45 Controlling Mana

With the increase of a 10-level spike, my stats soared and strength overflowed throughout my body. Currently, I felt that I was at the strongest I've ever been. The increase of stats was 10 all around but I feel like I could defeat the previous me with ease.

[To upgrade the "Cheater" class it will require 5 Upgrade Tickets.]

As soon as I tried to go about upgrading the cheater class I was hit with that devastating piece of information from the system. There was the hope that I could receive more from the class by upgrading it right away but it seems that I was only thinking it was going to be easy. I'm going to have to put that off for a while now since upgrade tickets are scarce, I guess that I'll just have to save up the necessary amount of tickets first then. Currently, I only have 2 upgrade tickets so it will be some time before I can get the required amount.

Since I just had a massive spike in my level from completing the dungeon I plan to bring my skills up to par and get used to the sudden increase in strength. I don't really want any accidents happening since my stats went up 50% all at once.

For now, I will just focus on leveling up the skills that I use the most. I should practice my manipulation of Mana since that seems to be the root of all skills in this world. I just have to make sure not to let myself go idle so that I don't lose my momentum and fall into a slump.

"Is there anything else you need today Mr. Bell?" The receptionist said clearly hinting that I should leave the counter if I was finished with their service. I guess I unintentionally sat there dazed since I gained an unexpected harvest.

After leaving the guild I went back to my inn and began going over my current situation. The most important thing today was that I gained the Immortal Soul Unique skill. From how I reached level 30 with that dungeon run and with the new increase in stats and whatever that quality thing was, even the system showed it as question marks so I'm going to have to try things out myself and see what feels different from before.

"I don't feel any different though, did it actually do something?"

After about 10 minutes of searching, there were still no results. no matter where I checked nothing felt different and there weren't any visible changes to my body, so that meant that it had to be a change in the soul. It makes sense since the quality came from a soul skill but to think that I wouldn't even feel different after something changes the very basis of my existence.

Maybe it only added something to my soul without changing anything? I don't have the skills or the experience of feeling the soul yet so for now I'll have to chalk it up to that and set it aside for now and focus on the things in front of me.

It was only about 8 pm currently and the sun was barely setting so after a big dinner I went to my room and sat on the bed. I began feeling my mana and circulating it inside my body how I felt was fit. I eventually got it down to a cycle that I can circulate whenever I wanted to follow a path.

[You have gained insight into how mana is circulated. Mana control increases slightly.]

"So I was right, circulating the mana is a good way to increase my control." Even though I felt that just forcing it in different ways could help my control it seems that setting up a path for it throughout my body made way for achievements in the future as well.

Mana may be a fictional concept on Earth but we still had basic ideas such as circulating it and some stories even brought up creating circles around the heart or somewhere in the body.

I may not go as far as that though since it could just be a concept that is adverse to my future. I'll have to look into some kind of information or look for a teacher in the future if I want to advance further than just control. Unfortunately, Finn was a cultivator so I couldn't rely on him since he relies on qi to strengthen himself and they have cultivation levels instead.

I'll have to check back into the cultivation system of strengthening later on whenever I'm stuck and need some inspiration. For now, I want to stay on the path I'm currently on and explore mana some more.

The mysteries of mana was intruiging and I wanted to see how far I could get without any cheats that increased my talent or anything of the sort. So far I only have infinite mana so I could practice to my heart's content without experiencing mana exhaustion. Even though I have infinite mana, in reality, it was still limited by the capacity I can hold in my body. It seems that only through repeated practice could I slowly handle more mana.

I began experimenting with different ideas that the novels from Earth had. Focusing mana on one point to strengthen certain areas was a good start so I began focusing mana into my hand as a test.

A couple of minutes of trying to get the mana to focus only on my hand, I succeeded in focusing it and after 30 seconds of holding it there the mana began to shake violently. I couldn't hold it any longer and the result was the mana exploding in my hand and leaving my hand bleeding.

"Heal"

While I had gotten hurt due to the lack of control that I have, I clearly found a path forward for now so after healing the wounds and making sure nothing was stained I asked for some rags from the innkeeper I cleaned up the resulting blood and began practicing my control once again. Luckily the explosion wasn't loud enough to cause others to check in on me so I could continue practicing in peace.

Countless failed attempts and bloody rags later my stamina and a long day got the better of me and I nodded off to sleep unwillingly.

Unknown to me the consequences of my actions so far would come to be a regret that I had for a long time moving forward. Why didn't I just ask?