Chương 7: Mana Control

The impact from the other side of the maintenance room door travelled through the warped metal and into Thomas's shoulder. He pulled back instinctively, nearly losing his footing as blue fire curled around the stones behind him.

"Again," Chloe said. Thomas planted his feet and pushed. The air around him felt thick with excess mana, and every breath carried the faint metallic taste that had followed the System's arrival. The flames were already rising behind them, reclaiming the path they had weakened across the corridor. If they failed to reach the door now, the fire would cut off their last route out, trapping them against it. The person beyond the door struck at the same time. Metal shrieked against stone.

Chloe pulled the handle upward while Thomas drove his weight into the centre of the door. The expanded latch scraped along the warped strike plate, resisting for another second before tearing free. The door opened inward so suddenly that Thomas nearly fell through it. A broad, grey-haired man stood on the other side with a heavy wrench raised above one shoulder. He had positioned himself to strike whatever entered, although his grip loosened the instant he recognised them.

"Thomas?"

"Gareth." Relief crossed Gareth Dale's face before concern replaced it. One side of his work shirt was singed, and his wrist was burned. He leaned past Thomas and looked at the blue fire filling the corridor.

"You need to get inside before that rises again." Thomas and Chloe shouted back to Marcus about their discovery, but the rising fire forced them in before they could explain. Gareth hauled the door closed behind them, though the damaged latch no longer caught. He wedged the wrench through the handle and braced it against a shelving unit, creating a barrier unlikely to stop anything determined but sufficient to keep the door from drifting open into the flames.

It was only a reprieve; if the fire pushed harder, they would lose even this room. For several seconds, Thomas remained beside it, breathing hard. Mana pressed against the room from every direction. Blue light burned around the edges of both doors and leaked through cracks near the floor, outlining the maintenance room in thin, wavering lines. The fire hadn't entered, but its heat had dried the air and made it close.

The room was larger than Thomas expected, crowded with shelves of tools, cleaning supplies, electrical parts, spare fittings, paint tins, and plastic storage containers. Burnt fabric and treated skin overwhelmed everything else. Daniel Price sat on the floor with his back against a low cabinet. His trouser leg had been cut open below the knee, revealing reddened skin and blisters. He remained conscious, though his face had gone pale beneath a sheen of sweat. A woman Thomas did not recognise knelt beside him.

She appeared to be in her thirties and dressed for sightseeing rather than for disaster, in walking shoes, dark trousers, and a blouse torn along the hem. A strip of fabric held her dark hair away from her face. One hand hovered above Daniel's burned leg, surrounded by a faint silver glow. She looked up sharply.

"Who are you?"

"Thomas. She's Chloe. We work here."

"Are there more people outside?"

"Yes."

"Does anyone have serious injuries? I'm a doctor."

"That would have been useful an hour ago," Chloe said, glancing at the doctor.

"I was on holiday." Daniel managed a weak laugh.

"She has complained about that repeatedly." The silver light around the doctor's hand faded. She sat back, breathing harder than the small movement seemed to justify.

"My name is Priya Nair," she said.

"I can treat the burns, but I have almost no mana left." Chloe's attention sharpened immediately.

"You can heal without supplies?"

"Some injuries. Not indefinitely." Priya looked toward the sealed exterior door.

"Whatever is burning outside interferes with my concentration, and every treatment drains more than the last."

"What happened?" Thomas asked. Gareth answered while checking the improvised brace against the door.

"I came looking for Chloe after the lights failed. I found Daniel in the upper passage, and Priya was already there."

"I had found Dr Nair," Daniel added.

"I wasn't making much progress on my own."

"He was trying to walk on a burned leg," Priya said.

"I thought I could make it to the stairs before it gave out." Gareth continued before the argument could develop.

"The fire along the yard wall was low enough to cross when we reached the service corridor. We came in here to get extinguishers and blankets. By the time we tried to leave, it had spread across both exits."

"We attempted the corridor once," Priya said.

"Daniel's leg was the result." Gareth added, "The exterior door was worse. Flames covered the whole yard. We had no way to know whether they would keep spreading or burn themselves out."

"And you couldn't hear us?" Thomas asked. Gareth shook his head.

"Not through the door. We only heard something when you started forcing it." Thomas looked back at the thin line of blue beneath the metal. From inside, the maintenance room felt less like a shelter and more like the centre of a fire that had simply decided not to consume it yet. If they stayed too long, the flames would force them back out or pin them here until the room failed. Gareth moved closer.

"Can your group cross?"

"Not through that much fire," Thomas said.

"We weakened it by drawing in the surrounding mana." Priya stared at him.

"You can replenish mana?"

"We discovered that approximately two minutes ago." Chloe stepped closer to her.

"What class did you choose?"" Mana Physician." The answer carried enough certainty that Thomas suspected Priya had already read and tested every part of her class.

"Silver quality," Priya added." Diagnose, Stabilise, and Treatment." Chloe looked vindicated by something only she understood.

"You should be able to draw mana more easily than Thomas."

"I heard that," Thomas said.

