Chương 14: Mana Sense

"Time for your first lesson on Mana Sense," Healer Castelle said while Squire Sabin listened in.

"Mana is ultimately your will made manifest from energy that comes from your soul. If you go past your reserves, you will get Mana burn, where your reserves go into the negative. That will massively decrease your Mana regeneration rate. In the worst case, this will cripple you for years and damage your soul and body. Don't do that." I nodded at this piece of advice.

"As for Mana Sense, it is a foundational skill that you need to have if you want any control over raw Mana manipulation and spells. Different people develop this sense in different ways. How do you feel Mana?"

"Um, like a soft breeze or pressure," I said. Healer Castelle nodded, his white beard shaking slightly from the movement.

"That is the most common. Your skin covers your body and serves as the protective shell that separates your soul from the outside world. When Mana that is foreign to you hits your skin, your soul senses that and translates that to your skin. Now, lie down on the table." I climbed onto the table, and then I laid down. Someone placed a thick piece of cloth over my eyes and tied it off so it wouldn't shift.

"I am going to point at various parts of your body and direct a stream of Mana at them. You will touch that point with one of your fingers. Be as precise as possible." I felt something above my heart and brought up my right arm to point at the spot. The feeling disappeared, only to reappear in another location on my knee. It felt fainter, but I could still feel it. I sat up and touched my knee.

"Good. Lie back down," Healer Castelle said. We kept this up. If I couldn't feel anything, Healer Castelle slowly increased the amount of Mana he used. After spending the afternoon doing this, it was time for dinner. The following week, we repeated the same exercise.

"Is there anything I can be doing better?"

"No, learning Mana Sense is tedious, like other sensory skills."

"Will I learn them?" I asked.

"In time, depending on what your mother has planned. But we need to build up your basics first, and having a higher Perception stat helps level up these skills more quickly," Squire Sabin said. He watched these training sessions closely. I asked him why, and he said it was for safety reasons. It was very easy to take advantage of someone who was training Mana Sense, and he wanted no more accidents to occur.

"Is there any way I can train that stat?"

"That is what Squire Nox will most likely do with you. He has developed many esoteric skills throughout his life. His ability to sense things almost rivals the Supreme Warlady," Squire Sabin replied.

"Less chatter, more focus on the task at hand," Healer Castelle chastised us both. I shut my mouth and tried to find out where he was directing his Mana. During other times we trained, I asked more questions about Mana. Other higher-tier sensory skills were more focused, but they required specialized teachers. My mentors all agreed that I shouldn't take more skills. I was pushing at the limit of what was safe with my Mind stat.

Healer Castelle continued to use his skill two or three times a day to ensure my soul remained unharmed. However, he had raised the concern that it might mask issues with the number of skills I possessed. If my soul were under too much pressure from all the skills, that could be dangerous. It was something that would have to wait until my mother returned to discuss the issue with Healer Castelle. I wasn't sure exactly what the problem was when he could keep using Stabilize Soul on me.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. I figured that in time, my soul would adjust to having more skills. My siblings also returned to the estate during this time. While my father checked on me, they did not invite me to family dinners at the moment. I made everyone too uncomfortable because of the threat of my mother, and the fear was still too fresh in their minds.

It hurt a bit that I was being excluded, but that was the price I was paying for having such a fantastic mother. Each day of my training was mentally exhausting. While I had stopped getting headaches, it felt like it was a struggle to improve. My previous progress had been quick. I quickly leveled easy skills with my high Mind stat. Now, there were physical skills, for which I had fewer stats, and more complex mental skills in Tier 2 that I was working on.

Compared to anyone else my age or even older, I was making incredible progress. My progress was rapid, even when compared to when I first unlocked my status. I wanted to improve more quickly, but the major limitation was my stats. If I did level up and gain stats, I could level up my skills more easily from the high stats, but acquiring new skills, achieving breakthroughs in my skills, or improving my stats through training would become much more difficult.

That was the boost in power that many people sought to achieve their goals. My tutors had all said the same thing. A person would get a few levels, get an enormous boost for their skills, but then stall once more. After that, they would inevitably go on to acquire more levels and repeat the process. Eventually, their ability or skills wouldn't be enough to keep climbing up in levels, and they would stagnate.

