And...
Nothing happened.
Mana flowed out from my fingertips I could feel it, but the ground in front of me didn't move at all.
I stared at my hand with a furrowed brow. The energy I had just gathered... seemed to simply evaporate. Or maybe it came out but did nothing.
I lowered my hand slowly.
"Why didn't it work?"
My voice sounded hoarse and soft in the quiet forest.
I sat there, staring blankly at the ground. Disappointment began to creep in. I had felt the mana inside my body. I had felt it moving. But why... why couldn't I use it?
Maybe I did something wrong.
Maybe my visualization wasn't clear enough.
Or maybe... my way of directing the mana was wrong.
I raised my hand again, this time more slowly. I closed my eyes and focused on the energy in my chest.
This time, I tried to imagine it in more detail.
The ground in front of me. The dry, hard particles of soil. I imagined those particles compacting, merging, forming a sharp structure like a needle.
Then I pushed the mana out from my fingertips.
I opened my eyes, staring at the ground with hope.
Nothing happened.
I bit my lower lip, holding back the growing frustration. Why was this so difficult? The boar earlier could do it easily. Even the smallest one could launch spines.
But I... I couldn't even make a single small stone move.
I tried again.
And again…
And again.
Each time, the result was the same. Nothing happened.
After the tenth attempt, I stopped. My breath was ragged, not from physical exhaustion, but from overly forced concentration.
I lay back on the ground, staring at the sky above, still veiled by thin mist. The sun had begun to shift, its light no longer as bright as before.
"Why can't I do it?"
The question came out faintly, almost like a whisper.
Then, amidst that frustration, a memory surfaced.
Vague. Like a shadow almost forgotten.
I remembered... when I worked in the palace gardens. When I was ordered to pull weeds under the scorching sun that burned my skin.
Back then, Eldrin was teaching Eri and his group.
I didn't dare get close. I just worked in the distance, kneeling on the dirty ground with mud-covered hands. But I could hear his voice. Eldrin's deep, authoritative voice, flowing softly on the evening breeze.
I didn't hear everything. Just fragments.
But one sentence echoed clearly.
'Don't just release energy randomly. Feel its flow. From the roots to the leaves, and from ground to the sky.'
Feel…
Maybe magic wasn't just about power. Not just about imagining something and forcing mana out.
But... feeling it.
I sat up again, slowly. This time, my eyes stared more seriously at the ground in front of me.
I took a handful of dry soil with my right hand. Its texture was rough. Small grains felt between my fingers. Some fine like dust, some larger like sand.
I tried to feel it.
This soil... wasn't just a dead object.
This soil was part of the world. Part of the earth that supported everything. Large trees grew from it. Roots penetrated deep within. Water flowed beneath it. Life began and ended upon it.
I closed my eyes, still holding the handful of soil in my hand.
Then I tried to feel the mana in my chest again. But this time, I didn't immediately push it out.
I let it rotate. Let it flow slowly, like a calm, small stream.
And I tried... to connect it with the soil in my hand.
Feel the soil. Feel how it exists. How it merges with everything around it.
The mana began to move. Not fast, and not rushed. Just flowing from my chest, down to my hand that was already touching the soil.
And for the first time, I felt something different.
The soil... responded.
Not with movement, but with presence. Like hearing someone whispering softly in the distance, but you know they are there.
I opened my eyes slowly.
The soil in my hand didn't change shape. But I could feel a thin connection linking the mana inside my body to that soil.
This was just the beginning.
But it was progress.
I released the soil from my grasp, letting the grains fall back to their place. But that sensation... that thin connection from earlier... still lingered at my fingertips.
As if there was an invisible thread connecting me to the surrounding earth.
I tried again.
I knew now that I had been too hasty before. This time, I didn't immediately imagine a spike or a projectile. I started with the simplest thing.
I sat cross-legged on the ground, with both hands open on my knees. In front of me, I had placed a few small stones in a row.
I would start from the very basics.
I closed my eyes again, focusing on the mana in my chest. Then I imagined the mana flowing into my hands. Slowly, without rushing.
When the mana had gathered at my fingertips, I opened my eyes and looked at the first stone in the row.
This time, I didn't try to imagine the stone floating or moving. I just tried to feel it.
I imagined the mana flowing out from my fingertips, gently touching the stone. Like touching the surface of water with a fingertip.
And...
The stone vibrated.
Just a little. Very slightly, almost imperceptible. But I felt it.
My breath caught.
I tried again. This time more focused. Calmer.
The stone vibrated again, this time a bit stronger. Dust around it lifted slightly, then settled back down.
"Yes... like this..."
My voice came out softly, almost a whisper. But there was excitement there. An excitement that wasn't there before.
I kept trying. Again and again. Each time, the vibration became slightly stronger.
Then, after the eight attempt, the stone moved.
Not much. Just shifted one centimeter to the left. But it was enough.
I smiled faintly.
This might seem small. Very small. But to me, it was a huge achievement.
Because for the first time since obtaining this mana, I had truly used it.
