Chương 71: External Mana Projection

"Mm~" I hummed as I weaved my mana through the yarn. Today felt like a good day, over the past two weeks, I've gotten quite proficient at making my mana as thin as a string and manipulating it. Would I say I'm on Luna's level? Heck no, but, I'm at least able to complete this task smoothly. The benefits of having my mana be super thin is how much less mana it expends. Using my previous way of enveloping the whole yarn, I wouldn't be able to even get halfway through the scarf.

Now, I have plenty of mana to weave into each thread of yarn. It just requires me to be a bit more precise, and it's inherently weaker. But, I can just supply more mana where needed to keep it stable.

"Phew…" Letting out a deep breath, I retracted all my mana back into my core and dropped the scarf. I've been progressing the difficulty steadily. From my very second scarf and now to one of my scarfs I made towards the end of my knitting journey. Progression wise, there's still around five scarfs until I reach the blanket. However… I'm impatient! Unwrapping the silverbin blanket from my shoulders, I took a deep breath.

After drinking a mana potion so I could regenerate my mana while training, I grasped one end of the blanket and drew mana from my core. Objectively speaking, it's not any harder than weaving through a scarf. The problem lies on how much more thread there is and how much more complex the stitching is. Due to the design on the blanket, some threads would either end halfway through or be all sorts of wacky. So really, its a test of patience and focus. One of which I suck at, the other I excel.

I really should've put on music before starting this… … One hour passed, then two… And then three. Only the signs of the AC reached me as I carefully threaded my mana through the blanket. If it wasn't nice and cool in this room, I'm sure sweat would be dripping off my forehead right about now. Licking my lips, I pushed my mana through the yarn on the border.

"Haah…" I let out a deep breath as I relaxed and maintained the mana. I was done. My mana spread throughout the blanket—if we were to only look at the mana and nothing else, it'd look like a sieve or a net. The mana around the border kept it nice and contained while inside of it was like an outline of the design.

"Phew…" I let out and glanced around-"Eek!" I screamed as I noticed a silver-haired girl next to me.

"M-mouse? When did you get here?" I asked, calming my heart. Luna was resting her chin on her palm and sitting with crossed legs. Was she watching me work the whole time? Is this another case of 'You look cool when you're serious'?

"Two hours ago or so." Luna calmly answered, "You were really focused." …Was she just watching me manipulate mana for two hours? No, wait, would she even see me manipulate mana if she didn't touch the blanket? I didn't feel any other mana connection while working… So…Was she just watching me for two hours? An inexplicable blush rose to my cheeks.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat, "I'm finished with this step of training, I just want to cut off connection now and see how long the mana maintains itself." I explained.

"Okay." Luna nodded, her eyes finally leaving my face and turning to the blanket. … Do I really look different went I'm focusing? Should I set up a camera some time and see just how different I look? After setting some minor future plans, I cut connection from my core to the blanket and watched. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Immediately the mana started to flicker, some areas dimmed but quickly lit back up when backup arrived and stabilized it.

Eventually, the mana steadied itself staying a consistent brightness. It was… stable. For about thirty seconds. After that, it shattered like glass; One section of the mana completely blacked out, backup arrived from other sections to stabilize it but failed and ended up dimming themselves. It was kind of sad to see.

"Hm…I see, the structure wasn't sound enough which caused it an early death." Luna said, "It's only natural since you followed the wild pathways of the yarn, even an engineer couldn't keep that stable." I stared at Luna with a pout.

"What?" She asked, genuinely confused.

"Nothing." I replied with a sigh, "So, it's as I thought…"

"What is?"

"Eventually, I'll have to project mana externally into a shape that maintains itself for 10 minutes after I cut connection."

"Oh, that's easy." Luna unconsciously replied. My mouth dropped and I stared at her incredulously. Easy for who!? Not everyone is a architect or engineer! And when did you get a degree!?

"Ah, no, I mean, I don't understand why you're looking so distraught. There's plenty of videos out there which teaches about mana and external projection. Just find a shape online to copy and use for yourself." She said as if it were obvious. I stared at her in silence, my mouth wouldn't close. As I took in her words, they echoed in my mind and after several moments they finally registered. Huh… Why didn't I think of that? Come to think of it, I've never actually tried to learn from anything except the gallery.

Even the tower guides I only briefly skim through for a general understanding. I guess it's because I've subconsciously thought that they'd always have better methods and more knowledge… But, that's not true at all. We're not even in the same world; What works amazingly there, might only work well here. When it comes to alchemy, there probably isn't a better teacher than the gallery—after all, they're all grand alchemists. But, for other things, there's bound to be people better.

Have I been looking down on my own world too much? Mm… Probably. Well, at least I understand it now. Alright, no more of blindly believing those gallery misters from now on. If I ever want to reach their level, I have to make my own decisions and path. Of course, I'm not forsaking them, it's just that I'll wait until I'm more informed before diving into things. Haah… Suddenly, it felt as if my core had grown a level. Like a fog had been lifted. Huh…? Do self-realizations actually help your core?

Closing my eyes, I manipulated my mana and felt as if it came out smoother and purer. I think I understand; Your mind is a limit, by only blindly following and trusting others your core will feel as if it has a weight on it.

