by Jakob Tanner
Sakura nodded. “And then we come to mana affinity. This is the single most important stat in your profile. Some people like to think it’s the profile and the traits that separate climbers from the rest of humanity, but that isn’t it. It’s mana.
“Mana is magical energy that permeates through all the floors of the tower. When someone unlocks their trait and profile—what’s essentially happening is the body is resuscitating long dormant mana pathways and channels through their whole body from their head down to their toes.”
“How many channels are there in a human body?” asked Max.
“Internal mana in humans flows through a complicated network of meridians and channels that exist within the body in parallel to one’s network of blood vessels. There are over four hundred channel points in the human body.”
“Whoah,” said Max.
It was crazy to think his whole body had a network of veins and channels that he’d never known about.
“Mana vessels and channels exist in all creatures who live in the tower, but different creatures and species will have more or less mana channels and be organized differently depending on their physiology.”
“Okay,” said Max, keeping up his jogging pace. “So, I think I get the basics. What does the actual stat entail?”
“The mana affinity stat measures one’s ability to control, withstand, and handle mana. You may have noticed when a monster or climber uses special attacks, a colorful aura surrounds them. That aura is mana manifesting itself outside of their body. The special ability of one’s trait is based on how one’s body is particularly designed to manipulate mana both within themselves and outside of them.”
Max’s head hurt as he took in all the information. He had so many questions, but he didn’t know which one to ask first.
“Okay,” he said. “But we’re outside of the tower right now—how is it possible monsters and climbers can use abilities that require more than their own internal mana?”
“Good question,” smiled Sakura. “Mana does leak from the tower and so the mana density in the tower-zone is much higher than elsewhere.”
“I get that,” said Max. “But the outer-rim isn’t that much further away, either. How come mana isn’t manifesting itself over there.”
“Ah,” said Sakura. “Very good question. Some E- and D-ranked climbers don’t even ponder such a thought. Perhaps that’s because most of them haven’t been to the outer-rim. You have a unique perspective that many young climbers lack. To answer your question though: there are powerful arcane wards built into the wall that separates the city. Those wards capture any mana drifting away from the tower and block it from entering the outer-rim. Furthermore, that captured mana is then reharnessed to power the wards themselves as well as other manatech infrastructure around the city.”
Amazing, thought Max. All the rules and infrastructure in place to separate the two areas of the city always seemed over-the-top to Max. It was so fascinating to hear how more of it actually worked and functioned. It was nice to know the actual purpose of things than to be consciously left in the dark as so many of the curious citizens of the outer-rim were.
“Alright, here’s another question,” said Max.
“So many questions,” groaned Sakura. “Maybe you wouldn’t have as many if you were running faster.”
Max quickened his pace just to spite her.
“My next question is,” said Max. “My ability mimics other people’s abilities and yet my mana affinity is so low. How is that even possible?”
“It’s something that makes your trait so unique and powerful,” said Sakura. “For whatever reason, the mana flowing inside of you is able to temporarily increase its power to dizzying heights when you trigger your trait. It will be amazing to see what happens as your mana affinity grows and you rank up.”
“Heck, yeah,” cheered Max. “Let’s get training on my mana affinity stat, ASAP!”
Sakura made a face. “What do you think we’re doing right now, moron?”
“I thought we were training my other stats,” said Max.
“We are mainly,” said Sakura. “But by training in the proximity of the tower, you’ll be growing your mana affinity stat as well.”
“Fantastic,” said Max. “I’m ready to do another hundred laps then! I’m so fired up!”
“Hey, slow down, mister,” said Sakura. “Well, actually, you can speed up in a minute, but I still haven’t explained to you the full importance of the mana affinity stat.”
Max’s eyes widened.
There was more!?
“As I said, mana affinity is the single most important stat of a climber’s. Climbers may focus on solely improving one or two stats or spread them out amongst the stats equally—but mana affinity must always be a focus. Theoretically, a climber with S-rank strength and E-rank mana affinity is still an E-rank climber. Such a hypothetical doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny, though, as there’s no way an E-rank climber could develop S-rank strength without being able to get to the higher levels of the tower. It’s basically impossible for that to happen. If you want to train any of your stats beyond E-rank you need to develop your mana affinity stat and that’s because your mana affinity dictates how far up the tower you can climb before you develop tower sickness and die.”
Max blinked. Tower sickness? S-rank strength? He shook his head. One question at a time.
“What the heck is tower sickness?”
“If you climb beyond a floor with a mana density that your mana affinity stat can’t handle, you develop tower sickness. Your bones will atrophy. Your lungs will suffocate. Very few people survive tower sickness.”
“How do you know how high up the tower you can travel with your mana affinity?”
“You may have been wondering what I meant by E-rank mana affinity and S-rank strength. Technically, climbers only have one overall rank, but we’ve come to rank the stats individually ourselves as a good rule of thumb.”
