Chapter 27 -- Mana manipulation

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Wyatt cried.

"You do know that i can just kill you then turn your carriage inside out until i find it right ?" Zane threatened.

"It's not even in my carriage!" Wyatt announced.

"Ohh so you do have it. Tell you what, if you give me the core i will let you go how about that?"

Wyatt fell into thought, was the mana core worth his life. He could always get more money to buy another one. 

'Why didn't I absorb it as soon as I bought it!' he lamented.

"How do I know you will keep your word" Wyatt asked as he looked into Zane's white eyes, still wondering if this person was really blind.

"You don't" Zane coldly said.

Wyatt sighed in defeat "It's in my ring".

Zane raised an eyebrow "What ring?"

"The storage ring on my finger" Wyatt explained. 'He doesn't know what a storage ring is?, then where was he keeping that sword and the bow' he thought.

Zane looked at Wyatt's hand and sure enough there was a ring on his finger, which he promptly removed. Zane looked at the ring and from his perspective it didn't look any different from a normal ring it didn't even have any gems of the sort.

"What color is it" He suddenly asked.

"Silver" Wyatt replied as he rubbed his throat.

"How does it work ?" Zane asked in curiosity.

"Just inject a little bit of mana into it. It might take a while though since non mages don't have that much mana" Wyatt explained.

Zane put a little mana into the ring and suddenly his view changed. Zane could suddenly see clothes, some weapons, gold and more importantly a small white sphere. For the first time in his life Zane could see colours.

'These things must be what is currently being stored in the ring. It is transmitting these images straight into my mind, unlike my inventory where I wont see my items but just feel them.'

Zane then cut off his mana and as expected, he stopped 'seeing' the items. He also discovered that the ring used very little mana, so little that it wasn't even noticeable.

"How do i take something out? " he asked.

"Just focus on the item you want and it will appear on the outside" Wyatt explained.

Zane infused his mana into the ring once more before focusing his attention on the gold. Sure enough some gold coins suddenly appeared on the floor in front of him. Wyatt grimaced when he saw that.

Zane then counted the gold before putting it into his own pouch. 'Wait why did i even take it out, the ring is mine now anyway' he said as he held the gold once more and focused on the ring. The pouch then disappeared into the ring.

'Okay time to test out this mana core' Zane focused on the mana core and it suddenly appeared on the ground.

"Why does everything have to fall to the floor?" he asked as he picked up the core.

"Just focus on your hand at the same time and the object will appear on your hand. Of course if you try to remove something that can't fit on your hand or is to heavy, you will be crushed." 

Wyatt was explaining, however Zane's attention was elsewhere as his eyes where glued to the mana core. Since it was a mana core it was pretty obvious that Zane could clearly see it even without the dust. However that wasn't what had gotten his attention..

<Grade one mana core detected>

<Would you like to absorb it?>

Once again Zane saw something new from his system. Without any hesitation Zane replied 'Yes'.

Suddenly the mana core started to reduce in size. Wyatt could only see it becoming smaller, however Zane saw that it was desolving into gas form which entered his body through his skin.

A few seconds later and the core was completely gone.

<Grade one mana core absorbed>

<1 10 mana cores absorbed>

<New skill unlocked : Mana manipulation>

As Zane absorbed the core, he didn't feel his body filling with mana at all. However his system confirmed that he had absorbed the core successfully.

'New skill huh. But isn't mana manipulation what i can already do ?' he thought.

'System explain the mana manipulation skill' he internally said.

<Mana 1000 manipulation : Gives user the ability to take and give mana non mages. Mana given other people will count as cores towards breakthrough mage realm. points grade one core. Please note that cannot use this slill realm himself>

'What the hell ?' Zane thought as he read the systems' explanation. 

'This skill is pretty useless to me since i can't use it to become stronger in any way. Taking mana from people is already covered using mana gathering anyway. This means that this skill is only good for helping others' He thought.

Zane then glanced at Wyatt 'Why not try it out since I already have a guinea pig ' he smiled.

Wyatt felt a shiver as Zane looked at him. He wanted to try and run away since he wasn't being held or tied to anything, however he knew that he couldn't outrun Zane if his physical strength was any indication.

Wyatt was also promised to be let go if he gave up the core anyway so he didn't want to jeprodize his chances of freedom.

Zane stood and went to Wyatt and put his hand on his forehead without saying a word. Wyatt suddenly felt that something was wrong, he could feel his mana leaving him at fast pace.

It was a new feeling for him as he himself couldn't even control his own mana that fast because he wasn't a mage. He then got a bad feeling but before he could stop Zane, all his mana was gone. 

Wyatt didn't feel anything different in his body but he knew his mana was gone. Zane had removed all the mana he got from the eighth cores he had absorbed.

"What have you done!?" Wyatt cried. Zane however wasn't even listening to him as his attention was on his system screen.

<(+ 8000 Mana)>

<Mana 11 : 000>

'Intresting, this new skill is just a duplicate of mana gathering, the only difference is that now I can also give mana to others' Zane thought 

It would have been better if the mana he got from Wyatt would go towards his total of absorbed mana cores, unfortunately it didn't work like that.

'Let's see if this works' he thought as he went to put his hand on Wyatt once more. Wyatt was about to complain again when he felt the mana coming from Zane.