Chapter 7 - Getting my hands dirty

As the value and importance of mana growth patterns become increasingly more and more apparent, so does the reality that there are everyday people living in this world, despite the absurd circumstances he has found himself ‘reborn’ into.

Holtz looked around at some of the wild boars which were getting testy within the open space. He noticed they were also closing in on our comfort boundaries with ill intent. The boars were already calculating with each other as they continued to glance our way while encircling us, and more and more of them seemed drawn into the ever increasing number in the cluster. Seeing even this, he continued the lecture.

”Also the more that you spend time to develop yourself and devote time to practice these foundational skills, consider it as a means to develop the overall capacity to contain, outpour, and intricately utilize your mana at will.” Holtz smiled and relaxed his arms after seeing me start to get the hang of this aspect of mana control so quickly. According to the context of how easily he can use this new skill, Densu was showing a high natural aptitude for mana control.

Continuing to speak, Holtz led the concept a little further along for me. “This self-control is your personal interaction with this entire realm of Kyros. Everyone eventually develops mana control to some extent in their lives here naturally. To us in Indossus, it is like walking and breathing, just another part of our daily routine.

His countenance shifted as if he didn't know why either, "But for some reason, the ones that we summon (such as yourself), view the world in a different manner than we do, and to this effect - this enables strange abilities to develop through their concentrated cultivation efforts. At least, unique apart from us and our natural habits."

I was listening & scanning my view around above and below me and sensed a heaviness begin to converge in the atmosphere around us. Regardless, I continued to stir and wisp along the pathways of my inner mana glyph, while I still had a chance to sit still. I could tell this situation was going to achieve another level of ‘interesting’ for myself. Then Holtz continued as my mana stayed activated and composed with my attentiveness alert to the hoard surrounding me.

“...... This might be for way later, but I can recall a few accounts of people passing on knowledge or abilities from other worlds and recording them into artifacts named: [Glyph Lock]. Luckily of which, some basic cultural skills can even be found in the libraries for public benefit. If you’re prodigious, you may even learn the sets of skills required to develop such glyphs for yourself someday. So there is quite a bit of interest to see how you develop now that you’ve been summoned! And this is why I am here with you right now. It has become my new literal pleasure to keep, you- alive!”

The last few words had extra emphasis, and was accompanied by him clapping his hands together once, then rubbing his palms together with a mischievous smile and deep and low laughter under his breath.

As he explained though, I had been mana scrubbing the purple glyph clean as intently as I could, and was having success with buffing sections of decayed mana ooze from Baka’rus’ curse away and got down to a seemingly smooth surface. This layer of filth caked on was disrupting my innate mana flow and at the moment I was lucky to be breaking up a couple of the less sticky points that seemed to flow along a grooved channel that traced from the ‘entrance’ and throughout to differing nodes I kept sensing.

It felt imperative that I was cleaning away the tacky and gross mana essence smeared on/within & even congealed to the surface space of my mana glyph. The less resistance I could feel, the better off I knew I’d be. When I scrubbed down to the smooth part, and instinctual knowing kicked in, that I had to clear a channel to permit a constant flow of my pure mana to naturally flow. I pushed the mana around in different angular patterns and flows to see what movement methods were better at piercing into the crud, slicing it open to peel away, crushing it down or raking it away. Certain patches responded differently than others and varying toxic emotions would flicker into my consciousness as I learned to dig into this and annihilate this grossness out of existence.

Doing so, I was noticing a distinction between the crud built up vs. the essence of the curse residue itself. Taking note of the various impressions the mana was giving me, I kept ‘cleaning’ and kept picking away at the built up plaque caked on.

Personally speaking, that instant when I felt that gross plaque-like sensation, it was like I leaned my hand on dung. I had to clean that up! If I was going to be carrying this glyph attachment as a part of me, there is no way a part of me is gonna stay gross like that!

Who knows, maybe I can even figure out how to buff out the ‘curse’ from here somehow too… I keep seeing clusters of these [ +1 Control ] icons appearing the more I clean this up too. I’m internally celebrating each time I establish more pathways and connections within the channels of my glyph. This is slowly feeling more and more like I am using a river of mana to cut a path for itself through the mud.

Holtz raised a brow at me to signify the end of his plotting and gave an amused salute to me. Having finished his ‘feeler’ explanation, he then looked as if he remembered another detail for me.

