Chapter 4

A Meager Manipulation

Walking up to the flowing water, Jay stretched out his flask toward the spouting fountain, catching the stream until his flask was full. That's one less thing to worry about.

Yes, Jay, Claudine chimed in agreement.

Where do I need to go now, Claudine? he asked mentally. I want to find the place where I can learn Meditation and maybe an attack spell or two. It's never a bad idea to know some offence, especially as weak as I am right now.

Before he got an answer a voice sounded from behind him. “Hello, Adventurer. May I help you with anything?”

Turning around to see who had spoken, Jay beheld a tall, skinny man wearing elaborately patterned dark blue robes; the man was slightly smiling at him and with a placid face the man looked at Jay through an unruly mop of brown hair almost covering very observant eyes. The man's appearance made Jay feel wary.

“Hello, I'm here because I want to learn some Spells.” Jay said. “Maybe you could help me? My name's Jay. What's yours?”

“I am Rolan Fairwater,” Rolan said. “You're here to learn some Spells, huh? From what I can see you're not qualified to learn any Spells but the most basic of the basic Spells. You're too fundamentally inexperienced, and I can see that you don't have a profession of the magical persuasion. The only thing good I can see in you is a small spark of Wisdom in your eyes, a much needed quality in would-be magicians, but you're still lacking. At your Level there is one Spell I can teach you for free, and one that costs ten iron coins. Do you wish to learn these Spells?”

“Yes,” Jay said. “But, unfortunately, I don't have ten iron coins. The Spell for free will have to do, for now. Can you teach me here? Or do I need to go somewhere?”

“We will go to a training grounds close by,” Rolan said. “If that's okay with you. There you can see others wielding Spells you might learn in the future, even those with a magical profession will be there and training their vocational spells. And in the training hall your Mana Regeneration is boosted by 2%, which makes it possible to train there much faster than any other place. Will you come with me?”

“Sounds good, Rolan. Lead the way.”

Following Rolan, walking by several small gardens while on the snaking road, they soon arrived at the training grounds. Jay was running low on Mana because of his 'Enduring Willpower' Skill and was glad they arrived before it ran out. He could feel the change in the air when he arrived at the training grounds; when he crossed from the path and under the pavilion's roof his Mana surged within him, making the Mana-cost of 'Enduring Willpower' drop by almost half.

The place was more or less an open air pavilion with a shimmering see-through ceiling bending up in a dome above an area larger than a hundred meter in diameter. At the top of the dome a large crystal was fused into the ceiling, making it almost seem like the crystal was floating in mid air; from it radiated a symmetrically pulsing light, cascading out with the illusion of ripples on water. Everywhere he looked, a person stood either forming or releasing Spells at target dummies. The Spells had colors from all over the spectrum, but most had a blueish cast to them.

“Okay,” Rolan said. “We're here. Do you feel the difference in the air? The large Regeneration Crystal uses light from the sky to magically enhance this place to give everyone here a boost in their Mana Regeneration. Isn't it wonderful?”

“Yes,” Jay said. “It will be a good place to train. Can you teach me the free Spell now?”

“Of course,” Rolan said. “The Spell is called 'Mana Manipulation' and is a foundational Spell all Magicians learn before any other Spell. It's use it very versatile, and is the first building block that all Spells rely on.”

“Sounds good,” Jay said. “But what does it do? Will you show me? Or how will you teach it to me? How do we go about this?”

“I could show you, but learning Spells that way is difficult and takes a lot of time,” Rolan said, handing Jay a Scroll made from faded yellow parchment. “Here, take this. It's a Scroll for learning Spells. It's infused with a Spellmaker's Mana and when you read it to completion the knowledge will be imprinted in your mind. After you have learned the Spell from a Scroll you will never forget it, and you will have a the complete understanding passed on by the Spellmaker.”

“Good, that way seems easy,” Jay said, taking the scroll. Observe.

Basic Scroll of Understanding 'Mana Manipulation' (30g) The Scroll contains knowledge of the Spell 'Mana Manipulation' and was made by the Spellmaker Alron Fairwater. Requires 20 in Wisdom to learn.

