Chapter 6: Mana Line

As already known, the light poles from the sky brought a lot of changes to the human world.

The first people who studied it thought it was some kind of miracle from a higher being to protect them from the demons, and although that was true, they were unaware of the changes that were already taking place in their world at that time.

The light poles dug deep into the earth's core, changing its original form and purpose and creating what the people know today as mana.

Mana blended nicely into the air making human beings more resilient and durable than they have ever been.

At that time, the changes were only subtle so nobody really noticed anything, but the longer they were exposed to mana, the more their bodies began to change.

After careful examinations and experiments from experts over the years, they discovered that humans at birth now had what was known as a mana line.

Everyone was born with their unique mana line regardless of the one their world was filled with now.

A child's mana line birth was premature at birth, but as they grow, the mana line grows with them until it finally becomes mature.

That said, the maturity of a mana line wasn't entirely relative to their growth.

A mana line brought with it a special ability for human beings and to make the mana line grow, that ability had to be trained.

This was the reason why the levelling system was introduced.

Every time a premature mana line grew, the person would add a level, and their ability would improve.

It takes exactly ten levels for every mana line to mature, and after that another premature mana line would appear.

That's right, human beings were not tied down to just having one mana line.

A new mana line would form after every ten levels, reaching up to nine mana lines.

A tenth mana line was something no human had been able to achieve yet because after reaching the ninetieth level climbing further to every other level was a heavy ordeal. So, no human being had a mature ninth mana line.

That was the summary of the mana line, the source of power for the human beings of the current era and also their source of hope in their fight against the demons.

However, this was only what the experts knew about the mana line so far as they claimed that what they could prove might not actually be the full capability of this mana line and the changes it brought to the human body.

Erian was quite elated when he found out that he was now at level eight. He was now two levels closer to having his first mature mana line, and he might be one of the youngest among his peers to achieve such a feat.

"It's still not as impressive as her though." He muttered to himself. "I could tell she was about my age but she's only one level from reaching level ten."

'She must be talented.'

He was currently sitting in front of the house with his head resting on his knees as he stared at his mother, who was busy spreading the clothes that she had washed on the line.

"I wonder how many mana lines mom has and what her current level is." He mumbled. "The last time I asked, she avoided the question for some reason; I also don't know what her level is."

It was clear that he didn't have anything to do as he just sat there talking to himself.

'Everyone has mana lines but not everyone has strong abilities. Those born with weak abilities often don't have any way to train them or choose not to do so, so they end up not advancing that much.' He thought. 'Is Mom embarrassed to tell me because she has a weak ability?'

He thought about going over to ask his mother once again, but after giving it a little more thought, he shook his head.

'It's okay if she doesn't want to say.'

"Mom." He called, getting up on his feet.

"What is it?" She responded with an endearing voice as she clipped her son's clothes to the line.

"I'm going into the forest to pick some wood, our stock is about to run out." He said as he walked off toward the right.

"Okay, be careful."

He waved her goodbye as he kept moving toward the forest while she stopped what she was doing for a while to turn to him.

"I hope he doesn't run into any trouble today."

_________ _________

After walking around the forest for quite a while looking for wood, Erian seemed to have found himself in a different part of the forest.

The area he had just walked into was filled with trees that were taller than the ones he was used to seeing in the forest.

The trees were humongous, and their long branches stretched out, almost completely blocking out the sun and giving the place a very gloomy vibe.

Coupled with the constant strange whistling sound coming from almost every direction, the young boy felt quite apprehensive as he walked further into the area.

"I didn't know this forest had a creepy part to it, but I might be able to find some good wood here."

Just after saying that, his gaze shifted to the right where he found a big log of wood with several good branches around it.

"I knew it!"

His face lit up with a bright smile as he quickly hurried over to the treasures he had found in a strange place.

"If I bring these home, we won't have to worry about wood for a while." He remarked just after stopping in front of the pile.

He was just about to pick up one of the branches when he sensed something quickly heading toward him.

Quickly jumping back, he saw what looked like some sort of white rope zoom past him.

Well, he thought it had zoomed past him until the rope suddenly turned to him like it had a mind of its own and latched onto his left arm.

He was quickly pulled backwards by the rope the moment it latched onto him, lifting him off the ground.

Reacting quickly, he opened a portal and pulled out the dagger he now carried around with him.

With a quick slash at the rope, he was able to cut the rope, releasing himself from its grip as the rope retreated, wriggling in what could only be described as pain.

"How can something that thin lift me?" Erian uttered as he dropped to the ground.

He had not let his guard down since the moment he walked into the area, and his senses were even more alert now as he looked up ahead, trying to figure out where exactly that rope came from.

Unfortunately, there was fog up ahead so he could see anything.

"I see." He muttered as he slowly closed his eyes before quickly shooting them open a second later. "Absolute view."

His eyes had a faint blue glow now as everything around him suddenly turned blue.

"As long as it's within five metres in all directions, it won't be able to hide from me."

Just like he said, absolute view made it possible for him to view and feel everything around him from a fixed position.

The rodents retreating into their burrows behind him, the leaves being brushed up by the light breeze all around him and the spider about to feast on an insect on the tree to his left. He could see everything more clearly than he would be able to with his normal eyes.

However, just as he was about to identify where exactly that rope came from, four ropes, just like the first one, suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Huh?"

Latching onto his arms and legs, the ropes pulled him forward with more force and speed this time.

With his right wrist now tightly bound, he wasn't able to make use of the dagger in his hand.

In an instant he found himself heading toward what seemed to be the mouth of a large serpent, its long fangs dripping with venom.

"No!"

Twisting his wrist as fast he could, Erian was able to cut off the rope binding his right wrist.

Not delighted by the idea of becoming snake food, he proceeded to cut off the other ropes.

However, before he could finish he was already in front of the snake.

"No, you can't eat me!"

Grabbing the upper part of the snake with both, he slammed his mouth shut before stumping down on its head.

He didn't want to get eaten, but the snake was not willing to give up on a tasty meal that just happened to be nimble.

Aggressively shaking its body, Erian found himself quickly tossed to the, tumbling three times before picking himself up.

He looked ahead to see that the snake was no longer there, but it didn't take him long to find it as he suddenly heard a bone-chilling hiss behind him.

The oppressive aura from the presence now behind him.

A lot of children his age would collapse in a situation like this, but sinking his teeth into his lower lip and digging his fingers into his palm, he slowly turned around.

What he seemed to have encountered was a snake about four meters tall.

The snake was towering over him now, its black skin as rough as the shell of a tortoise, and its head a bright red.

This was something that Erian didn't notice before but the beast was exuding a blue aura.

"I don't think I can run from this one, Mom," Erian muttered as he swallowed hard.