22 - Experiment!

“GYAHH!! I have no idea!”

I sank into the couch, staring at the screen with over twenty tabs opened. Here in my mind palace, I could look up anything and everything, be it recorded history, books, the internet, everything.

Everything on Earth, that is.

But this isn’t Earth, and while I’d managed to gather all my survival information thus far thanks to my mind palace, a concept like magic was outside the realm of humanity’s expertise.

In the first place, what even is magic?

The reason I was able to grasp the concept of mana was simply because it was native to inhabitants of this world. Just like breathing, one seldom questions the nature of something that’s natural. We just… know.

“Gah, I wish there was someone who could teach me…”

The image of the kitchen wall doodle flashed across my mind, but I shook it away.

“No, focus! Think, what are some concepts similar to mana…”

“Hoo?”

“You think I should go more unorthodox, Hooty?”

“Hoohoot.”

“Huh? Like that thing they call ‘qi’ and stuff? Aren’t those debunked…? Oh, but maybe…”

In the first place, concepts like those were outlandish simply because there was no such thing as ‘mana’ or ‘magic’ as we know them. Anyone that tried to develop such things were chasing a fool’s errand, an impossibility.

But here, mana and magic do exist.

“How far should I go? Hooty, could you bring up some of those, umm… what do you call them? Those martial arts master guys…”

“Hoohoo!”

“Alright, play video. Let’s see here… uh-huh… sounds unbelievable, but sure. Oooh nooo… they’re getting pummeled in two seconds by trained fighters… unless?”

Hooty and I continued to brainstorm on possible applications for mana focusing only on the body, but the more we researched, the more we seemed to stray into the realm of imagination.

“Okay, I know we’re not on Earth anymore but this is getting ridiculous. Hooty, what you’ve shown me over the past twenty minutes have been pages out of comic books. Comics! Even that’s too much- Hooty, that’s an anime. I’m not living in-”

“Hoot.”

“… Huh, you right. This world’s basically like one of those reincarnation stories, ain’t it? Yeah, why didn’t I think about it that way… Gotta think outside the box, Riko.”

Should I try relying on the written words of imaginative authors and creators? If I can meld my mana to suit the inner workings of a fictional energy, could it allow me to wield a new weapon?

“Alright, boot them all up, Hooty! The ones with the clearest descriptions for starters, please.”

“Hoo!”

The screen now displayed several videos, all from various episodes of anime and pages upon pages of comics, some of which I was most certainly familiar with.

“Alright… time to do some research!”

*

“Hooty please, I’m at the basic level, I’m not going to fire beams out of my hands, stop making me try.”

“Hoohoo…”

“You’ve spent way too much time on the internet!”

In the end, all our research resulted in the same routine—me pummeling a training dummy trying to figure out how things worked.

I couldn’t manage casting any spells, but I did learn how to circulate mana around my body at will. As it turns out, one can control it quite easily, no need for any complicated guides or twenty-part video essays to follow. The rest was simply trying to replicate effects from the various sources we scoured the internet for.

“Sss… Foo…”

I focused all my energy to my fist, lowering my stance to better my balance-

“Hup!”

Thwack!

The training dummy bobbled violently, every swing causing the pole supporting it to creak dangerously.

“Oh… oooh!”

I didn’t even put that much strength into the strike. Yet, the power was unmistakably much higher than a punch I’d usually throw.

“One more time!”

Concentrate again, focus on the mana flow… focus it all on my fist-

“AATOH!”

CRACK!

Not only did the pole break in half, so did the training dummy as splinters of wood broke off, the force sending it crashing into the wall where it shattered to pieces.

“Woah- did you see that, Hooty?!”

“Hoohoohoo.”

“Quick, Hooty! Materialize more dummies for me, there’s something I want to try.”

With a flourish of his majestic wing, three training dummies surrounded me, three perfectly stationary targets for me to run tests on.

This time instead of focusing my mana in one spot, I instead circulated it around my arm, sending it back and forth, back and forth, back and-

Forth!

Following the flow of mana shooting towards my fist, I extended it at the same time causing an explosive force on impact. The training dummy exploded, its woody remains raining down on my head.

“Yes! If I do it right, I can make mana work just like kinetic energy. I can further increase the power of my attacks with this! Only issue is…”

It too long to focus. After every strike, my mana circulation resets and I have to perform the whole process again. Not very applicable in the heat of battle… for now.

“Mmm… I’ll have to really practice and get used to the feeling, until it’s like second nature. Like breathing.”

It’s okay. I’ve got all the time in the world to hone my skills right now.

“He… guhehe…!” I snickered.

I couldn’t help but laugh, excited to learn what other uses I can apply my newfound knowledge to.

“Hoohoo!” Hooty pulled up another tab on the screen.