He unrolled the parchment to read what knowledge it held. It didn't take long and after reading through the short description of the Spell, a Screen opened. Ping!

Through reading a Scroll about Mana Manipulation you have taken the first step in understanding magic. You have learned the Spell 'Mana Manipulation'

View Spell 'Mana Manipulation', Jay thought, wanting to look at the Spell right away.

[Active Magic Spell] Mana Manipulation Level 1 (0%) 20MP per minute and cubic decimeter of Mana Mana flows in everything; it's the essence of reality, a power holding everything together. Learning to tap your own Mana and manipulating its natural state is the first step to learning any spell. Very advanced users can even manipulate solid matter without touching it with anything but their Mana. Let's the user Manipulate his own Mana outside himself and use it to influence forces in the world. Using Mana to influence forces drains 20MP per minute and cubic decimeter of Mana. Applying force to physical objects drains 20000MP per kilogram and minute.

The Spell seemed both strange and potentially great; if the idea Jay got from reading its description could work he could make his own Spells by using this Spell. He had to test it out as soon as he could start using 'Mana Manipulation'. 

Walking to a nearby stone bench and sitting down, he looked up at Rolan. “What was the Spell that cost 10 iron coins? Is it worth learning?”

“The other spell you can learn right now costs 10 iron coins and is named 'Magic Shot'. It is what it sounds like. A condensed ball of Mana that you shoot at whatever it is you want to damage. It can be learned by anyone with Wisdom over 35. You need a fairly high Intelligence to have it do any real damage though, which is why only those that are going to have a vocation that uses magic ever learn it. It's no real use to Warriors or other physical professions.”

“Is that so?” Jay asked, thinking he had not decided if he was going to take a physical or magical profession, but since he had high Wisdom he might as well learn every Spell and Skill he could afford. “Another reason I came here today was that I wanted to learn the Skill Meditation. What are the requirements for learning that Skill? I heard I could learn it here. Can't you teach it to me?”

“I'm truly sorry,” Rolan said, shaking his head. “'Meditation' is only taught to those with at least Level 8; that is its only requirement, but it is also impossible to get around if you want to use the Scroll to learn it.”

“Does that mean I can learn it by myself without a Scroll and be lower than Level 8?” Jay asked, hoping he was right. He had, after all, gotten the Skill 'Enduring Willpower' from having faltering Strength and crawling on the ground. It might be possible to learn a Skill without having the required Level for using the Scroll.

“Everything is possible if you work hard enough for it,” Rolan said, cryptically. Jay took that as an admission that it was possible to learn 'Meditation' by himself and looked around at people that looked like they might be using that Skill. He saw a man clad in an ornately embroidered pale green robe—much like the one Rolan wore, except in its color—sitting a couple of meters away in a strange position on the ground. The man had his legs crossed and hands resting in his lap, knuckles touching, fingers relaxed with his thumbs touching. That must be the 'Meditation' Skill, he thought, hoping Claudine would answer.

“Let me show you my 'Mana Manipulation' so you can get a feel for it,” Rolan said, interrupting Jay's intense scrutiny of the presumedly meditating man. Rolan stretched out his hand and a ball of blue light formed into a sphere on top of his palm, then the ball turned into a cube, and then into a cone. Rolan was changing the appearance of his Mana to show Jay how it could be done.

“Thank you,” Jay said. “I will train by myself for now, if you don't mind. If I only have one Spell, I might as well get to know its properties before I leave this place.” He sat down beneath the stone bench, resting his back against the seat and looked over to the man meditating, trying to imitate his posture. It felt strange, but not uncomfortable.

“Yes, well...” Rolan said, as if disturbed by the abrupt dismissal. “I will leave you then, but I'll be around if you need any help, or another of the Greeters will be. Just ask someone with this symbol on their clothes and they will help you.” Rolan pointed to his shoulder at a round cloth patch with bisecting black and white strands swirling like a whirlpool around a circular blue center.

“Thank you, Rolan,” Jay said. “I will just sit here and play with 'Mana Manipulation' for the time being.”

After Rolan left, Jay took a small pinch of sand from the ground and put it in the palm of his hand. He spread out the grains of sand until he could clearly see each and every one.

