World Awakening: The Legendary Player
Chapter 28: Mana

Chapter 28: Mana

Nox was so tired when morning finally came, he could barely keep his eyes open. He had found some abandoned, mostly collapsed building to crash in for a bit, but rest hadn’t really happened.

He had spent the entire night following that blinking map marker for the princess, and despite his best efforts, he still hadn’t found her. The damn marker kept shifting, or the paths were blocked by rubble, and it was seriously starting to piss him off.

He leaned his head back against a surprisingly stable piece of wall and let his eyes drift closed, just for a few minutes. Sleep claimed him quickly, dragging him into a dream he didn’t want.

He was back in his old school, before the monsters, before the system. The same faces, the same taunts. He saw Mark, saw his other classmates. The dream shifted, the question hanging heavy in the air: if none of this new world stuff had ever happened, would he eventually have gone through with it? Would he have killed them?

He woke up with a jolt, his body shaking. His breath came in short, sharp gasps.

’Dammit,’ he thought, pressing a hand to his chest where his heart was pounding. ’Guess my body still remembers all that bullying.’

He let out a long sigh and pulled up his stats. His health was almost full, that regeneration skill doing its job. The wound in his stomach was just a dull ache now, mostly healed.

This was probably the best chance he was going to get to try and awaken his mana. He had that ’Lesser Mana Weaving’ skill, and the description said his channels were sealed but that the skill allowed interaction with ambient mana. It seemed like the logical place to start.

Just as he was about to try and figure out how to actually do it, a familiar, overly enthusiastic text box from Auraelia popped into his vision.

[Auraelia, Goddess of Resilient Sparks (Private Chat)] Morning Nox! ✨ Are you thinking about unsealing your mana channels? That’s a big step! It can be super rewarding, but also... really, really dangerous if you’re not careful! Some people experience intense discomfort! Please be super cautious! 💖🥺

Before he could even process her warning properly, another chat notification appeared, this one in the main, public feed from a god he hadn’t seen before.

[Lady Nyx of the Shadowed Veil] Discomfort? Auraelia, you coddle him. The unsealing of mana is a trial by fire. If he survives, he proves his worth. If not, he was never meant for true power. Go on, Player Nox. Embrace the pain. If you emerge, you’ll have another devoted spectator in me.

He read the new god’s message, a cynical curl to his lip.

’Sounds like a good deal,’ he thought, a touch of his usual dark amusement filtering through his exhaustion. One more fan, one less problem, maybe.

He focused inward, trying to use that ’Lesser Mana Weaving’ skill to feel for this ’ambient mana’ Auraelia had mentioned. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be doing, just reaching out with his mind, trying to pull something towards himself, into himself.

At first, nothing. Then, a faint coolness spread through his limbs. It wasn’t unpleasant, almost like sinking into a cool bath on a hot day.

’Huh, this isn’t so bad,’ he thought. ’Maybe Auraelia was just being dramatic.’

The coolness deepened, then shifted. The sensation of a cool bath slowly, almost imperceptibly, began to warm up. Then it got hotter. And hotter still. The comfortable warmth turned into a burning heat that started to singe at his nerves. A blue progress bar appeared in his vision, stark and unwelcome.

[Mana Channel Unsealing: 15%]

The heat intensified with every passing second, escalating from a burn to feeling like his entire nervous system was being set on fire from the inside out.

’Kugh—’ he choked out internally, his body arching against the wall. ’This is going to kill me.’

In the chaotic god chat, he vaguely registered Auraelia’s frantic messages.

[Auraelia, Goddess of Resilient Sparks] LADY NYX, YOU WICKED WOMAN! 😡 How could you encourage him like that?! He could die! This isn’t a game! NOX, STOP! PLEASE, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS!

He almost let out a laugh, though it would have come out as a pained grunt. This goddess, Auraelia, she sure did seem to care a lot about him. He wondered why she acted like such a kid all the time.

’Anyways, I have to do this,’ he thought, gritting his teeth against the searing heat that was now spreading through his chest. ’It’s the only way to really get stronger. I can’t just keep punching things forever if I want to survive whatever comes next.’

The process got so much worse after that. The burning sensation intensified until it felt like his blood had turned to molten lava, charring his insides. He could feel his skin getting hot to the touch, and a thin trickle of blood started leaking from his nose, then his ears. His body was literally starting to shut down from the overload.

[Mana Channel Unsealing: 68%]

’This is taking its sweet ass time,’ he complained, his vision starting to blur at the edges. The world was tilting, the sounds around him fading into a dull, distant roar.

He was going under. He could feel the blackness creeping in, a tempting promise to end the unbearable pain.

’No, I have to stay awake,’ a part of his brain screamed, a tiny spark of defiance against the overwhelming agony. ’I have to stay awake, no matter what.’

His gaze, hazy and unfocused, fell on the revolver still clutched in his trembling hand. A desperate, completely insane idea sparked in the part of his mind that was still lucid. It was a terrible idea. It was probably the only idea he had left.

He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t have the luxury to think it through. He lifted the gun, his arm shaking with the effort, and pressed the muzzle against his own thigh.

Then he pulled the trigger.

The roar of the shot was deafening in the half-collapsed room. A new, shockingly sharp pain exploded through his leg, a clean, piercing agony that was completely different from the whole-body inferno he was already enduring. The impact slammed his leg back against the rubble.

’Motherfucker!’ he screamed in his head, the raw, visceral shock of the gunshot a lightning bolt that jolted his entire system back to full, excruciating awareness. The blackness receded, chased away by the new, blinding pain.

He pushed through, using the sharp agony in his leg as an anchor to keep his mind from dissolving into the fire. The two competing pains warred within him, but it was enough to keep him conscious. He watched the progress bar with a hate-filled intensity, watching it crawl upwards with agonizing slowness.

To him, it felt like years of torture crammed into a few minutes.

Then, finally, the number on the screen ticked over.

[Mana Channel Unsealing: 100%]

The fire vanished. Just like that, it was gone. The immense, body-wide agony ceased, leaving behind only the throbbing, bleeding hole in his leg and a profound, bone-deep exhaustion. He let out a long, shuddering sigh of pure relief, his head slumping back against the wall.

’It’s finally over,’ he thought, his body limp.

But a new window appeared immediately, its crisp blue text a cruel joke.

[Unsealing Complete. Commencing Stage Two: Mana Core Formation.]

[A stable vessel is required to store mana.]

’Wait, what?’

Before he could even fully process the words, a completely new type of pain exploded from the center of his chest. It wasn’t heat. It was a crushing, grinding pressure, as if a star was being born and dying all at once right inside his ribcage.