Hah… I guess it’s time to find out how to increase my body’s limit for mana… Cain thought while once again sitting on the stone floor. Dresil formed a mat for him to sit on as she unmerged from his clothes and went to her usual spot to binge anime. Cain closed his eyes and focused on his mana that ran throughout his body.

His mana system was different from everyone who cultivated on Ouroboros as he had dedicated veins, pathways, and a heart for his mana whereas everyone else used the ones that came with their body. Cain modeled this system after Dragons and how their myths portrayed their mana hearts in hopes it wouldn’t limit him during the first few days he arrived in this world.

At the time, Cain established this system with vague pathways, only focusing on the main arteries that ran from his mana heart. Thus, he started to branch out veins and smaller, intricate pathways from these arteries; refining his system to perfection. Each pathway and vein existed in a state between corporeal and non-corporeal. Not physically there, yet still present.

The best way to explain this state would be a river that ran through farmland. Except the river existed at 90% opacity. The farmers can still draw water from it, yet the land occupied the space the river ran through with no obstructions. The river would be Cain’s mana veins and the land his muscles and bones. A step below the soul that exists within the body, yet there is no physical indication of it.

Cain branched out smaller veins from the arteries and major mana veins in his body; a magic circle appeared before him with a slowly emerging mana model of his mana system. Each vein ran through his muscles and bones, slowly tempering them with each pulse of mana that zoomed through. The veins looped and wrapped around each other through his limbs and back to his mana heart.

Phew… Finally the complete system is done. I’m glad I didn’t really need to use it. I wonder what my body’s limit of mana is right now… it should be 30 million. Cain thought while staring at the mana model of his mana system. It slowly rotated before him, showing every minor detail of the twisting veins.

—Dms: Cain and Bob— (28ms)

Cain: Any clue as to the maximum amount of mana my body can hold rn is?

Bob: 30.7 million

Cain: Huh….?

Bob: Since you had circulated 1 million mana since about a week ago, it tempered your body for about 10% of it.

Cain: The heck..? How does that work? Is it just like increasing the tolerance of my body to mana?

Bob: That’s part of it. Most of it is strengthening your muscles, bones, and tissue with the energy that comes from mana.

Bob: As it continuously experiences the vitality of mana flowing through it, it adapts to it and feeds off it to strengthen itself.

Cain: Interesting… is this different from the 10 mill physical enhancement?

Bob: The 10 mill enhancement is akin to forcefully enhancing your muscles, bones, and tissues. The strength and enhancement that comes from the cycle tempering them is permanent.

Bob: Without the 500k mana managing the enhancement, it’d most likely fall apart or disperse.

Cain: I see… Thanks

Bob: You’re welcome.

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So 700k over 7 days with 1 mill cycling through it… does that mean it gets tempered by 10% of what I cycle everyday? That seems like too much though, not to mention the percentage may have increased now that the mana veins are more intricate and stretch deeper into my limbs. Cain pondered over his current situation while using SRI to call forth some snacks.

‘I’ll just ask Bob about that later. Right now I need to check the efficiency of the upgraded system.’ Cain cycled a few million mana throughout his mana veins rapidly while observing the mana model that showed the position of the streams of mana in real time. He changed some pathways and tweaked others to increase the range and reduce redundancies.

After an hour, he had increased the efficiency of his mana circuit, allowing it to cycle at faster speeds with greater accuracy. Cain changed the amount that could be cycled to match the margin space within his body. In other words, his current body limit minus how much mana his body contains right now. For today, that would be 4.12 million.

Cain created a mana model of his mana heart, examining it for inefficiencies and creating several magic circles around it. He programmed the magic circles to read his current physical mana limit by channeling mana through a small section of his body until signs of failure or stress occurred. He recorded the signs he observed while the party cultivated for reference; which were akin to muscles tearing through a workout to heal later and become stronger.

Once the physical mana limit figure was obtained, the magic circles would calculate the margin of mana that could be used to cycle throughout the body continuously without straining it too much. 3 of the 5 magic circles on the surface of the heart controlled the flow rate of mana and the force that it pumped through the veins. Cain tweaked these values along with the diameter of the arteries until they achieved peak efficiency.

Sweet… I guess it’s time to ask Bob about the lingering questions now. Cain monologued for Rex as he opened the dms.

—Dms: Cain and Bob— (42ms)

Cain: So.

Cain: Isn’t 10% of an increase per day too much?

Bob: Not necessarily. Keep in mind you’re cycling the mana 24/7, even as you sleep.

Cain: ah… that’s right, huh…

Bob: Also, your starting situation was peculiar.

Bob: Your body had never experienced mana before but it was forcibly modified to contain 30 million without any problems.

Bob: Thus your muscles were the same as on earth, yet your vessel could contain 30 mill mana.

Cain: …I sort of get it.

Cain: It’s like the vessel being a steel tank and mana is a gas. The residents here upgrade the density of the walls or the material of the tank while increasing its size.

Cain: Whereas I was yeeted here with a tiny tank but extremely sturdy walls so the insane amount of pressure the gas exerted on the tank wouldn’t cause it to explode.

Bob: Exactly.

Cain: Well heck… first mana is used as an analogy with water (the bowl and water thing) now it’s a gas…

Cain: Sometimes I really hate the fluidity and undefined form of mana.

