long, or at least until I fell asleep as well, but again to no result. Hiding it from the rest wasn't an issue due to the scarily realistic prosthetic, but it was still a little hard mentally for me at least. But if it was hard for me to hide alone, I wouldn't even want to imagine how Maia felt, so I decided to push away those feelings, and ignore them to my best extent.
"It's time to rise and shine… my dear little brother!"
"Hm…-ghraaaaa!"
Before I could even open my eyes, and fully comprehend what was going on, I had already been assaulted.
"Come on now, we can't waste all morning, can we?"
When I then finally managed to fully open my eyes, there she was. Laying on top of me, after she had just jumped right on me. For the past 3 days, her wakeups have not only been different each time, but also got more and more drastic. Was this a hobby of hers or something? And most importantly, why did we go from a bucket of water to straight up jumping me in my sleep?!
"Maia you-"
"Yep, that's right. I'm Maia, your beloved older sister that you looove so much, enough that you'll get up right away and dress up, right?"
"Yeah, that's right I love you sooooo much! Now-"
"Hum, hum. That's what I like to hear, I love you too-"
"Forget that and just get off of me already for God's sake!"
"Ah."
Why're you acting as if you forgot you were on me?!
Honestly, I genuinely find it hard to believe that this all muscle no brain gorilla is the intelligent and reliable Maia that I see during our training. Even as she got up, and I finally got some space to breathe, she had the most thoughtless expression possible on her face accompanied by her usual casual smile. If you looked at her, then tried to look me in the eye and tell me that you could see any thoughts behind her eyes, I'd punch you in the face for lying to me.
After brushing some nonexistent dust off of her, she once again took my clothes from right outside my tent, leaving them inside, her expression not changing one bit.
"Alright then, you have 10 minutes as usual. Starting today we're moving on."
"Got it."
I don't really know whether she was simply acting like her usual self, or she actually managed to move on, but regardless I was glad. Acting or not, at the very least she wasn't crying or sulking about it, which was all I needed to motivate me not only to keep trying to figure it out, as I changed my clothes but also to get ready to leave quickly.
…she really does have a lot of them now that I think about it.
My body had already gotten used to the weight, since all of them weighed the same. But one thing I never paid any attention to at all until now at least, was how many she actually had. For the past few days I had gotten new clothes every morning for the day, not to mention that they're all fairly stylish too. Where did she even get them from? I wondered as I got out of the tent.
After eating breakfast at Layra's as usual, we went to a slightly different place this time. Further north west from the town respective to where we came from, there was a chain of Rocky Mountains, not tall enough to have any snow on them, or be particularly cold either for that matter.
"…Say that again?"
After landing, she looked around for a while before approaching a dead tree, then taking a small branch from it and handing it. Then, out of the mountain itself, she carved a massive rock, taking it out and placing it next to me. That wasn't the surprising or bad part however, it was what she had told me right afterwards, and that's what made me ask her to repeat herself.
"We're not moving on to the next stage until you clear this one, by splitting that rock with the branch I just gave you."
"Let me get this clear…. You want me to split that."
Pointing with my finger at each nominee, she nodded at the end.
"With this?"
"Yep."
She nodded again.
"Now, I'm not really an expert, and I may need glasses or something since I might've seen it wrong. But this is just a random branch you ripped from a dead tree isn't it?"
"Yep."
"…"
"…"
Yeah… she lost it.
"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"
"Obviously with the instructions I gave you?"
"You didn't tell me anything though?! You literally were only talking about how much you liked today's breakfast on the way here. And also, you were gossiping about that guy at the restaurant who according to you was having an affair… although I do agree with you, because I swear I saw him with another woman yesterday."
"Right? What a scumbag."
"Yeah, definitely- wait, that's not the point!"
"Alright, alright. I get it. I forgot to tell you, okay? I'm sorry. Are you gonna let me talk now or not?"
"Please…"
"He hem.."
She cleared her throat before finally, thankfully beginning to explain today's lesson.
"The next thing you're going to learn is how to enhance objects with mana. You already know how to do it with your body, so this is the next step."
I thought that might be the case, but even then…
"That massive rock, with this, huh?"
