Chapter 8 - Unlimited Mana

Having made up his mind, Rio sat cross-legged in his bed, rested his palms on his knees, and closed his eyes. He started meditating following the meditation technique of the martial art he had been practicing for six years.

The next content will stray off of the story a bit, but it will explain about some of Rio's mysterious past. Anyway, when Rio was in his seventh grade, Rio had decided to enroll in a martial art extracurricular class. He tried that because he thought it was cool, but he never thought that he would get into it and kept practicing until his twelfth grade. And speaking of this martial art, Rio actually learned Kung Fu, or to be precise Wushu. He had arrived in Blue Belt.

After calming his mind from unnecessary thoughts, Rio finally settled in the perfect mood for meditation. He controlled his breath, inhaling softly from his nose before exhaling through his slightly parted lips. He focused into his body, his steady heartbeat, and the faint feeling of blood rushing in his blood's vessels. He was trying to find out the mana in his body.

After a while, Rio couldn't find the whereabouts of his mana and became anxious. At this point, he thought that God had tricked him and ignored his second and third wishes. When Rio was almost giving up, he suddenly fell into a stupor. He was experiencing out of the world sensation he couldn't describe properly in words.

In the state of half-awake and half-sleeping, Rio found himself in a mysterious place. It had a black background and there was countless helix-shaped construct in blood-red color. Rio pondered his current whereabouts and believed he was in a metaphysical place where he could access the source of his mana. He believed in this conjunction because of what he did before he arrived in this mysterious place.

Rio soon dismissed his unnecessary thoughts and checked his body. When he checked his body, he discovered that he was a bit see-through, like a ghost. Also, he was n.a.k.e.d.

Rio looked around after inspecting his body, and something at the edge of his vision grabbed his attention. He turned in that direction.

Rio saw a small sun, for the lack of better terms, floating amidst the forest of helix-shaped constructs. This small sun was gray—no, Rio corrected his assumption. The color was actually platinum, not gray nor silver.

Feeling curious Rio urged his body towards the small sun. Surprisingly, his body flew in the direction of the small sun. As he became closer, he felt a mixture of anticipation, curiosity, and apprehension.

A few moments later, Rio stopped right before the small sun. Rio finally discovered the true nature of this sun, and it was no sun. It was actually an orb that contained swirling cloudy white liquid. When Rio saw it, he made a funny face. The content of this orb looks like swirling, glowing s.p.e.r.m. Thus, the origin of his funny expression.

Rio shook his head and dismissed those unnecessary thoughts. It was not the time to joke around, he reprimanded himself silently. He inspected the glowing orb for a short while before moving up his right hand towards the orb.

The moment he touched the orb, Rio felt warmth he couldn't describe properly in words. Right after that, he felt his heartbeat quickening, pumping blood and something else into his entire body.

This something else made him feel comfortable and empowered. He felt energized as if he had consumed doping drugs that made him excited and full of vigor. At this point, Rio finally realized this orb was the source of his mana, and the swirling liquid inside this orb was the manifestation of his mana. Because of the amount of mana he had, it looks like liquid and not gaseous substance.

Rio was curious about the amount of mana he had in this magic core—he had given the orb that improvisational name—and tried to sense the inside of the orb. However, Rio quickly regretted his action.

The moment his consciousness submerged inside the orb, Rio felt as if he was drowned in the bottomless ocean in which the water was rushing and swirling furiously. His body was being pressured by the endless amount of the liquefied magic energy around him. He was not sure if this amount was enough to be called 'limitless', but he understood that he had an absurd amount of mana within his magic core.

Rio pulled back his consciousness in a hurry and gasped. He had stopped his meditation and returned back to his personal room. However, there was something different with him at this point. His body was currently outlined with platinum light.

While this out of world phenomenon happened with him, Rio felt a powerful stream of energy from his heart, spreading into every inch of his body. With the passing second, the rush of energy increased. And following the intensity of his galloping mana, the platinum light around him became stronger.

Rio realized that he had lost control of his own mana. He recognized the danger he was in. If he didn't find a way to control his insane amount of mana in the next few seconds, the absurd amount of his mana would alert everyone—even Ehit—and he wouldn't allow that to happen.

Since Rio discovered that his second wish to that God had been granted, he had the confidence that his last wish had been granted too. Therefore, Rio tried to trigger off his third wish, the power to create any skill/ability he wants. However, Rio didn't know how he could activate this ability.

Amidst his desperation, he strongly wished that his third wish to God would activate. At this point, the platinum light outlining his body had become brighter to the point of Rio's feeling the oppressive pressure from his own mana. It didn't harm him or hampered his mobility, but it freaked him out. He wanted to control his uncontrolled mana before his condition became worse. He didn't want to get Ehit's attention this soon.

Unbeknownst by Rio, his oppressive mana had affected his neighbors. It knocked the residents of a few rooms close to his, some even frothing like overdose victims. At least, only two rooms next to his and other three rooms in front of his were covered by his oppressive mana. This accident didn't spread to the whole castle—or the whole kingdom at worst, but it would still create some problems in the next morning. Anyway, it was a topic for another time.