An earthquake rocked the planet, thunderous clashes of metal rang throughout the South Pole. The aftershocks of each collision shook the four continents, frightening their inhabitants. No one knew the cause of these quakes, just that it heralded a major disaster. Several of these clangs reverberated in the mountains near Cain.

After the air stopped vibrating, it seemed as if the world stood still. Even ants dared not move for fear of being turned to dust under the weary pressure. The deafening silence enveloped the plains, until Cain woke from his slumber.

“Oi, who the heck brought an alarm clock?! If I find whoever is messing up my sleep, I’ll make them feel my wrath.” Cain grumbled as he shifted his head on Dresil’s lap. Ah, this familiar feeling. This is heaven. The sun rose behind a city in the background, tossing its light on the lazy lad. The looming shadow retreated quickly as the minutes flew by.

Guess it’s time to wake up. I still need to form my mana heart anyways. Wait… if all of that wasn’t a dream then that means, hehe… Cain opened his eyes, expecting to see the two glorious peaks once again. Instead, he was greeted by meadowy hills. His half-asleep state blinded him from seeing the obvious.

It looks like Dresil figured out how to dress herself with leaves. She looks like a dryad now. Cain reluctantly sat up and gazed towards the sunrise. In the distance, a blurry city basked in the morning dew.

“Dresil, what’s that city over there? That is a city… right?” Cain gestured towards the stone walls in the distance, questioning his eyesight at the end.

“Yes, Master. That is the capital of this nation. Fawkers, Ouroboros. Ouroboros is one of the three human nations on this side of the Hellion Forest.” Dresil immediately answered, her eyes showing the emotion her tone could not.

“I see… Can you draw me a map while I meditate some? I’ve got some experiments to do.” Cain asked, recognizing his severe lack of knowledge around his surroundings could jeopardize his life.

“Of course, Master!” Dresil attempted to show her excitement and pride, yet only the latter managed to be embedded in her voice. I hope she doesn’t still feel guilty, it isn’t her fault after all. Oh well. If she’s happy to work for me then I’ll put her to work! Cain thought, unable to pick up on the missed emotion with his back towards her.

He got up and moved a meter away behind Dresil and sat cross-legged. After resting the backs of his hands on top of his knees and letting them relax to a slight curl, he tried to sense the mana within his body.

He collected his thoughts on the surface, for his underlying mind had already processed everything. Let’s see… According to the martial arts and fantasy manga, all I have to do is condense my mana into a singular spot. The hard part is forming the heart and the veins.

Cain mimicked the feeling he felt when Dresil was absorbing his mana. He moved the mana, like a river heading downstream, from his shoulders towards his fingertips and expelled a little bit, then brought the remaining mana back up. After several times of repeating this process, he slowly spread the flow towards his chest, then his legs.

Occasionally he will speed this river into a strong, rapid current, while trying to accurately avoid certain areas, treating his body like an obstacle course. After countless repeated attempts and many failures, he finally mastered the control of his mana.

I should be able to control my mana within fractions of a millimeter at low speeds, and within a few millimeters at high speeds now. I lost about 100,000 ish mana though. A worthwhile investment, if I say so myself. Cain analyzed the results of his practice, estimating the amount lost using what was transferred yesterday as a benchmark.

As Cain opened his eyes, he saw Dresil fervently working on a detailed map with some illustrations on the back. He recognized her tunnelled gaze that bore through the paper, as he shared the same one whenever his focus blotted out his surroundings. I’ll bother her about food later. Cain closed his eyes once more and aimed on controlling every particle of mana within his body.

He drew the mana to the center of his chest, below his sternum, slowly controlling more mana at once. The mana spiraled towards the center, as if entering a vast whirlpool. After all of the mana had been gathered, he condensed the formless energy into a shape resembling the human heart.

Although these thoughts didn’t need to be actively… thought, Cain’s filter allowed its bypass. His subconscious assumed if Dresil could read his memories, then it would be possible for him to do so in a more streamlined and accurate manner. In other words, these were notes.

Hmm… It should have three “arteries” or main passageways. One for my upper body, one for my lower body, and one for my head. From these main arteries I can branch off smaller pathways, or veins, through my body. I can then loop them back to the bottom of the heart to continuously cycle the mana.

