A cold draft washes over my body sending a shiver through me. Groggily, I open my eyes to a white tiled ceiling. A head ache pounds beneath my eyes and my body burns with an itching heat in various places.

I sit up feeling sore all over. Looking down I find myself in a shirt and boxers. Bandages cover my burning calf and more wrap around the knuckles of my right hand. My skin looks paler than usual and I have a general feeling of weakness that I only remember getting when sick.

Taking my gaze off of myself I look around finding myself on one of the couches in the conference rooms on the seventh floor. The world blurs and I get a strong feeling of dizziness as I look around.

The room is bare like all the other times I’ve woken up in here. However, this time I find the door closed. I swing my legs off the couch causing another wave of dizziness to wash over me.

I do my best to ignore it and tentatively put weight on my injured leg. Pain flares up but it’s a manageable amount. While putting weight on the leg I watch as a patch of red grows slightly on the bandage wrapping around my calf.

My heart races and I feel my air catch in my lungs. I was covered in blood towards the end of the fight. I had open wounds and right now I’m feeling sick.

The worst thought comes to mind. What if I’m infected with whatever is making the zombies out there. In most movies it’s a scratch or bite that gets you. And I definitely got scratched and I definitely had their blood and slobber all over me.

I quickly turn my sights inwards following the flow of mana throughout my body. I reach the cuts in my calf and see a small trickle of mana bleeding down into the wound. I watch as my mana charged cells combat some weird tiny blob shaped entities.

My mana charged cells seem to have brought the battle to a stalemate. Neither side really has the advantage over the other. My hopes rise as I take command of my mana.

Mana floods into my leg as I command it to seep into my calf. The blue energy burns hot in me as the forign entities start getting consumed by my glowing hot cells. The forign entities try their best to grow it’s strength by forcing themselves onto some of the non energized cells. But it’s pointless as more and more of my cells race down to join the fight.

An unknown amount of time later and over a quarter of my mana all the forign entities in my leg perish. I roam my body focusing more mana where I find the forign entities wiping them out. A large cluster swarms my right hand and costs another quarter of my mana to wipe out.

I open my eyes feeling exhausted, drained, and tired but I’m free of those forign things. The tingle in my head tells me that I don’t have to worry about them anymore. But part of me wonders what it was.

If that was the zombie virus that means people choosing the Mage class is almost imperative to stopping people from becoming zombies. On the other hand it could've just been some infection. Honestly I have no clue but one thing is for sure.

The Mage class is OP. With our ability to heal, form projectiles, and probably so much more it almost seems unfair to compare us to the Warriors. Why would someone choose to be a warrior when all it did was give you a speed buff?

The tingle in my mind sounds off at that thought, making me stop. Is it not just a speed buff? If it’s not then what is it? What does it offer if we pick it? I definitely want to ask Decker more about how it works.

With that in mind I turn towards the closed door. Relief fills me as I realize the motion didn’t cause any dizziness. Standing on the leg still hurts a little but nothing like before.

I walk to the door and look out the glass portion of the door and wall. Streaks of light leak in through the exterior windowed walls but other than that I see nothing. Trying the handle, I’m shocked to find the door locked.

I pull on the door still not quite believing that it’s locked. I call out for someone to help me but only get silence as an answer. I know I can break out of this room quite easily with my mana but there’s a reason someone locked me in here. Or at least I hope so.

I call out a few more times hoping that someone will hear me. After waiting for a bit I return to the couch unsure about what I should do. The desire to just break out grows as I stare at the door.

Looking down I realize that I’m missing my utility belt and all of my stuff. A glance around the small room reveals nothing. Annoyance rises in me as I wonder exactly what’s happened. I feel it burning in me.

I go through the effort of almost dying for those four and this is my thanks. Decker and Abby did come back for me though. The memory of them battling the horde with me races to the forefront of my mind.

Why would they risk their own lives for me? It would have been easier for them to just let the horde finish me off. It would have been more resources for them and less dangerous. I’m sure with time the horde would of dispersed. So why did they come back for me?

My father would have just left me to die. Preferring to stay in and watch TV while I work to help pay my part of the bills or cook the food.

The annoyance in me burns hot as I grow angry just thinking about my dad.

I sigh and push the annoyance and anger down. It’s not fair of me to be angry at him. It’s my fault that he was the way he was. I wonder if he’s still alive.

He was probably living alone. If he didn’t become a zombie then I’m sure that he'd just be held up in that house.

I sigh letting the embers of anger completely die out. There’s no point in holding onto it. Instead I should be trying to figure out what I’m doing here.

The only logical explanation I can come up with as to why I’m locked up in here is that they worried I was going to turn into a zombie. But if that is the case why waste the medical supplies, time, and effort to clean me up?

Thinking about the medical supplies I turn my attention back to my leg. While I killed off whatever was trying to invade my body the wound itself is still open. Although my body is trying to heal it currently.

I take about fifteen percent of my mana and send it to my calf. The cuts along my leg burn hot as the skin stitches itself back together. While looking inside of myself I can tell that I’m no longer at any risk of opening the wound and bleeding out.

I take the bloodied bandages off revealing five long white stripes of scar tissue circling the lower part of my calf. The stripes cover a third of my calf starting at the center of my shin and stretching around to the back of my calf.

I toss the bloodied wrapping in the trash. I call out again hoping someone would hear me as I return to the couch. If no one comes by soon I’m just going to break out. Something might have happened to the others while I was sleeping.

If that is the case I shouldn’t be exploring with less than half of my mana. I close my eyes and focus on the mana flowing through my body. I pull in on it forming a kind of vacuum in me. I feel the mana in the air react and drift towards me then into me.

