《ManaBorn》 Arc 1: The Free City of Tiphor - Chapter 1: Birth Deep beneath the Tiphor Desert, in a chamber untouched by time, the liquid mana of plane¡¯s core began to churn. It seethed and twisted, the liquid mana beginning to bubble. Beneath the liquid, in the center of the Mana Chamber, a change began to occur. The mana began to change its form, crystalizing into a solid. Slowly the crystals began to form a skeletal structure, forming the base of the new life. Slowly, ever so slowly, a vague humanoid shape developed, formed from the frothing mana. Bluish muscle, organs, and skin began to form around the skeleton, matching the color of the surrounding liquid. Over time, the body of what appeared to be a human formed, curled in the fetal position. There was no defining features to show its gender - no face or genitalia. Where both of these should have resided was only smooth, perfect skin. Despite the lack of defining features, if one was to guess its gender, they would have guessed male. The form was almost picturesque, muscular, but not bulky, lithe, but not skinny. After the initial body was formed, the mana around it began to flash different colors. With each flash, a symbol was emblazoned upon the beings chest and second, smaller symbol on its blank face. Eleven flashes of light in sequence - a strong purple, a startling yellow, a soft green, lighter blue, a deep brown, a sickening red, a dull gray, a pure white, a pure black, a sharp mixture of white and blue, and finally, a light orange. The figures formed a circle on his chest and a smaller one on his face, with seemingly one final space available at the top of each to finish them off. The 12th flash never came, however. Finally, after the last mark was burned into the chest and head, a consciousness was bestowed upon the creature, heralding the birth of the fifth Legendary Being on the Sycer Plane. ---------------------------- All he could sense was blinding light. It swirled around him like an angry ocean, covering him in its embrace. Unable to focus with the light blinding his senses, he turned them off completely, relying only on his sense of touch to feel his surroundings. The liquid was neither cold nor hot, rough or gentle, soft or hard. It was simply...there. Relying on instinct alone, he tried to push himself upward, seeking to escape the sweet embrace of the liquid. Several moments later, he gave up, unable to move from his position. Deciding to relax in the liquid, he let himself float aimlessly amongst it. He didn¡¯t need air to breath or even food or water to drink. All he needed to survive was held in the liquid around him. No, it was the liquid around him - Mana. He opened himself to it, allowing the power to flow inside of him, nourishing him. He felt strength come to his limbs, his mind sharper, his power grow. Some time later, he finally stopped absorbing the mana, knowing instinctively he had reached his limit. Just as he finished, a box appeared in his vision, both there and not there, visible, yet invisible. At first he could not read the characters inside the box, but slowly they came into focus.
...Formation Complete ...Initializing eruption of Mana Volcano
He felt the mana shift around, the liquid suddenly becoming more violent. He instinctively knew not struggle as the liquid rose around him, carrying him upwards to some unknown destination. Suddenly the liquid was no longer around him. Instead, he felt a cool substance brushing against his skin. Then he felt his stomach rise into his throat, followed by a hard impact on coarse, shifting ground. Shifting his senses back on, activating the lone skill he instinctively knew he possessed.
(Passive) Mana Sense (X) lvl 1 -Race exclusive Mana is your gateway to the world around you. Through it, you can sense everything around you, to a level beyond that of any other race. +ability to sense the shape of objects around you +ability to sense the flow of mana around you +ability to sense the sound waves around you +ability to sense the smells of objects around you +ability to sense the taste of objects around you Current Radius: 20m NOTICE: This passive, and its individual parts, are able to be toggled on and off at will
He did not activate it all at once, instead choosing to activate it one ability at a time, save for the first two, which he activated together. A blue field of vision stretched out around him. Each grain of sand at his feet stood out to him, outlines with a pinprick of light in each one. What would normally obscure someone¡¯s vision did not affect him as long as the object was within his 20m sphere. He could sense the flow of mana in the cactus 8 meters to his left, count the individual spines on it, including the ones on the far side, and sense the outline and flow of mana in its roots through the sand. Next he activated the sense of sound, the world around him coming alive. The sound of blowing sand, the cactus growing, the solid earth shifting slightly 15 meters below him, he heard it all in perfect detail. He could not see the sound waves, but he understood with perfect clarity where every sound around him originated from. He found he could also hear sounds that originated outside of his sphere, as long as the waves traveled into it. Strangely, he was still able to pinpoint the location the sound originated from and what caused it, giving him a slightly blurry image of what could be outside of his range. It did not matter to him if the sound was high, low, soft, or loud, he heard it all. The final two abilities, the sense of smell and taste, were both activated then immediately deactivated. The sheer number of disgusting tastes and smells that had assaulted his brain had convinced him that he would not be activating them unless absolutely necessary. Beyond the regular senses, he found he could also sense the slight changes in air temperature and pressure around him. His skill now fully functioning, he finally took time to read the notification box that had been hovering in his vision for some time.
