Chapter 16: Tenth Breakthrough

Ting! A great entity, Oathbound Brandon the Human, has been slain by a Kodoku Cannibal!…Ting! A great entity, Oathbound Sherly the Human, has been slain by a Kodoku Cannibal!Ting! A cursed entity, Kodoku Cannibal, has been slain by Emperor Alexander the Human!

Thirteen of those oathbound guys for one cannibal. No wonder the Runalymo adapted to unconventional means during a period of starvation.

What happens elsewhere in the world may affects the nexus in some way. The more magic used, the more mana generated the worse the storms get. When a fire dragon battles a sand elemental, it's going to result in a very bad fire storm. This I knew, yet it's been so easy to forget. But what happens when dozens of beings with so much power battles what kind of storm will that bring? Surely not all of them are of one element. Will the opposing forces rip the storm apart before it can form? That is almost certainly the case.

Still, why does "human" sound so familiar? Somehow I even know how they look, like the Runalymo but with rounded ears on the side of their head and a lack of a tail.

It is the day after the Loshayomo. I had gotten another level in Sense Mana after we had an awkward talk about Mom's pregnancy.

I asked Mom if I could use my safe bond skills, like [Grace of Wholeness], [Aura of Elegance], and [Imbue Beauty]. With reluctance, she agreed and now I will be training my bond like a mad girl. I also asked mom if I could learn other instruments, she finally relented after I told her I had [Musician] and that learning many instruments would help level my skill. I am very careful to keep track of which breakthrough has gained levels.

The next storm I Level up twice in my eighth breakthrough and one I attributed to my seventh, as it was the only one that made sense at the time. Bringing my Sense Mana level to ninety.

After another review and breakdown of my level, I came up with this.

Sense Mana: 10/101st Breakthrough: 10/102nd Breakthrough: 10/103rd Breakthrough: 9/10 (Action: 5/5 Knowledge 4/5)4th Breakthrough: 8/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 4/5)5th Breakthrough: 10/106th Breakthrough: 10/107th Breakthrough: 9/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 5/5)8th Breakthrough: 8/10 (Action: 4/5 Knowledge 4/5)9th Breakthrough: 6/10 (Action: 3/5 Knowledge 3/5)

Seventh and eighth I can easily get during the storms. Ninth I can get by studying people and if I can get a look at the dragon and see how strong she is I will most definitely level ninth once maybe even twice. That's seven levels I can easily gain. But that still leaves three levels that I still don't know how to get, well, I am sure I know how but that'll require getting another breakthrough.

Learning how mana transforms into another form of mana should get my essence and elemental knowledge level capped. Which only leaves essence action and the tenth breakthrough to max out my level.

I spent the day trying to figure out mana transformation but it's harder than it looks. I suspect it has something to do with the 'identity' of the mana for essences but how does mana gain that identity? For elements, I really have no clue how to go about that whole thing.

For starters 'identity' is really something people give other things. Could it really be as simple as that? Not really. One, we generate mana, meaning we would simply create the mana we need for our usage. Or do we? When we cast a spell we draw upon our mana pool, which is already generated mana. So it can't be as simple as us only generating what we need.

Our unique mana is also non-elemental, non-essence. Or if it is essence it's unique to the individual. In any case, I think the best bet would be to observe a spell caster in action!

I asked Mom if she can cast a spell for me but she wasn't a mage, and neither is Dad. Instead, Mom said she'd introduce me to our town's competition team. They train for the Loshayomo every year.

I spent the rest of the day practicing my bond. Summoning as many fairies as I can and trying to manually manage as many as I can. I also explored new ways to use my impart instructions skill.

Ting! Your Bond has obtained level 54!

The next morning I woke up excited. I get to meet with the Village's version of Olympic sports competitors!

Breakfast was Domr meat served with melted cheese. A side sliced fruit adorned the dish.

"You may have to postpone your visit with the fighters until this afternoon," Dad said.

"Huh, why?" I complained.

"With all these storms the Domrs have grown to unprecedented size. I heard that three people have been dragged right off their boats. Only one of them survived. A number of divers have also gone missing from other islands. The elders are going to have a meeting and there may need to be an effort in culling the Domrs."

