9/32/ ADW 118
Jay didn't know what to expect when he woke up. He could have been played by Silvia or whatever her name was and in fact be on the way to his own execution. He didn't quite expect to wake up on the mage's lap though.
"Why am I on your lap?"
"Well I took a page from the women of this thing you called 'anime.' I thought it would at least put you in a fluster. I don't understand the appeal of 'anime' though. Their physiques are all unnatural!" Good thing she hadn't tried to make this seem maternal.
"Did you have to read my mind for that? It's sort of a guilty pleasure you know."
"Yeah I know about your 'fetishes' now. Besides that, who is the one who intended to cut me down?"
Jay had to admit that he had full intentions to silence her. Getting up slowly, he realized they were still in the same surroundings. A rather simple abode, only a more pristine version of Jax's house.
"Well now you will call me master, and I will be here to teach you everything I know. I know you think this would be too good to be true, but I am betting on the fact that you will eventually help me topple our tyrant. You have so many ideas in your head about how to go about it but it is too jumbled up. What exactly is a printing press?"
"Something you don't need to know yet."
Jay knew that the press was essential for freedom, but if he were to create it, then it would be like declaring his existence and therefore war upon the king. Would a revolution be worth it? Freedom might not even be a sure thing, not to mention what the responses of the other countries would be. The casualties would be massive.
"You don't need to ponder those kinds of things. Just learn from me go out and see with your own eyes whether or not a war would be worth it."
Jay decided to forgo giving his answer; she was in his head anyways.
"I am glad we have come to an agreement! I am repairing what the elf did to you. It is incomplete and would eventually lead to backlash that could even kill you. We will dispel in a month or two though probably."
Jay needed a break from surprises. Come on! That was basically kind of like a curse. Wait …
"Yes I am speaking English right now though I understand you have some fluency in … Japanese? That will be useful for analogies later."
Jay was really getting tired of having her in his head.
"You will get to have your privacy if you learn from me diligently. Now soak yourself in that barrel; we still need to teach you how to properly intake mana."
The liquid inside the barrel was a murky black so Jay still had misgivings at placing himself inside, but 'master' was watching, even thinking it was painful but Jay knew big brother was watching. The liquid was strangely hot and cold at the same time; in fact all its characteristics seemed to fluctuating. One second it had the smell of the fabled ambrosia, the next it seemed putrid enough to knock Jay out.
[Hold steady, if you mess up, then you might be crippled for the rest of your life. Now breathe in along with me. Slowly: 1 … 2 … 3.]
Somehow master was talking while breathing, most likely a spell. Scratch that, it was definitely a spell.
[Huh your connection with your swords seems to grounding you somehow. Doesn't matter much right now. Try to reach into yourself towards your center. Yes actually exactly like how when you lock away emotions. Hmm what an unusually angry person, might be problematic when you try to use healing spells.]
When Jay visited the mental image of his emotions for the second time, its unusual realness finally dawned on him. He had always imaged putting away ugly emotions in boxes so he could burn through them almost like fuel for his running. But this never reached the level of realness like now. He could actually see the box of emotions concerning killing the elf floating around lethargically. Jay pushed by the box, moving towards what seemed to be a core?
[Yes it's almost exactly like those cores from xanxia. In fact I guess this world itself is almost identical to many of the novels you have read. Maybe you have maybe you haven't noticed, but the black 'nothingness' surrounding you is actually made up of particles and not actually nothingness. Huh so you would refer to this stuff as particles? Well try gathering some in your hands.]
Jay did as suggested and the black material turned out spongy. Huh, master did come to the conclusion that mana in her world was what carbon was in his. The potentials got his heart racing.
[Now you should realize that this black stuff is what you are submerged in currently right now. You could go further and actually reach into your inner core, but now I want you to notice the main current and follow it along.]
Jay followed the current but it split into a seemingly infinite number, but he was keeping up somehow. Then … ah the branches numbered about 480 million give or take. Now where did he see that number before? Oh he was looking at his lungs.
[Yes you are looking at your 'lungs' right now. You should notice that some of your … 'alveoli' are strained. That is from you running without paying attention to your intake. Most don't apply themselves to the Valerculean task of micro-managing all 480 million but eventually it will be a subconscious thing even in battle. Fortunately everything else is what you would call automatic. You already can monitor them simultaneously, so it's a start. Some only have only partial success in that. Doesn't sound like you would have this ability considering your home world though. Maybe this has something to do with the summoning ritual that was used to bring you to this world? That's all I wanted you to realize; rather perceptive aren't you? I expected this to take much longer. Now go back up to your core to exit.]
Jay did as master suggested, or at least tried to. The third time he touched the box, it outright shattered. Maybe it was because those emotions were concentrated or they were just that much intense, he didn't know; anyways two new currents formed.
[Jay what did you do? What in Jadry's blasted name?]
Jay couldn't see or hear what was happening that kept master, but he couldn't let these two currents go wild for long. What was something that could behave like a wave but could be physically dealt with by hand? Certainly not light, nor, water, wait what about hoses? Mentally imaging hoses around the currents, Jay flicked them out straight. The wildness seemed to be expelled outwards, but otherwise seemed to work otherwise. Jay went back to his center to rise back to the waking world. What awaited him was carnage with his bared swords at the center, scraps of the scabbards he appropriated hanging off.
"Boy it's my fault that I didn't realize your swords were in fact connected to your core but you really made a mess of my house didn't you? Now I only have half a year to teach you! Once we got your mana intake under control I thought we might be able to hide you, but there is no way they aren't going to notice the mana scars from today. Ugh!"
As if on cue, another piece of the rafter broke off and made a loud thump on the floor.