Draft: 60 Internal Mana

James released a frustrated sigh, and maybe a small, tiny, miniscule sound of annoyance. She had been excited, at least initially, when she had set out to probe her mana. Especially so when she realized she hadn’t ever really paid any attention to it all before, or noticed it, really. To be perfectly honest, she wasn’t sure if she could always see her own mana or if it was a recent development. To be fair, though, it was a lot less visually stunning than the mana from the other animals surrounding her.

Her mana signature, what she had started to call the unique appearance of each person’s mana, was weird, much weirder than any of the ones she had seen in her dream. And those were abnormal compared to the ones she had previously observed in animals too. She wasn’t even exactly sure how she was seeing and sensing it so clearly, though she supposed that since it was her own, she had an innate advantage.

James’s mana was translucent, the type that if she had just used Mana Sense to see it would have been near impossible. The only way she could somewhat see it was by seeing the weird, slight changes in light between areas that had her mana and areas that didn’t. That small bit of area where the light bent and struck a small rainbow by accident at the correct angle.

In a way it reminded her of an organic chemistry lab she had had to do. It was her final and she had been convinced she had failed it since she couldn’t find the line separating the organic and inorganic substances. She had honestly thought she’d have to redo the lab and had even made herself ask her TA about it. Thankfully, the difference truly was that minute and everything had worked out fine, but James was experiencing that same type of difficulty now trying to find her mana.

Well, she didn’t have only Mana Sense to go off of, it felt like Mana’s Symphony was helping out too, at least in observing her mana. Beyond that, though, Mana Manipulation was refusing to work. She just couldn’t seem to connect the Skill to her own internal mana!

James forced herself to take a step back from the issue by taking a deep breath, the smell of the ground reminding her of where she was. She couldn’t get so lost in thought she wouldn’t notice an animal sneaking up on her, she was in a forest after all. And in a post-System forest at that.

She listed out the facts in her head. She had first been able to observe her internal mana by meditating, or at least some version of it. Second fact, so far mana manipulation had only worked on external mana, so she had no clue how it would interact with something already connected to her. Thinking that, the issue was obvious. Her internal mana was already a part of her, mana manipulation had no bearing on it.

Another sigh of irritation escaped her, she wished she was better at all of this mana stuff. The description of her class made it seem like she could be some type of prodigy at it. Somebody else in her situation would have already been meditating deeply and moving their mana around.

Getting back to it, James stopped trying to connect to her own mana. If she didn’t already have a connection with it, she was probably in trouble. Taking a deep breath in and out, she felt how the mana’s movement sped up a bit and slowed down with her inhale and exhale. It was hard to see with her Mana Sense because of the nature of her mana, but by realizing she was connected to her mana she was able to feel it a lot more clearly.

With each mindful breath, the mana moved outwards from her chest and then retracted in again. Unlike her mother’s mana, it never left her body, staying firmly inside the shape of the outline of her skin, at least as far as she could tell.

Well, hopefully she could fill her own mana with intent even if it weren’t connected to a skill. Visualization for this type of thing would probably be very hard, especially since she didn’t know enough about it to use it properly. Could she imagine cell renewal, attach it to her mana, and then get cancer? She didn’t know. Better to keep clear of healing images.

Trying to think of getting better in the most abstract sense, she tried to imbue it onto her mana. Observing her mana again, she could tell she was unsuccessful in her endeavor. Her mana still didn’t move any differently, still following its own undiscernible pattern inside of her.

Thinking of healing in such general terms probably wasn’t helpful. She moved onto trying to make purging her focus, trying to make it more specific while only thinking in words- she didn’t need to create an autoimmune disease. That potential outcome would be just as bad as cancer.

This time, though, she could feel a change, even though she didn’t receive any notification from the System. Her mana’s edges became a bit sharper, its translucent edges becoming a bit clearer as they became a bit sharper. With every breath, she started to sweat excessively, dirtying her fancy boutique clothes. Soon enough, she also smelled horrible. If somebody were walking in the area, they would probably avoid her.

Predators, though? Predators could smell her from a mile away. And they could tell that the smell was one of death, for all that James was feeling better and better with the poison getting purged. A deep howl filled the air, and James was oblivious. She had heard it before. And nothing had happened. Predators were unpredictable like that.

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Sorry it wasn't what you were expecting, but I promise there are plans for both mana bolt and when the next class evolution will be. I'm waiting to see them in action too!