“Get your food.” The guard ordered, slamming the cage shut and walking away. We had reached camp for the night, and things were running almost exactly as they had the previous night. The guards were glaring at us in the cages, enjoying their dinner that had actual meat in it. I choked down my gruel, trying to keep my posture as meek as possible. I had seen several of the guards already “punish” some of the other slaves for various infractions, and didn’t want to become one myself. Seems human cruelty existed in this world as well.

“Elendria, master wants to see you again.” The guard getting our bowls chuckled darkly. “Who knows, he might even start letting us watch.” She didn’t say anything, but I could see the panic in the shaking of her shoulders. I wanted to help her, but I was powerless at the moment. Without the slave collar, a level zero with no skills wouldn’t hold a candle to what was likely a level five or ten guard. With the collar they could drop me with but a word. So I was forced to hide my frustrations and hope that they didn’t realize all the wiggle room I had in my orders.

Half an hour or so later, everyone was asleep. I had wondered about that last night, but it seemed the mage circled both camps setting up some sort of magic. I felt it was a little lax to trust in one bit of magic, but whatever. Maybe something would attack at night and leave us in the cages alone. Doubtful. With my luck it would be more likely that something worse would come along. I let the camp settle down a little more, glad that I had taken that nap earlier. It was time.

I started out small, summoning a bit of mana into my palm. It was a pale blue, giving off the faintest bit of light. Once I had a bit, I spent the next hour trying to just maintain it. If I did nothing, after about 30 seconds the ball would disappear. My goal was to extend the life of the mana by matching the amount I kept adding to it to the rate that it naturally left and entered my body. What sounds so simple was incredibly difficult.

The first few times I strangled the thing. The longest it lasted was about 40 seconds. Then I overshot it and had the small sphere blow apart in five seconds. I did notice the color got denser for a bit just before it popped. Luckily it wasn’t a spectacular explosion, or my plans would have been wasted. After each small pop, I would freeze for a while and make sure that nobody had woken up. Deciding to take an extra precaution, I made a small tent with my blanket and used that to block the light. Hopefully it would dampen what little sound I created as well.

By the time the hour had passed, I was low on mana but I had gotten close. I had nearly doubled the time the mana sphere would hang around, though I was starting to get a headache. One of those ones like someone was taking an ice pick to the back of my eyeball. Checking my stats, I was down to 8/105 mana. Damn, I burned through that pretty fast. It wouldn’t take much to press further, but I didn’t want to hit mana exhaustion and knock myself out. Especially when I could just ask Elendria what happened when you ran out of mana.

Instead I relaxed, breathing in and out. Maybe I could get meditation out of it, but it was unlikely. I always had trouble shutting down my mind and thinking of nothing, and tonight was no exception. I wondered what my wife and child were doing? Did they realize that it wasn’t the real me there? What deals did her dolls find in their shopping spree at the toy mall? Tears were running down my face, but I didn’t care. Nobody was there to watch me anyway.

An hour later, and I felt my mana had recovered enough. I was at 78 of 105, not too shabby. This time, I started out with the mana bubble, and started pulling at it with my mind. It was an odd feeling, hard to describe how I knew what to do. It probably emerged when my mana was unlocked. Either way, it was incredibly hard at first. Imagine that the bubble had the consistency of chewed gum that was almost dry. You could pinch and move it, but it fought you the whole way and tried to return to its shape. I didn’t notice, not right away, but it gradually got easier to move and stayed in place much easier. I lost myself in the work, shaving a bit here, adding some there. By the end, Kaylee’s face, my little girl, was smiling back at me. Pain shot through my heart as my vision blurred from the tears, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to color in her face.

Luckily for me all of this took place under the blanket, as I lost the image as soon as the creaking of the cage door let me know I had company. “Hurry up, elf bitch.” I gruff voice growled. “Be glad the boss has ordered you not to be touched while you are teaching the new guy, cuz you know we don’t mind sloppy seconds. Don’t worry though, we’re saving up for you. Gonna give you a night to remember.” Dark laughter slowly faded as he walked away, and I was left listening to sniffling that was trying very hard to be silent.

“Worthless bullies.” I whispered, not holding back any of the venom in my voice. I immediately regretted my outburst, as Elendria slammed her back against the cage walls and started hyperventilating. “Easy, easy Elendria. It’s just O’Carrol. I’m not going to hurt you, but I need you to take deeper, slower breaths.” As if I was calming a wild animal, I held my hands out to her, palms up. It took a while, but eventually she got ahold of herself.

“Why. Why are you awake?” She asked in a stutter.

“Couldn’t sleep. Was trying to gain a few skills.” I said.

“Ok.” She said, losing interest. “I’m going to sleep. Stay on your side.”

“Of course.” I answered, sliding further away from her. As I did, I noticed that there was a small blinking icon waiting for me.

Skill unlocked: Mana manipulation 2/50

Mana manipulation is a requirement for spells, allowing for mana to be changed into the proper shapes.

Skill unlocked: Mana sculpting 1/25

Craft an image or sculpture of pure mana. Higher skill will allow for more detail and larger images.

Well, I got one that I was hoping for and one that I was not expecting. I was feeling the effects of low mana, and went back to just relaxing for a while. For the rest of the night, that was my strategy. Run down my mana trying to make more and more complex shapes with mana manipulation, resting when mana was running low. As the night progressed, it seemed that only successes added boosts to the skill level.

