Which was a scary thought.
Instead of focusing on that, I just focused on training. I was only one more before Grimoire said it’d be fine to put points into anything in Physical. Apparently, 15 was likely the maximum you could train to, if they’d both done the math right. Around 75 was the highest one could usually go with training, maybe 80 if they were obsessed with one, specific exercise.
I didn’t want to worry about going higher. I’d already have a massive head start ahead of even people who trained obsessively.
Which made me stop and consider it. Wouldn’t this need to take years normally? I couldn’t tell if it was something from the moderator things or something Grimoire was doing. Porter did say there was an instructor skill. Would it really do that much, though?”
Or was I just thinking too much about it. It didn’t matter the how, just that it was.
After about another week, Deacon finally started talking with me more. Questions like, “How would you like to schedule any shopping trips?” or “Are you allergic to anything?” Basic things I assumed he’d need to know to do his job.
After my run that morning, when I finally got the last point of Agility I’d get from training it, Deacon approached me.
“So, what do you say we see what you can do with magic and I try and teach you a couple of tricks.” He said as a greeting. “You could cheat and change classes to get the internal and external manipulation traits, but with some work you can train into them.”
I stopped short and looked at him with a curious glare, “Wait, you can train Traits?”
He shrugged, “Kind of? It wasn’t that easy for me, but some people are better at it. Usually a higher mental stats.”
I wonder if it’s Insight or Intelligence based. Maybe a combination? That seemed the most likely. It could just be people’s innate ability. Even if I succeeded, I’d probably never figure it out.
Deacon waved his hand in front of my face and I blinked, “Hello… You there?”
I stepped back a little, “Yea, sorry. I was just thinking.”
“Well, stop for a bit.” He said with a laugh, “I still need to show you what to do.”
I shook my head at his antics and motioned for him to proceed.
We wound up in my favorite study, the flowers lighting up as we entered.
“This’ll do, I think.” He said, looking around, “It’s pretty in here, who designed it?”
I shook my head, “No idea. Grimoire would know, though.”
Deacon shrugged, “Not important, get comfortable.” He approached one couch and I took a comfortable armchair.
“First of all, do you have Mana Sense?” He asked. “If you have at least a 5 you should be able to get it.”
I nodded, “It’s Tier 0, Rank 1.”
“Okay, that saves a bit of time. Have you tried to actively use it?” He said, leaning forward.
I shook my head, “I didn’t even think to. A lot has happened.”
“So I heard.” Deacon said in a low voice, “I’ll do my best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
I snorted in amusement and held out my hand and rolled my wrist, motioning for him to continue.
He nodded, “Right. Well, focus on it and as you try to will it to activate.”
I focused on it:
“What?” I asked out loud at the system message.
“Do you need me to repeat it?” He said, looking at me curiously.
“Oh, uh. You don’t.” I said, before focusing on Yes.
The world shifted and I could feel tiny things moving across my skin, so small I’d never see them. I shivered and Deacon reached out and grabbed my hand, “Focus. You need to focus on how you want to visualize it.”
I thought about lights and the world seemed to grow brighter, the feeling going away, much to my relief. I noticed one light moving around and started following it with my eyes. I heard Deacon laughed, “You got it! You can turn it off if you want.”
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I decided to leave it on, instead focusing on settings. It had worked with the Veldern menu.
And it worked with this one.
With a sigh, I changed the lights down to something easier to look at. Apparently, I could filter out ambient mana, whatever that was, and a better idea of where things were. Then I could turn the opacity down so it was just an outline around most people.
When I was finished, I saw I had notifications.
Mana Sense has gone up to Tier 1
Mana Sense has gone up to Tier 2
Mana Sense
Your ability to detect the mana levels around you. With time, you can keep track of the information.
Tier 0: You can see mana. All mana. Some sources are stronger than others.
Tier 1: You can see the strength of a mana source is compared to your Magic stats.
Tier 2: You can sense the elements in certain sources of mana.
Even as I read it, the skill hit tier 3
Tier 3: You can sense internal mana with more precision.
I turned the skill off.
+6 Mana Control
+6 Mana
+3 Mana Power
That was a huge increase, and I felt that strange feeling inside me change. It grew and condensed several times, the energy becoming more potent. I reached out to touch it.
You’ve unlocked the Trait: Intrinsic Magic Manipulation
Intrinsic Magic Manipulation
This is the internal mana system of the mage. All mana is held in the core of an individual. A core is an invisible ball of energy that the world will convert to EXP for the one who destroys it. A skilled mage would be capable of controlling it to cast support magic on themselves.
