Manaborn, page 17
“Do you want us to join them?” Ceres asked. I shook my head.
“No, you are ready for an even more advanced version, which I will show you later.” Ceres nodded and settled back down to watch.
“As for you all, I’m going to push a trickle of mana through the ground and into every one of you, so you might get a feel for how it resonates with your body. It should help you prepare for the initial stage and realm.”
I leaned towards the circle they had formed and pulled eleven individual strands of pure mana forth. They crawled along the ground and wrapped around their fingers, lingering there for a minute before dissipating. I could feel the discomfort in several of them, but most were excited by the experience. Mana, although incredibly powerful and useful, could be more addictive than any drug or alcohol. And if a person didn’t know how to use it properly, they could quickly find themself a slave to the substance.
No one spoke even after I pulled the mana back. They remained silent and focused on the process of sensing and drawing on the power. I observed silently. Mantis gathered mana without any issues, but surprisingly, three more managed to do so within the first few minutes. Then two more, and quickly every one of them had managed to not just feel the mana but gather some at their fingertips.
“Maintain your focus for a while longer and store as much as you can inside your hands, then push it all up through your arms and into your chest. Once in your chest, you will start opening your mana pool, which in its most basic form is nothing more than a reservoir for your mana. That part is the same for everyone and you can imagine it however you wish, like a sphere, a decorative box, or maybe a pond. Just remember, it is yours. The more intimate the connection to the pool, the greater control you will have.”
“How do we make them grow?” Mantis asked.
“Expanding the pools isn’t the hard part, as they grow naturally with every new realm you achieve. We will address that another time.”
I got up and joined the girls at the edge of the lake, where they sat chatting and dangling their feet in the water. I didn’t want to bother them. It was one of those scenes, where they were happy, and everything around them was unreasonably beautiful, but I couldn’t believe how lucky I truly was. And when I was happy, I talked.
“Is the water cold?” I asked.
“Not really, especially if you know how to envelop your feet,” Eilin replied and splashed some water my way. I jumped back and almost slipped on a mossy rock, but just managed to catch my balance.
“So, not cold? How about I throw you in,” I asked with a smirk. Eilin’s eyes went wide.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“This time, no,” I replied, looking away. “It would take you entirely too long to dry off. But next time, you are totally going swimming!”
“Ceres!” she pleaded. “He’s being mean!”
“Just ignore him.”
“Hush, they’re concentrating,” I scolded them and put my index finger to my lips.
“But you were just talking as loud as us,” Eilin pointed out.
“Not true. I have mastered the art of yelling in whispers!”
“What should we do while you’re teaching them?” Ceres asked, steering the topic away from useless banter.
“Continue what I’ve already shown you,” I said, “Draw in mana. But for you two to push to the next realm, you’ll need to absorb crystals and cycle through mana daily. The whole first realm is mostly just about becoming proficient about drawing on mana and storing it, expanding your pool and being able to manipulate it.”
“Quite monotonous,” Eilin muttered.
“Hush, little lamb. If you’ve got the time to nag, you better start refining your meditation and breathing techniques. Your absorption rate will increase but so too will your pool draw rate at the second and third stage. You girls can do work on that tonight when I’m out with Miria.”
Ceres immediately started pouting and looked away, evidently annoyed by the fact that I would be out with the huntress alone. She had her place at my side, but I wasn’t going to coddle her.
“Get ready. We’ll be leaving in fifteen.”
It took another hour of travel before we arrived at the black pit, which I thought looked more like an abyss. To me, pits usually had bottoms. This was an almost perfectly round hole in the ground. Easily a hundred paces across, it dropped straight down into the darkness. Cool, I just had to make sure someone didn’t get drunk and fall in. Every party had that person.
“How do we lure them out?” I asked, kneeling and leaning over the edge to stare down into the darkness. I threw a pebble at the center but didn’t hear it land.
