“No, you're still doing it wrong. Like this, see?” I gave Viralya a look of exasperation, her paw wavering through the air, catching the nearby air mana and weaving it around her claws, curling it into threads and strings before it moved the mana itself. The wind just followed the strings of mana, making a cobweb-like shape. Or at least, that's what I’ve been told. My mana sense has been virtually useless in this endeavor so far, only seeing the gathering air mana in her paw.

I didn’t even see the transfer of neutral to air via her internal mana corruption. I had mentioned my level, but she had stubbornly refused it, telling me levels ‘didn’t matter.’

Hell yeah, they mattered! Have you ever seen any game where levels are inconsequential? No? Me neither!

I took a deep breath, trying not to growl in frustration, much like a fox actually, and focussed on her paw once again. She nimbly weaved the mana through the tips of her claws.

I stared, trying to see the outline of something. Nothing… Nothing… Oh! There! Is that-?! Her paw fizzled out as she sighed.

“That's enough for today. You need to go about your mana absorption today, it's very important for your human development. Especially since you're a spirit. You also need to go back to sleep. Almost all children of any race need this, especially flimsy humans.”

I made an impression of growling across the Psychic connection. “I almost had it! I swear, I was beginning to see something there! If I just had more time to level-”

“Levels are not a replacement or path to power. They are a reflection of your skill. Nothing more.”

“You know what I mean! If I had just more time-”

Much to my irritation, she interrupted me again, some venom in her voice now. “No buts. You can try again tomorrow. Please join your brother on the new bed.” She said with finality.

I wasn’t given a chance to say otherwise. A gale-force picked my body up gently, flew me across the trophy room where we had been practicing, and placed me into the bedroom with a 'thonk!'

I was still wrapped up in that itchy cloth, now plopped on the bed, wanting to punch something. I stared at the ceiling for a second in anger, before sighing and letting my eyes rest for a minute.

To be fair, I was tired. I could only stay up for a couple of hours a day, and I had spent all that time trying to learn magic. It had been three days since Viralya had formally accepted me as her own, something I didn’t quite know how to feel about anymore.

A flash of irritation passed through me and I tried groping the cloth subduing me. No luck. The irritation passed and I sighed, centering myself. I comforted myself by feeling out the river of mana passing through me, which was getting clearer and clearer every day. I looked over the words that had flashed me by recently, much to my pride.

*You have gained insights into the very essence of Wind mana itself! Mana Sense becomes Mana sense II*

*You have grasped knowledge and power beyond your understanding multiple times! Mana Sense II becomes Mana Sense III*

*Your efforts in submerging yourself in ambient mana while retaining your sanity have reaped their rewards! Meditation II becomes Meditation III*

I smiled at the notifications, taking pleasure in self-improvement. I breathed deeply and plunged into my mindscape, calming myself down and increasing my rate of ambient mana absorption. I had an endless supply of fire corruption mana, something apparently unique to spirits, as they are often harnessed and shackled as mana corruption sources.

I brushed the thought off my mind, thoughts of angry mobs and greedy people rubbing coins together.

Feeling myself drift for what felt like only minutes, I woke again when my mana had begun to reach its full capacity.

Being an infant meant having a tiny storage capacity, but a massive demand for mana. You need to consume so much for your ‘Growing body’. Ugh. Super unfair.

I sighed and looked over at the sleeping form of Junior. He had apparently been training for longer than I had been awake, facing off small monsters and practicing his skills in combat. His mana corruption was actually mostly made up of an element called heat. Not fire apparently, but very similar. It could raise or lower temperature at specific points. He also had a Psychic mana affinity, which was very common for spirit beasts, as almost none of them had the same vocal cords and had to speak somehow.

This world, Zarenth, was not primarily run by humans. They were actually a pretty primitive race compared to most and had weak magic capabilities. Most humans were big bulky warriors with a lot of skills that helped them hit harder.

I was fascinated by the regression of humans in the food chain and had asked extensive questions about them, only to have them unanswered when I realized Viralya knew almost nothing of humans. But she knew plenty about spirit beasts and most kin.

