Book 2, Chapter 12

Following the steps embedded into his brain by the knowledge transfer process. Concentrating the energy in his center. Drawing the magic from the spear, then his own reserves. Twisting its structure so it mirrored what the Bird was doing. It was hard to hold it in this new form, but at least this test did not call for him to direct it as well. Just focus on it, getting it into the right state and then when ready release. It came together in his gut, ready to release. The first time trying a new spell was always exciting.

Freeing the power. The energy flooded outwards. So much power wasted. It was like getting a bucket of water, pouring it all over you and trying to take sips while it flooded past. You were able to drink a small amount but most of the water washed over you, soaking you before doing the same to the ground and creating a mini flood. Even the bit that you drank came with such force that it was often enough to make you choke and splutter. The energy in his muscles hurt, but that feeling was not as bad as the torrent of energy forcing its way out of his skin. It felt like pins were pushing themselves out through his skin.

All of his muscles ached. The Strength power, having entered them uncontrollably and doing strange things. Some cells burst, others tensed with more strength than usual, damaging the cells around. Checking his health, it was down over fifty percent. The damage was so extensive that it overwhelmed the inherent healing. Checking his statistics, it had increased his strength by 0.08. A partial success, at least. The little bits of green magic that had landed in his muscles were not staying put. They evaporated away, sometimes doing damage but other times just dripping from the body. The 0.08 dropped steadily after only three seconds it had halved in value and then within another ten seconds it had all faded away

Mana was reduced to just forty. That was utilised immediately on a lay of hands spell. The magic helped heal himself and the pain reduced materially through he was still injured both by feel and statistics. The strength test had used over one hundred and fifty mana.

Everything hurt, it was like those times when he had completed excessive amounts of squats in an impromptu competition against Emily. Two days later when he moved, his quads hurt so much that he could barrel extract himself out of a chair even with an overdose of paracetamol. Unfortunately, it was not just one body part; it was every muscle in his body.  Even muscles in his face screamed in agony whenever he moved his lips or his eyes. Who knew you even had muscles there. Logically sure, but he had never hurt facial muscles before.

Self Buff - Strength    - 6% (+6%)

Six percent progress on the one skill for practise that took less than a minute was significant. Mind you, his mana was near zero; it would probably take him over half an hour to recover. It was still a pretty good return. One day for complete mastery at this rate. .

The bed was a long way away. Even shifting his weight from one position on the ground to another was painful.

Too far

Shifting around into a semi-comfortable position on the ground

Ouch

There was no pillow. Shutting eyes anyway and trying to sleep. Despite the background dull pain, it came quickly.

The buff magic flowed from his hands to Jules. It was doubling her strength, and she faced the pack of mud wolves laughing. The only way to help her was to increase the strength, so he pumped the buff into her. The thin girl was now bulging with muscles. A wolf came, and she swung her club casually at it. It flew backwards like a truck had hit it.  The impact sounded like a thunderclap had gone off. The wolves kept coming, and the noise generated was louder than the Bird. The wolves stopped, and she had broken the entire pack. She was still giggling.  “More.”

The dream faded and thankfully his body no longer hurt. Ears listening. There were no obvious noises to explain what had woken him up.

What is the time

2:23

Groaning. That was over three hours of sleep, so there would be no more tonight. He was going to have to put up with feeling tired all day. Was it too much to ask to get five hours sleep a night?

Pushing to his feet. The body felt renewed. There was not even the stiffness that he expected from spending the night on the floor. Six or seven hours of practice in his room. There was an itch to continue his training exercises, but after last night he really did not want too. Yet how could he just ignore an opportunity to grow? The pathway had to be mastered, which meant at times like this when he was alone in the room he had to force himself to practice. It would not be like with mana control where he had practiced everywhere when he was on an active Hunt there was no way he could lose over half his health and all his mana when at any moment what they hunted could turn around and decide to become the predator instead of the prey.

This time the practise called for small scale focused manipulation. At least that should spare him from the worst of the damage. Focusing on the biceps because biceps were always the best muscles to grow. The green energy concentrated into the muscle, and it responded by growing. Continually infusing in the exact manner and method that the Bird had applied. Following the principles of the nameless lecturer. “Mana has a form, Find the form, shape it perfectly, then slide it in to fill the target space. Once it is in the target, tie it up in order to keep it there.” The energy in the muscle grew brighter. Watching the energy and the muscle. It was physically growing. The right arm he focused on was like a professional arm wrestler's arm. One massive arm and on the other side when he looked at his left, well, that one was not so impressive.

Intense pain flared. The muscle deflated like a balloon popping. A squeal escaping his lips before he shoved the nearby cushion into his face to muffle it.