On his way to Córdoba, he thought about the changes happening inside his body. He hadn't chosen a class, but he could already feel the effects of mana spreading through his body.
Mana was an extremely powerful form of energy that had appeared at the same time as the first invaders and monsters. Humans, seeing infinite potential in mana, quickly jumped at the chance to discover and exploit this new source of energy.
'But it didn't yield the expected results... According to what the players say, no way has been found to exploit mana without going through the System. You need either a class or a job. And I don't even know what changes inside players to let them detect mana at level ten, but not at level nine...' Sora felt the chaotic energy traversing his body without damaging anything, and he enjoyed the sensation.
"I missed this," he told himself, trying to manipulate the mana, which was in its natural form. By concentrating, he managed to divert the flow of mana into his left arm, but stopped immediately.
He felt an intense pain in his arm and shook it violently, as if it were on fire. Seeing the damage accumulating, he stopped running immediately and took a potion from his inventory to heal the wound.
Sora sighed, seeing his arm injured by the tiny amount of pure mana he had barely diverted.
"Nathan had explained it to me. The use and manipulation of pure mana is dangerous for a player without a class. It's even deadly..." Although he had never forgotten the primary utility of a class, he was forced to think about it.
'A class never uses pure mana to fuel the skills used... It first sorts through this mana, extracts what it needs, refines it, and directs it appropriately to activate the skill... And what made classes so mysterious was their ability to accompany the player, guide them, almost holding their hand to make the impossible trivial.'
Sora thought back to the whole process.
'What exactly had Enzo said about this?' he wondered, thinking of his deceased mage friend. 'According to him, pure mana was unusable because of the very nature of classes, which took only what they needed during the extraction stage. So, with ten units of magic power in the form of mana in his body, his class could only exploit three or four units of magic power for his magic. And this energy, once refined, could be transformed by a skill into ice or fire, for example. Every step involves losses, and the wizard might only exploit thirty or forty percent of the mana used.'
Lost in thoughts, Sora called upon his sword from his inventory and began to clean and sharpen it.
'As for me, before dying, I only had to extract Sword Energy, a tiny part of what is found in pure mana, and use it for my skills. There was no transformation of my mana, nor anything very complicated...' He thought about his class, and raised his eyebrows as he had an idea.
'Enzo found swordsmen stupid because our use of mana was so rudimentary. And he said that if he lost his class, he was convinced he could reproduce my skills...' Thinking of those words, he asked himself a single question: 'What if it were true?'
It was true that using mana without a class was extremely dangerous. He had just verified it. It was true that mana seemed overpowered, and uncontrollable. But he quickly wondered if he hadn't gone about it the wrong way.
'I tried to divert the mana to verify if I could control it... And I did manage to divert it.' He thought back to his experiment, and envisioned a new one.
'What if I tried to extract Sword Energy instead, like I used to do in the past? I've done it millions of times, so why not try?' Curious, he set his mind to reproducing an action he had once mastered.
Sora put his sword down and sat on the ground in the lotus position. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the inside of his body.
His body had stopped accumulating more mana, as if reaching the limit of what it could hold, and although the majority of his energy was located near his navel, the rest was scattered everywhere else.
He had researched the subject and discovered that players called this place the dantian. It was a central point, allowing mana users to store and manipulate it. Sora began his experiment with a tiny amount of energy located at the edge of his dantian. Although he had done this countless times, this time he was cautious, and even stressed.
Until then, he had never taken control of his mana without the help of the System and his class.
Sitting in the shade, he didn't notice the drops of sweat accumulating on his forehead, nor the time passing.
After a long hesitation, he finally took the plunge. He communicated to the mana his need for Sword Energy and requested the extraction of the energy he needed.
When he saw a part of the targeted mana suddenly separate from the rest, he was surprised.
'On the first try?' Sora got distracted and lost control of the energy he had managed to extract. Without warning, the Sword Energy exploded.
Sora felt a pain in his abdomen and immediately removed the top of his armor and what he was wearing on his upper body. The pain became unbearable, and little by little, his entire stomach began to turn blue. Sora opened his inventory and quickly found a potion for internal bleeding to remedy the situation.
After a minute of suffering, he began to recover, and managed to make a full recovery within a few minutes.
He quickly assessed his experiment, 'Extracting Sword Energy isn't that complicated, but I immediately lose control of it once it leaves the mana reserve...'
He thought about his previous life and the path of Sword Energy in his body, before sighing.
'I might be unnecessarily complicating things for myself,' he thought, tempted to get back on the road and postpone his experimentation.