Time kept passing. The sun kept moving across the sky, its light gradually fading as evening approached.
But I didn't stop.
I kept practicing. Again and again.
After successfully moving one stone, I tried a larger one. Then an even larger one.
Each time, the process was the same. Feel the stone. Feel how it exists. Then connect the mana to that existence.
It didn't always work, and I failed many times. But every failure taught me something. If I released too much mana, the stone became uncontrollable and just vibrated without direction.
If it was too little, the stone didn't respond.
And if I released my mana too quickly, my connection would break before it formed. So I had to find the balance between the right amount of mana and the right flow speed.
Then slowly I began to understand, and when the sky began to turn orange-red, I could already move a stone the size of my head fairly steadily.
Not far. Just a few centimeters. But the movement was controlled and directed.
I could even make the stone float slightly off the ground, though only a finger's height.
The mana in my chest had thinned; I could feel it. Like a bucket almost empty. But there was still a little left.
Enough for one final attempt.
I stood up, stretching my body, stiff from sitting too long. My knees cracked as I straightened them.
I stepped into an open area near the wild boar carcasses. The ground here was harder and more compact.
I stood in the middle, then stared at the ground in front of me.
Now was the time to try the real thing.
An earth spike.
I had failed many times before. But now I knew why I failed.
I was too focused on the result. On the spike appearing, on the perfect shape.
But I forgot the process.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.
Feel the soil. Feel how the particles are arranged, how they are connected to each other.
I imagined mana flowing from my chest, down to my hands, then out to touch the soil.
But this time, I didn't try to force a shape.
I just... requested. Asked the soil to move, to compact, to rise.
Mana flowed out, more than before. I could feel the connection forming between the mana and the soil, stronger than ever before.
Then...
KRRSHH!
The ground in front of me moved. Soil particles began to gather, then compact, and slowly rise from the surface.
Although its shape wasn't perfect, and not as sharp as the spikes launched by the boar earlier.
But it was there, and I had succeeded in making it.
My breath came out in a long exhale, mixed with relief and exhaustion.
The mound of earth was only ankle-high. Its shape was rough and irregular. But it was real.
I collapsed, my hands touching the ground to support my body. The mana in my chest was almost completely depleted. Only a faint warmth remained, barely noticeable.
But I smiled.
A faint, tired smile.
"I... did it..."
My voice was hoarse, almost inaudible. I sat on the ground, gazing at the small mound I had just made.
This was still far from a perfect earth spike. Still far from what the boar could do.
But it was a first step. And the first step is always the hardest. I remembered again Eldrin's words I had faintly heard in the palace garden.
'Feel the elements around you, and become one with them...'
Now I understood what he meant.
Magic wasn't just about imposing will. Not just about imagining something and hoping it happens.
Magic was about harmony. About understanding the element you want to control, and about working with them, not against them.
Earth Magic was about endurance, patience, and foundation.
Like the soil that silently supports everything above it. Like the rock that remains steadfast even through storms.
I had to learn to be patient. Had to learn to understand the earth, not just command it.
And today... I had begun that journey.
I looked at the sky, which was starting to darken. Thin mist still hung between the trees, but moonlight began to pierce through the gaps in the leaves.
My smile widened slightly, even though my body was tired and my mana nearly exhausted.
"Thank you, Eldrin..." I whispered softly, my voice almost swallowed by the night wind.
So ironic. The man who threw me into this forest to die... had unknowingly helped me through the lessons I had faintly overheard long ago.
But my gratitude changed nothing.
Didn't change the burning hatred in my chest.
Didn't change the reality that he, King Thorian, Eri, and all those who looked down on me... would pay for what they did.
Night was falling. The remaining sunlight was almost gone, replaced by darkness slowly creeping between the trees.
I knew I had to find a place to rest. My body needed rest, and the mana in my chest needed time to recover fully.
I looked at the boar carcasses once more.
Three carcasses. The large leader and its two underlings.
I had eaten the leader's flesh and gained mana. I had also eaten a little of the two underlings flesh to replenish the newly formed mana.
The remaining meat... I would leave it.
Too heavy to carry, and I didn't need it anymore. Other forest animals would find it and eat the remains, and that wasn't my concern.
I stood up slowly, feeling the fatigue beginning to weigh on my body. Not physical fatigue, my wounds had fully healed after eating the boar meat. But a different kind of fatigue.
Like fatigue from using mana.
The energy in my chest felt... thin, almost empty. Like a container just emptied that needed time to refill.
And my body needed rest.
Since arriving in this forest, I had never truly slept. What always happened was I passed out after severe injury, or after eating monster flesh and my body underwent forced changes.
That wasn't rest. That was more like... losing consciousness.
And now, after completely draining the mana in my chest to practice earth magic, I felt a real need to sleep. Real sleep. Letting my body and mind rest peacefully.
I looked around, trying to find a safe place.
Not like before where I just hid in a narrow hole or perched on a tree branch. This time I wanted a place that was truly safe. A place where I could sleep without worrying about being attacked from any direction.
A cave. That's what I needed.