Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

Love and Obstacles

After regaining her full chakra control Mana had to once again deal with the enhanced attributes of ninja. Her metabolism shifted drastically to the point where she could no longer properly rely on her sense of hunger to tell her when to eat or her thirst to inform her of an appropriate time to drink. Ninja could remain without food or water exponentially longer than normal humans but it didn't mean they should. For that reason the magician found herself having to remind herself when to eat or drink, or so to say when it would be appropriate to do so.

Similarly, her physical strength, speed, perception and pretty much every other aspect of her body increased greatly as well. Naturally, ninja's physical stats did not augment much beyond the might of the absolute human limits unless they were stressed or the body deemed such empowerment needed to survive. Due to Mana's erratic power up the unconscious decision to augment her body was in fritz. It took the girl almost a whole week to stop breaking things and begin to actually feel pain, her body used to augment itself just to withstand getting cut with a kitchen knife

Once again the magician found herself at the mercy of her abilities of meditation, hoping they could help her control what was going on with her mind and body and put everything into place. Mana sat for entire hours contemplating on the complicating processes transpiring in her own body, while she did see representations of her body appearing as space bodies she could no longer feel or hear the mystic entity she once spoke with right before her near-death experience.

It didn't take long for Mana to identify a blazing gigantic star at her core – the representation of her heart. It looked brighter and hotter than ever and no matter where Mana tried focusing her attention she could never avoid the star's flames and energy bursts. It wasn't particularly surprising, after all, Mana's been dealing with a lot these days and it only made sense that her heart burned brighter and stronger as it was affected by dozens of different feelings.

"Did you hear about Mijo's ship? Last night it got dragged to the bottom by the Eight-Tails, I hear..." Mana heard voices while in a total trance. It made no sense, she was supposed to be completely absorbed into herself and only been aware of her own body and mind. There should've been no one speaking in her mind!

While the magician expected a partial increase in her meditational effectiveness after her chakra control returned it was never supposed to be like this. She should've been more absorbed into herself and more capable of identifying physical or mental problems. This felt like something new entirely.

"Yeah... I guess it's an occupational hazard sailing around Tako's Reach. I'm glad we left that piss-hole behind." another voice replied. It was a strong masculine voice, drawn out as if slowed down in time. Due to the slowness of each word being delivered Mana almost got bored listening to this one sentence even if this was a new event she was dealing with.

Totally curious by her newly discovered ability to better perceive the environment around her Mana tried reaching out to the voices. Let her mind float free and extend beyond the edges she previously thought of as her limits. Much to the girl's great surprise she could hear and perceive dimmed and blurry images beyond her own body almost as if she was there. These were no premonitions, they felt more like an expansion of her own body.

It was an impressive ability which could've been shaped into a whole different state of meditation. If Mana subconsciously or consciously perceived of a smell or a noise her mind expanded upon it, identifying the source from her previous memories and experiences and painting an imperfect image of what may have been transpiring. It felt very mystical but it was merely an extension of her own senses. Mana was not sure when exactly this ability was born or where from it was acquired but it must've been something she knew for some time but couldn't use due to her impairment. It currently felt too well defined and perfected to be a new discovery.