She rummaged in her pocket and handed Max a piece of paper.
“I wrote it all down for you,” she said. “To make it easier.”
Max took the paper out of her outstretched hand and looked it over as he jogged.
Stats 1-10 (Unranked Citizen)
Stats 11-20 (Rank E)
Stats 21-30 (Rank E)
Stats 31-40 (Rank D)
Stats 41-50 (Rank D)
Stats 51-60 (Rank C)
Stats 61-70 (Rank C)
Stats 71-80 (Rank B)
Stats 81-90 (Rank A)
Stats 91-99 (Rank S)
“Why do you separate Rank-E across two sets of stats?” said Max.
“There’s usually two phases to the early ranks. E-rank phase one and E-rank phase two. Stats 11-20 signal a climber has the same physical attributes of world-leading professional level athletes. Beyond 20 though is when climbers start to develop even superior physical attributes.”
The more Max learned, the more eager he wanted to train and raise his stats.
“Alright, last question, just to make sure I’m understanding everything,” said Max. “Since I have a mana affinity stat of 2, does that mean I can only go up to floor-2 of the tower?”
“Not exactly,” said Sakura. “It’s a combination of your rank and mana affinity. You’re currently unranked so you could go as high as floor-10 technically without dying, though you might begin to feel a bit strange if you go that high. Does that make sense?”
Max nodded his head as he ran. He thought about his sister, Elle. He couldn’t know for sure, but he felt certain she was up high in the tower. Definitely higher than floor-10. He needed to get stronger.
“Mana affinity really is the most important stat then,” sighed Max as he quickened his jogging pace.
“Yep, glad that’s gotten through that thick skull of yours. Now,” said Sakura, “that concludes the academic portion of today’s training. So—”
She blew the whistle extra hard.
“I want you to pick up the pace and d
o another hundred laps. NOW GO!”
Only after another five days of training did Max begin to see an uptick in his stats. He lay down on his bed that night and stared up at his profile with satisfaction.
Name: Max Rainhart
Rank: Unranked
Trait (Unique): Mimic. Unleash the last move you were hit with at double the power.
Strength: 5
Agility: 5
Endurance: 5
Mana Affinity: 2
Passive Skills:
Kokoro (Warrior Spirit)
Amazing, thought Max. He had gained a point in strength and agility.
He was one small step closer to achieving his goals.
He couldn’t wait to progress more.
20
Over the next two and a half weeks, Max stuck to Sakura’s grueling training regimen. He managed to gain another two points in both strength and agility and another point in endurance. He stared at his new profile fondly.
Name: Max Rainhart
Rank: Unranked
Trait (Unique): Mimic. Unleash the last move you were hit with at double the power.
Strength: 7
Agility: 7
Endurance: 6
Mana Affinity: 2
Passive Skills:
Kokoro (Warrior Spirit)
He felt his whole body tightening as muscles grew and strengthened everywhere. If he was back at his old high school, people would have barely recognized him. Not just because he was walking around on two feet, but because he no longer stood out as a scrawny feeble kid. He looked like an athlete. A jock, even.
Max looked in the mirror and felt pretty good about himself.
Except for one thing.
He hadn’t managed to raise his mana affinity stat even one measly point.
The laps and exercises had become less of an excruciating experience, but one he had actually grown excited about. The laps brought him a new kind of satisfaction each and every day as he pushed himself further and further, but there was still one exercise that brought him pain and frustration though.
The balancing of the book on his finger.
“You’re going to have to buy me a new copy,” said Sakura, looking at him unimpressed, as he picked it up off the ground for what felt like the billionth time. “And not just one from the bookstore either, that one’s a first edition. You’re going to have to pay up, mister.”
Max didn’t understand. He had raised his strength stat by three points since he had first started doing this exercise. His finger was stronger now and should be able to hold the book up more easily. He should also be able to do it for slightly longer as well since he’d increased his endurance stat by one point.
Plop!
The book fell on the grass yet again. That time he hadn’t even managed to hold it up for five minutes. He was getting worse at the exercise the longer he did it.
Sakura got up off the ground.
“Where are you going?” asked Max.
“I have a quick errand I need to run over at the defense climber headquarters,” she said. “I’ll be back in two hours or so. Hopefully, you’ll have gotten better at this task I’ve given you. Seriously, you’ve been doing it for two and a half weeks and you haven’t gotten any better?”
Max’s shoulders slumped and the book fell off his finger.
“You distracted me!” yelled Max. “What kind of teacher are you!”
“Have fun,” she smiled and left him to it.
Max sighed and stared down at the book.
Why was this so hard? There must be a trick to it somehow.
If Sakura could do it, thought Max, then so could he.
He paused.
If Sakura could do it.
He realized he hadn’t actually ever seen Sakura demonstrate the exercise.
