Of Books and Breakthroughs

John and Ela spent the rest of their meal in pleasant, less serious conversation. While the blonde finished eating both their sides of chips, the two chatted a bit about mundane things like games and movies and music.

It turned out that Ela was a huge fan of showtunes - she’d been listening to Les Misérables in the car all this time. John had at least heard of the name before, though he didn’t mention that was likely because of a cute theater girl he’d tried to ingratiate himself to years ago. Otherwise, the two were very similar in their love for video game BGMs, especially while working.

The Pole had apparently only been into games for a few years at that point, being introduced to them in earnest by someone she’d met in the latter parts of her squire training.

She’d been working towards certification as a field medic for the Order of the Golden Rose, though she was also capable as a knight independently. Unfortunately, Ela hadn’t finished that training, due to something happening a couple years ago. She didn’t feel like elaborating on that point, and John let it be, simply happy to enjoy talking to someone like this at all.

The busty blonde had been curious about John’s opinion of Ashcroft, since she hadn’t heard of much more than the marketing material before the Order had gotten her in. While he had nothing positive to say about the majority of the student body, he could not deny the excellent education offered and resources provided. He had especially glowing reviews of some of the teachers.

That all brought nasty thoughts to his mind of his bullies, and he’d quickly changed the topic to her title.

“Oh, Bookworm Knight?” she mused, finishing the last of John’s chips. “When I was little, I used to get in trouble for skipping lessons to go read. I made a game of hiding from the Order’s instructors until my sister came to find me. She started calling me that after the first few times.

“Captain Gallacher never let the name go.”

She smiled wistfully as the two cleared their table. John chuckled at the story, having a hard time imagining the cheerful woman in front of him as a rebellious knight-in-training. Once they’d thrown their trash away, the two headed out to Ela’s car, where their conversation picked up.

“Did you get your buff?” the busty blonde asked as the car rumbled to life.

“Yup,” John confirmed, taking a moment to fixate on the icon he’d noticed before. “Looks like… just under two hours left on it. It’s also just a bit stronger than the last one I had on.”

“Hmm… That should be enough time,” Ela murmured, making a turn into the residential area of Springfield. “You said that your dungeon took about an hour yesterday, right?”

“Something like that. Though, I’m pretty sure I was running some kind of tutorial dungeon,” The Gamer elaborated, “so I don’t know if we can say for sure how long this one might be.”

“Then we should not waste time. My house is only ten minutes away..”

John nodded at that, settling in for the ride. Ela turned on her music again, and this time, John joined her in humming along, even if his rhythm wasn’t as good as hers.

’This looks exactly like my place,’ John thought, climbing out of the vehicle. ’We aren’t that far away from mine either; I wonder if they’re actually the same. I heard they used to use the same plan for all the houses when building these kinds of places.’

Ela’s house was a pretty standard suburban affair, nearly identical in size and shape to the Newman household. It was painted a dull slate color instead of the off-white of his own home, however, and closer evaluation revealed some minor differences in ground floor layout. The driveway and yard were well-maintained but plain. The whole picture of it seemed to be a world away from the lavish manor he’d been to earlier.

’A world a bit more my speed, I think.’

John spent another few moments looking at the house alone before being joined by his companion, who had gotten both the bag from the Knight-Captain and a second duffel from the back of her car. She gestured for him to follow and the two made their way to the door. Rather than pulling out a key to unlock it, Ela placed her palm over the lock, uttering a small chant under her breath.

With a vibrant flash of blue, a set of seals and sigils appeared around the handle for a brief moment before fading, accompanied by a series of clicks and latches coming undone on the inside. John stared in amazement as a line of magic rippled across the door’s face, eventually coming to rest in the frame.

“Whoa…”

“Magical security,” Ela sang, smiling at his expression of wonder.

“It looks really cool,” John replied. “How does that work exactly? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“It is a very simple and powerful spell, tying the entrances to the house to my mana,” she explained, leading him inside. “Unless I turn it off, it will try to stop anyone besides me from entering.”

“Oh, is it like a mana signature thing? I just heard about those earlier.”

“Yes, exactly.”

Cautiously, The Gamer passed through the doorway behind her, taking a moment to look at the interior of the door frame for any more signs of magic before closing the door behind himself. A reversed ripple of magic ran over the door again, a ripple of blue mana returning to the handle.

“Welcome to my home,” she sang.

