Control.

Kair let out a breath, relaxing his body as he closed his eyes and sat in a meditative position. Then, slowly, Kair began to focus on his body's senses.

When one meditates, they begin to improve their sensory perception. This meant that all of the 5 senses in one's body would 'heighten' to some extent, and that too temporarily. 

Obviously, the people on this earth wouldn't need to sink into meditation when applying basic mana.

However, in order to see if Kair could even sense and manipulate it, the only way was... to actually try to do it.

After a few minutes of fruitless concentration however, his poker face finally gave way to frustration. 

'What am I even supposed to feel?!'

It's not like Kair had written something in his novel that would allow non-mana users to 'unlock' mana. Why? Because everyone could already use mana! What was the point in adding a useless feature? Looking back on it though, Kair really wished that he hadn't been so logical, for once. 

Turning his senses another way, he focused on his blood-flow. In his novel, the vessels that were used to transport mana ran the same course as the blood vessels in his body. So, logically speaking, trying to sense anything out of the ordinary around his blood vessels should be able to bear some results. 

The only thing was, his mundanity did not allow him such boons; right now he was even less than an average human. Hell, even less than an animal, or an insect! At least they could use mana, right?! 

Sighing dejectedly, Kair threw that idea away, too. Though hope seemed lost, he had one last desperate attempt that could maybe guide his senses towards the mana circuit in his body, if it existed. 

Taking a look at his hands, he observed his nails. They weren't really that long, but were long enough that if he wanted to, puncturing skin wouldn't be out of the picture. 

Turning his left arm facing up, he exposed the soft underside of his forearm. He brought his right hand closer to it, his fingers nearing the vein on his left wrist until they came to rest right above it. 

Pausing for a second, Kair took a moment to recollect and reevaluate all of his prior life decisions. 

He had been probably killed, and now thrust into a magical world where animals were the equivalent of his earth's mystical creatures, where people could fly and extraterrestrial creatures had declared war on them. 

Now, here he was, about tear his arm up to see if he could do magic. Tilting his head up to the bleak ceiling, he sighed. 

'I... have issues.' 

Shaking his head, he turned back to his arm. Gritting his teeth, Kair plunged his nails into it. A rattling spike of pain tore through him, his groan thankfully being muffled therefore not alerting Amanda of his... circumstances. 

Blood seeped from Kair's wound, the pain blinding. Fighting through the haze and being aided by adrenaline, he managed to pry his skin apart a tiny bit. Trying to look through the gushing blood, Kair struggled to make out anything other than a ruptured vein. 

However, once he looked closer, his heart nearly stopped.

Right there, next to his blue-ish vein, a black and extremely thin tube was pulsating with purplish flashes travelling through it rapidly. It looked almost magical, the pulses emitting a light hue every time they zipped through the tube. 

Completely forgetting about the fact that he had torn his arm open, Kair put both limbs of his in the air whooped quietly. 

'I actually have a mana circuit! Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Hell yeah!'

Relief was currently flooding through him, a bright smile plastered on his face. 

This didn't last long though, the blood splashing on his hair quickly bringing him back to reality. Calming himself down, Kair returned to a meditative position. Ignoring the now somewhat subdued pain, he focused back on his inner senses. 

'Okay, I have a mana circuit. Now I just need to feel the other organs.' 

A painful 10 minutes passed by quickly. Outside the room, Amanda was still standing, tapping her feet impatiently as she looked at a holographic screen in front of herself which was displaying cute cat videos. 

'For god's sake, why's it taking him so long? Should I go check on him?' 

Eventually, she shook her head against the idea, and proceeded to wait on Kair. He would get it eventually, right? Bonding with an animal, especially an infant one at that, wasn't a common occasion, after all. 

A dangerous glint flashed through her eyes.

'I wonder what type of bond he'll choose.'

Back inside the room, Kair had a nervous expression on his face. 

'For god's sake, why's it taking me so long?!' He cried inwardly.

He couldn't feel anything! No matter how hard he tried, he had no idea on what to even do at this point. Yes, he had a mana circuit and yes, he practically designed the thing from the ground up, but still! 

Realizing that the situation was turning from hopeful to hopeless, he tried something different... again.

Trying to focus on the space underneath his diaphragm where his tryphian should've been located, he attempted to 'map' out the area around it. After all, this was only possible because of the evolved mind that humans in this day and age had. Sure, Kair may not currently be as gifted as the average human nowadays, but even his mundane body was a long way ahead of his old one on his original earth. 

And, after a few minutes, Kair finally felt the signs of success.

A weird cracking sound resounded in his mind. As if a heavy, steel chain had suddenly broken apart, sending shockwaves raging through Kair's body. Then, as if he were inhaling, he felt rush of air enter his body.

Well, it wasn't really air, but the mana particles! 

His skin's pores opened ever so slightly in order to let his mana circuit absorb and store the mana, greedily drinking it up as if a starved beast had finally laid eyes upon a freshly-cooked pile of meat. 

It had to be noted that the pores opened so unnoticeably, maybe the size of a single cell, that it was invisible from the outside. After all, mana particles were almost impossible to 'see' for average humans. The only reason they could perceive mana, was that it was usually used in a cluster of a bunch of particles, making them big enough to be seen and felt. 

Being impossibly smaller than sub-atomic particles also made it easier for the mana to flow into a body in hordes without causing any issues. 

