Small white flecks fall from the sky, landing atop the tall piles of snow still layering the earth. The snow is so thick that stepping forwards, I can’t see the browns of earth beneath, only more of the same white snow forming a slurry that’s slowly refreezing after our passing.

“How does the weather work here?” I ask, catching a snowflake. It rests on my gloved fingertip, slowly melting from my warmth. “If this place is frozen from the density of the frost attuned mana, then does summer never come? Where does the water for the snow come from? Why doesn’t the snow endlessly pile up?”

“You’ll have to ask the experts, probably.” Vii says, perking up and looking down at the ground, kicking about the snow. “The world still spins, and the sun will heat us differently. Maybe the sun will radiate warm mana down towards us overcoming the frost mana. Or maybe not.”

“The sun has its own mana too… of course it does.” I mumble, looking up towards the sky realizing that the universe is likely a heck of a lot stranger than I’ve been given to believe.

“This world is made up of layers of earth and frost. The solar activity is occasionally enough to melt the snows, but only every three years or so.” Thresh says. “I did some research with the locals before we left. The spring and frost elements on this world aren’t perfectly anchored, they shift over time.

“The same shift occurs under the surface, too.” She continues. “There are ice caves, and earthen caves, sometimes they’ll lead into one another. We’ll find different plants and ingredients depending on whether we’re searching a spring or a frost landscape.”

“So, what are we looking for right now? Somewhere less icy right?” Eshya asks, stomping through the snow and sneering out at the thick sheets of ice in the distance. After learning that there’s not much out here for us to hunt, she’s been a little bit grumpy. I’m sure she’ll cheer up after we get a chance to battle with the collared beasts and, if we’re particularly unlucky, Freid.

If not, I’ll have to take a moment to do some sparring with her. Lacking privacy, my other means of settling her down is off the table.

“There’ll be a warm spring spot ahead of us where we can find a cave. There should be flowers and mushrooms there that I can use, and I’m hoping that some of the melted snows can be used for a good potion base.” Thresh explains, shifting her large pack.

I can see a small cauldron as well as a few other odds and ends, a surprising many of them enchanted gear.

The snow piles ahead slowly give way to muddy browns, painted over in bright and colourful flowers, marking a spring spot. Crossing the divide between the ice and the earth, warm air and the scent of flowers wash over us. It’s not entirely pleasant, the mud stinks of rot, and while some of the flowers smell like roses, others smell like a vomit, cat shit, and kale smoothy.

The cold outside seems a little more pleasant now that I look back at it.

Thresh is right away diving towards the flowers, looking each one over carefully before plucking a few and packing them away into a little bag she’s carrying around her neck. Unfortunately she’s not choosing them based off of their good smell, not unless her nose has been somehow damaged.

“So, what are mana attunements, again?” I ask, sucking in the warm air and tasting a small measure of the mana within. It’s nothing different from what I felt of it outside. Even focusing on my mana senses, I can’t tell the difference.

“It’s the natural leanings of the mana. How natural mana might express itself if granted a high enough density, or an inciting catalyst.” Adler says. “Unless you’re working in alchemy or something like it, it’s not truly important.”

“So how does it influence alchemy?” I ask, trying to recall that lesson I stepped into. It feels like so long ago now.

“In alchemy, the mana attunements are really important.” Vii says, holding out a flower for me. Not only does this one smell particularly nice, but the scent in it is easily overwhelming the awful stench surrounding us.

“We use the natural attunements to make a proper and complete magical spell.” Vii says, “The mana in that flower has some want to create and carry scents, the water I dripped onto the petals wants to absorb things. They’re the qualities I brought out from both.”

“So, this is a rudimentary potion?” I ask, looking down at the small golden liquid glowing atop the red petals. The flower is only the size of the end of my pinkie, with wide open petals turning from red to purple at the edges.

“Yep, yep. Mix the attunements together, and add a little power of your own; that’s alchemy.” Vii says. “It gets much more complicated as you go along. You have to start changing, and refining the quality that you want from the ingredient, sometimes leaving something stewing over years to make the mana want something slightly different.