Welcome to the Plane of Sycer, ManaBorn Please choose a name update and unlock your status
The ManaBorn thought for a moment before choosing something he felt quite appropriate.
Thank you for choosing a name, Azul. You may now access your status.
Death: Unknown
Status
Name: Azul Race: ManaBorn (Legendary) Gender: none
Currency: 0P,0G,0S,0C Level: 0 Experience: 0/20
Class: none Subclass: none Subclass: none
Titles
ManaBorn (X),Primogenitor (X)
Health: 100/100 Stamina: 80/80 Mana: 300/300
Health Regen: 0.1/min Stamina Regen: 8/min Mana Regen: 10/min
Attributes
Strength: 10 Constitution: 10 Agility: 8
Perception: 8 Wisdom: 10 Intelligence: 10
Attribute Points: 0
Skills
Passive: Mana Sense (X) lvl 1 Active: none Magic: none
Archetype: Pure Mana (X)
Skill Points: 0
Affinity
Pure: 100% Fire: Unknown Water: Unknown
Wind: Unknown Earth: Unknown Lightning: Unknown
Blood: Unknown World: Unknown Life: Unknown
Death: Unknown Runic: Unknown Divine: -----
Azul was stunned by how big it was. He had scroll mentally to reach the bottom of it. The first thing he did was remove the affinities from the end. It was an easy list to remember after reading once. Next he inspected his attributes. His mana seemed rather high to him, but when he identified his two titles and his archetype, he understood why.
Title: ManaBorn (X) -Race exclusive You are a being that has been exposed and born in the core mana of the Sycer Plane. You are mana, almost to a fundamental level. +100% mana received from each Intelligence Point +adds 10 mana points per Wisdom Point +100% Mana Regen +100% resistance to Pure spells
Title: Primogenitor (X) You are the first of your race in the Sycer Plane. The first must survive. The first must thrive. The first must grow strong. +25% experience gain +50% skill point gain +100% attribute gain +Learn and upgrade skills at faster rates
(Archetype) Pure Mana (X) -Race exclusive You are a being born of the very mana that regulates your plane of existence. You are the embodiment of magic, the epitome of power, an existence never seen before. +100% Pure mana Affinity +able to learn all forms of magic +50% power to all Pure spells +ability to use mana to supplement your body +ability to comprehend any amount of mana related stimuli without repercussion
Azul was quite impressed with his natural born talent. Of course, being a monster of the Legendary level and being the apparent first of his species helped. All the bonuses to his mana from ManaBorn were definitely the reason behind his 300 mana pool. It seemed to him like one point of Intelligence gave 20 mana with his boosts and one point of Wisdom gave 10 mana. If the same held true for his other stats, one point of constitution gave 10 health points and 8 stamina points per level. Content with his new knowledge of The System, Azul turned his attention to his surroundings. His first observations about his surroundings held true upon closer inspection. Everywhere around him was sand, cacti, and the occasional rock. About 18 meters below the ground he could sense a slight uptick in the amount of mana. Most likely this was because it was getting closer to the Mana Volcano he had been born in. His sense told him that there was no opening left from where he had come from, leaving him no option of returning to the volcano.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Having nothing better to do, Azul set off in a random direction. His enhanced sense of hearing had given him no clues that the landscape changed anytime soon, so he figured he would just walk until he found something, or something found him. He wouldn¡¯t need food or water, so the environment had little effect on him. He could not sweat due to the lack of liquid inside of his body, but he could definitely feel the heat of the what he assumed was midday in the middle of the desert. It didn¡¯t take long for his sense of hearing to pick up on something outside of his 20m range that interested him. Of course he always heard the slight shifting of sand and dirt as the small bugs went about their lives, but he had started to block that out after the first 10 minutes of walking. This sound was different, a slight clicking noise, along with a squelching, ripping sound. Azul turned toward the noise, trying to get it inside his sphere. It only took several paces for Azul to see his first ever monster in the Sycer Plane. The beast as about 2 meters long and half a meter tall, sitting sat low to the ground as it munched on its prey, 8 legs protruding from its thorax. Azul noted that the flow of mana in the creature was strange, with it tending to be strongest at the tip of its tail and ends of its mandibles. Luckily for Azul, there was still a small dune between him the monster, so he had plenty of time to observe. The clicking noise he had heard originated from the monster tapping its mandibles together between bites of flesh. Azul figured if he could get a shot in before the monster noticed him, he might have a chance at winning. Reaching for his mana, he pulled it out of himself and focused on forming it into a spear. In the end he succeeded in forming a jagged, roughly made spear of purple mana. Ignoring the notifications pinging inside his head, he maneuvered the spear up and over the dune, giving him a clear shot at the occupied monster. The bolt pierced through the unsuspecting arachnid slightly farther back