I looked at my poor branch which to be totally fair, it wasn't a bad looking one. It had a nice grip and shape, kinda feeling like a sword in my hand, but unfortunately it was still dead wood. The durability was simply not there.
"There's technically 2 ways to do this, and I recommend you first try to get both of them right, and choose whichever you want to actually split the rock with."
"Listen… is this really something that I can do in a day?"
"Honestly, not a chance. You're probably going to manage to get the grip of how to enhance it, but managing to enhance it, and making it strong enough to do the task at hand are different. I don't really know how long this would take you."
"I see…"
That makes sense. At the very least, learning how to do it shouldn't be a problem, which would save me a lot of time.
"We're not moving to the next step until you clear this, since it's directly linked to it."
Guess there's no shortcuts here, unlike with my thumb.
"Alright, got it. Can you explain those 2 methods?"
"Alright then, the first and easiest one is as follows: using your own mana, transfer it to the object in your hands, strengthening it; that would be the shortest way of explaining it, and the easiest honestly. You could probably do that fairly easily. I think you should be able to feel the mana that makes up the object in your hand, no?"
She's right, I can definitely feel it extremely easily if I focus on it for even a moment.
"Yeah, I can."
"Now, here's the thing. The second method which is technically more valuable, is also obviously extremely harder. When you fly, you merge your mana with the one in the air, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"When you do that, you don't actually have any real control over the mana in the air. All you're doing is merging that thin layer of your own mana within it. You know how elves can absorb the mana in the air and make it their own, don't you?"
Ah… so this is where it's going.
If I recall correctly, dad had told me about it a few years ago. Not only could elves use spirit magic, but also easily use the mana in their surroundings as their own. Dad didn't really go into detail about spirit magic, but I'd assume that it's generally just stronger than what it would be if a living being used it? We get our elemental magic from contract with spirits after all. But back to the main point, there was clearly only one route this was going to take.
"I do…"
"As I said, you can just choose which method you want to use to split that rock… but I take it that you already know where this is going."
"…"learn to make the mana in your surroundings your own, and split that damn rock." Or something along those lines, huh."
"Bingo. Needless to say, absorbing the mana in your surroundings is only a temporary solution to your terribly small mana pool, so I hope you won't think that once you learn this you'll be fine."
"I'm not that delusional. I have no intention of stopping the physical training to naturally- never mind there's nothing natural about. I meant to forcefully increase my mana. For that matter, I doubt I could even gather enough to have anything to spare."
"Who knows? Maybe you will. But either way, the main point is as you already guessed: learn how to do that, and help yourself to strengthen that branch enough; you might be able to enhance it with your own mana, and even split it with it. After all, your control over it seems to be exceptional in a way, especially how you can enhance your body with that little mana you have. Same goes for when you condensed it enough to properly layer it around you."
"Yeah, yeah. I don't mind the flattery, but this isn't the time for that, is it?"
"Guess you're right. Knowing how to use your surrounding mana as your own could potentially save your life, especially when you still have little to no mana. You might be able to ration it by condensing it, but that won't prevent it from running out. Though as I said, your control over it is exceptional. Not saying it as flattery, I actually mean it. Condensing so little mana to such intensity isn't an easy feat, but clearly it seems to be for you."
I guess if you put it that way then it does sound impressive.
For instance, I never actually found it difficult to do. Condensing my mana is definitely an easy task for me. But is it really that impressive? Well, who am I to refuse some praise I guess. It's not like it'll hurt me or anything.
"Thanks I guess. How do I do it though?"
"Hm?"
Eh?
She froze. I could see sweat droplets forming all over face, as she tried to look away out of nowhere.
"…Maia…"
Don't tell me…
"…"
"You can't do it, can you?…"
"…I mean, can you blame me?! I never needed it, I have plenty of mana myself… not to mention, that thing is extremely hard for humans to do!"
"Then why the hell are you trying to make me do it?!"
"We can't help it, can we?! You actually need a way to sustain yourself until your mana grows!"
"That might be the case, but at least word it nicer…"
"Well I'm sorry, but it's the truth, isn't it?"
It is. I might be able to condense the fuck out of it, sparing me from using too much, but it will still dry out in the end. And for that matter, once my own mana grows enough, I can just forget about it, can't I? So in the end, this is definitely something I'd need currently. I have no clue how much mana I'd be able to spare if I tried to use a Getsuga Tenshou or Cero from wish either. Actually, can I even manage to do either one of them even once with my current mana amount?… I honestly don't know if condensing it will cut it with this one.