With the added bonus of the Regeneration Crystal that illuminated the ground beneath the pavilion Jay Regenerated slightly more than 50 Mana each minute, which made it possible to use 'Observe' once every 12 seconds without reducing his total Mana. But because he had over a thousand Mana, he just counted grains of sand until he had a hundred and used 'Observe' on all of them, one at a time without caring about any needed Mana Regeneration.

After going through almost all the grains of sand he picked out the least frequent stone-fragments: one grain of magnetite he could use right away and a few more grains of quartz that he had a plan for later. It was quite strange to know that even the smallest things were objects in this world. He knew he was in a game, but it seemed too real to be called something as simple as a game.

Opening his Inventory he stashed the small grains of quartz in its own Inventory Space to not lose the minuscule stones. The grain of magnetite he had another plan for, holding it between his fingers and brushing away all the other sand he once again looked at the miniature stone to be sure he had calculated correctly. Observe.

Grain of Magnetite (0.32g) A small piece of crystallized magnetite. Its pitch black luster twinkles brightly with reflected light. It is slightly magnetized.

Okay, this will do, he thought. Moving the piece of magnetite with Mana Manipulation would be the more advanced use, but it would also be a bit more entertaining than just trying to make shapes with his Mana. He forced his will to the palm of his hand, feeling Mana slip out of his pores. It almost felt like he was sweating Mana; a strange feeling, to say the least. With the Mana he shifted the magnetite around in his palm, feeling a slight mental strain from moving it, but nothing else. His Mana Regeneration right now was more than 50 Mana per minute and moving the stone only took a bit less than 7 Mana per minute. He had Mana enough to fling about more magnetite stones.

At first he had only wanted a couple of suitable grains of sand to move around with his Mana Manipulation to train the skill while getting to know its properties, but when he saw that magnetite had a slight magnetic force in it, his intuition told him to try only using magnetite and see if there was any possibility to control the slight magnetic force with his Mana. And since the first grain of magnetite only too 7 Mana per minute to move around he could search for more small pieces of magnetite.

He used 'Observe' a couple of hundred times more on the grains of sand, picking out another four pieces of magnetite and storing forty one pieces of quartz in his Inventory. The quartz was something he might be able to turn into a weapon later, if his idea could be put into action; the small pieces of quartz all had extremely sharp edges, which could probably inflict damage if used correctly with 'Mana Manipulation'.

Now that he had enough pieces of magnetite that his Mana Manipulation took more Mana per minute than he could Regenerate he was satisfied. He could juggle the pieces of magnetite, using his Mana Manipulation while trying to imitate the meditation-posture he saw earlier. He crossed his legs again, straightening his back and put his hands in his lap, relaxing his body and closed his eyes slightly, only seeing the swirling grains of sand as he tried breathing in a slow, but steady pattern.

He kept this up for one hour, then another, all the while focusing on both keeping the grains of magnetite airborne and keeping his body in a relaxed state. It felt almost natural to him after that, and he kept going for another couple of hours, only coming out of his almost trance-like state when, ping!

You are Exhausted. Your Stamina has reached 0 Your Strength has decreased by 80% You lose 5 HP every minute while your Stamina is 0

Damn it, he thought, I should have checked my Stamina earlier. It seems I used more Stamina than if I rest normally, but much less than if I am very active. He had at least gotten some good information from that; he had learned that Stamina was used quicker when he used Spells than if just resting, but by how much he couldn't really tell. Well, at least it was something to remember for the future.

Once again his food-situation had become dire; he had seven pieces of the Small Traveling Biscuit left and that wouldn't even fill half his Stamina. The only hope was that he had spent hours imitating the posture of those around him he had seen using what he presumed was the Skill 'Meditation'. And he knew that if he could learn that Skill his biscuits would skyrocket in their Stamina-output. It was worth it to try getting the skill for a little while longer. He ate three small biscuits, washing them down with water, raising his Stamina to 15.

Getting back into his meditation posture, he reduced the number of magnetite grains he was pushing around in the air to two and hoped it would make his Stamina drain slower. And he was right, after an hour his Stamina had only decreased by three, which was an improvement, but he didn't know exactly how much. All he knew was that if he ate his remaining biscuits he could keep this up for another ten hours and still not become Exhausted. He wanted to be on the safe side however, and was only going to try learning 'Meditation' until he was Exhausted again.

