Inari’s Gift

Cera slowly shifted her mana around, feeling where it slowed, didn’t seem to want to pass, and where it moved freely.  Her long experience as a mage in her prior life showed benefits here, despite it being an entirely separate system.  In the end, it still acted similarly, even if it required a different touch.

As time passed, she put more and more force behind her actions, her mana crashing into the barriers she felt, pushing through the areas that slowed it.  It was painful, sure, but she knew that improvement often was.  In her old world, at least, this sort of thing was harmless, just uncomfortable enough that most didn’t do it.

Slowly, her mana began to smooth out in its motions, leaving only the seemingly solid barriers intact.  As the pain faded, Cera began compressing her mana into a spot just below the surface of her palm, watching as small wisps became visible.  She was unsure if this body could naturally see mana or if it was making itself physically visible, but either way, she could view it.

Eventually, she began to feel pain in her palm and slowly released her grip on the mana, feeling it try to explode outward from her control, though her will was enough to smother the force.  After that attempt, she decided to try infusing mana into her flesh.

This effort took several hours, and she had only managed what might have been a small success, but couldn’t be entirely certain.  Instead of continuing while she had become sore, she simply leaned back in her chair and began to meditate, feeling for the depths of mana within.

As Cera focused deeper and deeper, closing her eyes to sharpen her senses, she began to feel strange structures interacting with the mana and smiled.  It turned out that her guess that things worked similarly to her prior life was practically confirmed.  Continuing to deepen her focus, Cera was able to slowly piece together a network of faint connections, with several areas that released small wisps of mana as time passed or altered mana that moved nearby them.

When she set about moving her mana again, she felt several structures deep within shift and flex.  Reversing the flow, different sections reacted.  As time passed, she continued to study the faint network deep inside herself.

Eventually, she stirred and opened her eyes, finding herself surprised by the light that shone through the window, as well as the presence of Falron sitting in the other chair with a mug, occasionally sipping from it.

“Ah, finally aware again, are we?  You were extremely deeply focused, it appears, as you didn’t react at all when I came out here.  I didn’t think you’d be doing anything that required such intense focus,” the man said, rubbing his chin as he wondered what in the world she had been up to.

Cera let out a short laugh before remarking, “I was curious if things here worked similarly to my prior life, and was studying myself in-depth.  As far as I can tell, there are ‘energetic organs’ of sorts that produce and manipulate the mana within you.  I also spent some time earlier trying to infuse mana into my flesh, and I think I had a little success.”

Immediately, Falron choked on his drink and began coughing, eyes wide as he looked at her.

A few moments later, after he recovered, he exclaimed, “Goodness, lady, what in the world is wrong with you?!  That is absolutely not safe to try, especially not for you right now!  And already aware of the energetic body…  Even many skilled mages are unaware of that!”

“I did mention I was a mage before.  And a quite skilled one at that.  A little danger isn’t a big deal when you’ve dealt with potentially fatal experimentation on yourself numerous times.  Additionally, I spent a great deal of time modifying my energetic body in my prior life, so I’m hoping to do similar again,” Cera remarked with a grin.

After a short pause, she continued, “In fact, I’m willing to bet I can control mana outside my body already, too, but I did say I’d only do internal stuff to begin with.  Any dangers I might be unaware of that I should look out for when I move mana outside?”

“You…  I suppose teaching you will be problematic, won’t it?” the man stated with a sigh and shook his head.

Falron looked down into his mug for a moment before continuing, “I suppose I can forgo a lot of the basic advice and warnings.  Moving mana from internal to external is generally seen as difficult at first, and manipulating mana externally without it being your own is nearly impossible for most.  Try to spread your mana out over a large area instead of concentrating it at first; your energy channels won’t handle concentration well.”

Cera couldn’t help but laugh before remarking, “That shouldn’t be a problem.  One of the first things I did was push my mana until it moved smoothly, even in areas where it started off restricted.  I didn’t push hard enough to break anything, though.”

The man simply stared at her for several moments before putting his head in his hands, coincidentally revealing his mug was full of water as it splashed him.

“You’re going to be impossible, aren’t you?” he muttered quietly.

Cera’s ears twitched as she easily heard him, and she remarked, “Well…  I did take pride in being crazy enough to try the impossible and actually manage it, too.  I suppose that would make me somewhat difficult.”

As Falron sighed, Cera decided to go ahead and move mana outside her body.  Within seconds, a small orb of her mana floated above her hand.  Even as Falron began to speak, she reached for the energy floating around in the air, but her attempt to move it twisted it into a chaotic mess, tearing her orb of energy into shreds.

Once again, Falron gaped at her with his eyes wide, only to hear Cera state, “Well, it seems that works about the same, except I don’t have anywhere near the level of control needed to do anything but disrupt magic.”

“What…  Why…  How…  AGH!” Falron exclaimed before slamming his head back into his hands as Cera laughed.

“I did say I was a talented mage in my last life.  This stuff is nearly instinctive, even with the slight differences.  Don’t worry, I’m not perfect!  I can already tell that actually using magic is far different in this realm than my last one.  I’m just ahead when it comes to control,” she explained, shaking her head at his reaction to her.

Cera paused for a moment before continuing, “And on that note, I really ought to figure out my natural abilities.  Better hearing is automatic—nothing to worry about there—same with my eyes and seeing in dimmer light.  But I should be able to create illusions and spiritual fire.”

Falron looked down into his now-empty mug and sighed, then stood and walked into the kitchen.  A moment later, he returned—without the mug—and sat back down with a groan.

