Awakening Mana
Ragnar the Tiger Elder stayed silent for a while. His gaze slowly scanned my body, starting from my legs, up my arms, shoulders, chest, head, and back down to my back. Like he was dissecting some alien creature for the first time. Then he grabbed my wrist, checked my pulse, and just sat there quietly for a long stretch before shaking his head.
"Phew…."
"What's wrong…? Say something."
"…."
"You said my channels were all open, right? Isn't that a good thing?"
"It is good…."
"Then why are you acting like that!"
Ragnar's face twisted in this weird way—not happy, not angry, not sad. Just ambiguous. Like someone who'd been waiting months for a remake of their favorite epic game, only to open it up and find out it was just a solid port.
"…Frustrating."
"What?"
"It's so unfair!!"
"…."
???
"This isn't right! Why do you get it so easy!"
Suddenly, Ragnar lost it. He started stomping his feet, shaking the ground with each thud from how pissed he was.
"Wh-what's wrong?"
"Ursa, opening your qi channels is like a rite of passage for mana beginners."
"Rite of passage?"
"Truth is, just Awakening isn't enough to do anything. You need hands to grab stuff, right? Same with mana—you need a body tuned for it."
"…."
"That's where qi channels come in. You're creating organs that don't even exist naturally. Think that's gonna be painless? You'll scream like the world's ending."
"…."
"That scream means something. It's declaring the death of your ordinary self amid the agony, reborn as a mana user. That's the point of the rite."
"So I…."
Ragnar's eyes twitched.
"You just skipped the rite! While everyone else was puking blood and writhing, you coasted!"
"…."
"Aigoo, I'm dying of jealousy! Took me three days flat on my back! Three days!"
…So he's straight-up jealous? A elder, acting like a kid?
Ragnar finally flopped onto the ground with a thud and threw a full-on tantrum. This is an elder? What the hell is wrong with tiger beastkin…
Thankfully, right before my inner image of tiger beastkin dignity got downgraded from majestic tiger to alley cat, Ragnar's meltdown ended.
"Anyway, whatever. Why are your channels open?"
"…Beats me. First time hearing about qi channels today."
"Hmm… Sit back down for now."
I crossed my legs again and turned my back to him. Unlike before, a hot surge of qi flowed from his palms, spreading across my back and through my whole body.
Wooong—
"Urgh…."
"Hold it."
A firm command. The qi heated me up more and more. Even a breeze felt no cooler. Sweat poured off me.
"Done."
"Ha…."
His hands lifted, and the heat vanished like a lie. A sudden chill made me shiver, and Ragnar silently draped his cloak over me.
"Circulating qi gave me the gist. Looks like your channels opened pretty recently."
"Not open since birth?"
He shook his head.
"Impossible. They're not something you're born with."
"Got it…."
"If qi hadn't flowed for ages, spots would've clogged up by now. But it hasn't been flowing much either—the channels are still narrow. Best guess? They popped open a month or two ago… Anything happen then?"
"A month ago…?"
That was still on the Great Plains.
"My theory from here… Feels like your channels got forced open."
"Huh? Aren't channels supposed to be forced open? Wasn't that what we just did?"
"No, not like this. You were prepped. Like… consent? We agreed."
Consent? He yelled 'Grit your teeth!' with zero explanation!
"Usually, you expand them gradually, leaving traces—pauses along the way. But yours? No traces. Like they got blasted open in one go."
"In one go? Possible?"
"…Yeah."
His voice dropped low.
"If an unawakened regular gets caught in a massive mana surge, channels force open. The density's so high it just rams through."
"Whoa… How'd you know?"
"Seen a few back in the day."
"How?"
"Demon King kicked our asses."
"…."
Ragnar's eyes shook with distant memory, the look of someone lost in the past.
"That day the demons invaded, their vanguard had her."
"…."
"Chaos Demon King, Astaroth. The backlash from her magic alone burst channels in unawakened folk."
"Ah…."
"Survivors weren't lucky. Their bodies just held."
Ragnar chuckled darkly.
"Those survivors… channels blasted wide open like yours. No rite, so they whined. Heh."