"That's pretty scary. How big are they getting?" Mom asked.

"As big as a person if some are to be believed."

I was a little let down at the news but it's not like the visit was canceled, just delayed.

Mom and Dad talked about other things, mainly work-related and other adult stuff, nothing I am interested in.

I practice my [Musician] and [Imbue Beauty] skills, working on my first song. I focused on a tranquil serenity as that works well with beauty essence.

"You are learning that flute at an incredible pace Aly" Mom commented from her workstation.

"Hrrmm, it still bugs me, there's something off about it and I don't know why" I complained.

"[Perfectionist's Eye] is both a blessing and a curse" Mom sighed.

Good thing that the more I focus on my work the more creativity essence I generate which in turns helps me master this skill more quickly due to my upgraded [Perfectionists Eye]

Race Trait 7: Perfectionists EyeFollowing the tenets of Myrou this race has taken great care to perfect their arts and crafts. This skill makes it so flaws are easily spotted and never overlooked. Additionally, the more creativity essence a member of this race has, the faster they'll learn and master their arts, and crafts.

Yeah, "easily spot and never overlooked" doesn't say "know how to fix flaws"

Still, at least my [Inspirational Greatness] boosts how much more essence I am generating

Race Trait 9: Inspirational GreatnessThe dedication to the arts and crafts have made the Runalymo more creative, granting them a (+120%) to Creativity essence

All this has led me to learning the flute in about a month what would have taken me a year. Maybe, In four years I too can have [Musician] at level one-hundred.

I continued playing until I got an unexpected message.

Ting! Musician has met requirements for a breakthrough. Musician will now continue leveling past level 30!

Ting! Musician has obtained level 13!Ting! Musician has obtained level 14!

Musician: You have a base knowledge of music and several types of instruments1st Breakthrough: You've played a wind-based instrument to a beginner level. This will help you master this instrument.2nd Breakthrough: You've imbued mana into sound, Able to cast magic through your songs. Effects may vary and adapt to the type of song.3rd Breakthrough: You've instilled an emotion in your audience. This will help you do so again with more ease.

What?

I didn't even try! I looked at my mom who was listening with closed eyes, relaxing in her chair. Although I am still a novice I think my second breakthrough helped with this one. Mom noticed I had stopped playing and looked toward me. She blushed and focused back on her work.

A couple of hours went by and I gained another level in [Musician]

Mom walked with me down to a part of town I was unfamiliar with. A large house on the edge of the village, overlooking the sea toward temple island. We walked inside to be greeted with an air of water elemental mana.

Two people are sparing, a young ice mage and an older, more mature-looking water mage. Despite the bad matchup, the water mage is clearly winning. I saw a blast of ice mana collide with water mana. The water froze and the mana somehow transformed into more ice mana. Strange, very strange. I didn't even see it happen!

What happens to earth mana if you melt earth into lava? Does it become fire mana? Water mana? Both? What if you boil water into steam? Does it become air mana? Or a mix of air and water? Maybe air and fire? Air, water, and fire? So many possibilities.

The dual-ended at the ice mage's defeat and three other students clapped. I examined their mana. Water bond and class for the water mage. Makes sense if you want to stack bonuses. Ice bond and class. Earth bond and class and. A wind bond with fire class. Making use of the empowering field are we? What is better? Class bonus stacking or exploiting mana physics? Mana Mechanics? Or maybe the class can evolve and eventually double-dip in mana physics and class bonuses?

"Laeso!" The water mage casually greeted.

"Laeso" Mom greeted with a shallow bow.

"Laeso" I copied mom's bow.

"No need to be so formal" The water mage waves us off with a slight chuckle. "What brings you here?"

"Little Aly here wants to observe what you guys do, will you let her?"

"As long as she doesn't cause trouble, sure!" The mage gave a cheerful smile. Before kneeling down to me. "My name is Chyzu, what 's yours?"

"Alysara" I replied.

"Alysara, nice to meet you. Are you interested in becoming a Kheshamo?" Chyzu asked.