Spirit beasts weren’t really a race, because of the massive broad category they fit into. It would be like calling all animals in my world a race. They were actually born of ancient beasts, who were just normal animals who suddenly experienced enlightenment. They actually have this whole history, full of cult worshipers and culture and everything.

I felt like I was in the lore forums for my favorite games all over again. Best times of my fragmented life, I tell you. Still can’t remember half of it though.

Viralya didn’t seem to know what caused the enlightenment, actually seemingly confused when I questioned it. She had mumbled something about the birth of mana, but that could mean so many things, I couldn’t get anywhere without assuming something.

I smiled when I remembered the bored look on juniors' faces when we talked about history. He was way more into the jump into fighting and killing with a childlike expression of glee on his face. Still couldn’t get over that.

Speaking of fun-size... I prodded him with a Psychic tendril to see if he was awake. He rolled over and looked at me with bleary eyes and sent a mumbling growl and a flash of irritation over being woke up.

I patiently waited though, not being able to move anyway. I prodded him again and he stood up, stretching like a cat before plonking in front of me.

“You wanna do this again?-” He gave a yawn filled with sharp teeth. “I wanna sleep through. You could just wait for tomorrow.”

I shook my head. “I was so close! I could feel it! Cmon, only for a little bit, you can go to sleep right afterward! I swear!”

He grumbled before raising his paw, and I watched it heat up the air around it, feeding his mana into it as it spontaneously combusted into a flame, or rather, a tiny explosion that looked like it was on loop.

I said nothing more, not needing to as I latched onto the mana and began peering into it, demanding its secrets. I tried to ignore the heat and telltale sign of fire, but It was distracting. 30 seconds went by, and I actually began to notice something, a faint flicker of a shimmer mixing with a cherry hot energy, swirling around each other in mutual destruction.

I peered at it closely, getting a little excited before I hampered it down, staring at the stuff.

Maybe it was because of my flame attunement, or maybe it was just because I was already really close, but regardless, I did it.

*Refusing to be denied, you sought out the very essence of mana through your peer, staring into its depths! Mana Sense III becomes Mana Sense IV*

Wanting to shout with joy, I let out a little squeal, failing to keep my happiness in check as Junior noticed it, and gave me a toothy smile before letting the mana drop, and falling back to bed.

I was disappointed. I had really wanted to get a little more study and leveling time in, but he had just gone back to sleep when I had achieved my goal. Fair, but I was still a little bit greedy.

Junior was totally asleep by then, resting on the sheets, drooling. Squirt must have been exhausted. I felt a pang of… Something in my chest, something I didn’t recognize. It felt weird. Not uncomfortable, or pleasant really. I squinted at Junior, trying to see if he was messing with me with his Psychic mana. When my mana sense revealed nothing, and the feeling passed, I shrugged internally, as I was most definitely not moving my physical shoulders anytime soon.

I slowed my breathing and closed my eyes for real this time. Meditation can starve it off, but it isn’t a true substitute for sleeping.

I woke to a Psychic tendril burrowing itself into my mind forcefully, hurting like hell.

“Wake up, wake up, time to WAKE UP!” I let out a scream as my confused mind tried to pick up pieces of myself, totally in shambles.

“Mother says if you're not up in the trophy room for lessons today in 10 minutes, you don’t get any lessons today!” My gaze cleared of sleep as I looked at his grinning red form in shock. 3 seconds later I snapped back at him, half in reflex, half in anger.

“You little squirt! What the hell are you on about? How the hell am I even supposed to get down onto the floor, let alone walk?! What kind of Sh#$ Is this?”

He looked at me and shrugged. “It ain’t my problem dude.” He gave me a cheeky and childish smile, not even bothered by my name-calling. “It's all yours!” He giggled.

I huffed in frustration, recovering from the sudden wake-up call. I guess it came with being a kid, but my sense of time had been seriously skewed. An hour was like 5 to me. So even though I could only stay up for 3, it felt like a long time.

Boredom was a problem too. Sitting still for even 30 minutes drove me half insane. Magic was the substitute for that because I could practice some of it without assistance. Meditation though was a biggie of mine. I swear. If I find a human settlement, I will make an entire cult, worshipping the skill meditation. I’ve had it for like, a week, and It's already my first true love.