than Azul had anticipated, severing the tail instead of killing the monster. It screeched in pain, and Azul could see spurts of blood exiting the monster from where its severed appendage should have been attached. Wherever the blood touched the ground, the sand hissed and melted, corroded by the acid. The monster spun in circles trying to spot its attacker. Waiting for the monster to face the opposite direction, Azul hurriedly formed another jagged bolt of mana. The moment the oversized insect spun away, he raised the bolt and launched it. This time the bolt struck true, tearing through the carapace of the monster and leaving a jagged, seared hole through its abdomen. The monster collapsed to the ground, its legs scrabbling helplessly against the sand, its screeching reduced to nothing more than fading hisses. Azul waited until the monster no longer moved to approach his work. The bolt of mana had torn a rough looking hole straight through the 3 centimeter thick shell, destroying the stomach and intestines of the monster. The wound was similar to what fire would accomplish, but also different. Instead of burning things to ash and searing flesh, mana seemed to disintegrate and fuse. There was no signs of the organs at all, and some of the torn tissue seemed like it had fused itself with surrounding flesh. Content that his mana spells worked quite well, Azul read the string of messages that he had ignored during the fight.
Skill Gained: (Passive) Pure Mana Manipulation (I) lvl 1 The ability to manipulate mana in its purest form. +3% control -3% mana loss
Now that he thought about it, he had noticed that some of the mana seemed to leak off of his bolt and fade into the surrounding area while he cast it. He assumed this was what was referred to as mana loss. The constant leaking of mana from a spell into the air.
Skill Gained: (Magic) Pure Mana Bolt (I) lvl 1 An unrefined bolt of pure mana, designed to be thrown at its target. Cost is proportional to amount of mana directly used in the spell. +2% power
Pure Mana Bolt has reached lvl 2! +4% power
Azul nodded to himself as he read the notification. It seemed that the spell he had created was indeed a mana bolt. The more he used the spell the more the power would increase. He wasn¡¯t sure what the (I) beside the spell name meant, but he was sure he could find out if he found civilization. Finally, when he scrolled to the last few messages, a sudden sense of euphoria filled him. He dropped to the ground, his body shaking as feelings of pure pleasure flooded him. A few moments later the feeling stopped and his body came to a still. He lay there for a moment, reorienting himself before he fully read the messages.
Victory! Enemy Defeated: Giant Scorpion (I) lvl 8 Experience Gained: 250 (200 * 1.25)
Your level jumped from lvl 0 to lvl 4! +32 Attribute points (16 * 2.00) +48 Skill Points (32 * 1.5)
¡®So levels cause euphoric reactions, but you only level after you read the message. I¡¯m going to have to be careful to not read messages during battle in the future. They are really easy to ignore though, so I don¡¯t know much trouble I¡¯ll have. Now, I think I¡¯ll start with the attribute points.¡¯ Azul quickly decided that most of his points should be spent on Intelligence and Wisdom. From what the system told him, Intelligence increased the power of spells, maximum mana, memory, and cognitive function speed. Wisdom decreased mana loss, increased mana regen, increased application of knowledge, and helped make good decisions. While Wisdom was a little vague, it still gave him mana, and most importantly decreased the constant loss of mana he experienced when using his spells while also raising his regen. Next he would prioritize Constitution and Agility. These skills were survival skills. Constitution increased the toughness of his skin and bones, along with his health and stamina pool. Agility increased his flexibility, balance, reaction time, and attack speed. The System recommended that Perception be raised with Agility, but he didn¡¯t see a purpose behind that since his senses were already very good. Lastly he would increase his Strength. Most of his power would be coming from his mana and not from his physical body. Of course, there would be times where brute strength would be necessary, so he planned to spend some points. Eventually he decided to place 10 points in Intelligence, 10 points in Wisdom, 6 in Constitution, 5 in Agility, and 1 in Strength. As he assigned the points, he could feel his body growing. There was no pain associated with it, but he felt his mind speed up its thought process, his skin harden slightly, and his feet seemingly grow lighter. Content with his choice, he once again brought up his attributes, leaving the rest of the status out. Health: 160/160 Stamina: 128/128 Mana: 420/600 Health Regen: 0.15/min Stamina Regen: 8.5/min Mana Regen: 12/min Attributes: Strength: 11 Constitution: 16 Agility: 13 Perception: 8 Intelligence: 20 Wisdom: 20 He was pleasantly surprised with the jump in mana, but a little disappointed about the regen. At his current rate it would take him around 50 minutes to regen all of his mana if it hit zero. Deciding to find some way to increase it later, Azul turned his attention to his stat points. He wasn¡¯t sure how to spend these, but after a few seconds of experimentation with the system, he discovered what to spend them on.