A settlement trial person? Village competitor.

I looked up at mom.

"A Keshamo is a very prestigious position," Mom said.

I shrugged my shoulders "I want to see how magic works" I figured the truth works best in these kinds of situations. "It's for my tenth breakthrough in my [Sense Mana] skill"

Chyzu's eye twitched at that. Everyone by now at least knows of me and knows that I have some way of perceiving the world but this may be a bit unbelievable for someone of my age.

Chyzu looked at my mom with disbelief and skepticism.

"She discovered her bond at the age of one and now has several bond skills"

To supplement mom's explanation I summoned four fairies. I don't have my Kyhosa with me right now so I can only summon up to four now.

"Essence-based, and you have great control. I'd reckon you have your bond at fifty or sixty." The other students in the dojo looked at me with shock. I guess I have met or beaten their bond levels at a third of their age. "Essence, however, isn't very strong but what it lacks in strength is made up for with precision and control. However, it lacks stopping power and essence users almost always lose against physical fighters"

Well, it's not like I really want to become a Kheshamo, sounds a bit painful.

"I can still watch can't I?" I ask with charm at work. I swing my tail in hope and perk up my ears.

"Daaww! She's so adorable!" Chyzu exclaimed.

Ting! Charm has obtained level 23!

I noticed a small amount of cuteness essence building up in me. Does that always happen when I use my charm? No wonder my evolution mentioned cuteness essence.

Maybe I should try to level it up a bit more and see what I get?

"I'll swing by for after-work bath and pick her up," Mom said. Chyzu nodded and walked back to her apprentices.

I watched as spells were flung around the room, as fire melt ice and ice mana turned into water mana. I watched as water turned to steam, a fusion of fire and water mana. I watched as a lucky gust of air mana gave a slight boost to fire magic launched from the fire wind mage, giving her the slight edge needed to win against the earth mage. Melting enough rock turning earth mana into fire and water mana, except the water mana is weird, almost like it was another type of water mana. The water mage also didn't try to manipulate the lava.

Lava mana. I realized

Lava is water and earth fused together like how my hair ornament has ice and fire fused together. Meaning a mixture of two different manas is different from fused mana.

I came back day after day trying to unravel the mystery before me. If only I could control the transformation. Why not? How do I perceive the world if I don't have some control over the ambient mana? I am not physically seeing the mana, I am feeling it, it is mana sense, not mana sight. So I ask again, Why not?

But to do so first I need to know how mana is transformed from one into another.

After five days of watching the mana transforming the answer came to me.

There was a visit from the fighter's dojo, a weekly competition from the mage fighters and the nonmage fighters I was watching the ice mage fight against a water warrior. I noticed how mana was intensified by spell usage, the intensity of the mana and it being smashed into each other overcame the MM force and resulted in mana fusion too much force however and it could completely convert the other mana. In this case, water and ice empower each other so it's harder to achieve fusion.

Ting! Sense Mana has met the requirements for a breakthrough. Sense Mana will now continue leveling past level 100!

Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 91!…Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 95!

"I did it!" I cheered as I jumped in joy "My tenth breakthrough! I'm just five levels away from one hundred levels!" I giggled as joy essence radiated from me.

Everyone looked in my direction, some annoyed, some curious, some jealous.

"Tenth Breakthrough? At your age?" The martial instructor said. "Child, you shouldn't lie." She chastised

"Your bond is battle essence, isn't it? And you have a battle essence class" I said. Instead of arguing I went directly to proving myself.

Her eyes widened. "H-how? I never told anyone."

"I can sense the mana in you. What's more, you have a race evolution geared toward physical strength and battle essence. A Battle Runalymo? Champion Runalymo?"

She took a step back in utter disbelief. Everyone stood mouth agape. I hammer it in even more by pointing out everyone's bond and class affinities. Pointing at them, even taking a guess at how many bond skills they have. Something I still only have a thirty percent chance of getting right.

Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 96!

I guess that one came from ninth knowledge. I mentally mark down the level I got.

"Absolutely incredible!" Chyzu exclaimed. "You must become one of my apprentices!"