John followed Ela inside, to the living room, where she laid down her bags on a small blue couch. Across from the relatively tiny couch was a simple TV and stand, along with a couple game consoles. There was a single picture frame on the close end, a simple wooden one, with a picture of a much younger Ela and a cute brunette that he didn’t recognize. The unknown woman and Ela had their arms wrapped around each other, huge smiles on their faces, as they posed together on what John guessed was the deck of a ship.

’Is it rude to ask about people in photos?’ The Gamer hesitated, cursing his social unfamiliarity. ’I never remember stuff like that.’

You’re hopeless.

’I don’t know!’ he lamented back.

Deciding to err on the side of caution, John turned from the photo and walked across the room to join Ela by the couch. There, she stood with her chin in her hand, thinking about something.

Looking around, John was surprised by how spartan the rest of the room was, with only one section of it furnished and decorated. Most of what was there had been concentrated around a nook in the back wall. A half-filled bookshelf sat near it, a small model of Minas Tirith holding up the top row. The nook itself had a few pillows and a blanket, with windows facing out into the backyard.

“I know it is not much, but it is comfortable enough,” she said, smiling, interrupting John’s observations.

“Sorry, was I staring? There really isn’t anything wrong with it. I actually really like the little reading area. Minas Tirith is a nice touch,” he replied positively. “I was just a little caught off guard, is all.”

“I have only been here for a few weeks,” the blonde explained, leaning on the back of her couch. “I did not bring much with me, either.”

“Here like the house or…?”

“Both the house and the country.”

John nodded at that, unsure of how to respond.

“I mean, fancy furniture or not, it’s still really impressive to have an actual house at our age,” he said, carefully sitting down on the edge of the couch. “I still live with my mom.”

She giggled at that, much to his confusion. “You might find it less impressive once you are more familiar with the Abyss. Magical materials are very expensive, after all.”

“Hmm… I’ll take your word for it,” he countered with a shrug.

“I should go and get what we came here for,” she sang, realizing how much time had passed. “We do not want to waste time today. Make yourself comfortable; I will be back in a minute.”

With that, she jogged out of the living room and upstairs, off in search of her educational materials. Leaning back on the couch, The Gamer unbuttoned his jacket and leaned back, resting his eyes while he waited.

’My “overwhelmed” meter is already dangerously nearing full,’ he mused, thinking over how he’d got where he was. ’I guess it all could have gone worse, at least. Heh, yeah, now there’s just the actual thing that could kill me left.’

John sighed, waiting only a little longer before Ela returned, having taken off her own jacket upstairs, leaving her ample chest to wobble much more freely in front of her, restrained only by her shirt and anything underneath it. Momentarily, the world was forgotten as he sat, mesmerized by the gentle jiggling of the orbs.

’Whatever she’s wearing under that thing is not prepared for its task.’

A hefty THUNK shook John from his chesticle appreciation. He hadn’t even noticed that Ela was carrying a small metal footlocker, which she’d just plunked down on the floor between them. She sat down in front of the old thing, her legs off to one side. It let out an unhappy metal scraping noise as she unlatched it, lifting the lid to reveal the locker’s contents - mostly piles of books and manuals and diagrams.

“This the stuff you were talking about?” John asked, moving over as close as he could get to her while remaining on the couch. “Like books on magic healing and stuff?”

“Yes,” she replied, rummaging through the box. “This box has most of my old study material from when I was learning to become a medic. We will not have enough time to try and teach you the theory, but we may be able to give you something simple to use in an emergency.”

“I’ll take what I can get. Wasn’t expecting to become a doctor in a day.”

Ela nodded, searching for only a minute more before she found what she’d been looking for. “Of course it would be at the bottom. Here, I found it. This book teaches how to perform a few of the most basic healing spells.”

The blonde reached over, passing a worn, yellow book to John. The title had nearly worn off. The thing was heftier than he’d guessed by the size. He carefully opened the book, pleasantly surprised at the comparatively pristine condition of its pages. There were more than a dozen chapters, all covering a different healing spell, each more advanced sounding than the last.

He cast [Observe].

’You know, it would be really convenient if I could just, like, push a button and skip all the reading and stuff,’ he thought, hopefully. ’You know, maybe like books in Skyrim or something?’

Not this time. A little reading isn’t gonna kill you.

’Well, it was worth a shot asking. Let’s hope I’ve got at least some basic competency.’

