Magic Made Simple

Chapter 7: Evolution

Once we'd managed to get a solid source of food for the camp, and once we'd convinced the rest of the leaders that it was something that could be done reasonably consistently, I was free to go off and do some testing on my mana.

From what I could tell, my mana had gotten more potent. Using the same amount of mana in a mana bolt as I had before produced a greater effect. That wasn't too surprising though, since my focus for my mind stat was the potency of my mana.

What was surprising was that I felt like I was getting more skilled at wielding my mana. At first I had just been assuming that my ability to manipulate it was based off of my stats, but I was slowly coming to the realization that it was a skill that could be practiced.

Okay, maybe I should have realized that by the fact that I literally had a skill called mana manipulation, but it was still a discovery to me.

I spent the rest of the night practicing with my mana. I tried making shapes with it, making strings with it, trying and failing to knit with said strings, making plates of mana, and all kinds of other things. I even got to learn a bit more about how my mana shield spell worked. It caused mana to seep out of my body in a shell of magic that encased me. It was nearly flush against my skin, but it moved with me and never impeded my movements.

I had even thrown myself against a tree with it active, and while I felt the forces of sudden deceleration, I had just bounced off of it with little pain. I had gotten a questioning look from somebody who'd been passing by, but I had decided to just ignore it. They were definitely just jealous that they didn't have a cool magical shield.

My experimenting for the night finally came to an end after my mana manipulation skill reached uncommon rarity. The description had been changed only slightly, but what came after was something that I both hadn't expected and been very pleased to see.

Mana Manipulation (Common) has been upgraded to Mana manipulation (Uncommon)

Mana Manipulation (Uncommon)

Manipulate your mana to perform various tasks. Gives a minor increase to the effect of your mind stat while manipulating your mana.

I'd gone from a slight to a minor increase in my mind stats effectiveness, but that was nothing compared to what was next.

*You are now level 10*

You have reached level 10 and now qualify for your first evolution. Would you like to evolve now?

"Yes!" I say, excited. As soon as the word leaves my mouth, everything goes black.

My eyes take a moment to refocus on my new surroundings. When my eyes finally adjust and I get my bearings, I see that I am standing on a floor that stretches on for, well actually I can't really see how far. It just seems to go on and on, eventually being so far that I couldn't make it out. The void is occupied by glowing orbs high in the sky, each slowly moving in a circle above my head.

I squint my eyes, trying to make out the designs each of them seemed to have engraved on them.

One of them, the biggest, I can make out fairly easily. It has "S+" carved into it. The only other two that I can make out each have a design that looks reminiscent of an explosion. The rest are all too small for me to read what is on them.

A blue screen hovers in front of me, and I begin reading it.

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