“If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.”

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

I learned quite a bit about myself, very quickly. I actually could split my attention to focus on multiple things. I didn’t have functionally unlimited attention like I had hoped, however. I could only focus on a few things simultaneously. Ha, only. If I could have done this as a human I would have been an unmatched genius, at least in some ways.

At some point, I assumed this ability would increase drastically. If I was supposed to manage a dungeon properly, I would need more capability. Maybe I would get more ability as I raised my level. I was only level two, after all. I might get some new skill from leveling up as well.

It was hard to describe splitting myself into different parts. I was aware of what the rest of me was doing, but it was like background noise. I was simply focusing on one thing as far as an individual perspective was concerned. And yet, the knowledge of my other parts was there at any time. Ugh, for now I focused on what this allowed me to do.

Using some of the mana that flowed into me I was able to expand my aura. It was not much, since I was only able to use a tiny part of it. However, the fact it was usable at all was great. That tiny flow of mana would have been drained away, so it was all gain as far as I was concerned.

Breaking down pieces of the enchantments had shown no progress, but I had been able to move some of the threads floating through my aura. Not very much, but progress was progress. If I could learn to do it consistently, I could prevent a part of the room from being analyzed and grow or manipulate stone there.

I could get the hooks of my aura to bury themselves in solid stone, too. No signs that doing so actually did anything though. Attempts to weaken, strengthen, or move a particle of stone dust had failed so far. However, simply embedding my hooks in was a good sign that I might be able to do something eventually.

The greatest success by far, however, was when I started moving the mana in the air into different areas. Compared to what I had already been doing to hold mana in place, moving loose currents of mana through the room was fairly trivial. Shortly after some success I received a notice of my achievement.

You have gained a new skill!

Ambient Mana Manipulation I

You can manipulate and make use of the ambient mana within your aura

You have been awarded a new title!

Mana Specialist I

You have acquired multiple skills dealing directly with mana. Your skills with mana have passed beyond the realm of the novice. Now go and get even better.

+50 Ability Points

+ All skills directly dealing with mana are slightly more powerful (5% boost)

A quick look at my status showed that my mana generation was now at twenty one per day. Looked like the increase of five percent altered my mana generation. Not huge, but could be very powerful later on when I could actually use it. Plus the title had the numeral for one in it. This was a good sign that I might be able to improve it.

Moving mana around was much easier now. I had once again been focused on just one area of a skill, and this time it had done me a disservice. Apparently the skill was for moving mana around in general, and not the specific task I had been using it for. Oh well, it wasn’t like I had someone to guide me through this. How was I supposed to actually know what would create a new skill? Regardless, now that I had the skill, I could hold a small area of mana completely still, even in mid air. I could even swirl mana around the outside of the area and leave the interior untouched.

Even if I had been slightly inefficient in acquiring it, I now had one of the key elements needed to escape.

The largest obstacle to my escape was the very thing that Tam had made sure to prevent from the beginning. My ability to store mana had been taken away. Now, I could work on storing mana.

Using my ability to move mana, I started to move currents of mana toward my empty practice sphere. The mana gathered together and naturally tended to flow in streams as I moved it. I continued to move mana through the rest of the night, and by morning the density was substantially higher there than the baseline. The amount of mana was not much, less than even the smallest spell I had seen Tam cast. Still, it worked as a proof of concept. I could store mana outside of myself.

I kept grinning to myself. I had gotten over the strange feeling that came from trying to move nonexistent muscles by now.

Tam came in and perked up at the feeling of mana swirling through the room more forcefully. I didn’t bother to hide my new abilities at all. I was pretty sure he would see them anyway when he cast his spell, and it wasn’t really all that suspicious for me to gain the ability to manipulate ambient mana. Mana was what I did, and since I had practically none of my own it was not really a surprise that I had learned to manipulate other mana instead.

Tam smiled to himself and hummed a little when he cast the usual analysis spell. I was a little happy myself when he finally turned the feeder back on without making any new changes.

