Chapter 22: Mana absorption art
Jaden smiled widely and stepped towards the centre of the room, where the table with purple cloth and mana absorption art was.
He looked at the book with interest before taking it off the table.
He flipped it open and began reading its pages... they were not empty like the previous books were.
’How fascinating...’ he spoke in his mind before shaking his head.
"Now then... let us get started."
He flipped back to the first page and began reading.
The book read:
Mana is the building block of the creation, thus it is ever-present within all of the realms, one way or another.
We mortals absorb the elementals present within the environment and bind them together to contain mana within our mana cores.
There are eight types of elementals present within the environment.
Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Ice, Darkness, Light.
Each type allows us to use a different branch of magic.
However, we can not absorb all types of elementals, thus our mana is different from the mana within the environment.
During the cycle of mana absorption, we see sparks floating around us. Those sparks are elementals and their colours are listed below-
Red - Fire
Blue - Water
Yellow - Earth
Green - Wind
Cyan - Ice
Grey - Lightning
Black - Darkness
White - Light
The colours represent the elementals we have affinity with.
Note:- Till now, we mortals have only seen the highest affinity of six elementals.
Jaden’s eyes ran across the page of the book as he read it with absolute focus.
"Hmm... We have never seen anyone with an affinity for all eight of them..."
A playful smile appeared on his lips.
"Maybe one needs to be a transmigrator for that?"
He chuckled at his own words and continued.
He flipped to the page, and it had a mana vein diagram. He looked at the diagram with raised eyes... the diagram was strange to say the least...
At the end of the page, it had written information, and Jaden focused on it.
It read:
Within our body exists one great mana vein, eight elemental points and infinite minor mana veins.
The minor mana veins absorb the elementals and forward them to their respective elemental points.
The elemental points are not fixed and move throughout the body all the time. They collect the elementals until all active points have a similar amount of elementals in them, and once they do, they let it flow within the great mana vein.
The great mana vein cycles throughout a being’s body and connects to the mana core located in the solar plexus ( Lower chest, between lungs and stomach).
The mana core is a crystalline sphere which acts as a furnace and reservoir for absorbed elementals and forges them together, which results in mana.
"I see..." Jaden mumbled before flipping to the next page.
This page contained information about [how to absorb elements from the environment].
It read:
To begin the process of absorption, one must first sit in the lotus position, closing their eyes and letting their mind wander by itself. By doing so, they bind themselves to the environment, and it is then that they see the elementals present around them.
To absorb them, you must focus on the nearby elementals and forcefully bind them together before pulling them towards yourself.
You can only absorb one type of elemental at a time.
"This is it..."
Jaden’s grin widened before he flipped to the next page.
This page did not have information about mana; instead, it had information about spells and their ranking.
It read:
Over the course of history, we mortals have developed the path of arcane, and from this, we have created various spells which are ranked as follows-
1-star spell - A spell which uses a single elemental with a single purpose or intent. (E.g. Fireball)
2-star spell - A spell which uses multiple elements with a single purpose or intent. (E.g. Flame Lightning Ball)
3-star spell - A spell which uses multiple elementals with multiple purposes or intents. (E.g. Frozen Gale Prison)
4-star spell - A spell which uses a transformed intent. (E.g. Thunder Dragon)
Jaden looked at the page with confusion as he muttered.
"That’s... all?"
He shook his head and flipped to the next pages; however, they didn’t have much useful information. One of them had information about ranks, which Jaden already knew.
He closed the book and put it back on the table before heaving a sigh.
"Let’s get started then."
He said and turned around towards the door at the far end of the room, the room which had martial arts. However, he was not going there for martial arts; instead, he wanted to practice the absorption art within the training ground there.
His steps echoed within the dimly lit room as he made his way towards the door. He repeated everything he had read in the book in his mind. He soon reached the door and pushed it open. This room was much wider than the last one.
The floor and walls were made up of hard stones... which appeared strong just from looking at them.
To the left of it was another door, probably the room with all of the arts. There was a short round boundary at the centre of the room for training, and at the far end were racks with dummy weapons.
The boundary was wide enough for a spar, and the room was brightened via crystal lanterns and a chandelier hanging on the walls and ceiling, respectively.
Jaden walked in the centre of the boundary while looking around the room.
After reaching the centre, he folded his legs and sat in lotus position.
"Let’s do this..." he muttered before heaving a sigh and closing his eyes as he began his first cycle of mana absorption.
He soon felt like he was within a dark void... he could not feel anything around him. No air, no solid ground... he just felt nothing.
This, however, scared him because it reminded him of the dark void he was in after his death.