But for a Slime

Chapter 271 - 059.1 - A Great Disappointment

Chapter Fifty Nine

Joe lay with his back against the tree, the sparkling diamond stars lit the sky like in absolute brilliance and Joe found himself basking in the landscape. His body and arms lay pressed against the tree trunk and the grass, held in place by long vines and grasses. The pressure upon him was not painful, but actually comforting, as if he were cocooned in a blanket or sleeping bag.

He rested there, content. Suddenly, tension overwhelmed him, and uncertainty and fear whispering through his soul like smoky fog twisting through gnarled trees. Joe snapped his head up, struggling against the bindings, the pleasant cocooning of the grass now unpleasant restraints that kept him from being able to take in where his fear was overwhelming him from. His eyes flickered across the landscape in search. He immediately saw the camp fire in the distance, noticing a family and his apprentices reposing around it in enjoyment. Surrounding them, shadows danced with five very specific and recognizable faces.

Immediately, Joe snapped aware, although not awake. He was still in his dream and immediately knew where and what he was. The restraint on him immediately faded, although he still felt pressed down, although in comfort now, instead of restraint. All the figures, shadow bandits and friendly camp goers both, froze in place at his realization and the dream faded and disappeared, leaving him in peace. Joe considered for a moment, wondering whether he should try to go back to sleep or if he should wake up and begin his day. When he found himself drifting back to sleep, he accepted it and fell to blissful sleep.

* * *

Joe woke in the morning rising slowly from the fugue of perfect rest. He remained in repose for a bit before sitting up and stretching, a might yawn wrenching through his whole body. Man… perfect way to wake up! Joe thought with a smile as he continued rolling his whole body from toes to neck. He simply enjoyed the moment for a bit before finally settling into his bed and began grunting the mana out of himself once again. He did try to allow mana to escape naturally, for a bit, spending about five minutes on it, but was unable to allow any out. He did feel a lot closer than ever before, now certain that he'd figured out some things, but still struggled to accomplish it, even once.

Finally, he went back to his grunting full body exertion to force it out and then into exhaustion to continue his practice. As he did so, he took the time to manipulate the mana outward in waves, shapes, directions, and differing purposes. He was able to accomplish some of the more easily grasped ideas, but really struggled to the more complex things, like his automatic defensive shields and other things. Pointing it in a direction and puking out mana was quite easy. He did this two or three times, and even felt his control of his mana stutter a bit on his third try, coming out smoothly as he was, somehow, able to release the mana on his own will instead of squeezing it out forcibly through a closed lid.

After his third cycle of exhaustion and his MP at close to zero, he turned to playing with his points, but did not really do much with the mana itself, wanting, instead, to learn about the points themselves. He looked at each of the points, but noticed nothing too different between them, although he still remembered which one he'd played with the most, when it came to its shell and containment. He continued his experimentation on the second one, twisting, turning, pulling, and any other idea he could think of, although there was little twisting or turning. The pulling, actually worked out, and he added that to his repertoire of messing with the mana point shell, center, and containment.

After playing with his mana and mana points for a good hour or two, the others started stirring, although nobody actually woke up, the light from the dim moons and brighter gas giant still unchanged. Still night? Wonder why they're stirring?

Joe paused, looking at them for a bit before looking around the room and realizing the room seemed to be bathed in his excess ejected mana, a thin haze of some kind wafting through the room. Huh… are they sensitive to it? Garnedell sure noticed easy enough as soon as I farted out a huge cloud of mana… maybe it's messing with their sleep. What should… oh… maybe just alternate mana work and kata forms; let the mana dissipate a bit? Joe started to stand for his morning forms but then realized he still hadn't looked at his status now that he'd hit level thirty in spell caster. That would work… take a look at my skills at stats! With that, Joe took a look at his current job and his full stats, wanting to see how close he was to reaching parity with his Earth stats.