Ruins of a Cycle

Keat concentrated on the firestick in between his fingers, forcing the mana to flow slowly from the base of the stick, to the tip where the flammable material resided. By forcing it to go slowly, Keat found that it would allow more mana to gather before the spell was ultimately cast. After a few seconds of strained concentration, he received the notification that he had consumed 75 mana. As the firebolt left the firestick, it grew from the size of a small pebble to roughly the size of an average pen. Shortly thereafter, it struck the singed tree that Keat had been practicing on.

The tree cracked once more, and slowly burned for several seconds before eventually dissipating. Keat looked at the results with satisfactions. 'I think it's about time I head to those ruins, I just need to rest up before I head to them.' He thought to himself, as he sat down and began to relax on one of the trees. He had spent the last two weeks practicing nonstop, increasing his intelligence. and gaining greater control over his mana.

After nearly an hour of resting, he had finally regained all his mana and set out deeper into the forest. He felt an odd pull bringing him to the northern part of the woods. Keat believed that Yrosa had given him some special ability to sense the destination that she wanted him to go in. He walked for nearly an hour before he found an ant the size of a horse. He quickly crouched down before the creature could see him. It looked to simply be chomping on a log, without even noticing Keat's approach.

'This is my chance to finally test out my magic! Alright, lets do this.' Keat thought, while pulling out his Firestick. He concentrated on the base, using all of his efforts to hold his mana back from reaching the tip of the Firestick. He was able to hold it for 7 seconds before the bolt finally launched, roughly the size of a person's fist.

...Feat Gained: Mana Manipulation...

-90 mana

As the Firebolt struck the ant, it seemed to shatter the armor around it's Thorax and burn the insides of the ant. It knocked the poor creature on it's back, while the fire remained for almost 10 seconds. The entire time, however, the insects legs wriggled. By the time the fire finally extinguished, it lethargically charged towards Keat. He began channeling his mana into the Firestick once more, this time not bothering to hold it back to make it more potent. After nearly 3 seconds, the firebolt fired, just as the ant itself was a few simple feet away. It crashed into the ant's mouth, expanding it's size and remaining. As it's eyes slowly melted, the badly burnt ant collapsed on the ground and died.

-50 mana

+50 Experience

'Yes!' Keat cheered, quickly pumping his fist in the air, and then moving towards the ant. Eventually, he decided there wasn't anything worth taking, and continued heading towards the ruins. He moved carefully, as ants were almost never solitary creatures. 'I can't afford to be out of mana before I even get to the ruins' He thought to himself. He had to make it home before nightfall or his mother would definitely send some kind of search party. He went as fast as he could safely go, while he avoided the various wildlife around him. After several hours, just as the sun reached the top of the sky, he came upon the remains of a wall.

For some reason, no animal seemed to dare approaching this wall and no plant grew within 30 feet of it. Keat ventured forward as quietly as he could manage, before he eventually broke out into a sprint, rushing to get to the wall before anything could notice him. After several seconds, two ants tried to dash towards him, only to stop and simply stare at him as he broke through the tree line and began to climb over the ruined walls.

'Sh*t, that was close. If I didn't get a headstart, they definitely would've caught me.' Keat though, as he perched ontop of the crumbling wall. He quickly scanned below, trying to see if any enemies lurked around the corner.

'Huh, I don't see anything dangerous... I wonder why nothing is willing to get close? Maybe it's just because they know walls mean humans or something." Keat thought to himself, before pulling out one of his Firesticks. He decided to ere on the side of caution, and launched a low powered Firebolt at the ground on the other side. It left a scorch mark on the stone floor, but nothing seemed to be making any moves.

-50 mana

'Must be safe enough, I suppose.'

He slid down the side of the wall, trying to land as easily as possible so he wouldn't take any damage. Now that he was here, he realized he didn't actually know where to go. Whatever was pulling him here had stopped giving off any kind of effect, and he was now lost.