by Nikostar A
While the Mana source could never be replenished or expanded, the mana reservoir could increase in size simply by forcefully injecting mana into it. Under the pressure, the reservoir would slowly expand, allowing the mages to cast more spells than before. Naturally, this process would result in more losses from the source but again, there was a certain balance that mages could aim to achieve.
The spirit circuits were different from the source and the reservoir; they were used to cast spells. If the source was the input and the reservoir was the storage, then the spirit circuits were the output of the system.
Spirit circuits were very often described as magic muscles. They were located all over a human's body and by using specific circuits, one could cast different spells just like one needed to use specific muscles to perform certain physical movements.
The spirit circuits were the very reason why all the students were so impatient to go through the awakening process. Those three essential components of magic have always existed hidden within the human body. Even with advanced technology, people had failed to discover it and it was all because they were never meant to be used. To protect itself, the human body would instinctively hide or try to get rid of anything that might be harmful to it.
However, it was possible to forcefully awaken people's spirit circuits and all that was required was to soak into a special fluid. The components of the fluid were completely unknown to the people but its effects were definitely there.
After soaking for a few minutes, one's body would start to heat up as the spirit circuits would slowly awaken. The connection between the mana source, the mana reservoir, and the spirit circuits would all be set in one go during the awakening. Then even if one's body was against it, there was nothing it could do but comply with its owner's wishes. In short, going through the awakening process was equivalent to going against the course of nature. Naturally, this process contained a certain amount of danger but it was found that as long as the user was at least eighteen years old, the awakening process would be safe.
Time went by as the number of students in the main hall slowly decreased. Alexander was still waiting for his turn. Jack and Feyaz were lucky enough to have been called. Although it did not change anything to the awakening process, at least, they did not need to wait for an entire afternoon. After awakening, one would usually feel weak and want to rest; as a result, the students did not come back to the hall and simply returned home to prepare for tomorrow's classes.
The large screen at the front was already filled with several performance indexes. They were all arranged in ascending order and at the moment, the highest one was 8.3. When it appeared, it caused a brief commotion in the hall, but the excitement quickly died down when the following students only obtained average performance indexes.
...
Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, Alexander finally saw his student number being displayed on the screen. He did not hesitate and walked toward the room he was allocated to.
There, an instructor stopped him. "Alexander Vagras?"
"Yes, that's me," answered Alexander. At the same time, he took a peek at the room behind the instructor. The room was filled with alien-looking pods. They were precisely the devices used for awakening.
Each pod had an instructor constantly monitoring the situation inside; they were ready to forcefully stop the awakening in case of an emergency.
"I will assume that you have your swimsuit on. Follow me. There are still many students waiting."
Alexander silently nodded and followed the instructor's steps. They stopped in front of an empty pod. Although it was called a pod, it was more accurate to call it a high-tech bathtub with a lid.
"You should already know the procedure. Scan your X-Driver here and get in. Press the red button when you are ready and when you can no longer resist the heat, press the blue one."
"Got it!"
Alexander quickly entered the pod and without a warning, the lid slowly started to close down on him. With the lights flashing everywhere, it felt like he was in the cockpit of a space module. In his past life, he might have been impressed and wasted a lot of time staring at the device but this time, he quietly took off his shirt and jeans, leaving him wearing only a pair of trunks.
"So this is how it will all begin."
Alexander lay down in the pod and found a comfortable position. Without hesitation, he pressed the huge red button on his right before closing his eyes.
At the same time, outside the pod, the instructor soon received the notification that the process had started. He briefly looked into the pod, only to see that Alexander was slowly being drowned by the fluid.
"Another one trying to be reckless and absorb as much of the fluid as possible..." said the instructor while watching the numbers on his screen going up and down.
Chapter 4: A completely different path
Inside the pod, Alexander was completely submerged by the fluid. He was holding his breath while trying to be as still as possible. It would have been ideal for him to spend the entire awakening process under the fluid but unfortunately, Alexander was not a professional swimmer and could only hold for so long. Every thirty seconds or so, he had to raise his head to take a breath of fresh air.
The fluid did not look very different from water except for its slightly more viscous properties. After a few minutes of experiencing nothing but discomfort, Alexander finally felt a warm feeling flowing through his body.
"It has begun. Now, all that's left is to wait."
Like a snake, the warm feeling moved from his right arm to his left leg, followed by his head. The warm feeling continued to flow everywhere, warming Alexander's entire body and soon, Alexander started to feel dizzy like he was suffering from high fever.
