After agreeing to teach Abby what I know about mana she leaves me alone on the roof once again. I stay for a moment watching the dead city. After not seeing anything I head back inside.

I make my way down to the kitchen where I find Decker yawning.

“Ah Joel you made it. I was wondering if you forgot.” He says.

He smiles at me letting me know that he wasn’t upset with me.

“Sorry I was distracted by Abby?”

“Abby?”

“Abigail. The small girl that first spoke to us in the freezer.”

“Ah. What did she want?”

I explain how she and I are old classmates and that she wanted me to teach her how to use magic.

“Do you think she’s willing to join your scavenging party?”

“Probably. But I don’t want to say yes for sure yet.”

“Either way she’s going to have to leave the safety of the building to level up and become a mage. How do you feel?”

“My ribs are still broken but I should have enough mana to fix that now. Not tired at all, restoring my mana leaves me feeling refreshed. Like I had just woken up from a good nap.” I say.

“Damn. The more I learn about your class the more I feel like I chose the wrong one.”

“I don’t know sir. I feel like there’s a lot more to this system.”

“Yeah you’re probably right. I mean this Safe Zone Management screen literally lets you create matter from nothing. And it has some really interesting things that I can purchase. For 1000 points I can get a grimoire from the mages quarter section. Do you know what that would do?”

I shake my head. Usually grimoire are tools to either record spells and rituals or to learn them. And I tell Decker as much.

“Yeah that’s what I figured. That’s not the most interesting thing though. There’s crystals that I can purchase for a decent amount of points that can convert mana into different matter. I think that’s going to be one of the first things we should work towards. If it works like it claims to then we might be able to get to the point where we are fighting each day for scraps.”

His eyes dance with excitement as he reads over the invisible screen in front of him. Another yawn escapes his mouth making me realize just how tired he is. He doesn’t have the luxury of healing injuries like I do. He’s probably in a lot of pain and dead tired from the activities of today.

“Alright I’m going to head up the stairs and get in a quick nap.” He says.

He starts walking towards the exit of the kitchen. As I watch him leave the tickle in my mind flares up reminding me about the raven.

“He before you go.”

He turns around.

“Yeah?”

“I saw a level 3 raven up on the roof. And I’m pretty sure it could use magic.”

His eyes widened at my words. He turns his gaze to the floor as I watch ideas race behind his eyes.

“That’s going to be an issue. Don’t tell anyone yet.” He says

“I won’t.”

“Thank you. I’m going to head upstairs. I have a lot to think over.” He says.

With that he leaves me alone in the kitchen. I take a seat in front of the fridge and turn my focus inside of me.

Fire ants still buzz in my chest as my mana naturally tries to hasten my healing process. I pull forth more mana slowly applying it to the bones causing them to burn as if on fire. Instead of trying to flash heal them I focus on the process happening inside of me.

A strange substance forms in between the bones connecting them. As the mana burns and fizzles around the wounds the bone grows from the outside connecting the bones together. Then I feel the bone continue healing into itself replacing the strange substance that connected the bones.

The mana itself seems to energize my cells, either providing the energy needed or the materials. Or a mix of both. Whatever it is, it's fascinating to watch.

It takes nearly all of my mana to completely heal all of my ribs. Some of them snap into their rightful place causing some more internal bleeding that I have to take care of. With my bones healed I scan over the rest of my body and find nothing else wrong.

I spend the next few hours filling my mana pool back up. There’s definitely more ambient mana down here but it hurts more when I pull it into myself. As if my body is burning off impurities in the ambient mana.

The first time I cultivated mana I had gained a strange insight into what it is. It was as if the mana being drawn into me carried the information with it and I just so happened to hear it. It was as if that whisper tingling sensation in the back of my mind was brought to the forefront.

A theory begins to take shape in my mind on why I’ve been having that annoying tickling sensation. With mana being present throughout the world and me being sensitive to it then what if I can read it. That tickling sensation may be the mana speaking to me and I’m sensitive enough to feel it. When I cultivate I’m not hearing whispers because the mana from the world is flowing directly into me, not just surrounding me.

It’s like the barrier that prevents mana from entering me or escaping me is a door that I can open one way or the other. And when I get that tickling sensation it’s because I can hear the words of the mana around me but It’s muffled. At least that’s the best idea I can come up with for my new found intuition.

