A Place to Meditate

Chapter 74: A Place to Meditate

/1st Book, Chapter 1: Panaan

People were created, and sown over the planet, in a time, when the gods themselves walked among them. The many tribes split up, spreading out over the continents, to wherever it was suitable, and they brought the very earth they stood into their grasp, under their rule. The seeds were sown, and the harvest came. The Chapter was Pan.

1st Book, Chapter 2: Fric

After the first harvest, the people ate, and were at peace, yet winter was bitter. Many died, especially of the more fickle races. Ifrits and lavids grouped together, building buzzing hives, and humans often gathered around these for warmth, with other folk finding their own, and only ice spirits roaming the land. Yet, as always, spring came, and the second seeds were sown. The dead were mourned. The fields grew, and the second harvest was stored. The Chapter was Fric.

1st Book, Chapter 3: Glut

When winter came again, the Hearth gifted warmth to the people, and the frost was beaten back. Flowers blossomed, even when the air was frigid. Winter retreated, spring came, and the people were fed. The Chapter was Glut.

1st Book, Chapter 4: Sera

The elves left their forest for a journey, and drank with the dwarves. They exchanged bows and axes, wood and stone. The fish people resurfaced, and met with the spirits, in hopes to build with them. Humans progressed slowly, under the smiling eyes of the Hearth and the Anvil. The Chapter was Sera.

1st Book, Chapter 5: Cohf

A ploy was forming in the web, when winter came and went. Spring was quiet, silent, the flowers refusing to blossom, and the seeds sprouting late. The harvest came, thanks to the hearth, yet the beauty that had been promised was not given, and the elves seemed unhappy. The Chapter was Cohf.

1st Book, Chapter 6: Blut

Fights broke out because of the Weaver. A web of lies, so intricate all was caught. The snow was red, the flowers cold, and winter never left. The Chapter was Blut.

1st Book, Chapter 7: Rul

Winter did not leave for one, but the dwarves had burrowed deep. The elves and humands were welcome, the fish with the lavid, and the isyns hunted for sustenance. The ploy had drawn to a close, the web pulled everyone together, a failure, a success, a future. The Chapter was Rul.

1st Book, Chapter 8: Kal

The Act's end soon loomed, and the loom spun on, a string, given by the gods. It was to be followed, a doctrine, of moral, deciding that which was good. The fields were good, the warmth was good, life was good, and the cold was hatred. The isyns were betrayed, and when winter went, few remained. The Hearth looked on in horror, the Anvil in shock, and the harvest was ruined by their burning tears. The Chapter was Kal.

1st Book, Chapter 9: Jaxa

Winter came, and stayed, and stayed, the gods tears becoming glaciers. They were beautiful, solemn, and sad, crying over the children they had lost to the string they had strung. An error, a tragedy, an empty granary, and the people went hungry. The Chapter was Jaxa.

1st Book, Chapter 10: Brac

The first act drew to a close, and the gods gave gifts. Their forms fully shown to but a few, their eyes blinded, their ears deafened, their minds opened. The understood the string, the loom, the truth, the point. Sense was grasped, things rebuilt, the isyns sheltered and protected. What had been broken was being repaired, yet a pride was fractured and not easily restored. The Chapter was Brac./

The first act of all history, spanning the first ten chapters of the first book, 40 seasons, 400 pages, 4000 lines. 4000 times did the sun rise and fall, and many more will there be, as it was written down by the first one to write, Julius, the Old.

- - - - - -

Mercury woke up very slowly. He hadn't dreamt of anything during this sleep, which was a rarity nowadays, and at first, it almost didn't feel as though he was awake. The world was still just as dark, and very quiet, though when he focused a little more, he could feel himself softly being raised up and down, again and again.

Very quickly, the sleep was pushed from his mind, and it felt as if he had downed multiple energy drinks at once. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest as panic tried to grasp at him. Where was he? What happened? Where were his companions? He was confused all around.

But, with his mind suddenly going into overdrive, he remembered that he was probably in a difficult position. Someone had knocked him out, and he was now being catnapped. An unfavourable situation, to say the least, and thinking about it again, he did not want to be discovered.

After only a moment of thought, he forced his heartrate down, taking slow, flat breaths as he fully utilised both <Meditation> and <Steady Heart>. He had the Skills for something like this. He wasn't fully doomed, nor were his friends. Okay, this was manageable, just slow breaths, managing his heartrate, and once he had calmed down a little, Mercury began to listen.

There were footsteps around him, and he guessed that the swaying he was experiencing might be because someone was carrying him. He could also hear very faint, muffled footsteps around himself, though he couldn't make out what they were walking on. Very sneaky.

Wasn't this like a typical assassin thing? A creepy door that asks you a question, being knocked out and brought to their hideout only if you're unconscious? Silent steps and no one speaking? Wait, in that case, was he being dragged off to be killed?