I hadn’t gotten any of the juicy awesome spells yet, but that was to be expected.

I felt my eyes wet, watching Junior jump up and walk out the cave door. I had a way to technically get up and walk around, but… I hadn’t well and truly used it enough to be good with it. It was hard, required concentration, and if I messed up, I would fall. And let me tell you, falling is fatal to infants. I was not happy the first time Viralya had to pump red healing mana into me.

I took a deep breath and activated the meditation skill for half a minute. I loved it, as it calmed me down and increased my ambient mana absorption rate, which I would need a lot of if this was going to work.

I opened my eyes and reached out, drawing in as much air mana as I could. It was hard to separate and even harder to take in individually, but I thought I did pretty well. I still took in some extremities anyway, which just flew by in my mana river and out the other end. I infested the air mana with my corruption, making it much easier to use. I personalized it, modified it. It wasn’t perfect, and this was no advanced mega skill, this was damn crude. But I was proud of it.

Wrapping the mana around me in a suit, It dove into my ears, reaching my inner ear and gently soothing it, herding it. The mana also dove into my legs and abdomen, infusing them with a sense of lightness and some sturdiness. I breathed in deeply, before rolling over on my elbows and knees, crawling to the edge of the bed. The wrapping around me had fallen off, left behind me in my struggles. Nobody really cared if I was naked, and even if they did, they would bring the cloth with them, asking me to cover up. But if they didn’t care, I didn’t really have a reason to either. Besides. I haven’t needed to go to the bathroom since I’ve been reborn. No real reason to cover my indecency, being an infant and all.

This was actually one of two spells I had learned from Viralya, as she often used it as an uncanny way of speeding up greatly. It was what she had used when trying to shake Junior off, although just a much better variant than mine. Mine had its uses though. Apparently, at higher levels, You could balance on a plank of wood, on the tip of a mountain, while doing awesome flips. You could also reduce your weight with it, using the mana to push up against gravity. Running and fighting faster was just a side effect.

*Through experimentation and tutoring you have come across the skill Balancing Act. Use the skill to invoke a 75% increase in balance and remove 10 pounds of weight to really put a spring in your step.*

*Against more than one bet, you triumphed when all was against you. Balancing Act becomes Balancing Act II*

I was still a little annoyed at both foxes for ‘betting against me’ behind my back! For heaven's sake, Juniors a F*&@ing child! He shouldn’t be gambling! Let alone on his brother!

Altogether though, I was delighted. I had gotten an awesome variant of the skill air infusion. I had actually made balancing act up by myself when I had recalled something about the ear canal being the center for all balance. Of course, my first thought when I was coming up with this skill was ‘hey! Let's shove some mystical air energy up my ear! It’ll be great!’. Heh. Fortune favors the bold after all.

I stood up, getting up on my supremely stubby feet. Even with all that mana, and the ambient draw fueling me, I still had trouble with this. I took a deep breath, and lept off, braving the jump from the bed with courage and gracefulness…

Yeah, let's not talk about the fact I had to psych myself this much just to get off a bed. Landing on my feet, which gave way rapidly, I threw my hands up to protect my head, tucked my knees in a roll, and pushed. The mana swirled around me, dancing in visible wisps across my skin in the form of leakage. Should have known the flashy and cool stuff wasn’t the best and most efficient. I fell on my side with a flomp, trying not to wince while I pulled myself back up. I crawled on my hands and knees, assessing only two minutes had passed.

I was tired. Moving sucked. I’m a damn 2-month-year-old looking infant, why the hell do I have to get up and move to places on my own? Where's the damn loving family? I live in a F%@$ing cave with two wild magical F&*#ing foxes! Where's my cheat skill and mother that would carry me everywhere! Yeah. I’m stressed okay?

Actually, now that I think about it, what had happened to my mother? I just remember… Weird powder and then a lot of fear. Then I woke up in Viralya’s cave. Huh. Maybe I’ll ask her later then.

Straining my leg and abdominal muscles I just about passed through the doorway. It's been 5 minutes now. I’m not even a quarter of the way there yet. I have to go faster. Grimacing, the mana around me swirls as I get up on my feet, infusing the muscles with power and my ears with a sense of stability. A short burst of weightlessness comes that I know won’t last long.

