Mana (2)
Mana (2)
"The origin of mana. Is it the energy emitted from within stars? The life force of living creatures? Or perhaps a power of a completely different kind... That discussion is still a bit early, isn't it? Let's just remember one thing."
I finished the last sandwich.
I'd already filled my stomach with a few nutrition bars earlier, but since you need to eat properly to build up your body, I'd diligently collected and eaten the sandwiches too.
"Mana is a resource! It's consumed when used, recharges while you wait, and through its use it causes phenomena—a resource!"
Once I'd finished eating and cleaned up, I sat cross-legged on the grass near the lake and focused on Professor Liana's explanation.
"All things contain mana, and humans also possess mana. Even ordinary people who haven't awakened have mana. So what's the difference between a superhuman and an ordinary person?"
All things contain mana.
The weeds growing around me, the water of the lake. The vegetation rooted throughout the park, the soil damp with dawn fog.
All of it held faint mana, if I concentrated I could feel it.
Professor Liana, right in front of me, had mana too. She possessed such an enormous well of it that the nearby lake seemed like a mere puddle by comparison.
"The difference is exactly... whether or not you can practically use that mana!"
And I had mana as well. Even someone like me, who had never once used anything called mana in his life.
"Everyone possesses mana, but ordinary people can't use it. However, superhumans are different."
Tap— a slender finger pointed at the pit of my stomach.
"In humans, the vast majority form a core near the heart that retains and refines mana."
The vessel that holds mana, and the center of life activity.
For humans, the core is located in the heart. Distinct from the heart, yet clearly connected to it—that is the core.
"Can you draw out and operate the mana of your core? This is the dividing line between ordinary people and superhumans!"
An ordinary person, a normal person.
A superhuman, a special existence who has transcended the ordinary.
Can you operate mana? That single difference changes so many things.
"Now, here's the important part! Focus!"
Clap— Professor Liana drew my attention by clapping her hands, then stretched out both arms.
"My left hand. From Cadet Lee Ha-yul's perspective, it's the right one, correct? I'll send mana into this hand."
Professor Liana's core. Its contents were so vast they were even compared to an ocean, and that mana now stirred before flowing into her left hand like a trickling stream.
"Can you feel it? If you have sensitivity, you'll feel it; if not, it'll just look like a bare hand."
I can feel it. I could sense not only the mana enveloping her hand, but also the mana flowing gently through her body and the enormous reserve lying dormant in her core.
I nodded.
"Next is the right hand!"
The mana from her core flowed out and into her right hand. The procedure was the same as before.
What changed came in the next moment.
- Wooooong
That sound brushed past my ears. Not that I actually heard such a sound. It was an auditory hallucination. No, it was the noise my Spatial Perception made as it quivered finely.
The mana contained in her right hand squirmed and gathered. Growing denser, it gathered into one, forming a specific arrangement.
- Wooooong!
This time it wasn't an auditory hallucination. Inside my Spatial Perception, which can distinguish colors, I perceived Professor Liana's arm, from fingertips to forearm, wreathed in blue-glowing mana.
In other words, it became visually discernible.
"This is Aura! It's a technique that combat majors... especially cadets in forward positions, must essentially learn and use. Even a low-grade hero, if they can simply coat themselves in aura, can survive hits from ordinary firearms."
Guns exist and are used in this world too.
Grade 4, Grade 3, Grade 2, Grade 1, Special-Grade.
Among the dungeons divided into five grades, Grade 4 Dungeons are handled by lowest-grade heroes and hunters, but a significant number are dealt with by soldiers armed with firearms.
A Grade 4 Dungeon spawns monsters no stronger than 8th Rank, the lowest classification.
Occasionally, 7th Rank or 6th Rank appear, but generally, they are 8th Rank.
Around 8th Rank, they can be handled with simple firearms.
From 7th Rank onward, subjugation using firearms becomes difficult. For such cases, they equip magic tools or have a few heroes accompany them.
"The Aura technique. It's a skill you'll need to utilize going forward, so take good note, and now back to the other side!"
She lowered her right hand, wreathed in blue aura, and raised her left hand, still wrapped in formless mana.
"─"
A low whisper escaped her lips as her mouth opened. Just from that, the mana enveloping her left hand fluctuated.
If the aura on her right hand had been a simple, repeating arrangement, the mana tangled around her left hand in a far more complex formation.
- Fwoosh!
The entangled mana instantly transformed into flame. A change achieved in the blink of an eye. Professor Liana, with the blazing flame floating above her palm, looked at me and continued speaking.
"And this is magic. Quite different from aura, isn't it?"
[Yes]
I nodded absently. Having sensed the entire sequence, from the operation of mana to the moment of manifestation, I felt the difference even more keenly.
- Fwoosh
"However, what we'll learn today is neither of these."
The flames and aura vanished as she clenched her open hand.
"Today's learning objective is mana operation! We'll put off aura and magic for later, and start step by step with basic operation!"
Saying that, Professor Liana clenched both fists tightly. Her eyes seemed full of enthusiasm. I nodded, feeling a bit awkward.
"Well then... here, take this first."