Bob: It is what it is.

Cain: …did you just make a pun?

Bob: Perhaps.

Cain: Nice.

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I wonder what happens on a cellular level when I enhance my muscles and such with mana. Cain’s random thought brought forth a spontaneous experiment. He opened a portal to the Mana Storage and used the mana within to create a microscope, a gas generator, some slides, and a titanium needle. He lowered his physical enhancement to 0% with the hard lock enabled to draw some blood.

He placed a few drops onto 3 of the slides he prepared then quickly increased his physical enhancement to 10% with the soft lock enabled before Dresil noticed. Cain slid Sample 1 under the microscope and calibrated it until he could see the cells clearly. A thin film of mana surrounded the cell walls and the various parts within it.

Cain tried to control his mana near the cell to manipulate the sample as he pleased, yet the particles ended up zooming across the view shown by the microscope. He tried to calm his breathing and focus on his accuracy. His best accuracy while controlling mana were in ranges of a few micrometers (1/1000 mm) yet he needed to get it down by a factor of a 1000 in order to accurately affect the cells who varied with lengths within the micrometer range.

It took him a few hours, but Cain eventually achieved the accuracy needed to manipulate the parts of the cells as he wanted. Thus, started Cain’s first experiment. He gathered some mana and forcibly tried to attach them to the cell, as he did with his physical enhancement.

A microscopic magic circle appeared above the cell to maintain the enhancement as the mana stuck itself to the cell’s walls and mitochondria. Cain expected this reaction since he prioritized strength and energy of the cell. He moved on to forcing the cell to undergo stress by tugging on it using his mana.

Cain observed as the cell effortlessly handled the increasingly tensile force it experienced, until he noticed some peculiar changes within some ball-like features of the cell. They slowly started to become inactive which then inspired a vague part of the cell to aid in breaking down complex molecules into simpler ones for the ball shaped bois.

Cain watched as the cell began to meet the nutritional requirements to support the physical enhancement and endure the stress it was currently receiving. The increased activity from the vague part caused the development of another part of the cell to slow down, causing the cell to slowly inflame.

...I’m pretty sure I’m not going to understand what I’m seeing past this point, but it looks like the boi just starved itself since it couldn’t meet up with the nutritional requirements.’ Cain analyzed the cell’s past moments while changing slides to Sample 2. ‘Maybe that’s why I’m eating so much lately… interesting.

What Cain saw was the lysosomes, the part of the cell responsible for breaking down proteins for the cell, unable to keep up with the energy demands of the cell. This caused mTORC1 activity; a process that speeds up catabolism and aids the lysosome in meeting the nutritional requirements.

This, however, caused the development of the T-cell to fall behind, making the cell inflamed. The T-cells are part of the immune system that fight infections and may help fight cancer. In other words, it wouldn’t be strange for the cell to develop cancer if Cain allowed it to continue. Of course, Cain didn’t know any of this since he isn’t a biologist.

Cain socketed Sample 2 into the microscope and simulated the slow, yet permanent physical enhancement that cycling his mana performed to his body. Once the simulation occurred for a few seconds, Cain subjected the cell to the same tensile stress as Sample 1.

He observed as the cell behaved what appeared to be a normal cell under stress; each function drawing the necessary increase in energy from the mana that surrounded it. Unlike Sample 1, Sample 2 had mana around each part of the cell and some within it, providing plenty of energy for it to withstand the increasing tensile stress it was subjected to. Cain stopped the experiment of Sample 2 and analyzed both results. [1]

‘So it looks like Bob was right… the 10 mill physical enhancement is forceful and it also appears to only enhance part of the cell. Whereas the permanent enhancement provided by the mana cycle just seems to amplify the cell’s capabilities and functions by several times.’ Cain stared off at Sample 3, clueless as to what to use it for. ‘Rip.. guess I made one more than I needed.

Hmm… I wonder if I can find someone who isn’t exposed to mana. I’d love to test what would happen to cells that have never touched mana if they were to be suddenly enhanced. It’s a shame that everyone in this kingdom seems to have cultivated somewhat, I’d rather not prick blood from a newborn.

Cain lamented his lack of supplies for his next experiment then packed up his belongings. He tossed the microscope and the slides into the Mana Trash dimension and stared at the starry sky. He notified Dresil through the dms that they’d leave once she finished her episode, then continued star gazing.

I wonder when I can launch satellites and make a space station… What’s this solar system like? If it’s a parallel dimension, then it should be similar to the one Earth is in… Cain’s thoughts wandered amongst the stars as their light reflected within his eyes. A few minutes later, Dresil kneeled down to merge within his clothes. Cain stood up and opened a portal to his room once she completely merged.

He walked in his room and began his nightly routine. Dresil pulled out the memory foam mattress and arranged the blankets over it as Cain bathed. After completing the necessary nightly procedures, he jumped into the confines of his bed. He established sound-proof magic circles over his ears and spent the next 30 minutes falling asleep.

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1. Cain analyzes the differences between the two types of physical enhancement using his mana on a cellular level. He discovers the rough nature of his 10 mill enhancement is also part of why he eats so much. The 10 mill enhancement only enhances parts of the cell while the slow, tempering enhancement enhances every part of the cell.