"It remains true." She gave a simple shrug to accompany her words. Priya rose. The movement was controlled, but fatigue caught her halfway up. Gareth offered his hand, and she accepted it.

"Show me," she said. Chloe explained the sensation quickly: the internal reserve, the boundary around it, the pressure of ambient mana waiting outside. Priya closed her eyes before Chloe finished, listening intently. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Silver light briefly traced the veins along her hands. The blue glow around the exterior door dimmed. Priya inhaled sharply but did not stagger. Surprise gave way to concentration, then to professional focus.

"That is dangerous," she said.

"You should have led with that."

"We were standing in a corridor of magical fire." Priya pressed one hand against her sternum.

"Drawing too quickly could overwhelm whatever regulates mana inside the body. I don't know what the consequences would be."

"Headache," Thomas offered.

"Burning pressure," Chloe added.

"Temporary loss of balance," Thomas continued. Priya looked between them.

"You both drew too quickly."

"We didn't have much time."

"That doesn't negate the medical consequences." Thomas liked her immediately, though he suspected the feeling would not survive his next injury. Priya drew mana again, more slowly this time. The exhaustion around her eyes eased without disappearing, and she glanced aside as though reading a line of text floating in empty air." Mana Control," she murmured.

"That explains why the second attempt was easier." She knelt beside Daniel, placing both hands above his leg. Silver light gathered between her palms, cooling the angry red skin and flattening the worst of the blisters. She pulled her hands back before the burn completely faded.

"That's enough to walk," she told him.

"Please don't pretend you're whole." Daniel nodded, testing his weight against the floor. Gareth offered his singed arm next, but Priya gave it only a sharp, diagnostic glance.

"Minor. Painful, but not worth the mana right now. You will be fine with time."

"Fair enough," Gareth said. Outside the room, Marcus struck the metal door twice—a sharp, heavy signal that their brief reprieve was over. Thomas moved to answer before remembering the fire between them. He pulled the door open only a few inches. Marcus stood at the far end of the corridor, his outline cut against the blue light. Thomas raised one hand and shouted, "They're alive. Three people. Minor burns." Eleanor stepped into view behind him and let out a sharp, gasping breath.

"Gareth? Daniel?"

"We're here!" Gareth called back, stepping up beside Thomas with Daniel leaning against his arm.

"Move now!" Marcus ordered, his voice cutting through the smoke.

"The heat is rising again!" Thomas looked toward Chloe and Priya. Chloe was already studying the fire around the doorway.

"With four people drawing, we can lower it much more."

"Four?" Gareth asked.

"Priya, Chloe, me, and whoever discovers they are naturally talented under pressure." Gareth looked at the roaring blue flame.

"That sounds like a poor selection process."

"It has been our primary method so far." Thomas stepped up to the threshold, raising his hands.

"Gareth, take Daniel's left side. Priya, anchor the right." Priya showed Daniel how to open himself to the ambient mana, but his control was poor, and his class offered little help. Gareth managed better after Chloe compared the process to bleeding pressure from a line rather than breathing. He drew little, but understanding the analogy well enough to help was a miracle. The four strongest at controlling the flow—Chloe, Priya, Thomas, and Gareth—positioned themselves near the doorway.

Daniel stood between Priya and Chloe. His injured leg could bear weight but couldn't move quickly.

"Do not fill yourselves," Priya warned.

"The sensation of capacity may lag behind the actual limit." Thomas looked at Chloe.

"Did you know that?"

"No."

"Excellent." Priya continued.

"If you feel sharp pain, stop. If you lose sensation in your hands, stop. If you become confused—""How would we know?" Gareth asked.

"Everyone else stops you." The route back had changed while they were inside. The flames were lower now, not gone, but reduced enough that dark stone appeared between the blue lines. The castle was still shedding mana through the walls and floor, yet their earlier drawing had changed the local pressure, weakening the fire instead of merely waiting for it to fade. Marcus waited with the group at the far end.

"Ready?" he called. Chloe looked at the others.

"Now." They drew together. The effect was immediate. Blue flames collapsed across the width of the corridor. Light streamed inward from the walls in faint threads, vanishing into four separate bodies. Thomas felt the mana enter more smoothly than before, moderated by familiarity and the fact that the pressure had already begun to fall. They moved. Priya kept one hand around Daniel's arm and the other extended toward the wall. Chloe walked on the opposite side.

Gareth followed close behind them, while Thomas held the rear. Halfway across, Daniel stumbled. Priya caught him, but the break in her concentration caused the flames to rise around their feet. Thomas reached for the ambient mana. This time, he did not simply open himself and endure the rush. He narrowed the flow, drawing only what he needed and directing it into the reserve beneath his sternum. The pressure filled his chest without overwhelming him, and the fire dipped again.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐ You have gained the skill Mana Control. └────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Thomas barely had time to register the message.

