“You’re welcome,” she said with a grin. “Before you complain any further, I think you’ll find a prompt waiting for you.”
Glaring daggers at the masochistic Master, he checked his notifications.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Mana Manipulation. There is more to manipulating the arcane mysteries than words and gestures. The Hearth Mother has aligned your mana field to allow for easier casting of spells and decreased possibility of misfires. Learning this skill has unlocked the basic attack spell of all casters.
Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Manifest Mana. This spell has no specific affinity for any type of magic. Instead, the power and effects of this spell are determined by the skill level of Mana Manipulation. Successful casting of this spell makes your mana tangible in the physical world. At skill level one, the cost is 100 mana and, if thrown at an attacker, will cause 1 point of magical force damage. This is an unaligned spell, level 1. Cost: variable. Duration: Instant. Range: variable. Cast Time: variable. Cooldown: N/A.
“I hope there is more coming that that!” Richter exclaimed. “I mean I appreciate all the previous spells, but this Mana Attack is straight garbage. It certainly wasn’t worth you ripping my taint through my mouth!”
“Shush,” Hisako admonished him. “I do not know what your ‘taint’ is, but I believe I can guess. If you reference it again in my presence, I will acquaint you with some of my other spells.” ‘Acquaint’ had a suitably ominous undertone, so Richter apologized despite the continual throbbing in his arms and head. Mollified, she continued, “Had you undergone some type of formal training, anywhere in The Land, you would have learned this spell first. While the damage is laughable initially, as you level your Mana Manipulation skill it grows. You are missing the main point, however. Have you noticed the somatic component of this spell?”
Richter had managed to get into a sitting position. He was still in a bad mood, but when he glared at the bossy woman and saw her glare right back, he once again decided to appease the powerful little woman. He searched the in-depth knowledge of the spell that he suddenly had access to. The hours he had spent scribing spellbooks had greatly increased his conceptual understanding of magic. The best way he had come up with explaining it was that knowing a spell was like knowing a phone number. You could call it on a cell, no problem, but it didn’t mean you understood how the sound waves of your voice converted to electrical energy and then were transmitted as radio waves. Richter was starting to understand the inner mechanisms of spell work. That was why he was absolutely shocked when he saw that Manifest Mana was missing something that every other spell he knew required. Namely, the need for gestures.
Curious now, he accessed the spell. His mana pool dropped by one hundred points. Richter felt a slight tug from his center, the place he now knew was his mana core, and a pea-sized mote of mana appeared in front of him. It was the same rich blue as the mana bar on his interface. Hisako’s explanation of his mana condensing also answered a question he had had in the back of his mind for a while. When he improved his Intelligence, the blue bar of his mana deepened to a brighter hue. The same was true for his Constitution and Endurance which deepened the colors of his health and stamina bars respectively. The red of his health bar was by far the most vibrant, which made sense because Constitution was his highest stat.
Richter stared in fascination at the bright blue sphere floating in front of him. Grabbing it, the tangible magic was malleable, but could only be compressed so far. What it reminded Richter off was squeezing a gummy bear. Not the crappy greasy ones, but the good German ones. ‘Go Haribo or go home’ as he used to say. After about a minute, it just disappeared. “Where did it go?”
“As I said, at skill level one, the spell is extremely limited,” Hisako replied. “Cast it again and, this time, will it to fire at that rock.”
Once again, Richter cast Manifest Mana and marveled at the fact that he didn’t have to move his hands to complete the spell. The blue pea also appeared instantly. Even his spells with one second cast times didn’t manifest as quickly. He willed it to fly at the cliff face. The small blue ball shot away and hit the rock, disappearing without a trace.
“It may not be impressive, but the spell will grow in power,” Hisako repeated. “What you need to do is concentrate on consciously pulling mana from your field into your core. It will feel as if nothing is happening at first, but the more you practice, the more you will be aware of your magical field. Once you can feel it, start trying to pull mana from individual parts of your body. By doing this, you will increase the mana pathways in your body. Once you level Mana Manipulation, Manifest Mana becomes more versatile,” Hisako said with a smile.
Suddenly, in front of her three small birds appeared. They all opened their mouths and sang. The clarity of their voices was incredible and brought a peace to Richter’s heart. The pixie children swarmed around them, seeing a new toy and raised their voices as well. For a few minutes, the impromptu symphony filled the air, until Hisako waved her hand and the birds disappeared. The pixie children let out a universal “Awwww,” and dispersed, but their song had already had an effect.
You have heard: Playful Song of the Celestial Pixie. The celestial pixies have celebrated their joy of life and all that it brings. You have been lucky enough to hear this song. You will be much less susceptible to negative emotional influences because of this reminder of the beauty in the world around you. +10% defense against negative emotional effects for the next 24 hours.
Richter looked at Hisako with a genuine and unreserved smile, which she returned.
“Did you know that would happen when you summoned your birds?” he asked in wonder.
She looked at him smugly and said, “Of course I did.”
Richter chuckled at her cockiness. There was no doubt where Sion got his personality from. The chaos seed looked at all of the new spells he had learned, and joy filled his heart anew. Some of them were even minor in power! From the Lore books he had been reading he knew that most spells were assigned a strength of weak, minor, average, enhanced, potent, superior, powerful, grand and supreme. Up to this point, all of his spells had been weak. Though they were effective, they were limited in strength. She had just given him higher ranked magic! As he reviewed the spells, his mind turned to the practical. “So, which of these summoning spells should I use against the goblins?”
Hisako looked at him confused, “What do you mean?”
“I mean when we go into battle, which of these summoned creatures would work best against them? I have been using my weak saproling, but if this spider is better, I’ll use that. I just wish I could summon more than one at once.”