Feeling the unfamiliar yet rejuvenating sense of energy engulf him, made Kair happier than ever before. He almost whooped in joy again, but controlled himself at the last moment in order to not give Amanda an incentive to come check up on him. How weird would it be for her to see him covered in violent and out of control mana? It definitely would be a cause for concern.

Well, not to mention the wound and blood staining his hospital garments and skin. 

However, a bout of confusion overcame him quickly. 

Hadn't he told himself that if he couldn't manipulate mana, he would consider himself to currently be in a dream? And if he could use it, he'd consider himself awake? Didn't this mean that he wasn't in a dream? 

A frown etched itself on Kair's face. 

'...I'll think about this later. Probably.' he shook his head. 

Anyway, Kair was currently filling up his reserves. Similarly to a stomach, the tryphian would communicate to the brain when it was filled, which would allow Kair to stop his absorption. 

After a minute of mana particles flying around rampantly, Kair felt that his reserves had been topped up. Due to him being presumably extremely weak, it didn't take long for him to reach the limit set on his tryphian. To absorb more, he would naturally have to grow stronger. And for that, he already had multiple ideas springing up in his mind.

Brushing them aside however, Kair concentrated on his wound. The bleeding had been reduced to almost nothing, the wound closing up by itself at a rapid pace. 

Mana really was magic. Such a powerful regenerative ability would've caused upheaval back on his own earth. 

If Kair grew powerful enough, he could even regrow entire limbs! Granted, this was all theory, but still. How cool was that? 

Feeling something wiggling on his lap, Kair was yanked out of his momentary giddiness.

'Ah, right. The bird.' 

Looking down at the creature, Kair couldn't help but be baffled. 

Through all of his jolting, the rampant mana and the blood, the bird had somehow remained asleep. As though wholly uncaring of the multiple crises that Kar had barely avoided, it blissfully continued its sleep with its two tails swaying back and forth. 

'You really like to sleep... uhm? What do I call you?' 

Shaking his head, he gently placed his palm over the bird's head. The blood which had been building on his skin had magically disappeared without a trace. 

He tried to eject his mana. It felt like he were exhaling, but at the same time as if he were pushing something... needless to say, it was an extremely weird feeling. Definitely would need some getting used to. 

As soon as his mana entered the creature's body though, a flood of information barraged his mind. 

The bonding process with a beast was extremely straight-forward. 

There were usually two parties. If party A sent out their own mana, and party B accepted that mana, a bond would be formed. The nature of the bond however was entirely dependent on the relationship between both parties. 

Usually however, there were two main types of bonds or 'contracts' that could be formed. 

If viewed party B as a slave, and party B viewed party A as a master, a so-called 'slave' contract would be formed. In this case, part A would be granted absolute power over B. If one wished to destroy that contract, the 'controlling' party would have to approve the termination. If they refused, then that was it.

This was a tyrannical way of enslaving another to oneself. 

Of course, 'rejecting' the contract was also possible. If one party didn't approve, they could simple reject the mana. 

Still, there were many roundabout ways to establish a 'slave' contract. Torture, holding hostages, death threats, and so forth were all ways that subjects to the slave part of the contract were forced to accept it, regardless of their will. 

Some people even went out of their way to steal the young offspring of otherwise powerful beasts. Since the young ones were infants without much knowledge of the world, manipulating them into agreeing to a slave-contract was extremely easy. 

The second contract was an 'equality' contract. This was where both parties viewed each other as equals, giving both their individuality and the ability to make choices of their own. Technically, this wasn't really a contract. It was more like a reminder that both parties were linked in some way. Terminating this contract was as simple as one party wishing to break the bond. 

This was the more ethical way of the two. After all, creatures without free-will were basically just objects to the those in power, right? 

Kair however, opted for a combination of the two. Giving an infant the authority to make its own decisions whilst being wholly unknowledgeable about the world was foolish. What if it decided to do something that would risk its life? Kair would have no way to prevent it from doing anything harmful, be it to itself or someone else. 

The slave-contract however was much too cruel; sure, Kair could promise to never abuse his authority, but would it really make a difference? Would any real trust ever exist between a slaver and their slave? 

So, what Kair currently was trying to establish was a 'familial' contract. To put it into picture, Kair was the parent whilst the bird was the child. Though the child had a sufficient amount of free-will, Kair still held the authority over the bond in emergency situations. 

Though it would require much more strain to control the baby bird if he ever decided to than it would be in a slave-contract, he still had the option to do so if it were ever necessary. 

'After it's mature enough, I'll break this contract and offer it an equality one.'

After all, a parent was responsible for its child, right? Ironically enough, the bird already viewed Kair as its mother... father. 

Making up his mind, Kair send his intent along with his mana into the baby. As Kair's mana with his natural signature entered the baby eagle, it immediately woke up, looking at Kair curiously. Its wide black eyes scrutinized him innocently, blinking rapidly as it took in Kair's facial details.

Then, suddenly sensing his unique mana presented before it, the beast immediately accepted the terms by retaliating with its own signatured mana. It was effortless. Too easy, almost. 

Sensing the baby bird accepting the contract, Kair couldn't hold back the smile that had been waiting to blossom on his face. A light chuckle left him as well as he picked the bird up gently by its body, holding it above him as he looked at it happily.

Feeling Kair's excitement due to their newly formed bond, the bird also started lightly flapping its wings and chirping happily. Its tails waggled back and forth from excitement. 

Outside, Amanda heard the commotion.