NOVEL NEXT 9 - I Can See
Chapter 9
I Can See
If this works I will finally be able to see what is around me. Here it goes. Infrared Mana Sight. All of the sudden I could see various objects all around me. I was flowing along a river of mostly blue particles, water mana, surrounded by brightly colored things. Those must be the cells, viruses and microbes in the bloodstream with me. The walls of the blood vessel were a mixture of white and green particles. That would be light and nature magic. That makes sense for the internal workings of an animal. The shapes of objects around me are easily determined and most of what I can identify as internal workings of the Blood Wolf I am in share the white and green mix of mana particles. Most of the viruses and microbes I see are colored in black or purple which is destruction and darkness mana which also makes sense since their function is usually the destruction of other cells and/or hiding from the bodies defenses.
Strangely enough though there are small living microbes of every color surrounding me. Admittedly they are in much smaller numbers than everything else but they are there. I got it, they must be the equivalent of specialty diseases back on Earth. I remember that the human body can host hundreds if not thousands of different types of microbes, and it is only when they outnumber and start to attack the body does someone get sick. So these guys must be the magic world equivalent of that. They might be stray microbes that are picked up from daily activities. That red fire particle one might be a disease that thrives in the magic fire ants I have as hosts, where here in the Blood Wolf it can barely survive.
The next few hours are spent categorizing and justifying everything in the world around me. While this is fascinating I still look forward to the time when I can see outside and find out what the Planet Braxis is really like. I am going to hibernate once to rest and then gather mana and experiment a little more and see if I can create some more spells. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.
When I wake up after hibernation I immediately start my gathering of mana to top off my tanks for more experiments. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. When I have the full feeling again I stop and think about what I want next. There are several different spells I could be working on, but the number one priority behind sight was coordinated movement. I have just been drifting for hundreds of virus generations. I have no physical movement method at all, so instead I thought that I might create a magical one.
I have thought of a bunch of different movement methods, but I am only going to try and create three of them. Each of the methods should still be useful after I earn a larger/humanoid body so that is why I decided on these three. First is telekinesis. If I cannot move then I can either pick things up with my mind and bring them closer or I can pull myself towards them with my mind. Next is mana wings. I have read too many stories about characters flying about on mana wings not to try this one. I have always wanted to fly. Finally, my last choice for a movement method is teleportation. This is going to be last, because there are so many different variations of it in stories that I might have to experiment for a while to either find one that works, or decide between a bunch of different kinds.
All right first up is telekinesis. What is a mental image I can use to get my point across? Hmm, how about I play a short kind of video clip in my mind of someone doing what I want. That should work. I focus on forming a little short clip of a magic looking guy concentrating on a book that sits on a table across the room. The book rises up and then floats towards him. I start playing this little scenario on a loop through my mind. Wait why does the guy look a little like Dr. Strange? Who cares, at least he was a magic guy. Now while playing this loop in my head I reach for my mana and decide to try for a combination of orange (air) and pink (creation) first. I slide the orange particle out no problem and when I try to combine it with the pink particle to fuel the spell the whole thing collapses.
All right, that was obviously not the right combination. Now focus on the feeling of what happened Mark. Yep orange was the right choice but it needs to mix with something other than pink. So what would air mana mix with to create telekinesis. Let’s try nature. I try the experiment again with orange and green and get the same negative result. Ok how about earth for strength. Orange and brown start to come together, but in the end refuse to mix. This is getting ridiculous, none of the others make sense but I can just go through them to figure it out. Orange and blue, no, orange and red, no, orange and black, no, orange and yellow.
You have created the spell Telekinesis.
Huh? Observe Telekinesis.
Telekinesis: A spell to lift or move objects with the users mind. Used mostly for utilitarian purpose, but some say it is just the first stop on a train full of new mind power.
Now why would the mix of air and lightning be what is needed for telekinesis? I thought I was starting to figure this magic system out, but this combo baffles me. Maybe the lightning mana represents power and the air needed more power to pick something up. That is the only semi-reasonable answer I can come up with. I figure I am really making a big deal out of nothing. As long as it works, why question it.
Next on the list to develop was mana wings. I have always wanted to fly, let’s face facts, it is probably a secret dream of most things that cannot fly to have the freedom of the sky. I could imagine several different things here in my mind before I decide on the mana to use, but I have only ever wanted one set of wings. Dragon wings. So I quickly imagine a large pair of reptilian wings sprouting from the upper shoulders of a humanoid being in my mind. It was extremely easy this time to mentally picture as I have had this fantasy and daydream quite a lot throughout my previous life. The image that was so stable in my mind crumbled the instant the next thought crossed my consciousness. Are there dragons in this world?
I mean there is magic, so it would stand to reason that several of what I know as fantasy creatures are present as well. I mean my evolutionary choices included some of the common fantasy creatures. That means dragons could live in this world. That settles it, I have to rewrite my priority list of things to do.