There will be two valves at the bottom instead of three. I intend to consume the mana that is sent to my brain instead of cycling it. This should theoretically increase all the capabilities of my brain… Maybe… I’ll set some magic circles up so that the veins will be made slowly to prevent harming my brain.

Hm… I should do this after I’ve learned more about the structure of the brain and the brain structure of the natives here for comparison. Anyways, I have more space to work with than a traditional heart since the mana heart doesn’t need muscles or tissue to keep the mana pumping.

If something extra is needed, I can just use magic circles. I used all of the mana I had to condense the heart and trunks of the arteries though… Time to see if I can absorb natural mana now.

While focusing on the mana within the environment, Cain attempted to sense each and every source of energy within a 20-meter radius. Whether the energy was life, heat, or mana, he took it all in. From the ants building their anthill to the couple of birds that starred in nature’s soap opera. From the afternoon rays to the ambient mana.

Unexpectedly, the natural mana is not that different from mine. The only difference appears to be that my mana mimics a fraction of my dna, allowing me to control the mana within my body. Hmm… maybe my mana can reproduce like a pathogen does, attaching itself to its host and absorbing the nutrients.

Cain picked up a blade of grass, and in a swift movement, makes a small cut on his hand using the edge. Ouch! I forgot that hurts… A simulated thought shot through his head to mask his recklessness. With his blood trickling down his hands, he quickly mixed some of his mana within it then swung his hand in a big arc, splashing the red droplets across the area in front of him.

Instead of falling, his blood-fused mana spread outwards and thinned until no trace of it can be seen. After a few moments of nothing appearing to happen, Cain attempted to bring all of the natural mana that came in contact with his mana towards himself.

Gusts of mana encircled Cain as hundreds of thousands of mana was drawn towards him like a black hole, startling Dresil. She stared in awe, as she watched her master recover an unfathomable amount of mana within seconds.

Cain, with his eyes still closed, anaylzed the process actively. Hopefully making it available for reference in the future.

Wow, this harvest was better than I expected. I shouldn’t need to use my blood anymore though. Through this action I’ve realized that just sending my mana out as if I were to presumably cast a spell is enough to attract some natural mana.

Although not as efficient as the blood method, it’s not as showy and can be done with the residual mana that should be left from casting a spell. Speaking of which, I still need to do those experiments…

As Cain condensed his new mana into veins, Dresil still stared at him blankly. A low flapping whistled in the background, the stunned Dresil completely oblivious to it; still captivated by her master’s act.

Cain was intrigued by the continuous flapping and peeked at the source, his voice bringing her back to reality, “Dresil… if you leave your map be, it’ll fly away.” Dresil looked down and realized the flapping noise was the map desperately trying to escape with the help of the light breeze.

It finally broke free, leaving a bewildered Dresil chasing it through the air. She looks like a child trying to catch butterflies… Cain admired her truly innocent actions as the map flew between her fingers. It dodged Dresil’s grasp at the peak of every leap.

A leap that allowed gravity to pull her body back to the grass, each cycle fervently making her assets bounce. Cain disregarded the attractive appeal of such a sight, observing Dresil for a few seconds to see if she was aware of her actions; under the pretext of admiring her innocence.

After several minutes of chasing the runaway parchment, Dresil finally grasped it and sat back down. At this moment Cain was finishing the formation of the basic veins, having concluded she truly was unaware of her appeal and went back to work.

I’ll need to form the rest slowly to make sure it’s done right. Cain started off his thought and analysis report.

Even though this body can hold 30 million mana comfortably, because I made the mana heart using 10% of that, assumedly I’ll only be able to control that much freely. Although it took about 3 million mana to form the heart, it feels as if it’s only 30,000 mana…

Did the mana and my blood fuse at some point, lightening the load on my body? Or did the condensed heart become a new substance that is only partially mana, and therefore doesn’t have the burden of the 3 million mana it took to form? This will need some investigation… For now let’s try the new method of absorption and try to cast some spells.

As Cain got up and brushed off the dirt and leaves, he stealthily peeked at Dresil’s work, her humming barely travelling to his ears. Looks like she’s a quarter of the way done. It might take all day at this rate. Wait, is she using mashed grass and bark as dye to paint? No wonder it’s taking so long. She looks happy though, so I guess I should just let her be.

