Chapter 44 – Learning About Mana (Patreon)

Talis looked like all the other cities I saw on this river, the ones I’d been to and the ones we just passed by. It was built on both sides of the river and had a mish-mash of poor and rich construction on the same streets. The only difference was no mountains. The north side of the river had hills, and the south side had open plains as far as the eye could see.

We took a room in an inn, and I spent two days exploring the city. On my second day, I saw a small square stone building with tiny windows and four guards in front. I got curious about the security and came closer to investigate. A small sign beside the door read “Coin Exchange.” That gave me an idea.

I approached one of the guards and asked, “Good day. If I want to exchange coins, do I walk in, or do you need to announce me?”

“You a noble or merchant?”

“Merchant.”

“Prove it.”

Huh? How do you prove a Class or Profession if the person doesn’t use Identify? I asked him, “How?”

He looked at me like an idiot and said, “How do you show your goods?”

I winced in embarrassment and took out a box of stuff from my Storage. He still looked at me like an idiot but opened the door and said, “You can go in.”

Inside was an obese man sitting behind a stone desk and another two guards in the room. The fat man said, “Good day, esteemed healer; how can I help you today? I’m not aware of an issue that needs a healer.”

“I’m also a merchant and would like to exchange coins.”

“You’re a healer and a merchant?”

“Yes. I also have a question.”

“Yes?”

I actively listened to my Sense Honesty and asked, “I made some sales in Rusha and was attacked by criminals. How can I know I won’t be attacked again if you or the guards know how much money I have?”

“You came from Rusha? That’s far. About me or the guards, don’t worry. The first time a customer gets attacked after visiting me, I’ll lose my business and my writ from the crown.”

I didn’t sense anything amiss and relaxed.

I kept all my gold and jewelry in an antique wooden chest that reminded me of a pirate chest (I liked the aesthetics), but the silver and copper I kept in a round plastic wash basin. When I took it out, the fat man stared at it momentarily in complete bewilderment. I had no idea if his reaction was about the amount or the receptacle, and I decided not to ask. I was getting used to “the look,” but I still didn’t like it.

He shook his head slightly and said, “I charge a copper for every five gold exchanged.”

I nodded and started counting.

After I finished counting all of it, I had an idea. I didn’t want to summon my barrel with the copper after the look he gave me, and I didn’t want to summon it in pouches; they were too uniform to show them in bulk. So, I concentrated and summoned only the copper coins. It was more complicated, I think because they were in pouches inside a barrel, and my success was fifty-fifty. I did have a big mound of coppers in my basin, but some of them were still in pouches; Well, at least no barrel.

He took one coin, looked at it, and said, “I never saw coins like this; They are too big and too uniform. Where did you get them?”

“I’m from the islands in the south.”

“I know of those islands and had some coins from there. They didn’t look like this.”

I was surprised; I didn’t expect anybody to know about the islands with the speed of travel here and the distance. I thought fast and said, “My family are island merchants. Our trading house got many of these coins from a trading ship from another continent. All their coins were like this, and they paid everywhere almost exclusively with copper. So now, we have many of those coins on the island.”

He looked surprised and said, “A ship came from Sovily? How did they manage to pass the whirlpools?”

This man was too well-informed, and I closed the conversation, “I have no idea; I didn’t even meet them. That’s all I know, and the information is secondhand from family members.”

He looked very disappointed, and I just continued counting.

After I finished all the counting and he double-checked everything, he owed me 361 gold, and I had a few more silvers and coppers I decided to hold back as change. He was eying the pouches with great interest, and I said, “Would you be interested in those pouches instead of me paying you in coins for the exchange?”

“How many pouches?”

“How much do I owe you?”

“Seven silver and three coppers.”

I thought and said, “I usually sell them for a silver each. I’ll give you eight for the exchange.”

“How many do you have?”

“A lot.”

He thought momentarily and said, “I want thirty, and I will pay two gold. Will this be acceptable?”