Ela sat down right next to him. His breath caught in his throat. Seemingly unaware of her effect on him, she scooted in closer and leaned over, pointing to where he still had the table of contents open.

“You may want to skip to the second chapter,” she stated, matter-of-factly. “The first is mostly introduction and history.”

John swallowed and carefully formed his next words, an unnecessary amount of adrenaline running through his body simply from being near the girl.

“Um, I- Ahem,” he cleared his throat, silently cursing as he turned to the chapter she’d indicated. “Got it.”

“The first spell is “Lesser Mending.” It is the most basic form of magical healing, a raw conversion of your own mana into life ****. It only accelerates the body’s natural recovery, so it can not help with severe or magical wounds,” she explained clearly, with confidence behind every word. “The advantage is that you do not need special training to make use of it. Ideal for the untrained.”

The Gamer and his companion spent the next several minutes going over the fundamentals of the spell. Because the spell allowed the body of the subject to heal itself, most of the trick was in learning to convert his mana into the energy of life. He had to be able to do it quickly and consistently for the spell to be most effective. Once he had understood the principle of how to attempt the spell, the pair moved on to real attempts.

“You know,” John chuckled, nervously. “I’m a little worried about whether I'll be able to do this at all. I haven’t actually learned a spell yet; all of the ones I have kinda spawned out of my powers. I’m not really sure how to use my mana otherwise.”

Ela gave him a reassuring smile. “We can start there, then. You have said that your alchemy skill lets you feel mana around you; can you feel mana within yourself?”

“Not sure,” John muttered, thinking back over the previous day. “[Reshape Matter] can’t affect living beings.”

“Start by trying to find the mana within yourself,” she suggested, putting a hand on her chest. “Most people will have a concentration of it around their core. You should be able to feel its warmth inside you.”

John nodded and shifted slightly, getting comfortable. Then, he closed his eyes, exhaling slowly and shifting his focus inward, like he imagined a monk might. The Gamer searched inward, hoping to find any trace of mana’s tingle, yet he could not place it. Time passed, and his frustration grew.

He knew that mana had to be within him since he could cast spells, but there was none that he could feel.

When he was channeling his [Reshape Matter] ability, it was as if a sixth sense opened in his mind, allowing him to sense the mana around him, to feel natural rivers of it flowing between everything. Now, it was as if he was bound and blinded, as if his senses weren't there at all. Nothing inside him was any warmer than anything else.

There was simply darkness where he knew there should be light.

“How exactly am I supposed to find this? When I use my other spell it feels like the world around me is alive, like there’s so much mana everywhere,” he asked, eyes squeezed shut in frustration. “Without it, nothing...”

John shook his head, crestfallen.

“I have heard that some Abyssals have unique mana,” she explained, putting a hand on his back. “Perhaps there is something special about how your mana behaves?”

John sighed. “I’m always the weird one…”

Again looking inward, The Gamer tried his best to latch on to anything that might be mana. More time passed with him unable to locate anything within him that could have been a magical core. He felt like an idiot, sitting on the couch about to pop a vein with nothing happening.

’Maybe I can’t learn spells the normal way at all?’ he lamented. ’Ever since I started, I’ve just had skills handed to me… ’

John’s eyes shot open in realization. ’Ever since I started…

’I can think of one thing that might be messing with my mana,’ he thought, mind racing. ’What does [Gamer’s Body] actually do to me?’

The Gamer looked down at his own hands, an idea in his mind.

’Look carefully at someone or something to learn details about it… ’

Wordlessly, John cast [Observe] on himself. His eyes watered, and he flinched as the spell began. There was resistance at first, but the feeling was different to Wentworth and Lord Brighton. Rather than a **** pushing against him or a wall, it was more like he was underwater, swimming to the top.

He pushed and pushed against the current, until he realized that he could feel his [Observe] now. His whole body thrummed with mana as the spell’s cast completed. For a moment, his eyes burned, a creeping heat coming from within them.

Nothing had popped up, but he knew that something was happening. Something was changing. Unlike the elements he could feel with his alchemy, there were no rivers of mana within him, no threads connecting him.

He now knew why.

John had never been blind. He had been looking at the shadows on the wall of the cave.

He was an ocean of mana, resplendent with it. He radiated it. The air around him was awash with it.

’I might as well be made of it…’ he thought, basking in success. ’How in the hell could I not feel this before?’

The Gamer closed his eyes again, and let himself truly see.