Chapter 22 The Beginning - The First Step towards Evolution (Part 2)

Feeling this new and odd sensation, Daichi began to wonder what was happening.

Could this possibly be his soul? If so, didn’t that mean that souls were real… Lots of people spoke about the soul as if it was real but there was never any one who could conclusively prove it in some way. It was intangible and only experts could claim to have made contact with their soul…

…

Feeling as if his mind was starting to lose focus, Daichi ignored that passing thought and tried to remain calm and focused.

He continued thinking about his mana. Feeling as if he was on the correct path.

“If you can ask permission, or if certain forms of increasing mana if the equivalent of such, then you should be able to force or trap mana. Anything you can ask permission of should in theory be something you can steal, force or trap. Wouldn’t that mean that accumulating mana through any method equates to gathering mana through one of these methods, which would be inherent to personality? If you aren’t consciously trying to do something as you unconsciously try to accumulate mana which is how I heard mages used too through meditation, then you can only subconsciously take a form of action which would be inherent to the type of person doing it.“

Feeling invigorated he began thinking about mana as something sentient. Something that can and does exist everywhere.

“If it exists everywhere does that mean it’s part of everything? No, just because something is somewhere doesn’t mean it’s part of it, but it does mean it is part of it.”

Confusing even himself, he tried to simplify it. He started thinking about his father and their home. Just because he was there didn’t make him a part of it, but he was a part of the town, a part of this world. A piece inside of the universe.

“On a grander scale, the universe must be made up of mana.” Reaching a realization. “The universe is made up of mana, mana is the building blocks of the universe.”

“If that’s the case, then I ca-“

Mid thought he was mildly interrupted by that “soul-stirring” feeling that seemed to invigorate a part of him he hadn’t known existed until just seconds ago.

Ignoring the sensation as best as he could, he continued to think without allowing himself to be distracted or disturbed.

“If that’s the case, then I can rebuild myself, I can infuse mana into my very beings to change my structure. Is that what evolution is? The universe itself acknowledging us as we’ve met certain standards or understandings and therefore using mana to change our very core at a cellular level?

If that were true… Then what would happen if instead of trying to do those things, I instead figured out how to infuse myself, and every cell in body with mana itself? If I changed and forged my body anew but through my own will and mana. What would I become? The universe could no longer decide, because I would be doing it myself…”

Thinking about the consequences of such an action, he was surprised at how excited he was at the prospect of something so ridiculous.

“How can I infuse mana into myself? How can I even accumulate mana? I now think I understand what it means to do those things but now the how. A method of execution.

Focusing on any of my mana feels near impossible due to it’s nature. It’s nature… Eh… Idiot! The reason why my mana feels so impossible to wield but be because all of my mana is infused with my own attribute! Having an attribute must mean that your own accumulated mana experiences a fundamental change compared to the mana in the air. The mana generally all around us must be pure in the sense that it is as basic as it can get. Only by making it our own can we change it, since it becomes a part of us.”

Then… “If I still can’t understand mana because I don’t have the ability to wield my own chaotic mana, then what if I focused with just mana in the air!”

Suddenly feeling his own excitement boiling, he began to calm his mind again and focusing on everything around him. Using his mind to feel not what was there but what had always and would always be there.

Shocked and confused, he suddenly felt like he was in a mine field. Inside of a vast ocean of chaotic mana. All of the mana around him was utterly chaotic! “This isn’t what mana is supposed be like!”

Daichi’s mind in turmoil he tried to think about what it meant. As far as his mind could gather it could only be one of two things. Either he was moved or moved on own his own will, into a space or area where the mana is different from that of the towns OR that the mana in the town has fundamentally changed since the event happened.

Unable to make any assumptions with the information he had, Daichi felt stumped as to what to do next.

Instead of spending too much time trying to think of the things he couldn’t be sure of or the things he couldn’t change. Daichi began to focus on what he could in fact do.

“I can try to understand my own mana. If I want to use it I first have to understand it. If I want to understand it then I have to do nothing but observe it.”

Feeling resolute in his decision, he began focusing his mind on sensing the mana inside of himself.

Focusing on that mana he began sensing, but instead of trying to utilize it like before He simply observed this space filled with chaos. The mana gave off the feeling of being erratic, devoid of purpose or patterns. It felt stale yet erratic as if its very nature contradicted itself on the surface. It felt aggressive and offensive.