"You're right, my bad."
"It's all good, my dear little brother. But back to the main point, in theory it should be something like this: feel the mana in the air, try to absorb it inside your pool somehow, then hooray, you're done!;"
I sighed, giving up on an easy route for this step, and preparing myself to begin, since I'd say it was about time we got started.
"Alright then. Is there anything else I need to know?"
"Hmm, nothing that comes to mind at least. You should be able to start now."
"Alright."
Here goes nothing…
As expected, the first method was an easy success. Portioning and condensing small amounts of my mana, transferring them to the branch. It didn't take me more than 3 minutes at most to actually manage to enhance it for the first time. But while it was definitely satisfactory, I didn't have time to waste celebrating it. Not even trying to slice the rock with it, I stopped the enhancement, and quickly began trying to focus on the second method, unaware that…
"…is this really even possible for a human?"
2 months would pass by, and I still wouldn't be done. Every day, from morning to evening I'd try to do it, on top of already trying to regenerate my thumb. It gets to a point man… seriously now. Whetever it was at home, during our training or at night, all I did was trying to figure out the difference between my own body's mana and trying to absorb the one surrounding me. I was thinking about mana more than anything else on a daily basis, slowly beginning to doubt if I'd ever even manage to do either one of them as I let go of myself on the ground, arms and legs spread like when you're making a snow Angel or something like that.
"Hmm, maybe not?"
She was sitting on a rock nearby, watching while holding her face in her right palm, with one knee up.
"You're supposed to encourage me…"
"Well, it gets pretty hard to do after 2 months. It's going to be November in a week and a half, you know?"
"I can't even disagree…"
She remained silent for a few moments, before speaking once again calmly but with a slight hint of hesitance in her voice.
"I'm sure you've figured it out yourself by now, Cael. The reason why you still haven't managed to do it…"
Of course, I'd have to either be in complete denial, or a complete idiot to not know by now.
"Yeah."
It was simple. In order for the mana to be absorbed into my mana pool, it would need to pass through my body first. And if I have no control over the mana that consists of my body, then I also can't make up openings for the mana to pass through. I took off my prosthetic thumb, while still laying down then raised my hand up above my face as far as I could stretch my arm for.
"If I can't deal with this fella here first, we're not gonna make any progress."
But simply acknowledging what you needed to do and actually doing it are still completely different things. It's not like your mana stomach is actually physically inside of you, like a real second stomach, but it is still part of you and your body regardless if it's on a physical or spiritual plane. If only I could just get this over with… it's like trying to pour some water inside a cup, but there's actually a plastic wrap on the top, which you can't see due to both of them being transparent, but it's still blocking the water from going inside. That's how it felt.
If only there was a way to poke some holes in the wrap to let the water through…
Or preferably separate the two as a whole. Remove the wrap that makes you think the cup is accessible, and actually make it be so. But how do you even do that? Well, obviously you'd just unwrap it, but that doesn't really help me while I'm trying to think with fancy analogies. There's gotta be a solution to it…The mana is the water, and I'm the glass. That much I can tell, but what I need to figure out is what the plastic wrap is.
Technically speaking, until you actually take a closer look at it, nothing is stopping you from assuming they're the exact same thing. Just a simple glass cup. Only after you look at it closely, you realize that they're different. Which is pretty weird, because their very structures are polar opposites. The glass is hard and sturdy, while the plastic wrap is flexible and soft unless you stretch it. Yet even two things so fundamentally different can appear to be the same object as long as they're similar enough.
If I'm the glass, then what is the plastic wrap?… actually though, what if?!-
Could this be it? Could it have been so easy all this time? I don't know why I instantly thought of it that way, but thinking about it now…No one had ever said that I was the glass. What if the glass is actually just my body alone, and the plastic wrap is nothing but my very own mind and soul. I mean, let's put it this way. Thinking about how Maia explained it, she made it seem as if it was something as easy as just remodeling a shape made out of Plato. What if it was actually supposed to be taken literally? What if the reason I couldn't feel the difference between them all along was because…
Maybe I shouldn't think of my body and my soul as the same thing?!