Cain turned to face the dirt paths connecting the blurry capitol and the Hellion Forest. Hmm… let’s try some fire magic first. Cain held his hand out in front of him with his palm facing the sky, using his mana to gather hydrogen and oxygen in the air to combust into a flame. The wasteful process started out slow, the temperature above his palm slowly rising until a fire ignited abruptly.

Interesting… I can feel some heat but not the complete heat, is it because I unconsciously protected myself with my mana? The drain on the mana was significant at first, but maintaining it is hardly using any. Cain stared around the fire, carefully avoiding gazing through it. His eyes picked up no traces of mana within the flame. The sudden appearance of light caused Dresil to notice what her master had done.

“Master… did you just cast a spell without a chant or magic circle?” Her voice wavered as she was unable to contain her excitement; for the first time she had a problem with over expressing her emotions.

Cain answered abruptly, “Maybe…” as he quickly hid the flame behind his back, her tone making it seem like he just created free energy. Crap how did I get rid of this thing… Simmer down, disappear, disperse, yeet yourself out of here. Cain frantically panicked to erase the flame, having created it without knowing how to dismantle it.

The flame lost its intensity before suddenly vanishing, followed by the remaining mana that gathered the fuel dispersing into the air, then scattering meters away; following Cain’s hectic thoughts. Weird… It looks like I still need to use the right words for some things to work. Or maybe it’s the will that’s attached to the meaning of the words?

After looking back at Dresil, he realized she won’t be able to focus on the map unless he explains some of what just happened. “Yes, I just casted a spell without a magic circle or chanting.”

“How? Was it through visualization? How did the Master do it despite having no elemental affinity?” Dresil pesters Cain as her curiosity outweighed all reason. To her knowledge, the knowledge gained from thousands of adventurers and could be interpreted as the common sense of this country, this was simply unheard of.

“Having no elemental affinity means I can use all elements as long as I understand them.” Cain replied as he gathered one element on each finger on a whim. He applied his knowledge and understanding of the world to the applications of mana, his brain nearing the threshold to overclock, yet still far away.

A small flame ignited over his left thumb as a small ball of water formed over his index finger. The air around his middle finger condensed, using small bits of dust and humidity to portray its movement.

The dust and soil circled around his ring finger, particles from the ground joined in shortly after to add weight to the now dirt ball. His pinky lit up like a light bulb, contrasting the center of his palm which absorbed all light. Dresil stared in admiration as Cain showed off his skills.

“But Master, this isn’t a spell anymore. These are actual phenomena that Master has created using his mana.” Dresil recognized the display for what it was with the aid of Cain’s knowledge.

Cain picked apart this odd statement, the peculiar phrasing jumping out at him. “In other words, most spells use their elemental affinity to mimic certain effects? Wouldn’t the power drastically fall?”

“Not necessarily Master. The power can be the same as what you just did, but it’ll take a lot more mana to do so. On the other hand, the mages don’t need to understand much to do basic spells.” Dresil explained, turning her knees to face Cain and firmly holding the map in her lap.

Interesting. No wonder visualization casting was lost throughout the centuries. The difficulty probably led most people to stay away from it. Laziness at its finest. As Cain questioned the history of magic, Dresil resumed her work.

Oh well, let’s try some magic circles. Let’s see if I can use my mana and “will” to form a magic circle. If the operation of mana truly relies on one’s will, and not the phrasing, then it should be possible.

Its task shall be eliminating all of the insects within a 5-meter radius from me. I hate bugs… Cain stretched his palm outwards, facing towards the dirt roads; a precaution in case something exploded. He expelled some mana from his palm with the intention of turning all bugs into ash.

A gray magic circle slowly took shape; weird glyphs encircled the borders and changed forms while Cain set the specifics of the spell. The magic circle abruptly solidified, pulsing mana outwards within its set radius.

All insects within a 5-meter radius were incinerated. Droplets of ash appeared everywhere, a small smoke trail being the only sign of their existence. Cain briefly glanced around his immediate surroundings then attempted to move the magic circle. His goal was to move it from where it floated in the air to the ground below him.