Cynth's Success

Nadios peeked his head into the slightly opened front door. The road was clear. He stepped into the house and closed the door behind him silently. He took his shoes off before venturing further in.

"Oh. Nadios. Welcome back." Rianne poked her head out from the corner.

"A-auntie Rianne. I'm back." Nadios pulled the hem of his pants up higher.

"Mm. Do you want anything to eat?"

"No, I ate some wild berries I found outside."

"You shouldn't do that. There are many poisonous berries out in the forest that look harmless."

"Don't worry, don't worry. I read up on the wildlife book in mom's room." Nadios shook off Rianne's warning and attempted to get past her and to the stairs.

"Why are you limping like that?" Rianne asked. Nadios indeed had a limp, but it was so small and slight that he didn't see how anyone could notice it. But Rianne had, and there was no playing it off now.

"I fell."

Rianne's eyebrow shot up. "You fell?"

"Y-yeah." Nadios looked away from her guiltily. "Onto a rock. From the top of a ten meter tall cliff."

Nadios' attitude and words made Rianne slightly suspicious, but she decided to not go further. His parent's could question him when they get home. "Alright. Be careful next time, alright?"

"Mm, I will Auntie," Nadios said before walking to his room. Nadios carefully picked his way through the maze of dirty clothes to get to his bed. Kye sat on his own, eyes closed and little beads of sweat coating his forehead.

For the entirety of last night and this morning, Kye had been trying hard to clear his mana veins so that he could begin to temper his core and vessels. If he wanted to someday strengthen his body and become a regular kid, he would need to put in the work required.

Nadios didn't bother his brother and started to do his own meditation. Lying down, of course, so as to not raise suspicion.

<><><><><>

Nadios crept into his bed warily. Dinner had pretty much been a nightmare; His parents inquired about his limp, saw his wounds, and overreacted. Kye's eyes constantly shone with admiration as he repeatedly muttered, "Cool, cool, cool."

Nadios had to use all his creative juices to whip up a story that explained his five severe leg wounds. He began with a classic "I was playing outside" before adding in a bit of suspense via "A mutant fish leapt out of the water towards me". He had fought it bravely, his fists sending a flurry of fearsome attacks.

Unfortunately, he could not fight it off fully and it sunk five water lances into his legs. With a roar, he sent the fish flying back to whence it came. Then, he sank into the blood-sodden grass and passed out. When he woke up, his wounds were only a light numbing so he walked home.

Nadios didn't feel that his parents were totally convinced, but that was fine. They didn't need to believe him. After his mom healed his injuries, he trudged into his room where he now lay, meditating.

The door creaked open, followed by light footsteps indicative of Kyrillos. After rustling coming from the direction of Kyrillos' bed, all was silent. Nadios finished his compression and released before opening his mouth.

"Hey Kye, are you awake?"

"Yeah," Kyrillos replied in a slightly sleepy voice. "What is it?"

"Just wanted to ask about your progress."

"Mmmm… about 10% done for like 2% of my mana veins."

"Hey, that's not bad. Little less than three years and you'll be completely clean. Just in time for school to begin."

"Mm…" Light snoring from his left told Nadios that his brother was sleeping.

"Good night, little bro," Nadios muttered before teleporting to Cynthia's cave.

He entered the cave with much more confidence this time. As he did, flames lit up the dark and gloomy cave as well as a massive red wyvern.

"You're back," Cynthia said. "Good. We're spending the night accompanying Cynth through her core formation. Get over here and sit in the leisure circle."

"Did you miss me, Cynthia?" Nadios asked, making his way to the circle.

"No," Cynthia replied sharply. "Releasing Cynth in 3 2 1."

Nadios had just sat down when Cynthia dropped Cynth in front of him. He hurriedly sent two mana strings into the wyvern child, who had just begun to spasm and cry. He started from the wings, the place that he stopped at yesterday. One mana string in the left wing, one mana string in the right.

Nadios employed the same tactic as before and rapidly started to clean Cynth's wings of raging mana. He worked much faster than yesterday. His mana strings flowed with confidence, eating away indefinitely.

An hour later, he was finished. It was time for the hard part: the body. With the cyclones of mana, hurricanes of blood, and boulders of flesh whipping around everywhere it was hard for Nadios to control his mana. He managed, though, and two hours later there was no more rampant mana in Cynth's body..

"What do I do now?" Nadios asked, looking up at Cynthia.

"There will be more mana that separates from the core and travels into places where it is not supposed to go. Keep a tight lock on her body, and make sure that no mana leaks from the core. This is where more mana strings come in handy, as you can cover several places at once."

Nadios nodded, sending his mana string back into Cynth. "Alright, I got it."

Cynth's body sucked in mana rapidly from her surroundings in order to form her core. Sometimes, it takes too much mana, which is what causes it to disperse throughout her body. After clearing out her body, Nadios' job was to make sure no mana left the area where the core is to be formed.