“Then mixing the wrong ingredients can make a chemical reaction that changes the mana attunement, messing everything up.” Vii smiles and hops up to Thresh’s side, watching closely as the taller woman prepares a few of the flowers. “It’s all really complicated stuff.”

“I didn’t know you were that interested in it.” I say, looking towards Eshya who shrugs, apparently just as unfamiliar with that part of her as I am. I knew she had a passing interest, but the way she’s smiling now suggests that she’s more involved with it than I’d thought.

“I’m not.” She replies, smiling brightly as she plucks out a few flowers for Adler. Running about and weaving them into her hair as the girl nervously stands frozen.

“I’m just a little bit interested, really. As I said before, I’m more interested in recording history. Watching the world develop and change, and marking the truth down for everyone to come after us.

“So much of history has been lost, or intentionally buried, and I hate it.” She explains, her voice burning with passion. “You end up having to put together the pieces to try and tell a story, like mixing ingredients in a cauldron. It’s just that you never really know how much of the story is something you’ve made yourself.”

“Well, that’s true even watching history in action.” I say, joining her side and gazing out over the scattered flowers around us. I can see the small opening to the cave, but for now we’re staying above ground. “We can only see things through our own eyes, and we’ll interpret events slightly differently.”

Vii nods eagerly, and I can tell that she’s thinking about the ‘record’ Skill that she’s given me as she smirks. While it does make things a little easier, it doesn’t resolve the issue of bias.

“We should stay on guard.” Eshya says, distracting us from our conversation. “There are no dangerous beasts, apparently, but I’ll be upset if Freid comes along and ruins us before I get the chance for a proper fight.”

“Fair point.” I say, taking in the environment and standing to look in the opposite direction from Eshya. It’s becoming a little more instinctual to cover one another now, though I’m sure Red would still find some fault in us.

I’d be disappointed in her if she didn’t.

Thresh continues her work as we watch her back, one of us standing close by to guard her in case something comes from underground, while the rest of us keep watch over the edges. Adler nervously pretends to do nothing, her role as welfare officer to observe us, rather than assist.

If I ask her, or if we get into trouble, I have no doubt that she’ll jump in to help, but for now everything is fine as it is.

While watching the snow slowly fall in the world outside this small patch of warmth, I spend a little of my split focus on my mana form. There’s still much to develop, even if things are moving faster now.

I’ve been focused on developing my defences, as I’m still hoping to refine my reactive defences Skill, and I’m convinced that this will help in that regards. The mana focused in my skin, eyes, and hair feels almost like it’s bursting out, and it is still leaking here and there.

I’ve been subconsciously forcing my mana form to its limits and patching the leaks using the ‘mana form flow fixer’ Skill for the purpose. All of this makes my flesh and mana form that much more in tune with one another.

Yet, it doesn’t feel like I’m doing all that I can. While the mana is thickly gathered, it feels stagnant. It’s simply resting there without purpose or meaning, it’s incomplete.

A wandering core shard slips into the back of my eye, and I feel my sight clearing up as the gathered liquidised mana shifts taking on a slightly new current. It changes somehow, so very subtly that I can’t quite put it into words.

The one eye afflicted with the core shard sees the world with a sharpness that’s almost dizzying as I try to take it all in. The details of the falling snow, and the water slowly dripping along the colourful flower petals nearby, I see the reflection in an insects eyes as it hops on a blade of grass metres away from me.

There’s something changing in my eye. Something more than just the mana form, and yet, also more than just my flesh. The shard slips away before the changes can finalise, and it all starts unravelling. Not painfully, but like an incomplete knot pulled loose.

Eshya described recently how her current goal in liquid mana stage, is to permanently modify her body, and how it interacts with her mana form. This must be it.

I also understand why my method of reaching liquid mana form is so much inferior. I can modify what the core shards touch, but nothing more, and I can understand why a more diffuse liquid mana form could allow for more significant changes and growth.

It’s a good thing that I can go back and develop myself properly when I’m prepared, but it’s still frustrating.

I turn my focus away from that, and back to my more immediate issues.

My defences.

I’ve developed a strong attack spell, but that means nothing if I can’t stay alive long enough to cast it.

There are two ways I can see myself improving my defences.

Mana shield, and annihilation.

