Theo nearly choked on the air in his lungs as he sensed the tip of his finger warming. His eyes found the slightest flash of light crackling from his fingers, intermittent at best, but definitely there sometimes. The pulsing heat in his finger allowed him to focus on the goings on inside it. He felt a slight tingle in perfect sync with the sparks still occurring, all the while his hand kept drawing that glyph as best he could.

  The slight tingle was somehow easier to trace than the rush of magic flowing into his ear, but it didn't lead as far, stopping just short of the first joint of his finger. There, however, was another flow, almost crossing it, but was just a fraction of a centimetre away. Theo felt the valve there, releasing a slight trickle through each time his finger pulsed, each time that bluish flash exploded. If he could only... there!

  The valve opened to let out a steady stream of what he was certain was mana. The valve wasn't open enough to draw the entire river that way, but at least it was constant now. The temporary flashes had now turned to a permanent light, yet his finger remained only comfortably warm.

  Following the movements of his hand, the light remained in the air for a small amount of time, making a thin line that traced something resembling the very glyph drawn out below it. It was exceptionally crude, revealing all of Theo's slightest movements. His breathing raised and lowered his finger in perfect rhythm with his lungs and while he didn't feel it himself, his finger was trembling imperceptibly, causing a somewhat rough squiggle along the line.

  Even after having drawn the glyph several times over like this, nothing improved, nor did the glyph activate. Theo was pretty certain that he was going too slow as the start of the glyph disappeared before he reached the end. That meant he had to either improve his time, which would likely cause a further deterioration of the quality of the glyph, which already wasn't great. Or, he could try to open the valve a bit more. He did, and the light grew brighter in almost an instant, with more mana being spent to create it.

  Exactly as he'd hoped, this also made the traced lines last longer. He anxiously drew the symbol again, though his trepidation was causing his finger to tremble even more than earlier. He tried calming himself, but it was too exciting. He was about to cast a spell.

  The glyph completed, seemingly locking into place in the air as the beginnings of a circle formed. Then the spell fizzled out, a disappointing shhh like that of a candle going out all he could hear through the bulbs covering his ears. It didn't seem to rouse Chaste, though, so it likely wasn't too loud.

  Then, Theo remembered. He'd been too excited to think of it earlier, but he still had to charge his mana with the fire element for the 'Fireball' glyph to even work. He slumped down. At least he had sensed his network, right? It was progress! Putting a positive twist on it, he'd never been closer! Even now he could sense the valve in his index finger and the stream flowing past it. It was all he could sense of it, but he felt he could trace it from there.

  He rose to his feet, making sure the roll of paper with the glyph was rolled up and safe before walking away from the impromptu campsite next to the temple. He figured it was safe enough to wander up the stairs to the temple proper, so he did. He just wanted to take a breather

  He gazed up at the statue of Arcana, as dead as rock. Whatever had happened earlier hadn't happened again. Whether it was his blood pooling at its base that triggered it or not, he was sure it only happened because Arcana was observing him. If not, Chaste wasn't as good an archaeologist as he thought. Surely the people had tried blood sacrifice before deeming the Goddess' magic vanished, right?

  He then turned to the woods where he'd come from, remembering the frightening experience of being hunted by that tiny rodent that so easily took him down and almost killed him. He looked to the slightly scorched site of its magnificent demise and couldn't help but feel his lips tightening slightly. Then, a faint glimmer caught his attention near the centre of the very same spot.

  Theo inched closer, seeing one of those hallucinatory symbols from Chaste's spell again. It was different, though, more square and with a line crossing through its centre. The previous ones he'd seen were only there for a moment, but they were all a bit more rounded, though he hadn't been able to look at them for long. Were they glyphs? They seemed a bit too basic for being that, the level-one 'Fireball' glyph being much, much more complex than this little box. Unlike those from earlier, though, this one didn't disappear. It lingered until he approached the black mark on the ground, and it lingered even still.

  Theo bent down to observe it, finding a slight unevenness on the stone ground. He eyed it more closely and was surprised to find his system triggering a message.

  Item: Forest Squirrel Incisor.

