Chương 58: Mana Manipulation

The weather was good, and the food was delicious. A shame Alexandra was suffering from the curse of blandness. It was lunch time, and Sera had taken out two fully garnished plates from her spatial ring.

"So this is real?" Alexandra asked, rubbing her eyes as she looked between the ring on Sera's finger and the plates. Red and green vegetables that she couldn't name served as a cushion for half-a-dozen thin strips of meat.

"It's called Shama. A specialty from home. It's better fresh, though. Spatial storage weakens the taste."

"I was talking about your ring."

"Oh." Sera handed her her plate.

"Well, yeah. You won't be able to afford one, though. Even the cheapest spatial storage items are usually reserved for the Ruby rank." Alexandra raised an eyebrow.

"You have one. Aren't you Platinum?" She smiled.

"Another perk of joining the Keepers of the Iron Ink."

"I told you I would consider it." And with a spatial ring on the line, she might really do it.

"Erm… to be clear, I'm tasked with bringing you to the Magus. I don't know if joining us for real is an option. It would have to wait until you reach platinum, too." That was right. She couldn't let herself get corrupted by the prospect of obtaining a spatial ring. A fucking spatial ring, though. Seeing Alexandra salivate, Sera invited her to try the dish. It tasted bland courtesy of the latest curse she'd obtained while training Dark Bolt. But it was fresh, and the vegetables were crunchy.

"I can't tell you it tastes good, but I'm excited to try for real next time."

"You can, if you come with me to Kator."

"Please stop. You have to understand my position." Raymond's invitation seemed genuine. After all, Sera was insistent, but she wasn't forceful. Hell, she was helping Alexandra, apparently at some risk, since she wasn't supposed to be in Baleria. She didn't know what the consequences would be if she got caught, and she didn't want to know. The Katori woman was likable enough, and Alexandra knew that it would influence her decision to follow her or not.

Because while Sera was fine, the warning she'd gotten from Bamir was still present in her mind. Hakim had chosen not to help her, it was a fact. Then there was Louis' story. She had a hard time imagining that Lila could wipe out an entire village. Yet, why would he lie about that? And Bamir's reluctance to say her name… She curled up to her knees and grabbed her hair. So complicated.

"You good?" Alexandra looked up. Sera was watching her, mouth half-full. She nodded.

"As I said, I'm not going to force you. But I hope you'll come to see my sincerity." They finished their meal in silence. For someone who'd only slept a few hours outside, Alexandra was feeling great.

"Do higher attributes make it so I won't have to sleep at all? Eat? Drink?" Sera shook her head.

"You'll still need to eat and drink. If anything, you'll need more nutritious food to sustain your body. As for sleep, the need for it does decrease, but never completely goes away. Unless you ascend and become a goddess, allegedly."

"What? I can become a goddess?"

"In theory. But that's basically impossible. There would be more than seven gods and six demons if ascension was so simple." She frowned, then shook her head. All of this was too strange. Better focus on what's ahead of me. She summoned her journal. Dark Bolt 6 -> 9 Life Curse 6 -> 9 She looked at those two lines for a long moment, a lump growing in her throat. She pushed it down. Those levels cost her a lot of pain. But, for all its downsides, curse of empathy did help speed up her understanding of the skill.

Feeling the effects of corrupted lifeforce directly in her guts was incomparable to mere observation. Her gains were beginning to stall, however, as goblins were not enough to truly push herself. Quest Journal Daily Reset: 06: 00 | Streak: 18 Days | 1% All Stats Next Milestone: 25 Days Daily Quests: Tie a knot with your mana (0/1)"Any advice?" she asked the Katori woman.

"You know the basics. Now it's a matter of being precise and delicate enough."

"I do wonder, though, how my quests are generated."

"The workings of the system are mysterious, even for the most illustrious followers of Tash. Trust that it will provide." If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Alexandra nodded and closed her eyes. She focused on her core and grabbed a thread of mana. She pulled it, looped it around itself, and tightened. It snapped. She tried again. Slower this time. The loop formed. She held it there, feeling it hang. She eased off. Let the tension settle.

She exhaled, forcing her mind to relax. Come on, you know how to move mana. Then she drew the tail through. It held. Bit by bit, she tightened the knot. Until she felt a resistance. She stopped. Opened her eyes, keeping a portion of her focus on the knot. Tie a knot with your mana (1/1) -> Quest Completed: +10 exp, +1 INT, Skill Quest Unlocked: Mana Manipulation. Daily Quest Streak: 18 -> 19"That was easier than I thought."

"You trained for hours and hours. A regular apprentice would start their journey doing exercises like this. With a much lower dexterity attribute than yours, I might add."

"Ah? Dexterity affects mana?" Sera tilted her head.

"Why would it not?"

"Right… I also got the skill quest for Mana Manipulation. Should I work on it?"

"We've already been doing just that."

"Really?" Alexandra flipped the pages of her journal. Mana Manipulation: Cast an apprentice level spell (0/1).