10 points: (Passive) Pure Mana Regeneration (I) lvl 1 Your flesh is infused with mana, allowing you to heal your injuries with it. +ability to convert mana into health at a 2:1 ratio NOTICE: This skill is part of the PURE branch of skills. It may be affected by other PURE branch skills or be able to fuse with them in the future.
10 Points: (Passive) Pure Mana Fusion (I) lvl 1 Enhance yourself with your mana, increasing your physical abilities. +50% Strength, Constitution, Agility, and Perception while active (does not increase total health or total stamina) Cost: 5 mana/min NOTICE: This skill is part of the PURE branch of skills. It may be affected by other PURE branch skills or be able to fuse with them in the future.
10 Points: (Passive) Pure Mana Burn (I) lvl 1 Enhance yourself with mana, increasing your magical capabilities. +10% spell power, -10% mana loss, +10% mana control while active. Cost: 5 mana/min NOTICE: This skill is part of the PURE branch of skills. It may be affected by other PURE branch skills or be able to fuse with them in the future.
15 Points: (Passive) Pure Mana Shield (I) lvl 1 Covers your skin in a thin film of mana, protecting you from harm +25% damage received transferred to mana pool instead of health pool. Cost: -50 maximum mana on activation, cost of damage transferred NOTICE: This skill is part of the PURE branch of skills. It may be affected by other PURE branch skills or be able to fuse with them in the future.
After reading all the options, Azul made the obvious choice and bought all four of the skills. Pure Mana Regeneration gave him a way to heal himself with his mana. While he hadn¡¯t been struck so far, he was sure a healing power would never be bad. Pure Mana Fusion and Pure Mana Burn were simply buffs that made him stronger while costing him some mana regen. Even with both buffs active, he still regenerated 2 mana/min, meaning he could keep them active permanently in battle. Pure Mana Shield was just another safety measure between him and a quick death. -50 mana was quite a bit, but he was willing to sacrifice it for his own safety. He didn¡¯t know what else lived in the desert, and he needed to be sure he had as much protection as possible. With only 3 skill points remaining, Azul closed out of the skill tab, ignoring the grayed out skills he couldn¡¯t afford. Eager to try his new powers, he first activated Pure Mana Fusion. The dark purple rune on his chest suddenly lit up, smaller purple lines snaked there way across his bluish skin, glowing faintly. He could feel his power grow, his skin harden, the outlines of objects grow slightly more defined, and his feet become a little more limber. Next, he activated Pure Mana Burn, and the purple rune on his face lit up. The same lines spread across his head, glowing with a faint sense of power. Raising his hand, he focused on forming another Pure Mana Bolt. The spell formed slightly faster and hummed with slightly more energy, despite him not using any more mana than he did last time. Focusing on the bolt, he checked for leaking mana and could almost swear it was slightly less than before. Allowing the bolt to disperse, he activated his final power. Pure Mana Shield. He felt some of his mana pool drain away into the runes on his chest and head before each of them pulsed gently. A thin, nearly transparent film of purple mana spread across his body, nearly unnoticeable to the naked eye. A dim hum filled his ears as the shield finished forming around him. Moving his arms and legs, he felt no different than he had before after testing Pure Mana Fusion. Content with his new skills, Azul deactivated them and sat on the sand, ignoring the scorpion corpse beside him. Crossing his legs he focused inside himself, searching for his mana pool. He found it quickly enough, a seemingly small void of space just behind his naval that occasionally pulsed with power. Then, he focused on the air around him, trying to draw the ambient mana in the air into his pool. Slowly the mana began to follow his command, drawing closer and closer, passing through his skin and into his mana pool. A small ding notified him that he had acquired a skill.