“They’ll start crawling out any moment now,” Mantis replied. “They can sense people somehow. It usually takes a bit longer for the first wave to appear, but once they start coming, they’ll swarm in regular intervals after that.”
“Strange,” I whispered and threw another rock in, only this one didn’t disappear. A rippling wave appeared ten feet deep and swallowed it.
A growl echoed out of the abyss. A deep, rumbling cry rattled my bladder. I didn’t pee, but it was close. Another growl followed and Mantis immediately pulled me back, scraping my arm with his claw in the process. He stopped and looked down at my hand as several drops of blood hit the ground.
“Shit,” he cursed. “Now we’re fucked.”
“It’ll take more than a little cut to do me in, Mantis,” I said, and stitched the cut together with a thread of mana. “See, no harm done.”
“It’s not you. It is the blood. The big ones can smell human blood from a mile away. Once they do, they come out to hunt.”
“We can take a stage two or three without too much difficulty. As long as we don’t face a stage four or a second realm beast, then we’re good.”
“I don’t know. We never stayed long enough to see what kind of beasts would come out after the first or second swarm.”
It was my turn to curse and shake my head as a massive paw appeared from the darkness below and smashed into the ground where we stood moments ago. Several smaller beasts climbed out as the second paw lifted into view and dropped.
“I think that’s a stage three,” I said as the massive grapple-bear’s head appeared. “It’s big, but not that big.”
“How do you separate them anyway?” Ceres asked. “I’ve never done this before.”
Half of its upper body pulled into view. It almost looked like an ordinary bear, if its fur was soft, and not as tough as studded leather. Its arms were twice as long, giving the beast a dangerous reach and range. But its head was truly spectacular. Wide and flat, with stunted ears, shiny, mesmerizing eyes, and a mouth that looked ready to rip human flesh and break bones.
“It’s size. Those others over there,” I yelled, pulled my spear from my pendant, and pointed it at two smaller creatures, “are stage one. They’re roughly man-sized. Stage twos are a bit bigger and up to a head taller. But he’s a three. Yeah. Give it space!”
“Agreed.”
“What do we do?” Mantis asked, taking up a defensive posture.
I promptly pulled the mana thread out of my small cut and jumped off to the left. Several drops of blood ran out over my arm.
“I’ll draw the big guy in, and you attack him from behind. Everyone else, split into two groups. Eilin is in charge of the first, and Ceres the second. Spears in both groups and work to cover each other’s backs!”
“Oh, wait! Yes! Yes!” Mantis laughed suddenly. “This is the same sucker I fought last time! See those scars across his chest and left arm? Those are from me!”
I frowned. This abyss was unknown to me. I didn’t know where it came from or why, let alone why it was puking vicious monsters into the world. But it was a paradox I planned to unravel...just after we took down these beasties and kept from getting our asses eaten.
“Say, Mantis, how long has this hole been here?”
“It appeared around the same time the provincial lord sacrificed his daughter. Why?”
“We’ll talk about it later,” I said, gawking as the hulking beast lumbered to its full height. The smaller creatures stopped pacing at the abyss’s edge and immediately ran under the larger creature’s legs and straight at Mantis.
“Yeah, plenty of time for that later? I want to sink my claws into something!”
I continued moving backward, pulling the hulk away from the others, each of its massive paws rending deep tears in the soft earth. I twirled the spear before me, pulling and gathering mana along the weapon’s shaft. Then I pushed more out to my arms, over my head, and down to my feet. Just to be safe.
“Time to see if I still have it in me,” I said, and moved in.
Chapter Eighteen
I lunged toward the bear and jabbed hard, the spear tip striking his front right paw. He swung around, faster than I ever thought possible for a creature of its size, those massive jaws snapping shut only inches from my right hand. I felt the force, the sound and violence, as if two slabs of stone crashed together next to me. That would have been my arm, perhaps more, gone in an instant.