His tone of voice was now more inquisitive as if to get my opinion. “How good are you at digging?”

Well! Seeming as I was trying to get used to doing multitudes of things at once, I spoke of the old memories I lived through. “I had to dig the fields for our farms whenever we moved. The first crop was always the ‘stone’ crop. It was a joke among the family, but you could make some beautiful decorum for the farm from the excess of stones we pulled up. Although I will say that lighter and fluffier sand was always easier to dig into and separate foreign materials from. I learned to cut through rock while scouring to find and create new wells in the hill and mountain lands too. I could keep going. Why, what’s on your mind?” Memories of my childhood flooded my heart, as well as many of the lessons and trials I had persevered through back then.

Holtz nodded in thought for a moment as he imagined digging rocks from the soil to prepare for seeds of a new food crop to be sown. This image is very much akin to what Densu is assigned for, now that he lives here: “Good- because your next goal is to search for and to dig up Mana Stones!” He paused silently, as if to let the sound of hooves take precedence on purpose before speaking again.

“Lots. And lots. Of manastones. And, probably for a very long time.”

I take a long & deep breath, undisturbed by the thought of being outside in the open once again for long periods of time by myself. I didn’t mind and will even slightly miss the company from before- however I enjoy my affinity with freedom more than I care to remember the catacombs, and all of the bones we buried & stacked.

“But you’re in luck! We have a proven trial for our trainees to walk through first, before you even think to start getting fancy out here, having to face the elements without my protection! Normally the vagrant battle slaves get the chain-gang treatment and have to rely on their own experience to develop their lives and get by.

However, because you are one of our ‘special cases’, a few exceptions have been established for you, while we ‘catch you up to speed’ with the rest of the ‘premium cut’. I can tell that there’s something else going on with you in regards to how well you are handling yourself, but I haven’t figured it out quite yet. As for now, These are the things that YOU need to do next.”

Holtz nodded to himself and bridged the gap in thought processes. “First we consider the feeling of digging through mana with that sensory ability like you just did a moment ago. For this next activity, I will ask you to place your palm to the ground and literally reach out with your mana touch ability. Sense for all of the mana beneath the surface with that ability now. There is a way to mark your surroundings with your mana using this, and can later review your findings and plot out how to gather all the goodies you find afterwards as well. But for right now- get used to extending your mana touch into the ground and tell me what you sense.”

This made sense to progress in such a manner, so I knelt to the ground and placed my palm to the earth beneath me. I keep my chin up and on a visual turning sequence to keep assessing the ever more chaotic cacophony taking place around me. Utilizing the newest sensory understanding from my mana control getting ever deeper, I’m still busily working on that Control skill and ‘mana river flow channel’ being increased. I extended an outpouring of mana out from the palms of my hands and licked- uuummm, ‘interacted’ with the soil beneath us.

The soil had a unique texture and consistency to it, and I can sense a memory for where I’ve explored already being painted in my mindspace. The more I think about certain spots, the more detail I seem to be able to suss out. The same way I was enthusiastic about interacting with the mana glyph moments ago, I’m getting excited to learn more about the environment around me and now I even have access to understanding what's in the very earth beneath my feet!

My internal dialogue goes haywire considering the possibilities of being able to feel beyond my body. ‘This is a dream come true!!! There were so many ruins we visited, and the treasures these ancients possessed!! How grand would it be to sense for and simply KNOW where to go!! This is fantastic! This will make it so much easie--errrrr?!?!!!!!!!!’.”

It was abrupt. I suddenly feel like I just full mouth licked on some kind of scarab-like carapace. Not missing a beat, I immediately felt the conscious attention of that crawling creature, nestled into a ball a few feet beneath my palm.

The image vividly imprinted on my awareness, I suddenly felt vastly more alert to the surroundings again and additionally now had the clear mental form of an armored plated ball of an insect, which was really a giant type of pill bug appearing in my minds’ eye. It suddenly awakened when I came into contact with it. Not only that but, by doing so I had also imprinted my mana mark residue on it serving as a beacon of some kind, because I can feel it as part of my mental map now and can accurately tell where it is positioned, relative to where I am.

I experience an instinctual feeling of the creature being unnerved also reflecting back at me, interpreting the gut feeling as If I had licked and slobbered on the creature having ‘marked’ it as mine for claim. There was that instant survival reaction manifesting as it unravelled itself underground, however it paused to assess the mana that ‘licked’ it. As if it suddenly wasn’t threatened by my intrusion, but instead was curious as to who/what I was, to forcefully come here & suddenly ‘claim’ it, as my own. It misinterpreted my intention as an act of playful ‘forced bondage’ while alive, like I was some kind of creature puppy claiming it as a new toy or pet to play with.