Skill Gained: (Passive) Siphon Meditation (I) lvl 1 You use the environment to your advantage, drawing upon its mana to restore your own. +100% mana regen while meditating. -cannot move while meditating
Azul continued his meditation, focusing on regaining the rest of his mana before moving on. He did not want to be caught without enough mana to fight properly. With double the regeneration from meditating, it took just over 10 minutes for his mana to restore completely to 600. Once finished, he reactivated all his buffs, lowering his mana to 550 and his regeneration to 2/min. Once again he set off across the desert, searching for some form a civilization. Chapter 2 : Maybe They鈥檙e in the Dungeon! Nope, just Monsters! It took a lot of walking before Azul found anything of interest. He wasn¡¯t really sure how much time had passed since he started, considering he couldn¡¯t tell light from dark with his Mana Sense, but he was sure it had been a while. He had avoided all the enemies he could, pinpointing their general location with his hearing and giving them a wide radius. He did have to fight another scorpion, a monster he found was a common occurrence in the desert, and it raised his level to level 6. He had spent the points in Wisdom, Strength, and Agility, his new passives giving him a better idea of how he wanted to fight. His mana bolt had gained a level, but nothing else happened. He was trudging through the desert, trying to ignore the heat, when his something he had never felt before entered his sphere. At first he thought it was just another sheer cliff face, something he commonly came upon while wandering aimlessly. However, when a cold draft dark, musty mana entered his perception range, he finally realized something was amiss. Approaching the rock face, he saw there was a cave entrance, about 4 meters wide and 3 tall, positioned about 1 meter off the ground. Moving to the base of the cliff, he searched the inside of the cave. To his surprise, he found several carved, stone structures situated around what looked to be a pile of ashes. HIs temperature sensors told him that the ashes were quite cold, but considering they had not dispersed, they couldn¡¯t have been incredibly old. The draft in the tunnel entrance was quite strong, and he figured all the ashes would blow away by the time 3 days past. Hauling himself onto the ledge, he entered the cave, paying close attention to his surroundings. The interior of the cave was just slightly bigger than his Mana Sense range, unnerving him a bit. However, a fire and stone chairs meant that some form of sapient life had used this as a resting spot not to long ago. As he approached the circle of chairs, he detected something else on the edge of his range, near the back of the cave. A carved archway over a hole in the wall. Moving closer, he noticed that past the archway the ambient mana in the air increased significantly. Curious but cautious, he approached the archway and stepped through.
You have entered the Dungeon (MESA TUNNELS)
Azul instantly stepped back outside of the archway, his mind working through the situation. ¡®I didn¡¯t expect it to be a dungeon, though I guess the increase in ambient mana should have warned me. If people were here to conquer this dungeon they might still be inside. That, or they could have left already after clearing it. Even if the second one is true, dungeons are good sources of loot and experience due to increased monster spawns, so surely they would be back. Either way, I can just wait here in this cave until someone arrives.¡¯ Deciding on the safe course of action, Azul went and sat in one of the stone chairs to wait. He waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, the increased mana that dungeon was giving off at the edge of his perception began to beckon to him, almost lovingly. Whispering sweet things in his ear, beckoning him to adventure and kill and loot. He tried to resist, instead focusing his mind on manipulating his mana into a circle around his fist. Eventually the constant pull won out over his caution, and he got up to enter the dungeon.
You have entered the Dungeon (MESA TUNNELS)
He walked cautiously into the rocky tunnel that sloped gently downward before him. He moved slowly, listening intently for any movement. Several minutes of silence eventually brought him to a fork in the road tunnel. He could tell that the left tunnel had a pitfall trap, clearly obvious to his Mana Sense. The right side was safer, but his instincts told him the better loot would be to the left. Taking a running start, Azul leapt over the meter wide pitfall trap, landing safely on the other side. A hissing sound soon entered his hearing range, and he slowed his walking pace to a crawl. The tunnel turned slightly ahead of him, blocking what would have been his sight of the three snakes hiding around the corner. Hoping against hope the reptiles weren¡¯t an incredibly high level, he concentrated on forming a mana bolt in front of him. As he looked at the completed magic, then back at the snakes around the corner, a sudden inspiration caused his hands to shift, manipulating the mana bolt. The form of the bolt shifted, changing from a jagged lance shape to a meter wide crescent blade.
Skill Gained: (Magic) Pure Mana Blade (I) lvl 1 A large blade of pure mana, designed to cut down several foes, or damage one large one. +2% power
Concentrating on holding the blade ready, Azul bent down and picked up a loose rock from the ground. He tossed it in front of him, the sound of stone hitting stone echoing through the tunnel, incredibly loud to his sensitive brain. To his disappointment, only two of the snakes responded, slithering forward around the corner. He waited until the last moment to release his blade, and watched in satisfaction as the unsuspecting snakes lost the raised half of their bodies. Ignoring the notifications, Azul hurriedly prepared another blade. The wide range of the spell, especially in the cramped tunnel, almost ensured he would hit his target. He was wrong. The snake slithered around the corner at speeds belying its legless body. Azul fired his blade randomly at the target, confident the snake wouldn¡¯t be able to react in time. To his horror, the snake flattened itself to the floor, letting the mana blade fly harmlessly over its head before it lunged forward. Azul stumbled backwards, stopping himself just short of the pitfall trap, acutely aware that even his Mana Sense couldn¡¯t see the bottom of the drop. The snake lashed out, its jaws wide as they flew for his throat. Azul, now used to the additional power from his ever present buffs, lunged sideways, the jaws of the monster closing right above his left shoulder. Not giving him time to rest, the snake attacked again, this time aiming for his leg. The jaws closed around his left thigh, and Azul would have screamed if he had a voice.
