60 – Four Years Later (B2 start)

For the fifth time in as many weeks, Jonny was laying perfectly still on the ground of the indoor mana well, cycling his mana as fast as he possibly could. It had taken him a long, long time to reach this point. After his body caught up to his mana, progress slowed to a crawl. It gave him plenty of time to learn proper internal mana techniques, but it was also frustrating how slow it went. His mana felt like honey in his veins, unable to move quickly or condense no matter how hard he tried.

It was only in the past year or so that he had reached the level where he was making significant progress on its condensation, and only the past month where he felt he was about ready to try to make a push for the next stage. He had failed every time thus far, but he had a feeling this one would be different. His body was stronger, his mana control was better, and it was a full moon. The last part probably didn’t matter that much, but his last attempts had not been on full moon nights, so maybe that would be the difference.

He sank into a deeper level of focus so that all he could sense was himself and his mana. He inhaled, pulling all his mana into his mana channels and cycling it as quickly as possible. He filled his entire lungs, pushing the mana as much as he could, but when he couldn’t take in any more, it had not changed.

Next time.

He exhaled, letting the mana decelerate and seep into his body. A few years ago, this would have destroyed him. The mana would have been too dense for his body to handle, and he probably would have literally burst his heart. His heart still was not as happy as he would have liked it, but it handled the excess mana just fine, and soon, his lungs were empty, and his mana was spread evenly across his entire body.

It hurt, but only for a second before he inhaled again, revving his mana like a lawnmower, trying to get the full condensation started. That breath failed, as did the next, but the one after that, he felt something. He hadn’t succeeded yet, but he was right on the verge. He was running up against “the wall.”

The first time he tried this, about a month ago, he hadn’t even reached the wall. He had to have Igrette absorb his excess mana to keep him from hurting himself. The second time, he just barely reached it, but his heart ended up under too much strain again, and he had to stop. For the week after that, he had focused on trying to strengthen his heart, exposing it to slightly more mana than the rest of his body, hoping it would catch up. The third attempt went even better, as did the fourth, but he still couldn’t break through.

This time would be different. He knew it would, and not just because of the full moon.

This was the earliest he had ever hit the wall, and his body was still doing fine. Four years of conditioning it against his own mana had done wonders for it, and he was at the point where even with his mana as condensed as it was, he might have been able to move around a bit without tearing himself apart. He had not tested that, and did not want to, but the strain wasn’t even close to what it had been back when he broke through to the first layer.

Minutes ticked by and he lost track of time, endlessly breathing in, and breathing out, cycling his mana, and letting it settle down. The rhythm was almost hypnotic, and he had to snap himself out of it when he felt that his heart was becoming strained.

Shit, he thought.

He spent one exhale studying his heart and how it responded to his mana. It wasn’t in the danger zone yet, but he didn’t want to push it much further.

Five breaths, he told himself. I’ll give it five breaths, then I’ll signal Igrette.

He finished his exhale, holding his lungs empty for a few seconds longer than usual, letting his mana almost fully settle down. Then, with a lurch, he pulled it all back, gasping deeply and pulling the mana into his channels like a black hole drawing in light. It sped up and condensed, going further than he had before, and in an instant it reached the wall. Then, it broke right past, and just as quickly as it had started, it stopped, slowing to a crawl, and settling into an exceedingly calm state.

Huh? he thought. First try?

He opened his eyes to see four more eyes looking down at him. One pair belonged to Igrette, her good eye bright green and her bad one milky white. The second pair belonged to the cloud hawk that had been nothing but an egg when Jonny and Igrette first arrived. Jonny wanted to name it Hawky, after a hawk in one of his favorite TV shows growing up, but Igrette shot that name down for some reason, and had named it Charles instead. Jonny called him Chuck.

“You did it,” said Igrette, smiling down at him.

“I did it!” said Jonny, sitting up.

Charles screeched.

Jonny took a few seconds to check his body’s state. He was a little sore, but it was nothing serious. He would be fine after a good night’s sleep. Meanwhile, his mana was in a rather similar state to what it had been when he reached the first layer four years prior. Sluggish, and barely flowing, and even when he tried to circulate it, it barely went any faster. However, when he pushed it out of his channels and into his body, he could feel the difference. The thick second layer mana was many times more potent than the first layer mana had been. He would need some practice to get used to it, but it would absolutely be a strong power-up.

“How do you feel?” asked Igrette.

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“Good,” said Jonny. “Really good. Can I–?”

“No.”