Chương 429: (422) 6.36. What are you, a Fortune Cookie?

Vin slept long and hard that night, not even bothering with attempting to use Dream Walk to work on his magic before he conked out. It took a monumental amount of effort to even summon his shimmerwing mattress and get the stronghold of slumber assembled before sleep took him, but he managed with the last few seconds of consciousness he had left after the apprentice led him to a room somewhere within the Haven. When Vin woke the next day, he groaned, rubbing first at his eyes, and then at his weary core.

Even now, he still felt as though his soul had gotten stuck in a game of tug of war between giants. Though it's definitely a little better, he thought, subtly probing at his mana pool by throwing a few errant runes together before scattering them once more. This deep underground he had no idea how long he'd spent resting, and he'd managed to sleep through his cloud pillow dissipating, so he didn't have the slightest idea how much time had passed.

Pushing himself to his feet, Vin stretched, his painful frown slowly turning into a more curious smile as he continued shifting his mana around within his core experimentally. Rather than feeling like he was recovering from an injury, he quickly realized the soreness he was feeling was more akin to an overworked muscle. As though he'd hit the gym a little too hard, but still the results would be more than worth it once he recovered.

Almost like he was rubbing a sore muscle, Vin gently focused on his new mana venting technique and breathed out as he pushed some mana out of his body. Sure enough, his tired core still felt a little raw and the act physically hurt him at first, but there was an underlying feeling of good that swept through him shortly after along with the action, almost as though he were stretching out the metaphysical muscle that was his mana pool. As though the pain were a good kind of pain.

Curious, Vin sat back down on his mattress, pulling his legs under him and entering a meditative pose. Taking in another deep lungful of air, he breathed out long and slow, gradually releasing mana from his body and saturating the air around him with it as his core stretched. Taking in another deep breath, he repeated the action, almost unable to stop himself. He felt like a child poking and fidgeting at a loose tooth, intrigued by the ability to control the painful sensation.

Though as he continued messing around in this manner, flexing his core and working the soreness out of it, he frowned. He was only undergoing half of the exercise the Whisperer had put him through yesterday. While he could vent his mana just fine, without the Whisperer's mana-charged words, he had to wait for his own paltry mana regeneration to refill his core in between pushes.

The mana regeneration that he'd become so impressed by after months of increasing his magic attribute suddenly felt as though he were waiting for a trickle of molasses when compared to what he'd gone through last night, and his frown deepened as he realized this wouldn't do. If he could push mana from his core out into the world with an act of will… Why couldn't he do the opposite as well? Letting out yet another long, slow breath that accompanied the mana bleeding from his pool, Vin paused.

In that brief, singular moment where his mana was still his own before it began to dissipate and join the world around him, he instinctively extended his focus beyond his body in a way he'd never even considered before, grabbing at the surrounding mana that was still somewhat him. And dragged it right back into his deflated core. Vin gasped as mana flooded back into his core, and his head rocked back as sensations unlike anything he'd ever felt before swept through his entire body.

Tastes, colors, even smells washed through his physical form, almost as though his flesh were desperately trying to come up with a manner of relaying the newfound information it was experiencing in the limited ways his body had available to it. Somehow, be it through Manacraft or just natural intuition, Vin understood what was happening.

The mana he'd pulled back into his core had already started to intermingle with the surrounding mana in the environment, and when he'd pulled it back, it had no longer been purely him any longer. His body, which was nothing more than mana given form through a near-infinite series of runes, was working to assimilate the brand-new mana tinged with countless affinities. A process his mana pool was designed to do slowly and steadily over time without him even noticing, that he was now forcing to happen at his command.

It was almost like he'd gained control over his own digestion system, and rather than waiting a couple of hours for a meal to make its way through his body, Vin was pushing it along and forcing it to run the entire gauntlet in only a few seconds. His body shook and shivered as the random sensations continued to bombard him, but Vin held firm, leveraging his high focus as he clung to consciousness and willed his body to digest the various new types of mana it found within itself.

Ever so slowly, the rapid flickering of sensations began to cease, and it wasn't long before Vin realized the job was done. Panting, he opened his eyes and looked down at himself. At all of himself, flesh and mana alike, as a familiar pulse of electricity rocketed out of his core. This sensation, more powerful than any other by a mile, stretched all the way to the tips of his extremities before bouncing back and snapping to completion within his core once more.

And for the first time, Vin watched as mana blossomed within his chest, growing more dense and powerful as it came to a decision, saturating his body and making him something more. Granting him what it felt was deserved. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Grand Arcane Discovery! 25, 000 exp gained. Level Up! Adventurer of the Arcane lvl 50!