“Wakey wakey!” The guard cheerefully called as he delivered breakfast. Elendria looked horrible, her hair severely disheveled and a sense of despair radiated from her. The guard slid her meal to her, then turned and sneered at me. “As for you. We’ve decided on a suitable punishment for you taking away our little toy here.” With a grin, he spilled out the gruel, covering it with dirt along the ground to hide what he did. He smiled as I glared with impotent rage, as he drank my water ration. Smacking his lips, he said, “Ah, now that just hits the spot. Anyway, you still aren’t done. All day today you will experience level 2 pain. You will keep quiet while under it, or we will leave it on all night. Understand?” As he spoke the word pain, I felt a dull ache start throbbing in my muscles.

“Yes, I understand.” I said, keeping the pain and rage out of my voice. It appears the guards are more sadistic than I thought, and so is whoever designed these collars. They could control the amount of pain, and it could be left on all day? Level 2 gave a dull ache in select muscle groups. My thighs, biceps, and abs all felt as if I had given them an extreme workout without stretching properly. It even throbbed with my heartbeat.

“Excellent!” The guard replied cheerfully. “It seems you are smart enough to realize how we can make your life hell. That’s good.” I glared at him as he walked away, though it didn’t do any good.

“I’m sorry.” Elendria spoke on the edge of tears. “It’s all my-.”

“No.” I growled, freezing her in place. “Don’t you dare try and take responsibility. You aren’t forcing them to act like sadistic assholes. You didn’t create this fucking collar and place it around my neck. This is not your fault.” That seemed to calm her down a little, and I moved back into the back of the cage. “So, were we doing geography today?”

“Yes. Geography.” She slid closer, and launched into today’s lesson. We were still in the Southern Forests, a vast area that created a divide between the elven nations and the human empire. Elves tended to gather around the trees that grew from great mana springs, which explained their familiarity with mana. If we kept heading north, in roughly three months we would reach the outskirts of the Schrike Empire. They ruled the human lands, and played several noble families against each other in order to maintain their power. The majority of the empire was a massive plains criss-crossed by multiple rivers. The excellent farmland and prolific breeding speed has led to the humans fielding the largest standing army of all three nations of this continent.

To the east were the Morninglow Mountains, home of the dwarves and the drow. The drow were merely an evolution of elf, and got along with most other races. Like the dwarves, they were recluses and very rarely allowed merchants deep into their territory. While the dwarves excelled in blacksmithing, the drow were masters of enchantments. Both races tended to jealously guard their secrets, though they would send out caravans to sell their services to the humans and remaining elves. Should someone attempt to tamper with the enchantments, they would find themselves not only with an unenchanted item but put on a blacklist from the drow for six generations. Nobody knew how they managed this feat, and very few were willing to risk the consequences and try to find out.

Those were the major races of the Congrego continent. There were roaming tribes of beastmen, though they generally shunned civilization. From Elendria’s descriptions, they more resembled werewolves than what you would find in an anime, something I found much more realistic. Gnomes could be found in the mountain areas, and the forests were home to several magical species including sprites and pixies.

If one kept going past the Schrike Empire, and crossed the Boreas river, one would enter the Northern Tundra. Bitter winds swept across the flat plains, with very little cover. Aside from monsters, barbarians roamed the land in hunter-gatherer groups. They were the only set of sapient species known to be born as a tier two.

To the west of the Empire and forests was the Strait of Demarius. According to legend, Demarius was the first of the summoned heroes. After defeating the Demon King, he thought to protect the remaining demons by separating their land from the other species. Using all the magic at his disposal, and aided by the gods themselves, split the land with one blow from his sword. The forces unleashed shattered the blade, and people still go to inane lengths to obtain any of these shards. Little is now known about the Demon Continent, though occasionally a Demon King has risen. Each time a summoned hero was called forth to defeat him, and the demon armies rebuffed.

Beyond the Morninglow Mountains, were the monster lands. The higher ambient mana led to much more powerful creatures, and explorers had been trying in vain for centuries to reach the heart. Speculation ran rampant as to what exactly lay in the center, from the gate to the Divine realms to the ruins of an ancient civilization. What we did know was that the monsters grew so strong that no expedition even made it close enough to get a glimpse.

Beyond the Southern Forests was the Eversea. Several island chains were claimed by dragons, and rumor had it they had their own continent far away from the wars and greed of the mortal races. None dared try to find out, as their mastery of magic was unchallenged. While the mortal races were stuck casting spells, dragons simply willed effects. They were a part of the magic of the world.

I followed along with the basics of the lesson, but doubted I would remember much beyond the basics. I always hated geography, and this was just as bad as the lessons back in school. Plus, I was trying to figure out a way to stifle the effects of this blasted collar. I learned a very painful lesson early on, when my finger brushed against the collar. That sent an amplified pain pulse through my body, and my mind actually blanked for a second it was so intense. I tried manipulating internal mana, but it wouldn’t work either. Apparently inside the body it needed to keep flowing. In the end I was forced to just bear with the pain, much to my dismay.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

And so the next month dragged on. Mornings would be spent with a lecture from Elendria, most of which were useless. I eventually got to where I could name the major political powers of each race, but that was all I managed. I was also subjected to the depravity that humanity could sink to. Nearly a third of my meals were dumped out or compromised in some way, and I grew accustomed to pain level 2. Afternoons I would either nap or work on keeping my body in shape. I didn’t have a lot of variety, and I had to keep it from causing me to sweat too much, as we weren’t given many opportunities to bathe.

The month did have good things. I made some progress with Elendria, she no longer feared me so much. Nights I kept going with my mana manipulation, though progress seemed to stall once I hit level 15 in the skill. While I pondered how to increase it, I also advanced my immediate plans. Covering the prongs of the slave collar with mana allowed me to prevent it from causing me pain, at least until my pitiful mana ran out. Sure, a hundred mana sounded great at first, but it only lasted for fifteen minutes of constant use against the prongs.