"Hm? Did something happen?" Luna looked at me with concern, "Your face just went through several emotions.

"Hehe," I started to smile, "Nothing!" I hugged her, "Thanks, I just realized something from your words."

"Ah, no problem." She was confused but hugged me back. … Now, although I did just have my own realization, I still needed to know the next step of the training plan. And, as I thought, it was time to externally project mana. First, I tried simply drawing my mana out into the air. Which, surprisingly worked. Though, it was a little shakey and unstable. And, as expected, as soon as I cut the connection it dissipated instantly.

"Hm…" I pondered in thought for a moment before turning to Luna, "Mouse~""…Yes?" I grabbed onto her arm and looked up at her pitifully, giving my cutest puppy eyes.

"Help me!!"

"Heh," She softly chuckled, "Alright, what can I help you with?" She asked.

"Can you project mana?"

"Of course," Luna nodded and lifted her pointer finger. Out of it came a smooth and stable blue string of mana, "Hm… Shall I make it into a shape?" She rhetorically asked before the mana expanded. It became a square floating in the air; It was stable and bright. Wow… Times like these remind me that she really isn't just someone who dies to skeletons all the time. Suddenly, Luna's brows furrowed as she looked at me. What?? Does she have mind-reading or something!?

A moment later her brows smoothed out,"Sorry, I just felt an urge to flick something for some reason." She said. Wah! Instincts are scary!!

"Ahem, no worries! Anyways, why is your mana so stable? Mine always comes out all shakey and wobbly like someone with arthritis trying to draw a straight line."

"…An interesting comparison." She said before starting to explain, "For one, I'm naturally better at mana manipulation than you. That's not a diss or anything but objective facts; You know that as you progress through the floors, your core naturally gets stronger, which makes it easier to train and work with. Since I'm a full 20 floors above you, my core is way more refined than yours."

"Wait, what? You get stronger as your progress through floors?" I instinctively asked but immediately covered my mouth after. That felt like something I shouldn't have said and seeing the look of absolute disbelief on Luna's face, I was probably right.

"…What?" She said with a low tone. Ah…No…Not another scolding…I'll do research next time! I swear!!! (lie) I mean! I feel wronged! I haven't felt any major changes in my body as I cleared floors! How was I supposed to know that there's a progression path so obvious that even the most basic of games have it! Hm…Thinking about it, this really feels like something I should've known. Alright, fine, this time it was my fault.

"Haah…" Luna sighed, "Alright, simply put, when you clear a floor you get an invisible reward to your core and body. You naturally become stronger, faster, and…well obviously not smarter." She stared at me as she said those last words.

"Hmph." I pouted. I'd like to see her name ten materials that can be used in a healing potion; I just use my knowledge on more important things like alchemy.

"But you do get more processing power—in other words, faster at thinking and better reaction speed."

"Mhm." I nodded.

"So, back to the topic, why is my mana stable and yours squiggly? It's simple, you're not making your mana dense enough to withstand the pressure from the natural environment."

"Huh?" I tilted my head, "So, it's just a matter of output?"

"No," She shook her head, "Give me your hand." I obliged.

"First, I want you to draw a string of mana, you can do whatever you want with it." She said.

"Okay…" I complied and drew little circles with my mana in my pathway.

"Now, focus your attention on my mana." She said. Closing my eyes, I could see a blue string of mana draw from her core. She did the exact same as me, drawing circles in a pathway.

"Do you see the difference?" She asked.

"No?"

"Look closer. Look at the finer details of my mana." Focusing, all I could see was that her mana looked smooth and solid.

"What's the difference?" I asked.

"Look at your mana again—the finer details." And as I did so, my eyes widened. If her mana was a rich lady who lived in a penthouse, mine was a complete beggar! My string of mana was riddled with holes and it's edges were crooked and sharp! Only when looking closely as if it was under a microscope could I see this.

"…I see the problem." I said.

"Yes, although you have fine manipulation over your mana, the mana itself is weak and flimsy."

"How do I fix this, master?" I asked.

"…" She stared at me in silence.

"Hehe." I showed a slight smile, "I'm using the term properly this time."

"Haah…So you the other times were improper?"

"Yes, master~""…That one felt improper."

"It was." Flick!

"Ow…" I rubbed my forehead, I'm gonna get a bump!!

"There's multiple ways to strengthen your mana. The most obvious and easiest would be a mana strengthening machine. They're quite expensive, so, instead, we can visit an awakener training building and you can use it there."

"Okay…What are the other ways though, for curiosity's sake?"

"Potions can help; Condensing it yourself works too, but that's a bit taxing; Hm…There's a few more but I can't remember them off the top of my head."

"I see, I see. And, will this awakener training building require me to show my ID or an awakener's card or anything?" I asked, neither of those I had which would be quite troublesome.

"Hm…It should be fine." Luna said, "Since you're a criminal, I'll just introduce you as my plus one—someone who's interested in how awakeners train."

"…I feel like you emphasized the word 'criminal' there."

"Just your imagination." She paused, "Criminal." She teased.