This feeling was far different from when I made the bond with Scree. This curious resistance wasn’t an acceptance of me. But it wasn’t an outright denial either. This left a distinct impression on me, making me think of the nature of sentience within the mana motes and all the creature spirits of this land….. ‘These creatures…. Relate…. Experience…. Develop… Grow…. No, I can’t hold myself back for right now….. I need to learn more and get stronger…. I’ll do it as I grow…’

My mana had left a type of coating or marking in a deep purple shade as I got a tas….sense, for this pill bug’s mana spirit…. I could distinctly see with my 2nd sight, the specifically shaded area marked where I imprinted on its carapace now. The purple mana was even slowly seeping inside of the creature at the spots where I had left the mark, giving me a little bit of understanding it’s vitals. ‘So this is what he means by saying I can come back to it later. I can still sense this thing beneath me…’

I had inadvertently turned to be facing the ground while ‘looking’ at the pill bug, and turned my face back up to glance lightly over to the mountains in the background. ‘I feel like my mind can even easily remember more details than just this space out here….’

Focusing mana beneath the ground again, I extend my reach out and down even further, not neglecting that there are still many more glyph pathways to clear out and polish up, to amplify this sense even more. Whether internally or externally, my sense of mana was developing even more deeply, and a few ideas came to mind as I ‘explored’ the earth beneath.

‘So that makes me think that if I charged up my glyph and released forth a corresponding mana surge like water to burst out to mark a wide area- That I could save a lot of time in my searching process, oh right, Holtz….’ Remembering that he’s still waiting for me, I spoke out what I felt.

“I feel the area underneath me far more clearly now…….. Blhk!!…. Uuuhhhh, I’ve already encountered a bug of some kind. It’s size is like a ball, rolled up to the height of my knees. It is distinctly shelled like a hard outer armor plating. Oh hey there, It sensed me and opened up. It….. It’s observing me….is... that, normal?....”

Holtz laughed again and nodded. “Yeah most of the crawlies around the gates aren’t too bothersome. Few people take the time to dig out in front of the city gates except maybe some of the new recruits, or special requests from civilians and adventurers trying to make some fast cash. Oh yeah the festival committee likes to set up feasts out here sometimes when…… oh, well…. That’s a ‘freed people’ thing to do, someday….… But the pill bugs have become tolerant to all of the motion and rabble of the commoners fiddling around here. They also have adapted to the basic stampedes and rowdy gatherings above the surface during the festivals. Unless someone intentionally digs them out, they generally don’t bother people ‘cause the territory is relatively safe out here compared to the different land & elemental zones out there. The people here are the only natural threat to them around these parts as far as the bugs are concerned. Aside from their own inner species conflict among themselves during their breeding season, the citizens of Indossus hardly count as a threat to their overall populace. These are a common species base of Kyros, with many sub-species of various power levels, and they’re all inter-related and can even be bred in a few beast circuits in the various markets. It wouldn’t hurt to snag a few of these for some underground work someday either! As for your ability demonstration, this is a good thing that you could describe your sensitivity so precisely. Did you notice anything else yet?”

He wasn’t done talking by the time I noticed that the bug committed to being docile, so I left it alone. I probed the earth with my mana even deeper, expanding out like a sifting net. I found a few small shards of mana stones along the way down. I could feel the corresponding mana motes inhabiting the stones and they too began to scan the mark I left on them as I kept going along. I was happy that I’d at least be able to learn more about and interact with these manamotes while I was out here. I could quickly sense why some people would get attacked by any of these manamotes for disturbing their slumber though.

These mana stones are absolutely delightful to the senses and the more I get a feel for them, the more I want to know about them! As I found more of them, something akin to a deep spatial awareness began emerging in my mind as I got a broader sense of the surroundings that I explored. Colorful and meaningful pockets of a lingering awareness for each mana stone, random mote and wild creature I encountered and passed by during my ‘search’, all added rich layers to the treasure map being cultivated and cherished within my heart.