Status Effect: Minor Poison -1 hp/sec until poison is cleansed or runs out (300 sec)
Ignoring the notification, he reached down and grabbed the snake around the neck, pouring mana from his hands into the snake¡¯s body as he squeezed as tight as he could. His mana was what killed the snake, not his throttling. He watched as it flowed into the snake, disintegrating its inside bit by bit, destroying nerves and muscle tissue. The body of the snake went limp, no longer able to receive signals from the brain, and the snake released its grip, internal bleeding drowning its brain. Dings rang inside his head, signalling his victory, but Azul ignored them. He slumped against the wall, activating Pure Mana Regeneration, changing his mana into health. Slowly the regeneration won out over the poison and the wound closed itself off, not even leaving a scar. Five minutes later the poison stopped its work as well, leaving him with just over 100 mana to spare. Azul relaxed, his senses picking up nothing else in the vicinity that could threaten him. ¡®I never imagined a simple snake could dodge an attack like that, I guess this world is a lot harsher than I thought. But still, I have to admit the battle was kind of exhilarating. Until now I¡¯ve never truly fought anything, just hid behind hills and sniped them to death with Pure Mana Bolt. This though, this was a little¡­.fun.¡¯ He simply couldn¡¯t shake the feeling of enjoyment he had gotten from the exchange. Sure, his life had been in danger, but he had his regeneration, and the thrill of near death excited him. He hauled himself to his feet, starting to question why he hadn¡¯t tried to engage a scorpion head on before. Several reasons including death, poison, dismemberment, and death again popped up, but he chose to ignore them as he adventured deeper into the dungeon, excited at the prospect of fighting again. The next group of enemies was another set of snakes hiding around another corner. Nodding to himself, he sat down, turned off his buffs, and began to meditate. About 10 minutes later, with his buffs fully active, he repeated the process he had done with the last set. Once more he cut down the first two that moved around the corner. He didn¡¯t even try to hit the next snake with a Pure Mana Blade, instead opting to to rush the snake head on. The snake tried the same attack pattern as the last one, lunging for Azul¡¯s throat as he approached. This time Azul ducked below the attack, his hands reaching out to grasp the snake by its midsection. Once again, he pumped mana into the monster, destroying as section of its insides rather quickly. The snake, having lost the function of half its body, flopped to the ground as Azul stepped back. The snake writhed on the ground, its slitted eyes staring with cold hatred at Azul as it struggled to attack him. Seeing the snake was bleeding to death from the inside, Azul decided to experiment a bit. If simply sending mana into his opponent was enough to kill them, couldn¡¯t he do that from a distance as well? Sadly, the wall of mana he pushed into the snake only blasted it away from him and into the cave wall. On the bright side, the sudden blunt force trauma aggravated the internal injury, finishing the snake off the rest of the way. ¡®It seems that the internal destruction requires skin to skin contact for the transmission to work. Against enemies that cannot regenerate their tissue this skill could prove very useful, though not so much against massive foes.¡¯ Happy with his progress, Azul moved on through the tunnel. He killed two more groups of snakes before he sensed an open area around the next corner. While most of the room was out of his range, he could tell there was something quite large inside, judging from the sheer volume of the hiss coming from somewhere inside. ¡®I guess I finally found a boss of some sort. Makes sense it would be a snake.¡¯ Creeping as close to the corner as possible, he finally got a slight glimpse at the boss. All he could see on the edge of his perception was a snout, but it was already larger than he was. From what he could guess, the snake was easily taller than him probably many times as long.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡®Wow, all those easy snakes and then they push this in my face. Just by the size of it I don¡¯t think I can fight it right now...I think I¡¯ll get my levels and go back to the start of the dungeon, no need to die before I even meet another sapient being.¡¯ Azul backed away from the corner and travelled back through the winding tunnel, careful to avoid the pitfall trap when he reached the fork. He glanced briefly down the other tunnel before continuing toward the entrance, deciding to save it for another time. Back at the cave entrance, he sat on one of the stone chairs and finally read the messages he had ignored for the past hour. The euphoria once again came over him, but he managed to get through it without falling out of the chair.