Nadios kept his mana strings on opposite sides of the core area, moving them whenever needed. There were massive bunches of mana that left the core area constantly, making Nadios chase them to destroy them. His mana strings were moving to and fro in a flurry, as every second there seemed to be a new cluster of mana escaping.

For the next few hours, Nadios and Cynthia sat in silence as Cynth's body continued to form her mana core. Over time, Nadios felt his control over his mana strings increase. So he added another mana string. It helped burden his load a bunch. With two mana strings he was just barely getting by. With three, he was practically cruising.

Nadios shuddered as he thought of how hard it would be if he just had one mana string. He felt that he could control the mana strings and talk at the same time, so he started to ask Cynthia some questions he had on his mind.

"Cynthia, why is the formation of Cynth's core so long and why does she need so much mana? I formed my core pretty much instantly, and I didn't need much mana at all."

"Wyverns and humans have different bodies, heads, legs, arms, and mana cores. A wyvern's mana core is formed from collecting a large amount of mana and compressing it tightly in the shape of an orb. A human's is formed over time, through years of accumulation. This results in a weaker mana core for the human, while a stronger one for the wyvern."

"Also because of the way us wyverns form our cores, it takes longer due to lots of compression needed. And with a lot of compression, we need a lot of material to compress. That answers the second half of your question."

"I see. Then, why is Cynth leaking mana to the rest of her body?"

"The simple answer is she is just too gifted. Her core needs so much mana that it would probably be enough for 10, maybe 20 core formations for an average wyvern. Her body sucks in so much mana that she is having a hard time compressing it. So, with nowhere to go, the excess mana not being compressed escapes to the rest of her body."

"Ah. I have another question that has been on my mind for a while."

Nadios paused to concentrate on clearing a big blob of mana. When he finished clearing the mana, he continued. "When the mana in Cynth's body touches her flesh, it harms her. But then, doesn't that mean if she meditates and the mana naturally leaks from her core, she'll be hurt?"

"No, not at all. For me to begin to answer that question, I have to start with the basics of mana. Mana is not a solid, liquid, or gas, although you could make it one of them. Instead, it is its own state of matter."

"Outside someone's body, it floats around freely and passes through everything. Even your body, while not affecting it. But when you meditate, you call on that mana and you allow it to enter your body and interact with the liquids in it. It still passes through solids, however. Once in your body, it mixes with your blood and becomes contaminated."

"As contaminated mana, it can touch your organs and flesh and harm them. It doesn't pass through it like it normally would. Meditation reverts the mana back to its non-contaminated state as well as enhances its quality. Mana that goes through meditation can pass through everything again, but you now have the ability to control it more efficiently."

"Ah. I see." Nadios didn't see. He was completely wrong about being able to multitask, and only caught a bit of Cynthia's responses. It was a shame too, he felt, as Cynthia seemed to answer with wisdom. She also didn't seem to be the type to repeat herself.

A blue orb coated Cynth. "Enough," Cynthia said. "We'll continue tomorrow. Now, go get some rest."

Nadios got out of the leisure circle and stretched. He felt like he had more energy right now than when he had finished yesterday. Nadios congratulated himself. He was improving. "Alright. See you tomorrow night, Cynthia."

Cynthia grunted. Nadios teleported back into the warm clutches of his bed where he fell asleep.

<><><><><>

The next couple of days, Nadios spent his morning, afternoons, and evenings killing monsters. He would send them to his base by the river, which was getting quite crowded. He would have to send Krupt on an errand soon. His nights were spent helping Cynth through her mana core formation process.

It was on the fifth night from that first day that he started clearing Cynth's body of mana. He was doing the usual: Control mana strings to clear any disobedient mana while occasionally conversing with Cynthia. He had gotten to the point where he could control four mana strings with ease.

Over the last couple of days, Nadios had felt the influx of mana start to slow down. There were also less groups of mana breaking off from their original path. He related these changes to Cynth almost being done forming her core.

Nadios relaxed in the leisure circle. He had not had to do anything in Cynth's body for at least an hour in real time. In that time, he meditated. Slowly, though, as he had half his attention on Cynth's body in case he was needed. Cynth no longer cried out in pain relentlessly; She twitched occasionally as the only sign of her being alive.

Nadios finished his circulation and started to release when Cynthia's voice distracted him. "Cynth. Are you alright?"

Nadios opened his eyes. Cynth had gotten off of the floor and was snuggling up against her mother. The latter had her wings wrapped around her child protectively as she looked upon Cynth warmly.

Nadios had gotten so used to Cynthia talking in his mind that it had become as natural as auditory speech. When Cynth started to speak in his mind, it surprised him and caused him to flinch.

"Mom… I-I'm ok. It went fine," Cynth looked towards Nadios, "Because of him."

Nadios didn't know quite what to say. "You're welcome?"

