Mana

Alex awoke in the small hole feeling strange. His body and mind seemed to have changed, a feeling of vitality rushed through him that wasn't there before. His mind seemed to be clearer, and he seemed to be able to think easier. Evolution is truly awesome, I just wish it didn't hurt as much.

Alex slowly roused himself from his sleep and checked to see any differences in his body, but none seemed to be there. Alex then checked the status to see what changes have come from this evolution that he wasn't already aware of.

<The Evolution System>

Name: Alex

Level: 1 (0/200)

Species : Intelligence New Born Snake (Tier 2)

Bloodline: none

HP 120/120

MP 10/10

SP 40/40

<Stats>

Strength: 3

Agility: 7

Endurance: 5

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 11

Willpower: 10

AP: 2

<Evolution>

Infrared Vision: LV 2

Stealth: LV 2

Dash: LV 1

Climbing: LV 1

Venom Strike: LV 1

Improved Venom: LV 1

Iron Jaw: LV 1

Sharpened Teeth: LV 1

Energy Manipulation: LV 1

Meditation: LV 1

Evolution Points: 1

<Quests>

*Exploration* Completion Rate (4%/100%) 3 weeks remaining before time expires.

A new skill blared in front of me, Energy Manipulation, a strange skill, as well as Meditation.

Energy Manipulation: LV1

This skill allows the user to use mana in various ways in which the user imagines. The most basic manipulations require 10 mana. Leveling up allows decrease in mana and increase in ways of control.

Current controls known:

Ball: Turns your mana into a spherical orb that can be used to attack or defend.

Spike: Turns your mana into a spike that can be used to attack

Wall: Turns your mana into a wall that can be used to defend.

Meditation: LV1

This skill allows the user to regain mana at a rate of 1 mana/10 minutes spent in meditation. Leveling up this skill provides boosts to meditation speed and amount of mana gained.

These skills seem to be the basic mana skills the system talked about. Energy manipulation seemed to a guide on how to use this newfound energy I feel coursing through my body, while Meditation seems to be a simple way to regain the energy.

I slowly leave my little home and ready myself to use this newfound energy. I try to activate the ability and my brain seems to be overwhelmed with trying to make the energy inside me move, it slowly if not surely moves and leaves my body. This bluish energy slowly starts to turn into a mist outside my body and as I direct it the mist slowly takes the shape of an orb. This small blue swirling orb is then sent flying towards the nearby tree as my mind loses grasp over the control of the spell. This orb dashes forward at an impressive speed and rams into the tree causing a mighty blast of vibrations as the tree has a large mark that looks like something rammed into the tree with all its might.

My body feels exhausted of all energy after conjuring the small orb. The whole process took me about 2 minutes, not something that can be done in the middle of combat for sure. This new ability of mine seems useless for me, even though it holds great power it just takes too long to conjure, plus it makes me dead beat tired after using it just once.

I make my way back into the hole quickly as I slowly test out the new ability I got called meditation. I settle down as this new found calmness soothes my mind and my body. Slowly I feel rejuvenated as my energy gets restored. After after almost two hours my energy is back to maximum, the time I took to cast that spell and recover could have been spent on exploring this vast forest.

I quickly leave the small home of mine and survey the land for exploration. After leaving the areas I had already explored I found a new found environment, a forest much thicker than before, I feel a subtle energy in the air that seems to excite the newfound energy within me. This forest seems different then the one I just left, the creatures seem to be much larger. I activate stealth quickly and slither through the area silently.

Darn even the bugs are many times bigger than the previous area, whats going on. I see a trail of large ants moving around and I see them cupping a strange liquid in there hand. The liquid seems have a mist around it quite similar to the energy I saw earlier that was released from my body. The energy in my body seemed to become more and more excited the closer I got to the water. I follow the trail of ants and find my way to a large pool of this bluish liquid, here many beasts remain. Tall bears and apes as well as crocodiles and hippopotamuses. There seems to be many types of each animal as well as a huge amount of bugs, each resting my the pond of energy. The only type of creature I don't see there are snakes for some reason.

