9 9: Orientation V

"Wow someone actually had enough mana to use my card!" A voice chirped excitedly somewhere. "Though it looks like just barely. Nearly passed out to mana depletion."

I was slowly coming go my senses and mentally taking stock of my situation. I didn't feel like any part of my body was injured though I kinda felt like I was floating aimlessly.

"Hey you still passed out? Hey!"

Whoever that was started poking my forehead in the most annoying way possible. I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. I expected to see one of the librarians or some other student instead I saw some sort black figure staring back at me. I didn't mean some guy standing in partly in shadows, this creature's body was made of darkness. I blinked a few times half expecting the shadow creature to disappear but it didn't instead cooking its head askew slightly.

"Huh." I said. The creature cooked a eyebrow at me. I don't know how I knew that, the creature didn't have a face just a swirling void of darkness where it's face should have been.

"That is the tamest reaction anyone has ever had to seeing me." The creature said the floated backwards a few feet. It had a humans body although it was composed of darkness like its face.

"Huh, never seen…someone like you before." I said.

"I don't know whether to be surprised or insulted by your lack of a reaction." The creature said. He tapped his finger against his face and frowned. "Oh well. Congratulations are in order human! You are the first person in over…two hundred years to successfully cast my spell sigil."

"Cast is? I was just trying to memorize it." I said.

"Yeah, that happened with the last five casters." The creature said with a shake of his head then started floating in circles around me. "You see my creator made this sigil card as a trap, the moment you start pouring mana into it the card sticks itself onto your skin and keeps siphoning mana until either you run dry or enough mana is consumed to cast the spell."

"That's a shitty trap!" I said. The creature laughed loudly then floated onto my face.

"I know right!" He wiped a single tear from where I guess his eyes would be then sighed.

"Well I guess I better get on with my shtick."

The creature snapped his fingers and suddenly we were floating in the restroom right above my body. I was face down on the ground right outside the stall I hid in. There were four spell sigil floating above me, each rotating like the dial on a safe. One after another they clicked into place and released a burst of light with each click. When the final sigil clicked my body began to glow and the sigils combined into a large needle that plunged into my back.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" I howled grabbing my chest. That felt like I got stabbed with a red hot knife that was then electrified. The creature simply chuckled at my pain.

"Good thing your mind is separated from your body right now. That would feel a million times worse!" The cheerful way he said that made me want to punch him.

"What was all this for?" I wheezed through the pain.

"You just gained access to the axiom spell mana-nana manipulation!" The creature cheered! Small fireworks shot from hos hands and exploded in the air around him.

"Mana-nana manipulation?" I repeated.

"Well you seem the spells actual name is Mana manipulation and attribute conversion tattoo but mana-nana manipulation sounds so much better doesn't it?" He smiled looking for my approval. I stared at him blank, slowly rubbing the now sore spot on my chest. He let out a mournful sigh when he realized I wasn't going to give him a reaction.

"Anyway! What this spell does is allows you to change the attributes of your mana. Wanna cast a fireball but don't have time to cast a fire Lance spell sigil? No worries! Simply gather some mana in your hand and imagine it catching fire and BAM! FIREBALL!"

My eyes widened. "Really?!" I exclaimed.

"Yep!" The creature nodded. My mind was already racing at the possibilities.

'Depending on what counted as attributes my potential with this spell could be limitless.' I thought.

"There is one tiny little downside to this spell, well two actually. First is this spell will prevent you from ever being able to cast another sigil again, now the only way you'll be able it use magic is through splicing and changing the attributes of your mana. Second is you'll never be affected by another spell sigil. Good or bad."

"Does that mean I can't be affected by a fireball?" I asked.

"Yes. Offensive and defensive spells can still affect you since you strictly speaking aren't the target. They are targeting the space you are in or the space around you. This is more for utility or enchantment spells which affect your body directly. So say someone tries to use a enchantment spell to put a death curse on you, mana-nana manipulation would cancel it out. The same is also true if you are mortally wounded and someone uses a utility spell to close the wound. It wouldn't work and you'd quickly bleed out."

"Well shit!" I groaned.

"Oh and using mana-nana manipulation takes a lot of mana. Unless you have a mastery over your mana control it's possible that using it once could completely drain you of mana! I guess that's three things."

"Is saying no to this an option?"

"Nope it's way too late! Spell sigil is already encoded into your DNA! The creature laughed. "Well go and have fun! You should wake up in another ten minutes."

The creature snapped his fingers again and I was dragged toward the ground toward my body. Everything went black again. My body suddenly radiated pain, like I was being stabbed all over with a thousand red hot needles. I gritted my teeth against the pain and it slowly subsided. I opened my eyes to find I was lying on the floor exactly how I was before I got snatched by the shadow creature.

With a groan and a lot more effort than I cared to admit I managed to stand up and walk over to the nearest sink. My face was dripping in sweat, at least I was hoping it was sweat. I glanced down at the sigil card in my hand. Remembering the creature's words I held one finger up and closed my eyes. I willed my mana to gather in that finger. It took a minute but I could sense my mana doing as I commanded. Then I imagined my mana catching fire and condensing into a small swirling flame hovering a few inches above my finger. My whole hand started feeling warm.

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed when I opened my eyes. A fireball the size of a football was hovering above my finger and it was only getting bigger with each passing second.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" I exclaimed as I rushed into a bathroom stall. I threw the fireball in the toilet and it exploded into a bath of steam. "Now I see why I need mana control…" I panted.

I stepped put of the stall an did a fist pump in the air. I had learned my first spell sigil. And if that shadow creature was to be believed my only spell sigil. I rushed to the door and hoped I wasn't out for too long. As I reached the door I saw my right hand and the star shaped crystal glowing dimly in the florescent lighting. For a brief moment I thought about walking outside with it uncovered. But I wasn't ready yet.

"Not yet." I muttered as I pulled my glove out of my pocket and put it on. Then rushed out of the bathroom into the study area.