Chapter 246 - Mistakes Were Made

Note from the author: For those of you reading via email, there was supposed to be an image of Jiran’s new Body of Mana in that last chapter. It’s not loading on Patreon, so here is a direct link to copy/paste into your browser if you didn’t see it. https://imgur.com/dA71sjA

Jiran was annoyed. The feeling suffused his awareness, but fell short of true annoyance as he currently had no body to produce the chemicals that emotions required. Despite this lack, his thoughts buzzed.

She didn't hesitate to hit me with her full power. Sure, I looked like a beast and my mana was going a little crazy through the city, but that's no reason to go all out before even asking my name. So rude.

The woman was still there. She waved a hand, attempting to disperse what was left of Jiran's mana. Of course, her efforts were fruitless. The difference in their understanding of mana was simply too vast. Frowning, she tried again, this time with a hand coated in mana that created a whirling vortex. Jiran felt a slight tug on his energies, but nothing he couldn’t resist.

Her persistence was more than enough to convince him he needed to reform his regular body. The effort would be expensive but he had more than enough mana to pull it off. Before getting started, he chose to take a moment and attempt to understand his situation.

First, the woman had struck his crumbling body. Bereft of armor, and already pushed to its limit, it shattered easily. Jiran expected that to be his end. Far from it, his thoughts sped up, clear and serene as ever. All somehow without pesky organic necessities, like electrical currents, running through a physical brain. 

But if he didn't have those, how was he thinking at all? What was he now? Was he still Jiran? Was it the brain that contained the essence of a person, or something else? Could mana replace all of it? Was a physical form required in the first place? It certainly wasn't optimal in most regards.

Unfortunately, Jiran didn't have time to answer all the questions swirling through his thoughts. His mana, lacking a containing vessel, was rapidly dispersing into the atmosphere. Resigned to his fleshy fate, Jiran began the painstaking process of rebuilding his body from memory.

This was of course interrupted by a blast of elemental fire from the Ranker who shattered his last body. His half-formed flesh sizzled away into nothing. He considered waiting until she left, but she was staring right at his fuzzy, immaterial form, her eyes glowing with Mana Sight. How he could tell she was looking at him without eyes himself was worth considering, and he almost got sidetracked again before remembering he had decided to remake his body.

His next idea was to go somewhere else. When he tried, his mana stretched to the usual few meters he could manipulate it without assistance from the framework before snapping back to where it started. The realization he couldn't leave was slightly disconcerting, but ultimately not that important. Far more interesting was the why. What was forcing him to stay right where he was? He wanted to find out, but again put off the mystery.

One thing at a time. No need to rush. I decided to remake my body first. I like my mana, and I can't hold on to it as I am. 

How to get rid of this pesky lady though? Should I attack her? Can I attack her? Mana Confluence is working, no reason my other skills shouldn't. Not like she's giving me much of a choice.

Jiran opened a hole behind her with Armament, but the mana that came out was impossible to control. It fought him like an oiled serpent, wriggling from his grasp. He gave up, already wasting far too much mana in the attempt. His next plan was pushing her away with aura, which caused him to realize he couldn't access it.

He spread his mana around, searching for the tap leading to his soul and locating it after a few moments. A portion of his mana swam down the tap, finding everything just as it had been. There was the soul-space before his soulwall, the massive soulwall itself, and in a distant corner sat the inert frozen heart he used to form his aspect. Strangely, it seemed to be observing him more keenly than was typical. Jiran ignored it as usual, brushing his mana against his soulwall.

That did the trick, his aura roared to life, blasting into the woman and pushing her back. Her Manabody was stronger than the Rankers, and far, far larger than Jiran's. She condensed her aura, fighting back with a snarl. Not wanting to let the opportunity pass, Jiran did what he set out to do. 

Starting around his tap—since it felt easiest—he constructed a neck that rapidly expanded to a chest with a beating heart. The woman raised her hands to fire at him again, and Jiran instinctively moved out of the way. An explosion of gases shaped by his aura blasted him to the side. He mixed several impurities into the gas, creating an expanding cloud of concealing smoke. 

Whatever prevented his movements before no longer held him back. Without halting his momentum, Elemental Castigation wrapped him in concealing light and he drew his mana entirely inside his forming body, effectively vanishing from sight. His aura would still give him away, so as his body grew, he steadily expanded an aura resistant suit to cover it. The last parts to be remade were the most stubbornly expensive: his head, and surprisingly, his feet.

People really don't pay much attention to their feet. Guess I'm no different if I'm so unfamiliar with mine that they're more expensive than my head!

The Ranker was beset by nearly a hundred guards that broke off from the main engagement. Roaring in frustration, she gave up the search to face them. When mana did finally solidify into a new brain, Jiran was instantly gripped with the existential dread that he should have felt the moment his physical body was replaced by ice.

That-that-that was terrifying!! 

Why the inferno was I so calm and not at all in a hurry to reform my body?! If she managed to disperse my mana, that would have been the end. I was this close, this fucking close to death and I didnt even care!

Calm down, calm down. Deep breaths. It's good to know I'll survive so long as I have enough mana to reform. No. I can’t think like that. There are far too many unknowns to be jumping to conclusions. The only thing I know for certain is that I couldn't initially move my mana because my soultap was stuck in place. 