+3 Attribute points to spend New Capstone Unlocked: Friend of Mana Shaking slightly in lieu of the power that had just washed through him, Vin slowly got to his feet. He'd been chasing after level 50 and the ability to safely use his Beyond the Veil class ability again for so long that now that it was finally here, he could barely believe it. Though more importantly at this very moment, was his new Capstone.

The ability that the System, and therefore the mana of the universe, felt that he deserved based on his actions that led him to this point. Friend of Mana… With his previous two Capstones, figuring out what they did was simple enough. Runic Recalibration was right there in the name, and Vin had known almost instantly that the ability would allow him to better tweak and shift the runic formations of spells he crafted within his core.

Similarly, Flexible Formations was rather self-explanatory as well, and he'd been more than pleased to find himself able to use similar spells in the construction and learning of entirely new ones. But Friend of Mana? Curiously, Vin attempted to cast a spell like he always did, holding up a hand and throwing together the runic formation for Summon Stone.

The formation snapped together in his core pretty much like always, and while he felt as though the rock manifesting within his hand perhaps just a fraction of a second faster, it may very well just have been his imagination. With a frown, he stared at the rock, looking at it this way and that. It certainly looked like a regular rock rather than some sort of unbreakable stone. His spell hadn't been supercharged in any way, which was another possibility ruled out.

Vin scratched his head as he placed the rock aside, cycling through a few other spells just to be safe. The fire that danced over his finger from Create Flame could be burning a little bit purer, but again, it was difficult to tell. The glow given off by Light felt slightly brighter, but without his old spell to directly compare it to, he wasn't sure.

The water that filled his cupped palm from Create Water tasted almost more refreshing, but not in any way he could actually quantify, and Vin quickly began to grow frustrated at his inability to determine what in the world Friend of Mana actually did. Right up until he heard a gentle, soothing laughter whispering within his ears." Child… The mana is carrying your annoyance almost like a physical thing. It was enough to wake me from my evening nap.

I see you are no longer merely caressed by mana, but truly touched by it at this point."

"Do you just make a habit of spying on people all the time?" Vin asked the empty room, noting how his mana pool had refilled slightly. It seemed this far from the Whisperer, the effects of her words were greatly diminished, seeing as he didn't feel as though his mana pool was being torn open. He knew he was being snippy and not all that fair to the Whisperer if he truly had woken her up from a nap, but he couldn't help it.

His level 50 Capstone was supposed to be a pretty big deal, and so far, it seemed as though he'd gained an ever so slight, possible improvement to his spells." Is it truly spying if I am merely listening to another part of myself?" the Whisperer asked, and Vin could easily imagine the old woman's small smile." We are all mana. We have merely been molded into temporary forms in order to satisfy the mana's ever-burning curiosity and desire to be everything and everywhere all at once. I am you, and you are me.

We are similar, and yet different. That is what it means to listen to the mana. It is a lesson you have already started learning. A road you have begun walking down, even if you yourself do not realize it just yet."

"That's great and all, but could you perhaps use some of that ancient wisdom to come out and explain to me precisely what my new Capstone does?" Vin asked, looking angrily up at the ceiling.

"Only a few weeks ago I fought a guy in his third prestige who could punch hard enough to blast a giant crater into the ground, and he had some method of forcing someone else to trade blow-for-blow with him without dodging. I'm not actually sure which of his many abilities was his level 50 Capstone, but whichever it was, it was a lot more impressive than a slight improvement to my spells."" Ah, the impatience of youth," the Whisperer chuckled, not really doing a whole lot to curb Vin's annoyance."

You are an Explorer, are you not? I believe it would be best to allow you to figure the truth out for yourself."

"I'm getting really tired of people telling me that," Vin grumbled, shaking his head to dislodge the Whisperer's soft laughter as he opened his door and stepped out into the Haven. Based on the rumbling in his gut and the fact that he'd woken the Whisperer up from her evening nap, it sounded as though he'd slept all the way until dinner time the next day while recovering from their initial conversation.

As much as he wanted to sit there and try everything he could think of to figure out what his Capstone did, the Whisperer had a good point. He'd figure it all out in time. The wording was vague enough that he had a hunch the Capstone would end up influencing a lot of different things rather than resulting in one big thing. Only time would tell, and he should enjoy this road he was apparently walking down without even realizing.

"Lousy, old person, metaphors," Vin grumbled to himself. After a moment, he realized he could smell the scent of food drifting down the hall and hear laughter and muffled conversation from the very Tamers he, Shia, and Reginald had partied with a week ago. Licking his lips as he all but tasted the roasting mutton awaiting him, Vin headed toward the source of all these sensations. He'd figure out what Friend of Mana did after satisfying the current ache in his stomach.