Chapter 49 Following The Mana

Following the the various tunnels that split into possibly unlimited other divergent tunnels, Ethoss moved like he had done this all his life. There was no hesitation in his steps, he knew exactly where he needed to go.

As he moved, the reptile trained his mana shaping skill, he had been way too relaxed before; all he was doing in these caverns was eating and eating. He couldn't even allow himself to call his hunts 'proper hunting' because the monsters were far too weak to even be considered as such. They were all premature and defenseless against him, it seemed more like they were serving themselves to him, rather than him fighting to obtain biomass.

The dark tunnels that Ethoss marched through lit up orange from the fire he was casting over and over. Due to Ethoss's observant nature, when the shiny humans were incapacitating and crippling the monsters, he watched very closely— even when he was being chased by the humans, he made sure to pay very meticulous attention to their spells. Every hand movement was subconsciously noted in his brain.

Now, he was condensing and creating small flames around his face, he even used his fire gland to make tiny fires which basically jumpstarted his spells. With every flame, small particles of dust rose higher inside the tunnel's ceiling. The smell lingered there until another gust would stir the air again – their presence stinging Ethoss' eyes with sand and stone. His breath came out harshly between deep breaths each time his face entered the wind to cool off.

After following the cave around a sharp curve he found a familiar scene. The dark brown slits that flowed with slight mana— he had finally made it to the original cavern he first entered. The sounds of insects no longer was as loud as before, in fact it seemed like they weren't around at all. It had been so long since he heard quietness like this…

Analyzing the wall, Ethoss watched as the mana moved inside and around the protruding slits which also traveled down yet another tunnel.

'I'm so tired of these tunnels, it's irksome being restricted between these walls, not to mention absolutely boring' he hissed in frustration.

'I'll just continue perfecting my magic craft until I find something more interesting'

Thinking this, the large reptile marched on, disappearing and leaving the behind nothing but darkness.

…

'This fire— the fire element, it's much more 'wild' than the ice element. From what I can see, each time I casted a small ball of fire, the mana is usually more flaccid and unrestrained, or in simple terms: loose' The lizard thought.

He had been walking for who knows how long at this point. He personally didn't know, nor did he care really. His boredom was at its all time high and keeping track of time only made his perception of time feel even longer and stretched out.

His mana recycle skill played a huge role in allowing him to train his mana shaping skill for such a prolonged amount of time, but that could only last so long before he'd finally run out of MP. Now he had taken a break allowing some of his MP to return.

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Unintentionally, he had been having the most thoughts he ever had within this venture alone. His brain activity oscillated like crazy. His repetitive use of his brain seemed to awaken more unused parts of the mind.  Had he always been so chatty? Perhaps being bored aroused his more loquacious side? He did not know, and again, he did not care. He was too bored to care.

Knowledge was fun, and so was learning new things. One could never understand everything there is about the world.However, he would try. Whether it was regarding magic, strength, the voice in his head, or even the world itself. Besides,If anyone wanted their mind to remain sane they should be open-minded – that went for everything, creatures, plants, trees, humans, animals and what not.

'Being able to perceive mana was definitely a good investment. I feel I have gained more insight regarding magic as a whole now. Perhaps when I upgrade my eyes once again I'll be able to see even deeper within mana, thus allowing me to progress even further?'

Thinking this, the lizard wiggled his sorry excuse for a tail, which was nubby, short, and thick. However, a second later he breathed harshly, releasing a bunch of boiling hot air— mimicking a sigh from what he had a seen a human do when he stalked them a short time ago.

'Still, being knowledgeable of magic and mana doesn't make me stronger. This fire element is so much harder to control rather than the ice element' Ethoss thought.

Casting ice wasn't easy, but he had gotten used to the mental fatigue, along with the steps required to cast the ice magic. Fire magic however, was a whole new element which he wasn't used to. This similar to when a person learned the controls of game, then played only that one game for years, then one day a new game dropped and that person was excited and bought the game, only to be shocked by the new controls he had to learn in order to be just as good in the new game as he was in the old.

It was difficult.

Ethoss looked at his MP which was now at 22. Seeing this, he decided to resume his mana shaping training, 22 MP was enough to let him practice for at least 10 minutes. Additionally, he could also make those 10 minutes stretch to 20 minutes by casting smaller scale spells that only required minimum amounts of mana, he was only casting fire balls anyway. As soon as he finished casting his first fire ball, he was startled by the familiar mechanical voice.

[Mana Recycle has reached level 2]

Finally! After all this time of casting spells mana recycle had finally leveled up. It seemed all mana/magic related skills required extra time. Mana recycle was a semi-passive skill that only activated passively each time he casted magic.

Regardless of how long it took to level up, the only thing that was important was that it did. This meant Ethoss was just that much closer to becoming a stronger magic caster.

He lifted his night blue eyes, glancing at the rocky walls to make sure that the slits were still there and he wasn't heading the wrong way. Surprisingly, the mana that flowed through them was moving much quicker and livelier than before. It was constant and steadfast, no more moving slow and steady.

Ethoss looked to the front of him and flicked his tongue, looking for any other changes within the tunnel. There it was. The taste of something he hadn't sensed in almost two weeks. He could recognize that fragrance anywhere. It was a scent that was sweet and fruity, while also sometimes smelled, musky, even stinky or putrid depending on the specific species.

It was plants! Those green and lushes plants, they tasted horrible to eat and weren't even as beautiful as cores, but Ethoss finally understood there worth now. Being surrounded by dirt and rock had made him long to be in their presence like before.

He quickly destabilized his current spell, and immediately activated his dash skill.

[Rapid Dash has reach level 3]

The mechanical voice resounded in his head, however, he payed no mind to that. He was only focused on one thing. He zoomed through the tunnels, throwing up dirt into the air with his sharp claws.

Soon, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel and grew bigger the closer he got to it. As he reached the light he was blinded momentarily by the bright rays of light that shimmered directly onto his face.

In front of him was a gigantic chamber, full of trees with red leaves. Underneath those trees, there were flowers and mosses – many types he had never seen before— dangling from vines high above. Very small chirping noises escaped between low branches which covered its ceiling. The size of all of them created an eerie sound system since each kind blended together perfectly.

Ethoss eyes widened with surprise. As far as he could see, the entrance to this place seemed endless and it looked just as large as the forest expanse, if not larger. He looked around at the walls, the slits that were unknown until now revealed themselves to be roots. Ethoss's eyes followed those roots which traveled up the walls and into some more dirt.

'Wait a minute…'

Looking closely, it seemed that he had just came from the roots of a even larger tree than the others. It was ginormous!