With the feeder on, I practiced my new and improved itinerary. I practiced absorbing in different shapes, moved mana around, and stored mana away. It was actually easy to let mana pour out of my core and then release into a specific spot. Any attempts to hold mana in place in my aura itself actually started to feel uncomfortable, and after a tiny bit of time it would just get released wherever the mana currently was. It tended to create blockages while I did that and that forced other mana to flow around anyway.

Tam really got excited when I started carving into the walls. I tried to keep my creations rather crude as I carved. I amused myself by replicating patterns that were spread around the room. A helical structure that mimicked my stand went there. Faceted stone in my own image here. I even did some crude human statues that captured the essence of Tam as best I could. I also hid my studies of Tam’s spell in plain sight. I made copies of his analysis spell. I even linked some copies to me and to him as they actually functioned.

Through out the day I would get more mana and create more sculptures. And in the sculptures, I made traps. They seemed like a natural thing for a dungeon to do. Some sculptures would tip over into to the room if touched. When they did I analyzed how the beam would destroy them. I made a tiny lever of stone that released marbles if it was stepped on. Blades and razor sharp edges adorned part of the art. I had guillotines release from the ceiling. None of the traps were actually effective, and I had made them that way. It was possible that I could make traps that would hurt Tam if they were entirely self contained in the alcoves in the wall. However, I didn’t really want to hurt Tam, and if I did hurt him he would be likely to create even stricter safeguards.

As it was, Tam was utterly enthralled by the art and the traps throughout the entire day. Tam was startled by a few of the traps and grew more cautious, but since he was utterly unharmed he relaxed again. Some of the art was naturally destroyed by the beam array, but they had been built with that in mind, so I simply rebuilt them. And as I continued to study the beam array I could tell there was something different. There was a tiny flicker of something present when I destroyed stone that was absent when the beam did it.

Several days passed and my ability to manipulate earth finally moved to level II. This made both creation and destruction easier, and moving stone started to use almost no mana at all. I could not move very much stone when I tried to use only regenerated mana, but it was enough that the next part of my plan should work now. When I finally got out of that damned mana drain, I should have enough to at least move myself through solid stone just using the regeneration. This was especially true since I was using only a fraction of what was made before it was drained away. I sadly lacked a good way to make a quantitative evaluation, but I could tell it was a significant difference.

By now there were various full sized statues of Tam in all sorts of poses, as well as plenty of miniature ones. There were statues that mimicked the symbols and designs of the various enchantments. Tam sitting in a chair with his omnipresent book featured as well.

Tam even started bringing in various objects for me to study. He had set up a new small table and had placed various objects on it. A carved wooden tree, a small scrap of velvet cloth, a cup carved from bone, and more were placed on it. I was pretty sure that Tam liked the idea of me replicating them. And honestly, I was glad to have something else to look at. And replicating the new items was often fun. The cloth was actually a fantastic challenge. In the end I had to twist together strands of stone to imitate string and then arrange them into an alternating warp and weft to make the plush cloth. It took even more effort because the warp and weft were not symmetrical. In one direction the threads integrated into the cloth ended and were cut free to create the velvet. Of course, my version was still stone, so those loose threads would probably break or cut someone’s feet.

Tam was definitely taking the opportunity to study my capabilities too. He brought in a closed box that had coins in it. They were of different materials. Gold, silver, copper, and iron as far as I could tell. The coins were not what I was expecting. I had seen ancient coins in history classes and museums. They were oblong, crude, and barely held an image at all. These looked far more like modern coinage. Various sizes and patterns. The gold coins were tiny. One set stood out. They had some kind of mana pattern running through them. The density of the mana obscured the details, but I could tell it was special. The exterior of those reminded me of a work of art. On one side was an archway, the metal crosshatched to suggest the shadow of depths within. The other side was a snake complete with tiny detailed scales.

Tam grew very excited when I created stone imitations of these, including a fully functional box that could be opened. If I had to guess, he was excited that I could see through the box. I had assumed he knew this already, but maybe I was just confirming a theory that he had. It wasn’t like scientists didn’t get excited when they confirmed a well known theory.

