Chapter 10: Mana

Cyan was waking up groaning after sleeping exactly for 8 hours

[Cyan]: “I feel like if I was sleeping over a rock... right... I was”

Cyan has forgotten for 0.1 seconds where he was, he could not know what time it was because, everything was dark, nevertheless something inside him knew the time very well. Cyan was still very tired because of the training of yesterday, he was feeling like he himself was a rock, incapable of moving even 1 cm on his own.

But then, why did he wake up? The answer to that was very easy to guess, the best time tracking device on Cyan body, his stomach was nagging him to wake up, ‘Hey wake up is breakfast time, hey hey are you listing to me, hey come on it is time’ of course all that he could hear and feel was his hunger and his stomach growling.

Cyan was sure that his stomach has gained awareness of his own and was nagging him, but that was just him using his over imaginative brain, there was no way that was the case, anyway, he was awake now and he was feeling hungry, ‘may as well i eat something’

After standing up and doing some light exercises, Cyan could hear his now reliable Master outside his door.

[Arlom]: “The food is ready come on down to eat”

There was not knot on the door or anything, Arlom knew that Cyan has just woken up with a perfect timing for breakfast, ´that interplanetary idiot really have good skill to keep track of the time tsk´.

Arlom was ready to wake up him by using a ‘gentle’ tap on the shoulder of Cyan if he didn’t had woken up, but, he was already doing some light exercises inside his bedroom?, Arlom was quite impressed by how Cyan body was keeping track of time even if Cyan himself was not aware of it.

[Cyan]: “Master I will go down in minute”.

Even if Cyan was very very hungry he still finished his morning exercises, his stiff body was killing him, so this was to make it less stiff, and there was also a hidden battle of power vs his own stomach but that something someone very stupid will think of, so of course Cyan skipped thinking about that, ‘it someone else problem now’, a known individual called the brain that is.

Meanwhile his stomach was stomping his metaphoric foot while the brain was trying to calm his down but failing at the end ´feed me feed me feed´ but Cyan ignored it for another minute until he just give up and went down the stairs, no one can beat the stomach even the lazy of people will stand up from their beds to get some food.

A warm food over the table was waiting for him, Arlom was also sitting in front of the table, there were two chairs, it was the same table from yesterday, now he could see it for what it really was, a wooden table, small enough for two person to eat, well maybe this was one person too many in Arlom mind, but right now he doesn’t have the time to make another one, there are no trees inside this cave after all.

Cyan sit down in front of Arlom and without saying a word started dissecting his food, removing all the pills he could find, this time it only took him 5 minutes, after he finished, he could see the same pills for yesterday but luckily there was not the diarrhea pill this time around, but there was another pill, a light blue pill, Cyan could no help to ask about this new pill.

[Cyan]: “Master the middle blue pill from yesterday was for helping me to control my mana, then this light blue pill what it is purpose?”

Arlom nodded his head ‘good’.

[Arlom]: “After talking to you yesterday I made this pill, it will slow down the rate that you absorb mana from this world, helping your body to reduce the stress and allowing you to learn control over the mana, with less mana is easier to handle and you will obviously learn faster”.

[Cyan]: “Then when you will teach how to control the mana”.

Cyan started to eat but his eyes were like starts, to control mana, using spells, becoming a wizard, putting aside everything else that could kill him, becoming a lighting mage was a man dream after all, casting lighting from his finger reducing everything to ashes, he could totally picture it.

Arlom did not missed this but he still thought that someone that has such.... instable body... it was too soon.

Arlom shook his head

[Arlom]: “It is too soon for you, your body need to adjust to this world mana first, and you are still absorbing a lot of mana, I don’t know how long it would take for you to be… normal, but, even if you do, learning about spells and what not, will not help you in the short term, you need to learn to dodge the rocks I thrown, until you dodged one hundred consecutives thrown I will not teach you anything, even if your body adjusted to the mana of this world”.

