“Fuck. The goblins are actively going to look for us? We need to find shelter, rapido.”

Raul finished his sentences with a couple of creative swear words and then increased his pace.

The trees were growing bigger and lusher, almost ancient looking trunks rose from the ground. They must have been at least fifty meters and had no branches whatsoever for the first forty meters. It was impossible to climb in them, so either they had to look for a cave of some sorts, or a tree in which they could sleep.

After a quick discussion they decided to look for a cave, as Raul said that a cave was the easiest to defend. The terrain was getting rockier and rockier, and it began to grow darker. All the leaves were blocking the natural sunlight, birds sang in the canopy, Peter started to look around a lot more. Sleep deprivation and the unknown was not a good combination, especially not if you were worrying about your life. Worrying was the worst though, and soon Peter was forced to use a mantra to calm himself down. He began constantly repeating the positive, ‘magic is real, magic is real, magic is real’. The chanting calmed him down, and he began instead of worrying he began to scan the forest. His perception had shifted, before the forest was something to be wary about, now the forest was hauntingly beautiful.

He let himself be lead by Raul, trusting the man to be able to find a good shelter. Meanwhile he was looking around for herbs, he really wanted more of those mana berries. They effectively made him a cannon, albeit an ineffective one, the only downside was the period of unconsciousness.

Raul managed to find a suitable cave two hours later. Although Peter had no experience with caves, this cave honestly looked perfect to him. The entrance was tiny and well hidden, Peter wondered how Raul even found this cave. Once inside, the cave became a bit more spacious, it was still small though. Four by three metres, he guessed. The walls were made from rock, and the cave was so perfect he even suspected that it was manmade, but that would be impossible.

“Raul, is it okay if I sit and meditate? I want to replicate the explosion I made earlier.”

“Sure, just make sure you don’t blow the cave up, or yourself for that matter.”

Peter chuckled awkwardly and closed his eyes. Activating his skill ‘Meditation’ he began searching for the feeling he felt earlier.

“Sorry to disturb you, but I am going hunting, I’ll also look for some firewood. You should be alright here, right?”

Opening his eyes, Peter said: “Yeah I’ll be alright, thanks. Could you do me a favour though, could you take any interesting herbs with you?”

“Sure thing.”

And with that Raul left. Peter could finally meditate. Forgetting time, the only thing on his mind was the search. First he began to look inwards, scanning himself for mana. Scanning himself for the same thing he had forced out of himself earlier. He tried activating the skill ‘Raw Mana Explosion’, but it didn’t work. It only created a strain on the same pathways he used to force it out of himself. The skill was pulling for mana, and he had none. How could he get mana? Were was mana? What was mana?

He knew so little and it frustrated him to no end, but the meditation swept all his frustration away. Now he had to search for a solution, and he began to get creative. Since he could not find anything inside of him, he began to look outside of him. Then he felt nature. There was mana inside of nature, slowly he brushed the titanic entity that was nature, the one that blinded him before. He began to pull, pull for the mana that was hidden inside of him. And it worked, as slow as a snail the mana began to move towards him. Visualizing hands again, he began to push it inside of him. When it finally entered him, it began to flow towards his stomach. Indescribable, that was the only word for the process. It required all of his concentration, but in the end he was rewarded by a wonderful sight.

Congratulations! You have unlocked the hidden potential inside of you. Mana can now be absorbed from mana sources, to be stored inside your body.