Chapter 10-Mana Channeling

It takes Eric about 2 hours to return to the gas station. He travels through the forest as he has moved quite a distance away from the road earlier and believes this will be quicker. Along the way Eric fights against 3 more zombies, the first two being level 1 and the last one a level 2. Eric had no problem dealing with the level 1s, each going down in 2 hits of his spell. All of them alone when he fights them. The level 2 one was the same as the level 1’s except it had more health and moved faster, the zombie was presumably stronger than the others, but it still fell after 2 hits, so Eric didn’t know.

With the last kill Eric received a notification.

Level Up!

2→3

Level 2 +1 Strength 9 +2 Constitution 9 +1 Dexterity 12 +1 Agility 12 +1 Intelligence 19 +5 Wisdom 16 +3 Charisma 9 +1

New Spell:

Abyssal Tendrils(Level 1)

Eric wastes no time in opening his Status Screen and analyzing his new spell from his Spell List.

Status Screen

Name Eric King Level 3 Age 19 Strength 11(0) Gender Male Constitution 10(0) Race Human Dexterity 13(0) Class Warlock Agility 13(0) Profession - Intelligence 24(2) HP 92/102 Wisdom 19(2) Mana 221/250 Charisma 10(0) Debuffs Undead Resurrection If you die within the next 4 hours, then you will be resurrected as an undead.

Abyssal Tendrils

Level 1

Requirements: Level 3 Warlock

Cost: 60 Mana

Description: Creates an area where tendrils from the abyss ensnare and hamper movement of all entities.

“That would have been useful to have earlier.” With this spell, Eric could fight much more safely. Cast it at an enemy, and while they are slowed cast Shadow Ball so that the enemy won’t reach him. Of course, that depends on how strong the slow effect is because it might be more effective to cast his attack to open up and then only need to cast once more before the enemy dies. It is the question between 2 or 3 spells needed to cast and depending on the situation one might be better than the other.

Because Abyssal Tendrils doesn’t need an enemy to cast it safely Eric decides to try it. Aiming at the ground about 10 meters away he starts the cast, filling the magical formula with mana and chanting the incantation.

“Abyssal Tendrils”

In a diameter of 5 meters around Eric’s target the ground turns black and out of the ground the tendrils emerge. The tendrils are half a meter high and are a sickly grey color with red and blue spots covering them. There are about a dozen of these tendrils wriggling around at times looking to grab something and then grabbing each other. ‘Anything trapped in that might get a debuff because of how creeped out the would be.’

Anything passing through would get entangled in them, hampering their movement. After about 10 seconds the tendrils seem to retract back into the ground and the ground regains its natural coloration. On closer inspection, there is no sign on the ground of what just transpired, which is both nice and creepy.

Returning to the gas station Eric takes note that everything is as he left it, but he still is careful when entering and searches through the building for anything out of the ordinary, namely zombies. Luckily, he finds nothing.

Grabbing some chips and water from the store Eric retires to the breakroom. Closing and locking the door Eric starts to eat his “dinner” and plans what he will do next. Deciding that he needs to figure out how to use the fire and water orbs properly, he finishes his meal and then Eric grabs both orbs and moves to the bathroom. In the bathroom, Eric takes off his robe and shirt, so that he doesn’t get them wet, grabs a hold of the Orb of Water. Holding his hand above the sink he starts to channel mana into it. Just like before mana starts to fill the orb causing water to pour out of the orb.

Opening his status screen Eric looks at the drain in mana. He estimates that there is about a 2 mana per second drain, meaning he can do this for about 1 minute and 38 seconds when he is at max mana. While this is good it doesn’t help Eric learn how to safely use the Orb of Fire.

Restarting his channeling Eric tries to focus on the mana that moves into the orb in the hopes of understanding it.

After about an hour of trying to figure something out the only thing that Eric learned was that the mana travels from his body through his hand into the orb, and after reaching the center of the orb water starts to exit the orb while the mana disappears. It is like the mana is being transformed directly into the water.

Eric tried to use Analyze on the orb while he is channeling mana, but he couldn’t do that, it turns out that he can only use one ability at a time.

Instead of trying to learn anything more Eric decides to try something different, in his mind the mana that enters the orb reaches the middle of the orb, where there is a spell formula encased in another orb. This second orb holds the formula and the mana, pushing water in all directions because it is at the center.

