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2024-10-29 19:42:56"What idea do you have about mana?" Rivorio suddenly asked me.
"I don’t know ... but ..." Having no direct experience with this "energy", I focused on thinking about fantasy stories or video games from my world where it was present.
"Mana ... I think it is a kind of energy present in nature ...and which can be absorbed and fruited to do absurd things ... like spells or other ..."
"EHH, of course, of course, I was asking you more in detail ...". Rivorio muttered, "well, actually mana itself is hard to describe, as its nature is changeable and sometimes it behaves as if it were made of matter, other times it feels like something else ... mana, as you said, is present everywhere in nature, and sometimes it is also present in objects… ”. He paused with thoughtful faces, "For a human being, imagining mana is difficult, that's why first of all you need to learn to perceive it ... after you are able to perceive it, you will finally have an idea of what mana is ..."
'Oh … mmh, indeed, if I explain to a person what "yellow" is without his having ever seen it, until he sees it firsthand, he will never know what yellow really is... mmh ... or at least I think ... '
"I think I understand ... but how do I do it to perceive mana?" I asked doubtfully.
“EHH… actually the simplest way would be to fight and risk your life against magical beasts…. indeed ... you who have already fought risking your life twice, once with that errant bear and the other with that chimera hound ... don't you feel you are a little different? "
"Mmh ..." I tried to think but nothing came to mind.
"Strange ... usually the body becomes more aware of mana when it is in a life or death situation ..."
I wanted to ask him why, however, before I could ask, I answered myself.
'Whether it's because of the survival instinct ...'
'Mmh ... ah-'
"Maybe ... the fact that after both the fight with the bear and the fight of the day before yesterday I recovered very quickly, is it because I become more conscious of mana? " I asked, in fact, it had been a while since I was curious as to why I recovered so quickly, compared to the injuries I suffered.
"EHH ... not really, that is due to the fact that you are a hero ... even the heroes before you had something special compared to us ordinary people," he air-quoted with both hands, "mana treats you differently, it's as if you involuntarily attracted mana to you… it's thanks to this that you recovered from that condition so quickly… ”he scratched his chin, “actually, you are a special case even among the heroes…” he added.
"Mmh?"
"Ehh, when they brought you to me that you were in very bad condition, the mana around you seemed to help you heal your wounds almost voluntarily ..." He said as if he was still incredulous about it.
'Hmm, so… maybe then it'll be easy for me to learn how to use mana, right?'
"Don't flatter yourself..." he added as if he had read my mind.
For a while Rivorio did not speak, as if he had lost his train of thread, then he got up from his chair and went to a shelf full of books.
Without hesitation, he picked up a book and carried it with him to the table.
'Ah, he managed to find the book he was looking for the first time in this messy room ...' I was almost more surprised by that than when he had made the cookies appear out of nowhere.
Rivorio handed the book to me, inviting me to take it.
The front of the book was quite sparse and damaged. It had only one writing in the center: the title of the book.
"Mmh ... be aware of what surrounds us ... what is it?" I asked.
"Read it ... it will help you sense mana around you ... and then ..." He walked on another shelf and picked up a sheet of yellowish paper, placed between a scattered pile of other loose sheets.
'How does he ...' I was incredulous to see how he juggled that mess.
"Here, this is a recipe for an herbal tea ... mmh, let's say it will help you broaden your horizons ..."
"Mmh ... one second ..." 'He gave me the recipe so ...' "Will I have to make the herbal tea myself?"
"Exactly, and ... wait ...". He took a book bound in dark green leather from the same shelf.
"Here, you will have to go and collect what you need in the woods ... this is an encyclopedia of the flora and fauna of the surroundings ..."
The fact that I should already have gone back to the woods made me a little nervous. However, part of me found something interesting about this.
'It's almost like a treasure hunt ...' this thought made me smile faintly, however, that smile didn't last long.
"But ... that beast I met the other day ... you said it was a Chimera Hound ... but what is it actually, that is, is it an errant or something else?"
"What you have faced is none other than one of the exploration monsters of the first plague, the Chimera Plague ...". Rivorio answered.
"But then ..." I did not finish the sentence, however, Rivorio understood my concerns.
He went to a shelf and took a hemp parchment with him, which he then unrolled onto the table.
"Look ..." he pointed to the map, "this is the map of the region we are in now, the region of Sa°r, this region is partly conquered by the first plague to the north, while that tip to the east has been conquered by the second plague,” he pointed with his right index finger at the easternmost tip of the region. A region, that of Sa°r, with a shape that vaguely resembled a parallelogram.
"Until now, this part of the region in which we are has never been affected by the plans to conquer of the Plagues… in fact, this could be considered the safest area in the world ..." he said, pointing his finger to where we were on the map.
"Mmh ..." a theory came to mind about it, “maybe it's because this is the place where we heroes appear…” calling myself “hero” still made me feel a little weird.
"Ehh, I thought about it too ... however, think about it, what sense would it make for the Lord of the Plagues to leave the area where its greatest threats appear, that is you heroes, as last in its conquests? ..." he said in a perplexed tone.