My mana was draining out of me like a hole in a styrofoam cup, leaking out of my body and into the atmosphere again, adding an entirely insignificant amount of mana to the dense forest. My control wasn’t the best, okay?

I took my first step, gasping at the jolt of slamming my foot into the floor. Who knew walking could be so hard?

I took a second and a third, gritting my teeth all the while. It's been 7 minutes now, 3 minutes left.

My steps came faster, my legs pumping harder against the cold stone floor. My cheeks were a tad wet now, my mouth clamped shut, not wanting to cry or scream out. My gaze bored into the trophy room as I entered, swerving my head to look at Viralya, patiently waiting with a toothy smile, her eyes observing my casting with an expert gaze.

I stomped over, staring at her and her only, trying to keep up with the mana cost. This was one expensive skill!

I collapsed on my back, a couple of feet away from her. It had taken 9 minutes, but I had done it. And now I was tired, low on mana, and could barely lift one of my limbs. The skill, act of balance faded from my arms body, drifting off me in wisps, curling around my body playfully before fading away completely.

I groaned and let out a huff, sending a tendril of Psychic mana to Viralya, engaging in the telepathic link. She felt weird, my mana contrasting against her own. It was different, mine more refined and specific. I had asked her two days ago why that was, and she just laughed at me, telling me all mortal mana was unique to oneself, diversity blossoming in each young one as they grew. Whatever the hell that means.

“Can… You give me… A minute to… Meditate?” I asked my slowed words as a result of my exhaustion.

“Of course, no more than 5 though. I do not have all the hours in the day to teach you and your vessel is but a pittance.” She said in a sickly sweet voice. I could practically feel Junior's impatience, embodied in this damn fox.

I said nothing else, diving within and submerging in the river, letting my thoughts flow away and my mana replenish. I counted the seconds like a clock, trying to relax fully. When I hit 300, I nullified the skill, opening my eyes to see Viralya still smiling.

“If I remember correctly, you wanted to improve your mana sense but… I see you have already enlisted the help of my son. Smart, but not wise.” I scowled but said nothing.

“So, I see you are eager to learn, mustering up that much effort to walk here, on your own two legs no less. How harrowing indeed.” She said in amusement. My scowl just deepened. But she clearly sensed that, and thankfully turned the conversation away from my ‘Harrowing’ adventure across the hallway.

“I see you eager to learn new spells. Are you sure you do not want to learn more about fire magic? I myself am not attuned to the corruption, but I do have a few tips and tricks from experience that would be invaluable.” I shook my head. Whatever I would be doing, It most definitely wouldn’t involve fire magic. Or fire at all really. I wanted absolutely none of that, preferring to train my other two corruption types.

“A pity really. Ah well. Your brother is hunting sciorps as we speak. I suppose you want to be able to do that too? Ah, no need to answer. I can smell your excitement from here.” She was absolutely right. Although I hated all things fire now, I really wanted to hunt monsters. Something in me just wanted, no needed to hunt. I would happily indulge, even if it did worry me. Was it a thing with being a spirit? Reincarnation sickness? Possession backlash? I had no idea. But as long as I don’t go all freakish and hunt sapient creatures, the human inside me would be happy.

“Today, we are going to look over a type of defense spell. It is often called Mind Armour, or mental resistance. Pay attention, as this spell is essential to all Psychic mages. Now, I want you to study the way I form the mana and prepare yourself.”

I nodded, not using words. She actually didn’t have a Psychic affinity, she was just that good at ambient mana manipulation. She could use bits and pieces of other elements. I had no idea who she was to the outside world, but that seemed kind of overpowered to me, even if she couldn’t manipulate advanced concepts and mana. If taco mana is a thing, I will gain her damn skill or spell, sacrificing everything at any cost.