“Yes… it’s…. Embarrassing to explain it like this, and maybe I’m weird, but these mana stones taste delicious! I can keep sensing the various things I’m finding down here. I count it favorable that I haven’t truly angered anything quite yet hahaha….“. I was trying to keep alert while I pried and searched around beneath us. Holtz actually chuckled and glossed over a moment while recalling a few rowdy skirmishes and pranks he made by messing with some of the older monsters from before.

I sensed down even further along the way and eventually stopped reaching down after a certain point, because I looked at the grandiose mountains again. I had felt down further than any well I had ever cut out before, but given the current circumstances and magnitude differences, I imagined like I was simply feeling through the fine dust that coats the surface of a grain of rice, which is being weighed on a scale, at a Harvest Festival- getting ready to be shipped off to the city markets…

The distance between us and the mountain and the sheer size of it even given the distance was utterly remarkable. ‘..... I feel so small… no… stop that… You’re just getting started, you’ll be able to play out there later….. Little things first….’.

Having paused and finished sulking from finding this way more tedious than it needed to be, I measured the beating hooves which clicked even closer to us. At this moment I thought that if I could build and release a burst of mana feelers to sense for everything all at once, I’d literally be able to cover and map out a great volume of more ground space in a single swipe and cleverly prevent myself from being trapped again like this.

‘The potential of this mana is incredible… in fact….. If I could learn to fly AND scan around….’. Under this building tension, my mind was wondering, but I remembered that Holtz even mentioned that there is underground work to find out there.

So this implies that the faster I could find these buried treasures, the faster I can pay this debt off and become a ‘freed man’ as he says.

Making another assumption from the associations and nature of the Empires’ cliques and elitism that had sprung forth in my time, I'm guessing that there are entitlements and luxuries established, like being of the Roman Citizenship. The right to purchase and use or sell land. Businesses, ownership and select sovereignty rights can be established and codified into societal structures to hold a living economy in place.

Then what will I need to accomplish freedom like that? This culture is exceedingly structured already to say the least! Well, let's just try to get a good foundation established and learn more from Arady first.

'Okay so, Let’s see what I can actually dig for and carve out of the ground from here, I guess'. I extended that sensory awareness skill downward and out again to refresh the location positions of the motes and critters I've tunneled across and encountered beneath myself.

I had made a trail of mana that had extended and spiraled down and around a couple hundred meters deep. Turns out there was some neat stuff out here, even this close to the Colosseum field gates.

This got me thinking that If I knew about everything else that was down here and could reliably acquire it all, I might legitimately be able to collect enough to open a shop like Arady. There’s no way I’m the first to think of something like this though.

The open freedom to live my life, where I had to actively search and claim what is simply available to me. I felt like if I accepted getting a whole lot of dirty from moving soil, that I could amass a nice stockpile of resources for myself. That way I could even reach out to Arady a little bit and try to help spread her business as well.

I double checked what was going on with Holtz eyes as I explained what I felt, and kept track of how close the other boars had become while closing in around us.

Holtz kept sensing my mana fluctuate deeper and deeper within the ground as if I wasn’t going to quit, while I explained what I had sensed. He laughed when I mentioned the ‘flavor’ part of the manastones, shaking his hand at me for me not to worry about that.

And then it dawned on him that I was already speaking of finding plural mana stones, and creatures beneath the ground and having reached so far down, he quickly assessed the next order of business.

Holtz tells me to ‘choose what to go for first’ as if creating a list of priorities for me and emphasizing how important it is to conserve my stamina while digging because of the dangers of Mana-Wipe.

Holtz explained with a gritty voice, "Mana-Wipe is a term we made to explain an unfortunate trap of expending yourself too much, or too quickly. Expending all of your stamina too quickly can lead you to black out, and wind-up getting killed or eaten while blacked out. The experience is like- Imagine feeling like being bludgeoned in the entire skull simultaneously from all angles and then building additional pressure from within the bones, all as your mana starts to scavenge vitality from your spirit and soul motes for 'emergency sustainable mana stability'. A faded spirit is one on the brink of annihilation, and needs time to rest and reclaim it’s strength."

This was a reasonable explanation but there was a problem I kept finding along the worst case scenarios flooding my thoughts. 'The threat of enemy numbers and the quality of power of these creatures is still being assessed. But it would be extremely dangerous if I get trampled while trying to defend myself and suddenly find myself burning out like this before establishing safety.'

