Chapter 16: Mana Sense

Scarlet had first begun to understand mana through the bond. That esoteric connection to Maus had been what had allowed her to get the Meditation skill.

She knew Maus felt the bond too. He’d initiated communication or communicated back to her on multiple occasions.

Her gaze shifted to her tiny buddy.

His Blink skill used mana, she was sure. She received a bit of feedback from him when he used the skill, and with her increased ability to recall details, it was obvious. His ability to activate the skill meant he was actively aware of mana, and how it felt, even if he didn’t have a name for it.

So, both of them had at least a peripheral awareness of mana. The true challenge would be making it an active awareness. Something she could share in real time instead of having to ‘translate’ it for him. If she could somehow manage that, they might be able to coordinate well enough that they could corner the dangerous, stealthy bat.

Her gaze drifted inward, toward that faint, elusive current of something more that she had only briefly begun to grasp.

Presumably, her sense of perception was high enough that getting a sense for the mystical energy wouldn’t be too difficult, considering she at least knew what she was looking for.

She closed her eyes, drawing in slow, steady breaths as she settled into the familiar rhythm of meditation.

The deeper she settled, the more she allowed her awareness to stretch. She wasn’t just focusing inward on the flow within her body, but she was also feeling for the faint presence of mana in the air. Trying to recognize it as something tangible rather than abstract.

Where her earlier attempts had been an unguided exploration, this time she was very intentional.

It was easiest to begin in her body. Tracing the pathways she’d discovered before, she followed a mote as it moved. Felt the way it shifted and flowed, and the way it connected to the energy around her. She traced the mote backwards to where it entered her body. Looked for the highest concentration withing herself, outside of what she was calling her mana core.

She shouldn’t have been surprised it was in her lungs. With every breath she took in, mana was dragged along with all the other elements present in the air. It felt a little absurd to her that she could actually feel the elements and energy she gathered in her lungs diffusing into her bloodstream and mana channels as she breathed.

She let her attention remain in her lungs for a moment, just marveling at the incredible machine that was the human body.

Outside of the nigh constant existential dread that came along with the System, she couldn’t deny that being able to perceive things in the way she could now was something she was grateful for beyond measure. It felt like she’d been living her life covered by a thin veil that dulled not just her sight, but all her senses. None more so than her innate connection to the energies around her. A trait the system had called ‘psionic’.

What was mana if not just another form of energy. Hadn’t Scarlet been reading energies her whole life? Passively subjected to the subtle fluctuations, constantly? Why not mana? When she focused, she could feel it, she could follow it, why not just sense-

[Skill Available: Mana Sense – Tier 1]
[Yes | No]

She didn’t bother stopping the smile as it tugged up the corners of her lips.

[Yes]

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The moment she accepted it, the world came to life. The veil fully lifted, and the vague sensations and brief flashes of more concentrated energy were now as clear to her as if she’d felt them all her life. She turned to Maus, satisfaction already shared through the bond when-

Thump–

Once again, the bat slammed against the bunker door. Only this time she felt something.

It wasn’t in the impact itself, but in what she could now sense about it.

The bat was using mana, and not in the passive, sustained way she and Maus used the bond.

When the creature had struck the door Scarlet sensed a concentrated flare of mana that spiked at the exact moment of impact, then vanished just as quickly.