We looked at the scorched wood and collapsed buildings. The devastated village around us.
âLook at this, children,â Elder Yukika said gesturing to the destruction around. After yesterday the two living Elders had a meeting with the parents and they all agreed to give us all a lesson, even the kids who didnât learn how to use their bonds. Mom and dad came home late and I am sure they had a lot of explaining to do.
âThis is what can happen if you use your powers carelessly. Think of everything youâve lost. Your homes, your possessions, even your family. You must know when to use your powers. You can hurt yourself or even kill someoneâ
The memories are still pretty raw in our minds, This is honestly an effective lesson for many, me included. Our powers are real, it can do real damage. Itâs not like Iâm back on earth where magic doesnât exist, where the system doesnât exi... Hang on, I know what Earth is! Terra Firma! The third rock from the sun! And thatâs pretty much it...
Although itâs nice to know my memories and knowledge is coming back this is reality now.
âAbsolutely none of you are to use your bonds without supervision from your parentâs. Severe punishment will be given if you do.â Elder Yukika gave me an extra long look.
Donât mind me Iâm just a blind five-year-old girl! Actually, people are catching on now, Iâm not as blind as they think I am.
After that, we were released to go play, although some of the teenagers have been sent to watch us. Everyone over ten years had been helping the rebuilding efforts, everyone under is too young to work and would generally get in everyoneâs way.
Unfortunately for some, they were not paying enough attention to why some teenagers are with us and thought that since no adults are around no one would catch them using their bonds. After the first few kids were punished no one had the bright idea of using their bonds.
Several kids were playing hide and seek and I was even invited! Teaching everyone how to use their bonds must have earned me some goodwill. It was fun until I was the seeker. My ability to [Sense Mana] helped me see people behind things. Some kids even tried to âhideâ right in front of me, not understanding that I donât need my eyes to see.
I mean, the kids probably think, âOh her eyes are covered, she canât seeâ and never question how I donât bump into things. I canât exactly blame them, theyâve never given it a second thought.
âHow do you know where we are?! You canât even see!â one of the kids complained.
She was giggling madly behind a crate when I found him.
âI have ears, I could hear you laughing. Besides I can sense mana, yours included.â I gave a simple explanation.
From then on I was never allowed to be the seeker. Which I was fine with. We played other games until dusk. By then no one could call me blind. Even the lonely Tanafyam was included in the games, a bonding experience for everyone.
Although playing with the other kids was fun, and honestly after years of almost only focusing on my Bond and [Sense Mana] skill Iâve burnt out on them. It was great just hanging out without a care in the world but as the days passed I felt a gnawing at me, telling me I should make use of my time and be productive, that Iâm wasting the time I have as a youth and as an adult I canât dedicate as much time to improve my skills. I did my best to ignore that feeling and just enjoy being a normal five-year-old child.
The next day I walked through the village after playing with the other kids for most of the day, noting how much of the damage had been cleared away. I thought itâd have taken a lot longer but I was wrong. Thereâs only a little bit left. I saw my parents hauling away a burnt beam. the things looked really heavy yet my parents were handling it just fine, just how much do they have in their strength stat? I stayed at a safe distance, out of everybodyâs way, watching them work. They were efficient, I guess days of this made you good at clearing the rubble.
Soon the after-work bath time came and I ran up to Mom and Dad, both covered in soot. I hugged them, thankful they are still here. Mom pats me on the head and we entered the baths. Both Mom and dad sighed as they slid into the waters, letting the heat soothe their stressed bodies. I snuggled between them, purring until the oil was distributed. With so many baths burnt this one was fairly crowded yet no one complained. Myrou had her usual neutral expression. She had cried on the day of the disaster, something I had never seen before, and by how many reacted, most people hadnât seen her do that too.
âJust a couple more days,â Dad said, After oiling up. She didnât say it to anyone in particular but elicited several murmurs of agreement.
I didnât feel the need to brag about my day when my parents did a lot of work. Like, seriously, itâd be pretty insensitive of me to do that. So i mostly kept my mouth shut and let my presence comfort my parents.
The days flew by and now all the damaged part of the village had been removed. The Elders from the other villages attached to this island got together and set up plans for a disaster relief location just off shore. A place to house anyone and just about everyone in case another village got burnt down. It wouldnât be comfy but itâs only temporary.
Over a third of the people who lost their homes moved to other islands to family and friends who could better support them. Although this meant more work for everyone it also meant fewer houses to rebuild. The houses like mine that was damaged but still usable were repaired first.
The next to be rebuilt is the warehouse and bath oil production facility; it is made larger this time, and probably needed an expansion anyway.
I was getting pretty popular with the other kids, and went from being excluded to having me picked for teams first most of the time. My ability to Sense Mana helps me play that volleyball-like game with those nets, Netball. I think itâs mostly because I donât hog the ball and play more co-operative that really helps my team win. All the other kids want to be the star of the show and it hurts their team overall.
But if anyoneâs better at physical activities itâd be Tana, heâs the fastest runner, and good at netball. If Iâm picked for one team the other picks him so it kinda evens it out.
Today however is a water storm and rain is being dumped just as much as when the Guardian had summoned rain, if not a tiny bit worse. It was actually pretty intense, weird how thereâs two very intense storms in a row.
Today everyone is inside, honestly, the probability of drowning standing out in the rain isnât zero. I am currently using this chance to see how water element mana is interacting and boosting creativity essence. Both are acting like waves constructively interfering with each other, creativity essence is getting a massive boost while elemental mana is getting a minor boost. Honestly, if understanding that doesnât get me a breakthrough then there must be one more key thing I need to understand.
Why is elemental mana getting a minor boost? Well essence is very weak. Essence gets a massive boost because elemental mana is really strong. Perhaps, itâs energy related? Elemental mana has more intensity? Is it capable of storing more energy? Or is it like elemental mana is like x-rays while essence is like radio waves?
