Chapter 63 – More than the Dream (Patreon)

After we finished all the workshops, I set up Mahya with a laptop, a reloadable credit card, and links to Udemy and Skillshare so she could get more ability points. I decided to stop farming ability points. I already had more than 150 and wanted to do other things.

I found the book Mana Body – Supreme Control that Lis had recommended and started working with it. The book's introduction promised that practicing the techniques within could enhance one's mana regeneration and master the control of both mana and body. The prospect was undeniably enticing.

The first technique was to create a tendril of mana and send it into your main channels to enlarge them. The second technique was to create a ball of mana and roll it down your main channels to enlarge them. I skipped the first and went directly to the second; my channels were too wide for a tendril.

That evening, I asked Lis, "Why didn't you tell me about this book when I started training my mana channels in the English Gates?"

"Your method was twenty times faster and less painful."

"Oh, ok."

I quickly understood why Mahya screamed in pain when I tried to open her channel, and what Lis meant. It was easy to build a ball of mana, but once I started rolling it down my channel and stretching the channel, I wanted to scream in pain, too. The stretching with increased mana only felt like itching, and I had control over the amount; with this technique, the ball had to be a little bigger than the channels, and the action of pushing it into the channel was like a burning stab.

After three days of excruciating pain, I was able to widen the channel in my right hand by maybe a tenth of a millimeter and decided that it wasn’t worth it.

I looked ahead in the book, and the following technique was the same: thin secondary channels all over the body—first, a thin tendril and then a ball. Just the thought of the pain I would feel in the hundreds of thin channels I had all over my body made me shudder. I put the book in the most remote corner of my Storage with the full intention of forgetting it ever existed.

Instead, I started learning about mana constructs for spell creation; it was much more fun. At the same time, I would go to different areas of Paris each time, visit bakeries, restaurants, and pâtisseries, and fill my storage with all kinds of delicious treats. I also visited the Paris flea market and bought a lot of stuff, found The Paris fabric area in Montmartre, and more or less emptied their inventory on three separate occasions.

When I came home, I always found Lis and Mahya sitting with huge blueprints and sketches or tinkering with parts of the transistor or a mini radio. I couldn't figure out how those huge blueprints were related to the little transistor or radio, but every time I tried to ask, they waved me off and told me to be patient.

After about four months in Paris, one night, I woke up in a panic because someone jumped on my bed. I opened my eyes and saw Lis glowing with happiness and bouncing excitedly.

“I got it!” He said.

“Whah?”

“I got the class!”

That woke me up fast.

“You got the Magicaneer class? Congratulations!”

“Even better! Much, much, much better!! I have no more words for better! Look!”

He showed me his screen:

Magitech Inventor & Engineer

I hugged him and said, “Wow! Amazing! Congratulations!”

He was so excited that he continued bouncing while I hugged him.

After I let him go, I asked, “How did you do that?”

He stopped bouncing, looked at me in shock, and said, “Studied like crazy for almost three years!”

“Not that. How did you show me your screen?”

“Oh, intention and mana. Push with your intention to show me your screen and add some mana into the intention.”

I did it, and my screen popped into existence. “Cool!”

Lis just laughed, shook his head, and continued bouncing. He had too much energy for five in the morning.

I went back to sleep; I was not bouncy.

When I got up in the morning and went to the living room, I saw a mini radio on the table that looked very strange. It was covered entirely with a runic script, and on top of it was stuck the transistor Lis was working on with the crystal I aspected on top of it. The crystal looked empty, so I poured some mana into it to help Lis.

The radio suddenly started playing the song Losing My Religion by R.E.M. I just looked at it in amazement. After the song ended, a French broadcaster thanked the listener for requesting the song and began reporting on the traffic situation in Paris.

I stared at the radio in awe. He built a radio that receives Earth stations and works on mana!

I decided that his extraordinary achievement called for a celebration, so I sat at the computer and booked a vacation to the French Riviera. It was August, just the right time for a beach vacation.