Hours pass as I go over everything I know about the system and mana. Trying to puzzle out everything. At multiple points I wish I had something to write all my theories down on. I debate going up stairs to look for something I can write in but decide against it.

If Decker is worried that someone may steal the food or try to sabotage it then I want to be here. To not sully the trust and kindness he’s shown me.

My eyes begin to grow heavy as not for the first time I wonder how much time has passed. I feel sleepiness pressing in on the edges of my consciousness. However, I push back on it, denying myself the sweetness of sleep.

Ever since I moved to the city I’ve been working night shifts. It was hard at first switching over to being nocturnal but the pay was better. It let me keep up with rent and buy a cheap car.

Trying to keep myself awake I pull up my stat screen to have something to read.

Personal Stats:

Attributes:

Value

Name:

Joel Dylan

STR:

10

Level:

14

DEX:

6

To Next Level

779/800

AGI:

7

Sex:

Male

END:

12

Age:

19

INT:

55

Class:

Mage

WIS:

11

LUC:

4

HP

100/100

CHA:

5

Mana

120/120

PER:

8

WIL:

6

Free Attribute points:

12

Reading through the screen I take note of the free Attribute Points and my new level. A piece of me wants to use up all of the Attribute Points as it feels like they’re burning a hole through my pocket. I quell that piece of me as I try to figure out what to do.

There’s still so much we don’t know about the system and using the Attribute Points feels wrong. I can’t redistribute them so everything is permanent. What if I learn that mana can be converted to like fire or something and I need more Willpower or something. If I waste all of them now I won’t have any later when I need them.

On the other hand I need more strength now. How many other ways could the fight against the Zombie Butcher have gone if I could have summoned more mana quicker. Or if I had more to play with. Or if I was faster, stronger, and so many other things.

Using the attribute points can be wasteful. But not using them could be deadly. I made the decision to spend a few and keep some in reserve. With my mind made up I reread all the descriptions of the attributes trying to decipher how I should build myself.

After reading through it a few attributes stick out to me. Wisdom will let me gain insight into information so it might make me more intune with mana. Possibly even boosting my mana recovery rate.

Another one that stands out is my Willpower. While a little vague, the tickle in the back of my mind sounds off when I focus on it. Maybe it’ll let me draw on more mana or control it more finely as I can exert my will over it. Who knows, but I do know that the tingle wants me to invest in it.

With that in mind I decide to place four into both attributes bringing my Wisdom to 15 and my Willpower to ten. A shock runs through me as I feel something like a drop of mana enter my brain. It spreads out across the surface sinking deeper and deeper into me. Then I feel another shock in my core as a similar but different flavored piece of mana enters me.

The sensations pass in a moment and I’m left breathing deeply. I’ve allocated skill points before and while I had similar reactions before I never felt that. It was like two different colored drops of mana entered me.

Mana can alter my body, it speeds up my healing process considerably. So it’d make sense on some level that it can alter other aspects of me. But why did this mana feel like it was colored differently? Where does it come from? Can I make my own different colored mana? Why can I sense it now?

So many different questions flood me. Damn I really need to get a book to write things down. There’s so much to think about and consider and I feel too disorganized to figure it out.

Part of me wants to add more points into Wisdom to see if I can feel that drop of mana again. Maybe if I get a decent feel for it then I can replicate it. Granted I have no clue how I would go about changing the color of my mana. But maybe that’s why I feel like we’re missing out on so much with magic.

If there can be other types of mana or we can change it’s properties then we truly are only scratching the surface of what mana can be used for. Thinking back to it, Decker mentioned some rock that converts Mana into matter.

Maybe that’s the trick. That’s how we take full advantage of mana. We find those rocks that can convert it. If other types exist then we could make wands or other constructs to utilize mana better.

At that thought I feel my mana pool thrum and the tingle in my mind resonate with it. So if mana likes that idea then how do we get a hold of those rocks? Where can we find them? Thinking over it I think the best lead is the Safe Zone management screen.

I hear footsteps in the hall outside of the kitchen. Breaking me from my thoughts. Looking up I watch as the door to the kitchen swings open. I summon an orb to illuminate the dark room and find a grumpy looking Andy.

“Decker told me to come get you.” He says

“Oh alright. Where is he?”

“Seventh floor.”

Andy takes a seat in the darkness and I assume that he’s here to guard for the time being. I leave the kitchen and head up the seven flights of stairs.