4 Mana manipulation 101

"Beginner's Guide for the Privileged Mage"

"While the power to control mana is largely genetic, there are many cases where children of Magi come out unable to sense the mana around them. A recent censusshowed that roughly one in every one hundred children are able to sense mana, butthe extent of which could only be tested when their mana core first completely developed—anywhere from their early adolescence to late teen years. It will be apparent when a mage first awakens by the initial repellence of the surrounding manawhen their mana core manifests. This results in a translucent barrier forming aroundthe awakened that lasts a couple of minutes."

I was flipping through the pages when one caught my eye

"...Mana can be used in a couple of ways. The two most common methods of utilizingmana are: enhancement of the body with mana (augmenter), and emission of mana tothe outside world (conjurer)..."

"...augmenters are most commonly seen amongst warriors who utilize mana,channeling it through their body to strengthen themselves and their attacks."

"...The practice of conjuring is seen in Mages, who, after utilizing their mana, can castspells to give off a certain effect on the surrounding area or directly at a target."

Weaknesses and Limitations

"While augmenters can possess incredible strength, defense and agility, theirweakness lies in their limited range..."

 "Conjurers possess unfathomable powers, being able to bend their surroundings to their will. However, such powers come with limits. Unlike augmenters, who utilizemost of the mana in their own mana cores, conjurers need to borrow mana from theoutside world, in addition to their own mana core, to exert mana into their surroundings in the form of a spell."

"While both types of Mages, or Mana Manipulators, for the more scientifically accurate term, depend on and are categorized by their mana core, augmenters and conjurers also have different ways of measuring their aptitude."

Flip.

"An augmenter's prowess or talent is measured by the strength of the mana channels in their body, which measures the speed and efficiency in relocating their mana from their mana core into various parts of their bodies..."

"...A conjurer's power and talent, comparatively, is measured by the power of their mana veins, which indicates the speed and effectiveness of absorbing mana from theoutside world to cast a spell." 

Flip. 

"...Mages (Mana Manipulators) are typically categorized into one of these two divisions since attempting to become proficient in both from an early stage is incredibly time consuming and inefficient. Most are born with a skewed difference in their mana channels and mana veins..."

"...augmenters do not need very strong mana veins because they mostly utilize themana from their cores, while conjurers do not need very powerful mana channelsbecause they do not release their mana into their own bodies." 

"As proficiency level rises, the distinction between augmenters and conjurers lessens naturally, but that is only so at an advanced level..."

It seems my father is a decent augmenter but a below average conjurer.

But what about my mother? What was that green healing light?

"There are a few, rare deviants. The two most well-known types of deviants areelemental deviants and Emitters. While some still remain undiscovered, ones that arehighly sought after are the Emitters, more commonly known as healers. Healerspossess the rare ability to cast their unique restorative mana unto others, directly,recovering injuries and impairments."

Damn mother's strong

Fundamentals of Conjuring

 "The proper steps of utilizing mana for conjurers is to gather the surrounding mana in the area, drawing it into your body, then, after circulating it into your mana core to stabilize and purify the atmosphere's diluted mana, you channel it into an appropriate conductor (a staff, wand, ring, of some sort) with the incantations as a mental controller for your will into shaping the mana into whatever spell you want..."

Flip. 

"...The more powerful the spell, the longer it will take to draw in surrounding mana,store it in your mana core, where it is condensed and purified, and finally channel and release..."

Flip. 

"Because conjuring involves exerting focused mana into a particular spell, conjurers will notice that they have a special aptitude of certain elements (Air, Water, Fire,Earth), but with proper training, can become adequate in the basics of all elements."

Flip. 

Fundamentals of Augmenting 

"Unlike conjuring, much less time can be spent gathering the surrounding mana. Efficient use of augmenting requires speed and precision in the use of the mana from your core and less from the mana in the atmosphere..."

Ah here it is, something similar to using ki, except one could also use mana from the atmosphere. So the reason there were no conjurers in my old world was because there was no ki in the atmosphere to draw from.

"...augmenting requires proper distribution of mana into different parts of the body, depending on how the user sees fit. While it seems simple at a glance, augmenting requires much insight into the individual's own body. Being able to utilize the mana channels efficiently requires years of both mental and physical practice."

 Flip.

"Because augmenting involves extracting mana in its purest form from the user's mana core, there are no highly notable distinctions in an elemental sense at an early stage. However, augmenters are able to control their mana more freely, resulting in vastly different forms of fighting through augmentation." 

Flip. 

"The phenomenon called 'Backlash' occurs in both types of practitioners. For augmenters, it occurs from depletion of the mana core, causing extreme bodily pain, depending on how strenuous the damage to the mana core is. For conjurers, Backlash occurs from the overfilling of the mana core. This is caused by overuse of spells beyond the practitioner's capacity, or using a spell too powerful for the mana core to handle."

"Haaah" I sighed from the amount of information i just digested.

So I thought to try making a mana core. Since the formation ki core in my old life could be stimulated and quickened, why couldn't it be the same for a mana core.

Thus, I began meditating and forming my mana core. This went on for days, finally one day Art came across the same book i read on mana manipulation, from them he too started meditating. I was now very certain he was reborn as well, since I made sure to never be caught reading the book or meditating by him.

Once Arthur was meditating during daytime running the risk of getting caught, so I also joined him. It was silent for a few minutes when mother came barging in the study looking for us.

"There you are children. Having trouble taking a poop?" she asked unaware of what was truly transpiring.

We voiced our disagreement until she picked us up and checked, I had indeed wet myself while Arthur's nappy had become heavier than usual.

....well ain't that a coincidence