Was it possible she couldn’t do it?
Or, if she could do it, a demonstration would make it obvious on the method by which one did do it?
He grinned and picked up the book off the ground once more.
He was on the precipice of a big breakthrough.
“Good afternoon, Sakura!”
The whole defense climber department was cheery when Sakura passed through the door.
As the branch commander of the defense climbers, she was well-liked and respected in the department. She also knew quite a few of the junior recruits had crushes on her. Almost as many who were terrified of her and her powerful B-rank slice ability.
Sakura didn’t waste any time and went to her favorite clerk.
She looked furtively across the office and saw that everyone had returned their attention to their own tasks and weren’t focused on her.
“Did you look into that thing I asked about?” said Sakura.
“You mean, regarding last month’s monster wave?”
Sakura nodded her head.
“It’s as I told you the first time,” said the clerk. “And I went through all the files a second and third time just to satisfy you. None of the climber squads reported a B-ranked monster breaking through the defense lines and heading towards the wall.”
“How can that be though?” said Sakura. “I saw one. I fought it. It almost killed me and a sixteen-year-old boy.”
The clerk shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you, Sakura. I’m going by what the report says. It’s possible one of the squads is lying in their report, but that’s a very grave offence in itself. I don’t have enough seniority to question other climbers on the validity of their reports, perhaps you can though. Still, I’d approach this with caution.”
Damn, said Sakura. Still no explanation for that minotaur’s appearance.
“Okay, thanks,” said Sakura. “Let me know if anything else comes up, or if you hear anything. Like I said earlier: this stays between us, yeah?”
The clerk nodded his head.
With her enquiry done, Sakura left the department and started heading back to the training area.
Max stared at the book. It was now perfectly balanced on his fingertip. He had been looking at it with glee for over two hours now.
Shortly after Sakura had left him, he had figured out he’d been going about the exercise all wrong.
The test wasn’t about strength or endurance.
No.
It was about mana affinity.
Sakura had explained to him that there were over four hundred mana meridians and channels in his body. He’d already intuitively manipulated mana before under duress. First, during his fight with the minotaur and then again, during the climber academy’s preliminary test. Both times with the help of his trait, he was able to manipulate his mana to replicate the powers he’d interacted with. Presumably, then, he should be able to use his generic internal mana with even more ease.
It took him a couple of tries to get it. Eventually, he had stopped trying to do it with the book and simply focused on his one finger.
He focused and concentrated with all his might. Then after a minute of extreme concentration, a silver glow emanated around his finger.
Aha!
Through extreme concentration, he had figured out he could manipulate the flow of mana inside of himself, redirecting the excess mana towards his one index finger.
He then planted the book on his finger once more and tried again. This time he would have the aid of his internal mana to help keep the book balanced on his finger.
The book hadn’t fallen since.
“So you figured it out,” said Sakura, upon her return from the defense climber headquarters. She crossed her arms, impressed at Max’s display. “Imbuing mana into different parts of your body is instrumental to being a climber. You can break your fall from high distances. Endure tougher attacks. Sending internal mana to your finger is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mana manipulation.”
Max cheered triumphantly.
“Good thing, you figured out the basics,” said Sakura, crossing her arms. “Your first day at the climber academy is in two days.”
21
With only one more full day until classes started at the climber academy, Sakura gave him the day off.
In the end, he practiced the book-balancing exercise in Sakura’s living room for most of the day.
He managed to finally raise his mana affinity by one point from two to three. He only needed to raise the stat by another eight points to rank up to E-rank.
He couldn’t wait for that to happen.
“Give yourself a break,” said Sakura once more. “You won’t be able to get your mana affinity stat up by another point by the time classes start. Besides, once you’re in the tower you’ll be able to grow the stat at a faster pace. If the tower monsters don’t kill you, that is.”
Max lay back on the floor. Sakura was right. He needed a break.
“Hey! Can I come help you with the monster wave tonight? Then I can level up my mana affinity faster.”
“Fat chance, mister,” said Sakura. “You’re going to stay inside here and have a nice relaxing evening in. You have a lot to do tomorrow and none of it is going to get done if you’re dead. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
With that, Sakura closed her apartment door behind her, and left Max to his own devices.
Max then stood up, thinking of something and ran to the door.
“Sakura, wait up—!”
It was ten-thirty p.m. and the monster wave was in full swing.
Ninja stalked the streets. He was a slithering shadow. Those who didn’t know better would struggle to say whether he was a climber or one of the attacking monsters.
In some ways, Ninja thought, he was both.
He clung to the shadow of an alleyway as an E-rank climber stepped into the streets.
What the heck was this guy doing here?
His assignment that night required there be no witnesses.
He reached for the knife he kept at his side.
I guess I’ll have to kill this guy, Ninja grinned. No witnesses mean no witnesses.