What if I did manage to move my mana away from it? I doubt I could have restored my body without it. Would I have been able to find it again? I… I really almost left my soul behind. I was so braindead! I felt like a toddler again. Barely sentient. Only vaguely aware of myself enough to ask a few questions but unable to answer any of them. 

On the other hand, I was so peaceful. Is that the real me buried under it all? Curious to the point I nearly let my life slip away just to make time to answer a few questions…

While Jiran’s minds buzzed, he put more distance between himself and the furious battle raging around the Ranker. The city was still a mess, though the civilians weren’t dying by the thousand any longer. The battle in the air had yet to subside in the least. The Rankers were holding their own, but the numbers disadvantage would eventually wear them down.

Jiran checked his mana and Armament, depressed at how low both were. Most of the mana he pulled from the beasts had dispersed since he didn’t get a chance to drag it close enough for absorption: One more strike against the annoying woman. Mayalyn was nowhere in sight. Cameron and Niya on the other hand, were pulling themselves from the ground. The suits he made for them were beacons of energy, urging him to hurry, and he angled to meet them.

For the first time in what felt like hours, though was only mere seconds, Jiran checked the strobing notifications behind his eyelids. Even if he wanted to peruse them before, he didn’t have the right anatomy.

Armament: + 12

That explains a lot. What happened to my body was definitely the result of Armament. But how did I do it? And why didn’t I die?

Attributes, Concentration, Density, Mana, all these things speed the brain's ability to think and react. If they can do that already, then theoretically they should be capable of replacing the brain entirely. That has to be what happened with my ice body too. Does that mean, If I wasn’t in that form already, relying completely on mana for thought, I would have died like normal to her attack?

The question released an uncomfortable shiver that crept up his spine. No way he was going to test it to find out. Moving on, he finally checked the most important notifications, though he wouldn’t be able to choose one until he could safely sleep.

Available Mana Confluence Evolutions: Mana Transcendence / Involution of Rendin / Potency of Sardukar

!NOTICE! Sufficient authority detected

Alternate selection available: Auxiliary Adjunct (Sigil)

Mana Transcendence: Remove mana potentiality limiters

Involution of Rendin: Seek, intuit, reason. The intricacies of mana are revealed to those who study with a keen mind

Potency of Sadukar: Amplify, direct, overwhelm. Become the ultimate implement of mana and invoke its might upon the unworthy

These are… All of these sound ridiculously overpowered. Two of them are named similarly to Gaze of Pediamus. And that skill uses incredibly complex principles of the framework that I haven't even begun to pick apart yet. Another skill like that would be amazing. 

But removing mana potentiality limiters… Mana has limiters? There are things that simply can’t be done, but I could do them with this evolution? What are they, how much mana do they cost? 

How am I supposed to choose between these three?!

And of course, there’s a fourth option this time when there never has been before. Because, why wouldn’t there be?!

Auxiliary Adjunct: Sigil: Assistance in navigating to an additional skill sigil

Wait, what? Is that why I found the first one so easily? Because the system helped me? And that was a freebie, but now I have to pay for them by sacrificing a skill evolution?!

This is way too much to think about right now and making a choice would put me to sleep anyway.

Jiran landed next to the stealthed Cameron and Niya, neither aware of his presence yet. He pulled the mana from their suits and they flipped around with their arms raised.

“Calm down, it’s me. Where’s Mayalyn?” Jiran tried to control his anger at the two for causing such a massive scene in the center of the city, but plenty of it seeped out.

“Mother’s shadow! Don’t scare me like that!” Niya hissed, her voice echoing from her helmet.

“Says the one who blew up half a city!” He shot back before gripping his frustration in an iron fist of will, “We’ll talk about it later. Our priority right now is Mayalyn and Olive.”

Cameron nodded firmly. “Mayalyn found Olive in there,” he nodded at the foundation stones of the once majestic cathedral, “Said they took her somewhere deep underground that she couldn’t follow. She’s probably inside looking for her.”

“Great!” Jiran grabbed and hauled them behind in his aura, racing toward the foundation of the building.

“Hey! Let me go!” Niya thrashed against his hold and he let her fly under her own power, “Why are you so upset? I didn’t kill anyone and we have the perfect distraction to find Olive. Wasn’t this the plan from the beginning? Don’t tell me it's because I did your job for you.”

Jiran’s jaw clenched and his nostrils flared, “Niya. Now really isn’t the ti—”

High above, a thunderous detonation of lightning and fire rocked the entire city. Mana Omnis picked out the telltale colors of Lenton’s energies. He fought against two tier nines. Both of their manapools churned with the uncomfortable green sheen he’d seen in so many others. Lenton had maybe half his total mana, while the other two were full to bursting. Jiran knew that if even one stray shot reached Mayalyn or Olive before he did, it would instantly be their end. The best way to protect them was to join the fight. Besides, he owed Lenton his life several times over.

“Shrelkshit,” Jiran cursed, “You two go ahead and find the girls. If those three get serious, the entire city is going to be wiped out.”

“On it!” Cameron shouted, blasting ahead with a trail of flames shooting from his feet.

“Don’t die,” Niya’s voice was rife with rare vulnerability.

Jiran nodded, a smirk lifting his lips as he couldn’t help but get in the last word, “Wouldn’t be able to kick your ass for making a mess of everything if I did.” Then, he pulled himself into the framework, leaving her grumbling at empty air.