"It's just dizziness, as long as there is no pain, I must persevere. The dizziness should mean that the awakening has succeeded. I can already leave now but it would be best to let my body absorb as much of the fluid as possible. Too much might damage my spirit circuit but a little more will be beneficial. Even if I don't plan to walk the path of a mage, for what I am planning, the stronger my spirit circuits are, the better it will be!"
Alexander slowly relaxed. Time went by and as he expected, his body temperature continued to rise. So much that his body was now urging him to get out of the fluid. With his willpower, Alexander could naturally resist that feeling and persist but doing so would cause more harm than good.
His left hand quickly moved, pressing on the large blue button without hesitation. In an instant, the temperature of the fluid suddenly dropped as a drain was opened.
Alexander did not move. He waited for all the fluid to be ejected from the pod before sitting up. He briefly checked his body but did not try to activate his spirit circuits yet. Instead, he promptly grabbed his shirt and jeans from the waterproof compartment and put them on. When doing so, he patted his chest and examined his body.
'I don't see any difference. Looks like it was a success. I should start feeling Mana in a few hours.'
When he was fully dressed up, the lid slowly started to open, revealing the smiling face of the instructor.
"The awakening process was successful. Congratulations, you are now officially a mage. Your performance index was 5.1; it is not the best, but it is good enough to qualify for most classes. Everything is recorded on your X-Driver. Have a good rest this afternoon and be ready for tomorrow!"
'5.1? Although I don't remember the exact number, it is very average indeed,' thought Alexander. He grabbed his X-Driver and thanked the instructor.
...
Back in his room, Alexander opened up the laptop on his desk and quickly video called his mother. He excitedly announced her that he had succeeded; that he was now officially a mage. When Anne heard her son saying that, she broke into tears. Naturally, those were tears of joy. Mages were revered existences on Earth. Very few people would ever be able to become one and yet, her son has done it. Although the profession was not entirely safe
, his future was more or less secure and that was all a mother wanted for her son.
Alexander briefly chatted with his mother, trying to sound excited to learn magic and very soon, his mother pushed him to go to sleep and prepare for tomorrow.
As soon as the call ended, Alexander's expression changed. For his mother, he displayed an innocent excited expression to warm her heart but in reality, he had no reason to be excited. Who would be excited at the idea of moving his death ahead? Nevertheless, it was the price to pay for power, but Alexander never planned to use that power or at least, not in this form.
Newly awakened mages would usually go through a period of weakness and would fall asleep but Alexander was different. He was not tired in the slightest and instead, he quickly browsed through the academy's intranet to make a few purchases.
Nowadays, purchasing groceries was typically made via the internet but to do so at the academy, one needed an X-Driver. A lot of items could be bought on the online store of the academy and even if an item was not available, he could make a request and the academy would purchase one outside. After going through the necessary security checks, the items would be delivered as usual.
However, to purchase anything online, Alexander needed to pay in Earth Credits. It was a special type of currency only used at the academy. Every month, students would receive one thousand Earth Credits and could spend them as they wished. The accommodation was already paid for, but the students still needed to buy food and other necessities.
One thousand Earth Credits was more than enough for any normal person to live a comfortable life and regardless of one's status before joining the academy, he or she would only receive the same amount as any other students. However, humans have always been greedy. Although all transactions taking place were closely monitored, some people were able to bypass the system and earn a few extra credits.
For Alexander, one thousand Earth Credits was a lot. He was used to living frugally. With his memories of his past lives, he knew that walking the path of a mage could be very expensive but the resources available on Earth were not very useful anyway.
He already made a mental note to keep five hundred credits for his meals at the canteen. As a fresher, he still needed to stay at the dorms but next year, he would have the opportunity to rent a private studio or a house and would then be able to cook his own meals.
Alexander was free to spend the rest of his credits as he wanted, and he started browsing the website.
'Calligraphy. Where is the calligraphy section...'
After a quick search, he found what he was looking for. Alexander purchased a set of brushes, a stack of paper and a bottle of ink. Both were readily available online as the academy housed many avid calligraphers. Alexander did not need those items for calligraphy but rather to perform a ritual!
...
A few hours later, Alexander woke up from his power nap. Although he was not tired, he forced himself to sleep as he knew the night was going to be long. He noticed the four packages in front of the door. The three small packages were the brushes, paper and the ink ordered earlier and the fourth one was the meal he ordered online.
