66 – Adjustments

The basic task posed to me was simple. To my rising mana sensitivity, the ‘softer’ areas were obvious, even when I didn’t directly touch them. It was a bit like the puddle of my mana I was spreading out found a divot and wanted to flow into it.

My main issue was two-fold. First, detecting single areas of lowered resistance was easy, but finding all of them was really hard. Mainly this was because, as already described, they distorted how mana behaved around them. In other words, I had to keep a tighter mental leash on it, or my detection behind any of these zones suffered greatly.

Second – and much more difficult – was the problem of having to push my mana into these spots once I found them. In effect, they were endless sinkholes, the book greedily absorbing any mana that sank into it. I not only had to find all of them, but also have enough mana left afterwards for one combined push.

Which was proving quite difficult. It quickly became obvious that my detection method needed to be more sophisticated than a simple expanding circle. Every bit of mana spent on an area with normal resistance was, in effect, wasted. Likewise for any that slipped into these ‘holes’ before I was ready.

However, my previously so effective mana threads were highly susceptible to the sinkhole-like nature of my targets. Which brought back the issue of each one I found making any others behind it so much harder to find in turn.

Over the course of what remained of the night, I managed to uncover all of the scattered targets three times. There were ‘only’ seven of them on this first level of the test, but their locations randomized every time I had to reset. Predictably enough, I was lacking mana each time and couldn’t complete the task.

Needless to say, when I packed up to return inside, I was a bit annoyed. Why is every task you pose so damn frustrating, dear uncle?

Not that I was actually mad, any progress towards being able to use proper magic was exciting to me. Even when the pace of that progress likened to watching grass grow sometimes.

I shouldn’t forget that I had solved the previous task without issue tonight. It was just overshadowed a bit by the recent string of failure.

Well, so far, I’ve often achieved better results after taking a break. So that’s what I’ll do.

One thing I was getting more and more certain of the more I practiced, unfortunately, was that my mana pool was small. I was moving relatively small quantities of mana, all things considered. But I still ran out so fast every time.

There’s no way I can achieve much outside the book once I get to actual magic, I pondered. It was getting me a bit down.

I was aware that mana capacity grew over time with exposure and practice, but so far I hadn’t felt any noticeable difference.

It was one thing to know intellectually that something would probably take years of effort to achieve. Actually experiencing the glacial pace of improvement first-hand still felt bad.

Ways to deal with the issue existed, like the flesh of powerful beasts that Anaster hyped up in the earlier chapter. Large quantities of mana could be gained through consuming such delicacies, providing a marked increase to the expansion of a person’s mana-heart. Much of the mana would be effectively wasted in the process, but it was generally considered worth it.

Basically, a mana-heart was like a balloon that could be filled up to a certain volume. Continuously expanding and contracting this storage could ‘stretch’ it over time, increasing the maximum capacity. Concentrated bursts of mana allowed more extreme levels of expansion in a shorter time frame.

There were limits, of course, but unless using forceful means – which Anaster hadn’t described, at least not in the parts of the book I’d unlocked so far – all that would happen was wasting the excess mana. All the ‘Sources of Mana’ chapter said on the topic was to avoid such supposedly quick paths to power, since they led to ruin in the overwhelming amount of cases.

My analogy wasn’t perfect by any means, but it allowed me to visualize the issue pretty well. Anaster’s description had been a bowl cut into the top of a rock, slowly growing larger as water eroded away the hard minerals.

Chances of me gaining access to high-density beast flesh any time soon were low. Luckily, I had a workaround due to my body.

Blood.

It all comes back around to blood. Such is the vampire life, I guess.

Since blood I drank contained mana in varying quantities, I could gain a similar benefit to mana-rich flesh through my normal diet. Well, normal for a vampire, of course.

Even so, my slow progress so far showed normal humans and especially animals were still limited when it came to how much they benefited me. If all my meals were on the level of Maximilian’s blood or even higher, I didn’t doubt my power would practically rocket up in comparison to right now.

Unfortunately, knights were few and far between, not to mention loath to part with their blood.

