Mike looked down at Ina from his place on the highest level of the tree. She seemed so small from up here. The incongruity of it was still challenging for him to process. Mike didn’t know how powerful Ina really was. It seemed she had defeated the Treant without even breaking a sweat.

He wondered how much of her immense mana pool she had consumed in that fight. He had no idea how to even calculate that, considering it seemed like she uses mana from the Aether to some extent as well.

She had somehow used her Light mana to influence other forms of mana in the Aether, making them mix and giving her more capabilities. He also noticed that the mana she had used for her spells hadn’t given off light in the same way Light mana did when he channelled it into the Mortal realm for casting, how?

Mike was startled when Ina turned from her apparent consideration of the dried-out husk of the Treant and looked up, directly at him. He froze, afraid that Light would once again control her, or that she would decide to take him for the god now. She did nothing though.

Mike realised that she wasn’t looking at him at all when Crosse spoke up. “Seems like she want us down there,” he said and Mike turned to look at him to see that he was talking to the female hunter.

She sighed in response. “She’ll probably just be telling us to clean up that thing, that or something ominous,” She said in response, slouching slightly. Crosse just rolled his eyes.

“We should go to her either way, whatever it is it is likely important,” he said and turned his light brown gaze to Mike. “Do you want to come with us? Perhaps Lady Ina would help you with some things if you asked,” Crosse said, raising an eyebrow, he still thought that Mike should tell Ina of his abilities because maybe she could teach him.

Mike wasn’t so sure about telling her at all and about whether she could teach him. From what he had seen of Ina and how she used Magic so far he was becoming increasingly certain that ‘Sun-Gazer’ was what High Elves called an Elementalist. While she could likely still teach him the very basics that he currently lacked, he didn’t think she could teach him further than that.

Her insistence that he leave within a month was also a problem. Mike understood that he wasn’t more important to her than this village or her freedom, and he didn’t really begrudge her for it, but teaching him would certainly take longer than a month and would likely not be feasible at all, with Light looking over her shoulder and the others that he had no doubt sent to retrieve him.

So Mike shook his head, “I’ll wait for you in your quarters, I learned some things just now that I want to look into,” he had gotten a notification, he was curious as to what it was. He momentarily focused his Attunement sense on himself. He hadn’t levelled up, he sensed no stat points in his chest or brain, though he still didn’t know where the Magic EXP was stored, so maybe his Magic aspect had levelled.

Crosse just nodded in response and turned to go, waving the female hunter whose name Mike still didn’t know along with him.

Mike watched them go, thinking, the other hunters were talking amongst themselves and some were looking down at the monster that very well may have destroyed their home if not for Ina’s protection.

Mike made his way towards the stairs after Crosse and the woman. Crosse glanced back to see him and Mike just shrugged. He refused to acknowledge the awkwardness of going to two different places in the same direction.

So he followed the two down three flights of stairs, reaching the bridge that they had crossed to reach this tree. Mike nodded to Crosse as he made his way back towards that bridge while Crosse led the woman towards the next flight of stairs down, heading towards the ground.

Mike wondered if Ina could make function elevators on these trees, and just chose not too, or she just couldn’t. For his part, he doubted that Ina used the stairs all that often, even if she couldn’t make elevators for every tree, she could probably mould hers like putty to take her wherever she wished.

As Mike made his way back to Crosse's quarters, at a much more leisurely pace this time, he thought about the fight. Watching the fight had Likely been the most awe-inspiring thing he had ever seen in person.

He was still trying to work out what exactly Ina had done. He knew that Ina only had access to Light mana, and whatever Soul Magic was granted to her by Light. So how did she cast those multi-element spells? Though Fire and Death mana were the only two that he was certain of.

He thought about what the AI had said about mana up to this point, back in the cell it had called it ‘Energy from God’ which seemed like a decent translation for what the Elves considered it to be. It had said that the entire Spirit realm consisted of and was populated by mana. So did that mean that Spirits were made entirely of mana too?

So was mana some other form of matter or energy entirely? Something that existed outside of the concept of physics as he understood it? It seemed to interact with physics though, when he brought Light mana into the Mortal realm, it turned into regular Light, Dark mana decayed as well, though not as fast from his limited observation. Could that be because ‘Darkness’ wasn’t really a physical thing that it could transform into?

‘Energy from God,’ it had said. Why the singular capitalized ‘God’ and not the ‘gods’ as it seemed was more common when referring to the gods of this place. Ina had explained that the gods were not born gods and that Light had once been a very powerful Dragon Spirit in the Spirit realm.

Did the term predate the idea of multiple gods? He just didn’t know. While lost in thought he had made his way to the hunter’s barracks and he began the hike around the walkways and up the stairs towards Crosse’s quarters. He felt the Arcane mana around him as he walked, it still felt like simply energy. It wasn’t a feeling that he could easily explain.

He reached the highest walkway level and walked into Crosse’s quarters, taking only a moment to remember which one of the identical doorways lead to Crosse’s quarters and entering. Once inside he looked around and saw the new alcove that had been formed in the wall that held Crosse’s bed. He went and grabbed the bedding that he had slept in the night prior and spread it out in the new alcove.

He then made his way to the rocking chair and sat down. First, he wanted to check what that notification had been during the fight.