We all just assume that our bodies are ourselves, and I can't really blame anyone for it. The only real sense of self we have, is mostly derived from our sense of touch after all. It's either that or the feeling you have whenever you're breathing manually, or flexing a muscle. Making it short, we all think that our bones and muscles are what defines each individual as themselves. But It's not actually like that, because in the end, our bodies are nothing but a shell. Sounds crazy right? And perhaps this might be just an insanely weird way of coping with my failure.
However, it is still true. The body is nothing but a shell, to our true selves. Our brain, and most of all, our nerves, and soul. So what if the reason I couldn't feel my body's mana was because I was thinking of it as myself as a whole, rather than a simple part of me.
If that's the case then-
I got up, sitting on my ass as I closed my eyes, focusing as much as I possibly could.
"Hm, Cael?"
I ignored her. If I was right, I wanted absolutely no interruptions at the moment. If instead of thinking of my body as myself as a whole, I start thinking of it as just a shell that I can reshape as long as I feed it more "Plato" or mana in this case, then maybe…!
I don't have to regenerate "myself". I'm not just bone and muscle. What I need to regenerate is simply the container of my soul. My body, my shell, and… the glass cup!
With a little bit of focus afterwards, now that I had cracked the code, it was all finally going my way. The plastic wrap was my deduction that our bodies and souls are the same thing. While in reality, all I had to do was focus on what made up my body alone.
I-i…-
"I did it! I did it! Maia, Maia! I felt it! I can feel it! The mana that makes up my body!"
I instantly opened my eyes and turned around,
meeting her surprised face with my own filled with nothing but excitement. It really was this simple all along. I bet she didn't expect for me to finally come up with the answer to that matter right now, but what do you know? Life is unpredictable. The matter of fact now, was that I could not only technically succeed in absorbing the mana inside my body, which was the only thing I couldn't do after 2 months of successfully gathering and pulling it towards me. Now, I could technically also regenerate my thumb.
A few tears started going down her face, as she quickly corrected her posture, but didn't fly at me and hug me right away. I don't even need to try and guess the reason for it. She was waiting for me to actually do it first, refusing to celebrate early… what a stubborn older sister that I have.
I had gotten used to being thumbless by now, but I guess that it isn't really the most sustainable thing after all. It's time for me to finally get it back.
Depending on your state of mind, the process may not be instant, but I couldn't care any less. I'll make it instant, and get my finger back, right here and now. Imagining it, shaping the mana of my body, and supplementing it with a little more of my own. My missing thumb, all I have to do is reshape all this mana into it. Considering the fact that I couldn't perfectly imagine my hand as it was normally, there was definitely a possibility that i'd end up deformed, but oh well.
I closed my eyes once again to try and imagine it properly, and limit my chances of ending up with a weird looking thumb, then began redirecting the mana on its way.
I can feel it… I can most definitely feel this.
About 20 seconds later, I had succeeded. I moved my thumb on its own first, then the whole hand, I was certain of it. But I was actually terrified of having a deformed ugly looking finger now! I couldn't open my eyes, because I'd actually probably cry if the mission had failed successfully.
I don't really think I have any other choice.
"M-Maia… is my thumb looking normal-"
Forcing me on my back in a matter of a second, there was only one explanation for it. The warmth around my body, and the hand behind my head to prevent me from hitting it to the ground. Most importantly, her sobs. It seems like my worries were all for nothing, so I opened my eyes.
"…this time I can actually see your face at least. I can't say I'm totally against your crying this time, my dear older sister."
My smile was as large as it could get at that point, and my own eyes were getting watery. There was a major difference between her crying now, and 2 months ago. This time, not only could I see her face, but I know that unlike last time, she was now smiling, and crying out of happiness instead of fear.
"Y-you did it… i knhhew you cohhould do it! I'm so glad.."
It doesn't seem like I can get out of this until she's done, haha. But I guess it's not that bad in the end.
I may not have managed to do my main task yet, but it wasn't long after she calmed down that I had finally completed it. By acknowledging my body as a shell I could use however I wanted, I could open pathways for the mana which I had already long succeeded in gathering towards me, and use it to pass it through my body, then into the branch, enhancing it enough to "Split that damn rock."