by John Nest
"No Simiavulg has ever given me the Simiavulg bow before, but seeing as you're a DarkElf, I guess that fact still holds true. What could I possibly help you with?"
Smoke quickly told Saru his problem.
"It's already been two weeks and I still don't have a clue what Manatl is. I see my Mana draining during the exercises, but nothing's happening."
"Hasn't Lectus taught you anything at all?" Saru asked.
"Lectus? Who in the world is Lectus?"
"Huh? You don't know who Lectus is? He's the gibbon Simiavulg who's been training you for the past two weeks. Didn't he even tell you his name?"
Smoke angrily shook his head in response.
"Doctus has been grooming him to be his replacement, but I'm afraid he is still no good at all."
Saru patted the DarkElf's shoulder.
"I'm guessing you were projecting the Mana from within your body?"
"Yes, that's what Lectus told us."
"Are you sure? Even if it's Lectus, I don't think he would have said that. Maybe you misinterpreted his instruction."
Smoke gave Saru a confused look.
Saru pointed to the area in front of them. "You see this empty space? Even here, there is Mana. Everything has its own energy, even inanimate objects like rocks."
The albino gorilla stretched out his left hand and formed a small barrier. "You don't use the Mana inside of your body. You use the Mana that is flowing everywhere."
"But how can you use something that isn't a part of your body? It's already hard enough to control the Mana inside of me and you're saying that the way of the Manatl is to use the Mana on the outside? How is that possible?"
"Hmm. Maybe you need more time to meditate. Whether you think you can or can't, you are right."
Saru gave him a smile and left. One of the Simiavulg students approached Smoke and asked him a strange question.
"Why were you talking to that old white-staffed Simiavulg? Don't you know that if you've gotten old and you still have a white staff, that could only mean you're not right in the head?"
Smoke paid no attention to what the kid said, and focused his attention on the advice Saru gave him.
* * * * * *
Smoke sat down on the tatami floor with a new mindset. He stared at the yellow, black and red pyramids.
After taking a deep breath, he concentrated on the three objects. He visualized the Mana flowing inside and around the objects. Three hours passed and he still saw nothing.
He closed his eyes and tried to visualize the objects. Their shape, texture and form. There was something that was keeping all of these things together to form a yellow, a black and a red pyramid.
Within his mind he saw light emitting from the objects and when he opened his eyes, the light remained around the three objects.
+ Learned Ability: Manaception
Passive
Level: Beginner Level 1
Experience: (10/1,000)
You have gained understanding of the flow of Mana around you.
Smoke's body then moved on its own. He grabbed his white metallic staff tightly and felt it ground itself to the floor. He then stretched out his left hand.
He could feel the Mana around him pushing all three objects away. All of them left from their starting positions and moved one centimeter further away.
CLAP CLAP CLAP!
Lectus signalled the end of the afternoon session and broke Smoke's concentration. "Alright, that's it for today, guys. Let's put in even more effort tomorrow."
No one may have noticed it, but Smoke had broken the dam that restricted him from understanding the ways of the Manatl.
He immediately went back to this room and released Igniz.
"I think I got it! Watch this, Igniz."
His dark ember sprite waited with excitement.
Smoke stood up and took the morning exercise position. His right hand on the white staff and his left palm open and pointing to the roof.
He felt the entire Mana of the room flowing. As Igniz released all the saved-up energy for the day, Smoke could feel the strong flow of Mana increase.
It suddenly came naturally to him to bend the Mana around him. He formed the gathered energy into a tiny marble-sized barrier on his left hand.
+ Learned Ability: Manatl
Active
Level: Beginner Level 1
Experience: (10/1,000)
You have gained the knowledge to bend the flow of Mana around you.
You can store the captured Mana in your Manatl and release the stored energy.
A dark purple barrier appeared on top of his left hand. He smiled victoriously, but a second later his eyebrows crossed. 'Weird. I wonder why mine isn't yellow like the others'?'
He spent the next six hours in his room holding the small Manatl barrier. He confidently looked forward to the next day of basic training in the Pillar Temple.
TANG DING DING TANG DING DING TANG DING
Smoke stood in the last row alone. The same spot as he did on the first day. He excitedly waited for Lectus to give the signal to begin the barrier training.
"Everyone settled in? Then start making your barriers."
Lectus walked beside the rows and inspected the progress of his students. He casually noted that the students in the first row instantly created their barriers. Even the students in the second row had more tangible barriers by now.
Yet it was Smoke who grabbed Lectus' attention. The DarkElf proudly held a dark purple orb the size of walnut. "Finally some progress, Smoke."
