CH 9: Mana Maketh Man

"Emy, can you put a skill point counter in the bottom right of my vision?"

[Of course, sir.]

The number 6 appeared in my vision.

"I'll wait to upgrade my Body skills. Father said I already had abnormal strength, so I'll keep with other skills for a while."

[As you wish. For now, you can either upgrade a Mind skill to tier two, go through more knowledge impartment, or unlock -Enhancement- from the Pure Mana Arts Skill Tree.]

"Let's go with Enhancement. I want to see what my mana can do!"

[Commencing upgrade of -Enhancement- at the cost of 5 skill points.]

The slight pain in my head that I had dearly missed returned. After 30 seconds, it disappeared.

I went over to the wooden desk and put my hand under it. I then directed the mana particles to my arm and infused my muscles with them. A warm feeling spread through my entire arm and I felt a newfound strength.

I slowly lifted the table and was surprised when I could barely feel any resistance from gravity.

The desk was over my head now and I chuckled. "Oh yeah! I'm like Superman!" I exclaimed.

I set the desk back down and flexed my arm. I could see bright golden tendrils flowing through my muscles, making my arm glow.

"How do you think I'd fare against Levena now?" I asked.

[By my estimations, I'd say you have a fifty percent chance of besting her. But that's only if she uses her normal strength without enhancement.]

I whistled. "She sure is strong, huh? But I'll take what I can get."

After messing around more with Enhancement, I sat back down at the desk, waiting for Grandmother to come back.

Hours later…

I was flipping through a book I grabbed off the shelf about Mana Control and Mana Capacity and how to increase both.

'It won't hurt to know how to do it naturally.'

When I was nearly finished, the door to the room opened and a woman in a white blouse and black jeans walked in with two plates in her hands.

"Good evening, Grandmother," I greeted.

"Good evening, Kaiser," She responded.

She put the plates on the desk I was sitting at. There were some dishes I recognized. The purple meat of a Zanthei and some fruits were laid on the plates in a cool assortment of colors.

"Thank you for the food."

I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything today.

"Any questions so far?" She asked as I was stuffing my face. The white-haired beauty had an indifferent expression on her face at my lack of manners.

I swallowed all the different foods I had shoved into my mouth. "I'm curious about the Giants. Aside from when they were created, the books didn't mention them at all."

"The Giants?" She thought for a moment and replied. "The Giants are very strong, but very few as well. I've only met a couple in my life. They just roam around and do whatever interests them, I guess."

"They're powerful?"

Grandmother scoffed at the shine in my eyes. "Yes, they are very powerful. I'd have trouble facing one."

"Wow, even someone as strong as you would have trouble?"

A slight smirk etched across her face but disappeared as soon as I noticed it. "Yes, even someone as strong as me would have a hard time against one of them. That's why you need to catch up and learn what you've missed out on these past 18 years. If an old lady like me impresses you, then you've got a lot to learn."

"Yes, ma'am!"

An irritated smile graced her porcelain features. "You're not supposed to agree to that."

…

After dinner, Grandmother and I reviewed what I had learned. She was surprised at all the information I was able to retain from reading the books so fast.

"Even though I'm suspicious of the way you gained these abilities, I have to admit, they are pretty powerful," She said as we finished reviewing the last book I had read.

'This is only with the first tier!'

"I know it's hard to believe, but I've always been like this," I said. "Ever since I can remember, I've been able to comprehend things faster than normal and remember them for longer than other people."

"Hmm…" She gazed into my eyes for a short duration before sighing and getting up from the chair opposite me. "I'll be back tomorrow. We'll be going over Mana Arts. Get some rest."

"I'll do that. Have a good night."

She left the room and descended the steps. As she did so, I tried my hardest to make out her footsteps.

"I can only hear her when she's right next to me. I can't pinpoint what's keeping her movements so quiet. Even Mother had the same technique." I sighed and pulled my perception back in. "If it was a specific way she walked, I would have noticed it. I'm assuming it has something to do with mana circulation in the feet."

[I'm sure she will teach you something similar in the near future.]

"Yeah," I agreed. "No use being hasty about it."

I got up from the desk and walked over to the bed at the side of the room and laid down, letting sleep take over my consciousness.

…

The next day, I awoke to a poking on my cheek.

I opened my eyes quickly and was surprised to see my grandmother standing there poking my face to wake me up.

"Time to get up, Kaiser. We've got a lot of work to do today."

She kept poking my face even when my eyes were open.