Squire Sabin admitted that was why he was struggling now, trying to improve his skills for high-level combat in the dungeon. It made me wonder about my mother, since she came from a humble background. I guessed that she had just killed more monsters in the dungeon. As her skills improved, she would simply kill more and earn experience. It was the most straightforward, yet the most complex answer at the same time. The morning for more training came, and I had a question for Squire Sabin.

"Will I go into the dungeon with Squire Nox?" I asked.

"Already asking to fight monsters?" Sabin replied with his standard grin.

"Yes," I answered, and he shrugged.

"Maybe. Each of us Squires came up with a training plan that your mother approved of with some minor adjustments. I wanted to take you to underground fighting pits. She reminded me why that might be a bad idea at your age," Sabin said while rubbing the back of his head.

"Really? That sounds exciting," I replied.

"They really are. It is all whoosh, and bam! That's how you really level up your skills. But other inappropriate activities happen near fighting pits, um, like gambling. So, we put that off for now. For my training, your mother wanted you to do this kind of intense physical training that they do at many training schools."

"Well, next time then. But am I really making progress?" I asked, and Squire Sabin just kept smiling at me.

"You are, but it is hard for you to tell, since I am matching you. That is the strength of having someone like me to teach you. I am always just one step beyond your current skill level, forcing you to improve as quickly as possible." He brought out the pain stick.

"Really, can't you use something else?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Your mother insisted. No weapons, since I can get carried away. Just a pain stick. But that makes it great. Learn to dodge and block, or else," he replied, and then lunged at me. Fights didn't have start or end times. They just occurred. That was why Sabin would attack me, forcing me to react as quickly as possible. He said it was to prevent the development of bad habits and a poor mindset for combat. He might be right, but it was still frustrating. Everything about this training was frustrating.

It was easier just to kill things. I promised myself that when my mother got back, I would ask her to go into the dungeon again. There was a sense of accomplishment that was hard to replace when I just trained like this, constantly sparring Squire Sabin. I still had all the cores in a pouch. Squire Jessica left them for me, but I hadn't turned them in. One could do that only officially at the Adventurer's Guild. It was just pocket change, but it was money I would have earned on my own.

Well, I had Squire Jessica's help, but I still earned it even with her watching over me. Something was thrilling, primal, about killing monsters to get stronger. It was what my mother had done in the past. Following in her footsteps didn't seem like a bad idea. I knew in my head that I should focus on leveling up tier 1 skills, but in my heart, I wanted to cut my way through the dungeon, earning experience and climbing up in level. My mentors might say otherwise, but I knew what I wanted out of life.

To be the best spellblade. It was frustrating to have to train in this manner constantly. Sparring with someone who completely outclassed me. Studying things that were frustrating to learn. As the three months drew to a close, I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. Sabin had a lot of energy and an enthusiastic personality, but his training was mind-numbing to the extreme. A communication enchantment informed my father a day before my mother's return to the estate. Some people left.

Everyone made sure the estate was perfect, and on the morning of the following day, everyone gathered outside to wait for Supreme Warlady Elena Burnstock. Just as in the previous times, the wait dragged on, but no one complained. Not to greet her with everyone on her return would be incredibly rude. And one thing no one wanted to do was offend my mother.

"Can't we get permission to skip this?" I muttered after having to stand around for two hours. My father chuckled at that.

"And offend your mother? No Justin. While she might be your mother, she is a supreme legend, standing above all others. Or enough of them that it doesn't really matter anymore. Regardless, it is proper etiquette to wait for someone of her stature, especially since she sent word ahead." I sighed heavily.

"But it is boring. I can't disagree with that. Oh, there she is!" My father pointed at a blur in the distance. It was faster for my mother and her Squires to run than to use any other form of transportation. Once she reached the main approach to the mansion, she slowed down and approached at a brisk walk. The staff kneeled, and the family bowed once again. But my mother had earned that respect by advancing her level through rivers of blood and mountains of corpses. I greeted her with a smile and a wave.

"Mother!" I was happy to see her again. Despite our brief conversations, I knew she loved me. No one would go to all the trouble she had for some random kid.