I made progress in other ways. I could move the threads of the enchantment around more easily. I had a hard time keeping the threads of the beam enchantment under control, but I could keep a small area safe from its notice for a little while. I couldn’t move any other enchantment pieces in my aura, but I was fairly sure they were anchored into the material somehow.

I was able to make some progress with spells, too. I had reexamined the ever cast analysis spell. By comparing it to the statues that I made I was able to confirm that some little bits of the spell were just little bits of excess mana clumped onto it. With some work over the course of a day I was able to gradually break those pieces off the spell. The parts pulled off would promptly lose cohesiveness and dissolve into mana. They were small enough bits of mana that I didn’t bother vacuuming them in. It was likely that Tam wouldn’t have noticed anyway, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Even though the mana was negligible, the ability to damage a spell was a powerful tool. I was just glad I didn’t get a skill for that yet. I did not want Tam to know it was even possible.

My attempts to damage the enchantments, even just the hyper thin threads flowing through my aura, had amounted to exactly nothing. Either the enchantments regenerated in some way, they were far tougher than normal spells, or both.

I did end up getting a skill that surprised me. Honestly I should have expected it, but I just failed to consider it at all.

You have gained a new skill!

Meditation I

You can enter a state of internal self awareness. Enhances mana regeneration while you focus inwards.

I didn’t focus on it every night, I did so whenever I felt a little off. I kept seeing a flicker of something deep inside of myself whenever I did, too. Still, I mainly meditated to stay sane.

When I got the notification I would have panicked if it hadn’t said that it enhanced my mana regeneration. I hadn’t even noticed any difference in mana, not a surprise since it all drained away.

Tam was seeing what he expected to see, and I had been using that fact against him, but he seemed a little suspicious the next morning. He looked very surprised, but he didn’t change anything. Hopefully he just thought it was an instinctive attempt to gather more mana. Regardless, there was nothing I could do about it. Without meditation… I didn’t even want to consider what a mess I would be. The day passed as normal

Nervous from the close call, I debated delaying my plan to another night. I knew I needed to start as soon as possible though. Now that I was at the jumping off point, my nervousness had skyrocketed. I would always want to be more prepared for something this important. The raving voice in my head didn’t help. It felt like it was getting easier to ignore though.

Okay, it was time. Breathe deep. Ignore the fact that I don’t breathe.

I used some of the tiny amount of mana I could use to move some of the stone inside the room. The moment of truth came a moment later when the beam reacted and disintegrated it.

Now things could go two different ways. Tam would either detect it, or he wouldn’t. Obviously it would be easier if Tam detected nothing, but I was prepared for either eventuality.

It turned out it was good that I was thorough, because Tam came rushing in only a few moments later.

I had never seen Tam like this before. His fingers glimmered with rings packed with mana, and a silver staff was held in both hands. Spells wrapped around him in swirls and gleaming lines. It was obvious that he was prepared to do battle.

Of course Tam simply found the room and me sitting with complete innocence on the stand like normal. Tam cast an analysis spell on me, and of course I am sure it was showing the usual zero mana. Whatever he saw, it made him frown.

I started to use that tiny trickle of mana to create another depression in the wall. It was slow, but after a moment Tam noticed the change. His alarm grew on his face, but after a few minutes he relaxed when it was obvious that I was creating another statue. This one showed him holding his staff and rings. After it was done I made a spike drop from the ceiling where it was promptly vaporized.

Now was the moment of truth. I had the ability to redirect threads from the beam array on the wall, and I had thought of some other uses for the beam. I doubted it wouldn’t go off at all during my escape. I needed Tam to just ignore it as a normal occurrence. I was fairly certain that Tam would add some new precautions, but as long as I could work around them, then I could escape as I was now. If not, well I had already found a way around all of the ones used on me now. Tam walked out with a determined stride as I started slowly making a statue that showed his battle spells. And there I remained, waiting.