I agreed, and we finalized the deal. I was much happier having gold instead of copper, and now I had an empty cool barrel to put all the long swords in.

After I returned to the inn, I checked the Map, but this time, I zoomed out to see the whole continent. I did this only once before, and it looked like I hardly moved. Now, I could see that I traveled quite a distance. I tried to calculate the distance I traveled on foot, bicycle, or ship and compare it to the US and how far I would have gotten. I concluded that this continent was the size of Europe, Africa, and the Americas, all squished together.

I also saw that I had about two centimeters to the next Gate in this view, but when I zoomed in again, I saw that it was still pretty far. Based on my speed of travel on foot, it might take me at least another two months to get there in a straight line. If I find direct roads, I will be on a bicycle for maybe one month.

I didn’t feel like walking for another two months. I loved Shimoore and its beauty, and to my surprise, I discovered that I'm actually an outdoorsy person, but I felt that I had enough of nature for now. I also didn’t want to pedal for a month; that sounded like too much physical workout. So, I looked around the Map and found a tributary of the main river heading in the direction I needed. It was a bit further west and then curved to the south. I followed its route and saw a point within a 2-3 day walk from the Gate. I activated my Luck again, and it went right to the Gate. So, I was right; the answers I sought were in another world.

I took out a big page and copied the portion of the Map from Talis to the Gate. I went downstairs to call Stretch and headed to the docks. On the way, I asked Strech, “You enjoyed the trip we took on the ship, right?” and got an agreement.

“So, you saw that boats are not that bad, right?”

He looked at me, and I got a sense of suspicion, so I said, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to try and take you on the small boat out don’t like.” He relaxed, so I continued, “But we might need to take a smaller boat than the one we traveled here. It will be much bigger than the boat you don’t like but smaller than the one we traveled on.” I sensed an uncertainty from him and a tentative agreement. I translated it as “I’m reserving judgment.”

I knew exactly where to find the port office this time and headed there directly. After twenty minutes in line, I approached the clerk and showed him my map sketch, “good day, sir. I need to get to this point on the map. Are ships going there, or can I hire a boat to take me there?”

He examined my map and asked, “Why, there is nothing there, just wilderness.”

“Yes, I know. I’m meeting family members for a hunting trip. This is the map they gave me of the location.”

He hummed under his breath and said, “No boats are going there. As I said, there is nothing there. Check on the other side of the river at the fishermen’s docks; maybe somebody will agree to take you there for a fee.”

“Thank you.”

We crossed the river over the closest bridge and approached the first person I saw, “Excuse me, sir, can you point me to the fishermen’s dock?”

He pointed to the west and said, “Head straight, you’ll find it by the smell.”

“Thank you.”

I found it easily by the smell; it hit me when I got close. There were a lot of fishing boats there, and they all looked similar. Flat bottom, pretty square except for the curve of the boat’s bow, one mast with a sail, and a deckhouse. I said quietly to Stretch, “You think you can handle a boat that size?” I sensed a hesitant approval from him.

I scratched his ears and said, “Thanks, buddy. I owe you one.”

I looked around for somebody that looked in charge and couldn’t find anybody. Finally, I approached one of the boats with two men on it and waved to them. One came closer and asked, “What do you want?”

“I’m looking to hire a boat to take me somewhere. Do you know who is open to such a deal?”

He got off the boat, approached me, and asked, “Where?”

I showed him the map and pointed to where I wanted to go. “Here.”

“There’s nothing there.”

“I know. I’m meeting my family for a hunting trip.”

He nodded and said, “Yes, many mukar, sipors and deer.” He actually said deer, not a translation. I was surprised.

He scratched his cheek and said, “I can take you. It will take two to three weeks and cost you three silver a day. You will pay me for two weeks when we head out, and if it takes longer, pay each day.”

I sensed nothing bad from him, so I asked, “When can we leave?”

“Tomorrow early morning.”

We shook hands, and I returned to the Inn. From my previous cruise, I discovered that the weeks here were six days long, not seven. So, it will take twelve to eighteen days to get there. Not bad.

