Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (hardest books to read txt) 📕

new magic skill that I bet nobody in the world has ever seen!” I patted her hand. “I don’t want you to feel disappointed about anything. I’m sure that with some practice, and some more studying later, I’ll figure out what…” A memory rushed to the front of my mind. She CAN give me the feeling.

“Lia.” I looked at her with newfound purpose and took her hand between mine. “Do you remember the night when you first unlocked your mana? Do you remember how it happened?”

Lia reddened and looked away, either surprised by my abrupt tonal shift or uncomfortable from the physical closeness. “O-of course I do. I didn’t really understand what you did at the time, but thinking back on it now...you gave me some of your mana, right?”

“That’s right,” I said with an emphatic nod. “I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but I noticed an unintended side effect of my channeling mana through your body. I’m not sure why, but at that moment I felt like…like I was...” I let out a frustrated breath as I struggled for words. “It was like I could sense through you. The line where my body stopped and yours began was blurred, and I could feel your body like it was my own.” The blush of Lia’s face grew darker, and she nodded her acknowledgement quietly.

“Maybe, if we do that again, I could feel through you and figure out how to replicate it in myself.” I knew it was an absurd request, and felt a pang of guilt at putting Lia in a potentially awkward situation. Carefully, I dropped her hand and slid back on the bench. “I must sound like an insane person, getting all serious on you like that. I’m slowly coming to the realization that I know even less about magic than I thought. I know I’m asking a lot of you, so please don’t feel obligated—”

“No. No, I want to do it,” Lia affirmed. “I said I wanted to help you however I could, and I think this could help.” She gave me a sly grin. “You did sound a little intense, though.”

I laughed, relieved by her levity. “Sorry, I got a bit excited there.” I swung my legs up onto the bench and turned to face her. “So, this might feel a bit...weird. You have control over your own mana now, and I’m sure that will help, but this is mostly uncharted territory for me.” Once I was comfortable, I held my hands out to her with my palms facing upwards. “Are you ready?”

After a deep breath, Lia nodded and placed her hands in mine. “Ready.”

“Okay. I’m going to reach out with my mana now. I imagine it’s going to be a strange experience, and your body will most likely try to resist a foreign force. Just do your best to relax,” I said calmly, in an attempt to set the mood appropriately. With careful restraint, I channeled energy down to the tips of my fingers. I could see her mana buzzing vibrantly in her hands in anticipation. “In three...two...one…”

I gave a gentle push as the energy suffused up through my skin and attempted to enter through hers. As I expected, I found a level of resistance far greater than anything I had encountered before. My mana stopped hard against her hands as Lia’s body flared with an angry burnished gold energy. Instead of increasing my force to try to overwhelm her defenses, I held the pressure constant at a light push and observed her response. “Whenever you’re ready, Lia. Take your time.”

Lia replied with a soft grunt of effort. We sat quietly for a while, completely engrossed in our efforts, until she hissed in frustration. “I can’t make it stop,” Lia whispered. “No matter what I do, I can’t put down the barriers and let you in.”

“Let’s try a different approach. Why don’t you reach out too?” I could tell Lia was angry with herself, so I spoke with the most pleasant tone possible. “Maybe if you extend your mana outwards, it’ll leave a gap in your defenses that I could use.”

She raised an eyebrow at the statement. “I’m not really sure it works that way Lux, but I’ll do my—”

A small amber tendril of energy snaked its way out from her finger and pressed down into my palm, and I felt the consistent pressure I held on my mana break as a rush of blue lightning raced up and snuck past the newly exposed gap in her defenses. Whatever Lia was trying to say was immediately cut off as the world seemed to catch fire. My arms seized reflexively as a vibrant rush of yellow energy cascaded through my body. I watched in fascination as it rapidly suffused my whole being, somehow able to coexist alongside my own mana.

As I experienced the new sensation, I had a dim awareness that Lia was in a similar situation. With my mind completely overloaded, my mana had charged forward with reckless abandon. In just a few moments it mapped out her entire body and began to circulate through it passively, as it often did within myself. The frantic pace of exploration eventually slowed, and I regained a small measure of control of the electric blue energy. As the initial sensory overload of Lia’s mana began to recede in kind, another feeling grew to take its place.

My initial theory proved to be correct; wherever my mana flowed, I gained a passive awareness of the sensations felt there. I could see Lia’s clothing in my mind with detection magic, but I could also feel it resting against her skin. I could feel her small, soft hands resting atop mine, but through her hands I felt my own calloused skin holding them up. The impossible duality of the situation consumed every ounce of processing power my brain could muster.

We sat frozen in place for what felt like hours, completely transfixed by our efforts. As I adapted to the