“What’s this? It’s a video of that fighting game… Oh! Great idea! Let’s see if I can steal some of their moves… hmm? Why’d you bring up a video of the short character? What’re you trying to say, Hooty? It’s not because she’s short, she’s a martial artist? If you say so… woah, cool moves! Says here her name is Miya-

I spent the majority of the day in my mind palace, experimenting to my heart’s content.

*

“…”

The icy cold, never-ending stream of water crashing on my head proved to be difficult to bear, but after days of practice I managed to cope. With a constant layer of mana around my body, I was able to withstand more strenuous training like this, honing both mind and body. It also built up my already strong resistance to cold even further, better preparing me for winter next year.

Indeed, winter was almost over. Though some snow still remained, the waters have returned to their liquid form, flowing ever onward downstream.

Throughout the past couple of months, I became somewhat confident in my ability to control mana, to the point I could no longer practice anything other than the basics on my training dummy.

In fact, I was on my second one; I’d accidentally broken the first one putting too much force into my blows. Crafting more was a pain, so I delegated most of my mana-fueled strikes to dead trees, snowmen and just air. Of course, I can go as hard as I wanted in my mind palace, but real-life training always took priority.

“Auu!”

The now familiar cry was all it took for me to break concentration, opening my eyes to see Fokko making herself comfortable atop Woolie’s abundantly fluffy body.

“Oh, has it been an hour already? I should probably extend the duration a bit more next time.”

I jumped onto the bank, wiping myself down with a towel and changed into fresh clothes. Fokko had been visiting a lot lately, so often in fact I found myself traveling to the Tranquil Forest almost everyday to spare her the trouble of coming to me.

I’d sometimes help out with Kikko’s duties, but after the incident with Fokko, she’s had no problems dealing with monsters, leaving me with little to do. I did manage to test my newfound strength on some goblins, only to find out my theory was indeed correct; I still needed a lot of practice if I wanted to apply my body strengthening technique in proper combat.

I was so busy I’d forgotten it was supposed to be a harsh winter of survival up here in the highlands, and sort of coasted through the whole thing without much issue.

It almost felt as if I’d over-prepared.

“Alright, ready to go, everyone?”

Woolie, Fokko and I took our time ascending the hill towards the peak of the highlands, where the great tree was. I’d spent many days running up and down this familiar path now, tedious at first with all the snow, but gradually becoming less and less of a challenge with my mana-fueled body, until it became just another routine.

By the time we arrived, it was sunset. The great tree bore no fruits or leaves as expected, but I looked forward to seeing its resurrection in the spring and summer, and finally bear fruit again.

“It’s your first time here, isn’t it Fokko?”

“Auu!”

“It’s great, with nothing to obstruct the skies we get a full view of all the stars. Not to mention…”

I turned toward the city far away in the horizon.

“HEEYY!!” I yelled. “HOW’S WINTER BEEN FOR YOU?!”

“MUUUU!!” Woolie joined in.

“Auu?” Fokko’s cry of confusion made me laugh.

“It’s just a ritual of sorts, don’t worry about it. And look at that! You can actually see that tower they’re constructing. It’s getting so tall even I can see it from here.”

My rations had been reduced to berries and herbs since a month ago, but a miracle encounter with a boar the day before ensured my kitchen would be stocked for the rest of winter.

“Fokko, help me out, would you?”

“Fok-ko!”

With Fokko around, there was no need to go through the trouble of starting a fire. Soon, we had juicy pork roasting atop a roaring flame, three eager faces staring in anticipation as we drooled, sick of the berry diet we were forced to go through.

“Aaand… it’s ready!”

We devoured it all in record time. In fact, I wasn’t satisfied. Strange… I was certain I’d brought enough for all three of us.

“Well, I am still growing after all. And with all the exercise I’ve been doing, it’s no wonder.”

I sighed, laying down against Woolie. The stars have already begun shining, glowing ever brightly in the backdrop of cold, dark space.

“You know, sometimes I wonder if Earth lay amongst the stars, and I’d simply been brought to another planet. Know what I mean?”

“Muu?”

“What am I saying, of course you don’t.”

At times like these I wished I had someone else to talk to. I was content with my animal friends; even on Earth I had little to no human companionship. But even then, it’d be nice…

“… Do you think if I wait here long enough, my mother will come back?”

It was a ludicrous thing to say. In the first place, I had no idea where she went, or even if she were still alive. But if she was, the only chance I’d be able to meet her was to stay put.

And yet, whenever I saw the city too far away for me to reach, the urge in me to leave grew greater.

“Would you come with me if I ever decided to leave the highlands, Woolie?”

“Muu?” Oblivious to my question, Woolie simply chewed away at the last of his flower petal snacks.

“… It’s fine. I still got my whole life ahead of me, I’ll take my time to think about it.”

I snuggled against Woolie’s fluffy cloud and closed my eyes.