No, no, that made no sense. Too much effort, when he had already been in the perfect position to be disposed of. This had to be different, maybe he was being taken to their hideout? That would make sense, and it also would explain why they were being so quiet. Was this supposed to happen? Why wouldn't anyone have fucking warned him? How is it-

Then, Mercury's thoughts ended very suddenly, as he felt another impact, and his lights were turned off once again.

- - -

A little while later, he woke up once more, still with something covering his head. This time he also noticed that he couldn't smell anything, at least not anything other than a hint of... was that lavender? Bruh, he hated lavender. Fucking vile piece of shit grass. Ugh.

Still, he didn't dare move at all. After once more calming down just a smidge, he tried to figure out anything about his surroundings. He wasn't being moved anymore, and there was something solid below him. Maybe it was made from wood? It was a little hard to tell. He couldn't get a feel for the air either, so he was unsure as to what kind of place they were in...

In any case, there was definitely something working on him, beyond just having a bag over his head. Some kind of sensory blockade, which didn't let him get much of a feel for where he was at all. He couldn't even hear the slightest amount of noise around himself either, no steps, no breathing. Either it was fucked, or he was in a cell, but that was unclear, too.

With that in mind, Mercury gave it a couple more tries, trying to see if he could figure out anything about where the hell he was, only to come up empty handed. It was annoying, and frustrating, to be robbed of his senses, he thought. It made him feel insecure. He could be on the floor, or in a room full of enemies, he could even be held at gunpoint and interrogated right now, and he would have no idea.

It was... a strange feeling, and very anxiety inducing. But stuck in that situation, Mercury was irritated. He could do nothing but think, think, and think once again. As time went by, he didn't quite know what to even do, the less he knew about the world around himself, the more unsettled he became, and he didn't dare move a muscle in case someone was watching him. Hell, if there was no one, he might be on a chair, fall down, and crack his skull open.

No, that was stupid. For now, all he could really do was stand still, and so, he forced himself to turn his attention inward once again. Slowly, he visualized what things were supposed to be like. His core, with the myriad of mana veins leaving form it, and the silvery liquid simply laying there, resting. It looked like a puddle of starlight, undisturbed and clean in his core, lazily drifting with no wind to speak of.

Since the last time he had really looked at just the amount of it he had, there was more. Certainly, not enough to call a lake, maybe not even enough to fill a river, but a little too much to call a puddle. Maybe he could consider it a pool now? Heh, if he filled it all in one of those tiny plastic pools for children, maybe it was enough to cover the floor by now? Then again, maybe not quite.

Well now, what to do with it then? For now, Mercury decided to work on his mana veins again, aiming to finally finish them up. Having to stretch them throughout his teeth was unpleasant, sure, but manageable at the very least. It felt a little like going to the dentist, though there wasn't any pain. Well, Mercury never much minded the dentist, other than those abhorrent fees they charge.

Wait. Mana veins. He had gotten sidetracked again. The modern day capitalist society should not distract him from practicing proper magic procedure and etiquette on the world he was right now! Truly, he needed to set an example young mages in education could follow. At his age, one had to be a role model. No, wait, that made him sound like a grandpa.

Damn it, he'd been distracted again! Fine, just focus on the mana veins. Take the liquid starlight, force it all the way through the maze of rocky tubes, bring it up to his face, and expand them! The expansion was difficult, especially going through places with fewer nerves. It was just less familiar controlling things there, so his legs and chest had been easiest, while claws and teeth had been a chore. Especially getting the veins properly situated.

Still, Mercury took his mana, started rotating it, and blasted the end of his veins with a pressurized drill, essentially. For whenever he broke through, he kept some magical energy on standby, which was still possible to control inside his body, at least with his increased willpower, and then reinforced the walls again. Like that, he fought forward, battling against his jaw, gaining distance millimeter, by millimeter.

Bit by bit, he eroded back the border that had been there, and before too much time passed, he had finally broken through the last hurdle! Heureka, his mana veins were now complete!

[<Astral Body> has levelled up! <Astral Body lv. 1 -> 2>]

... That's the wrong Skill.

Wait, maybe it wasn't? Was his astral body linked to his mana veins? The two certainly seemed connected, if one levelled up right after he worked on the other.

[Due to the increase in <Astral Body>'s level, the individual has changed.]

[Your existence has become more closely realized.]

[Your energy sensitivity has increased.]

[<Talent> has acquired mastery.]

[<Talent> has levelled up! <Talent lv. 1 -> 2>]

[The individual has become able to better move through all that isn't.]

What the fuck? What just happened? Huh? <Appraisal> are there answers to this??

