A Cold-Blooded POV

Chapter 15 The Grind Begins

The result of Mana being transformed into an element of attack is called magic. Colleges and academies have studied the steps to accomplish such a feat for decades, and have come up with many theories.

However, none can compete with the Board of Sorcery. All mages and wizards strive to meet the requirements of the Board of Sorcery and join to learn their secrets, even I, a junior rank mage of the second circle.

The knowledge attainable there, I can't even fathom. Even their oldest discoveries still inspire me to this day.

For instance, the three steps of mana control: First is imagination, one of the key parts of magic is to be able to envision the sort of magic you want to use. You have to be able to imagine its effect and what you want the spell to do.

Second, you have to be able to comprehend the magic. (Magic Affinity Helps with this. With the affinity you can completely skip this step.) You have to understand what makes the element of magic the way it is.

Lastly, you have to have the appropriate amount of mana for the specific spell you are trying to use. Without the required amount of mana, your spell will dissipate due to the incomplete amount of mana, or worse, the spell could become unstable resulting in recoil from the spell on yourself.

Just imagine what could be added to this theory, I'm sure the Board of Sorcery has expanded way past this point. Yet, as of now, I can only daydream about such achievements. Ah, it seems the senior mage of my dorm is calling for a gathering, so this will be all for today.

Note to self: Don't forget to turn in your hypothesis later this week if you don't want to be kicked out of the academy.

Excerpt from research notes of an unknown student of Rhine Academy

***

The itch that ate at Ethoss's rear end had become so itchy he wanted to claw himself in half. He swam to the edge of the lake and climbed out. As he looked back at his rear end he noticed that a bit of his tail had grown out. You could still see the meaty insides of his missing tail, however, the healing was very visible.

The memory of his tail healing itself and growing back, to when he was unconscious after his fight with the tiger came to his mind. Now that he had thought about it clearly, he had come to this lake as well last time.

He turned around and looked at the clear blue water. The water was as clear as glass, he could see all the way down to the bottom. Lines of vines that looked like roots tangled together at the bottom of the lake.

It was hard to notice but with his mutated eyes, Ethoss could see a blue hue flowing through those root-like vines, injecting itself into the water. He had an idea of what that blue hue could be, especially after all the miracles that happened around the lake.

Mana, it was a high chance that the blue hue in the vines was mana. This would explain why monsters were naturally drawn to the lake, and why his tail had been healed.

Ethoss's forked tongue flickered and he walked back into the water. The agonizing feeling of an unbearable itch returned, he needed to find something that could take his mind off of the terrible itch.

He quickly drank some of the water, its sweet and smooth taste purified his taste buds, and he could feel a cooling sensation as the water entered his system.

Additionally, he felt a notion of his monster core being filled, like water being poured into a cup. He continued to drink for a couple more seconds, then he opened the status in his mind.

Name: Ethoss

Level: 2 (Red Core)

Strength: 30

Toughness: 33

Cunning: 50

Will: 27

HP: 25/25

MP: 12/12

Skills[Attack]: Venomous Bite level 3; Tail Whip level 3, Claw Swipe level 4

Skills[Support]: Rapid Dash(II) level 1, Deep Night Vision(II) level 1, Camouflage level 4, Dig level 3, Mana Manipulation level 1

Mutations: Jacobson's organ +2, Legs +1, Eyes +2, Scales +2, Claws +2, Teeth +2

Species: Aeternus Lacerta Hatchling(Male)

Biomass: 0

Skill Point: 0

Looking through his stats, he noticed that his MP had refilled itself from earlier when he was practicing Mana Manipulation for the first time. His tail was far from being fully healed so Ethoss decided to practice more of his Mana Manipulation.

He closed his eyes and repeated the same steps as before when he first attempted to use mana. He pictured how ice looked and how it was made, then thought about the ice attack the blue tiger had used.

Just like before, the temperature dropped and the water began to get cold, even freezing up a little. He opened his mouth and in the open area of his maw mana started to circulate and condense forming crystallized ice shards.

After holding it for a couple of seconds, Ethoss released the ice shards, sending them flying into a rock. The ice shards stabbed deep into the rock, destroying half of it.

Ethoss checked his MP and saw that he now had 8 MP left. He continued the same steps, casting ice shards two more times then the metallic voice rang in his head.

[Mana Manipulation has reached level 2]

Ethoss was visibly happy about this, so much so that he swung his tail subconsciously. Wait his tail? He turned around and realized that his tail had grown back and just like last time he hadn't realized when. He was so concentrated on completing each spell that he forgot about the crazy itch that bothered him so much before.

However, now he was incredibly exhausted. Completing the process once was painfully hard, and took a large amount of mental fortitude and strength, so performing it three times in a row was just tiring.

He looked down at the water he was laid out in and started drinking. The water ran down his throat quickly with each gulp and he felt the notion of his core being filled once again, but this time it was much more apparent and obvious.

He checked his MP and realized that it was being refilled just like he was imagining. If that was the case, couldn't he practice Mana Manipulation without stopping?

No monster would attack him here since he was at the lake, and he didn't have to worry about running out of MP because he could simply just drink the mana water to refill.

Getting his Mana Manipulation to level 5 wouldn't be as hard as he thought it would. How great would his mastery of mana be after he finished grinding, only time would tell.