I slither up to the pond and look around at the surrounding creatures steadily, I slowly see a familiar face at the pond. A large lumbering Ape that seems to have gotten a couple times larger since the last time I saw him, the monkeys that were on his body are moving quite quickly, with he power of this strange wind circling there body, after a while they would then go to the pond and drink the liquid and then rejuvenate rush around the surrounding.

I slowly look at the liquid in the pond and after dissipating a few points of mana I drink the liquid. A hot liquid enters my throat as I drink this water, it seems to be liquid fire. Burning my mouth I feel my mana be recovered at an incredible rate as I drink this liquid. I look happily at this liquid but slowly head back home, there had been much exploration done today and I needed to rest. After I arrive home I look at my stats panel and decide what i'm going to do with the AP and Evolution points I gained after evolving.

I think of the newfound mental clarity and energy I gained after my intelligence and wisdom was increased. I think back to the stories back on earth about how mages always require strong minds to cast magic and quickly make the connection. I Cautiously put my two points into intelligence. As I do so a flood of energy floods my head. I feel like I can think much faster than before.

I then look at the evolution menu which has a few more skills then there were last time.

<Evolution Menu>

Tough Scales LV:1 / cost 1

Mental Boost LV:1 / cost 1

Evasive Movement LV:1 / cost 2

Recurved Teeth LV:1 / cost 2

Skin Shed LV:1 / cost 3

Vicious Bite LV:1 / cost 3

Tunneling LV:1 / cost 5

Steel Bite LV:1 / cost 5

Mana formation LV:1 / cost 5

Gliding LV:1 / cost 10

I look at the two new options on the list with interest, even though I wont be able to afford mana formation the skill looks quite interesting.

Mana Formation LV:1

This skill allows the user to gain access to a multitude of mana forms, each of these forms costs at a minimum 20 mana. By increasing its level you gain access to more mana forms and a reduction in mana cost for those items.

Though pricey and something I can't use now, it seems to be the only way in the future to gain new mana forms. I then look at the new Mental Boost skill.

Mental Boost LV:1

This skill increases the thinking speed of the user by a large amount for the cost of 1 MP/1 minute. By increasing this skills level you gain more time of use and more thinking speed.

This ability seems to be a very useful ability for me. Its the only ability that could even be used that requires mana. I look at the ability again and purchase it.

I go outside to try my newfound abilities and stat boost. After Turning on Mental Boost my brain seems to have quickened, everything around me seems to slow down while my mind works at the same pace. This ability would be a god send for combat. I then recover the one mana point spent after ten minutes of meditation.

I ready up the mana ball spell and it forms much faster than it previously did, the spell leaves the same amount of mental strain on me but the spell is finished being cast in around 1 minute and 45 seconds. I then proceed to go home and look at the progress I gained for my quest today.

<The Evolution System>

Name: Alex

Level: 1 (0/200)

Species : Intelligence New Born Snake (Tier 2)

Bloodline: none

HP 120/120

MP 10/10

SP 29/40

<Stats>

Strength: 3

Agility: 7

Endurance: 5

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 11

Willpower: 10

AP: 0

<Evolution>

Infrared Vision: LV 2

Stealth: LV 2

Dash: LV 1

Climbing: LV 1

Venom Strike: LV 1

Improved Venom: LV 1

Iron Jaw: LV 1

Sharpened Teeth: LV 1

Energy Manipulation: LV 1

Meditation: LV 1

Mental Boost: LV 1

Evolution Points: 0

<Quests>

*Exploration* Completion Rate (7%/100%) 3 weeks remaining before time expires

The amount I gained was around three percent compared to the previous day, probably because of how much I tested out this newfound ability. The bigger forest seems to be one of the inner parts of the forest. The creatures there seem to be much more dangerous there than in the other areas I've so far visited. The lack of snakes in this forest makes me feel a little scared. I feel like i'm alone in this great big world of a forest and have no direction except to get stronger and accomplish the quests I can get from the system.

I wish I could communicate with the other animals or one of my kind. Either way hopefully the exploration tomorrow will be a lot more fruitful than today. I feel like its time to hunt some too. I don't want to run out of food any time soon, so starting tomorrow, while i'm exploring I will hunt.