Path of the Pioneers

Our destination was half a week away from us. Three or four days filled with nothing but walking. To her credit, Adeline was stoic about the ordeal, as if this kind of thing were common for her. I never ventured far outside of the village, only going out into the woods to gather reagents. To my father’s chagrin, I was never the athletic type. Something my stats reflected.

The roads could lead us close to our destination, but going through the wilderness was the safer option. It was faster, as well. Any wildlife we could encounter there would be simple to deal with between the two of us. From the village, we needed to go in practically a straight line to the southeast. There, we would find a dungeon outside of a small village overseen by Count Harri Grivash. 

Ideally, House Grivash would be unaware of our presence until long after we cleared the dungeon.

Adeline was a competent hunter, and the woods were abundant in prey for her to choose from. Cooking was, in a way, sort of like alchemy, so I was more than up to the task of preparing the ingredients she so kindly gathered.

I have to admit, I was almost concerned by how fast she was able to butcher a deer. Did she have some kind of skill for it? Maybe learning the best techniques for cutting apart people applied fairly well to animals.

If we had a big pot or a cauldron, we could do very well for ourselves out here. But I would have to rely on a big rock and fire to cook our dinner. Primitive, but still somewhat effective.

In the time that she spent hunting and preparing a deer, I was able to forage a few wild onions. Nothing else I found had been fit or proper for consumption.

Still, it was a better haul than I had expected. 

Using Adeline’s hunting knife, I began to prepare the onions. With a few chops, I separated each bulb from its long, green stem. Then, I cut each of the bulbs in half. From there, I began to chop down across each one, making several thin, crescent strips.

I took the venison loin that Adeline had cut off the carcass, cutting it down into shapes that almost resembled medallions. It was a good amount of meat. Far more than I could eat, but I wasn’t sure of Adeline’s appetite.

Across the rock, I put down the strips of wild onion, and they began to sizzle lightly. Atop the onions, I put each of the steaks I cut from the loin.

Adeline was hunched over in front of the rock, across from me. The slightest smile was apparent on her face from the sight and smell of cooking meat. It had probably been quite a while since she last ate anything.

The next part required a bit of creativity, since we had no equipment to speak of.

I sent out threads of mana from my hand, forming a small dome over the cooking food. On its surface, I left a small hole to vent some of the steam.

Steam began to gather in the shape of a half-sphere, only slowly leaking from a small spot on its top. Adeline raised an eyebrow, and then looked up from the food and to me. “Are you doing that?” I nodded, and moved my focus to the campfire below the rock.

The heat was a touch high, and could very well burn the onions or crack the rock if I wasn’t careful. Getting shards of rock in your food is something most people would try very hard to avoid, myself included. I’d need to quell this blazing fire a bit.

Fire was a dangerous, nigh-uncontrollable thing. I was capable of creating it, but I had no hopes of taming it through magic. Using another, larger stick, I took off a few pieces of wood from the fire, trying to stifle its growth. As I stared at the glowing embers, and the tendrils of flame reaching up against the rock above, I couldn’t help but think about what my master told me in the past.

“Fire, hm?” She thought for a moment, and then turned quickly to face me, a half-worried look on her face. “Hey, you aren’t trying to become a pyromancer, are you? Those guys are..” She sighed, exasperated, rubbing her forehead with her hand. “Usually up to no good.”

I stared at her, eyes wide with something akin to fright. “N-no! I just.. Wanted to know how it was possible to control something so.. Formless?”

“Oh!” She perked up after that, staring off to nowhere in particular, and then back to me. “You’re on the right track with that line of thinking, don’t get me wrong, but..” She put her hand to her chin, head slumped to the side while she thought about the best way to word her next sentence. 

“Don’t worry so much about that for now. The threads aren’t exactly compatible with manipulating intangible stuff. I’ll teach you once you’ve advanced a bit, alright?”

Why did my master engrain a technique in me that was incapable of doing so much? 

“..Adeline, you’re.. An aura user, aren’t you?”

Aura. A type of energy used by martial artists, considered to be incredibly similar to mana, if not the same. When I first saw her, Adeline’s sword was sparking. I doubted that it was a magic sword, so then..

She looked over at me, head cocked to the side. “I am, yes. Why do you ask?”

“How do you visualize it?”

Adeline closed her eyes, lost in thought for a moment. After a bit, she finally replied.

“To me, aura is this swirling mass of energy that comes from my heart. From there,” She moved her hand, facing her palm slightly upward near her face. “I can move it out to my hands or legs depending on what I’m doing.” She held her sword up for me to see. “I can even put it in my sword, if I want. It’s a little bit taxing, though.”

Mana is shapeless, formless energy. When I wield it as threads, I’m refining it, giving it shape, and controlling it. My master must have had a good reason for teaching it to me. I thought refining was a necessary part of spellcasting... I thought that it would be foolish to stray from your visualization.

I put a hand to my forehead, mouth agape from something like shock. She never intended for me to keep using my threads. It was training. Training for controlling mana.

I bit the inside of my mouth, fighting back tears. My master cared. She just left me before she could finish what she started. 

I was jolted out of my thoughts by the sudden chime of my status window. I scrambled to look up at it.

[Congratulations! You have grown closer to the true nature of mana.]

[Skill acquired: Thread Form Technique]

[Skill acquired: Mana Sense]

I fell back, supporting myself with my hands. It was something so simple? Adeline looked at me, a slight look of concern on her face.

I closed my eyes, imagining it. Energy swirling around inside me: mana. I could feel it dwelling mainly in my heart, just as Adeline said. Was that the true source of mana? Or were her words affecting even that?

I stood back up, looking off at one of the many trees in the distance. From my heart, I gathered some of the energy and began moving it to my hand, focusing it on the tips of my index and middle finger. I didn’t just feel it gather, I could almost see it. The benefit of [Mana Sense]?

“Sorry, Adeline... I’m trying something new. It might be noisy.”

I swung my hand out, pointing my fingers at the tree. The energy flowed through my fingers, bursting out into a shape almost like a small lance. My threads stayed connected to me, that’s how I maintained my control over them. But maybe sacrificing control was necessary in order to acquire power. I separated the energy from myself, cutting it off at the peak of its momentum.

It rocketed off, missing the tree I was aiming for and smashing into another entirely different one. A large, smoking hole was left in it, about the size and depth of my fist.

[Congratulations! A skill has been unlocked: Energy Missile]

A smile came to me without my control. I was beginning to make true progress. And I was able to do it even without the guidance of my master.

“Woah.” Adeline looked at the tree, a bit surprised. “You said you were trying something new?”

I sat back down in front of the fire, still smiling after the progress I had made. “You made me realize something important about mana. I wouldn’t have been able to perform something like that without your help.”

After saying that, my lips went down slightly from my smile fading. I pulled my hat down a little bit lower on my head as I began to blush madly. “R-right..! I think that dinner is ready..” 

The two of us ate the venison steaks. I scattered bits of the chopped onions’ stems on top before we did, though. It gave a sort of freshness that contrasted well with the seared meat.

It tasted very nice.