Alex lay sprawled on the earthy ground of a small clearing, chest still heaving from his mad dash through the forest. He turned his head to look up at the massive body of the monster that had been chasing him. Easily 10 feet tall, possibly more, its bulky body lay sprawled on top of the large boulder that dominated the clearing. Its thick limbs splayed out on either side. The bramble-like growths sprouting from its shoulder blades.

Managing to clamber to his feet, Alex shakily stood on legs that were on the verge of rebellion in favor of a nice nap. He stumbled his way over to the nearby tree and leaned against it. What the heck am I supposed to do now, he wondered as he looked over at the unmoving monster. Is it even dead? What if it isn’t? I can’t kill something like that. A thousand questions bounced around his head as stood gasping for breath. His heart was still going wild from being chased by a monster. He looked down at his wrapped feet only to see that most of the fabric was torn and he could spot blood dripping into the soil beneath. Well, that doesn’t bode well.

He slowly bent down and gently began to prod at his feet, wincing. Yeah, who would have thought that running through a forest basically barefoot was a terrible idea. He carefully started to pick the twigs, leaves, and dirt from the many lacerations on his feet. As he did, his pulse slowly started to settle, no longer in a mad panic.

As he sat against the large trunk of one of the many trees that ringed the clearing, trying to clean his bloodied feet the best he could, he noticed a peculiar flashing in the corner of his vision. Huh, I wonder what that is? Just as soon as he focused on it, a flurry of blue windows appeared.

Proficiency gained

[Run] lvl 1 => lvl 2

2 XP Gained

...

Proficiency gained

[Run] lvl 4 => lvl 5

5 XP Gained

A total of four different windows opened, each one notifying him that he had leveled up his [Run] Skill. The one on top said the Skill was at level 5. He let out a chuckle. At least something good came out of that. He dismissed each window, noticing that with each level he had gained in the [Run] Skill, he had gained the same number of XP. Hmmm, looks like it isn’t just doubled each time. The more you know, I guess.

He picked the last bit of dirt out of a particularly large laceration on the sole of his foot, never having stopped wincing from the pain. Shaking out his now ripped and shredded foot wraps the best he could, Alex gently started to wrap them around his feet again. I’ve really got to go and clean my feet soon, but... he slumped his exhausted body against the tree, I don’t think I can move right now. Maybe I’ll just rest for a bit. He leaned his head back, feeling the rough bark behind him. I’ll move in just a bit...

Alex groggily came to, aching everywhere, muscles groaning, legs feeling like wet noodles, head pounding like a heavy metal concert. He rolled his stiff neck slowly and opened his eyes. A bright, cheerful clearing greeted him, along with the unmoving mass of fur that was still laid out on top of the central boulder.

With a groan, Alex got unsteadily to his feet, his legs voicing their complaints at the action. Without giving the monster any consideration, he shambled out of the clearing, aiming to walk back to the river. If it does wake up and murder me, it would be a welcome to it. I remember why I didn’t work out. Death seems like a much better substitute to this.

Each step he took sent flashes of pain from his feet, but the thought of something to drink was enough to let him push through it. By the time he could hear the faint bubbling sounds of the small creak, Alex had almost stopped at least 7 times. Each time his pounding head and dry mouth had gotten him up and going again, though each time took longer than the last.

Rushing as much as his battered feet could take him, Alex finally made it to the stream. He walked straight into it, not caring about getting wet. Letting out a sigh, he let the cool waters run over his feet before reaching down and unwrapping them.

He stood there in the middle of the shallow stream for a while, just letting the current wash away the caked blood and mud away from his feet. Then bending down, he got to work actually cleaning the many lacerations and cuts he had collected on his feet.

When he straightened up, he was rewarded by a familiar blue box in front of his face.

You have gained the skill

[First Aid] (Inferior) lvl 1

1 XP gained

I’m getting the feeling that Skills aren’t too hard to learn, at least the first few levels, Alex thought to himself as he waded over to the bank and sat on a sizable rock. He placed his now clean, but waterlogged foot wraps next to himself to dry off. I wonder if I could get a [Super healing] Skill to help heal my poor feet.

While he was letting his things dry off, Alex decided to test out his [Mana sense] skill. Somewhat because he was curious about what it did when he wasn’t right next to the large mana sink, but mostly so he didn’t have to think about walking more.

He settled into his rock, trying to relax. Closing his eyes, Alex tried to recall the same sensations he had before the first time he had caught a glimpse of that strange energy flowing in the air. He took a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting it. Concentrating only on his breathing, he slowly began to relax. I was focused on that odd pulling sensation before, the pull of my mana out of me. That’s not going to be much help this time.