You have received a Quest:

Quest Log

Quest Description

Quest Objective

Quest Rewards

Spirit Tongues

The spirits communicate in a tongue formed of mana, not sound. It is a complex and powerful Skill that may come in handy for your future endeavours. However, the AI does not know this tongue, and cannot teach you how to speak it.

So you must seek out one willing to teach you this art, as well as be proficient enough in the languages of Men and Elves yourself to even begin to comprehend the nuances of this ancient tongue.

Reach Journeyman rank in Language Skill.

Find an elf or a Spirit proficient enough in the Spirit tongue to teach you of its use, or find a text that explains it. (This Objective does not require the completion of the first objective)

The Spirit Tongues Skill

So it had been the Language that Ina and the Treant had spoken that had triggered the notification. This was the second quest he had received that gave a Skill as a reward, he wondered how much more the AI could teach him on its own.

As interesting as the ability to speak to spirits would be, he wasn’t in a rush to obtain it any time soon, especially as the only real Spirit he had seen so far had been the Lightning Treant, and it hadn’t seemed so interested in talking.

He closed the window and went back to thinking about what he had seen and felt during the fight. Ina had used her control of Light Magic to influence other forms of Elemental mana, and something about her spells had drastically increased the concentration of Arcane mana in the area.

Of those things, there was only one that he could think of a way to test, but first to ask the AI a question, just in case it was willing to just tell him.

“What is mana?” he asked willing a Help window to appear to answer the question.

Mana is the Magical energy, it is present in the Mortal Realm primarily as Arcane mana, and in the Spirit realm as the assorted forms of Elemental mana.

The word mana is a translation of a native word, which does not change much between tongues, and means roughly “Energy from God.”

Magic is the harnessing mana to achieve tasks, this works differently in the Mortal and Spiritual realms. All matter that enters the Spirit realm eventually becomes a form of Elemental mana, unless under the protection of a soul with a strong will or powerful understanding of itself.

Mana that enters the Mortal Realm doe not entirely become energy of the Mortal realm.

The AI currently knows of 11 Distinct forms of Elemental mana.

Five of these are the Basic Elements.

Wood, Fire, Metal, Water, and Earth.

The other four are what the AI Understands as Extreme Elements. Each is linked to one of the basic elements through Context and origin in some way, though the AI does not have a full understanding of how each is linked, there is another extreme element that the AI has yet to comprehend.

Life, Death, Wind, and Lightning

The Elements of Light and Dark are more primal than even the Basic Elements and seem to be linked in intricate and inexplicable ways.

The AI itself consists primarily of Light, Dark, and Arcane mana.

Arcane mana is the mana of the Mortal Realm and contributes to the growth of mortal Creatures. It lacks something that Elemental mana has, but seems to be moldable with specific methods.

That was more detail than its last explanation, which had mostly been in the passing of another answer. It had given him good information, the breaking of Elements into the Basic and Extreme was new to him, though it had mentioned the five Basic Elements before.

The Extreme Elements were interesting as well, apparently, each was linked to just one of the Basic Elements. He noted the use of the word ‘Wind’ and not ’Air’, perhaps that was why his mana sight wasn’t constantly full of Air mana, which by all reasoning should be everywhere.

Which Element linked to which was an interesting puzzle that he would need to consider, perhaps Crosse would be able to help him with that, it made sense that someone from this dimension would have a better understanding of its rules. Or at least a view that wasn’t biased towards interpreting them through the rules on an entirely different dimension.

So Mike set out to test the one thing that he felt he could. Where had all that Arcane mana come from, the AI seemed to have been hinting at the answer in its explanation.

So Mike reached out to the Light mana that was drawn to the tree and channelled it into the Mortal realm under his Control. The mana immediately started to decay, draining away from his control, letting of bright light right in front of him where he had channelled it to.

The light wasn’t the only byproduct of the decaying mana though, no, Mike could feel the arcane mana also growing denser in the space around him, what was actually happening here?

Mike focused his attunement and Arcane Logic in on the Light mana that was quickly trickling away under his control. The Light mana was becoming the light that was currently shining brightly before him, but part of it was also shifting into Arcane mana, Why?

Mike tried to focus his attunement further but couldn’t sense what was causing the decay and why the Light mana would become both physical light and Arcane mana. From what he knew of Arcane mana it made things better, somehow, enhancing specific attributes to contribute to the whole of the thing.

What did it mean that Light mana and possibly all Elemental mana was also made of Arcane mana, at least partially? He was about to swap to Light Magic out for Dark Magic to see if it worked similarly when there was a rustling from the doorway and he looked up to see Crosse’s head popping through the curtain of leaves.

Mike instinctively attempted to shove the Light mana back into the Aether as he had heard the rustling, and it hadn't worked, at all. Putting mana back in the Aether proved harder than taking it out. His control hit a wall was all he could describe it as.

As a result, he lost control of the mana entirely and there was a bright flash of Light and Mike felt a sudden burst of pure joy that lasted only as long as the flash of Light.

Crosse's head rocked back at the sudden feeling and his eyes squinted at the bright light. “What in Lights radiant asshole are you doing?” Crosse asked after he was fully recovered.

Mike stood up smiling sheepishly, “experimenting?”