What can mana do? Just about anything. It can become anything. Elemental mana is way more common. It is defined more clearly, it is more stable. Essence is rarer, itâs subjective. Itâs less stable? Are elements different? They are clearly linked in some way. Itâs like essences are an expansion to elements. What if elements are the base and essences are a higher form of elements. There are in betweens, sand, rock, these are element-like as they are more defined but clearly fallen under âearthâ. A higher form, but not as subjective as essences.
Iâve been stupid! I was too focused on watching creativity mana and ignoring the other water essences that I completely missed what was really going on! Water mana is transformed into an essence, Since itâs so intense it forms so much more essences.
But that doesnât work, if it worked that way then water mana would not get a boost, itâd get weaker, also I donât see more essence just thatâs itâs more intense
I paced in a circle with a hand on my chin, wracking my brain for any explanation.
In the end, the wave hypothesis works best. Essence and elements have to be similar enough.
I mindlessly thumbed my Kyhosa bracelet on my right arm.
Why does my Kyhosa give a bonus? There is a ton of elemental mana in it, as well as creativity and beauty essence, but the essences isnât any more intense. When I use my bond without it itâs normal but with it, itâs more intense, The environment itself is acting like a magical item!
But that still doesnât work! The mana in my Kyhosa is being counteracted by the opposite element! Of course it isnât making the essences more intense.
I sat down with a sigh, everything is leading back to the wave hypothesis. But I am learning. I am learning what isnât right.
âWhatâs wrong Little Aly?â Dad asks. Sheâs been sitting in a rocking chair and whittling a wooden flute, now moving on to burning decorations into it.
âIâve been trying to figure out this breakthrough, Iâm so close! But everything I think of is wrong!â
Dad thought for a bit. âWhy donât you go over everything from scratch, perhaps thereâs something youâve not considered?â She said, still working on decorations.
It was worth a try so letâs review how mana interacts with itself. It disperses, finding an equilibrium pressure. It acts like a fluid, forming currents. It also has an attractive force of the same element, but not essences. Essences do not have an attractive force to their respective element. Letâs call it mana magnetism or the MM force. It still forms currents or maybe itâs pushed along with elements? But this means Mana is acting as both a wave and a particle. Or is it? I am only assuming wave theory because of the boosting during storms.
If Elemental mana has the MM force then is there another force that interacts with both elements and essences? What if thereâs a force that excites mana the closer it is to an essence or element? Very similar to magnetism? If during a fire storm water and ice based essences get weaker. How many of these forces are there?
If one is negatively charged and the other is positively charged when they meet they cancel out.
Fire is opposite to ice and water. Earth is opposite to lightning, water, and air. It seems there are eight forces. A water force that boosts ice and lighting but is opposite to earth and fire. A fire force opposite to ice and water but boosts lightning and wind. An earth force opposite to lightning, water, and wind. A wind force that boosts fire and opposite to earth...
I flop on my back
This is too complicated, Iâm just tossing around ideas. Maybe Iâm not as close as I think to this breakthrough. I think Iâve made progress but now I donât know how to apply it. The MM force is probably a thing and so is that exciting force but how essences and mana interacts with each other I really have no idea.
What if itâs like the element just has a proximity boost to essences and essence has a proximity boost to their parent element? Itâs just that way, because magic.
Ting! Sense Mana has met requirements for a breakthrough. Sense Mana will now continue leveling past level 80!
Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 65!
â¦
Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 72!
Youâre kidding, right? I guess I was just way overthinking this one, I couldnât get the breakthrough because I held the wrong basic assumption.
Sense Mana: You have opened your mind to one of the energies that fuels this world. You can now sense mana in its raw form.
1st breakthrough: You have sense an overwhelming pressure of mana, now you will be able to better sense mana in such quantity and better see slight difference in mana levels.
2nd Breakthrough: Youâve learned to perceive different containers of mana letting you see the general shapes of mana containing objects around you.
3rd breakthrough: Youâve learned to see different types of mana, letting you see elemental mana.
4th Breakthrough: Youâve learned how to see mana Essences, letting you see the many types of essences.
5th Breakthrough: Youâve learned to see different amounts of mana within objects, letting you better see how much within certain parts of things and people.
6th Breakthrough: youâve learned how to expand your Sphere of sense mana, letting you see farther.
7th Breakthrough: Youâve learned of and seen the relationship of essences and elemental mana. Now you can better study them.
Getting quite extensive, and I still have many possible ways to improve it. Still, I can see it now!
I can see the water essence mixing with the creativity essence in the air, producing something akin to electricity. Little zaps almost imperceivable in the air. The creativity essence is vibrating within me due to all the water element mana around me. Little bubbles around clumps of elemental mana like magnetic fields. Itâs all clear to me now. I see several creativity spirits clumping around the fields like they are feeding off it, growing ever so slightly.
Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 73!
I saw a swirl of creativity essence pass through another clump of water essence and sparks zapped through air.
The excess energy is being transferred? rebalanced?
Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 74!
So many levels, the extra are probably thanks to the intense water storm that I can see and understand more.
Realization suddenly hit me.
âI DID IT!!!â I jumped in joy and cheered. âI got my seventh breakthrough!â I shouted as loud as I could, unable to contain my excitement. Mom, Aunty, and Nyam all came into the room to investigate the noise.
Joy essence poured out from me, weakened by the water element around.
âCongratulations Aly.â Dad said with a proud smile.
âI got ten level ups from it too! I knew I was close!â I bragged with a huge grin plastered on my face.
Aunty had a shocked look of disbelief on her face while mom and dad both had a âthatâs to be expectedâ smile.
Nyam had an admiring look in her eyes.