Trying to brush away the negative thought, he focused inwards. As he did, he started to feel an odd, ephemeral, fluttering mass of something squarely centered in his chest. It was faint, from what he could tell, more like a few errant strands of thread drifting on the wind than anything else.

As soon as he felt the energy in his chest, he realized he could sense mana in the air around himself as well. It wasn’t quite as thick or vibrant as the streams of energy he felt coming from himself, or the monster, back in the clearing, but more diffused. Like someone had sprayed water into the air and he could feel it against his skin as he moved past instead of being sprayed in the face by a hose.

As if being moved by an invisible breeze, Alex could sense the energy in the air slowly drifting in a general direction. All of it gently moving off to his right a little, over in the direction of the clearing he just came from. He cocked his head to the side as he watched the energy move. I guess that big boulder can reach all the way out here.

He took a moment to see if he could feel the pulling sensation that he had before, but he couldn’t, although the mana in the air around him continued to move. That’s odd, maybe ‘free’ mana is easier to move? He shrugged, not having any way of confirming or denying that at the moment. Something to think about, after I learn a whole lot more about magic.

Alex slowly opened his eyes and got a brief moment of both seeing the world around him as well as the mana in his surroundings before his concentration on sensing mana broke and he was left only staring at forested river land. Dang, I feel like you definitely should be able to have your eyes open while sensing mana.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes again and tried to reach out his mind to sense the mana around him. This time it took quite a bit less time than the last time for him to be able to feel the energy in the air. Trying hard to only focus on that feeling, he carefully lifted one eyelid hoping that the less visual stimulation there was the easier it would be to keep concentration on feeling mana. Just keep sensing mana, it’s not going to disappear if you look at a tree, he told himself as he took a quick peak and then immediately closed his eye again. When his sense of mana didn’t wink off, his face lit up into a smile at the progress. See, not too hard.

Feeling more confident, Alex opened both his eyes only to be met with a box hovering in front of him.

Proficiency gained

[Mana Sense] lvl 1 => lvl 2

20 XP Gained

Feeling validated in his success, he kept his eyes open, though he still had to concentrate very hard on sensing mana in order to be able to see the energy around himself. It was an odd feeling, being able to sense something around him and not be able to see or feel it in any way. Looking across the flowing river and also being able to sense a cloud of energy seeping up from the water was a strange experience. The cognitive dissonance of seeing and sensing two different things began to make him nauseous, just like reading while in a moving car.

After only a few minutes of observing the slowly drifting clouds of magic flow through the air, he couldn’t take the headache that was coming on. With a shake of his head, he stopped concentrating on sensing mana. After a few moments of heavy breathing and closing his eyes, he stopped feeling nauseous. Now that sucked. Hopefully that doesn’t happen all the time. Maybe it just goes away with time? He thought hopefully to himself as he massaged his head. There’s no way people just walk around feeling nauseous whenever they want to see mana.

He paused for a second. That is if there are actually people here. For all I know, it’s just this forest, that one bear-thing, and me, nothing else. Alex sat for a second, thinking about that.

Well, not many changes at the moment, he concluded after contemplating an existence without anyone else. Still stuck in this forest, with magic that I still can’t use. Sense, yes. Use... he sighed, no.

There’s got to be a trick to using magic, right? There’s no point in having a magic glowing box tell me I have mana if I can’t use magic, right? It has to do something! He frowned. Or it could possibly actually not do anything except sit there and sometimes move, but I highly doubt that.

With a determined look on his face, he closed his eyes again and focused inwards, trying to sense the odd clump of mana resting in his chest. After only a few moments of concentration, Alex was able to feel the energy fluttering inside. Happy with how quickly he was beginning to be able to sense mana, Alex began to study the odd ball of mana closer.

Instead of the diffuse mists of mana surrounding him, or the thicker streams of mana he had seen being pulled out of the bear monster, the ball of mana inside of himself felt a lot more compact.

The thing inside reminded him of a pile of yarn someone had loosely squashed into the shape of a ball. It was vaguely spherical but lumpy in places and slightly oblong. As he watched, it slowly stretched and pulled, but always maintained something close to a sphere. A circle drawn by a 4-year-old with a crayon on a very bumpy table, but still something that you could call a sphere.

After getting almost hypnotized at the continual movement of his own mana, Alex decided to try and move it himself. Focusing in on the pulsating mass, he tried to giggle it a little to the left. He tried to make the mental image of it moving take up the entirety of his mind. He sat there for a while, concentrating as hard as he could before he saw it lurch a bit to the left before it resumed pulsating where it was.