Get strong
Get body
Find dragon then eat dragon then become dragon with trait Many Bodies One Mind.
Get even stronger
Get revenge on the “Overbeing”
That is a nice compact 5 step plan to follow for my life. As always it is flexible if necessary. Now what was I doing before I got distracted by dragons. Ah yes, mana wings. I recreate the mental image in my mind of the humanoid with dragon wings sprouting from the shoulder blade area. Now the mana to add to the spell. Pink creation and orange air are obvious choices, but what else. I realize that those two alone will probably work, but I want awesome mana wings. I want wings that have an elemental affinity to them, like wings of fire or lightning, but which one to pick? Wait why do I have to have only one type. I could create spells for each type and just switch between them.
Better yet, I could just create the spell with the ability to switch between the different wing affinities that I want. I start to adjust my mental image. I am going to play another video clip in my head again to make this one work. I keep the humanoid with wings image but have it shuffle through different element wings and their uses. Fire for heat and destruction, lightning for speed, darkness for silence and hiding, and finally blue for use under water. I mean think about it, would you rather swim and lose the ability to use your hands or have a pair of awesome water wings that can propel you forward while you can still use your hands for other tasks.
I carefully take out particles of pink, orange, yellow, red, black, and blue and bring them towards my imagined wing construct. With a little mental shoving they blend in with my idea and I see a message arrive in front of me.
You have created the spell Elemental Mana Wings.
Observe Elemental Mana Wings.
Elemental Mana Wings: A spell that allows you to soar through anything non-solid and boosts your damage and use of the element used to create the wings. Elements available for use are Lightning, Fire, Water, and Darkness. Wings will last for Level of Caster X 10 minutes or until dismissed.
Fantastic, this is even better than I imagined. I can fly through anything non-solid will allow me to move anywhere even in space if that is possible. I really like this spell. In fact, I want to try it out. I first cast Infrared Mana Sight because as funny as it would be to watch me try and fly blind, I really do not want to run into anything. Then I cast Elemental Mana Wings. I have a strange feeling of a new appendage growing out of my shoulders. The weirdest part is that I don’t even have shoulders as a virus. This must be a holdover sensation from my last life. I mentally flex my new “wings” and imagine myself flapping forward through the blood surrounding me.
Holy moly, I am fast. I mean all things considered I am probably slow as I am only moving extremely small distances inside of another organism, but when I have not had any control over my own movements since I reincarnated as a virus it seems like I am some sort of speed demon. I spend the next several minutes just enjoying the feeling of movement once again. Ok, flying around is now part of the rest and recuperate cycle now. Maybe hibernate, fly, and then hibernate. Yeah that sounds good.
I have one more spell I wanted to try and create, teleportation. Who doesn’t want to just imagine themselves in another place and poof they are there. No muss, no fuss, and most importantly no boring travel in between locations. Alright Mark, visualize. Got to go with the video clip playing in head again. I imagine myself in one place and then poof I disappear and reappear in the distance. I decide to try purple destruction mana and yellow lightning mana first. Purple because I am destroying the distance between two places and lightning because I want to move as fast as lightning. They go together surprisingly well.
You have created the spell Blink.
Observe Blink.
Blink: A spell that instantaneously moves the target from one place to another. Distance travelled is equal to the 3 X Level of Caster multiplied by the height of the Caster.
Well that is not what I wanted. It might prove useful in the future but as a virus it is pretty limited. I mean my height is really small. I guess I could use it to blink to a passing microbe to infect it, but I have not personally infected a microbe in hundreds of generations. Let me try that again with different types of mana. Recreate the scene in my head now how about I use destruction and darkness on this try.
You have created the spell Shadow Moves.
Observe Shadow Moves.
Shadow Moves: A spell that transports the caster from the shadow they are standing in to another shadow within sight of the caster.
Once again definitely a movement type of spell but not the teleportation that I want. What am I doing wrong? Maybe it is in my visualization. Yeah that must be it. In my mental picture I keep moving to a place that I can see. I need to visualize arriving in a brand new place. Somewhere outside of the first mental picture. Ok I picture a humanoid next to a recognizable landmark say a tree and then they disappear. They reappear in a new place next to a lake with no trees around. That should take care of visualization.
Next I will try destruction purple with green nature to show that I want to reappear somewhere else in nature.
You have created the spell Switch.
Huh? Observe Switch.
Switch: A spell unique to you. You can switch places with any other organism you control. Distance is unlimited.
Oh I like this one. It is a travel and escape spell all in one. I have viruses everywhere so I can use this to travel to one and replace it or to use it as a means of escape. Brilliant. However, I still do not have just a plain teleportation spell. I am going to have to think about this one while I hibernate and then rebuild my mana levels. Down I go. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.
Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Fly around on mana wings. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.
Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. I feel ready to try and tackle the teleportation problem again.