My mana spins and flows, running through every part of me, but also it remains stagnant, spread throughout my body as I try to press it into a singular mana dense core. A contradiction I want to say, but magic needs not follow good human sense.

No, it makes its own rules.

Like I need to do.

Recently the mana inside me hasn’t been flowing the same as it used to. It’s no longer as agile, I feel like the very essence of the mana is starting to pull itself into the core that I’ve been trying to build. This is somewhat dispelled when I run my mana too low, but right now it’s almost like a lump in my chest, right beside my heart.

I’m still anxious that I’m going to permanently fuck my future potential, destroying my mana form, but I cannot wait years to grow into my power.

That lump inside me isn’t yet liquid mana, but I feel like it’s almost forming as condensation. A little further and I’ll have pushed through this limit and reached the other end of my evolution, even if it’s imperfect.

I’ll just have to work on building myself up later.

“Traveller?” Hawk says, waving to get my attention as I laze about on the couch of their little home. They decided to stay here late last night, after everything went down as it did. The violence, the revelations, finding out that their ruling class sneaks into their homes of a night and drinks their blood.

I suppose I can understand how that makes it difficult to sleep. The realization that you’ve been unknowingly preyed upon dozens, hundreds of times through your life, must really do something to a person.

Surprisingly none of them have disappeared. There’s no better way to make friends than to bloody your hands together, I suppose.

“What is it?”

“Breakfast?” Hawk offers a plate with far too much meat on it, the scent is almost enough to make me feel sick, but I’m not going to turn away any of that mana. “Sure, give me a minute to wash my face.”

I step into the bathroom and use the cleansing stone to clear away my sweat from the night. I use water in the nearby sink to wet my face and wake myself up. I hope that’s what its purpose is.

I think I’ll use the cleansing stone again, just in case.

There’s something about the cool shock of water that helps get my mind grinding properly into gear again. I’ve been lax recently, enjoying the warmth of bed and letting myself slowly wake up for the day, but now I’m not in such a position to be wasting my time.

When I return to the room, the others have all finished stirring from their own sleep. They’re scattered about sitting on chairs and furniture, or on the ground, though the soft couch where I slept has been left for my own use. The look of fear and respect that they give me indicates that it wasn’t simply coincidence that the best seat was left for me to use.

Some are chewing on their breakfast, but most seem lost in their own thoughts, staring back at the bloody scene from last night.

I can hear a furore building outside, chatter among the locals as they discover the blood that we’ve left spilled in the noble’s palace. Considering the state we left the place in, I’m sure we’ve caused more than a little trouble.

“What are we going to do?” Hawk asks, staring down at her own meal, poking at it.

I’m already chewing through my meal. With the anxiety still holding my heart in a tight grip. My shoulders itch, and I just can’t quite focus, constantly looking about for where my lovers and allies are.

Not here, evidently. Something I already know, but…

“Run, or fight?” I ask.

“Fight. We’ll make things right.”

“I doubt it.” I reply. “That guy was a dick, and clearly trying to find an excuse for killing that woman, but there’s clearly far more going on than we know right now. The nobles believe that they’re important for some reason, and I’m not confident that they’re just stuck-up idiots.

“He knew his way around a fight. The other nobles will be even worse.”

“So what? We run? Dive off the edge of the world?” John says.

“You think it’s actually the edge of the world?” I ask, staring down at the overlarge meal. “It’s clearly not. I truly doubt that Selena is really so small, Frey is the size of a damned planet.”

I’m not fully convinced either way—heck, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised by anything at this point­—nevertheless I’m willing to take the gamble that the edge of the world is a lie.

“That’s… it couldn’t be…” Hawk whispers in disbelief.

“Your nobles are sucking people’s blood of a night. You think they wouldn’t lie to you about the edge of the world too?”

“Nobody comes back.” John says, glaring at me. “No one ever comes back.”

