Now then. I’m glad the adventurers have been rebuffed for now. It should mean my core is more or less safe for the time being. Of course a waterfall and spike trap can’t be the only thing that’s defending it, but the rest can be created as we go along. We still have a few weeks until the meeting. In that time I should capture some transportation and learn some magic.

As for transport, I have a plan. We’ve spotted something that looks like a fat antelope. Well I say fat but it’s pretty muscley. It’s horns go at an angle and out. It seems like they are used for scratching and gouging. Definitely not just ramming and show to assert dominance. I’m having the cats scout out their habits. It’s a bit difficult since they understand me but I can’t understand them, but they can just point or act it out. Just like horses, the weakness of these things should be their legs. I’ll try to capture one that way. If that doesn’t work, well I can always walk. It’s not that far and this body doesn’t seem to get tired as fast as my old one.

All of that might just be excuses though. I finally have a little time to relax and dive into something interesting and new. Saeri said she’s pretty decent at magic and with the help of all these dungeon skills, I’m hoping I can figure out some things this week.

Well it’ll still be some time before Saeri comes. She’s taken to petting and brushing the various creatures that I’ve summoned. I had no idea that snakes even liked getting brushed.

For now, I decide to observe the mana in things and examine what I can already do.

[Mana Sight]

The world of mana is burst forth once again and colors I can’t properly describe fill my vision. I start by looking at the core. The chunk of amethyst seems to have quite a bit of mana swirling around it. Or at least I’m assuming it’s more. It’s certainly brighter and more vibrant than most of the surrounding. While mana sort of looks homogenous, some twists of …. Space? Light? … something occurs. Like a gem with constantly changing imperfections, or how different densities of air will distort the light passing through.

Walking along my dungeon, mana seems denser, closer to the core. Not by much, but it is noticeable. I’m not quite sure but I think the mana in the environment is drawn to it.

Speaking of environment, I got some abilities to change the environment of the dungeon before the adventurers came. [Indestructible Terrain] [Dungeon Lighting] and [Dungeon Temperature]. Indestructible Terrain just pushes mana into the terrain and compresses it. Or that’s what I thought at least. It turns out that if I combine my [Dungeon Presence] and [Mana Sight], I can essentially mentally zoom in on mana. Now that I can take a closer look at it, it’s actually incredibly uniform. The walls and such no longer have this fluctuating mana density like in the air. The reason? It sort of looks like the mana formed bonds with each other, forming some weird lattice structure. However this seems tied to my dungeon core. When I lift up the core, the lattice starts breaking down from where the core was sitting. Not very fast, but it breaks down. The same thing happens if I force the lattice structure into a piece of stone and lift it up. I guess I can’t get unbreakable items that easily.

Something similar happens with [Dungeon Lighting]. Rather than a lattice shape, the mana in the air forms many tiny rings. Within the ring the pattern continues to form some geometric pattern. This pattern seems to oscillate and produce light. The intensity seems to be tied to the oscillation.

Hm. How unusual. Mana seems to form geometric patterns depending on the effect. Within the dungeon, using my skills, I can more or less create them just by thinking about the effect that I want. However if I step outside my dungeon territory, I can’t do much to effect mana at all.

[Saeri] Sorry I’m late. The bunnies just seem to want extra attention today.

[Eita] No no it’s fine. I was just figuring out how my skills work. It looks like my skills are a form of magic, but really it’s more like breathing for me. Maybe it’s a dungeon thing, but it just happens automatically, meaning I can’t really do anything outside of my dungeon territory.

[Saeri] Hm. Well since you can already perceive mana, it shouldn’t be too hard to teach some basic mana exercises.

[Eita] Yes please Professor Saeri

Professor Saeri’s Teaching Corner

[Saeri] Eh? Professor? I’m not nearly good enough for such a title.

Well anyways.

Ahem.

First things first. Magic works like this. Mana exists within your body. As everything is made of mana, so too is your body. However only some of it is in its raw form and can be used for magic. You take this mana and force it out of you, while creating a spell circle. Spell circles are special shapes that use the mana that comprises it to effect the world. Unfortunately, I don’t know any magic circles to teach you. I don’t have mana sight after all. Fortunately, magic isn’t only limited to people with mana sight.

The books I’ve read says that mana is based upon, or at least affected by, belief. This is sort of like how faith and worship of a god empowers a god, and if a god no longer has believers, it also loses all its power. Since mana is affected by belief, you can force it to take the shape of a magic circle without you knowing the magic circle. All you have to do is force the mana out while imagining the results.

Well, I say all you have to do but it’s actually quite difficult. Converting mana into a new and real effect is quite difficult, and seems to get more difficult the more types of spells you know. This is why often magicians will focus on a branch of magic. For example, the hardest part of learning the spell [Fireball] is converting your mana into fire. Holding it and moving it, while tough, is a piece of cake compared to that first step. That’s why after learning fireball, it’s much easier to proceed with another fire spell such as [Firewall]. Learning to convert mana into fire after learning, say, to convert mana into water seems to consistently be harder. And this is true for each new “branch” of magic. I’m not quite sure why though. It was just stated as fact by the books.

Anyways, there are downsides to casting mana without knowing what the spell circle looks like. You have to refine the spell circle by sense and feel, as opposed to you who can just see how it changes over time. Spell circles that aren’t ideal don’t produce ideal results. This means using your imagination will make spells cost more mana, have a longer cast time, be weaker, or even backfire. This is also why spell circles are often well kept secrets and passed down within a family. Even if you can see spell circles, it’s not exactly easy to see the details mid combat after all. Of course two people casting fireball may come up with two different spell circles. I don’t think anybody is entirely sure on ‘how’ spell circles cause the magic to manifest after all.

Many people use something to help channel their power or focus their imagination. For example, if you have a staff, it’s easy to imagine a fireball coming out of the tip. That means you don’t have to imagine the location and the direction very much and can focus on the image of the fireball. Chants are also common for the same reason good poems and songs can bring up vivid images and feelings. Obviously this comes with the downside of being easier for the opponent to predict. These aren’t exactly set in stone and there are less used methods like dancing and tattoos, but it’s quite rare.

That said, you can’t even get to any of this until you learn to control and release mana. I guess I’d suggest you sit near the dungeon core and try to feel the fluxuations in mana first. Even I can feel that the mana isn’t exactly stagnant near your core after all. After that you’ll have to try and find the mana within your body and focus on it until it moves. You should learn what the sensation of mana and moving mana is from being inside the turbulent mana of your core. But in order to focus on the mana within yourself, you should probably do it where there’s not so much noise. Maybe outside of your dungeon territory?

Ah. Looks like I’ve got some homework to do huh.