The foreign energy seeps through my pores, but it originates deeper inside.
I ignore the scent of my burning flesh and instead turn my attention inward. Through the feeling of my scorched fingertips, I follow the foreign energy as it branches out through my entire hand and up my arm. It is impossible to sense just how many avenues the energy seeps through, but I can tell that it doesn’t travel through my bones or veins.
The difficulty grows as I try to look farther, but I remember my objective and instead focus on my hand as a whole. I trace the lines with my thoughts and attempt to map out the network that the radiation seeps out of. I keep trying to look deeper, but my concentration cannot breach the lines to feel what is inside. That’s not good enough though so I sharpen my concentration even more. Something begins to drip onto my hand and sizzle due to the temperature, but I ignore it and slip deeper into my own mind.
At this point, the radiation is in the way of me identifying what runs through the lines, so I change tactics and overcharge in tiny but powerful bursts rather than the constant stream I had been naturally using beforehand. The entire process of controlling is strange and difficult, but for some reason it is easier to understand than my other skills. Maybe it has something to do with it being a starting skill, but I really don’t know.
As the skill fires off again and again in order to expel the foreign energy, I can finally feel glimpses of something inside the thin lines. I strain my mind to focus on the fleeting wisps of energy until I suddenly realize where the hidden energy is coming from.
It’s my nerves.
Before I let my thoughts run wild and ruin my concentration, I try something new. Since it is apart of my body, I assume the energy must react to my will. The fact it lies within the information web that my brain sends out orders to just cements my beliefs. So, without using , I try to pull on the energy with the help of . Almost as natural as moving any of my limbs, I feel the energy respond to my call and pour into my hand.
I strain my mind to push it further out of my body, but it proves to be too much for me to handle and I slip out of my concentration abruptly and collapse to the ground. I didn’t realize it before, but I am absolutely covered in sweat, and I have a raging nosebleed that pours down my face and onto my chest. I gasp for air and it feels like my entire body is buzzing, but a smile works its way across my face as I still feel notifications ringing in my head. Even though I want to check them immediately, I instead get into a more comfortable position and lie there for a minute while I try to organize my thoughts.
The hidden energy runs from my nerve endings and up throughout my nervous system. The same nerve endings that were irreparably damaged during my treatments. I guess it makes sense that they were healed with the rest of my body when I started putting points in BDY. It makes me wonder why I haven’t been able to feel the new energy at all then. I imagine it would feel starkly different than normal, right?
Well, I suppose it has been a while since I was able to feel much of anything before I woke up in the cave, so that along with the radiation my body exudes could explain why I hadn’t noticed a change.
Something finally dawns on me.
“You got to be kidding me.” I mutter aloud.
I quickly open a part of my status to confirm my theory.
Condition: Mana Mutation [Permanent]
It had been staring at me right in the face the entire time. The ‘hidden energy’ I felt was mana. That must mean that whatever the mutation my mana has is somehow causing the foreign energy to be produced. I can’t believe I had been so dumb. Mana… of course.
“This place really is like a video game.”
I let out a snort in the face of my own ignorance before finally pulling up the notifications that have been waiting for me.
< Cogitation Lvl. 6 -> Cogitation Lvl. 7 >
< Cogitation Lvl. 7 -> Cogitation Lvl. 8 >
< Emit Lvl. 5 -> Emit Lvl. 6 >
< Cogitation Lvl. 8 -> Cogitation Lvl. 9 >
< You have learned the skill: Mana Control >
< Mana Control Lvl. 0 -> Mana Control Lvl. 1 >
< Mana Control Lvl. 1 -> Mana Control Lvl. 2 >
< You have received a new quest. >
My excitement rises as I look through the fruits of my labor. I got a new skill and almost reached level 10 with . I’m surprised to receive a level in , but I guess the system recognized my new method of using the skill in short bursts as some sort of breakthrough. Deciding to shelve that information for later, I move on from the notifications and instead take a look at the new quest I was given.
