Note to you, Ali thought, correcting himself with a grin. The mutability isn't just my 'cheat.' It's my strength. But in the long term... if someone figures it out, they're gonna freak. That's a rule you're not supposed to break, right? There must be exceptions—magic artifacts, rare bloodlines—but a core that just... keeps growing? That's gotta be weird.
The System acknowledged the correction.
[Clarification Accepted: Core Mutability is a foundational, unique trait. Not a temporary exploit, but a permanent ontological characteristic.]
[In-World Context Analysis: Fixed core grades are a near-universal law. Documented exceptions include: consumption of legendary artifacts (temporary or destructive fusion), divine/chimeric bloodline awakenings (rare, often pre-determined), and profound soul-level trauma/transfiguration (unpredictable, usually catastrophic). A stable, self-directed, unlimited growth pathway is unprecedented in accessible records. Discovery would likely result in categorization as an 'Anomaly' or 'Asset' by powers that could dissect or control such a phenomenon.]
Right. So we keep that locked down tighter than anything, Ali thought, the weight of that settling alongside his excitement. Now, let's experiment. System, help me try to direct mana to my eyes. Even this tiny bit. I want to see if I can 'activate' them.
He also needed the fundamental math. And define 'mana capacity' for me. I have 0.0001. I gain, what, the same amount passively per hour? If I try to move that mana to my eyes, is that 'using' it? Does it drain the pool? Like, if I had 2 mana and used a fireball costing 1, I'd have 1 left. Is applying mana to my body the same?
[Mana Capacity & Mechanics Primer]
Analogy: Your Core is a Bucket. Mana is the Water inside it.
Capacity (100): The total size of the bucket (your Core's Grade/Rank determines this).
Current Mana (0.0001): The tiny droplet currently in the bucket.
Passive Regeneration: A slow drip into the bucket from the environment (~0.00001/hour). Rate affected by Core efficiency, environmental density, and your health.
Active Draw: You can consciously scoop water from the environment into the bucket. Faster than a drip, but tiring, and creates 'ripples.'
Mana Usage: Any conscious effort to channel mana outside of the passive suffusion process draws from the bucket.
Active Skill (e.g., Fireball): Takes a defined 'scoop' of water (e.g., 1 unit) and throws it out of the bucket entirely in a specific shape. It's gone until regenerated.
Body Enhancement Channeling (e.g., to eyes): You take a 'scoop' of water (let's say 0.00001 units) and pour it over a specific part of the bucket (your eyes) instead of letting the passive drip moisten the whole bucket evenly. The water is still in the system (your body), not thrown away, but it's been moved and concentrated. It will slowly diffuse back into the general pool or be metabolized by the enhanced tissue. This also drains the bucket temporarily.
In your current state: You have one droplet. Using any of it for active channeling will functionally empty your bucket. Passive regeneration will take time to refill it. You are in a state of extreme mana poverty.
[Proceeding with Ocular Channeling Experiment.]
Warning: This will likely consume your entire current mana reserve. Effects will be minimal and brief.
Guidance: Focus on the droplet in your core. Visualize a thread of it lifting and flowing up through your body, along your spine, into your neck, and branching to both eyes. Do not force it. Invite it. Guide it.
Ali sat on his pallet, closing his eyes. He ignored the distant sounds of the steading. He found the new sense-of-self, the faint grey smudge of his core. He focused on the tiny speck of energy within it.
Come on… up. To the eyes. Let me see more.
He imagined the thread, silvery and thin. He felt nothing for a long moment. Then, a sensation—not of movement, but of attention. The speck in his core seemed to shiver, to orient itself. A profound sense of lack, of resistance, met his will. There wasn't enough to move. It was like trying to siphon a single molecule of water.
He pushed, focusing all his mental pressure.
Suddenly, it went.
A cold, thin line, like a wire of ice, shot up his inner pathways. It wasn't painful, but it was shocking, alien. It reached the base of his skull and fanned out toward his eyes.
[Mana Channeling Attempted!]
Mana Expenditure: 0.00008 units.
Remaining Mana: 0.00002/100.
Effect: Mana Infusion - Ocular Nerves (Transient).
Ali's eyes flew open.
The world sharpened.
It wasn't magic sight. Colors didn't bloom. He didn't see auras. But for about three heartbeats, his vision became preternaturally crisp. He could see the individual fibers in the wood grain of the shed wall across from him. He could see the faint, swirling pattern of dust motes in a sunbeam in minute detail. He could see the subtle, almost invisible cracks in the clay of his water cup. It was hyper-realistic, overwhelming clarity.
Then, it faded. The wire of ice sensation vanished. A wave of dull fatigue washed over him, centered behind his eyes and in his gut—a deeper tiredness than physical labor caused. A mental and spiritual hangover.
[Channeling Ended. Mana exhausted.]
[Ocular enhancement lasted 3.2 seconds.]
[Side Effect: Minor neural fatigue. Mana-deprivation lethargy.]
[Skill Formed: Mana Manipulation - Internal Channeling (Level 1, Tier 0 / Rank F- | Lesser)]
Description: You can clumsily direct a minuscule fraction of your mana within your own body. Efficiency is catastrophic (98% waste). Control is poor. The effect is a brute-force surge, not a refined enhancement.
[Mana-Sense (Rudimentary) Progress: +5%]
Note: The act of channeling provided significantly denser sensory data on mana's interaction with your own tissue.
Ali slumped back, breathing heavily. He was dizzy, drained in a new way. But a wild, triumphant smile spread across his face.
He had done it. He had used magic. Not a fireball, but something. He had taken the theory and made it real, however pathetic the result.
And he had gained a skill for it. The System had formalized the pattern.
Okay… okay… he thought, the fatigue warring with elation. So that's how it works. I use it, it drains the bucket. Even just moving it inside me. And it's stupidly inefficient right now. But I have a skill. I can level it. I can get better.
The implications were vast. If he could channel to his eyes, he could channel to his muscles for a burst of strength, to his legs for speed, to his brain for focus. It would be wasteful, clumsy, and exhausting now. But with a larger bucket and a higher skill level…
He wasn't just a laborer with a hidden core.
He was now, in the most embryonic way possible, a mage.
A mage with 0.00002 mana to his name, living in a house that feared magic, needing to save a girl with a power he couldn't yet control.
He let out a shaky breath. The path was no longer just about grinding labor and secretly filling a core.
It was about becoming an artist with an invisible, dangerous paintbrush, learning to paint in a locked room, hoping to one day paint over a crack in someone else's soul.
The complexity was breathtaking. The work ahead was terrifying.
But for the first time, it felt like his work.