“No one questions the nobles either.” I reply. “We haven’t done well in covering our tracks back there. We’re either going to wait around for the nobles to come pick us up, or we’re going to poke around at the edge of the world, which would you rather?”

He growls, glaring back down into his own meal.

“You can’t teach us to fight?” He asks, looking up from his meal.

“I’m afraid she hasn’t the time.” Arduelle says, phasing into existence by my side. “I’m here to pick you up for class.”

“What great service, well then if you would drop me off at school, dear mother.” I say holding out a hand for her to cast her magic through.

“What?! Who are you?” John shouts backing away knocking down a cabinet.

“Arduelle, John, Hawk, and the others. She’s a dungeon. These guys are… pests?” I ask looking up at her askingly.

“You think so?” She replies, not giving any indication either way.

“Maybe. They are a bit annoying. I hope they’re not though, else I might get in trouble for killing that noble.” I reply, “You’ve been entertained watching us?”

“Most assuredly.”

“Nothing has happened back home?” I ask, “I do hope that you’ve been looking out for my people while I’ve been gone. If this distraction has caused them any trouble…”

“Oh, a scary threat?” She says with a deep smile and shining eyes.

“One day I’ll be strong enough for that to actually be intimidating.” I sigh. “Keep that in mind when playing these games. It wouldn’t do either of us any good if I’m forced to hold grudges.”

“Do you recall why it is you got sent here in the first place?” Arduelle asks standing above me as she smiles down at me.

“I’m here because I was teasing you.” I say, “This is a threat. Totally different.”

“Oh, well I suppose I shouldn’t be offended then.” She replies.

I silently glare back up at her, feeling my talent stir alive as she quietly waits.

“Your lovers, and your people are all still well.” Arduelle replies resting a hand on my head, treating me as a child. “They’ve been wanting to know how you are. They’re concerned for you.”

“I’m sure they are.” I reply, nodding.

“So, class?” She asks.

“Sure.”

“What the fuck?” Hawk asks, her eyes wide open.

“Oh sorry, I’ll be back later. Don’t get into trouble without me, I don’t know what I’d do without my guides.” I say, as mana flushes through me before flicking me through space.

“Here we are.” Arduelle says, brushing her hand that touched me, and teleporting away again.

“At the door of the classroom?” I ask the air, knowing that she’s still listening through her little spying device. “Are the welfare officers all on holiday?”

“They are a peculiar group. Easy enough to dance around when the needs are there.” She sends in reply. “Though I’ve seen you dance, I’d urge you caution. I’d hate to have to kill you.”

“Yes, well toys like me are difficult to replace…” I say getting my bearings.

“Kyra?” The teacher asks after me, looking up at me from the shadow where she’s hidden. “You have a… peculiar means of coming to class.”

“Yes. I do.” I reply, offering no more explanation. I don’t even know where I’d start.

As I’m spamming out messages via Chip as fast as I can, a few familiar faces come pouring into the classroom.

“Kyra!” Vii shouts, flying over to me as I’m sitting in the chair at the back of the room. She tackles me back to the floor, the chair scrapping and crashing underneath me. “How was it?”

“I can’t really say much here, can I?” I ask. Thankful for my armour, which is making for an interesting uniform for class. I can’t really say that I’ve been given much choice for anything else though.

“Kyra.” Eshya says, pulling Vii off of me and giving me a hand up. “You look like you’re still doing well.”

“Don’t I always?” I ask, playing with the dark veil covering my eyes.

“No. You’ve looked awful more than a few times, though I don’t really mind. You can be cute, covered in dirt and grime.” She replies. “I hope you haven’t been slacking?”

“Only a little.” I respond with a shrug. “We should probably stop bothering the rest of class.” I suggest, putting my seat back into place and waving to my classmates looking on in curiosity.

“I’m here too.” Adler says in an almost saddened whisper. “I’m glad that you’re back.”