Lectus called for his students' attention. "Class, stop for a moment. I want all of you to take a look at Smoke's improvement. Sure, it may not be much right now, but in time this small Manatl will become larger than his whole body. This just proves that our teaching method is definitely effective."
All eyes were on Smoke. He proudly stood tall and kept concentrating on his barrier. He could hear the whispers about his different-colored barrier.
Lectus clapped his hands once more and told the students to resume with forming their own barriers. Smoke retained the barrier for the first hour, but after that he began to feel weaker.
'What's happening? I was able to keep the barrier up for solid three hours last night.'
His knees shook and he felt dizzy. He strengthened his grip on the white metallic staff and tried to assess what changed. His body told him that it was the strain from maintaining the size of his current Manatl.
He took a deep breath and shrank the barrier to the size of an even smaller marble than the first time he made a Manatl. He slowly began to recover. As time passed, his barrier only got smaller and smaller.
Before the morning session ended, his barrier was only the size of a spec of dust that floated over his left hand. 'I may not be able to see it, but I know it's still there.' Smoke thought as he tried to console himself.
He quickly ate his lunch and logged out to get some sleep. He logged back in just in time to for the afternoon session. He liked how he could adjust his sleeping pattern with the free time Lectus gave them.
After he found a comfortable sitting position, he focused on the three objects in front of him. He took a deep breath and resumed his training.
Slowly, he pushed the three objects at the same time. Millimeter by millimeter. His pure concentration eliminated all unnecessary thoughts. There was only him and the three objects.
CLAP CLAP CLAP!
Lectus had given the signal to stop the exercise, but Smoke couldn't hear him. Some of the students had already left the tatami room.
Yet, Smoke kept pushing the three objects millimeter by millimeter. Lectus had to physically shake him to get his attention.
When Smoke snapped out of it and regained his senses, he saw that he had pushed all three objects ten centimeters away from him.
Lectus lightly slapped his cheek and scolded him. "Your concentration is impressive, but you also need to be aware of your surroundings."
* * * * * *
&nbs
p; Smoke spent the next five days of his basic training in all eagerness. He had improved both the duration and size of his barrier. He could now even make a Manatl that could cover his entire body, albeit only for a short time.
He reached the one-and-a-half-meter distance in pushing all three objects. Although, the first-row students each reached three meters for one out of the three objects.
Lectus had recommended Smoke for the jar of Sensus exam to Doctus. A part of him felt sad at the thought of leaving the Pillar temple. He had fond memories of self-discovery here.
The day for his examination with the jar of Sensus had arrived. Three of the first-row students were asked to join him as well. Apparently, they had also passed their basic training.
Smoke smiled when he saw the wide-eyed expressions of the first-row students when they saw the four masters of the Manatl, but found their reaction after seeing him to be even more interesting.
Doctus, Tenvis, Meras and Castas all stood near the ancient jar and waited for them to take the test. Three Simiavulgs and a single DarkElf stood in line to be tested by the ancient jar.
As the first student dropped his staff to the ground and stepped in front of the ancient jar, it transformed into its smaller form. The jar became comfortable enough for the smaller Simiavulg to dip her hands into it.
He watched as the young gorilla Simiavulg performed the same procedure as the great masters showed him before and stepped away from the jar. The jar started to slowly spin in a familiar way.
When Castas heard a faint whirring sound, she aimed her harmful spell at the jar. The jar broke apart, with only a few shards suspended in the air. Most of the broken pieces remained scattered on the ground and only returned after a minute had passed.
The self-repaired jar was now ready for the next student.
'Castas' example restored the whole jar. I wonder why only a little of it was spared this time?' Smoke mused.
Then Smoke heard Castas speak to them. "Remember, the jar displays the aptitude you have for a speciality. As of now, she could only save a portion of the jar but after years under my training, I'm sure she'll be able to protect the whole jar from shattering."
The young gorilla Simiavulg stepped aside and Castas called out to her. Castas took the student's white staff and gave her a yellow one. Afterwards, the first yellow-staff student stood behind her.
The next student was a chimpanzee Simiavulg boy. Smoke saw the boy nervously dip his hands into the water. Seconds later, the jar floated an inch from the ground and faint particles could be seen orbiting around it.
In her serious voice, Meras called out to him. Stiffly, she swapped his white staff with a yellow one and asked him to join her.
The last of the first-row students placed his hands in the jar. It turned into its diamond form, but when Tenvis hit the jar with his staff, he made a noticeable dent.
Tenvis called the young Simiavulg to his side and changed his white staff with a yellow one. The young boy stood behind Tenvis with a big smile on his face.