I checked my food supply, and we were still good, but just in case, I decided to cook some more. It was late afternoon, and I didn’t have time to head out of the city, so I approached the innkeeper and asked, “Can I pay you to use your kitchen to cook?”

He laughed and said, “When you get married, you’ll discover it’s not your kitchen anymore.”

His comment hit me hard. I was married, happily, and lost it. I felt choked and had tears in my eyes. He noticed and asked worriedly, “You alright, lad?” I nodded, turned to hide my face, and headed to my room. I just lay on my bed in my room, tears streaming down my face. It was close to two and a half years since Sophie died; I overcame my grief and was much better, but not completely healed yet.

On my way to the dock the following day, I stopped at every food vendor I saw and bought food. The selection wasn’t great that early, but it was a “just in case” food, so I didn’t mind.

It took me a few minutes to find the boat; for some reason, it was docked in a different location, but I recognized the sailor I talked to yesterday. When he saw me, he waved me over and yelled, “Come aboard.” I approached, he looked at Stretch and said, “You didn’t say anything about a dog coming with you.”

“He was with me yesterday, and you didn’t mention him, so I assumed you had no problem with a dog. He traveled with me on a ship from Rusha to Talis with no problem. He does his business in a bowl, and I throw it overboard. I’m also a healer with the Clean spell, so I can clean everything if he has an accident. But from experience, there is no need. We traveled for almost four weeks, and he had no accident.”

He grunted and said, “It will cost you four silver and five copper a day with the dog.” I still didn’t sense anything fishy or suspicious, so I agreed with a nod and gave him five gold and five silver.  He checked the coins one by one by biting them, and I needed immense power to stop myself from laughing. I saw it done in the movies, but I didn’t believe, even for a second, that somebody did it in real life.

He saw something on my face and asked, “What’s so funny?”

“I’m just happy that we reached an agreement, and I can start the journey. My family is waiting for me there, and I don’t want to delay.”

He nodded and waved for me to follow him. When we got on the boat, he led me around the deckhouse, and I saw two young men doing something with ropes. He pointed at them and said, “My sons Jul and Rin, I’m called Rumas, but everybody calls me Ru.”

“Nice to meet you, Captain Ru; my name is John, and this is Stretch.”

“No captain, this is no ship, just Ru.”

I nodded, and he led me into the deckhouse. The door opened into a tiny entryway with three doors. He pointed at the right-side door and said, “You and your dog can stay in this room, and my boys and I will stay in the other. My wife cleaned it the best she could, but we are working men, so don’t expect a ship’s luxury.”

He opened the door opposite the entrance, and I saw that it was a pantry. There were shelves with food on them and a big water barrel. “We don’t have a Galley here.” said Ru, “We eat hardtack, jerky, cheese, and vegetables. Don’t drink from the river. Fill this barrel and drink only from it. It’s a mage barrel spelled to purify the water.”

I got excited; my first magical item! And asked, “Can I examine it? I’m really interested in magical items.”

He looked at me suspiciously and said, “You said you are a healer and hunter; why so interested in magical items?”

“I’m no hunter; my family are the hunters. I join them as a healer, just in case. I’m fascinated with magical items. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to the barrel; I want to examine it to figure out how the mages do it. It’s a hobby.”

He nodded and said, “You can look.”

I cast my light ball and examined the barrel from all sides but found nothing. I asked him, “Do you know where the magic is? I don’t see anything.”

He shook his head and said, “I don’t know nothing about magic. I know it cost me ten gold, and my boys and I never got sick from drinking the river water.”

“Can I empty it to examine the inside?”

“It will cost you a silver, and you’ll have to fill it up after you examine it, but not now; we need to set sail. I’ll tell you when.” And I nodded in agreement.

He joined his boys, and we went to our room. It was tiny! There were two narrow bunk beds attached to the wall, a bucket in the corner that, judging by the smell, was the chamber pot, and less than a meter of space between the bunk beds and the opposite wall. Just being inside made me claustrophobic. I cast Clean and Purify on the chamber pot and, just in case, on everything else. Stretch didn’t look or feel too impressed, either. I scratched his ear and said, “We will spend most of our time outside, don’t worry.”