Cyan was shock, one hundred cannon shots (they were just rock tough) and he cannot get hit even one? Let alone just one is impossible right now, but he still got something of Arlom answer, 'he will not teach me but you did not say anything about learning from myself'. This of course was a crazy act, only a mad man would though that, but…

Cyan nodded his head back with a serious face not getting angry at all

Arlom in the other side of the table was calming eating his food, that last part was not something he forgot, after all he knew from day one, that this stupid child like to do things on his own, cutting his wings was not the answer, he only has to make sure that he do get burn with the sun, like that stupid guy with the… paper wings? ‘What idiot will make wings with paper, I will made your wings like mirrors that can even reflect the sun and burn your enemy’s hahaha’.

An evil smile was formed in Arlom face, of course that was just a hypothetical smile. His face still remained the same as always, calm and serious.

Cyan finished his food very fast and like other times, he could eat a lot more food and still not feel the weight of it in his stomach, nor that he was that full, ‘did my stomach has become like a void now?’.

Cyan shook his head, Common sense? When you are in another world you can leave your common sense at the door.

[Cyan]: “Master will I get the same pain I got yesterday from the poison? After I went to sleep I did not feel a thing even after I had eaten the pills”

[Arlom]: “Actually yesterday I reduced the doses just enough so you could sleep without being disturbed, go to the bathroom and wash away, I will meet you out side, here”.

Extending his hand Arlom put a violet pill over the table, this was the same pill form yesterday, Cyan could only grit his teeth, he knew what was coming now, in a few minutes he would feel pain beyond the human threshold, but something was not right.

‘Why has master given me the pill before the pain even started, no wait he say to go and wash my face before coming outside, if I take the pill now and then go the bathroom, if we go with the same patron from yesterday then…’ Cyan face paled, if he eat the pill too soon, then that meant he would need to dodge the cannon shots, I mean rocks, while being in extreme pain, but if did not, then how could go to the bathroom with a calm mind.

Cyan took the pill and started to run, time was the essence in here, 'when the pain start I will wait a little to eat the pill every second count'.

10 minutes later, Arlom could see Cyan exiting the house and running over the target from yesterday, this time the target was repaired and there was not a trace for the two rocks from yesterday.

[Cyan]: “Master, I am sorry for being late please let us begin asp”.

Cyan was with a pale face, he had eaten the pill 5 minutes ago when the pain started to surged but this pain was another thing altogether, well let’s just say it was the yellow potion acting up and not the green poison, Cyan has mistook it so he was now 5 minutes behind schedule.

Arlom on the other hand did not say anything and started to thrown rocks once more, same as yesterday Cyan could not dodge them, and got hit over and over again.

It was just the beginning of today but his body was so stiff that he got hit with one rock and even before he could react to the pain he would get hit with another one, actually Arlom was picking the pace for him, those extra 5 minutes where outside the schedule, so the new schedule need it to be adjusted with that in mind, but even so, 'he is too slow, today, I knew it, this is...'.

Inside Cyan body.

‘Stupid body what are you doing at least try to dodge something and don’t stand there like dumb, and you stomach least you could had warned us about 'that' ’

The brain of Cyan, was trying to handle those bag of weight that were the body and stomach.

‘Shut up you stupid brain, do you think I am not doing my best, this is too much, something is interfering with me I can’t concentrate’

Of course like yesterday the brain was trying to calculate the rock trajectories and timings, and was passing the information to the body but the body was not moving like yesterday at all.

‘Something is definite different today’ was the only thing the brain could think of, the body was not moving like yesterday, this was beyond his expectations.

But the brain could not detect anything unusual with the body except his slow speed from today, the stomach on the other hand was not caring at all of everything that was going on outside and was happily munching away the food from breakfast, the violet pill was everything he need to keep eating the food.

The brain knew that if nothing change, Cyan would not last even 30 minutes today.

Even yesterday, you can say that even if Cyan could not dodged the rocks at least they could avoid those “critical hits” and near the end they had almost perfected this, and they even managed to dodge one rock.

But now, the brain could only give up and ask for help to his nemesis, the body was so slow today and Arlom was aiming better than yesterday, they were getting critical hits after critical hits

The brain did the thing he hated the most, ask the stomach for help.

‘You, st… Stomach stop eating for a second, and help me keep to track of the timing of the rocks’

Admitting that the stomach was better that the brain to keep track of time? That was the same to admit he was more intelligent than the brain, what a stupid thought, the stomach has more brains that the brain itself, but, there no other way around it, the body was moving too slowly today and his movement were not fluid and stiff.