[Quests]
1. Reach the Valley OR 2. Finish what was started
-Entry to Floor Two
-Access to Forum
-Common Gear of Choice
Reach Level 10
-Augment of choice
Learn 5 skills
-System selected Trait
Raise four skills to level 10
-Passive Skill of Choice
The quest is interesting, but ultimately useless to me for now. I only have four skills, and one of them still has yet to level up at all. I am, however, getting close to learning five skills, so for now, I will worry about figuring out how to get one more under my belt.
I dismiss the screen and shift around in my hole. I would like to wait a bit longer to recover before I try my next idea, especially since I expect this one to be quite a bit more dangerous than getting . Unfortunately, I don’t have the privilege of time as I already wasted multiple days asleep like an idiot.
Pressing my back into the dirt wall of the pit, I lower myself onto my bound wrists to put as much pressure as I can on the chain. Next, I bend my fingers back once more to come into contact with the metal. This time though, instead of focusing into my fingers, I first use my new skill to reach toward my mana and begin pulling it slowly toward my fingertips. Now that I have had a chance to take a break, the strain of trying to move my mana is no longer as strenuous and before long, mana sits just below the skin on my fingers.
< Mana Control Lvl. 2 -> Mana Control Lvl. 3 >
Now at the point of no return, I start to pull the mana out of my body as carefully as I can. I didn’t notice before, but mana is slippery even inside my body. Trying to think of it as another limb is well and good, but the feeling is similar to if a human was given a tail out of nowhere. I can use it, but I have no idea what muscles are required to make it work as I like.
This is shown again as once it reaches the surface of my skin, the mana becomes significantly harder to guide, and I quickly use my highest-level skill: to get the mana back under my control while I keep pulling on it.
< Mana Control Lvl. 3 -> Mana Control Lvl. 4 >
The mana finally leaves the surface of my skin and comes into contact with the metal of my bindings. I don’t feel anything change after coming into contact with the metal, but I quickly anchor the mana in place with my mind before reaching for . Sweat trickles down my head and stings my eyes, but I don’t blink and put my full focus on managing the two skills in tandem.
The radiation that floods my body begins funneling straight into my hand and flows through my pores and into the air like usual. Heat rolls off of me as I struggle to push the radiation through the mana and into the metal, but something isn’t working. I force to only let out the radiation through my fingertips, but I still lack any skill that will allow me to control the energy like I can control mana.
I try multiple ways to get the radiation to go into the mana channel I created between myself and the metal, but for some reason, it just won’t go through. I don’t understand why, but the radiation is nowhere near as easy to feel and move around as the mana is. Leaving the radiation to escape into the air, I instead turn my attention back to the mana channel I created. It looks fine, but I can tell something is missing. I pull more mana from my body and push it into the channel, causing it to thicken.
An idea occurs to me, and I fully release my hold on to focus on the channel. Heat stings my body as I reach out with and begin to hollow out the channel I created.
< Mana Control Lvl. 4 -> Mana Control Lvl. 5 >
I can feel the levels come in and the entire process becomes even easier to control. Within seconds, the channel is complete and I reestablish my refinement over . The heat around me fades and I force the energy back through my fingers once more.
I can feel the difference instantly as the heat around me lessens and the metal on my wrists slowly rises in temperature. I can’t see the process itself since the chain is still behind me, but I kick out with my legs to put more pressure on the chain and strain my arms against the bindings while I wait for the metal to warp.
is doing an insane amount of the lifting through the entire experiment. I can handle my other skills with some amount of control, but somehow the mental skill makes everything that much easier to focus on and manage.
I sit there long enough for the links to burn against my skin, and I am struggling to pull the metal apart due to their position behind me and the way the goblin tied them. My fingers still act as a bridge for all of the heat to flood into the shackle, but I start to worry about how hot I actually need the metal to get before I can free myself. I can deal with the pain, but if my hands become useless before I get them off, the next part of this whole thing will be way harder.
Instead of waiting any longer, I decide to double down on my plan and let run at full force. The itch becomes just a tickle, and I feel the bones of my fingertips become exposed due to the strength of the heat that travels through them.
< You have learned the skill: Infuse >
< Infuse Lvl. 0 -> Infuse Lvl. 1 >
< Congratulations! You have completed a quest! >
< The System has selected a Trait for you! >
< You have gained the Trait: Thermal Resistance >