Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (best adventure books to read .TXT) 📗

core in time with her breathing. The warm amber glow her energy radiated grew brighter every day we practiced together. She’s getting stronger. Quickly.

With a gentle push, I sent my mana skating off along the floor to cover the entirety of the cart. My mental world grew brighter as the details of the wagon appeared in sharp white lines, contrasting against the empty black void surrounding me. Before my mana reached the wheels, I paused with a slight grin on my face. I’ve never tried detection magic while moving before. This may prove...interesting. With my scientific curiosity piqued I pushed forward, moving the energy down along the wooden wheels to the ground.

The increased draw on my mana reserves was immediate. As soon as the energy touched the ground it was quickly whisked away behind us, leaving a long streak of vision in my mind of the distance we had traveled back to the first point of contact I had made. I compensated somewhat effectively by attempting to match the speed of my mana spread along the ground with the speed of the wagon; my efforts created an odd zone of vision where the road ahead entered my mental map, rushed through to the edge of my mana behind us, and then vanished as quickly as it came. Unfortunately, the effect also wreaked havoc on my inner ear and churned my stomach violently.

I withdrew the mana after a few more seconds of observation. When the energy receded back into the wagon my gut lurched again; once I could see only the cart displayed in my mind, the movement I had grown accustomed to compensating for ceased immediately and confused my sense of balance and direction. I took a few seconds to breathe in an attempt to settle my motion sickness. That is an...interesting caveat to this ability. I guess I should have practiced with walking before I jumped straight into cart travel.

Once my head had stopped spinning, my attention shifted back to Lia. She was channeling mana in a circuit around her body, increasing and decreasing the flow in time with her breath. I watched as a wave of energy pulsed down one leg, bounced back up to her core, and then moved to her right arm. A wide smile spread across my face. She’s having fun with it. My eyes opened as I recalled my mana and let out a contented sigh. I bet she could handle it now.

“Lia,” I called out softly to avoid startling her, “I have something new I’d like to teach you.”

Her eyes snapped open in response, and I could see the excitement play clearly across her face. “What is it? A new spell?”

“Sort of. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a spell, but it’s an ability using your mana.” I chuckled after hearing the words aloud. “I guess that sounds a bit silly. Semantics aside, yes, it’s a new spell. I’ve been calling it detection magic, or Detection for short.”

Lia leaned forward to rest her chin in her hands and looked up at me excitedly. “Detection magic...okay! What does it do? How do I do it?”

I laughed at her unbridled enthusiasm. “Alright. Place your hand flat against the bench beside you.” I moved my hand to demonstrate, and she mimicked the position. “We’re going to channel our mana down to the bench, but instead of trying to suffuse the whole thing like we do with our swords, we’re going to let it flow out along the surface in a thin layer. If you can maintain your focus, you should be able to see whatever the mana is touching displayed in your mind.” I paused for a moment, uncertain. “Does that make any sense? I’m not sure if I’m putting it to words correctly. It’s hard to describe stuff you can’t really...see, you know?”

Lia nodded. “No, I understand! We’re outlining the objects instead of completely filling them, because we aren’t trying to use the mana to activate a spell, right?” I tried to respond, but she continued with a new idea. “Oh! That means we don’t actually use the mana at all! We can pull it back without wasting it.”

“That’s right!” The speed at which Lia picked up the idea was impressive. “You’re getting pretty good at this magic stuff, Lia. You must have had a good teacher.” I raised my eyebrows jokingly and laughed. She rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically as she settled into her meditative stance without a response. Mana flowed down from my legs to the floor and covered the interior of the wagon once again as I prepared to give Lia pointers. “Okay, give it a try. Even though you’re not losing the mana, it can still be a taxing—”

I stopped short and watched in awe as the glowing amber energy flowed down Lia’s arm and spread out over the bench with effortless speed. The aura expanded in a circle from her hand, climbing up around the rest of her body and down to the floor below her. She paused for a moment to laugh and waved her hand in front of her face. “I can see it!” she exclaimed. “I can see my hand! And the bench, and the floor too!” The mana resumed its steady crawl forward and flowed towards me. When it reached my boot Lia squealed loudly, and the energy recoiled to a tight circle around her.

“So bright!” Lia called out, her voice full of wonder. “That was so bright! What was that?” Without waiting for a reply she probed out again with her mana until it reached my foot, then retreated away with a squeaking laugh.

You never cease to amaze me, Lia. “That’s me. More specifically, it’s my toes.”

“Your toes?!” She laughed incredulously. “Why was it so bright? It hurt my eyes! Well, I guess it didn’t actually do that...but it felt like it did for a second.” Lia opened her eyes and examined me. “It was like I was staring at a bolt of lightning, but