Chapter 8: Mana!
The next day, Draco was once again in the training ground, patiently awaiting Alice's arrival. He has spent the last day resting and enjoying the good weather, while also not forgetting to visit Helena. He had taken Alice's words into consideration since he really felt like that was going to be the last day when he can rest properly.
As the doors to the training grounds opened, Captain Alice stepped inside, and Draco scanned her body. Today she looked a bit different. She didn't wear her usual uniform but instead wore a simple black military t-shirt, which, for some reason, made her look even more stunning.
Draco made eye contact with the captain, noting her long eyelashes and soft-looking lips. For a moment, Draco forgot that she was even a captain, as she looked much more casual than usual.
"Eyes up, cadet." Captain Alice said with quite a threatening tone, and Draco complied without any hesitation. "We don't have a lot of time on our schedule, so let's go straight to the business."
Captain Alice approached Draco and stopped when she was a few feet away from him. Draco nodded his head, sighing as he fell back and sat on the ground.
Alice gave him a strange look. "What are you doing?"
"Well, from my experience, the beginning is always theory."
Alice got silent for a moment. "You are right. Before teaching you how to better use your awakener's power, I wanted to talk about what are the dungeons and skills themselves."
Seeing that Draco was intently listening, Alice began. "First, before anything, I will have to talk about the dungeons, and how they have come to be. This is general knowledge, so you may know some of it, but I still recommend you listen to it."
"It's not known when exactly dungeons appeared, only that this happened hundreds of years ago. If I had to describe dungeons to you, I would simply say that they are peculiar places. Essentially, once you enter one of them, you are submerged into another world, or should I say I certain scenario. Sometimes, you are even given an identity. In the dungeons, you have to complete a mission provided to you, and not being able to do so results in death."
Draco nodded, having already known of this information.
"What we have noticed over the years is that there is a limited number of worlds that are accessible, at least in the beginning. The most popular few ones are called Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach. The most dangerous one that we currently know of is called One Punch Man. I myself have been in the world of One Piece during my third dungeon, and I have been given a quest to assassinate a certain marine."
'Hmmm, I should probably ask more about those worlds later.' Draco thought, letting her continue and just stacking some questions for later.
"Now, let's move on to the skills. A lot of people have a common misconception about awakening, as they believe that it is the result of being chosen. However, all of our skills are actually from the dungeons that have been spawning over the entire planet during all these years. Perhaps dungeons are somehow leaking out those skills, but it is not actually known how the entire process of awakening is being conducted. The only thing we know is that people get skills that they most resonate with."
"Wait." Draco placed his hand against his chin. "Doesn't this mean that by entering those worlds, we can meet someone with the same skills as us?"
"That's completely correct. In fact, during my first dungeon dive, I appeared in the world of Avatar, where hundreds of people had the same fire control as me. It was an interesting experience, and I have been taught some tricks by a pleasant old man."
For some reason, Draco felt some sadness in her voice when she mentioned the old man, as if she was remembering something not very pleasant.
"Anyway, we are talking about the wrong things. This is the most basic, yet most essential information about awakening and dungeons, but, of course, there can always be unexpected variables. Now, let's move on to the next most important thing; mana."
Captain Alice stretched out her hand and then Draco saw... no, felt something peculiar happening. A translucent layer of mana dispersed around her hand, covering it entirely and protecting it from external dangers. Then, Alice moved her hand back and punched towards Draco with a perfect motion.
'The hell?' Draco felt a strong gush of wind pushing him back, as his hair flipped back, revealing his forehead. 'Damn, not my forehead!'
While Draco pushed his hair back down, Alice removed the mana covering her arm and continued her talk. "This is one the most important and basic usages of mana, strengthening your attacks. Currently, with how little mana you have, this is all you can do."
'All I can do?' Draco remembered how deadly the attack just now had been. Yet, it seemed that Alice knew of some different ways of using her mana, which were even scarier. "So... how exactly do I do that?"
"Well, for starters, it is important to feel the mana within you. Then, it's almost like you have to command that mana to do what you what it to do." Alice explained and seeing Draco's quite confused face, she sighed. "Alright, my explanation may have been a bit crude. Try closing your eyes."
Draco complied, closing them.
"Now, try to feel something different within your body. It can be something extremely unnoticeable, like a scratch beneath the skin, or just an unnatural coldness or warmth in a certain spot." Alice said, lowering her voice as she saw how hard Draco was concentrating. "For me, I imagined the mana like another heart, and this enabled me to feel it better."
'Yeah, she is definitely really bad at explaining things.' Draco thought, chuckling internally. Even though her words weren't really helpful, Draco understood that he just has to find something different, something unnatural.
"Don't rush things. It's not so easy to feel the mana, and it is even harder to use it. It took me two days to properly discern it, and that was considered a great result." Alice stated, however, Draco already could barely hear her.
'Something deeper.' Draco imagined his blood flowing through his system, passing through organs, saturating them so that they would keep working. Then, he imagined his heart that was the source of it all, pumping the blood, keeping him alive. 'No, even deeper, deeper...'
Draco imagined how his body can be divided into cells, into atoms, how it is nothing, yet everything at the same. He scanned his body, searching for anything out of a place, anything at all...until finally, he felt it.
He came across a place in his bondmen where a particle of energy was moving out of order, and Draco focused on it, materializing it in his own mental image. It suddenly enlarged, growing bigger, forming a new world.
Before long, there was a picture of a little pond presented before him. It was so little and translucent, yet at the same time, it gave off a pure and raw sense of strength.
It felt so precious that Draco couldn't help but stretch out towards it as if trying to touch it, make it submit. However, when he did so, the image and everything suddenly broke like glass, and he was pushed back to the real world.
When he flared his eyes, Draco saw Alice staring back at him, her mouth slightly opened. Actually, her expression seemed even more surprised than during his skill reveal. Draco smiled internally. It seemed that he was quite talented.
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