Her paw lit up as Psychic mana condensed in her claws, shifting unsteadily. She condensed it further and further, its purple sheen taking on a dark tone. It stopped wobbling, stabilizing, and starting to leak Psychic mana in the form of smoke. It split into nine balls, oozing with purple mist. One of them shot towards me, crashing and shredding my mental barrier, making me gasp and cry out. I had not expected THIS when she said resistance training! She’s totally destroying my mental barrier! F$#@

It warped and flexed, tearing open holes that leaked out my mana, shredding it. I struggled to keep up in the silent battle, bracing my own mana tendril against the rifts, trying to pull it back together. I grit my teeth as the hostile mana engulfed my barrier, poking holes where it was weakest, avoiding my tendril easily.

I closed my eyes to focus, the ball of mana ripping and shredding my barrier, bringing my total mana down 30% in just 15 seconds.

I realized this wasn’t working. Maybe if I had ten or twenty tendrils I could do this, but it just wasn’t efficient. In desperation, I tried shoving mana at the cracks, trying to cork the leakage. I just made it worse by widening them and sending more mana out. I was down by 50% now. Damnit! How is this training?!

I pushed with my mana this time, infusing my flexible and fragile mental membrane with my Psychic mana, enforcing it. The mana in my body dropped like a stone as my corruption struggled to keep up with its filter. I forced more and more mana into it without visible effect. 85% percent was gone now, only a little bit left in my body. Of course, as if things couldn’t get any worse, my fire corruption surged, struggling to be used, demanding that I burn the perpetrator that dared invade my very mind.

Nope. I suppressed that real quick. I focussed back on the task/emergency at hand. I had little to no mana, most of it going into my barrier before all but vanishing, and I’m still being attacked. Well. At least I’m pretty sure she won’t kill me with this attack… Right?

She had no real skills in Psychic mana, just experience, and really good control. Maybe I could use that?

I focussed on the cracks for a second, fluctuating and pulsing very slowly. Huh. They hadn’t done that before. I was at 10% now. Had to hurry. I grasped at my very harsh mentor's mana and shoved it into my Psychic corruption node, filtering it through and trying to rip her control away from it. It… Didn’t work out as planned. I just pulled the damn stuff in further, widening the cracks. She remained in apt control, now battering it in part from the inside.

I was full-on panicking, at 4% now, a pittance really. I felt really drowsy and my head was spinning. It was thumping too, in a headache. My heart wasn’t happy with my life choices either, being the core of my mana intake and all. Can I get heart attacks from lack of mana dehydration? Wait, no focus.

The fire corruption was about to burst out of me, burning away both the rest of my mental barrier and Viralya at the same time. I was going to combust, torching all who dared-

At that moment, my mental barrier squeezed itself, condensing to cut off the cracks, cramping me but not affecting much beyond that. Hostile mana battered at my newfound defenses, trying to drill itself in. It wouldn’t last long, already starting to affect me. It would only hold off the relentless attack for 45 seconds or so. I took this moment to dive into the smaller river, sucking in the mana greedily, like a parched man/woman to a pool of water. My mana was at a damning 2%. Two!

I got my reserves up to around 40% in the river, before throwing all of it into my mental barrier, infusing it. But this time, I demanded defense and hardiness. Sturdiness and flexibility.

It obeyed, thickening my barrier with a slight purple sheen, and all at once, the hostile mana slowed down in its endeavor. All of my regeneration went into the skill, the mana keeping it at a healthy 50%. The purple barrier darkened, sapping up the mana.

I must have kept it up like that for ten minutes, wanting to cry now at the stress and effort. Eventually, the constant drain and infusion stopped when I felt the attack had halted, the mana fading away, completely spent on attacking me. I sighed in relief, ready to give her the good ol’ infant scream as revenge. I would cry, but just this once. They were manly tears of justice. Definitely not fear and stress. Even meditation hadn't been able to suppress that level of panic.

I opened my eyes, staring at the fox who looked genuinely impressed. The telepathic connection was long gone, as the mana for it had been used up long ago. I reconnected myself, ready to unleash my newest skill ‘cry if justice’ upon her, for her sins.

“Did I say that was it?” She snapped at me before I could even blink. “You have only just grasped a method of defense! This is no time for lazing around! It's only been 15 minutes so far! Come, quickly now, prepare yourself!” And before I could say another word, to my horror, she sent the second out of the other eight that were there, lying in wait.

Oh my god. She’s a F%@#ing sadist, isn’t she?

I take it back. This is not awesome. Not awesome at all.