Mana shield is one of the first Skills I ever developed and the principal behind it is still heavy on my mind even with how simple it is. Higher mana density equals better defences.

My reactive defence Skill, and the reactive mana skin before it, have been used to spend mana in order to counter incoming attacks. It’s been incredibly useful because my mana simply isn’t dense enough for me to shrug off many of the attacks sent my way.

Unfortunately, I’ve been using it like a crutch and without much thought, spending enough mana that people thrice my power would die from mana shock trying to imitate me. All the while I’ve completely neglected mana shield.

Using mana shield to shrug off as much of an attack as possible, then reactive defences to eliminate the force that makes it through, should be a far more effective use of my mana.

Good in theory, but I’m not entirely sure how to make it happen. I’ll have to mess around with it while I have a moment, see if I can make it work on a smaller scale first.

Then there’s the annihilation.

Again, in theory, I can make a Skill that’s built like reactive defences but with annihilation magic weaved into it. I can easily see annihilation magic easily destroying whatever spells or weapons touch my skin, while my talent gives the Skill more bang for my buck, so to speak.

The big problem here, is that apparently annihilation isn’t a well-liked magic here in the US of M. Adler, and even Arduelle, seem uncertain how my teacher might respond. Even so, I’d rather live pissing them off, than dying trying to hide.

In the worst case, I can always annihilate those who see me using annihilation magic. If there’s no witnesses, did anything even happen at all?

Using a few instances of my multi-mind, I play around with the concepts of mana shield and defensive annihilation. Making small bubbles of mana shield and annihilation in my arms while I focus on the lands around us.

It seems Thresh is done with her harvesting and is now looking towards the cave in the centre of our little warm spot. The snow has started falling a little thicker, but somehow doesn’t land where we’re standing.

“We’re going in?” I ask, watching her nervously as she gazes into the darkness before us.

She nods, digging through her bag for a light as I pull out the light wand that Nel added to my gear. It can be quite useful to have a worrywart on my side.

“There’s still nothing to fight.” Eshya grumps as we duck into the cave.

“If you see something, take it down.” I say. “We can always turn it into a meal if Thresh can’t use it for anything.”

“What are we looking for?” Vii asks, shining a light along the wall and gazing at the icy white fungi that grows in the cracks. “This could be useful to make a potion base, maybe for an antidote?”

“There’s a flower they mentioned. It only grows in certain caves. Growing by the light that shines through an icy ceiling.” She explains. “They take decades to grow and can develop into the crystalline stage without ever achieving sapience.

“If I get one, I can make something to impress Simeon, and hopefully get access to more ingredients.” She explains.

“I’m not sure you’ll have that much issue if you’re serious about the deal I offered you.” I say. “There’s a sizeable forest full of ingredients to use down below the academy, and most of what we hunt goes to waste because we have no one to use the ingredients properly.”

Thresh flinches, glaring over at me as if I’ve just admitted to taking a dump in baby Jesus’s crib on Christmas eve night.

“I mean, not entirely to waste.” I correct myself. “I do consume most of the mana that goes unused. And Leai likes to use it as chum for her fishing.”

The alchemist’s glare barely lessens in the face of my excuses, but she still shakes her head and refocuses ahead of her.

“I can’t bring those ingredients to class. Even if our deal works out, getting more resources to use in class would still benefit me.” She explains.

“Well, it’s not like I’m going to hold you back.” I say. “Is there anything we should look for? What does this flower look like?”

“It’s in crystal mana stage.” She says, “At least the fully developed ones. Look for anything glowing bright in your mana senses.”

“Easy peasy.” I say, shifting my development away from my defences for a moment to flood my brain, and regain my mana senses. The world around me glows, but not to a blinding degree.

Together we delve deeper into the cave looking for magic mushrooms, pretty flowers, and some monsters we can turn into a witch’s brew.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 1689 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Defence 0% 58% Offense 0% 57% Mana Sense 74% 74% Recovery 0% 30% Gluttony 0% 26% Misc. 0% 42% Efficiency 74% 100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Reactive defence

-Fire burst punch

-Annihilation magic

-Charged casting (Annihilation)

-Mana form flow fixer

-Branching magic