"Okay, okay. I'm getting up."

The poking stopped and I got out of bed stretching and yawning. The sun was extra bright today, unobstructed by any clouds in the sky.

"Circulate your mana through your body," Grandmother said without a break.

'Already?!'

"Okay…"

I closed my eyes and–

"Keep your eyes open. Your enemy won't give you any time to concentrate."

I opened my eyes, trying my hardest to hide my annoyance. "Yes, ma'am."

I looked down at my arm and focused on pushing my mana through my bicep, down my forearm, and through my hands, then returning it back to my heart.

"Good. Now try not to push it. Circulating your mana should be like unblocking a dam and letting the water flow down the river. You shouldn't have to force it to go anywhere. Your body is naturally resisting your mana after all these years of being without it. This is something babies are born knowing how to do."

I sighed and ignored her snide remark and focused on the paths that the mana had taken through my arm. With my heightened perception, I could feel the exact arteries and neurons it flowed through. I focused on that path and pushed my mana through them again, but this time slower, focusing on any impediments.

When it reached the middle of my bicep, I noticed a significant decrease in the speed and ease at which the mana flowed. Stopping the flow, I forced the mana to expand and open the path.

It stung for a short time, but faded, allowing the mana to peacefully continue onwards down my arm.

"Very good. It takes normal ascendants many weeks to do what you just did," Grandmother said.

"What did I just do? Was it something that important?" I asked, confused.

She chuckled. "You don't know what you just did? For someone with heightened perception, it might seem like nothing, but for the newly awakened? What you just did was forcefully open a mana flow obstruction."

"Interesting… The human body without mana naturally builds obstructions against it. I wonder why?"

"Who knows? Only the gods would know something like that."

I shrugged and continued to let the mana slowly trickle down my arm. Again, the mana slowed down at the elbow this time. I forced open the obstruction and continued, repeating the process with every obstruction in my arm.

When I was done, I was heavily sweating and panting. My stamina bar had gone down to 25%.

"Very good. Take a break for a minute and continue with the process for your whole body."

I nodded and sat on my bed, taking deep breaths with the techniques I had learned from Rex.

In about 10 minutes, my stamina was full again and I continued the process of slowly letting my mana flow through my body, forcing any obstructions open.

Out of my sight, Grandmother was carefully observing what I was doing. Her eyes were focused on the mana in my body and its natural flow.

'He's doing very well. Even though he is a new awakened, he might have potential.'

Unaware of my grandmother's thoughts, I focused on making my mana flow as smoothly as possible.

…

"Haah, haah."

I was laying on my bed taking deep breaths after clearing out my mana paths. My stamina slowly returned and I got up, facing my mentor.

"Test it out," She said.

I nodded and let my mana run through my whole body. It was a very refreshing feeling. I felt like I'd been missing this my whole life.

I smiled and clenched my fist. It was different from Enhancement but I could still feel an improvement in my body.

"Now, condense the mana in your eyes."

I did as she said and a large amount of my mana flowed into my eyes, making their golden color as bright as a dim lamp.

Immediately, I noticed the colors of my surroundings fade away. Then, as if turning on a light switch, different colored particles appeared in the air, flowing through each other.

But what got my attention was the woman across from me. A mass of different colored particles was flowing in and around her body. There was such a massive amount that I couldn't even see her features anymore.

"Alright, that's enough. I don't want you to have a seizure"

I cut the flow of mana to my eyes and exhaled.

"It's like a sea of mana in here," I said in amazement.

"With your heightened sense of sight, mana particles are a lot easier to see. But sometimes it can be detrimental. When you looked at me, could you see me at all through the mana?" She asked.

I shook my head.

"That's why it's important to keep your senses to a minimum when empowering your vision with mana. It's only necessary to see big sources of mana, so seeing every particle is a waste of power."

"I see. It was certainly overwhelming. I couldn't imagine fighting with that."

"Good. Now, let's focus on the first steps to forming spells."

'I have a gut feeling she's going to start teaching me about Enhancement.'

"There are three steps to forming a spell. The first one, which we will go over, is to power yourself with mana…"

'She's in for a surprise.'

I couldn't help but chuckle.

"...the next step is–" She scowled. "What's so funny?"

I didn't say anything and just walked over to the desk and put my hand under it. Bright golden tendrils extended from my chest to my hand underneath my skin and I lifted the desk with ease.

"Is this what you're talking about?"

Her mouth hung agape and for the first time in her life, she was speechless.