He looked at Cera for a few moments silently before asking, “So what should I do?  You already seem to know so much…”

“Well, as I said, I don’t know how to do magic here; I can just tell it is very different.  Back where I came from, I basically built machines from magical energies.  Here, the energy has different properties, acting more like a gas, and I can’t seem to change it at all except its location, a slight difference in density, and I feel that I can apply intent to it,” she remarked with a slight frown.

The man shook his head and then muttered, “Right, at least there is something…”

He looked back up at Cera and stated, “I suppose we can start with a basic light spell.  It is the least likely to go wrong, and the least likely to cause harm if it does.”

As Cera focused intently on him and nodded, the man reached out, and a small ball of light similar to that of a lantern appeared above his hand.

“Damn, can’t see it.  I guess that answers that question.  I’ll have to learn how to see mana, then.  At least I can feel my own and a slight bit around it, which seems to overlay itself on my sight, perhaps a natural ability,” she interrupted as Falron began to speak.

The man shook his head yet again before explaining, “That is somewhat difficult, but we’ll get there eventually.  For this spell, it is important to keep a tether of mana going toward a repository that you squeeze inward and spin.  Once it is spinning, you simply focus on light.  The speed of the spin determines the intensity and mana cost.  The direction controls the color.”

Cera frowned at the absurd instructions, her tail twitching in agitation beside her, and grumbled, “That makes no sense; why would spinning it matter?  And the direction changes the color?  That is just insanity.”

Despite her words, however, she followed the instructions and spun up a ball of mana and squeezed it.  As described, a small ball of purple light appeared over her hand.  As she played with the spin, it did indeed change colors and brightness.  Squeezing the mana seemed to do nothing beyond the initial compression until she let go of the pressure, causing the light to promptly flicker out.

“I really shouldn’t be surprised that you got it on your first try…  It is simply a minor twisting of energy, after all…” Falron muttered before letting his own light disperse as well.

Next, the man held out a finger, and a small flame appeared a short distance from the tip, flickering like a candle.

“For fire, you need to feed mana into it like the light, but instead of spinning, you have to shake it violently within a small area while focusing on the concept of fire.  Let’s see if that is enough for you,” Falron remarked with a carefully neutral expression on his face as he let the fire go out again.

Cera promptly frowned and asked, “Does vibration work, or only larger-scale shaking?  And conceptual magic is something I haven’t seen much in the last decade.”

As she spoke, she formed a small blob of mana and began vibrating it with as much speed as she could manage, pushing her understanding of fire into the construct.  While Falron’s magic had appeared as a candle’s flame, Cera’s looked closer to a blowtorch for the second and a half it lasted.

Sagging with sudden exhaustion, Cera shook her head and continued, “Well, that was draining; it actively pulled my mana out of me.  And it seems running low on mana leads to lethargy and soreness?  How annoying.  I definitely don’t have much raw power to throw around.”

“Goodness, what in the world was that?!” Falron exclaimed in shock, staring at where the bright flame had been.

“I’ve never seen a focused fire, and only a few elementalists I’ve met have made them that intense!” he continued as he shot a glare at her.

“Well, my prior world also had a very firm understanding of many processes of the world, so maybe my understanding is a bit better?  But damn, I’m basically out of mana, sore, tired, and hungry too,” Cera replied, her stomach rumbling in sync with her words.

Falron sighed yet again before standing and going to the kitchen as he informed her, “Mana exhaustion can be dangerous, and your body is badly strained trying to recover the mana it has lost.  That power has to come from somewhere, after all.  And before you try it, don’t pull in external energy—it will make things much worse and harm you.”

Cera sheepishly stopped her attempt to gather energy and nodded before looking down at her hands as the tip of her tail twitched in annoyance.  While she was mostly out of mana, that didn’t mean she had to give up all efforts.  She promptly began cycling her remaining mana through herself, pulling the wisps that slowly appeared into the cycle as well.

Listening to Falron cooking, ears twitching to the sound, she compressed and expanded her energy, feeling how it interacted within her.  From time to time, she found rough areas and used the mana within to press against them until they no longer obstructed the flow.  Once she had a more reasonable amount of power, she tried forming it into the simplest of her old enhancements.

As she had expected, it fell apart and did nothing to help her, causing her to sigh and mutter, “Of course, it can’t be that easy, can it?”

Shortly afterward, Falron brought out a simple meal for each of them, and Cera stopped her practice in favor of eating.  Once finished, Cera offered to clean the dishes and took Falron’s as well, bringing them into the kitchen before using a bucket of water from the well in the corner to clean them off.

Once she finished, she headed back toward the fireplace where her teacher sat, remarking, “I suppose while I’m still recovering from that, I should try to see if I can figure out my natural abilities.  Is it safe to sit behind your home, or does anyone come by that might see me?  I was told my kind aren’t exactly welcome anymore.”

Falron replied, “Ha!  That is definitely an understatement these days.  Show up in a city, and a paladin or cleric will immediately be sent to kill you.  And many people would gladly report you to them.  But no, it is very rare for anyone to come here, and they don’t snoop around my property, just knock on the door to talk to me.”

Cera nodded, then stated, “In that case, I’ll go sit outside and see if I can figure this stuff out.  Never had natural abilities, so this is entirely new to me.”

Following her statement, Cera left the man’s home, circled around to the side closest to the forest, and sat down, closing her eyes to focus better.  Unable to resist, she also pulled her tail into her lap and started to gently stroke it.  She then began to meditate as her mind drifted deeper within, seeking anything that might let her control something new.

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