Chapter 30: Mana (2)

'Here goes nothing.'

The book said to start with meditation, so Van did just that. He closed his eyes and relaxed, trying to sense the energy inside of him. The book said to be patient, so Van waited, trying to dig deep inside of his body. 

Van sat there for half an hour, waiting for something to happen. He waited and waited, until he felt something. A flicker of a powerful energy that disappeared as soon as Van noticed it. 

"That was it!" 

His eyes shot open, his focus gone. Van had felt it for less than a second, but he was still happy. That small flicker confirmed that he wasn't wasting his time. 

'Guess I just have to take my time…' 

Remembering he has work in the morning, Van decided to go to sleep. He planned to continue studying during his breaks, and practice sensing his mana as night.

A week passed. He still couldn't fully sense his mana, but the flickers became larger and he was able to feel them for longer before they disappeared. In the meantime, Van learned about mana beasts.

Mana beasts were a breed of creatures present in Fendor that evolved from being exposed to mana present in the environment. They were stronger than normal beasts, and were able to use mana, though not to the same extent as the sophisticated races. 

What made mana beasts valuable, however, were their cores. The flesh of a mana beast was revitalizing and empowering because of the mana in it, but a mana core was much more valuable.

A mana core had much more uses, such as absorbing the mana inside to raise one's mana capacity, using the core to create weapons and tools, or the rare chance of extracting a skill from it.

There were three rankings of mana beasts, corresponding to the higher ranks of Fendor's power system. There were Low, Middle, and High ranked mana beasts. Normal beasts are equal to an Apprentice rank, meaning a Low ranked mana beast was one rank above Van. 

Van learned that extracting the mana only worked for mana cores on the same rank or higher than the rank of the person trying to extract it. Some mana cores could also hold an elemental affinity within it, which was useful for those looking to give an item or their own mana an element. 

'Hmm, what element would best suit me?' Van wondered as he watered some plants. A memory appeared in Van's mind from 2 months prior, of a powerful flaming sword. 

'Maybe.'

After a few hours passed, Van was once again in his room, meditating. The mana had escaped his grasp a few times already, but Van wasn't giving up this time. He focused more, trying to feel the mana inside him. 

Van could feel portions of it throughout his body, he just had to fully locate it, all of his mana. He could feel it entering his senses, he just had to grasp it!

Something clicked for Van. Immediately, he was overwhelmed with a rush of energy. He could feel all of his mana inside of him. Van no longer had to focus to feel his mana, and he could even feel traces of mana in the air and from the forest outside the estate. It was like he had unlocked a new sense just for mana. 

Van had completed the first step. Now, he just needed to circulate it and learn to control it to get out of the Apprentice stage. The Apprentice stage had 5 fragments, and Van was currently at the 2nd fragment. He had to circulate his mana until all 5 fragments are completed in order to freely control his mana. 

It was time for another grind. 

'It'll all be worth it Van.' He comforted himself as he went to sleep, ready to spend a few more months practicing and learning. 

******

In another part of the kingdom of Holdor, far away from Van and Lord Raphael's estate, a smaller mansion was currently up in flames. Wreckage and corpses littered the grounds, and a row of people were bound and gagged by the gates. Their expensive clothes were dirty with soot, and tears were streaming down their faces. 

Surrounding the captured nobles were their captors, men and women who all wore brown, ragged robes, an emblem of a pouch full of holes stitched crudely on it. They were all armed with swords, daggers, and other blades, some already drenched in blood. 

A man, presumably their leader, approached the nobles as his subordinates looted valuables from the wreckage and brought it to their carts.

The man crouched down to let the nobles see his face. He was middle aged, had brown hair and eyes, and features that made him look wild. He removed the gag from an older man in the center of the nobles before speaking to him.

"Lord Pelus."

"Filthy Bandits! The knights will have your head!" 

The old man coughed out. He was Lord Pelus, the owner of the estate that was currently in flames. The bandit leader laughed. 

"Yes, I suppose we are bandits. But you don't get to act all high and mighty." He glared at Lord Pelus. "We heard what you do to your servants. Starving and overworking them, killing any that you become dissatisfied with." 

He stood up and gestured to the other bandits.

"Many of the people standing here with me were their families. Lovers, mothers, brothers, cousins, sons. Of those which you killed!" He yelled, pointing a finger at the frozen old man before regaining his composure.

He pointed to a boy that stood to the side. 

"That's Gabe. You killed his father when he tried to stop you from buying his son, then you killed Gabe's brother when he accidentally broke a plate."

He pointed to an older lady behind him. 

"This is Anne. She was the only one of her family you didn't enslave because she was injured at the time. They all died from you overworking them."

He pulled out a dagger. 

"We are the poor, the mistreated, the abused. And we are tired of it." He grabbed Lord Pelus by the hair and forced him to look up. He raised the dagger.

"P-Please, wait! Think about what you're doing!"

"You're just the first. We're coming for all the Lords."

"Stop!" 

The dagger came down.