A hand extended before my eyes. On it rested a fist-sized green orb, containing a fair amount of mana.
"This is a Crystal Orb processed from Mana Crystal materials. It's apparently the most commonly used item for basic mana operation practice."
I stretched out both hands and carefully received it. Professor Liana smiled and crouched down across from me.
"Using Cadet Lee Ha-yul's own mana is good too, but for practicing the 'operation' aspect, there's nothing quite like this Crystal Orb."
I know what this is. It's a mana training device that briefly appeared in the original story.
"The mana inside your body has established dominion, so it's relatively easy to handle. But this Crystal Orb is different. It's mana strictly different from your own! It's practically like unclaimed territory with no owner, so it's harder to handle than your own mana."
I stroked the Crystal Orb. Its surface was smooth and cool to the touch. Professor Liana laughed softly, reached out, and tapped the back of my hand.
"Alright, step one is inserting Cadet Lee Ha-yul's mana into the Crystal Orb. Step two is using the inserted mana as a hook to draw out the orb's mana. Step three is absorbing the drawn-out mana."
Let's try it with these three stages.
Having finished speaking, Professor Liana stared intently at me. Probably intending to watch me attempt it once before teaching.
After nodding, I closely examined the Crystal Orb with Spatial Perception. The mana filling the orb sloshed like water in a bottle.
I concentrated, observing the Crystal Orb, then nudged the mana in my core.
"The first stage shouldn't take that long. Before manipulating mana, you have to start by sensing the mana inside your body, you see."
The mana sloshed, startled as if suddenly waking from sleep. The sensation of moving mana for the first time was a complicated feeling to describe.
A lukewarm energy filling my heart? Either way, I succeeded in awakening the mana. I immediately moved on to the next step.
I supported the bottom of the Crystal Orb with my left hand, and covered the orb with my right hand.
I drew the mana from my core and guided it to my right hand. I coaxed it along, soothing the mana that had just awakened and seemed drowsy and fretful.
"Since you seem to have sensed it, manipulation should be possible in about one breath— ... Huh?"
The mana had reached my hand. Now it was time for the first stage. I manipulated the mana, shaping its tip like a sharp thorn.
- Stab
"Huh?"
I stabbed it deep into the Crystal Orb. Not that the Crystal Orb shattered. To be precise, I didn't stab the orb, but the mana within it.
My mana burrowed in smoothly. I steadily recharged the mana so it wouldn't sever, driving it deeper inside.
Eventually, I stopped the pillar of mana that had burrowed all the way to the center of the Crystal Orb.
Now for the second stage.
I imagined the image of a straw as I manipulated my mana. And now it was time to make it function. Concentrating, I willed the straw to act like a magnet and sucked the Crystal Orb's mana.
- Wooooong...
"Eh..."
The mana of the Crystal Orb faintly trembled. It seemed to resist for a brief moment, but then it lost strength and was drawn out, siphoned by my straw.
Part of it was drawn out through the straw, but the puncture also caused some mana to leak into the air, like a hot spring bursting forth.
Insufficient. It felt like a waste to see mana dissipating uselessly into the air.
I gathered it all. I could take even that. An intuition born of the unique ability called Mana Affinity told me it was possible.
I swept up even the mana trying to disperse and brought it to me. I drew in everything nearby. Driven by a greedy determination, I pulled the mana out in streams and absorbed it into my hand.
"Uh..."
The core is located in the heart.
Just as blood vessels extend from the heart to carry blood throughout the body, circuits extend from the core to carry mana throughout the body.
Reversing that process, I drew all the mana accepted through my palm and guided it to my core.
The size of my core was small. Professor Liana in front of me possessed a core so vast its boundaries were hard to distinguish, whereas mine was barely the size of a bean.
It was possible. My intuition told me. It whispered that I could gather it, that I could handle it all.
- Thump
In that moment, my heart beat heavily. As if responding, the core pulsed along with it and expanded its size. It seemed to assure me that it could accept whatever I gave it.
'Good.'
One by one, I scraped the mana from the Crystal Orb and settled it neatly into my core. I soothed the mana, which felt unsettled, like a newcomer in an unfamiliar home, and guided it to mix with my original mana.
.......
...
- Zzing
An electric sensation swept down my spine. A subtle feeling of elation welled up. It was the sensation I had felt at the Freshman Welcome Party.
"Hoo..."
I expelled the breath that had filled me up inside. I released an amount that felt greater than my usual lungful. As I did, the stuffy feeling inside my chest immediately cleared.
Yet my insides still felt bloated. Like I'd forced down too much food, it felt stuffy. Huh? What was I just doing?
My hazy consciousness rapidly surfaced. The perspective of my Spatial Perception, which had switched to radar mode without my noticing, returned to normal.
The surface of the lake sparkling under the bright sunlight. The dawn fog that had completely vanished.
And, crouched in front of me, staring blankly with her mouth agape, Professor Liana...
"Wow..."
As if realizing I had come to my senses, Professor Liana, who had been gaping, let out a sigh.
"Is this why he's a Special Admission...?"
"?"
Along with words I couldn't understand.