Something must be done, and fast, those critical hits will knock out Cyan in a few minutes, but to the brain surprise the stomach reply was ´dun want to’, even after he has admitted defeat to the stomach he stills refuses to help.

The brain of Cyan almost burst of his Skull, if only he could, he would not remain not even a second more in this stupid body.

‘If you not help right now, you will not get more tasty food and will starved to death! You hear me!’

This was the brain final card, all or nothing.

The stomach could only complain to the brain request, nevertheless he did try to help at the end.

‘tsk, annoying, keeping track of the rocks? That is easy, here and don’t bother me any more’.

'Did you just ‘tsk’ me?' The brain was flying in rage but the thing the stomach has given him was... 'This it is… a cheat table'.

All the timing of the rocks of yesterday were there, the timing of the flying paths, how much time they would fly and other minor details but more importantly there was a way to calculate it! Base on trajectory and some unknown patrons to the brain, it was so specific that the brain was wondering who was stomach and who was brain.

Of course this table was made by the stomach because yesterday he was bored to dead, with no food to eat, and the only thing to keep him busy was to keep track of time and fight against the dormant poison.

So he started to do some other things, like calculating the timing of the rocks, he just wanted to see if he could and nothing else, actually what the stomach enjoy the most after food was to keep track of time, after watching the rocks fly he started to count, the more he counted the more he started to notice patrons that repeated themselves, so he started to write them down, they he do some cross references with the annotations the brain has left all over the floor and, the cheat table was born, from a child’s play.

Maybe in the previous world the time keeping skills of the stomach were actually in a superpower level, but who would care? The brain never listened to him anyway and the body was just a subordinate of the brain, that would always allied with him, so the stomach did not have any power in the decision making of…. when to eat, he could only say 'it is time to eat', at leave the rest to the body and the brain.

The body rebelling against the brain? That was a first, but to that brain asking for his help? This was too sweet, for some reason the food tasted even better now, he was enjoying the moment. The brain has never listened to him before, he only wanted to make the moment last longer, surly there would not be a next time.

The brain forgot about the stomach for now, ‘I will deal with you later huh’ and started to use the cheat code, I mean the holy table of timings.

‘Body move to the right in 0.0001 sec’

‘What are you up you stupid brain that would put us in the path of those cannon shots’ (they are just rocks you know).

‘Shup it and do as I say and they are just rocks’ (thank you)

The body was reaching his limit so what other choice do he had? The body reply was in an instant

‘Ah whatever I will do it just this time’.

The body moved as it was told, even if he was not as good as the brain to keep track of time he could predicted the path, as soon he stood there, he was hit by the rock like he was expecting but… it was not a ‘critical hit’ it did not hurt that badly, the body took notice of this.

‘So there is this way too huh’.

Not very far away Arlom nodded his head, he notice it in the same instant, Cyan body has learned something new, and Cyan himself was learning very fast, yesterday he had done the same but this was out of reflect, the body was not aware of it, but now... it was.

[Arlom]: "If you can’t avoid the rocks, at least learn how to get hit"

Those where the only words of Arlom, a new path has open to Cyan now... the M path.

Back inside of Cyan, ‘oh so you were a M after all ah you stupid body’ the body almost jump in rage ‘whom is the M you S brain, we keep getting hit because of you, you better learn how to keep track of time properly, to think the stomach can match and even do a better job at it, that’s too funny hey brain who is the stupid brain and who is the stomach, you know when they say you have a brain in your stomach I understand it now, hahaha I can’t stop laughing’.

Of course the stomach joined to the party too ‘what is it this, it cannot be that the brain can’t keep the track of time on some cheap rocks without the help of the brain in the stomach, who could have thought this, not me, I am not the smart and intelligent brain, that it is always saying that he is so smart, I am just the stupid stomach that only knows how to eat hahahahahah’.

The brain was reaching his limit, only 30 minutes of the 3th day has passed, and the brain already wanted to fly away from the skull of Cyan 2 times in a row, of course because the body of Cyan was actually one this thought was 'share' between everyone making the laughter of the body and the stomach even stronger.

