Chapter 23: Timescape

In essence, the practice of “taming” Living Mana traces back to its origin: the First Manabreak, when several fundamental magical principles combined to produce what we now call Living Mana.

To possess life, a being requires one primal quality—the presence of a soul. Manasouls have long existed in magical theory. They are souls as well, though formed of magic. Yet like the souls of living beings, manifesting a manasoul in physical reality was thought impossible.

Until the Realmbreaker Wars inspired unprecedented experimentation.

No record survives of the exact experiment that led to the First Manabreak. Many accounts attribute it to an Androvian Warmage who peeled apart reality itself, exposing the soul of the universe. That essence, it is theorized, imprinted upon a vast quantity of gathered mana, granting magic a soul of its own.

The account cannot be verified. Yet the theory endures.

Excerpt from Theories of Living Mana, Vol. III

Chapter 14: Origins

Solander V.

Ryland was quite intrigued by Kendren’s spell. He knew of a few different ones that could essentially create a magical recording of a moment, and was even capable of one with his Soul Glyph of Time. Kendren’s was rather different from what he had expected, though.

The spell circle above Kendren’s palm flashed briefly. Ryland felt a weird chilly sensation rising off his body before coagulating around Kendren’s spell. He’d need to observe the spell a bit more closely. The Centreglyph had looked like a Soul Glyph of Freezing, which tracked with what he had felt.

Interesting indeed.

“There,” Kendren said, holding the Glyph close to him like it was his precious child. “Now we’ll never forget these wonderful moments.”

“You just want pictures for your tabloids,” Alendra said.

“For my tabloid, yes.”

They continued bickering some more, which Ryland half-listened to because it was interesting to learn that Kendren was… a reporter of sorts. He didn’t gain any further context about the noble youth, but that alone was very interesting.

Sint asked about the Wolbears as they got going, Ryland in the lead. “Will they give chase once your spell fades?”

“What do you think?” Ryland asked back, arching an eyebrow.

Sint grumbled and changed the topic slightly. “So why not just kill them?”

“They aren’t real. Spending any amount of effort on them is a waste of time.”

She stared at him. Wait, no. She was glaring. Ah. Ryland needed a second to realize he had unwittingly insulted her since she had gone through a hefty amount of effort to subdue and survive against a whole horde of the monsters.

“No offence,” he said sincerely. Then paused before adding, “Sincerely.”

Sint didn’t exactly look mollified, but she didn’t express any further anger either. Ryland hummed a soft tune as he went ahead. Every time he got a fork, he took a few seconds to see if there were more traces of Fate around them. This entire reality was constructed from Living Mana. It stood to reason that every single thing they were experiencing was potentially affected.

Ryland didn’t see proof of that, though. No black threads crawling along the ground or keeping the floating rocks apart. Nothing of the sort.

The bigger concern was that if Fate was affecting him even within the Reality Demesne, then it was possibly affecting things outside far, far worse. It hadn’t manifested in anything terrible yet, and Ryland had absolute faith in the defences he had set on the boy.

But he’d remember to tell Viren to be cautious. Better to be safe than sorry.

“Is it getting colder?” Kendren asked. “Or I guess, is it looking colder?”

Ryland glanced around. They wouldn’t feel any decrease in temperatures thanks to Alendra’s spell, but it did feel as though the atmosphere had gone gloomier and everything was decidedly more rimed.

“It does,” Sint confirmed. “I’m not sure what it means, though…”

Indeed. Ryland had already noted the fog and mist thickening earlier. This seemed to be more proof of that.

“Hey!” Alendra said all of a sudden. “I think I see the Designated Area!”

She forced her way ahead of the group, getting close to the edge of the rocky ledge they were travelling along. Ryland and the others soon joined her. She was right. Their target, a small field bounded with four metal posts, could be seen in the distance.

“It’s really far down, though,” Sint said.

Alendra nodded. “We’ll have to get to climbing then.”

She seemed to have mellowed out a bit. Ryland wondered if dealing with her fears before arriving to assist Sint with the Wolbear had destressed her somewhat.

“You’re giving me an odd look,” Alendra said as they got going.

“I am?” Ryland said. Honestly, he hadn’t the faintest clue what exactly she was seeing on his face. He tried modifying his expression. “How about now?”

“Ugh.”

“Now?”

“Stop that!”

Ryland sighed and gave up. Somehow, that got her off his case.

“Don’t worry,” Alendra said with false cheeriness. “I didn’t suddenly turn into a passive lackey. You might think I’m normally pretty… driven—”

“I believe that is a magnanimous interpretation,” Ryland said.

Alendra scowled at him. “The point is that I can be pragmatic when needed. I’ll follow you for now because I’m acknowledging that you’re actually not as much of a disappointment as I had originally believed.”

“I believe that is a terrible understatement.”

“Why are you categorizing my statements?” Alendra asked, looking like she was seconds away from undoing her bun and tearing off her auburn hair. “For whose benefit?”

“Um… my own?”

Kendren laughed so hard, he had to clap a hand over his stomach.

Alendra looked like she wanted to either interrogate Ryland some more or berate both him and Kendren, but Sint cleared her throat.

“Are we getting down from here?” she asked.

There was the minutest of trembles in her voice. It didn’t take long for Ryland to see why.

Their next obstacle was upon them.

If the horde of rapidly strengthening Wolbears had been bad, then this next section was going to be even more terrifying. Ryland had brought his team as close to the Designated Area as he could while still remaining elevated well above most of the teams. They had been fortunately deposited on the higher levels of the Trial Zone, and he hadn’t wanted to squander the advantage.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

But at some point, they would need to descend. That time had finally come.

For the gorge that they would need to climb down was filled to the brim with monstrous winged reptiles.

“Glyverns,” Ryland said.

“Ones growing stronger every second too…” Sint muttered.

She was right. The monsters’ scales grew thicker and larger, their bodies and wings lengthened, their jaws turning even more ferocious. Just as with the Wolbears, these creatures were growing more powerful by the second. A quick look with [Omniscience] proved it too. The purple-limned threads of darkness were injecting them with the enhancing power of Fate itself.

It wasn’t a concern for him, but he worried for his teammates.

“Growing too?” Alendra asked. “Was that what you two were nattering about while we killed that Wolbear? Thanks for the help, by the way.”

“You’re welcome,” Ryland said.

“I was being sarcastic!”

“Ah, I see. But yes, Sint is correct. Fate conspires against us. As does the Trial itself, I think. The Academs did mention it would scale to our level of competence. The monsters below are growing ever more powerful with every passing heartbeat. It would be foolhardy to jump right in.”

“Don’t lie,” Alendra said a little scathingly. “It’d be the opposite of foolhardy for you.”

“And it’s scaling to your competence,” Sint said.

Ryland chuckled. “True enough. But I meant for you. Unless you were asking me to deal with them all…”

Alendra shook her head fiercely. “Not in a million years.”