He opened his eyes to see the woman - presumably his mother - hovering above him. She fussed over him while changing his diaper. Danny was embarrassed by this but had no way to address this problem himself. The noises she made were soft but otherwise meant nothing to him. After interacting with her for a while he pretended to get sleepy and nod off. She hovered for a minute, and then the woman left.

Danny was determined to unlock his mana and he couldn't find any answers in his sanctuary, so maybe the key was out here. Going off of what knowledge he had (mostly from fantasy novels and games) either mana was absorbed from the world or was produced from within him. Focusing on his body first, he searched for anything different. While he had grown accustomed to this new body there were a few things that were off. The first was the faint light in the corner of his vision, which he now knew was the shortcut to his sanctuary. The second was a strange presence right above his stomach. The best way he could describe it was that it felt similar to a lump in his throat. Not in how it felt when he was actively swallowing, but how it seemed to be there waiting for him to swallow, making him unconsciously swallow more frequently than he normally would. Unfortunately, he had no means of 'swallowing' to see what was in this area. Could this be his mana? How would he unlock it? Reaching out with his senses, he tried to pull on this presence. Pain shot through his stomach and chest before he let go. Danny felt a dull ache, like he had been sucker punched in the upper gut. Fussing, he was unable to control himself and he cried.

After his mother checked on him and he pretended to sleep again, Danny focused on what happened. He 'grabbed" a lot of the mana, thinking that that was needed to unlock it. Now he was wondering if he shouldn't try a lighter approach, and see if there was a difference. Trying to grab just a small amount of the mana proved very difficult, if that is what it truly was. Every time he attempted to grab at the presence he felt a stab of fresh pain, though the amount of pain noticeably lessened as he learned to grab smaller and smaller amounts.

Determined, and a little bored of just being a baby, Danny continued to work on his locked mana issue. In the following days, he was carried around the house and many people came to visit. It wasn't until meal times that he figured out everyone who lived in the house. Besides his mother, there were two other women and a man in the home. There were also two older girls and another boy. While the girls were many years older than him the boy looked just a few years older than him. His interactions with the two adult women were sporadic, but they were very nice to him. From time to time they would help his mother take care of him. Maybe they were his aunts? At first, he wasn't sure if the man was his father or not, as the man treated all the children the same. Then some nights, he would sleep in their bed upstairs. So he was at least the man they were living with, if not his father. The two older girls would play with him and would help take care of him from time to time. The other boy in his house behaved as expected of a toddler.

Danny hadn't been around too many babies, but he did his best to play the part. So as not to alarm anyone, he made sure to smile, a lot. Especially when he wasn't sure what the right response was. This usually resulted in a positive reaction on the part of the recipient.

He eventually started to pick up on a few words when people would point at themselves and say a word. The photographic memory provided by the sanctuary was a big help in this department. Though it was very frustrating when someone would hold a toy or object and ramble on for more than a few words. He could only make general guesses based on repetition of specific words. Did they expect him to immediately go from nothing to complex sentences?! He couldn't memorize something that he couldn't comprehend. Ninety percent of what was said to him might as well have been inane babbling for all the good it did him.

Days turned into weeks and Danny hadn't made any progress on unlocking his mana. He did, however, get to leave their home. Unfortunately, this was very frustrating as he still couldn't see very far past the end of his nose. He was sure they went to a few stores and stalls as his mother left the places with more things than she had had when she arrived. Also, as they walked between buildings he heard a lot of different people and could vaguely see them moving around. So he could only assume it was a town they lived in. Whether the town was large or small, the buildings tall or short, or if there was a giant moon hovered above waiting to crash down on the unsuspecting populace, Danny couldn't tell.

It was during one quiet afternoon while Danny was practicing his 'grabbing', which had turned into more of a ‘pinching’ that something changed. He had gotten down to being able to grab the tiniest nuance of the presence he felt above his stomach. What had been stabbing pain at first turned into a small, manageable twinge. About ready to give up and call it a day, he reached out and tried again to grab an even smaller amount. At first, he thought he had failed to grab purchase when he did not feel any of the usual pain. That's when it started to suddenly move through his system. A strange and new feeling moved up to his heart and then it spread from there, like the roots of a tree through the ground. Danny could only guess that it was following his arteries and veins. It cycled through his body and once it reached his brain... he blacked out.

When he awoke he first noticed that he felt a strange sensation all over his body. He could feel it, and it was everywhere! It permeated his body and he could feel it wanting to escape. Besides the strange feeling, he didn't feel any stronger physically. That's when he noticed the sanctuary light, and he immediately focused on it, meditating.

The room looked much the same as when he was there last. He rushed past the bookshelves to the doorway behind them. It was open! He went through the doorway into a room shaped like a hexagon. Each wall of the room was decorated with a different theme, and each wall held a symbol. Unlike everything else, these symbols did not change to English when he focused on them. In the center stood a massive stone table, but it was empty.

The first side he approached had a more natural stone floor and wall than the rest of the room. What at first he took to be patterns in the wall turned out to be veins of different ores in the rock. The ores were obviously unrefined, but the tapestry they made was beautiful and soothing. Ten pedestals lined the wall but only three of them held a tome. "Earth Affinity" Apprentice, levels one through three. Danny focused on the three tomes, one by one, and they contained his knowledge of all things related to his previous life. His knowledge and understanding from courses in geology and geography from school were stored here, as well as his own experience from working with the earth. He would have thought a magic skill would only increase in rank based on the use of skills like 'earthen spike' or 'stone armor' (if such things existed here). Instead, it looked like his knowledge and understanding counted toward advancement in some cases. The last book contained some of his speculations on how mana could be used to affect earth. Danny thought about that last part and questioned if these thoughts were truly his own. Did the sanctuary give hints towards future advancement? He would have to try a few things and see if his theory held any merit.

Danny was hesitant to move toward the second wall. The floor and walls appeared to be made of moving flame. It was as if the flame was trapped in the surfaces themselves. Once again there were ten pedestals with three books, "Fire Affinity". Like the last area this one contained all his knowledge he had acquired about fire. His chemistry classes helped here, as a flame can be created under many different conditions. Once again he discovered his ruminations on how to create flame with mana. While his logged theories varied, they all seemed to point in a definitive direction.

The remaining three areas housed "Air Affinity", "Water Affinity", and "Life Affinity". The water affinity area appeared to be in the middle of a brook. The pedestals for the air affinity area were floating on clouds. The life affinity area was fleshy, and Danny chose to access these books from afar. Danny was apprentice level three for all affinities. His knowledge gained from his previous life could only take him this far. He wondered if he had specialized in aerospace engineering or studied to become a doctor, whether air or life would have gained any additional levels.

Turning back toward the table in the middle, he noticed it had a bookshelf built into the side opposite the door. Moving closer, he found a single volume of "Mana Manipulation". Focusing on them, he found all the knowledge he gained by being able to move the smallest amount of mana whilst unlocking it. He figured he should explore moving his mana more.