Like a child on their birthday Adam woke suddenly remembeing he was excited but taking a moment to work out why. "Magic!" He shouted. He knew this was out of proportion in a world where he could gain powers and even bestow them on others but actual magic was going to be amazing. It was what he had been waiting for since discovering mana. Images of being able to throw around fireballs and lighting bolts flashed into his head as he found the skill in the system and paid the ten experience to unlock it.

Individual Skill Menu: [Elemental manipulation] Elemental manipulation The ability to use mana to control the elements Level Additional features 1 Pick basic element to control: Fire; Water; Air; Earth; Metal increase level to add additional elemental control and conceptual elements

Adam frowned. This was like picking an ice-cream on holiday and being told you can only have one flavour. Briefly using Inspect gave glimpses of each option but didn't really reveal much. He would have to choose and use the skill to learn more.

Concentrating on conceptual elements led to a confusing array of sensations that made Adam glad he was currently lying flat on the floor of the tent. There was an instantaneous feeling of dizziness and discombobulation at the same time as an awareness of his body at a greater fundamental level. This lasted a second or two but time itself seemed to stretch within that time stretching the sensation out so he was able to pick out all the individual elements for a split second. As he was coming to understand what these elements were; time sped back up condensing all the information he had been gathering into a single moment and overwhelming him. He was left with the knowledge that, at the moment at least, the conceptual elements were too complex to understand.

Lying on the floor recovering from the mental ordeal of trying to interpret conceptual elements Adam became acutely aware of his bodily needs. While using the latrine and sorting breakfast he mused over his options. Fire was an obvious starting point. Water, air and earth just didn't have the same appeal. Metal intrigued him but not enough to pick first. Imagining conjuring a fireball to throw at the spiders he made the selection.

Nothing happened; or at least nothing happened outwardly. No message saying he had unlocked fireball and a simple button to press to summon the skill. Instead Adam could feel a nuanced difference to his mana. A new potential within the swirl of power he had identified internally.

He pushed at this difference with his mind to see what happened. Again; nothing happened. Well what happened was underwhelming. The difference moved away from his grasp; it gave off the impression of heat but when he focused the new power moved away and collected elsewhere. Sitting down, Adam tried a different approach. Rather than trying to grab the power; he felt all around it and sensed as the difference in the mana that fire had unlocked was now concentrating into one area rather than staying spread out. Adam shepherded the essence together until a denser yellow-red area formed.

The impression of heat came off the yellow-red pool. Adam had definitely discovered the fire element. Realising he could only push the mana around he looked for a conduit to move it elsewhere. The only other time he had managed to visibly see his powers externally was when he had converted Pa. That time he had instinctively pointed his finger and the golden ribbons formed. Concentrating on his arm at the same time as holding the pool of fire mana densely at his core Adam discovered a whole network of channels running down his arm.

Each channel held tiny amounts of the power in his core spread out and moving along through the tissues. Like his blood vessels they circled back towards the centre on reaching his extremes and concentrating harder he could feel the energy pulsing along, always moving. When he concentrated he could move the fire mana down the channel along his arm towards his hand. The further he pushed; the harder this became and by the time it reached his hand the channels were so narrow that the fire mana had spread out and dissipated. He shifted his concentration to the God Power insdie; the golden swirl that was running through his core. Unlike the fire mana this seemed much more willing to bend to his will. It also flowed much more smoothly through the channels; explaining how he could use this power in a different way. Rather than try to use the fire mana again he took a moment to collect himself and process the information.

Using the best analogy he had he compared the core of power to his heart. It was the centre; but unlike his heart it seemed to generate the energy that spread around his body. The channels were then like his blood vessels, the arteries and veins leading out and around. Like blood vessels they grew smaller as they were further from the centre. They fed his body and explained how and why any new skills he learnt could affect him in the way they did. Taking the analogy further he presumed that he could increase the flow to certain areas through practice; like blood vessels expanding because you had worked out. Testing his theory he focused all his attention as he collected and then pushed the fire mana back down his arm again. The change was tiny; but it was there. Practice would definitely improve his skill in manipulating the mana.

The one thing he wasn't sure about was why this needed work and attention rather than coming naturally. The system had given him free materials just by concentrating; why not free fireballs? With his increased intellect he might not know the answer but would have a good guess. Concentrating on Creation and the difference between levels he could now tell that as the level increased he could make more and more complex things. There seemed no limit to this, meaning that at some level he might be able to click his fingers and create a whole city if he wanted. Elemental manipulation was only at level one but Adam sensed that he had already unlocked all the potential of fire mana. The only limits were what he had learnt to do with it and the mana cap allowed by his core. So there was no level one fireball and then level ten super-nova; he had it all right now if he worked at it.

Adam's eyes snapped open and a look of joy spread across his face now he had fully understood the skill he had unlocked. He was an all powerful fire mage. He just couldn't use his power yet. Well it did make sense that he would have to work up to it at least a little. Mana check; mana = 18.6. He had already used almost 5mp so far and it was still early morning. How foolish of him to think that 23mana was actually a lot simply because the Inspect skill had become so cheap. Closing his eyes Adam concentrated once again on the fire mana and tried to push it down his arm. Having done this he checked on his mana pool again. Mana = 18.1 that was easy to calculate. He had enough for another thirty-six attempts.

By attempt thirty there was a noticeable difference to the channels down his left arm. They could carry more of the mana further before it was no longer concentrated enough to detect. The process that had been envigorating and exciting at first was becoming much more of a chore. Like lifting weights it was more tiring to do exactly the same thing the thirtieth time. By the time he had finished all thirty-six he checked his watch and it was mid-morning. Determined to have some visible impact by the end of the day; he did come quick maths and set an alarm for eight hours time when his mana would have fully regenerated.

Standing and stretching, he was mentally but not physically fatigued. The sun was up and there was a brand new hut stood next to him that he had been ignoring. It was time to work out what to do with the rest of his day.