He gave me a sense of cold, and I said, “It didn’t snow for a week, and I saw some flowers near the river. I think spring is here, so no more snow.” I got uncertainty from him.

“If it snows or rains, we will find a solution.”

We watched them navigate the boat out of the docking area. I hadn’t noticed before, but they had oars on the boat with a metal ring to secure them to the railing. They used them to navigate out. I went to the back of the boat, looking for a place out of the way. There was a strong smell of fish everywhere, and not fresh fish. I walked the whole back section of the boat, casting Clean and Purify repeatedly until it was squeaky clean and there was no odor. Better.

I arranged Stretch’s blankets, gave him a nice breakfast of barbequed chicken, set up my camp table with a chair, and ate breakfast with coffee. I was worried about what to do about coffee on the trip; I had only one pot ready. On the ship, they allowed me to use the galley to make more.

We sailed on the river on our way to the tributary, and I just relaxed and enjoyed the quiet. I was surprised, the boat we were on sailed faster than the ship I arrived on.

The coffee issue bugged me, so I looked in the Spells list and found the spell Heat in the Fire Discipline section. Again, it was a channeled spell, but this one cost 1 Ability Point, not two. At least that. I bought it, took out a pot, filled it with water, and channeled the spell. In less than a minute, the water was boiling. The moment I stopped channeling the spell, my hand got burned from the pot. Oww!

I healed myself and wondered about it; when I channeled the spell, the heat didn’t bother me; the moment I stopped, I got burned. I pointed my hand to the sky and channeled the spell with the smallest amount of mana I could and sensed with my mana sense what was happening with my hand. A kind of barrier on my palm was part of the spell, on top of the heating aspect. I continued to channel it and tried to analyze everything about the barrier: its thickness, how it was positioned on my palm, the mana density, and the “feel” of it. I learned it the best I could and tried to recreate the same barrier on my palm.

I remembered my mana shield and cast it on myself. Again, I tried to analyze it with my senses. I cast it again and again, learning it. I channeled the Heat spell again, split my mind, cast the shield, and compared the two. They were very similar, but there were differences. The mana shield was thin but had a “thickness” and “protection” flavor or feel. The barrier was the same thickness but had a “layers” flavor. I cast them repeatedly, zeroing in on the different flavors until I could easily distinguish them.

I started playing with my mana and tried to recreate the barrier. It kept dissipating into the surrounding mana. I remembered my experiments with the jurbers and created a bubble around my hand. I had to keep it in bubble shape actively, or it also started to dissipate. I practiced exerting less and less control over it without letting it dissipate. It was a long process, but gradually I improved.

When I could “keep it together” with almost no effort, I switched again to a barrier shape. It was harder to prevent the dissipation; something about the bubble shape made it easier to keep it whole, maybe because the bubble had no boundaries. With this thought, I tried to “close” the barrier boundaries. It was still flat, not a sphere, so the mana kept dissipating, but slowly, I could “lock” it more and more to prevent, or at least slow, the dissipation. When I reached a point where I could keep a 1 millimeter of mana for almost three minutes before it dissipated, the red light started blinking.

You have learned [Mana Manipulation]

YES!!

The sun was beginning to set, and I felt lightheaded. I was shocked that I spent more than ten hours playing with my mana; it felt like two- or three-hour tops. I checked my mana: 120/7200. Wow, that was a surprise. I was full when I started. I didn’t notice that I spent so much. I checked my Profile, and under the Wizard Class, I had Mana Manipulation [Novice].

Stretch was dozing on his blankets with his head on my foot, and I was starving. I took some food, and he woke up and looked very interested. I fed us both and decided to lie down while regenerating; I was physically and mentally tired. I spread the camp mattress and my sleeping bag, laid down to regenerate, and was out like a light in less than a minute.