"Keep moving," Marcus ordered. The words carried across the corridor with unnatural force. Thomas knew exactly how quickly to advance, where the others would step, and when to slow enough to avoid crowding them. Battle Captain coordinated the movement into a single action. They reached the stairs. Will pulled Daniel beyond the edge of the flames. Marcus took Priya's arm, then Gareth's. Chloe crossed next. Thomas stepped out last. The moment he stopped drawing, the accumulated mana inside him made itself known.

His knees weakened, and the stone wall seemed to tilt. Amy caught his sleeve.

"You look terrible."

"That seems to be the consensus." Priya turned toward him.

"Sit down." Thomas looked at Amy. Amy looked back at him.

"I don't think that was a request." Thomas lowered himself onto the stairs. Priya checked him first, placing two fingers against his wrist while her eyes unfocused. A faint silver glow moved across her pupils." Diagnose," she muttered alongside the action.

"Your mana reserve is overfilled, but stabilising. Minor mana burns along the left forearm and ankle. No deep tissue damage." Thomas looked at the jackets wrapped around his arm. The fabric remained intact. Beneath it, the skin had reddened in branching lines that resembled cracks filled with blue light. The glow faded even as he watched. Priya moved to Chloe next.

"Overfilled as well. Less severely." Chloe looked pleased.

"That was not praise," Priya said.

"I know. But it still means I'm better than him." Eleanor had crossed the space to Gareth before anyone could stop her, catching him in an embrace that seemed to surprise both of them. She stepped back quickly, smoothing her jacket and clearing her throat as if to erase the moment.

"You went looking for Chloe." Gareth glanced away.

"You said she was missing."

"I didn't tell you to trap yourself in the maintenance room."

"The fire was lower when we entered." Daniel lowered himself stiffly onto the stairs beside Thomas.

"It became less cooperative afterwards." Eleanor turned toward Priya.

"And you are?"

"Dr. Priya Nair. I was touring the castle." Eleanor blinked, the words sinking in as her shoulders visibly dropped.

"You're a doctor?"

"Yes." Relief nearly broke through Eleanor's composure.

"We have injured people."

"I assumed as much." Priya looked over the group, taking in bloodstained clothes, burns, improvised weapons, and the gash on Marcus's forehead.

"Who is the most seriously hurt?" Everyone looked at Thomas. He frowned.

"That feels unfair."

"You were mauled," Chloe said.

"Only partially." Priya narrowed her eyes; she would tolerate that answer exactly once. Amy stepped forward.

"I treated the bleeding and closed what I could. My class is Healer, but it's pretty low power. I can manage shallow wounds and stabilise people. I can't repair anything serious." Priya nodded, not dismissing her.

"Good. You can show me what you have done and who still needs treatment." Amy's shoulders straightened. She had spent the last several hours doing the best she could with a weak class and no guidance. Priya's presence did not replace her. It gave her someone who understood what she had been trying to do. Marcus looked down the maintenance corridor. The flames had begun to rise again, but slowly. They no longer reached as high as before, and several portions of the floor remained dark.

"Will it spread?" he asked. Chloe shook her head.

"The opposite. The mana levels are equalising. It should keep fading."

"How long until the corridor is safe?"

"I don't know." Marcus looked over to Thomas." Study only said dissipating."

"Then we treat it as dangerous until it is gone." Gareth reclaimed his jacket from Thomas, holding up the singed sleeve.

"What happened to this?"

"It served with dignity."

"That means you burned it."

"The jacket is unburned." Gareth's eyes flicked to the raw red pattern tracing Thomas's arm.

"You're not."

"A distinction the System appears comfortable making." Without another word, Gareth shoved his arm back into the sleeve. Thomas was glad to have the grumpy old man back. The castle certainly was going to need his expertise. The group returned to the chapel more slowly than they had left. Daniel leaned on Will, who supported him with one arm and carried the broken bench with the other, as though neither burden required much effort. Priya walked beside Amy, asking precise questions about each wound she had treated.

Eleanor kept Gareth close enough to touch whenever the stairs narrowed. Thomas followed behind Marcus, aware of the mana inside him settling slowly. The pressure remained, but it no longer felt like an external invasion; it had become a reserve, unstable and unfamiliar, but recognisably his. Summon Echo waited beyond the bond, ready to draw from it again. They had learned how to refill what their skills consumed. The discovery should have felt triumphant.

Instead, Thomas looked at the blood along the corridor and wondered how many others had received classes they couldn't use because no one had survived long enough to explain the first step. At the chapel, Margaret and Will shifted the barricade aside. Priya stopped in the entrance and took it all in.

"Right," she said.

"Everyone who has been bitten, clawed, burned, struck in the head, or exposed to unknown mana sits down." For a moment, no one moved. They had spent the last several hours surviving by staying on their feet, by moving when someone shouted, by treating stillness as something dangerous and sitting down because a doctor told them to felt strangely impossible. Priya folded her arms.

Thomas looked at the others, at Marcus with blood dried near his temple, at Chloe pretending she was not swaying, at Will still holding half a bench as though it was now part of his arm. Then he lowered himself onto the nearest stone ledge. The surrender broke whatever resistance remained, and one by one, the others followed.