"Mmh ..." 'Indeed ...'
I was about to ask him about the cities that were marked on the map, however, we were stopped by the call of a familiar voice, it was Marie's voice coming from outside Rivorio's house.
Both Rivorio and I went to the door to see why she was calling us.
We found her waiting for us in front of the door. Although her eyes still hid some visible psychological wounds, she had a smile on her face.
"We would like to thank you with a lunch ..." She began to speak without preamble.
"Mmh?" Rivorio and I reacted at the same time.
"Yes, well ... both Tom and Lilya, I and other regulars of the inn ... we would like to thank you for your deeds ..." Her gaze turned to me.
"EHH ..." Rivorio grunted, "well, you go Eizo, I don't really want to ..." he grumbled.
"Huh ?! No no, you come too!" Marie insisted, however, Rivorio heard no reason and went back to the living room.
"R-Rivorio?" I tried to call him.
He turned his gaze to me
"Have fun, this is also part of being a hero, don't think about me, I'm not made for this kind of thing ..." he said, face dull, and then turned back to the chair he had previously sat on.
"But ..." I didn't know how to make him change his mind, even Marie didn't seem to understand his behavior well.
"Well ... will you come?"
“Y-yeah…” I wasn't made for that sort of thing either, however, I felt I couldn't turn down her invitation too.
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As soon as I asked him, I saw in him a reaction that I did not expect. It wasn't irritation, that in his eyes was fear, fear of rethinking the past.We sat facing each other as we ate breakfast on the table in the living room.He didn't seem to have had a hangover from the previous day, maybe he had drunk some of his potions.I strangely did not feel bad, just a slight headache.I had just asked Rivorio why he didn't leave the house.He tried to sidetrack the question by changing the subject several times, however, his tactic didn't work for me. I wanted to know about his past, my grandfather always told me: >."I don't want to talk about it ..." Rivorio finally admitted that there was something in his past that he didn't want to talk about."Mmh ... but ... if you tell me about it I cou
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As I checked the time, another thing left me puzzled, I didn't even take a notch. 'Well, after all, I am in a cave in the middle of a forest in the mountains, it is not as rare as a thing ...' Then I turned around and "plunged" into the forest again. 'Mmh ... there is something wrong ... but what ...' I stopped in the middle of the pine trunks, I looked around, and a lump rose in my throat. 'Where am I?!' I noticed that I was no longer where I was before, the pines were mostly bare of needles, many had reddish needles and looked sick. There were neither brambles nor mushrooms attached to the foot of the conifers. It looked like a dying forest. I also noticed how much colder, almost wintry air was, and how much it gave a gray and gloomy aspect to the surrounding environment. I remained motionless for a while with fear. *Fuh I recognized the sound instantly and turned towards it. A grayish flame levitated to my left. *Fuh Fuh Fuh… Other flames from the round base appeared
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And so, Ruh told me his story and how he had met Rick and Sofie.Ruh, as I had guessed, was once a warrior, or rather, a knight belonging to an order called "Lion's Heart". This order, as the name suggests, was made up of the bravest knights of the Saar region, and was born about seventy years before my arrival in that world.When this order of knights was born, this world was at the dawn of the advance of the Plagues armies, especially the first Plague from the north, in the Saar region.All the craziest and most complicated missions that were devised to try to stop the Plagues were given to the knights of this order.Ruh was born in a small town northwest of a few inhabitants named Vidù. This town fell to the First Plague army when Ruh was only 8 years old. Almost all the inhabitants of Vidù were massacred.Ruh was one of the few who escaped this massacre, hiding in time by his parents in a secret underground closet. Ruh, that day, from that closet, heard the screams and the bodies
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towards SaarKal
When the sun went down we decided to settle on a natural clearing among the trees, staying close to the road that led north.Fortunately, the first day of walking ended smoothly, in fact, we did not meet anyone that day.The group of merchants I traveled with consisted of three people: a man in his fifties named Ruh, a woman and a man in their thirties, named Sofie and Rick. Apparently, the latter had decided to start a family when they arrived in SaarKal.Ruh had a massive physique, was tall, and dressed in a dark gray medieval tunic. He had blue eyes and short blond hair. The first time I saw him he gave me the idea that he was some kind of Viking or something, he didn't look like a merchant at all, and instinct told me he was very good at fighting.Sofie and Rick, on the other hand, didn't have the same "aura" as him, they looked like two normal merchants. She was dressed in a dark blue suit, now a bit worn, while he had a thin physique, and did not seem to hide much strength. They
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Rivorio then began to tell me in detail about the northern part of the region we were in, advising me to choose the fortress city of SaarKal as the first stop on my journey. SaarKal was not a very large city, having a population, at the last census, of about 18,000 inhabitants; it was, however, the fastest-growing city in the region. Tom then spoke to me of many rumors that indicated this city as the city with the strongest body of knights in the region, and that, that was the reason for the splendor of the city. Rivorio then showed me the roads I should take to get to SaarKal. This city was northwest of where I was and it would take me three weeks on foot to reach it. 'Mmh ... and those two cities ...' I noticed two cities quite close to each other, these seemed bigger than SaarKal. "Sorry Rivorio ... and these two cities?" They were located in the extreme northeast of the Saar region. "Ehhh ..." At my question, Rivorio frowned. "These two are the cities of Fo and Vert ... they