And now I could move it around. That was kind of interesting, but I couldn’t figure out how it do anything. I mentioned it to Deacon and he looked astonished. “I’ve never seen anyone learn it that fast. Usually you need years of practice to safely reach out to it.”
I tapped my foot as I considered what to tell him. Tell him I tiered up twice because I turned some options off?! Do I just say it felt natural? I opened my mouth to say something.
“Is this one of those things I shouldn’t ask about? Grimoire said you had a few secrets you’d want to keep close. Said I shouldn’t push you too hard on the how.” He said, nodding as he considered the idea. “Okay, I’ll just be glad it did because that gives a lot more time for the other trait, Extrinsic Magic Manipulation.”
“Shouldn’t I practice with the first trait first?” I said, confused as he started to pull a small notebook out of his pocket. He tore a page out and started to write a diagram with a lot of squiggly lines that he labeled mana and drew an eye with a cone coming from it and covering the mana, “First step is to turn Mana Sense on.”
I did so and braced myself for another Tier up but nothing came. I saw the Rank already in the teens but it was going up slower than before. If the rate kept up, it’d take a few minutes, and it already looked like it was slowing down.
“Is it on?” Deacon asked, waving a hand in front of my face again.
“Huh, yea. Sorry.” I apologized for what probably looked like spacing out to him.
“Alright, if you’re in the right range you should be able to reach out to them using mana. You don’t need intrinsic magic manipulation for it, and can kind of just call to it.” He held his hand, palm up and slowly a small ball formed. “Some people are able to use the other one to assist with Extrinsic Magi Manipulation, but it can be faster to cast without it.”
I tried to do what he said. I could feel it responding, but not moving towards my palm. Letting out a frustrated huff, I made another attempt, willing it to move. Nothing happened.
“Hm, not as easy.” I said, concentrating as best I could on moving it to my hand. I looked over at Deacon and paused. I saw a thin cloud of mana surrounding him and condensing in one spot. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “When did you intend to tell me you had to expel mana from everywhere first?”
He raised an eyebrow and blinked in surprise. “Uh… I wasn’t? Wait, are you sensing my aura?” He blinked and after a couple seconds the mana around him dispersed and only the ball of mana. And I could see how the ball was connected to his hands. There were tiny strings coming from his fingertips.
With a new idea, she tried calling some mana to the tips of one of her fingers. Nothing really happened. I thought I saw a flicker, but couldn’t confirm anything. Then I considered Deacon again and thought about the Charisma dial I’d set to 0. I turned it up to 5 and suddenly the energy inside my body began to move sluggishly down my arm slowly. I watched it go wondering why Charisma helps this. With only a little hesitation, I turned the dial all the way to 16. The mana shot up my hand to my finger tip and glowed brightly. I thought about the other four fingers and the mana burst through with barely a thought.
You’ve unlocked the Trait: Extrinsic Mana Manipulation
Extrinsic Mana Manipulation
Using a bit of your own mana, you form a connection to the mana surrounding. With a bit of control and skill you could eventually change the type of mana you can attract. Allows the casting of external spells without having spell learned. Doing so will learn the spell.
I stopped focusing and felt a little drained from the experience. Something was missing, but coming back slowly. Meanwhile, Deacon wasn’t looking enthusiastic, “You could’ve told me someone already explained this to you. Grimoire said you didn’t have ANY experience with magic besides Heal and Scan.”
I shook my head, “I don’t! I just… did it.” Which wasn’t a lie. I was figuring this all out on my own.
“Huh, you’re telling the truth.” He said, a lot more confidently than I was comfortable with. I still wasn’t even looking at him when he said, “Your aura is still on and I’m pretty good at reading them.”
My face flushed bright red as I turned the dial all the way back down to 1.
Deacon laughed, “Don’t worry about it. That takes practice too, but I’m feeling petty so I won’t be telling you yet.” Staying true to his word, he stood up and headed for the door, “I think that should be all for today. I’ll be in the yard if you need me.
I shrugged and got up as well, “I might go practice something else for a while then.”
We parted ways, and I went to lift some weights, determined to get it more in line with the other stats.
Deacon took a deep breath and sighed, shaking his head. “Girl’s a freaking monster shaped human.” If she really wasn’t lying, then she was one of the most talented people he’d ever seen. “And I’m supposed to teach her. At the rate she’s going, she’ll be able to teach me.”
He whistled, determined to practice so he wouldn’t fall behind some noble brat.