Thinking about the attributes of this mana, Daichi began to realize that if he wanted to infuse himself with mana it cannot be this form of mana. This form of mana cannot be wielded by him, at least not how he was now.

“I don’t think any living being can take this mana into his physical form and wield it in any way without some backlash. I can only use unblemished mana and instead of drawing it into my own pool of mana, directly infuse into my physical form, but not to enhance. I think if I tried to do that it would end up as some form of buff. I would have to think about changing my own cellular structure and in what way as I was doing it. If I felt pain during, it would be a distraction that would destroy me, and that would be the simplest obstacle to overcome…

No wonder even though this feels simple and even though I knew it wouldn’t be I haven’t heard of someone doing this before. Most of the people that have thought of this probably wouldn’t share it in the first place and that’s if they don’t try it themselves and fail.”

Thinking more about his own mana… “It can’t be wielded inside of my physical being, but that doesn’t mean I can’t wield it externally. It’s very nature is aggressive and offensive, which means it’s probably ideal for creating offense based skills to deal damage. I just can’t think of how I could do that though… “

Then Hannah popped into his head. “She did what she considered to be the most simple form of utilizing her attribute! She directly infused it into her opponent!

So what if I directly touched an opponent, and in that instant transferred my mana into his physical being?”

Skill Created: Chaos Erupts

A skill that allows one to transfer Chaotic mana into another living being.

“Eh. Does that mean that the instant I think of an application of my mana it becomes a skill? No because Ava said she used it more than once before it turned into a skill.

Hmmm… Maybe not only do I have to think of an application, but also know how to execute that application through a method consciously before it turns into a “Universe Acknowledged” skill.

That would make sense…”

Daichi felt that soul-stirring feeling once again, making him feel even more refreshed. He felt as if he was being touched by a feeling of greatness every time he experienced this sensation. It was incredible but underwhelming and unoffensive.

“Well isn’t that a beautiful confirmation from the universe” Daichi thought as joy spread through every facet of his being.

“Okay this is perfect. If my mana is chaotic. What other forms can I use it. I know that as I thought about the former skill, I can only think of how to apply it through physical touch. That means that to use it I will definitely have to be touching my opponent since I basically ripped off Hannah’s skill but made it even simpler.

If I want it to be even more effective… Then I have to find a method of applying this similar attack but without touch…

Hmm… When I use my bloodlust: Aura ability I release mana into the air, but when I do it’s not chaotic… That must be because I’ have a singular focus as I am releasing my mana, killing. If that’s the case then when I release my mana subconsciously it must harness only part of the chaos… If I release the skill while focusing on releasing my mana in that state with the intention of causing fear and telegraph my intent to kill, that would increase the effect of my aura.”

Understanding of Ability: Bloodlust: Aura increased.

Ability changed: Effectiveness changed

Even without that information passing through his mind, Daichi had already realized he’d just found a way to better utilize that skill and how to slightly shape it through mana manipulation.

“Eh? So gaining a deeper understanding of my own abilities and skills can indeed increase them in the direction I desire for them to improve…

Then… If I can release my chaotic mana in a specific way, while I may not be able to take into into my own physical self, I can release it with specific intent… Chaos is not just one thing but many things, so the attribute itself has manifest in different forms…

If I focus on a specific area, and willingly change the mana in that area to mana of my nature. Then I could create something similar to the Chaos Erupts skill but long range. The effect would be weakened, but it would hold similar characteristics…

Nothing. No that wouldn’t work since I can’t just change mana outside of me into something I don’t fully comprehend myself, I need specific intent. If I change the mana in my surroundings to that of my own mana, if I imbue not someone or something but rather the mana within my range into chaos attributed mana, then I can cause an entire area to take the full effect of my chaos without specifically utilizing a part of the chaos attribute… I would just have to make sure that within the a small space surround my body the mana turned back into regular mana and not chaotic to keep myself safe. This should be do-able!”

Skill Created: Chaotic Eruption

Created through emitting a wave from the body that changes all mana caught within the wave into Chaotic Mana.

“Hmmm… I can’t wait to test this one out…”

Suddenly thinking about Hannah again…

“If there is a death attribute then there must be a life attribute regardless of how rare… Then utilizing that attribute would be similar but completely different!”

Suddenly caught in a new train of thought a spark had suddenly engulfed Daichi, as if an answer for a question he did’t know he had asked had suddenly appeared!