“I’m glad to see you again too.” I say, seeing her tall animalistic ears stand tall on her head as she breaths a sigh of relief. It brings a smile to my lips.

We chat quietly before the teacher starts class, then we continue exchanging messages while I focus. My classmates are still rather distracted, surprised to see me in my new outfit, so much so that they don’t pay too much mind to Vii, Eshya, and Adler joining in on our studies.

Even with everything going on, I’m not in a position to be ignoring my studies. Setting aside my other concerns and worries, I try my best to focus on the teacher’s words.

“The most important aspect of any magic, is efficiency.” She says, “You must learn to make the greatest effect, with the smallest amount of mana you can use.”

“What does that mean in practice?” I ask. “I’ve been burning way too much mana in my spells since I started with this magic thing.”

“That’s common, but never a good thing.” The teacher replies gravely. “It can even be dangerous.

“The first mistake of those using reinforcement magic is trying to move everything. Moving every last atom, and every mote of mana costs more than it’s worth.

“Instead of moving everything, you should move everything in sections.” She replies drawing something up on the board. She draws a flat surface with a large lump in the middle of it.

“If you wanted to make this into a flat surface for instance. You could move all the atoms and mana in the lump, either flattening it, or removing.” She highlights the entire thing. “It will cost much too much mana.

“What else could you do?”

“Cut it off at the base.” One of the other students calls out before I have a chance to reply. He looks back at me competitively, though I’m not quite sure why. Was there secretly some sort of competition going on here?

“Exactly.” The teacher says, drawing a line at the base of the lump. “Moving this layer alone, would cost significantly less, while achieving the same ends.”

“Makes sense.” I whisper. It’s the same principal behind my recent modification of my annihilation magic, so I’m glad that I’m somewhat on the right track with my thinking.

“What about the mana, won’t that disrupt the flow?” Another student asks.

“Yes, if nothing is done to correct it.” She replies. “I would expect that you’d simply redirect the flow with the same move, though there will be more complicated examples later on where mana flow will have to be taken into account.

The class continues as I try and take notes in my mind. There’s already plenty of notes on the topic on Chip, but there’s plenty too many making it a chore in itself to sort through it all. One of us really needs to develop a search function to make this magical brain library usable.

“Remember too, that manipulating a material requires that you overcome the natural mana within it, which will already be costing you considerable mana.” The teacher brings up. “Knowing what flaws to leave alone, knowing how far your Skills and experience will take you, and knowing when the product isn’t worth the mana invested into it is all very important. You’ll need to develop that judgment as you work.”

The class goes on without interruption and though I find it difficult to focus, I do take notes on how she describes the casting process. Giving purpose to mana is still rather troubling when it comes to particular commands, and her vague advice, while not as useful as a cheat sheet, could still help me out in my own spell making.

“If you’re having troubles with wasting mana, you should use your talent more.” Vii advises as I look over the examples and problems the teacher has set out for us. Finding the easiest approach to ‘fixing’ the design. “Using your talent is cheaper, so figure out how to use it for other things.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it doesn’t work for everything.” She says. “An example. I use my wind magic to protect myself. Mana dense layers of wind is cheaper for me to make compared to most reactive defences. It takes a bit to figure it out, but if you can do the same with yours…”

“Annihilate the attacks hitting me…? Annilate the excess materials instead of moving it… you might be onto something.” I say, imagining how the spells would look. How could I infuse mana with that purpose. “It’s a great idea. Thanks.”

“I should have thought of it earlier. It’s just instinct for me at this point.”

She smiles giddily, as the teacher starts talking again.

This advice, and everyone railing on me for my poor use of mana, gives me a reason to try and rework my Skills. Even though I’ve been gathering good Skills many of them could do better in a slightly different form or adjusted to better suit my needs.

Let’s see…

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

Still fit for purpose. Targeting Chips without draining the mana from my targets. It also doubles as a good non-lethal take down when I need it to.

-Multi-mind

Excellent. Perfect. Never leave home without it.