"Is Dispel at the apprentice level?" Sera nodded.

"Yes. Apprentice level is the basic layer of spellcraft. Simple patterns, nothing complex. See what you just did with the knot? The level above apprentice requires you to form complex shapes with several threads of mana." Holding one thread was already hard enough as it was. Alexandra wasn't sure she'd ever be capable of that. She pinched her cheek lightly. No, she could do it. It was magic. Actual magic! She had to make it work. She checked the skill description. Mana Manipulation: Improves your control over mana.

Each level increases your control over mana. Straight to the point, but immensely valuable. Alexandra extended her hand, palm up.

"Rock." Sera smiled and placed a new enchanted rock in her palm.

"Made that one harder."

"Thank you." Her extra point in intelligence wasn't enough to compensate for the difference. The suction pull on ambient mana was stronger than all her previous attempts combined, and the shape of the enchantment was so irregular that covering it with her own mana was a struggle. Still, after an entire day and night of training, she'd understood that it was more finesse than brute force. It took her three attempts, but she managed to dispel the enchantment. Mana Manipulation: Cast an apprentice level spell (1/1).

Alexandra tried reining her mana inside her core. The difference was startling.

"It's so much easier." Her eyes were open.

"I feel like I could hold it forever."

"Try walking." She took a step. Her hold on her mana shook. Another, it broke. She winced.

"I got ahead of myself."

"Don't be dejected." Sera smiled.

"You're doing very well. Now that you got the hang of Dispel, it's just a matter of repetition. Let's move on to the glamour. You stand out too much with your white hair and facial scars. At least you can hide your missing finger, but we have to do something about the rest."

"Why not use dyes?"

"I doubt they sell any in Esmera. And my funds are not endless either."

"So, you'll teach me a spell to dye my hair?" Alexandra frowned.

"Not at all. A spell this complex is far beyond your level. Think about it, you have so many individual strands of hair, and they move every time you take a step, every time the wind blows. No, we're going to change your face."

"I don't see how…" Sera smiled and raised a finger.

"Old, Alexandra. We're going to make you look old."

"Old."

"Old." Sera held up her hand and a veil of mana spread across her skin, visible to Alexandra. She watched the threads settle over the back of Sera's hand like a second skin, thin and even. Then they pulled. Laterally, toward the wrist, gathering the surface into shallow creases. The skin of her hand aged thirty years in a second.

"You're not changing the skin itself," Alexandra said.

"No. That'd be too much for you. I'm changing how it sits." Sera released the spell and flexed her fingers.

"The mana pulls the surface in specific directions. Hold the pattern and it holds the shape. Think of it as pinching fabric."

"And for the face?"

"Same principle." Sera paused.

"We'll have to cover your skin everywhere else. Holding it active on your face is going to be difficult enough. Let's try it on your hand first, seeing it happen helps." Alexandra held out her hand. She found her mana, drew a single thread to the surface, and let it rest against her skin.

"Now pull. Slowly." She pulled. The thread dragged across the back of her hand and the skin followed, bunching at the knuckle.

"Hold it." She held it. The thread quivered but didn't snap.

"Good. Release." She let go. The skin returned to its normal position.

"Again. Faster this time." She did it again.

"Good. Now catch." Sera threw a pebble at her. Alexandra caught it, and her spell unraveled. The Keeper clicked her tongue.

"The spell is simple. Keeping it active is not."

"That's why we're training. Now that you get the idea, let's work on your face directly." Alexandra nodded. She pulled a thread of mana from her core and brought it to her face.

"The corner of your eye," Sera said.

"Toward the temple." It took many small adjustments to make the fake wrinkles look believable. They wouldn't pass a close inspection, but preventing one from happening was A Face Among Many's job.

"Don't look at me like that," Alexandra said. Sera schooled her expression.

"You look about sixty. For Gold ranks and below, anyway."

"How flattering." She released and tried the other side. It took three tries to match it. Her face felt strange, a mild pressure at both temples like the beginning of a headache.

"It's not perfect, but it's a good start. Try moving with it." Alexandra took a step. It's holding. Her eyes went wide. Then she lost it.

"Ah, snap. I got too excited. Let me try again." She pulled a thread once more, and reset her wrinkles. Then she took a step, and another. She looked at Sera.

"It's working."

"Good job. Now try relaxing. You look so stiff now." After a few more tries, Alexandra checked her journal. Mana Manipulation 1 -> 2 Easier. But she wasn't smiling. Sera noticed. She didn't say anything for a moment, just watched Alexandra close her journal.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking about…" She paused.

"When I was summoned, I was so lost. I found a village." She looked down at her clothes. Her hand brushed her sickle.

"They fed me. Gave me clothes, shelter. And I couldn't do anything for them." She met Sera's eyes.

"I was scared of the sickness. I ran." The Keeper didn't speak.

"But now I think I can. Without triggering a sickness." She exhaled. Her breath was halting.

"I'm going to do it. I'm going to fucking kill that beast."