Kill that flower." After those words a couple things happened. The reaper suddenly swung his scythe and it passed right through the flower. At first nothing happened but then I could see how it turned all black and then just turned to dust. At the same time I felt a weird feeling, I would describe it as drinking a small drop of water.

"Wait, could it be?" I searched for a similar flower and then activated mana eyes by blinking. My theory proved to be right. The flower had a small amount of blue in it, so the feeling I felt must've been my maximum mana being increased after the flower died.

"Hmm, then let's try something else next, die." As I said that I pointed to another flower, and the reaper proceeded to swing his scythe just like he did the last time. The flower then proceeded to disintegrate until it was nothing left of it.

Then I decided to take things further, with the scythe cast being still active I concentrated my attention on another flower, and remembering the motion Death did, snapped my fingers with the intention of killing the current target in my sight.

Surprisingly I managed to succeed on the first try and the reaper killed yet another flower. I've done the same thing a couple more times to practice until I felt satisfied. The results were pretty good, a bunch of flowers disappeared and I felt a little bit tired.

"Hah, I wonder, If I was in a game, would that be enough to give me the title 'flower killer'." I said that with a light chuckle.

"By the looks of it I have more mana than a flower, cool, and every time I kill something, my overall mana capacity would become bigger as a result but it would still need time to regenerate"

Hmm, I wonder about something, In theory I should be able to see my own mana and life with the 'eyes' but in order to test it I would need to find a water source first. Luckily I hear the sound of water so I assume there should be a river nearby.

I moved a little bit deeper into the forest and after some time I found a small river.

"Ok no animals or other creatures nearby, good, let's proceed."

I looked at my reflection in the water and activated life eyes at first. The next moment I saw my eyes changing color into a beautiful color of green. A decent sized green aura could also be noticed around me, it wasn't big but it could be seen cleanly.

I proceeded to cast mana eyes and my eyes changed color again. Now they were blue, I mean my eyes naturally were blue, but this blue color was a little bit more intense and vibrant. Around me I could also notice a faint layer of blue.

"Not a lot of mana huh...well I expected that...hey at least I have more than a flower." As I said that I was thinking about the color changing eyes, I would have to pay attention to that or maybe even come out with an explanation in case someone notices.

"Well, let's see the last one then, 'gate'." Just as the last time, a big door appeared behind me. The only difference from the last time was that right after it appeared, it started slowly opening.

"Really now?" I said that with a shaky and surprised voice.

When it fully opened you couldn't see anything behind, it was just a bunch of darkness. Reminded me of those dungeon portals from the video games in my old world. A strange and even creepy sight I might say.

While watching the creepy gate suddenly I saw a white orb passing through the it. Immediately afterwards I got the feeling that my mana increased, not by a lot, I would say that the amount was equivalent of a couple droplets of water, still more than a flower could offer though.

"So that was an actual soul passing into the afterlife huh, and the mana I felt was the so called 'payment' for the passage. Wonder what type of soul it was, an animal or something else. What's even the range on that thing though, was it actually that hard to give me a more detailed info? What if the the thing that killed that pour soul is actually nearby." Ok let's stop the nagging, even if mistress isn't nearby I should still take care not to say too much shit that could displease her. It's really stressful when your boss is Death huh. I mean come on, would it hurt her if she stopped the mindreading thing, respect my personal space at least for freak sake.

I decided to test some theories about that spell and in about 10 to 20 minutes I found out some interesting stuff about it.

"So it doesn't move with me, if I get too far it just disappears. That makes the spell completely useless for actual combat, basically it's just a farming spell huh. At least it doesn't consume any mana to activate. Actually 'eyes' is also cost free by the looks of it."

"Ok so let's decide the next course of actions. Basically it's either I stay here and try to farm some mana or I try to follow the road and get to civilization. To begin with, I have no idea how much time it would take to get to the nearest town or village. I might walk for an entire day and still not reach it."

Well then let's do it like this, 2 hours of of opened 'gate' to get some mana, then I'll look for some wildlife that let's hope I can kill. I have some experience surviving in a forest, so at least I should be able to get a fire and cook for myself. After that, moving up the road and searching for the nearest town or village.

"While not without flaws at least it's a plan." As I finished those words I chanted 'gate' in my head and stomped my foot, yes this is what I decided the 'binding' for gate would be.

"Time to not do anything for 2 hours straight, this is gonna be so much fun." I said that in a sarcastic voice.

Well at least that was the plan but as we all know, plans are made to be broken.