-Tag

Underused but still very useful. I’ll need to figure out what else I want to do with this, but at least I should tag all of the rebels when I get back to my pest hunt.

-Mana surge movement

My agility and melee abilities. I should refine it further, learn to better apply my mana, and even spend it to increase my mana boosting. If I’m able to actively use my mana offensively like I do defensively, I could truly punch above my weight.

-Mana surge punch

It should really be enfolded into the mana surge movement Skill. Too many Skills distract my multi-minds.

-Reactive mana skin

Its naming isn’t entirely true now that I’m using it through my armour, so perhaps I should rename it ‘Reactive Defence’. I also need to be more conservative with the mana use until I can develop an annihilation variant of the Skill.

Which would be freaking awesome. Punch me and your fist falls off, cast a spell and I’ll just erase it from existence.

-Infused delayed casting

I’m not sure the Skill is even helping that much anymore. The ability itself feels as if second nature now, and I don’t really feel the need to consider it. I’ll put it away for now, see if I need to do anything more with it. Perhaps even turn it off, if that’s possible, and see what happens.

-Fire burst punch

I’ve already evolved from fire magic alone, now I use my annihilation magic the same. I’m also not limited to punching as I can fully use this with a kick too.

The Skill has become antiquated considering my current tactics. I’ll need to run a few practices and develop it into a proper Skill. This isn’t the sort of thing that I want to be thinking about in the middle of a fight, so a well-adapted Skill is essential to casting complex magic in the midst of a brawl.

-Annihilation magic

It’s a part of myself now. Something that I’m still puzzling out the details of. Perhaps I should see what else I can do with it, target different materials, or whatever else should be possible.

-Mana form flow fixer

Something always running in the back of my mind, keeping my body and mana form in good condition. I need to develop it further if anything, and by the sounds of it, it’ll be useful even after my liquid stage development.

Definitely a keeper.

-Rapid fire casting

Again, something natural. I can use this on instinct by now, and I don’t think there’s anywhere for this Skill to grow. I’ll set it aside for now, keeping it hidden in the back with all the other Skills I don’t care about, until I want to develop it further.

I can still use it just fine, but I won’t be distracted by it any longer.

-Branching magic

A new Skill with an unusual name. It’s useful for controlling how my mana acts when invading the flesh of my target. At the moment it follows chaotic paths through the flesh and bone of my enemy, spreading out and dicing everything it can before running out of steam.

I could potentially use it for my fire magic too, I wonder if it would be more effective than a normal fireball, or less.

I can develop this Skill much further, if I can learn to direct it towards specific organs or dice up the flesh in various ways. There’s so much that I can still do with this particular ability.

To get the most from my mana, I could use my ability to carve out a singular large chunk of flesh without too much effort.

Class ends while my mind is filled with the thoughts of what I could become, and what I’ll do to grow stronger.

“Stay strong, Kyra. You’ll be okay.” Vii says, briefly hugging me.

“Don’t stop training.” Eshya says, smiling and bringing me close. “Don’t take too long, or else we’ll take that city without you.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll need to have things done by tomorrow.” I say.

“Indeed.” Arduelle says, appearing from nothingness and startling the class. “It’s time for you to get back to task.”

“Who…?” the teacher tries to ask but is interrupted as we disappear.

I pop back into existence in the same hideout as before, with the same rebels standing around the room. I’m still surprised that none of them have left.

“So, are we going to check out the edge of the world?” I ask, standing up and brushing myself off. They stare past me and at Arduelle who waves a goodbye before taking her leave.

“Don’t mind her, so are we going or what?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 890 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Defence 0% 32% Offense 0% 57% Mana Sense 0% 72% Recovery 0% 30% Gluttony 0% 26% Misc. 42% 42% Efficiency 42% 86%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Reactive defence

-Fire burst punch

-Annihilation magic

-Mana form flow fixer

-Branching magic