Now to make it do more than just move a little.

Focusing in on it again, he concentrated on it moving much further to the left, trying to see how far he could make it move. It took a little bit of time, but the mass of mana slowly began to move, but as soon as it got a little further than it had the first time it stopped abruptly. Part of it was still in its original position, while most of it was stretched out to the left, creating a deformed lumpy oblong-shaped mass.

Concentrating harder, Alex tried to keep it moving, but he felt as if it was resisting going anywhere. Like it was being held in place. It was an odd feeling since he wasn’t even pulling at it with his hands, but thinking at it to move, but he could still feel the resistance.

He thought for a second and then got an idea. Instead of trying to move the whole lump of mana, he tried to break off a small piece, as it felt as if only part of his mana was pulling back away from where he wanted it to go.

As soon as he started to try that, the mana suddenly split into two parts like a water droplet dividing. A larger one that stayed in the center of his chest, and a smaller one that started to move to his left again. Puzzled why he couldn't get the whole mass to move, but ultimately happy that even a little obeyed his thought.

Now that he had a small bit of mana he could control, he had no idea of what to do with it. With a thought, he started to move it forwards, out of his chest. As he did, he started to feel a burning sensation on his skin where he was trying to move it to. Quickly backing off, he sat there, unsure what to do.

Cautiously, he began to move it around the inside of his body, trying to see if that feeling would repeat itself. He found that as long as he didn’t try to move it out of his body, he could do whatever he really wanted. With a shrug, Alex decided to stop giving the small clump of mana any commands. As soon as he did, he felt it slowly make its way back to the central lump, merging into.

He opened his eyes and stretched a little, letting his mind rest a little. It had started to throb a little near the end from the constant concentration he had to keep up in order to keep the little blob of mana moving. He reached over and felt his foot wraps, finding them still slightly damp.

Looks like I still have a little bit of time. With a shrug, he closed his eyes again. Might as well play with magic! He focused in on his chest, finding it much easier this time to sense his mana. Concentrating again on the image of the blob of mana splitting, he managed to separate a small portion of the larger blob away.

Now free to do with it as he wanted, he started to move it around his body again. On a whim, he moved it down to his hand, letting it rest in the palm of his hand. With a mental shrug, he sent the mana slowly out of his hand.

To his surprise, he only felt a slight warmth on his palm as it pressed up against his skin instead of the pain from before. It felt as if he had picked up a rock on a hot summer day. Embolden by the lack of pain, he continued to push the mana out of his palm.

As soon as his mana excited his body, he felt his control over it quickly fade. As he tried to control the energy it felt like he was trying to force two positive magnets together. The mana itself felt as if it was fighting him from moving where he wanted. As he fought with the mana, he could feel his head start to ache. Gritting his teeth, Alex tried to move it an inch only to lose control of it.

The moment he wasn’t concentrating on it, he felt it puff away, dissolving into mist. As it did, Alex could feel a slight puff of air on his still opened palm. He almost thought he imagined it, but he was fairly certain it happened.

Frowning, he opened his eyes to be met with another blue box.

You have gained the skill

[Mana Manipulation] (Uncommon) lvl 1

10 XP gained

He dismissed the notification, and reached over to his foot wraps, massaging his head. I think that’s as much magic practice as I'm going to be able to for a while. Moving mana is much harder than I thought. Who knew actual magic would be so hard?

Alex wrapped his feet up again and got up. By now the sun was starting to dip below the canopy, signaling that night was not too far off. Determined to sleep in his bed that night, Alex set off towards where he was pretty certain his bed had fallen.

As he walked through the darkening forest, he couldn’t help but wonder where all the animals, or monsters were. Now that he had encountered a massive example that there was indeed wildlife in this forest that could kill him with a single swipe, he was keen on not meeting anymore, not that he had seen any. The most he had seen before his encounter with the bear-like monster was a small bird or a few insects. And whatever ate the berries that I had he added as his belly rumbled. Trying to ignore his hunger, he pushed on.

I wonder if it's a territorial thing. Who knows, I might just be close to some super monster that could casually swat that bear thing away like it was squishing a bug. An involuntary shudder went down his spine. Not that I would ever want to see a monster like that. I wouldn’t even be able to run away. Just one moment walking around, and the next nothing.

With that bleak thought, he finally caught a glimpse of the edge of his bed peaking around the massive trunk of one of the trees ahead. When he reached it, Alex collapsed into it, utterly drained both in body and mind. He pulled the blankets close around himself as the forest continued to darken and tried to get comfortable for the night.