However, having promised himself to catch up to Rachel and become more powerful, he shook his head and started again. He first increased the quantity of Sword Energy extracted, suffering an even more serious wound once he lost control. He tried again with his sword in hand and attempted to reproduce the movements of the techniques he mastered, in vain.
'Without the energy to fuel them, the movements are useless, from what I see...' he concluded, putting his sword back on the ground.
Out of ideas, he started over from the beginning. He concentrated on a tiny part of his energy and extracted Sword Energy from it once again.
'If I learn to guide it without injuring myself, I should be able to use my techniques.' Convinced, he persisted in the same direction.
One attempt after another. One injury after another, he understood certain things.
His skill in manipulating mana was progressing rapidly and each injury was less severe than the last. Last but not the least, his Sword Energy only caused him damage when it was in places where it wasn't supposed to be, or when it tried to return to the mana from which it originated. The more the distance from the mana increased, the less control he had.
Sora's mind was racing while he recovered from yet another attempt, 'By following the mana path used to activate [Sword Strike], the Sword Energy caused no damage... But beyond a certain distance, I can no longer resist the force connecting the Sword Energy and the mana.'
'As my control over both energies improves, I could continue pushing in the same direction until I reach a satisfactory result...' Thinking of the countless injuries he would inflict on himself and his limited quantity of potions, he shook his head.
'Otherwise, I can try to guide the pure mana and keep it close to the Sword Energy, so that the force connecting them doesn't exceed what I can control. And that, I can try right away...'
Aware of the risks, and remembering his arm injury, Sora took several potions and pieces of bread from his inventory and placed them beside him. He was ready to heal himself.
Both worried and excited, Sora sat down and concentrated on the energy accumulated in his dantian. The mana there was in its natural, wild state. Once more, he targeted a small amount and extracted Sword Energy from it. He slowly directed the energy out of the dantian and stopped it near his right shoulder.
Sora chose the shoulder to be sure he wouldn't affect his vital organs in case of an explosion of his Sword Energy.
So far, everything went without a hitch.
He then turned his attention to the part of mana at the edge of his dantian. It was vibrating and moving restlessly, as if offended that something had been stolen from it.
Sora didn't feel the sweat accumulating on his forehead; he was focused on his new task: guiding the mana toward his shoulder.
Having no reference or successful experience in manipulating pure mana inside his body, he chose to guide the mana exactly as he had done for the Sword Energy. So he pushed the energy along the same path and was pleasantly surprised not to see it explode at the first movement.
'Oh my god!' Although this thought crossed his mind, he calmed himself and concentrated again.
On his very first attempt, Sora managed to guide the mana just as he had guided his Sword Energy, and in less than a minute, he positioned them at his shoulder. Once this result was achieved, he guided the two energies through his skin and felt them dissipate into the air.
'It's a good start,' he thought. 'But why did the quasi-pure mana follow the same path without exploding? How is that possible?' Sora felt the difference between the two energies and saw a much higher potential in pure mana.
'What if I stopped separating them? What if I trained with mana only?' Sora was aware that he was constantly changing his way of thinking, but liked to think it was more of a strength than a weakness. He was convinced he could have reproduced his techniques using his previous method, but he was dying to try his new method.
From that moment on, his challenge changed completely.
He would use pure mana as if it were Sword Energy and see where it led him.
He breathed deeply and communicated his intention to the mana. A small volume reacted and began to travel through his body just as he hoped. This energy was much heavier than Sword Energy, and much less docile, but Sora managed to control it somehow.
When the mana destroyed a blood vessel it grazed, Sora grimaced but managed to stay focused. He would take a potion once the experiment was over.
When the mana chipped a bone, he had a mad urge to scream in pain, but once more, he put it off until later.
When the mana finally reached his palm, he guided it through his skin and released it.
Sora ignored the explosion it created in front of him and rushed to drink a potion.
'It's excruciating... It's as if I were guiding lava through my body. And it's so heavy that I can't manipulate it perfectly.' Remembering every impact and every loss of control, Sora associated them with specific places in his body and promised himself to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Hours passed, and Sora was still in the same spot when night fell. He had fought several monsters who came to disturb him, and trained the rest of the time. He was exhausted and looked sadly at the last two potions remaining.
He sighed.
'This fucking mana is uncontrollable.' Although his control had increased rapidly, countless accidents had occurred during the afternoon. Thinking he could anticipate and fix everything, Sora adapted systematically. That was what allowed him to understand that mana didn't always react as he hoped, or in the same way, in what he thought were identical situations.
He shook his head. 'I only have two potions left for the road... If I use these two,, I'll have to go back to the village to restock.'