He tacked on the joke, but I couldn't laugh. Tales from those days weren't tossed around lightly.
"Ursa."
Ragnar stared straight at me.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"…."
A mana surge strong enough to force my channels open.
Was there…?
I racked my brain. A month ago… Great Plains…
"Ah."
One thing hit me. Deep enough to echo in my lucid dreams. The Great Plains catching stars. Reality shaking. The blur between dream and real.
If that was the Plains' magic… Demon King level? Timing fit perfect.
But… how to explain?
"Well? Ring any bells?"
"Hmmmmm……."
How to make him buy it? Straight truth? The Plains is my mom, channels opened catching stars in the necklace?
"Hmmmm……."
I wouldn't believe me. He'd think psycho.
Say lightning? Nah, too long— a year?
"Grrrrr…!"
"…Kid, your head's gonna explode."
Thwack.
"Ow!"
"Drop it. No way you met a Demon King."
"…."
"Anyway, good's good, right? Say the Plains did it."
Nailed it, though?
"Sucks you skipped the rite, but hey, saved tons of time."
"Tons?"
"Normally, aftereffects floor you for a week."
"…."
A week? I touched my back gingerly. Suddenly grateful for the open channels.
Thanks, Mom.
"Alright, next step?"
"Next is?"
His eyes sparkled.
"Final step to Awakening mana! You've Awakened, channels open—now wield qi!"
"Ooh!"
Magic time!
.
Awakening mana has three steps:
1. Awaken to gather mana.
2. Channels absorb it, convert to qi.
3. Use the qi.
Nail all three, you're Awakened.
One left for me.
But no royal road for the last.
"Too slow! Faster!"
"Huff… huff…!"
Last step: Repetition mastery. Grind.
Push body to limit, qi pops out eventually. Repeat to hone the sense. Brutally simple.
"Huff… huff… Arrrgh!"
Five hours of full sprint already. When stamina bottoms and I collapse, energy surges. Run till crash. Repeat till blackout.
Thirty laps around the plateau at least.
"Ursa. Slacking?"
"Huff… huff… No sir!!"
Now Serian oversaw me. Ragnar clocked out four hours back. Serian took the baton to "cheer."
"Don't just run! Feel the energy! Miss nothing— what's flowing, how it moves!"
"…Yesss!"
"Short answers!"
Some cheer. Just slave-driving.
Ragnar gave breathers; Serian? Zero mercy. Slow down, she flips earth—keep running or get buried.
The kicker? Qi auto-triggers when death loomed.
Wooong.
"Good! Qi flow speeding up! Little more!"
It's 'cause stamina's zero, sis….
Couldn't twitch a finger without qi now. Ironically, it worked. Constant use hit qi-only movement. Felt blazing channels and flow live.
Endless run wrapped at sunset.
Serian approached me, qi-propped upright.
"Amazing, Ursa! Still got juice?"
"…Gonna die, sis. Barely hanging."
"That's the impressive part! Most black out qi-dry; you've got whines left?"
Not whining.
"Qi-propping? Great qi sense. Sis is proud!"
"…Thanks. All you, sis."
Without her dehydration training, no growth like this.
"Ehehe… Nah, your effort. Great! I'll take over full-time tomorrow!"
"Huh…?"
"I'll tell Ragnar. Come straight to me. Got it?"
Tomorrow too? All day with sis?
"N-no! You got construction—"
"Fine! Big stuff done. Kids can handle rest. That's why I could watch today. No worries!"
Serian beamed. Just happy helping.
"…Okay."
Couldn't refuse her kindness.
.
Thus began Serian's dehydration routine.
1. Cliff dangling.
"Let go, you drop?"
"Eek!"
2. Breath-holding.
"No peeking up. C'mon, use qi without looking!"
"Glug! Glllrk!!!"
3. Toughness training.
"Wrap qi to endure. Fail? Snap."
"Grraaah! Bear Elder! Tiger Elder! Sonyaaa!"
"Sob sob… Sorry, big sis Ursa… I, I can only watch…!"
Sonya's teary cheers and Serian's devotion skyrocketed my qi sense daily.
Four days later, I Awakened mana. Finally free from Serian.