Large, thick tears crawled down Cynthia's face tenderly. Nadios didn't even know wyverns could cry. "Yes. Because of him, you're ok."

Nadios felt… awkward. He looked outside. The sun wasn't out yet, but the Amethyst Moon crept closer and closer to the horizon and its brother. Now was as good a time as any to depart. "I should get going. Don't want my parents to become worried."

Cynthia nodded. Cynth gave Nadios a thanks and a goodbye before he teleported back into the warmth of his bed. Back in bed, Nadios exhaled. He didn't know how to act in such an atmosphere. It was fine if it was his family, but when it involved someone else, he had no clue.

The next night, Nadios once again teleported into Cynthia's cave. Cynth was cuddled up against Cynthia with her eyes closed. Nadios assumed she was meditating, from the almost imperceptible inward sucking of mana to her.

"I am back, Cynthia. " Nadios announced.

"Welcome back," Cynthia replied. "Take a seat. Not there, in the leisure circle."

After Nadios did as she asked, Cynthia started to lecture him on the properties of space magic and spatial mana. Throughout the lecture, Nadios realized that his view on spatial mana was too linear. All he thought about was how to turn teleportation into an attack. But he wasn't thinking about how that teleportation happened, he wasn't digging deeper.

The space magic Nadios had been using was all about the reallocation of matter. Moving one thing here, another thing there, etcetera etcetera. But how he moved that matter, Nadios didn't really focus on and try to understand. He just used it willy nilly.

Cynthia explained to him that every particle of spatial mana had the ability to teleport to another piece of spatial mana while taking with it another particle. When he wanted to teleport things, he needed to first coat it in his mana and set up an exit point for that thing. Nadios understood this.

It was also possible to take more than one other particle through teleportation, however. An example of this is a universally-known spell called [Spatial Enlargement]. [Spatial Enlargement] worked by connecting a small space to a larger, empty plane, like the sky. You would swap the small space with the other, larger plane.

With the ability to take more than one particle, you could squeeze all of that large space into the smaller space. Any attack, magical or physical, that passes through that new space would feel like it is passing through that larger space, reducing momentum and greatly decreasing the danger level.

With the ability to take more than one particle, it is also possible to make a pseudo-black hole. By covering a large mass with spatial mana and teleporting it into a small zone, it would form a black hole that, while not nearly as strong as a natural black hole, is still a force to be reckoned with.

Nadios eagerly absorbed all of the knowledge Cynthia imparted to him. His previous thinking was too naive, after all. He had thought that teleportation worked by exchanging a particle of matter with the second particle of spatial mana, while the first particle of spatial mana acted as an intermediate.

Nadios figured he should be more observant if he wanted to really reach the peak of what it means to be a mage. If he had just looked a bit deeper and searched a bit harder, perhaps he would have found this out on his own. Then, he wouldn't have had to be lectured by Cynthia.

While it would be fine now, in the earlier stages, Nadios wouldn't have Cynthia's help in the later ones. If he didn't learn to try harder, he would fall behind Kyrillos rapidly.

"Try it out. Try to turn a small space three times larger than supposed to be. That's what I expect you to be able to do when we end today." Cynthia said.

"Alright." Nadios took out some mana and began to think. He firstly connected two different sized spaces before swapping them. It didn't work. Nadios could feel that he only brought one particle of matter per particle of mana.

He had to change something up, but Nadios didn't understand what. How could he pick up multiple particles of matter when he only had one bit of mana? Nadios tried again. And again. And again. But nothing seemed to work. Nothing he changed helped.

Nadios' frustration was at its peak when Cynthia chimed in. "You are having the mana bring a particle with it. Instead, look to have the mana connect to various particles before teleporting. Don't grab the particle, let it attach to you."

Nadios nodded. "I'll try that."

He thought of Cynthia's advice for a while to make better sense of it before trying. Then, he sent out his mana. Nadios once again created two different sized masses of purple spatial mana. He commanded the mana to not grab a particle but to attract them. Like a magnet.

When he swapped the positions of the mana blobs, he felt a different feeling than his previous tries. Nadios stuck his hand into the elongated space and saw his hand visibly slow, but he didn't feel a resisting force.

Nadios grinned. "I did it."

Cynthia nodded. "You did. However, it is incomplete. Look here," Cynthia pointed at a spot with her talon, "that spot is weaker than the other spots. It's because only about half of your mana particles managed to bring more than one matter particle. Try again, and this time focus. You don't need to bring a lot of particles, only two or three."

Nadios spent the remainder of his night practicing this spell. When he achieved two particles, he moved onto three, and once that was mastered, he moved on to four. By the time he was about to go home, Nadios was able to bring four particles with his mana. He had surpassed Cynthia's expectations and for Nadios that was enough.

"Nadios, wait." Cynthia called out. "Tomorrow, could you bring some food? I don't need it, but Cynth will."

Nadios nodded. "Got it. I'll bring some food." After saying that, he teleported back home to rest.