“Bad, dancing bear!” I yelled, leaping back, before cartwheeling to the side to gain distance. The beast charged, now visibly angry. I’d drawn blood, though far from enough to even properly wound it.
The smaller grapple bears charged past me and right into Ceres and the others, cutting them off from the larger beast’s exposed flank. I watched one creature jump right into Mantis’ arms and tackle him to the ground, but he was up on his feet in seconds. I dodged again as the massive creature swiped hard, sending a wave of sod and dirt into the air.
I focused my mana into the tip of my spear, sharpening the point to help it cut deeper. Images of my previous life flashed before my eyes, namely the moment I’d mastered the thirteenth form of the Scouring Dragon. I was far from the physical strength I’d need to perform even the first three basic moves, but maybe there was a chance I could sling Dragon Flurry the beast’s way. I didn’t need to decapitate it, as I would have done in the old days, just make it move into my trap.
I pulled the spear back and struck, pushing the creature back, then immediately pulled a handful of mana threads loose and wove them into a familiar ball. The flash took shape on my first try, thank goodness for that because if it hadn’t, I never would have gotten a second chance. Then I released it to float lazily to the grapple bear’s left.
My spear glowed blue as I crammed half of my insubstantial mana pool into the piece of metal, the wood protesting beneath my grip. Then the bear let out a deafening roar and charged. Defying its expectation, I stepped into his attack this time and didn’t dance away. And as I’d hope, the creature paused.
I ducked under a swipe of its claws and targeted his legs and feet. My spear lashed out as a blur, the tip stabbing over and over again, hitting the grapple bear with a flurry of mana-infused steel. The blade ripped through tough skin and chipped the bone beneath. My arm ached as Dragon Flurry backfired, my body failing me, and I fell back. The style was just too demanding for my current body, and I was lucky it hadn’t dislocated my shoulder, elbow, or...everything.
“Any time now!” I yelled, rolling out of the way, but the beast caught the butt of my spear and sent me sprawling.
I rolled too far and almost ended up hitting a tree stump but used a quick flash of mana to regain my feet. Another good chunk of the priceless power was gone, and I’d only been able to use a single offensive move.
Mantis jumped in then, swinging his bladed gauntlets. The first hit, and then the second, the grapple bear reeling on its mangled legs. Just a little more, I thought, watching the beast drift towards my floating trap. It was like Mantis read my mind. He threw his body forward, ramming the creature back.
I watched the grapple bear lean back, its shoulder just making contact with my floating ball of ‘welcome to deathville, dancing bear’. The mana bomb ignited in an impressive flash of light and concussive force, the initial wave hitting me and pushing me back. The grapple bear staggered, knocked stupid by the trap, and practically fell right into Mantis.
His double claws pierced the beast’s side, ripping the tough skin wide open and spilling generous blood. Mantis, incensed by the gore, let out a battle cry and swung in again and again. The grapple bear managed one pathetic growl and toppled forward, the light going out in its eyes before it even hit the ground. My large counterpart continued to swing and batter the body, having fallen fully into his blood lust.
“Don’t damage it so much!” I yelled, cursing inwardly for letting him loose on the thing. “I need the damn bones and intestines!”
Mantis stopped suddenly and staggered, kicked out, and then rammed the beast with his shoulder, knocking it onto its side. I considered its eyes for a moment, dark and full of pain and hatred. If it hadn’t already been dead, I would have had to drive the spear down through its heart. But it, like the brain, was an important ingredient so I couldn’t help but feel fortunate. Sometimes creatures just didn’t know when to stop fighting, even if it meant an end to the pain.
I scanned to the right and quickly located Ceres and Eilin, who appeared to have the smaller bears well handled. Mantis’ men herded the last beasts in, where my girls effectively dispatched them with efficient cuts and thrusts. I beamed with pride, watching the girls work so effectively with Mantis’ people, and knew that in time, it would make them a lethal force in battle.