Considering my strength and the depth of care I keep expressing, Holtz says it was natural to relate to this mindset, and likened it to intensely blacking out piss drunk during the heat of battle and getting eaten as a result of my carelessness! Or worse, waking up at the bottom of a pit half eaten with Larvae eggs implanted in my still living carcass to nourish the offspring. Some Veterans survived even that much and returned from the wilds when they recovered enough strength to crawl back with whatever was left of them...…. Some say that other survivors of various war zones have had other horrors happen to them, and never chose to return because of what has become of them. But we don’t like to talk about it much…..’

He says it sincerely, but I’m not a stranger to all of these horrific conditions either. Travelling in small groups or by oneself had been an adventure of survival unto itself, especially gambling a trip overseas.

This world also favors a beauty : deadliness ratio pattern, though a bit differently than I’m totally acclimated with so far. I hope this is just a fleeting thought. ‘I just have to find and get these things safely out of the soil for now.’

When Holtz mentioned about intentionally digging these things out of the soil, I gathered that he said these things as a warning for keeping alert to my surroundings and wellbeing- but by this step in the process of searching, I could focus on a few things at a time by now.

I was already sensing that I had cleaned up a good portion of the corner opening of my mana glyph unto squeaky clean smoothness since earlier. I had a fair strip along the outer rims of the grooves buffed clean, all along a path that funneled into the central node that I found.

‘I need to stay calm and sense the discharge ‘exit’ path to flow out from now. Maybe I can apply pressure like Holtz did, to sense an escape path differently. I’ve watched steam escape from a covering lid of a boiling pot and maybe I can push out from all points inside of the glyph to help me now that I have a better focus like this’.

Since I want to burst out my mana senses all around me, all at once; to find the best path of escape so to say, I have been brushing and entirely swathing along the groove lines a bit hurriedly to find the exit. That didn’t stop me from testing cleaning methods when I found something extra gross, nor from plotting important groove lines to escape or to later deep clean.

Thinking about this, reminded me how the Nile would spread into the Delta irrigation system to disperse and distribute the water evenly and sustainably after the floods. So I’ll need to expand the mana overflow and open the floodgates at many different disposal points. All that internally wasn’t too different while similarly feeling around with wide motions and sifting through the soil externally.

As I kept searching all around, I sensed that by adding intensity and exerting higher pressure of mana on my glyph like Holtz did before, I could get a good ‘hold’ or ‘latch’ onto these cleared up areas with my mana. This helped me surge even more power & concentration of mana into the glyph qualitatively!

I can understand why his mana crest was sizzling! The Brute force he applied and that depth of killing intent I experienced earlier from Holtz, reminded me of the focus and intensity I authorized when praying and rebuking demons from before. It is exhausting, but a great deal of power can be expressed when the need arises in life or death situations. Repeated exposure to these kinds of events tends to leave different scars on people's hearts and minds. Some pains we get used to. Other priorities or sensitivities we become numb to because of it. His sizzle was his fervent expression of life pouring through such a tiny space, despite the wounds and scars he carries within his own inner space.

All of the filth within this glyph of mine has traces of mana decay reminiscent of Baka’ru however. Those pitch black eyes had the same hunger and fester that this plaque build up gives off the deeper that I clean. And that same scent of blood and decay. I have to make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else!

This burst of inspiration seemed to be a coalescence of the pressure I felt from the boars encircling me, the personal attack against me from a curse like this, the desperation from Biggs, Wedge, and Damina, and whatever forces are holding Arady and Holtz bound to this area for, and this absurdity of debt on my existence just because, I am.

I triggered a new depth of concentration and from a deep inner place, began to speak in tongues and began to establish a stronger flow of mana to attach to and charge into the glyph. As if the glyph finally found an uncontaminated food source to sustain itself with, the surge of my mana immediately bonded to the surface of the structures of the glyph itself, especially brightly where I had buffed smooth and clean.

Those funneling strips to the center node being cleared, along with even some of the escape paths being better brushed clean than other spaces- gave little to no resistance of interfering with the mana exchange occurring, compared to the areas still choked out by the filth build up.

These direct connections being supplied, started causing a glow from within the material of the glyph to resonate, charge and collect more and more mana along the grooves, that I felt and tried to clean all throughout the whole glyph itself now, not just the passages within. A murky glow resonated underneath the surface where all of the plaque was still in place. However a glistening bright but deep aura began radiating from the cleaned parts of the glyph.

[Exotic Mana Control Activated]

[Glyph Amplification Activated]