18 – Surprisingly Bright Creatures

My spell creatures were surprisingly bright.

It only took a simple demonstration of me sitting and focusing my mind for them to pick it up. It was actually pretty cute to watch.

My fish floated peacefully in the pool with her eyes closed. My caterpillar assumed a coiled position, still dangling from its void thread. My [Void Blade] puppy sat dutifully up, eyes closed in earnest concentration.

And [Outer Dark]… well, he just kind of hovered there. But I was pretty sure he was meditating.

I knew it was working because even when I wasn’t focusing, my mana was still going up faster than the normal recovery rate. I had used up quite a bit casting all those [Healing Waters] to water the bluebells for the senior archmage, but the numbers were ticking upwards at a satisfying pace.

Wizard – Level 7
Mana: 1437 / 1512
(Mana required to reach next level: 1680)

The real test was whether or not my spell creatures could help me break through to the next level. Recovering lost mana was one thing, but increasing the actual capacity of the reservoir was much harder.

I joined my little buds in their meditation to max it out as soon as possible.

I actually really enjoyed this part. Closing my eyes, letting my body settle into the ground. Soon, hypnotic colors would appear on the back of my eyelids. I used to try to ignore them, but I had realized that focusing on them carried me even deeper into the meditative state.

The sound of my new spring was a pleasant addition. It babbled away in the background as I drifted further into the netherstate. When I really got down into it, it felt like I was floating in an infinite field of nothing.

Time passed quickly and didn’t seem to pass at all.

At some point, I heard a faint ding! and opened my eyes.

Wizard – Level 7
Mana: 1512 / 1512
(Mana required to reach next level: 1680)

Okay good. So we had fully recovered my mana, and it happened at a much faster pace than I would have been able to accomplish on my own.

Now I wanted to see if my little creatures would be able to increase the actual capacity. I purposefully didn’t go into the meditative state and just watched them.

They were all still concentrating. My void puppy, who I had decided to call Blade, was swaying gently back and forth. Every now and then, one of his back feet would twitch. They were an adorable bunch.

And then it happened.

My total mana ticked up.

Mana: 1513 / 1513

Oh hell yes.

Suddenly I found myself with a group of dedicated disciples who could help me level up when I wasn’t even meditating. This was a total game-changer.

Especially since Alynur had just informed me that absorbing monster orbs was an inferior cultivation technique. Since I didn’t want to rely on monster orbs for my advancement anymore, I figured I would have to do a lot more pondering.

But with my spell creatures helping me out, it was going to be a lot easier.

As they sat there meditating, I watched the ambient mana of the universe become attracted to the outside of my orb. Another dot of glowing energy appeared in the sky as my total mana increased to 1514.

It was weird. Inside my orb, it wasn’t exactly day, but it wasn’t exactly night either. The world was lit by the constellations of mana that clung to the sky like stars. It was like the landscape was in a constant twilight. I liked it. It was beautiful.

1514 → 1515

I had the rest of the afternoon free, and I wanted to see if I could break through to the next level before dinner. I had to increase my total capacity by well over 100 mana, which would have been impossible in a single meditation session previously, but I wanted to see how far I could get with the help of my critters.

They weren’t showing any signs of being tired or bored, so I closed my eyes and joined them.

Relax. Focus on the colors on the back of my eyelids. Let them pull me deeper down. Float in the sea of nothing. Focus on nothing.

This was what “pondering the orb” meant to me. I didn’t know if my experience would change as I got better at meditating, but right now it seemed to be working.

My mind would get pulled away with thoughts of Alynur and Siulius and what their friendship had been like back in the day. Thoughts about the undead maid and the growing necromancer threat on the eastern border. But as curious as I was about these things (and a thousand more), I always tried to pull my attention back to focusing on nothing.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I remembered guided meditations I had fooled around with back in my old world when I couldn’t sleep. They always said to let the thought pass without judgment. So that’s what I did. Just watching the thoughts flit in and out of my mind, almost like a river.

Before I knew it, a system notification chimed in my ear. I opened my eyes to see the results.

Congratulations, you have reached level 8!

Mana: 1680 / 1680
(Mana required to reach next level: 2000)

You may now upgrade a spell or learn a new one.

Upgrade [Void Thread] → Level 3
Increases the diameter of the thread.

Upgrade [Void Blade] → Level 4
Increases the size of the blade and the duration of the spell to 4.0 seconds.

Upgrade [Outer Dark] → Level 2
Increases the size of the sphere and duration of the spell to 6 minutes.

Upgrade [Healing Water] → Level 2
Increases the amount and potency of the water.

Spell choices:

[Overgrow] plant magic
[Spirit Herb] plant magic
[Water Stream] water magic

Blade ran over to me and jumped in my lap, licking my face with his wet tongue. He was clearly as excited about the level up as I was.

“Who’s a good boy?” I said, scratching him behind the ears. “Did you help me level up? Yes, you did.”