Restart Again: Volume 1 by Adam Scott (pocket ebook reader TXT) 📕

time. I should probably get some mastery over the ability before I try to base others on it.

Extending my mana back out a short distance, I practiced various forms of control over the projection in my head. Concentrating the mana into a cone in front of me instead of a full circle made it much easier to project out to great distances. However, I found that the difficulty of maintaining the connection increased proportionally with the space traveled, regardless of how wide or narrow an area I was covering. The effect was always the same: White outlines of whatever the mana touched cutting a sharp contrast against the black slate of my meditative mind.

As I continued to play with the new ability, more interesting quirks revealed themselves to me. If I focused intently on a point revealed by my mana, I could observe it in my mind as though it were directly in front of me. Even though Lia was facing away from me, I could still see that her eyes were closed tightly when I pictured her in my mind. The intricate details of a flower halfway across the clearing were as clear as if I held it in my hands, given enough concentration.

A darting rustle through the tall grass behind me caught my attention. Reaching out towards the source, a small green outline appeared through the leaves of a small bush. A lizard about the size of a house cat licked its eyeball casually, head twitching to look in seemingly random directions. I was intrigued by the projection’s coloration. Does this mean...animals have mana too? Maybe it’s an inherent characteristic of all living things, not just the “advanced” creatures like us.

Curious, I tried to focus down on the dirt below the grass around my hand. As I looked closer, I noticed small lines of minuscule green lights bobbing along between the individual blades of grass. They’re ants. With a shudder, I suddenly became overly aware of how outnumbered I was by the insects in the clearing. I know that there’s always bugs around, but to see thousands of them all at once...that’s disconcerting.

Completely lost in my mental world, I began to follow the actions of random insects. Ants carried small bits of food over mountainous pebbles and down into their nests. It was difficult to trace all the branching paths beneath an anthill with mana, but I relished the challenge, and eventually had an entire colony mapped before my eyes. A spider strolled by the entrance, and my focus shifted to follow it on a winding trek back to its web where dinner awaited. It bounded up a strand with ease and set to work munching on a struggling fly whose green light slowly faded away to a dull white outline.

A voice caught me off guard. “Mmmm...g’morning, Lux.” Lia rolled over in my lap, looking up at me through one barely opened eye. She held up a hand in front of her face and laughed softly. “Why did you let me sleep so long? I thought we were going to leave before dawn.”

I looked down at her, confused. “That’s the plan.”

She tapped me gently on the forehead. “I think you might have fallen asleep keeping watch last night.” Sitting up beside me, Lia stretched her arms and rolled her head from side to side. Her movements looked odd to my eyes, as if she were somehow leaving a faint afterimage every time she shifted.

Oh. Much too late, I realized my eyes were still closed. Having been so enraptured in studying my new abilities I had momentarily forgotten that I was getting my “visual” feedback from mana. When I finally opened my eyes, Lia’s statements made much more sense. The overcast sky above was lit a dull orange from the sun, which had clearly crested the horizon somewhere beyond the tree line. Did I really meditate all night?

“I guess I did fall asleep.” I wasn’t quite ready to explain my new discoveries to Lia; I still didn’t understand everything about it myself. “Sorry about that. I promise it was only for a minute.”

“You shouldn’t be keeping watch all night in the first place. I can help, too.” She tried to stand but winced halfway through the movement and fell back to the ground. I shook my head, chuckling.

“Trust me, you’ll have plenty of time to keep watch. Once you get used to our new practice routine and have a bit more energy, we can start to split night watch duties.” I hopped to my feet and offered a helping hand down to her. “As things stand now, I wouldn’t feel right making you stay up given how worn down you are.”

Lia playfully slapped away my hand and got up, barely concealing the grimace of a dozen sore muscles and joints. “I’m just fine, thank you very much!” She moved to start gathering her things, teetering dangerously for the first few steps, but managed to hold her footing.

I picked my cloak up from the ground and slung it over my shoulders. A wave of warmth rushed down the length of my body, a welcome relief from the long cool night. “Judging by the sunlight, it’s still early. We should make it to the next town well before nightfall. That’ll give us a chance to pick up some more trail rations and have a nice warm meal.”

“A warm meal…” Lia murmured, rubbing her stomach forlornly. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out a piece of hardtack and snapped it in half. She tossed a piece to me before nibbling on her own. After a few bites, she wrinkled up her nose and shook her head. “A warm meal sounds amazing right about now.”

With our makeshift campsite packed up, we made our way back to the road through the trees and underbrush. As we broke the tree line, I could see that the sun was fully above the horizon, almost an hour past when I had intended on leaving. The road was