Another hour passed, and a slight pang of despair was forming inside Jay. He had truly believed that he could learn the 'Meditation' Skill by imitating the others. If he could not, had he spent all this time wasting Stamina for nothing?

Another hour passed; Jay was reluctant to continue, but kept his trance-like state going because he was certain he was feeling something different now. Somehow his Mana felt like it wanted to surge, but something was blocking it. He stopped using 'Mana Manipulation' on the magnetite for a moment to try and figure out what the different feeling in his Mana was. Suddenly,

Through the imitation of others and a deeply feeling sense of your body you have attuned and improved your body and mind's ability to share resources You have learned the Skill 'Meditation' You have earned 45 Experience Points

Finally, he thought. I had almost given up on this. View Skill 'Meditation'.

[Active Support Skill] Meditation Level 1 (0%) Meditation is the foundation of exploring your mind and its connection to your body. Through resting your body completely and actively attuning your Mana flow, you gain the ability to boost your natural abilities of Regeneration. Increases Mana Regeneration by 1% Increases Health Regeneration by 1% Increases Stamina gained from food by 400% distributing a forth every 15 minutes for 1 hour. This Skill is interrupted if you move or are moved. If this happens it can only be reactivated after five minutes.

Nice, he thought, now I get four times the Stamina from food if I only take my time waiting. I hope it can be stacked though. If I can only eat one thing and have to wait an hour before eating another piece of food it might be a bit tedious. That's something I have to explore when I have more food though. For now I'll eat another biscuit and 'Meditate' for an hour and swirl the magnetite around with 'Mana Manipulation'.

Doing as he thought, he brought out all five pieces of magnetite and started juggling the pieces in a complex pattern with his Mana. Then he ate another biscuit and started meditating with almost closed eyes, watching the magnetite grains as they spun through the air. It was a good thing that he could use Magic while Meditating.

An hour passed by quickly, it was as if his mind went somewhere else when he meditated. He was completely aware, while still being in what felt like an almost timeless mental state. He thought of what to do next, but that only occupied the back of his mind, since it was the same answer as always: he had to get more food. He kept meditating even after an hour had passed, looking at his Mana, that didn't drop anything, since he now had a higher Mana Regeneration than it took to float the magnetite in the air. It felt like 'Mana Manipulation' had become a bit easier to use too, so he checked the Spell. View Spell 'Mana Manipulation'.

[Active Magic Spell] Mana Manipulation Level 4 (39%) 17MP per minute and cubic decimeter Mana flows in everything; it's the essence of reality, a power holding everything together. Learning to tap your own Mana and manipulating its natural state is the first step to learning any spell. Very advanced users can even manipulate solid matter without touching it with anything but their Mana. Let's the user Manipulate his own Mana outside himself and use it to influence forces in the world. Using Mana to influence forces drains 17MP per minute and cubic decimeter Mana. Lifting physical objects drains 19700MP per kilogram and minute.

That was good to know: the Mana requirement for using the Spell was decreasing when it leveled up. If he could get the Mana cost to be zero would that mean he could use it without limit? That seemed to good to be true, but it could be possible. Jay hoped it truly was that, but felt there would probably be a lower limit that he wouldn't get lower. It was more an intuition he got from knowing how the Spell worked than actual knowledge, but he felt it was true.

“Ehum,” a voice said from somewhere and Jay looked up to see that Rolan was back. “Do you have a minute, Jay?”

“Yes, what is you want with me?”

“I could not help see how you learned 'Meditation' by yourself, and your unusual way of training 'Mana Manipulation'. Not many people even think of moving objects before they have used 'Mana Manipulation' to learn Spells,” Rolan said. “You must either be a genius or an idiot, I can't really tell, yet...”

“So,” Jay said. “You're here to insult me?”

“No, no...” Rolan said. “Take it as a compliment. Not many Adventurer your Level is able to surprise us Resident Magicians, but you have. And because of that I have come to ask you if you would help me with a slight problem I've been having. Would you like to hear more?”

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