I really need to see if I can get Lars to provide a donation to my cause. Just need to find a way where he doesn’t immediately report it to the family. That’s a secret I really don’t want spread around.

Creating my own knights crossed my mind as well, but it wasn’t really feasible in terms of resources. While I had access to a mana well, it really wasn’t all that large. Not to mention the lack of any supplementary materials aside from the fruit. Would my blood work? Not that I could really afford it for now.

Come to think of it, I still haven’t discovered where exactly the well itself is… I’d been to caught up in improving myself to consider the matter.

Until now, the exact location of the mana well wasn’t of high importance. Sure, the ambient mana was denser the closer I got, but the level at the foot of the tree was enough for my purposes if I supplemented it with some fruit. Which I gladly did.

I could only hope Anaster would teach me how to properly tap a well soon. It had been a while since I started this new set of challenges, so I could feel myself getting closer to unlocking another chapter. Based on the chapter title, ‘Mana Control and Shaping’, I would hazard a guess at the contents.

Returning to the topic of blood, I might have a chance to taste some Steelheart family blood over the next short while. Hopefully it’s not toxic to me, I’ll see. If I assume it really is my sister and not an impostor, of course. I feel like I keep adding that stipulation to everything concerning the guests…

Speaking of guests, morning was approaching, so I might see some of them for breakfast. Not a very high chance of that happening, based on their previous attitude, but a chance nonetheless.

One last thought before I leave my room… There is definitely mana in my blood as well, based on what I can feel. I still haven’t figured out a way to actually utilize it, but I shouldn’t forget about that.

The Art of Magic didn’t absorb my blood, so it couldn’t be used as a substitute for mana in the challenges Anaster posed. But I didn’t believe for a second that there wasn’t some way to use my blood to power magic somehow. So far I was still working on just moving it around, which could definitely have combat applications by itself eventually. I just hoped it would go beyond simple blood-flinging eventually.

A bit of an oversimplification, but still true.

Concerning potential applications, I couldn’t imagine blood magic to be lacking in lethality. As I’d already noted previously, just figuring out how to drain a man of his blood would be an insanely deadly move. Especially so depending on what limitations there might or might not be. The difference between only being able to drain open wounds through touch compared to just ripping the life out of someone at range was considerable.

Aside from this very vampire-aligned use, what else might controllable blood – even if only my own – be capable of? I could think of several possible variations of control or attack spells that should be possible, even if I was limited to just liquid blood without any major modifications. Most simply, drowning someone by adhering liquid to their airways. Not like it would be easy to get rid of, if the blood itself could move.

If I assume that I can harden blood magically somehow, then the options become near limitless. I’ll have to see how possible that is. Also, controlling blood at range is really something I should attempt some more, going forward.

Even just the basics of my ideas really painted a picture of how utterly deadly mages could be. A single gulp of water, controlled by magic, would be more than enough to kill a man. Not to mention more stereotypical ‘wizard’ spells like fireballs.

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Anaster himself had already demonstrated the potential of relatively simple magic. Well, I didn’t actually know how that floating metal ribbon of his worked exactly, but it didn’t appear to take much effort on his part to disable a capable fighter. That massive silver pyre with accompanying fireworks show he created was a pretty good display of power too, in my humble opinion. Humbled opinion, really. It certainly made me feel rather small.

Mia was knocking on my door, so I stopped my spiraling thoughts.

“Good morning, Lord Steelheart,” she greeted when I invited her in. With another form-perfect curtsy. Everyone had refreshed their etiquette lessons, and it showed.

“Good morning to you too, Mia. Are our guests awake yet?” I realized a second after asking that I could easily find the answer out myself, if I wasn’t so distracted. For two of the three of them, anyway.

As usual, my sister was invisible to my senses.

For his part, Maximilian was up and, based on his slightly raised heart-rate and movement, training in the central ‘living room’ of their suite. The handmaid was also moving about, doing who-knew-what.

“I haven’t checked on them yet. ‘Waking’ you is the first thing I did this morning. I’ll go upstairs in a moment to invite the lady and knight to breakfast, unless you prefer otherwise?” We both knew I didn’t usually sleep at night, so Mia had some weird emphasis in her statement.