Mana

My vision flickers into existence. The accumulated pain of my body instantly catching up to me.

It burned…

It hurt…

It felt like usual

I always knew that my life was never going to be easy. Just like how other people were born into wealth, I was born into adversity. Pain and suffering was an old friend, and it accompanied me everywhere.

"Luck"

…Yes?

"Do your best!"

That was enough.

In the endless darkness, in the untrodden path, in the peak of an unknown mountain – a light appeared before me.

It was bright enough to easily blind me. To keep me from going forward. Still, I reached for the light. I didn't know if the light was going to respond or if this was just the desperate attempt of a man with nothing else to look forward to. The light shone even brighter, burning my skin.

It burned…

It hurt…

It felt like the touch that gave me so much hope

The cavern's surroundings filled my vision. The streams of mana that looked so vague before was now perfectly visible. I reached for one of the streams only to be met with a broken and shattered arm. It hurt tremendously. Each broken muscle felt like a hundred swords being stabbed into my body without an end in sight. The shattered bones continued to scream at me.

Slowly and painfully, I entered into a state of absolute focus. I had used this before to track and predict a nearly invisible enemy. This time, however, was different.

With my mind on the brink of disappearing, I continue to delete my surroundings. I didn't want anything that I didn't need, and they were all in the way. The beast continued it's seemingly endless assault on my already broken body, dead set on pulverizing me with it's powerful legs. I delete him, too.

In the space of nothingness that I had created for myself, a light shone. Then another. Every time they would, a new color would shine in the empty darkness.

This was mana

It wasn't just one single color. It was all of it. Red, green, blue, brown, yellow, purple and black. They all continued to move in their own respective stream. Each one clinging to the element alike it. The cohesion of the particles produced an aurora of a multitude of color. Each one shining brighter than any gem of it's own color. I reached for one of the streams.

The mana ignored me. Still, I continued. I moved from one stream to another, each one having the same response. Even the blue mana that I had relied on betrayed me. Eventually, I relented. The elements weren't listening to me at all. Each one refusing to lend me their power.

I'm still missing something

I summoned my status.

「Name: Nameless

       Race: Unknown

       Level: 19

   Strength: E-

        Agility: E+

Endurance: E++

         Mana: D--

 Attributes: Absorption, Assimilation

Titles: Night Crawler, Lady Killer, Survivor, Executioner

Skills: Instinct Lv.2, Night Vision Lv.3, Light Weakness Lv.3, Cold Resistance Lv.2, Charm Resistance Lv.2

Magic: Conjuration, Reinforcement, Horizon Oath」

I examined the status screen once more. Each section said something about myself: my identity, my attributes, my achievements, my skills, and the magic that I still failed to understand. They were all separated from each other, seemingly unrelated.

Or were they…?

From the moment that I had learned of magic, I had always thought that it was something that was completely detached from all my skills and attributes, but that was wrong. I had only gotten magic because I absorbed the wolf's skills. Which meant that unlike skills, magic was reliant on your attributes. I looked at the stream once more. This time I didn't bother reaching for the streams and activated my attribute.

「Your attribute 'Absorption' is activating」

The seemingly endless streams of mana flowed towards me. I felt like a bomb waiting to go off, the mana being absorbed into my body was overpowering me. Each flow of each element was strong enough on it's own to make me lose consciousness.

「Your attribute 'Assimilation' is activating」

Suddenly, the mana didn't seem as dangerous anymore. All the surrounding mana was now being sucked into me, fortifying my body. Despite the sudden miracle, the horror still continued. My body felt more and more like a ticking time-bomb. Each muscle practically on the brink of exploding.

「You have unlocked a new evolutionary path」

Still, I didn't dare deactivate my attribute. Doing so would mean losing all the power pouring into me. I didn't know when I was going to have another chance to observe and absorb mana like this ever again – or if I was even going to get another chance. The pain continued to flood and pile into my body. My body was changing, different from evolution. A scream tore the skies.

「You have obtained the title 'Magician'」

「Your evolution is imminent」