Victory! Enemies Defeated: Poisonous Snake (x12) Experience Gained: 900 (720 * 1.25)
Your level jumped from lvl 6 to lvl 8! +16 Attribute points (8 * 2.00) +24 Skill Points (16 * 1.5)
Pure Mana Blade (I) has reached lvl 2! +4% power
Skill Gained: (Active) Destructive Transfer (I) lvl 1 You channel mana through touch into your opponent, destroying them from the inside. +2% power
Destructive Transfer (I) has reached lvl 3! +6% power
Pure Mana Manipulation has reached lvl 2! +6% control -6% mana loss
Pure Mana Burn (I) has reached lvl 2! +12% spell power, -12% mana loss, +10% mana control while active Cost: 5.1 mana/min
Pure Mana Fusion (I) has reached level 2! +52% Strength, Constitution, Agility, and Perception while active (does not increase total health or total stamina) Cost 5.1 mana/min
Pure Mana Regeneration (I) has reached lvl 3! +ability to convert mana into health at a 2:1.1 ratio
Pure Mana Shield (I) has reached lvl 2! +26% damage received transferred to mana pool instead of health pool. Cost: -51 maximum mana on activation, cost of damage transferred
Azul quickly assigned his attribute points, putting 10 into Intelligence, 5 into wisdom, and 1 into agility. Then he turned his attention to the skill list. He figured he would be able to buy several skills with 51 points, but ended up investing in just one, finding the bonuses more than worth it.
50 points: (Passive) Elemental Sense (X) lvl 1 The world around you is full of elements. These elements infuse themselves with the mana, granting it different properties, and a different color. You can now sense these colors. +ability to see the elemental type of all mana around you NOTICE: This skill is a sub skill of Mana Sense (X). Mana Sense (X) must be active for this skill to work.
Upon the purchase of the skill, Azul¡¯s senses exploded with color. The ambient mana in the air around him, usually a dim haze, glowed a light green. The earth and stone around him, usually vague blue outlines, changed to a dark brown. Looking at his own body, he noticed the mana inside of him had changed to a deep purple. Azul simply sat there, stunned as he took in the world around him. While he had not been alive very long, he had grown accustomed to the constant blue tinge everything had. Now, everything was different. If someone ever shot a fireball at him, he would be able to tell it was fire, not just a raging ball of mana. Being able to distinguish between elements at a glance would allow him to better grasp magic beyond that of simple mana manipulation. Suddenly, a vague hum interrupted his new world. The hum grew louder and louder, coming from somewhere outside of the cave. Azul moved as close as he could to the opening as he could without exposing himself, and watched as several strange objects, each made of a tangled mess of mana strands surrounded by a shell, pulled up in front of the cave. On top of each of the objects sat a person. Well, he wasn¡¯t quite sure if they were people, considering all of them had different structure and mana flow. ¡®Different races¡¯ He thought as he watched them approach. One in particular seemed to take the lead, a figure that glowed a brilliant green. The female, he could tell from the lack of extended mana routes in the groin area, seemed to have a pair of wings and clawed feet. Aside from that, thin, green lines of mana extended from the backside of her arms, and the same green strands fell around her face, most likely a form of hair. As the group of 6 people approached the entrance, Azul backed away and moved to the rest area. He could tell, simply from the sheer amount of mana each one was giving off that he had no chance of survival if they attacked him. One in particular, a plant shaped being near the back, gave off such a strong white and brown light that it was hard to look directly at it. As they approached, a strange mixture of sound waves entered his brain, transmitted from the mouths of the people outside. Slowly, his brain made sense of the noises, forming them into words. A notification told him he had learned the Tiphorian Language, and he listened in on the conversation. ¡°Why the fuck did you drag me all the way out here Desmond? I was working when you showed up, but you promised me something good if I came.¡± said the bird woman, stopping just short of the cave entrance. ¡°Working? You were drinking, not working!¡± Said a humanoid figure that glowed a bright yellow. ¡°Drinking is work!¡± ¡°Your hopeless, anyway, there¡¯s something on the fifth level of the dungeon that I need a full party for. You¡¯re an expert close combat wind mage and scout, so I figured why not?¡± ¡°Whatever it is better be fucking worth it.¡± The girl replied, pulling a bottle of something out of thin air. Azul saw a brief flash of gray when she did, signifying the use of World magic, probably the spatial variation. ¡°Trust me, Melphine, it is.¡± Said the man as he jumped effortlessly into the cave. Azul watched as the man scanned the interior, his eyes finally falling on Azul. ¡°Holy shit!¡± The man shouted, a surge of yellow mana condensing in his hand. Just as Azul was about to dive for the dungeon entrance to avoid being incinerated, the girl from before appeared in a burst of green, grasping the mages hand and forcing it down. ¡°Fuck¡¯s sake Desmond, you see one person you don¡¯t recognize and you immediately try to kill it. Its mana signature isn¡¯t bad, but I can tell from its stamina and health pools that he¡¯s no threat.