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I spent most of the following months training and studying the plants and animals in the area, which I needed to survive out there.First of all, I had to learn how to perceive mana. To do this, I followed the advice of the book that Rivorio had given me.As Rivorio had also told me, the book explained how the simplest way to achieve this was to risk your life in deadly combat with preferably magical beasts.However, as much as I wanted to perceive mana as soon as possible, I would not have willingly wanted to risk my life. For this, I decided to follow another path described by the book, based on meditation, breathing exercises, and physical effort.Meditation, thanks to the herbal tea for which Rivorio gave me the recipe, turned out to be quite simple, in fact, already after five days I was able to meditate for hours and hours without getting tired.Physical exertion, as reported in the book, served to make the body aware of mana fluttering in the air, and was obviously achieved wit
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A sad past
As soon as I asked him, I saw in him a reaction that I did not expect. It wasn't irritation, that in his eyes was fear, fear of rethinking the past.We sat facing each other as we ate breakfast on the table in the living room.He didn't seem to have had a hangover from the previous day, maybe he had drunk some of his potions.I strangely did not feel bad, just a slight headache.I had just asked Rivorio why he didn't leave the house.He tried to sidetrack the question by changing the subject several times, however, his tactic didn't work for me. I wanted to know about his past, my grandfather always told me: >."I don't want to talk about it ..." Rivorio finally admitted that there was something in his past that he didn't want to talk about."Mmh ... but ... if you tell me about it I cou
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An almost peaceful day
I followed Marie to the inn, where a small banquet organized by Lilya and Tom was waiting for me. Like the first time, as soon as I walked through the door of the inn, everyone inside turned their attention to me, however, this time their gaze was filled with gratitude.Some people approached me, thanking me and shaking my hand as a sign of respect, and others asked me how I had done it. Finally, they invited me to drink and eat with them, I couldn't tell them "no", and so, a kind of party began, a party that gave off a familiar warmth, in which, strangely, I never felt out of place.The food wasn't much, and the beer wasn't the best, however, everything in there seemed to taste better.We danced and sang in chorus for hours, not worrying about the noise we made, until it got dark.Many began to doze off on the ground and the party slowly faded away.Only Tom, Lilya, Marie, and I remained awake. We sat in creaking chairs and around a circular table. As soon as I sat down, my head beg
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Mana
"What idea do you have about mana?" Rivorio suddenly asked me."I don’t know ... but ..." Having no direct experience with this "energy", I focused on thinking about fantasy stories or video games from my world where it was present."Mana ... I think it is a kind of energy present in nature ...and which can be absorbed and fruited to do absurd things ... like spells or other ...""EHH, of course, of course, I was asking you more in detail ...". Rivorio muttered, "well, actually mana itself is hard to describe, as its nature is changeable and sometimes it behaves as if it were made of matter, other times it feels like something else ... mana, as you said, is present everywhere in nature, and sometimes it is also present in objects… ”. He paused with thoughtful faces, "For a human being, imagining mana is difficult, that's why first of all you need to learn to perceive it ... after you are able to perceive it, you will finally have an idea of what mana is ..."'Oh … mmh, indeed, if I ex
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The substance that shaped the history of the world
When I was left alone in the room, I finally cleared my mind about what had happened.'This time I really risked dying ... however, having managed to defeat that chimera ...'My actions last day made me happy and proud at the same time, after all, in the world I came from I was certainly not considered a brave person.I checked my pants pockets. As I suspected they were empty.'So they used the flowers I picked for Marie…' Of course, I couldn't be sure without asking Rivorio, but I was convinced it went just like that.I looked around, I saw my fur coat hanging on a small clothes rack, placed next to the wardrobe to my right. As absurd as it may seem, I only noticed in that instant that I was not wearing it and that both my clothes and my body were clean.'Hmm, I guess I have to thank Rivorio for that ...'Not being able to leave the room, I stayed all day staring at the ceiling above me, thinking back to the absurd first two days spent in my new home.'So this will be my new home ...
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What warms the heart
At the moment of my awakening, I found myself in a rather familiar room, it was the bedroom where I had my first sleep in that world. I was therefore in the residence of Rivorio. 'How did I end up here ...' I noticed that I did not feel pain along my body, it surprised me not a little, so I tried to sit up, however, as soon as I tried to lift my torso, an excruciating pain ran all over my back. "AHHKh!" As absurd as it may sound, the back pain I felt at the time was even worse than what I felt during the fight with the chimera. I remembered, then, that it was the same in football, and similarly in all sports, when you recive a foul, the real pain comes at the end of the day when your body has cooled down and the adrenaline in your body is reduced. Because of that pain, I could not help but lie down again. *Gurgle My belly began to grumble, I was incredibly hungry. Unable to move, I realized that my only chance to get Rivorio to notice me was to scream, although I didn't like the
