The First Legendary Beast Master novel Chapter 104

Chapter 104 Mana Stairs

Karl managed to make it to the third step before the crushing weight of the mana test forced him to a stop, freezing his body in place and preventing him from taking another step. _{freēwebnovel.com}

There was an enormous amount of power around him, and he had very little clue about what to do with it. It wasn't the same as the energy in his beast spaces, but it was similar. It almost felt like an unformed magical attack, power waiting for guidance.

That was a concept that he understood a bit better. The energy that he used to form attacks came through the beast space, normally Hawk's as Karl hadn't tried really using any ability but Rend and Shred. He could use the Lightning Shield to a comfortable standard, and Offensive Optimization was more of a passive ability that worked all the time, so it was the one space where he normally got his power.

But if he reversed that path, taking the outside power and pulling it back into the space, would that improve them? There was one way to find out, and this trial hadn't hurt any of the mages who drew the power in, so it should be safe enough.

Karl stood motionless on the third step as the mages all walked past him with curious looks. The worst of them had made it to the fifth step yesterday, but Karl, who was much more powerful, was stuck on the third.

From their point of view, the test definitely favoured mages, and they had made the right choice to keep training their strengths before worrying about their weaknesses. Their strengths were still weak enough that they couldn't be neglected.

Karl managed to get a trickle of energy to flow into the three spaces, filling them with sparkling motes of light that slowly integrated themselves with the constructs that Karl had made to flesh the spaces out into their own small worlds.

He did his best to meditate as he stood there, frozen in place, and the trickle eventually became, well, it was still a trickle, Karl couldn't lie to himself and call it more than that, but it was a steady one.

The plant life was multiplying, improving the lake in Hawk's space, the grasslands in Thor's and the bushes in Rae's home, while also condensing a stronger energy inside. The expansion rate was still the same as it had been last night, but the quality of the space was actually improving now.

That hadn't really been the case before. It would improve a little when Karl focused on adding an element, but mostly he improved the size of it so that it would stabilize and allow the pet's energy to feed back to him.

Karl wasn't sure how much time had passed when the burden on him began to lessen, and he managed to move up another step. But he noticed that the sun was no longer overhead, and it was on the side of his face when he moved up to the fifth stair.

The team was going to be overjoyed when they got back home tonight. Karl's lake was an actual lake now, with small silver fish made of pure energy flitting about in it, Thor's grasslands had a number of solid stone pillars that he shouldn't be able to break and enough room to get a good run at them, while Rae's dark bushes now had a half dozen trees, placed so that she could spin a web between them all to create the ultimate nest.

The energy level was noticeably higher, and it was beginning to feel closer to the mana rich atmosphere of the mage training areas than the open training fields where the warriors worked at the Academy.

Karl continued right until the sun touched the horizon and the Golems kicked them all out, then went back to sit around the campfire, where the self-appointed cook was collecting ingredients for the evening meal.

"We're doing the beef stew packages today, if you could toss me yours." Their designated cook announced as Karl walked up.

"Yeah, give me a second, it's in the tent."

The clerics had collected a number of herbs while they were out, as well as some edible roots when the group stopped outside the cave, so although they didn't have any rations with them, they could still contribute to the pot.

The roots weren't very nutritious, but they were large, and they added volume to the meal, making it look even more impressive. The rations were supposed to be lightweight and easy to pack, but that meant calorie dense, not large and filling.