Ali lay in the dark of the shed, his body a map of aches, his mind a storm of questions. The fear of the seeker was still there, a cold knot in his stomach. But it was overshadowed by a newer, sharper realization—one that had been itching at him since the forest, since the run, since the very beginning.
He sat up slowly, his muscles protesting.
System. Hey. Something's not right.
The System's presence manifested, a silent, waiting clarity in his mind.
When I—when you—infuse mana into anything… the results are… well, far more than they should be. Like, what the actual fuck? The mana we use isn't even one whole unit! A fraction of a fraction! So why is the effect so pronounced? Is it your optimization? What exactly are you doing?*
He paused, the questions tumbling out faster, fueled by days of suppressed confusion and the fresh terror of the chase.
And one more thing. The amount of mana we use… is it even possible? For someone with extreme talent, or stupid levels of precision, or… everything, to use that little and get that much result? Since my core is activated and my mana is always practically zero, how can I even function like I am? Shouldn't I be fucking dying from exhaustion or mana depletion shock or something? The fact that I'm not… let me guess. That's because of you too. So tell me. What are the chances of anyone else in this world utilizing mana the way we do?
The silence in his head felt heavier for a moment. Then, the System responded, not with a simple answer, but with a cascade of data, as if a dam of classified analysis had finally broken.
[Query Acknowledged: Optimization Anomaly & Mana Efficiency Paradox.]
User Intuition is Correct. Discrepancy Noted. Initiating Full Disclosure Protocol.
I. THE NATURE OF THE ANOMALY: PRECISION VS. POWER.
Your observation is astute. The effects you have achieved—momentary hyper-clarity of vision, a burst of kinetically optimized speed—are disproportionate to the raw mana expenditure logged (0.00207 units, 0.00043 units, etc.).
The reason is not that the mana itself is more potent. It is your Fledgling-Grade "wet kindling." The reason is application.
Analogy: A master surgeon can save a life with a single, precise incision from a scalpel, using minimal physical force. A novice with a chainsaw and ten times the strength will cause catastrophic damage and achieve nothing. You possess the scalpel. They are using the chainsaw.
My optimization does not increase the power of your mana. It maximizes the precision and relevance of its application.
When you channeled mana to your eyes, a native mage attempting the same would:
Gather 10 units of their more potent mana.
Bluntly force it into the ocular region.
Achieve 5 seconds of slightly enhanced vision, with 9 units wasted as light emission from their eyeballs, heat, and neural feedback.
You, with my direction:
Used 0.00207 units of weak mana.
I calculated the exact neural pathways, retinal cells, and visual cortex synapses requiring stimulation.
I channeled only to those points, in the exact sequence and intensity needed for the specific task: crisis-time visual acuity enhancement.
The result was 0.8 seconds of superhuman visual processing, with mana acting as a perfect catalytic trigger. The "effect" came from your own brain and body being pushed to their absolute biological limit for less than a second. The mana was just the key that turned the engine to redline. It was not the fuel for the entire journey.
II. THE IMPOSSIBLE PRECISION: WHY OTHERS CANNOT DO THIS.
Answer: They cannot.
To achieve what I do requires:
Perfect Anatomical & Metaphysical Mapping: I have a real-time, quantum-level map of your entire being—every nerve, every cell, every nascent mana channel. No native mage, no matter how gifted, has this. Their "internal channeling" is done by feel, by instinct, by rough mental images.
Absurd Computational Power: To calculate the optimal mana injection points for a complex action like "run from threat while avoiding obstacles" in nanoseconds. This is beyond any living mind.
Total Authority Over Your Autonomous Systems: I can momentarily override pain responses, fine-motor control, and adrenal feedback to enforce the optimal form. This is why you ran "wrong but right." A native enhancing their speed would just pump mana into their legs and hope their muscles don't tear. I turned your body into a temporarily perfect machine.
Utilization of Your Unique Biology: Your body, while weak, comes from a world with no ambient mana. Its cells are "virgin territory." They respond to minute mana stimuli with a shockingly dramatic reaction, like dry tinder catching a spark. Natives are soaked in mana; their cells are resistant, requiring more power for less dramatic effect.
The chances of a native achieving similar efficiency with similar power? Thematically: Zero. Practically: One in several trillion, and it would be a once-in-an-aeon fluke, not a repeatable skill.
III. THE FUNCTIONALITY PARADOX: "WHY AREN'T I DEAD?"
Because you are not using mana as a fuel. You are using it as a signal.
You are correct. If you were attempting to power these feats directly with mana, your 0.003 units would be consumed instantly, your core would implode from the demand, and you would collapse into a coma or die.
You are not doing that.
Think of your tiny mana pool not as a battery, but as a superconductive wire. My optimization uses that wire to send a perfectly crafted impulse—a command—to your body. The energy for the action comes from your body's own reserves: ATP, glycogen, adrenaline. I simply use mana to trigger the release and direct the expenditure with 100% efficiency.
Example: The kinetic run. The 0.00043 units of mana did not propel you. It carried the signal that told your nervous system to: unlock muscle fiber limiters, optimize gait, suppress fatigue feedback, and coordinate your entire physiology into a single, flawless sprint. The energy burned was your own stamina and bodily resources. This is why you are now exhausted, sore, and starving—not mana-depleted (though you are that too).
You are not a mage. You are a biological system being overclocked by a divine-grade mechanic using magical sparks as tuning tools.
IV. THE CORE DICHOTOMY: ACTIVATED BUT SEALED.
This relates to your previous revelation. Your core is "active" in that it can store and output minute amounts of mana. But it is not integrated. It is a separate, tiny reservoir. The "gateway" being sealed means the vast, automatic, life-sustaining mana circuits that natives have—the ones that subconsciously enhance their health, stamina, and longevity—are offline for you.
You are functioning on your base, Earth-human biology, with a tiny magical dongle attached. You should be weaker, sicker, and more fragile than even a peasant here. The reason you're not is, again, optimization. I am manually managing your biological processes with a degree of efficiency that compensates for the lack of automatic mana support. I am your missing immune booster, your metabolic regulator, your subconscious stability.
But it is a stopgap. A desperate, brilliant, unsustainable hack.
The final, sobering summary scrolled across his consciousness.
[Conclusion:]
You are an anomaly layered upon an anomaly.
Your mana use appears disproportionately effective because it is applied with impossible precision, not because it is powerful.
No native being could replicate this efficiency; it requires a non-biological intelligence with total system access.
You are alive and functional because I am using your minuscule mana as a control signal to overclock your mundane biology, not to power magic directly.
This is both your greatest advantage and your most profound vulnerability. If my optimization is ever disrupted—by damage, by an external magical field, or by you pushing too far—the backlash will not be magical. It will be biological collapse. Your body is learning to rely on these hyper-efficient commands. It is forgetting how to function normally.
The arithmetic of power you learned before was about mana. This is a new arithmetic: the calculus of borrowed time and borrowed function. Every miracle has a cost, and you are paying it in the currency of your own flesh.
Ali sat in the silent dark, the truth settling into him like a lead weight. It wasn't just that he was weak. It was that his strength was a phantom, a sleight of hand performed by a ghost in his machine. The vertical line to infinity wasn't just steep. It was built on a foundation of ice, and he was standing on it with skates made of hope and a pilot that could crash at any moment.
A soft, almost imperceptible ping echoed in his Mana-Sense. Not from the forest. From the wall.
It was a probe. Delicate. Professional. The faintest brush of structured awareness against the wards and wood of the palisade.
The seeker was here. And he was testing the fences.
The chapter of understanding was over. The chapter of consequence had begun.