Simo

 Special thank you to Eduardo Garcia, kynan, and all my Patreons thanks to who we have currently reached 44 chapters ahead and with this we finally begin the second volume of the story!

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The next days were spent without any problems, Ynos was finally able to leave the mountain now that the fairy situation had been dealt with. Essie never goes too far away from home, and Immy spent most of her days basking under the sun, while Sidus still had the habit of sneaking off somewhere at night. 

I, on the other hand, would spend most of my day in the lake and only go back when It's my turn to hunt, or when the sun is setting down. The large lake that I once considered to be too big, felt rather small and restricted. It did not take me too long to cross the whole thing underwater, and I already had a general idea of its denizens. 

Somehow, I found myself yearning for the boundless ocean. There I had felt freer, and much stronger. 'The quality of water mana was different too,' I inwardly mumbled. I was currently sitting on top of the water in the middle of the lake, a sigh escaped my mouth. 

The thick water mana surrounded me, brushing itself against my scales. As I breathed in, It would flow inside of me like a stream and then move on to form a circle of sorts before leaving my body. This cycle continued unconsciously, slowly strengthening my body. It was also using this that I was able to heal myself of any injuries I had before, I would simply accelerate the cycle of mana by forming a water bubble around myself. 

'So is mana our main source of power?' I often found myself wondering. It certainly seemed that way, especially with all of its uses. It could attack, It could defend, and It could even heal. Then again, I still could not get over the heart power, something was missing. 

'I don't think I'm using mana nor the heart energy to their full extent, It feels like something is missing but what?' I scratched my head, as a low growl of annoyance escaped my mouth. 'Just what am I overlooking?' I let a sigh, forcing myself to calm down before I jumped into the air, the water rippling below me. 

'Let's just go back for today,' the sun had yet to set, but I was no longer in the mood. I wanted to go sleep already and forget about this, for now, It felt like I was running empty circles trying to grasp something I don't even understand. 

As I rose through the air, my eyes were unconsciously drawn back to the large lake below. The scenery was truly beautiful, with the thick forest surrounding it, It was almost mesmerizing. Just then a sudden idea fell on my mind, inspiration if you might. "Wait a minute! I didn't try that yet!" I hastily stopped in my tracks as I continued to observe the lake below. 

'What if the key was in mana all along and not the heart energy?' Looking at the water body below, a sudden thought made its way into my head. 'What is the mana is like the lake below? So far all It has been doing is complete a cycle inside my body and then leave, but what if It wasn't supposed to leave!' 

I knew I was desperately trying to grasp at any sign of hope, but I felt as if this time, I have finally found my shining beacon. Like an arrow let loose, I swiftly descended back to the water below, my wings were tucked by my side further increasing my speed. 

Just as I was about to reach the water, I quickly opened them which abruptly halted my descent and instead changed my direction sending me rushing ahead instead. I flapped my wings to slow down and gently touched the water below, not siking to the bottom but instead standing on top of It like It was hard ground. 

"This place will do," I mumbled out loud, I was standing in the middle of the lake with strong water mana surrounding me. I closed my eyes and reached out to it, I had no problem doing so and easily felt the mana going in and out of my body. 

'Wait, even if I can keep the mana from leaving, where am I supposed to store it?' I was quickly faced with another dilemma. 'Perhaps this is where the heart energy comes into play?' I wondered, I slowly guided the mana towards my heart, I was well aware that what I was doing was risky, but still, I had no other choice, It was all or nothing. 

To my immediate surprise, the mana that was always so obedient to me refused to stay no matter how I willed it to! It even outright ignored me when I tried to order it. 'What the hell?!' It simply continued its cycle and harmlessly left my body. 

A frown made its way onto my face, I quickly tried again only to be met with another failure. The mana simply refused to follow my orders, and for the first time, I felt helpless and betrayed. 'Wait! This just might work,' I suddenly recalled my father's breath attack, the one where he had used his heart energy to guide his mana attack. 

'Maybe that's what the heart energy is for?' I wondered, I slowly reached out to it and willed to gather and guide the mana towards my heart. To my amazement, It worked! The heart energy worked like a natural guide to the mana which surprisingly stopped its resistance. 

Once my water mana slowly began to accumulate around my heart, a change began to appear. My heart energy worked like a bubble that held the mana inside, the bubble continued to expand as more amounts of mana were absorbed in It until It finally reached the size of a small fist and then finally stopped growing. 

My heart energy then moved as If It had a will of Its own, the bubble near my heart began to rapidly shrink in size as a strange yet somewhat familiar aura emitted out of It. I watched over It in curiosity and anticipation as It continued to shrink from the size of a small fist to that of a finger before It finally exploded with a puff, and then everything went dark. 

I felt disoriented for a few seconds as my eyes slowly blinked open. I felt different, very different, my body did not feel the same. I opened my eyes to a large blue space, one where the sky and ground seemed connected with a gentle blue color. I looked down in surprise only to find out that I had no physical body, I had no form. 

I was everywhere at the same time, I unconsciously understood what this was. This was my soul space, I had succeeded! A loud cry full of excitement reverberated throughout the entire space causing it to shake. I still did not know the full extent of my powers, but for now, what I did know was that I was invincible in here. 

My body suddenly materialized in the middle of the space, I brought my claw to my face as I observed It, and then changed Its form to my will. My grin widened as I slowly began to understand how the space worked. 

'This is fun!'