Smoke eagerly smiled at them. He was happy for all three of them. He may have not raised their Intimacy to be as high as blood brothers, but he considered those young Simiavulgs to be Pillar temple brothers just the same.
"Smoke, it is your turn to be Manasensed. Please get in position."
He excitedly stood in front of the ancient jar and dipped his hands into the water.
In a whirling motion, his arms moved and created the needed speed to get the jar of Sensus to work. Smoke stepped backwards and hoped for the jar to start spinning.
However, the jar did not spin. Nor did it float. It didn't even turn into its diamond form. It remained unchanged in the same spot.
Doctus looked worried. He sadly looked at Smoke and said. "I don't know what to tell you. I thought you passed the basic training. At least that's what Lectus told me."
Castas hurriedly asked Smoke. "Can you show us your biggest Manatl?"
A confused Smoke nodded. His right hand held onto the white metallic staff tightly and carefully placed it on the concrete floor.
He took a deep breath and covered his entire body with a dark purple sphere of Manatl. "This is my biggest Manatl as of now, but I can only keep this size for five minutes..."
Tenvis raised his hands and told him to stop. "Don't worry about it. It is already impressive that you managed to make it cover your entire body. Five minutes is already plenty for someone who just learned Manatl."
Meras then spoke. "But that just makes it even stranger why the jar didn't pick a temple for you to train under. During your afternoon sessions, what was the object that you pushed the furthest? Yellow pyramid? Black? Red? Which one was it?"
"None." Smoke answered in a disheartened tone.
"Huh? You weren't able to move any of them?"
"I was able to move them, but I moved all of them equally."
"Really? And how far were you able to move them?" Doctus asked in a surprised voice.
"On the last day of basic training, I managed to move them one and half meter away from me."
Doctus looked at the other three Simiavulg masters and said. "Maybe that's the reason why the jar couldn't sense which temple he should go to next?"
The four masters spoke as they reminded each other that the three objects were a precursor to what the jar of Sensus would show.
The yellow pyramid was charged with elemental Mana and a person who could specialize in this Manatl would have pushed that object the furthest.
The same thing applied to the other two objects. The black pyramid was charged with a type of Mana with regenerative properties, while the red one was charged with a very dense form of Mana.
"Then, what should we do? He moved all three objects equally." Asked a concerned Castas.
"We have no choice. Without a reaction from the jar, we can't accept him into any of our temples. He will have to learn the ways of Manatl on his own." Meras said with a straight face.
"It's regrettable, but Meras is right." Doctus said with a sigh. The orangutan Simiavulg then looked to Smoke and said.
"It pains me to tell you this, but we cannot accept you into any of the specialized temples."
"And what about my test? What should I do about that?"
"Well, it is usually up to your black-staff mentor to give you the test rules and passing parameters."
KLANK KLANK KLANK!
Smoke and the Simiavulgs turned towards the sound of a heavy metal staff being dragged on the courtyard.
Indignus walked over to them and sneered at Smoke.
"Hmmpf. Normally, that would have been the case. However, since you do not belong to any of the temples, it will be I, the grandmaster, who shall decide on the parameters of your test."
Smoke gulped. 'I'm really in trouble now,' he thought.
"The test will still be held on your thirty-first day in Saruras. But let me remind you, you are not allowed to be taught by any of the four masters or their subordinates in the meantime."
Indignus looked straight at Smoke as he spoke, but Smoke could tell that this reminder was meant for the great masters and not him. The Grandmaster Simiavulg then asked his assistant Saru to take Smoke outside and away from the Manatl temples.
* * * * * *
Smoke was taken to a secluded part of Saruras village. There were no other Simiavulgs in sight except for the albino gorilla Simiavulg who had led him there.
'Not only is the test going to be even harder, but I don't even have a proper teacher to take me to the next level of Manatl.'
For the first time since he accepted the Ways of Manatl Quest, he felt concerned that he would really end up losing 30% of his precious levels.
"Smoke, Smoke! Snap out of it!" Saru yelled.
The DarkElf turned to face the albino Simiavulg with an empty look.
"Don't worry about the test. The Manatl you have right now may not be enough, but it will be if you work on it. Come, follow me."
Smoke followed Saru witho
ut question. After all, he didn't know what else to do. He was like a floating ghost, an empty shell.
"This whole area is safe for you to train in."
Saru showed him around the place. He saw a small pond that had an unusually abundant amount of fish. Next, he was taken to see a decent-sized cave with tiny bats hanging from its ceiling. Lastly, he was shown a group of bamboo trees that swayed with the wind.