Still deeply lost in thoughts,, he made one last attempt to guide his mana out of his dantian.
At this stage, he no longer needed extreme concentration and relied mainly on his experience.
Guiding his mana through his dantian, then through his body, he felt resistance just like every time the mana wanted to 'act up.'
Sora sighed and, for once, let the mana do as it pleased. Rather than following exactly the same path as his Sword Energy, the mana took a slight detour. Sora was stunned because, from that moment on, the mana had changed. It seemed less chaotic, and denser.
He focused and guided the mana to perfection until it resisted him. Sora hesitated no longer and let it be.
Repeating the action several times, the mana was guided through his body and his limbs. At the last moment, he picked up his sword and saw it light up.
'Sword Energy?!' The blade was covered in light, symbolizing the reinforcement of his sword by Sword Energy. Except for one detail.
'It's not the same color!' In his memories, the blade was red. Today, it was blue.
A notification blinked in his vision:
[Supreme Skill Unlocked: Mana Evolution]
Sora's eyes widened. 'Mana Evolution?' He had never heard of Supreme Skills before, but what he saw right now told him that it was completely insane. He kept reading the description over and over.
[Mana Evolution (Supreme Skill)]
[A unique skill created for a supreme genius who learned how to use mana without a class, guide, or help.
This skill allows the user's comprehension and application of mana to grow beyond all known limits. The user's mana reserves are evolved.
Effect 1: Mana Eyes: Allows the user to see mana in all forms and scales.
Effect 2: Loved by Mana: Mana will assist the user and minimize rebounds from misuse. The user will never be short of mana.
Effect 3: Mana Growth: Every time mana is used, it becomes more refined, efficient, and powerful.
Effect 4: Mana Customization: The user can guide how their mana evolves. Progress depends on the user's talent and comprehension.
WARNING: Supreme Skills cannot be affected by anything lower than Supreme-level skills, including Innate Skills, Special Skills, or Racial Skills.]
Sora's mouth hung wide open.
'Supreme genius? What the hell?' He chuckled at the accolade and read the rest of the description.
As he read, his mouth opened wider and wider. His understanding and control over mana would improve, his mana would improve, he would see mana, he would be loved by mana, and he would have mana that could evolve…
It was overwhelming.
'All of that doesn't matter for now... The last line is the craziest bit of information!! I can't lose this skill upon resetting!' Sora grinned as he understood one of the meanings behind the warning.
While he was thinking about this detail, he noticed that the world around him had changed. Mana was floating in the air, all around him. It followed currents, with empty zones and zones of high concentration.
When he saw a kind of mana tornado forming around him, he got scared. Absurd amounts of energy were concentrating around him and penetrating his body.
Sora quickly understood that he wasn't in danger, and that he was simply experiencing an effect of [Loved By Mana]. His body quickly absorbed the equivalent of his total capacity in less than a second. Then double. Then quadruple. Then ten times more.
'My body can store ten times more mana?' He quickly understood that [Loved By Mana] had boosted his mana regeneration, and that one of the main effects of [Mana Evolution] had multiplied his mana reserve by ten.
He lowered his eyes to his dantian and saw it overflowing with energy. The energy, once rebellious and almost uncontrollable, seemed both excited and docile.
Sora didn't know how, but he understood that his mana was at his service and was eager to show him what it could do.
He raised his eyes to his sword covered in mana and swung it. He watched with surprise as the effect of the technique he had been struggling to reproduce for hours struck a tree.
A notification immediately confirmed his suspicions.
'I really reproduced [Sword Strike]...'
[Fake Sword Strike (Evolvable)]
[Class Requirement: None]
Description: A classless imitation of the standard Sword Strike ability. The Fake Sword Strike is a powerful blow delivered to the enemy, with the sword imbued with Mana instead of Sword Energy. Compared to its class-based counterpart, this skill is 20% weaker than it should be.
Evolution: As the user's mana and control improve, the skill can evolve.]
His [Fake Sword Strike] mimicked the class skill he had, but it didn't require him to have the Swordsman class. While it was 20% weaker than the original skill, the potential it held made Sora's heart race.
'The skill can evolve...'
Sora grimaced. He didn't like the name of the skill. But reading the description and seeing the effects on the tree in front of him, his doubts dissipated. He quickly imagined recreating all his lost abilities and acquiring new classes whose skills he would reproduce during future resets.
'I'm on the right track,' he thought, a broad smile on his face. The mana consumed by his technique was immediately regenerated when the staggering amount of mana around him rushed to fill the void created in his reserve.