All four packages were quietly waiting at the door. He did not question how the packages were able to get inside his room as he knew it was all the work of Alpha. The little Android was in charge of all the work in his room. In the past, several students even ended up calling their android as 'housewife' as it was literally the work it was doing.
"So tired," complained Alexander as he stretched his arms. "Today is the last day I sleep like that or else, I'll probably end up being lazy. Too much sleep is bad for health."
Alexander sat at his desk and first checked his brushes. He did not know much about brushes, but he trusted the academy. The brushes, paper, and ink cost sixty credits in total. It was relatively expensive for a simple set of brushes and some ink, but Alexander wanted good quality items as he was going to use them more than once.
Satisfied with the items, he quickly put them aside and opened up the takeaway. Tonight, it was Fish and Chips for dinner!
...
"Tik Tok Tik Tok Tik"
In the middle of the night, Alexander was quietly waiting in his room for the right time. The only sound he could hear was the iconic annoying ticking of the clock. Scattered around him were several pages filled with strange symbols. His room was messy, but he did not care.
Soon, the hour hand and the minute hand of the clock finally joined together. "Now, it is time to start!"
Alexander quietly opened the door to his balcony, allowing the cold breeze of the night to invade his room. The pieces of paper were blown away; they flew around the room in a chaotic fashion. Outside, the rest of the city was very quiet. The Colony was located in the middle of a residential zone mainly built for first-year students.
At the moment, most first years were already asleep, exhausted from their awakening or resting for tomorrow but Alexander did not want to take the risk of being discovered. It would not harm him if anyone saw his ritual, but he would definitely be seen as a weirdo.
He did not need to step outside of his room and simply remained seated. Without a word, his right hand moved, grabbing the largest brush of his set and gently dipping it in the ink. Very slowly, Alexander started to draw three concentric circles around him.
He tried to be as steady as possible but with his lack of experience, his hand inevitable trembled and messed up the circle occasionally. Alexander spent the last few hours practicing writing and drawing for this moment but a few last minutes of practice would not change much.
The circles were far from being perfect, but Alexander was already satisfied. He bit his lips as he changed brushes for a thinner one. Between the lines of the circles, he quickly started drawing strange otherworldly symbols. They were the exact same symbols Alexander had repeatedly drawn on paper to practice.
Soon, the area between the two outermost concentric circles was filled with twenty symbols while the area between the two innermost concentric circles contained six equally spaced symbols.
If one was to look at Alexander doing his preparation, one would immediately associate him with a satanic sect or some obscure voodoo. However, what he was doing was absolutely not evil.
With his drawings completed, Alexander quietly placed the brush on a piece of paper and walked into the circles. He sat down while examining his symbols.
"Everything should be fine. I don't know if it will work but there is nothing to lose! It is still fine if it fails but if it succeeds, then I should be able to obtain that power. The power that belongs to another world."
In his past life, Alexander grasped the opportunity he was given and became a mage. Every day, he diligently practiced his spells but, in the end, he could only become an average mage. His mana source was only average and hard work did not lead anywhere. It only ended up depleting his life force even faster.
However, although his life was short, Alexander also obtained the opportunity to travel through different worlds. Magic did not randomly appear on Earth. The truth was that a strange phenomenon suddenly started occurring on Earth and rifts started appearing.
The rifts were gigantic gates leading to other worlds. Scientists all over the world started to debate about the existences of these rifts but until this day, they have yet to provide a valid reason for their appearances, but the fact remained that they were portals leading to other worlds.
And those worlds were far from being defenseless and through trade, the Earth succeeded in obtaining the principles of magic.
In his past life, Alexander was lucky enough to go to the world beyond the rift, Loha. On the outside, the planet looked very similar to Earth but it had major differences in terms of the fauna and flora. Completely different species existed there.
Furthermore, Loha was not the end. Loha itself was connected to even more worlds via other rifts and by going through them, Alexander encountered many opportunities. In the end, after walking through
several different worlds, Alexander ended up settling in another world called Basilec.
During his journey, Alexander realized that the profession of mage was only one of the many paths of power one could take to obtain supernatural abilities. On Earth, they called themselves mages but in the grand scheme of things, they should, in fact, call themselves elemental mages.
Elemental mages were powerful and relied on the principle of using their own life force to use the elements around the caster to produce miracles. It was a very powerful ability, but the downside was obvious: the use of life force.