Letting a mental sigh, weirdly enough after some time the brain started to laugh too, he could see it, the stomach was better at keeping track of time, it was very funny, and the body was better moving the body and predicting the path, soon their laughter change from mocking the brain to that of 3 friends sharing a cold beer in the night after a day of work (it is only has being 30 minutes though).

‘Did you guys picture if I actually fly away from Cyan skull, what do you think the stupid face of Cyan would be hahahahah’, the laughter was just growing stronger now, but something strange happen this time.

‘hahahaha’

‘…………..’ everyone

‘Hey body just now, that was you right body?’ the brain asked the body but the body shook his metaphoric head,

‘it was not me, and that was…. totally a woman voice, so it can’t be the stomach either’.

‘it was not me, brain are you putting a pranks on us like you always do as revenge?’.

With chuckle the voice was hear again

‘you guys are silly, to think you guys did not took notice of me until now, nice to me you all of you, my name, well most people call me Mana, you guys can call me like that too, this body is so funny I like in here’

Everyone has gone in silence in an instant.

The stupid face of the brain, the body and the stomach were making when they hear that could make it to the cover of a joke magazine, soon after it, it was the body that could recover first.

‘IT WAS YOUUUUUUUU, I can’t moved like yesterday because of youuuuuuu’ the body was flipping imaginary tables right now.

‘tehee opps I was found out’ putting his tonged out in a cutely fashion Mana was chuckling at this silly body, she was in everyone and everywhere, but this was the first time she was in such a body were she could actually move of her own, the fact she could talk was already something for her to be happy about, seeing everybody reacting to her presence, how could she not be happy, it was something that had never happen before.

In general when she enter a body she would not have personality or ego and would act as the person she was in guided her to do like a mindless puppet, but in here, everything was different, in here, she could act and do as she pleased, but adjusting to this body was essentially very chaotic.

At the beginning she did not have any will, a mind without ego, it was the same as a robot that only knew how to follow orders and not think on their own, if asked she will reply, if ordered she would move, this was like she was supposed to be, spells invocations and chants were only short cuts commands for her to follow, they were already programmed into her, that was it, if the commands was said wrongly then she would not know to move, or would move wrongly causing unexpected result, but it has nothing to do with her after all.

But she started to listening the voices of Cyan body and then she realized what she was missing a will, outside this body it was very different, outside she was neutral without any will, as soon as she realized this, she started to pour as much of ‘her’ inside this body as the body would allow without hurting it, it was actually quite amazing how much mana this body could hold in fact.

She did not had any plans to take over this body or hurting it, and it was fun in here, but the body, the principal medium has not founded about her yet, so she remained in silent and just tried to listen to their silly chat hoping to be notice soon, but she could not contain her laughter anymore and that’s how they now took notice of her, or maybe it was intentional who knows.

‘This is getting more and more…. sigh’ PAH! Another rock had just hit Cyan face.

[Arlom]: “Hey Stupid child what are you dreaming about! wake up”.

With that rock the brain started to work again ‘Mana, that’s your name right? Will you follow my commands and help the body to dodge those annoying rock?’ there was no time to question is this ‘mana’ was good or bad, he can’t expel what he do not understand, for now, it was an alien entity, but if she could be of any help to them was not this better?, the brain understood they need it mana in this world.

‘aye aye Captain’ the reply has come with a very energetic voice and a cute intonation, doing a salute as she grabbed the metaphoric hand of the body as she started to help to move the body, ‘t-thanks’ the body was red as an apple. the brain keep issuing commands, ‘Ok everyone now we are going for real get ready’, this serious and harmonist mood… only lasted for some minutes.

‘What are you doing you stupid body, dodged that, stomach stop eating that, that stupid master has changed the patron and the formula doesn’t work anymore, give me another cheat code I mean timing table’.

‘I am doing my best you stupid brain! mana… can you… released my hand, I can’t.. concentrated’, mana pinched her cheeks ‘but if we don’t hold hands at least for now, we will not sync, and then when we have to k…i… and then this… and that….’ this time the voice of mana grew smaller and smaller and her metaphoric cheeks grew redder and redder until the body could not hear her anymore, the stomach on the other hand reply back with ‘annoying I am busy’, it was eating the food from the breakfast and did not wanted to get disturbed.

The brain could only keep trying his best. With a sigh he could only mutter ‘I am sorry Cyan today will be an even more painful day’.