¡± She said as she released his hand and approached Azul. ¡°What¡¯s your name, and the fuck you doing here?¡± She asked, taking another drink from the bottle. Azul was stunned into silence for a moment. She obviously had just as much observation skills as he had, if not better. Not only had she read his mana pool, but also his health and stamina pool. That alone was beyond anything he could currently accomplish. Making a mental note not to piss her off, he responded. He mimicked the way vibrations sound waves created in the air with his mana, sending the message directly to her eardrums, ignoring the rest of the group as they filtered in. ¡°Azul. I¡¯ve been wandering around the desert for some time and happened upon this cave. I figured that people must come here often due to the rest area, so I decided to wait for someone to show.¡± ¡°Well, some people just showed up. At least your not some rabid monster.¡± She said. ¡°Wait! It responded to you? I didn¡¯t hear anything!¡± Desmond shouted from the back, waving his burning fists in the air. Melphine simply glanced at him, then turned back to Azul. ¡°Of course you didn¡¯t hear him dumbass, he just sent soundwaves with his mana directly to my eardrums. An interesting way of communication, but it makes sense considering he has no other way of talking.¡± ¡°Wait, it¡¯s a he? How you know?¡± Desmond asked again, completely ignoring the fact that Azul was standing right in front of him. ¡°The tone and weight of the mana.¡± She responded. ¡°Anyway, I think I¡¯m gonna take him back to Tiphor, get him some clothes and introduce him to society.¡± ¡°What? You can¡¯t just leave, we haven¡¯t even done the dungeon, and he¡¯s weird and you don¡¯t even know him, and since when do you help random people!¡± Desmond sputtered, a little anger entering his voice. ¡°I can can leave whenever I wish, Desmond. Sure the face is a little strange, but we¡¯ve both seen stranger. Also, I never wanted to be here, and he is the perfect excuse to get the fuck out of this sandy shithole.¡± She said, turning and beckoning Azul to follow before moving towards the entrance to cave. ¡°Besides, you got Osmond here, he could probably finish the fifth floor of the dungeon by himself.¡± She finished, motioning to a tree like being in the back who glowed an incredibly tense mixture of white and brown. Not quite sure what was going on, Azul decided to follow the girl. She had saved him from an untimely demise at a far to powerful fire mage and had offered to take him home. Sure, he might just be here excuse to leave, but he really didn¡¯t mind. Any one of the adventurers, judging from the glow of their mana, could kill him as easily as he slaughtered unsuspecting snakes. As he walked past Desmond, he tried to ignore the angry look the man gave him. Upsetting a trigger happy mage was probably not the wisest thing to do, but he really had no control over the situation. Outside the cave, Melphine led him to one of the strange objects. She climbed on top of it and pressed something. Azul watched in amazement as the cords of mana inside suddenly filled with power and a dim hum filled the air. Curious, he asked Melphine what it was. ¡°T-35 Sand Cruiser, it''s a transportation vehicle used in the desert, great for traversing rough terrain since they float. Pretty old technology, but it gets the job done. Must be really new if you don¡¯t even know what these are¡± She replied as she motioned for him to climb on behind her. Azul complied with her request, trying to sit without leaning to heavily on her folded wings. Melphine took another swig from her bottle before it disappeared again. She grabbed onto two handles that extended on either side of the body of the Cruiser, and the hum grew louder as it began to move. Sorry guys but I quit. Now I know this may be a disappointment to a lot of people (well like maybe 50), but I can''t keep writing. I thought it would be awesome, writing about a daredevil like character with awesome mana in a sci-fi fantasy hybrid world. I had so much planned for the story, but I hit a major wall when trying to introduce the main character to the city. When you can only see in a small circle around you, its really hard to capture a city setting, especially on the scale I wanted it to be. I thought it would be a cool idea, but it simply doesn''t work. I''ve been trying for the past three days to write the next chapter, and nothing seems to work. I either feel like the quality dropped, its just plain awkward, or it simply doesn''t work. I do this as a fun passtime and to fulfill some fantasies I have always wanted, but if I''m not happy with what I''m doing, I''m not going to force myself to do it. I know it may sound like shitty reason, but it is what it is. Again, sorry for leaving it so early, but it simply doesn''t work. I might try writing again with similar characters and setting but without the Mana Sense. It would be much easier to do the world building and would make it seem better. What I had envisioned really wasn''t working out. If I do restart with another story, I would still release it on this account, but it wouldn''t be until I had finished probably the first arc.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.