[The individual has developed their <Astral Body> by spreading <Mana Veins> throughout their entire being. The ability to channel mana throughout all of yourself allows for greater improvement speed in all aspects, as well as unique benefits, which will become clearer as time goes on. The individual is encouraged to further pursue a path such as this, if it suits them. The individual is discouraged of continuing down this road if they do not enjoy travelling.]

Well, to be fair, he did get sick if he didn't look at a road during a car drive.

[The travelling aspect refers more closely to: Hiking. Exploration. Being itinerant.]

The fuck does being itinerant mean?

[Itinerant: travelling from place to place.]

That was... something? Mercury didn't quite know what to make of this. He didn't see anything negative, at the very least? Like, if it was about exploration, he could manage that without getting sick, and he quite enjoyed seeing new places. This seemed like a fair path to go down, and quite frankly, he might tread it even if it wasn't, just for the sake of curiosity. After all, there certainly were a lot of questions about it, and he wanted all of them answered.

This wasn't directed at you, <Appraisal>. Please refrain from giving a snippy answer.

In any case, Mercury felt a little more... complete. After understanding all of the notifications, he took a handful of seconds to calm himself again. Wait, how had he been able to very clearly read them, if his sight was supressed? Did this mean that the notifications were linked somehow directly to his mind? What a strange concept.

Then again, that wasn't much of a problem at all. If anything, as of right now, it was beneficial to him. The system was intrinsically linked to the world he was in as of right now, and being able to use it, even without his normal senses, was quite nifty.

For now, he was still trapped in nothingness, and after musing on the system for a couple of minutes, Mercury snapped back to himself. Right, he should keep busy. this wasn't a place to just waste away. He thought, therefore he was, or some poetic shit like that. He thought, therefore he should get off his lazy ass and start practicing some magic.

With that thought in mind, Mercury began to sink into meditation again, slowly opening up his inner eye to the mana not just in his core, but also all around him. It didn't take very long until the glimmering drops and clouds of essence were showing all around him, looking even more impressive against the background of nothing. Usually, it looked a little like someone had thrown blue glitter into the air, but against this perfect darkness, it looked like a night sky. He appreciated that.

Still, no matter how pretty it was, Mercury needed to make some of that mana his own. So, he began to look at all the millions of stars, churning his ystirs for the first time in a while. He was still determined to continue collecting mana as he had done before, and thus, he reached out. With his mind, his thoughts, he began to pluck down the stars, tapping them to see how they were.

Strangely enough, something about this mana felt different now. Before, any triz had felt like a tiny, tiny raindrop before. They were so small, that he sometimes had trouble even noticing when he made contact with one, but now, it felt much clearer. Rather than reaching out into the air, hoping to grab onto some of the condensed moisture, it felt like he already knew where they were, and without even touching them, he got... a feeling from them.

Back in Treyno, he had decided to only absorb triz that felt right, felt pure, but now, it was easier to put it into words. Not all air was made equal, some was old, and musty, and the air next to roads always smelled of burnt gasoline, meanwhile when one was high up on a mountain, the air felt crisp, and clear. There was something similar when it came to triz, some of it felt like clean, crisp, white snow, and others felt like there was some mud in them.

Mercury had never been a fan of eating yellow or brown snow, so he decided to simply stick with the stuff that seemed very nice and clean. Was this something about mana purity? Surely not, that shit was such a cliche, after all. No, only cheap, bad, mass produced, heartless stories would write about something that annoying. Certainly, this has nothing at all to do with that.

Well, regardless of what exactly the muddiness of triz meant, Mercury decided to only absorb the clean one that seemed appealing. Of course, this method was slow, and tedious, and exhausting, but he didn't feel tired quite yet. Wait, he didn't feel tired at all. What? Was it because of his increased wisdom? The intelligence?

Something had clearly changed about him. Even using all 32 of his ystirs seemingly left him with room to think. Unbeknownst to himself, Mercury had grown. His training with runes, the experiences he had gone through in war, his travelling, searching, manipulating of mana, and all the things old Uunrahzil had taught him. He had become stronger, and his mind had grown as well.

If one were to talk of it in analogies, Mercury's mind used to be more of a toothpick. It couldn't stir mana well, it couldn't manipulate mana well, it wasn't very useful for much, other than picking away at something greater. But now, after having gone through many things, Mercury was no longer using a toothpick. His mind now might be comparable to a small knife. It had a decently sharp tip, though its cutting edge was blunt, and the grip uncomfortable, and it still wasn't something a professional would use to stir a pot, but it would do better than a toothpick for cooking.

It was an improvement, and a large one at that. Mercury's will, quick thinking, wit, and even his cleverness had been tested and tried. He had meditated on things that laid at his core, and he had grown because of it. And, at the end of it all, he was still the same old Mercury, he still wanted to cook, but the tools he brought to the table were now better.

Perhaps, in time, he would be able to grow further, yet for now, he would be stuck in the darkness of his own five senses, where all he could do was to collect a couple more drops of mana.