“Your people are pretty good,” I said, turning to Mantis. I’d never been a man to mince words, especially when it came to praise or critique. If someone or something was good, I always said so, and if they weren’t...well, it was best to find out and move on. That part of the old me didn’t feel so bad, so I didn’t mind carrying on the tradition.
“What’s next? How long before we can expect another swarm?”
“Thirty minutes, give or take, depending on when the last of them dies. I don’t even have a word for it. Respawn? Reappear? You’re good with words, Aiden, you pick.”
“‘Respawn’ sounds fitting, considering my recent exploits with the idea. Let’s finish off the remnants and pull them out of the pit’s radius! I need their bodies intact and unmolested to ensure we have all the necessary ingredients for my elixirs and potions. Those will, of course, make you all stronger.”
They perked up at that and gained a noticeable urgency in their steps. Ceres finished off the last bear, putting the animal out of its misery with a humane and quick strike. She was covered in blood from head to toe, and so was Eilin, although she didn’t look like she’d bathed in it. Of course, it could have been that her short sword was inferior in range to Eilin’s sword whip, allowing the younger woman to keep the beasts back.
“We need to move past that edge over there,” Mantis said, gesturing towards a small hillock just shy of the tree line. He promptly grabbed a hold of the largest beast’s leg and started pulling.
“Wait, let me show you a better way,” I added, cringing as he struggled.
I ran a trickle of mana through the corpse. It wasn’t enough to manipulate the bear’s weight, but it effectively neutralized the friction against the ground. As if we were pulling it across a sheet of glare ice.
“Splendid!” Mantis yelled. “And the others? Will you show them how to do it as well?”
“Sure thing,” I grinned and dropped my side of the bear. “I’ll show you all a useful trick,” I said and pointed at the corpses. “First you call on some of the mana. Pull it from your pool and force it back out of your body and onto the underside of the corpse. It removes most of the friction, so you’ll have a much easier time pulling them along. Now give it a try. But don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t get it. You’re just starting out.”
“Wait, can you show it again?” Eilin asked.
“Sure.” And I accommodated the request. “Be careful to not make it more complicated than it is. Think of it as applying oil to the skin. You smear the mana across the part that is touching the ground. It’s as simple as that.”
I watched them work, focusing with genuine intensity.
Ceres took the initiative and knelt next to one of the better-preserved corpses, put one of her hands on the creature’s back and the other on the ground next to it. A line of mana formed between her two hands and gathered at the center, just where the bear’s shoulder sat. I knew immediately that she had figured it out. I had picked my partner well. Ceres didn’t just have the smarts and survival instincts needed, but the looks and talent, as well.
I returned to Mantis and helped him pull the rest of the beast outside the boundary. But I couldn’t help puzzle over the abyss. Why would there be a boundary? One we could pass through, but the creatures refused to cross? And why was it safe if I stood at fifty-one paces away and not fifty? It was a single step. There were simply too many questions and no answers.
We had everything cleared away from the abyss well before the second swarm was due to arrive, so that was good. I stared at our game and counted them quickly. There was our monstrous prize, the colossal stage three, but also an additional seven smaller, stage ones. Eight bodies to cut up, process, and separate into several carts. Bones, intestines, brains, hearts, meat for eating, and the skin. Anything else of use, such as cores or crystals would go into the fifth cart. If they fit, mind you. Some crystals and cores from higher-ranked beasts could be as large or larger than a human head.
Fazan made his appearance just then, galloping in on a surprisingly malnourished horse. I didn’t know where he’d gotten his hands on it, but it needed a good groom’s attention.
“No!” he yelled as he approached. “Why did you start without me?”
“Because you were late!” I shot back. He dropped from his horse as it slowed, and I waited for him to walk up. I flashed him a warm smile, dropped a bloody hand on his shoulder, and nodded at the dead beasts.
“You were busy,” he panted, catching his breath.