It’s slow but steady as I feel a slight burning sensation run through me. Mana flows into my mana pool replenishing what I used to heal my leg.

As the energy flows into me I watch it travel along the channels in me. While doing so I notice that not all of my channels are flowing with energy from the outside. My curiosity peaked, I stop filling my mana pool and focus on one of the channels not drawing from the outside.

I try to move the mana in the channel and realize that it refuses to obey my command.Curious on if there’s others I start moving the mana in each channel that I can find. I realize that I can only control mana in the largest of the channels while many of the medium sized ones and all of the tiniest refuse to obey me.

Has it always been this way or am I just now noticing? I guess I haven’t paid too much attention to the smaller channels. I mainly use the large ones and some of the medium ones to cast my magic.

But this does raise the question. Can I gain control over these smaller channels and if so what do I gain from doing so?

I focus on a medium sized channel running from near my heart to around my lungs. The mana flows down towards the lungs from around the heart. It refuses to listen to me as I command it to flow backwards or speed up.

My brow furrows in concentration as I summon all the willpower I have. My consciousness becomes the mana inside of the channel. It lazily flows down spilling out a miniscule almost non existent amount into my lungs.

After a while of trying to make the mana listen to me I give up on just commanding it to bend to my will. I go through my memories trying to come up with any kind of idea to help me. The tingling in the back of my mind makes me feel like I’m onto something and that I shouldn’t stop.

I have control over the mana in my core and the largest channels. Does that mean that the mana in these smaller veins aren’t mine? Or is it the size of the channel that matters? Or maybe something is blocking the flow of mana.

My last idea causes the tingle in the back of my mind to explode with activity. As if it’s excited for me to finally think this. Following it’s guidance and my own instinct I focus intently on the channel of mana.

It comes off a large river that leads from my core through my heart and up towards my head. Where it turns off from the main river I find some weird chunk of brown goo. When I focus on it the tingle in my mind tells me that it doesn't belong.

Turning my attention to another channel that I can’t control I find another chunk of goo. The goo acts similar to a dam only letting a small amount of mana to trickle through.

Alright so if this blockage is why I can’t control the flow of mana in the smaller veins how do I get rid of it?

The tingle in my mind offers no answer as it now sits quietly. Annoyed with it I turn my attention away from that tingle and back to the goo.

When I command it to move like I would my will I feel nothing in me stir. It’s as if I’m asking a rock to move itself instead of picking it up myself.

So if I can’t tell it to move, how do I force it? Only one answer comes to me.

I take a small percent of the mana in my core and carry it along the large river to the blockage. Once at the blockage I slam the mana into it like a wrecking ball. The blockage shakes at the impact and I feel excitement build in me.

The tingle sings in my mind as if it’s saying “DING DING DING That’s it. You did it!”.

However the small amount I used wasn’t enough to push the blockage much. I take more mana from my core as I command it to slam into the blockage.

I feel pressure build in my chest as I push against the blockage. The mana inside of me burns away as if I’m healing myself or using my mana outside of me. As the energy pushes into the blockage I see it slowly eat away at the brown goo.

The portion I summoned dissipates moving the blockage only a tenth of the way through the channel. Feeling as if I shouldn’t stop now I summon even more of my mana. I take a quarter of what I have in me and force it to the blockage.

The brown goo screams as the pressure in my chest builds to an almost unbearable amount. It’s as if I’m about to sneeze and have a heart attack. But I ignore the discomfort and continue pushing, urged on by the tingle in my mind.

The blockage shrinks and is pushed back further and further. I realize that the mana I’m commanding won’t be enough as it sizzles out inside of me. While still working on the blockage I summon more and more mana as reinforcements.

The mana rushes in like a powerful tsunami. It crashes into the blockage pushing back on it. My progress on the blockage slows as the force of the mana dissipates. An idea blossoms in my mind as I pull back the mana pushing on the blockage.

Then I command it to race back. Like the shores of the ocean, the blockage is bombarded with wave after wave. Each one pushing back more and more eating away at it just a little faster.

I summon more mana from my core and use it to send another tsunami like wave into the blockage.

I feel something in me crack at this attack. The blockage snaps in half as the mana crashes down on it. The goo rolls further back in the channel as the energy continues to crash into it wave after wave.

It breaks down more and more as it reaches the end of the channel. I pull back all of the mana bearing down on it as I charge my final wave. I pull more mana from my core and hold for a moment. The mana rages inside of me demanding to be let loose on the remains of the blockage.

At my command the mana flows. Like a crashing tidal wave it runs down the channel. It slams into the blockage with the force of a hurricane. It bites and eats away at the goo pushing it out of the channel but it doesn’t stop there. It follows the strange substance through me devouring it into nothing.

I feel white hot energy pour into me forcing me to take a quick sharp breath in. The energy flows around and through my lungs as they expand.

I feel the cool air rush into me and it’s like I’m taking my first breath ever. I feel as if my lungs are stronger then ever as they pull in more and more cooling air.

The fire in my chest is extinguished as the pressure around my heart dissipates. I feel the relief you get after a sneeze but way more intense as my lungs inflate. I hold the air inside of me feeling content with it.

Then slowly I let it out. Shocked at how much lighter my body feels. Breathing is generally not something I think about doing. But when I did it felt as if I had to put more effort into pulling the air into me. But now it feels easier to satisfy my need for air.

Curious I examine my lungs and find that the small channel that I just cleared now passes through my lungs. Instead of just ending near them, the channel now ends after stretching through both of my lungs.

I open my eyes to find a new blue screen in front of me.

Skill Developed:

Channel Purification

You can now clear impurities in your mana system. Allowing you to control more mana inside of you and strengthen your body.