Eric tries to channel mana into the orb, but this time trying to move the mana and the second orb to one side of the orb. Eric could feel the mana in the center wiggling around trying to move while it is being held in the center. Realizing that he is on the right path Eric tries to continue practicing this.

After some time has passed Eric realizes that his mental model of how the orb works is false. On the plus side, he learned that nothing bad happens when he runs out of mana except that the channeling stops, and that he needs about 7 minutes to return to full mana. He learned the later by counting the seconds as he didn’t have a watch.

‘Practicing with mana sure makes one hungry.’ Before continuing Eric eats another pack of chips and drinks half a bottle of water.

Determined to figure it out Eric tries again. He keeps to his earlier idea but throws out the part about the second orb. This time he tries to force the mana to not enter the center of the orb but tries to have the mana go straight there where Eric wants the water to come from.

When the water starts to flow Eric can tell that there is a difference than before. On the side where there is more mana, more water is leaving in compared to the other side. Water is still leaving the other side but not a lot. Trying to move the mana again Eric understands that nothing is holding the mana, but instead that once the mana has entered and found a place to stop, he can’t change its position.

Now know the correct way to progress Eric practices for some time. He practiced controlling the density of mana throughout the orb and aimed at concentrating all mana onto a single spot. In the end, he managed to focus all mana onto an area of about 1 cm diameter.

Mana Channeling Level Up!

1→2

Eric could see in his mind how the formula that he knew for mana Channeling shifted slightly to a new form. Looking at it Eric realizes that the ability improved, Eric no longer needs to be touching the object directly that he wishes to insert mana into and he has better control over where the mana goes.

While he does think he could use the fire orb with the method that he has practiced, the new method provided by the level up is far safer. Wishing to try it out Eric places the fire orb in the sink and holding his hand about 1 meter away, channels mana into it.

The process is very similar to him touching the orb directly, except while the mana travels through the air it feels like moving through thick mud, being more difficult and mentally exhausting for Eric, but to Eric’s hard work is awarded with the orb bursting into flame. The fire isn’t large but it is definitely enough to light a campfire.

Looking at his mana drain Eric recoils at how inefficient it is in compared to the water orb.

‘10 mana per second.’

He could only do this for about 20 seconds, then again that is more than enough to set fire to something, and it isn’t as if he would ever really need to channel it for an extended duration.

Stopping his cast Eric carefully touches the fire orb expecting it to be hot but instead is surprised that the temperature of the orb didn’t change, the sink’s temperature did increase, but the orb didn’t change in temperature.

Wishing to try to also create heat instead of fire as the description told him Eric starts to channel mana from a distance just like before, instead this time focusing on the idea of producing heat instead fire. The result was just what Eric hoped for, the heat seemed to be pushed out of the orb in what seemed like waves. Checking the mana drain Eric is pleased that it is only about 5 mana per second.

‘What a lucky level up.’ Understanding that the only reason this went so well, in the end, was that the ability leveled up makes him wonder at the nature of how abilities level up. Is it due to using it often or was the level up due him improving his use in the ability itself? Either way, Eric is happy that it happened because it is late, and he wants to sleep.

Wishing for an early start the next day Eric decides to get ready. Putting his shirt and robe back on Eric grabs the 2 bags that he found and places inside whatever he found that might be useful in the future. He packs the rope, the gloves, the bandana he places in his pocket so that he can find it quickly, the knife he puts in the duffel bag because if he carried it around he might be tempted to fight with it but he has to get used to fighting with spells, not using a weapon. The rest of the space he fills with toilet paper and food. He only packs one water bottle because he can easily create water with the orb so no need to carry some around. He makes sure that he still has his mana crystal in his pockets ready for easy access in case of emergency, and that the map is safely stored. Lastly, he makes sure that the “important” magazine and calendar are stored safely at the bottom of the bags, those might be valued for bartering in the future.

Feeling decently prepared for the journey Eric makes sure that the door is locked, and then proceeds to fall asleep on the sofa. He is so exhausted that he barely lay down that he is already asleep.

Eric's Status Screen

Status Screen

Name Eric King Level 3 Age 19 Stength 11(0) Gender Male Constitution 10(0) Race Human Dexterity 13(0) Class Warlock Agility 13(0) Profession - Intelligence 24(2) HP 102/102 Wisdom 19(2) Mana 250/250 Charisma 10(0)