Observation, Shaping

Mana is what we called this... Energy, which appeared after the Planetary Awakening. It may have appeared as a consequence of the Awakening, or it may have been the cause of it. In any case, it brought great change to all things. Animals became deadlier, plants became bigger and more resilient, some even gaining mobility and preying abilities. As for humans... Unfortunately, we didn't change much.

-An excerpt from 'Thoughts on Mana', a bundle of notes found in an abandoned building in central Eurah, dating back to 9AA.

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Lan felt it, he would jump while pumping his fist into the air... If he still had a body. Nonetheless, he took another major step in the understanding of magic, and that made him very happy. Now that he felt it, all that remained was to try and manipulate it. So he tried it.

'Oh earth, respond to my call, move according to my will!'

...Nothing exactly happened. The earth mana was still crawling along, as it did before Lan's cringe-inducing incantation.

'...What did I even expect, and why did I think it would work? Oh well, not trying that again.'

Still, it was just the first attempt, so it was within Lan's expectations. Not discouraged, he kept on trying.

'Move!'

'Quake!'

'Respond to my will!'

The wannabe mage kept trying to tug on the barely noticeable threads of earth mana, but just as its nature suggested, it stubbornly didn't move.

As Lan grew more and more frustrated, he focused all of his attention on a singular strand of mana, that was filling a rock closest to his Core, as that's where his control of mana was the strongest.

'Just bloody move already!'

With a move worthy of an anime protagonist, he strengthened his willpower with anger, and, surprisingly, that tiny trace of mana responded. 

That tiny rock, which was smaller than Lan's Core, got crushed into dust.

...Just to be replaced with dirt surrounding it.

'Ugh... All of that for nothing?! Come on! That was hard y'know!'

Cry as he might with frustration, Lan's lamentations didn't change anything. So, he kept on trying.

Soon, he realized that befitting of its nature, earth mana was significantly harder to move, requiring focus rather than casual cycling. If manipulating natural mana was like breathing, then manipulating earth mana was like lifting and moving moderately heavy things.

Still, practice makes perfect, and Lan managed to do it a tiny bit faster in each consequent try.

'Focus, move, repeat. Focus, move, repeat. Nice and... Not so easy.'

Though he was slowly becoming more proficient in... Turning small stones to dust, Lan discovered an unpleasant fact, expressed by the mental fatigue he was starting to feel again.

'Am I becoming tired again? Hate this feeling... Does that mean that mana manipulation requires mental mana? But neutral mana cycling never seemed to tire me... Another mystery to solve later. But still, that means I can either grow my Core or actively manipulate mana. Annoying resource management.'

The increasing lack of mental mana caused Lan to stop his earthly practices, leaving him with nothing to do, so he turned his attention to the place where anything interesting might happen: the surface.

It was nighttime by then. Moonlight was illuminating the ground in a soft glow. Amidst the silence the herd of deer has long since finished their grazing, laying down together in the center of the clearing.

Observing them made Lan realize, he didn't really explore the reaches of his domain on the surface. So, finding a new thing to do, he promptly began scanning.

The surface directly above, or rather closest to the Core, was a clearing filled with grass and big, unfamiliar flowers here and there. As for why he called the clearing a, well, clearing, was because, at the edges of his perception, he just so happened to observe stout and firm trunks of trees, of which he couldn't see the end. Though judging by fallen leaves, it was probably a leaf forest or a mixed one.

Sometimes among the trees you could spot different bushes and shrubbery, some of them even bearing colorful berries. More disturbingly though, under some plants various small bones, some old, covered half-buried in the ground, and some seemingly recent could be seen.

'Guess in this world you don't harvest the plants, the plants harvest you... Quite morbid.'

Lan tried to see past the edges to see deeper into the forest, but he couldn't. On the edges of his domain, it was as if the whole world blurred, making it impossible to distinguish any details.

'The domain's the limit. Suppose that's another motivation to grow.'

While Lan kept observing, he noticed or rather felt something different.

'Is it just me, or is my mental mana replenishing faster?'

Remembering the time it took for him to replenish it after growth was clearly much slower than it was now. If back then could be compared to a trickle of water from a faucet, now it was as if the faucet was opened a little.

Lan tried to feel mental mana, which he hadn't attempted until now.

Surprisingly, he immediately felt it.

Not having any particular feeling or characteristic, he directly felt it as if it was a part of himself. He felt it condensing within his core, seemingly coming from his very soul. However now it seemed to be not the only source.

Tiny threads of mental mana converged into his core from the outside.

Intrigued by his new find, Lan immediately tried to track it. The noticeable threads of mental mana were floating towards his core from up above, so his perception followed it all the way up. To the surface.

Then most threads split apart, however a dozen or so stayed solid and noticeable to his perception. They were originating from... The herd of deer.

As the giant deer were sleeping, minute amounts of mental mana seemed to radiate out of them, converging together, then being pulled to the Core down below. Interestingly, the amounts of mental mana generated were unequal. The mana radiated by the deer leader was the largest, while the rest of the deer generated less mana, with small differences in quantity among themselves.

This fascinated Lan.

'Does that mean that animals, or living things in general, generate mental mana, which I just so happen to be able to absorb? Convenient.'

Lan decided to track the other, tiny threads of mental mana, in order to confirm his theory.

Some of the threads lead to snake-like earthworms burrowing underground, some were flowing from a family of fluffy rodents hiding in their burrow under the roots of one of the trees. The threads generated from insects were truly minuscule, requiring Lan to 'squint' to see them, but they were still there.

Interestingly, plants, in fact, also had mental mana radiating out of them. Though differences were still present: Trees and bushes generated energy on par if not less than the insects, though the plant with bones under it had surprisingly more solid threads of mana coming out of it, somewhere on par with the rodents.

As for various grasses and flowers, if they generated mental mana, it was such a minuscule amount that Lan wasn't able to notice it no matter how hard he tried.

This led to the lad changing his understanding.

'So not only animals... Maybe it's all life? Or is it intelligence? Strength? Guess I'll find out eventually.'

Still, all this meant that the more life inside Lan's domain, the faster the recovery of mental mana, and the more he would be able to do inside, including practicing and using mana.

'It's all beneficial, so I don't see why not.'

With mental mana being quickly recharged, bringing a satisfying feeling of mental fullness, Lan kept on practicing the manipulation of earth mana.

Eventually, when just crushing rocks and stone didn't seem challenging anymore, he decided to do something else.

'Now that I think about it... It's kinda stuffy in here for my little crystal self, eh? Would be nice to have some room, it's even worse than living in a dormitory.'

Having found a new task, Lan began a new project: Freeing up space around yourself.

At first, he tried to crush the rocks surrounding him, turning them into dust, however, when it got replaced with gravel, not wanting to be crushed, Lan began to think differently.

'So if removing it doesn't work, maybe pushing it away will?'

So, Lan tried it. Tugging at the earth mana around him, he no longer tried to move it randomly, but to gather and move away from him.

Failing multiple times, at the 12th try, Lan succeded in a way he didn't expect.

'I... Compressed it?'

The dirt mixed with rocks and gravel not only moved outwards from him but also got compressed together, finally forming a small empty space around Lan's core.

Having achieved his goal, Lan did a mental fist pump and continued to expand his 'personal space' outwards.

Eventually, he settled on a 'room' about 2 meters in length and height, with his Core lying quietly in the middle of it on the floor. The walls of the room were compressed dirt, rock, and stone, hardened to the point where imminent collapse was no longer a problem.

Satisfied, wanting to wipe his imaginary sweat, Lan was startled.

There was a commotion on the surface.

'Okay, what's going on now?!'