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

I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. My current theory is that everybody’s mana looks a little bit different. The color, the...feel of it, I guess? It’s still pretty new to me. The brightness, on the other hand, is something I’m pretty confident about. The more mana something has, the brighter it looks through your detection.”

Lia leaned back against the wall and took a breath. “Wow. You looked so bright, I could hardly see myself in comparison.”

“Well, I’ve been training for a lot longer than you have. The more you practice, the brighter you’ll get. I think.” I reached out and patted her knee. “Don’t forget, you’ve only been training for a few weeks! The progress you’re making is incredible, Lia.”

“Thanks, Lux. You are a pretty good teacher, after all.” She clapped her hands lightly and put on a serious expression. “I’m going to try it again.” She settled into her meditation stance and placed her hands down flat on the bench beside her. Almost immediately, I saw a puzzled look on her face. “Everything looks...different this time. It’s darker.”

“Oh, right.” I sent out a wave of detection magic and chuckled as Lia shivered in response to the rush of mana. “How about now?”

“I see it! Because it was covering everything already on my first try, I didn’t realize it was actually your mana.” Lia reached out towards me once again, pausing for a moment when it met my foot. Slowly, the amber aura crept up my legs and surrounded my body, covering me in the warm familiar feeling of Lia’s energy. “This is...incredible,” she said, barely louder than a whisper.

We spent the next hour in meditation as we both experimented with detection magic. I tried to scan further along the ground with each successive attempt and succeeded in reaching the nearest wagons to us in the caravan before I had finished. The queasy feeling in my stomach amplified every time I transitioned from the wagon to the ground, and I took frequent breaks to avoid getting overwhelmed.

While I worked on extending my range, Lia focused on examining objects out of her visual range. She picked up on the technique much quicker than anything we had practiced before; with a few minutes of training, she was laughing with joy as she watched the horses pulling our cart in her mind. At my warning, she kept her mana confined to the wagon to avoid the disorienting effects I was experiencing, although I could tell she was tempted to try regardless.

Despite working on my own experiments, I kept a close eye on Lia throughout the training. I found her immediate progress fascinating, given how hard she had to work at other magic and combat techniques. Her sunny disposition was comforting to see after the incident in Atsal, and the ease with which she controlled her new ability only strengthened her resolve. By the time we had finished our session she was flushed and covered in sweat, but nonetheless had a shining smile on her face.

“At the rate you’re picking this up, you’ll be teaching me about it soon enough!” I laughed as I rested my head against the wall behind me. “I only figured this out while we were travelling, so I haven’t found all the nuances yet.”

“I wish it didn’t make me so tired! All I want to do is keep playing with it,” Lia sighed and leaned back on her hands dreamily, until a look of recognition flashed across her face. “This is how you knew the guards had found us back in Atsal, isn’t it? Did you use it to keep track of everyone during the fight, too?”

“Yes, and no. I was practicing with Detection when I found the guards waiting for us that morning, but I’ve never used it during a fight.” I cocked my head to the side in thought. “I’m not sure my brain could keep up with all of that information in combat. I’ve never tried it, though.” I’ve got to try using Detection during our next sparring match.

A few moments went by before Lia broke the silence. “So...are there any other new abilities you can teach me?”

I chuckled and clicked my tongue at her. “You certainly are the eager student today, aren’t you?” She scrunched up her face at me and pouted as I laughed. “Unfortunately, that’s all I can think of right now. At least in terms of magic; we aren’t in a position to do much physical training on this trip, but I have plenty more to teach you in that arena.”

“I promised I was going to train harder!” Lia said with a slightly defensive tone. “I was just hoping there were other new things you didn’t bring up yet.”

“Learning new techniques isn’t the only way to advance with magic, you know.” I counted out on my fingers as I continued. “You can increase your mana reserves through practice and meditation, you can grow your understanding of magic through studying, you can practice activating your mana through runes…” I trailed off as I tried to think of more avenues of study.

Lia considered the list for a while. “Now that I think about it, I don’t really know anything about what magic really is. I thought I did, but that was before I met you. With everything you’ve taught me…” There was concern in her eyes as she searched for the right words. “Lux, is it all a lie? The Unity Church, the Primes...everything?”

“No, it’s not a lie. How do I put this...” I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “In every world I’ve been to, there has always been a story to explain why things are the way they are. No matter where you are, people want to feel in control. If you can’t explain why the world exists and give yourself a reason for being, it’s hard to believe you can control anything. So we do what we do best: