Chương 23: Aura Manipulation Basics

Energy. That is what everything seems to come down to. Be it the force of a hammer molding metal, or a spell flattening a city. Both rely on energy, and the ability to manipulate it. So when I sink into meditation and get hit with so much energy that my brain blanks for several minutes, it is quite disorienting. A few more minutes pass, and I can feel something in the air. A will, controlling the energy. It must be Claire, as she is the only one around.

Slowly, the density around me starts to decrease until the world around me feels empty. It is weird, it should not be this empty. So, I fill it with a bit of my mana. Counter to how I would try to use energy, I don't try to control it yet. Rather, I simply let the mana go, and leak into the air around me. Claire seems to have left me a small circle, about five meters in diameter. Just beyond the circle, I can faintly sense her aura, which is more a testament to her sheer power rather than my sensing skills.

Now, the task before me: forming a domain. It should be simple enough, I just have to uhh… do something. As for what I have to do? I've got no fucking clue. I know I have to let my mana out like I have. I can slowly feel it filling the air around me, growing ever stronger by the second. My head feels a bit tingly, and then I get a notification.

'Ding', General Skill unlocked, [Lesser Domain Anchoring (Inferior)] No fucking clue what I did, but it seems I have done something. At least, enough for the system to say I have gotten close enough. Is it really as simple as filling the air with mana? Either way, I got a skill, and I am not going to complain. Though I can tell the process isn't quite done, so I check out the description. [Lesser Domain Anchoring (Inferior)] By suffusing an area with one's mana, they are able to form the most basic of auras.

This skill allows the wielder to compress that aura and refine it into a domain. A domain is fixed upon the point it is created, unless otherwise acted upon. The size of and time for the domain to settle is dependent on the skill of the user. Even the most incompetent person could wrest control of an area, given a few days. But it is said the most powerful can make incomprehensible expanses bend to their will with but a thought. This skill only allows for the formation of a domain.

Other functions must be learned separately. Seems simple enough, now that I have the skill, everything makes a lot more sense. It is hard to explain how it works, I simply know that it does. It can all be summed up as 'magic.' Without wasting any more time, I activate the skill. I am met with a prompt asking me how much area I wish to gain control of. Claire would give me more area than I can use, so I just select the two and a half radius around me.

'Ding', Domain anchoring has begun. Estimated time: 6 minutes. Mana starts to drain from me, at quite a rapid rate. Too quickly, in fact. Even with Meditate active, I watch the number plummet. Dropping out of meditation, I reorient myself. I turn towards Claire, and before I say anything, she tosses something to me. I catch it, and see that it is a small blue potion.

"Yeah, you'll need mana potions at the start. Your mana pool isn't large enough yet."

"Thanks." I say, and then pop the bottle open and drink down the odd liquid. It tastes funny, and it makes my throat burn. But damn does the surge of mana feel good. Reminds me of the time I drank a strange drink a customer brought in. I think they called it sodapop? Pretty sure it was a pretty new thing. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. I watch my mana jump up by about half, then slowly start increasing.

The potion must give a chunk of mana, plus increase regeneration for a bit. Quite handy, I shall have to see about procuring some.

"It said it would take six minutes. So I guess we just wait." I say.

"Nonsense! All possible moments must be used for learning." Claire declares.

"Now, do you happen to have any materials? Metals, most importantly." Checking my storage, I see that I still have the five Iron bars (Inferior) that I started with.

"I've got five iron bars in my storage. The Goddess provided 'em, probably for this exact reason."

"Ah yes, the goddess provided them. Right, almost forgot about your whole hero thing for a sec." Claire says and then sighs.

"Couldnt she have given you a guidebook about all this stuff too?" No. Woah, that sounded like the goddess?! I guess she is watching me after all.

"She said no. I think she wants us to like, learn about the world naturally, and meet people and such. Broaden our horizons and whatever other bullshit."

"Oh well. Pop two of those bars out. The domain is just about to be anchored." Claire says, somehow sensing the completion just seconds before the ding comes. She can probably sense stuff, now that I think about it. Several notifications accompany the ding. Four new skills in fact, which I check. [Lesser Domain Attunement (Inferior)] While a domain is useful even at its weakest, making it stronger confers many benefits. By attuning a domain, you may increase both its power, but also range and durability.

This is done by a process of very simply, dumping ridiculous quantities of energy into it. While doing so, one must maintain good control and slowly increase the density of mana in the domain. By doing so, all aspects of the domain shall be improved. [Lesser Domain Empowerment (Inferior)] Domains exist in balance with the area around them. The natural world is full of energy, unstable energy. Domains exist to stabilize this energy, and in doing so, make all beings within stronger.

Based on the power of the domain, it will confer bonuses to those inside. Bonuses vary depending on the owner, and later specialization. [Lesser Domain Storage (Inferior)] All domains act as a sort of subspace dimension. As the owner, you may assign any non-sentient object to be a part of the domain. In doing so, those objects will be bound to it. Naturally, there is a limit to the amount you can bind, based on a domain's power. Bound objects are physically impossible to remove from a domain.

Furthermore, upon transport, the objects will move alongside the domain. [Lesser Domain Transport (Inferior)] Domains are naturally fixed places within the world. But, beings are naturally meant to explore. Which is quite a predicament. Luckily, domains can be pretty easily moved around. Though it does come at a pretty high cost and downtime. With great focus, one can temporarily absorb a domain into their body. The domain will remain in stasis, any bound objects will also be absorbed.

Later on, one may place the domain back down, for a cost. Do note that for every domain absorbed, there is a 25% reduction applied to mana capacity. Also, some say it can be quite uncomfortable. Also note that any living entities bound to the domain will be effectively frozen in time while absorbed. The air feels a bit different with the domain settled in. It is like I can subtly move it around, very weakly of course. Guess that makes sense, the area is filled with a bit of me.

Those skills all sound mighty interesting. I was concerned that placing my domain here meant I could never move it. But it seems it is rather easy to do so. It would suck to spend a long time improving a domain, only to have to move or something. After letting the information settle, I drop the bars on the ground in front of me as Claire instructed. Upon initial inspection they seem like normal iron. But when I focus, I can tell they are subtly infused with mana, just like everything in this world.

I wonder what makes different qualities of materials? The amount of mana? I'm sure I'll figure it out. I'll need lots of em if I wanna craft some awesome gear.

"Alright, so what next?"

"You should have a forging skill, right?" Claire asks, and I nod.

"Great, now simply place your hands just above the bars. Then push a bit of mana into them, while thinking of them transforming into a workstation. It can be an anvil, table, anything works really. Then, activate the skill and uh, it should just work?" She seems uncertain about the last part. Most of this must just be instinct to her at this point, yet she is a shockingly good teacher. Bending down, I do as she instructs. A message appears asking me to confirm the formation of a Magic Smith's Iron Anvil (Inferior).

Naturally, I accept, and about half of my mana drains away into the materials. The bars start to glow a bright blue, and then they morph before my eyes. In a process that I can only describe as magic, they shape themselves into a small anvil. Perfect for making a dagger, or a ring. Though too small for me to do anything like plate armor, I think.

"Good job!" Claire says and then claps.

"Now, we get on to the fun, and thus hard, stuff!"