Having acquired it, the whole process got a whole lot easier. The strain on my mind was lessened and I was able to reduce the time by almost ten percent. I assumed that on the max level I could deploy the scaled coat in less than a second, so I had a way to compete with other’s normal coat.

Now all I had to do, was to raise the level, and to do that I had to repeatedly wear and dismiss the mana scales. Day after day, all I was doing was sitting in the cave, draining my mana in the process. Apparently inside was a spot of its concentration so dense that it actually boosted my regeneration, so I didn’t have to take breaks apart from getting something to eat.

In the end I managed to increase the skill’s level to five, and decided to stop there, since Felicia was getting bored of waiting for me. My level didn’t rise from my meals again, in which I was disappointed a bit, but I actually gained a skill called [Fly lvl. 1] from it. It confirmed the fact that the meat was coming from some sort of flying creature.

I really wasn’t disappointed in the skill being useless I swear. Without wings it wasn’t really working, and when I tried using it in my shifted ethereal form, my mana went from full to empty in a couple of seconds. I did manage to float for a bit though, so maybe when my mana pool becomes incredibly huge, or when I improve my effectiveness then I could think of flying.

When our third week of training started, we finally moved to something interesting.

[“What you learned were the advanced techniques taught to me by the little spider’s mother. Now there is something I will teach you from my own experience, something much more trivial, and yet extremely useful. I’m talking about magic, the real magic which doesn’t rely on the system, even if it’s still getting supported by it. If the system support ever fails, you will still be able to defend yourself using that ability.”]

Finally a magic lesson! I don’t care how advanced it is, or if it doesn’t rely on the system, I just want to shot some fireballs! Well, maybe not fireballs since I don’t really like the fire, maybe the water balls… no, I hate water too. But I don’t want to throw rocks, so I guess it leaves only air from basic elements.

Nah, I’ll just learn some of the more advanced attributes. I like the dark quite a bit, since it helped me in the fight with the lich, and I already have the [Darkness creation] which is something akin to darkness magic, so I might as well make it my main magic weapon. My previous meeting with the light’s god might have something to do with me preferring the darkness.

[“You both already know how to manipulate mana on quite good level. Now you need to use that ability to influence it. Normally you just send the signal to the system that you want to use magic, sometimes it’s an incantation, sometimes you use your mana similar to telepathy.

But if you want to use real magic, you must use that mana and change its structure itself. First you release it outside of your body, and then manipulate it. If you want to make fire, you make it flow faster and faster, to the point of impossibility, if you want to make water, then you smoothen the flow, make it as liquid as possible. For the wind you make it sharp, sharp enough to cut a stone, and for the earth, you make it still, so it won’t ever be moved.

And only then, you send your intention to the mana itself. The system will catch onto that intention, so it will support the creation of the spell, but the real receiver of it is the bigger entity. Mana isn’t just an invisible energy, it’s alive and sentient, giving its power to every living creature that desires it. In the past there was one person, the goddess herself who managed to hold a conversation with mana itself. Nobody else managed to get any response, and yet she just had casual conversations with a being that governed over the laws of reality.”]

Wow, grandma must have been really amazing then, but I really was more interested in using magic than in historical people. Without any care, I released my mana into the air, sharpening it’s flow to create wind. It wasn’t resisting, letting itself mold to my will, and quickly enough I was ready to command it to become the wind.

And I did just that. It’s just the outcome which really depressed me. Instead of the promised wind, there was a stone which fell from the air where I tried to create the wind. The same magic stone that appeared with my earlier attempts to use magic. I wanted to throw it away with all my might and sulk in the corner, but then I noticed something.

It wasn’t just a round stone like earlier, it was a sharp edge. Not only that, it had a greenish hue to it, so it was definitely different from earlier. I had to appraise it to see if what I was thinking was true.

[Mana stone of the wind]
[A rare resource, often found in the dungeons. It needs almost a hundred years to form, since it’s made out of compressed mana. It’s main use is to help enchant weapons and armor with spells. Because it’s hard to find, it’s very expensive. This one is imbued with the air element.]

Just as I thought, a complete disappointment.

[“But I thought she used the evil attribute earlier, which is deeply connected to destruction, so how is it possible she has creation too?! But that could be understandable going by who her grandmother is, but it should still be impossible to have both of these attributes in a single soul. Just what is going on with that spider!?”]

I heard the dragon mumbling something to itself, but I didn’t quite catch what he said since I was so focused on my depression about being unable to use magic.

Felicia was already shooting fireballs in every possible direction by the way.