Ahhh. Today is a great day! I finally got to go outside, I learned a lot about how to use my magic from dancing with the wind, and I even figured out the perfect name for my little seed. Melody, I think I will call her Mel for short, and I are going to have all sorts of amazing adventures together!

The sun is shining, the wind is with us and we’re on a roll! Let’s get a move on!

Ready to learn more and see more I take the first step to continuing my journey… and fall flat on my face.

“Ouuuuuuch.” I mumble into the ground. I try to lift myself back up but all I manage to do is lift my face out of the dirt.

“Well Mel it looks like playing with the wind took a lot more out of me than I thought so we’re going to have to stay here for a little while.” Resigning myself to a lengthy recovery I decide to take a look at my notifications that piled up while I was distracted by playin- cough- learning from the wind.

Ding – Dexterity and Endurance + 2!

Skill Unlocked – Spellweaver level 2!

Spellweaver – Most mages are content with memorizing spells to fire off in an instant, but not you! You have learned the forgotten art of spell weaving. Building spells from scratch you will be able to adjust mana input and other variables to produce varying effects, you also might even build completely new spells. Increasing skill level, and dexterity will increase the speed at which you can weave your spells. + 1 Dexterity and + 1 Wisdom per skill level.

New Class options available!

Mana Manipulation has reached level 7!

Okay well that is pretty cool. I got some improvements to my stats. Those probably came from all the moving around that I have done so far today. Now this skill spellweaver, seems like a bit of a double-edged sword, at least at the lower levels. I learned how to weave some simple wind spells, but they do come out rather slow. The great benefit to this skill as it said is that I can adjust any spell I do make to do what I need it to, and as I level it and my stats up, I can make spells even faster. New goal! I am going to do what I can to raise that skill as far as it will go and be able to make the most awesome spells anyone has ever seen!

Learning to use magic from the wind was very helpful mostly since I know nothing about how to use the elements. If I want to improve on my magic, I am going to have to find ways to learn from the other elements. I’ll have to keep a close watch on my primal senses since they lead me to this place.

It is also good to see that my mana manipulation went up again. That one is fairly easy but, since I’m just going to be lying here for a while I might as well try to level up the other skills I have. If I remember correctly coalescence was about compressing the core of my mana so that it would be denser, and the mana channels were the pathways the mana flows through in my body. Since I’m tapped out of mana right now it would be a great time to compress my core.

Closing my eyes, I focus my mind inward and am once again looking the flowing energy inside my body. Reaching my core, I can see that it is almost empty but starting to refill. Focusing my mind, I grab hold of the intricate structure that I created and begin the delicate process of compressing my core while ensuring it remains connected to everything else. When I start compressing there is resistance but not so much that I can’t overcome it. Starting at the size of nearly three fists it begins to shrink. I push and push at it until my efforts no longer bare any fruit reducing the core in size by about half a fist.

Oh well progress is progress. It was much easier having my core empty before trying to compress it so from now on every day I will have to empty it out at least once so that I can improve this skill as much as possible.

Turning my attention away from my core I focus on the mana channels that are running through my body. Now how can I improve you? I have already opened all of the channels, so it won’t be that easy, somehow I am going to have to improve them. Hmmm… well looks like it is time to start experimenting again!

Excited but willing to practice at least a little bit of caution I begin trying different things to improve my mana channels. The first thing that I attempt is to draw a little mana out of my core and wrap it around the channel to make it larger. That attempt failed. As soon as the mana was wrapped around the channel it was sucked inside and drawn back to my core.

My rational behind trying to widen the channels is that if they are larger then more mana can flow through them at once which would be better. Since the first experiment failed, I move on to the next one, expanding them from the inside out!

This time I take almost all of the mana that has trickled back into my core and use it to flood all the channels. Taking a mental breath, I force the mana to expand. It works, sort of. The channels expand ever so slightly but the process is… painful.

The entirety of the small amount of stamina is consumed in an instant as pain rips through my body causing me to spasm and convulse on the ground. Ripped from my mental plain and barely able to hold onto consciousness I grit my teeth and try to ride it out.

The pain though intense doesn’t last very long. Gasping for breath and now drenched in sweat I decide that this will have to be enough experimenting for now. Having nothing else to do I check my notifications to see if the pain I went trough was worth it or not.

Ding!

Coalescence has reached level 5!

Mana Channels has reached level 9!

Well at least I gained something from all of that. I’m not too happy with the pain that was caused but I’m not so sure I will have to deal with much more of that. Something about the mana channels skill gives me the feeling that level 10 is some sort of threshold where I will need to do something else in order to advance.

Now that I think about it most of my skills are telling me that they have different thresholds but most of them are around level 20. Interesting but not really something that I can do anything about at the moment.

Done with thinking about skills and everything else for the day I decide that I have been through enough for now and that some rest was in order. For the rest of the day I would be staying here in this little clearing.

After a sufficient amount of time has passed for me to recover, I gingerly sit up and look around the clearing. When I first got here, I had thought it was pretty but pretty really doesn’t even come close to describing it.

The clearing is split almost evenly between meadow and pond. The meadow is filled with flowers in a myriad of colors, their pleasant aroma filling the air. The lake is crystal clear with a large flat rock jutting out of the water on the bank nearest to me. Only adding to the appeal of the place is the sunlight falling from the clear blue sky that fills the clearing with a pleasant warmth. Bordered on all sides by tall trees the place is a hidden slice of paradise.

I eye the lake closely. I don’t think I’ve had a bath or anything since the moment that I woke up and the water is looking extremely inviting. Giving in to the temptation I walk over to the water and cautiously dip a toe in. The temperature is perfect, and with how clear it is I am able to tell that there is nothing lurking beneath the surface. Without any further hesitation I jump in.

The thought of needing to know how to swim never crossed my mind before entering the pool but lucky enough for me I seem to be able to do it just fine. Kicking my way to the surface I fill my lugs with warm air as the cool water wraps around me.

“Ahhh, this feels sooooo good.” I groan while floating lightly on the surface of the water. Why did I not do this sooner? I can feel the dirt and sweat being washed away. I can’t remember the last time I felt this good. Pausing to laugh at my own inadvertent joke I quickly scrub myself clean. In the process of doing this I find that rubbing my ears and the spot just behind them feels almost as good as rubbing my tail. In other words it is very distracting, and I have to stop myself from doing it several times as I try to finish cleaning up.

Having finally finished washing up and maybe playing around in the water for a bit I climb out of the water and onto the stone. Its surface, warmed by the sun, is quite nice. Lying down on it I stretch out letting the warmth sink into my body as I stare up at the sky.

The smell of the flowers, my recent bath, and the pleasant warmth of rock and sun all combine to make me very… very… tired. Happy with the progress that I made today and the time that I got to spend in this slice of paradise, I only have time for one last thought before my eyelids droop and sleep claims me.

“Nature really is a beautiful thing.”