  The squarish symbol hovered above the thing almost like a sign. That was certainly odd, wasn't it? Theo ran back to camp, borrowing some of Chaste's things to quickly run back to it, sighing with relief as it was still there. It seemed to be a surprisingly resilient hallucination, if that was what it was. He drew out the quill and traced the easier symbol onto a roll of paper. He then picked up the incisor, causing the box-like shape to vanish into nothingness. Increasingly... odd.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  While tossing the tiny incisor up and down, expertly catching it in his hand nearly half the time, he slowly moved back towards camp whilst deep in thought. He spent way less time picking the tooth up than he figured he would, though the gentle toss was just to fidget with something, finding the act helping him keep his mind focused on the important stuff.

  He kept thinking about that square symbol that lingered above the tooth as if it was trying to catch his attention. In essence, it was the exact same way the messages from his system let him know what something was, at least when it stopped obstructing the thing and unobtrusively hovered above it. Now that a message about an item had popped up again, it hadn't been blocking the very item it was mentioning. This time, it had hovered above it, just where it had ended last time with the book.

  The book!

  Theo picked the incisor up from the ground one last time and jogged down the stair of the temple to find his book neatly placed along with the roll of paper he'd left there. If he remembered correctly, that book was filled with symbols, very much unlike the glyph Chaste had shown him. They were simpler in design, though the latter half of the book did draw them up with so many connections, circles, triangles and other shapes that that was only the case regarding the symbols themselves, not the intricacy of which they were... used?

  He opened the first page, finding nothing. He turned to the second and third, finding several other symbols, one possibly even reminding him of the elusive pattern barely noticeable after Chaste spellcasting. He flipped the page again, glossing over the next two pages before turning the page-...

  There it was!

  That box with the same line striking through its centre. It was there, in the primer. On page four, hidden amongst a slightly increasing amount of similar symbols. What he was seeing were these symbols! But why? How? Was he simply hallucinating them? Why? Why these specific symbols? Was it just because he'd seen cast a glance at them earlier, so his subconscious was able to use his waking mind for a gag? It didn't make any sense.

  While wondering, Theo threw his attention toward the boon once more, finding the number having plummeted since he saw it last.

  Lingering Magic remaining: 978.

  How long had it been since the last time? Six hours? Eight, maybe? Certainly not long enough for the number to have fallen so precipitously. He didn't consider this for long before he found the answer. While he hadn't cast a functioning spell, he'd still expended his mana to draw the glyph! Just weaving magic should be enough! Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? Why hadn't Chaste?

  No, that wasn't fair to the man who'd helped him out. Having a Boon of self destruction stuck on him due to some divine blessing wasn't anything Chaste had any chance of helping Theo with. He'd helped enough.

  Now... Should he continue expending his magic in such a way, if nothing else than to get rid of the Boon once and for all? Or should he wait until Chaste woke and ask for some more guidance? Should Theo instead start mapping his network so it would be easier to find later, or... Who was he kidding? He wouldn't be able to rest knowing the Boon could explode him at any time. He was even putting Chaste in danger.

  Theo sat back down and felt his fingertip for a familiar warmth as his instincts opened the valve much easier than last time. It was like a lever had been flipped inside him, revealing a reflex or a muscle he didn't even know he had. He made a random, squiggly line with no end and no plan, just drawing in the air with magic, something he'd never, ever thought he'd get to do until that day.

  While his blue sketch had no end, that didn't mean it lasted forever. His valve was barely open, just like earlier, and the line was barely lasting two seconds before it dissipated. He focused more on the remaining mana coursing through his body. He wanted to see how much it was lowering it. How else was he to see how much mana he was giving it at any time? About half a minute went by and it dropped a single point. About another minute later, it dropped another, now showing 976.

  "About one mana per minute," Theo said to himself, his own voice echoing inside himself as the bulbs pulsed.

  He then increased the flow through the valve, adjusting it to what he'd finally finished the glyph with earlier. He waited, eagerly looking at the number. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing... 975.

  It had barely increased. A minute later it had fallen another point a short moment earlier, then it dropped another a little later. He surmised it was about 45 seconds now.

  '1,25 each minute', he thought. Just a 25% increase? It felt like so much more flowing through the valve. So, how much could he increase it, then?

  He opened the valve entirely, letting more mana flow through it than ever before. Still the wider river that passed the valve kept flowing, though he felt his finger almost bursting with magic. Now, the line he drew on the empty canvas of air lasted for nearly five seconds, nearly a tripling of the first duration. After a few minutes, though, the amount of mana expended only amounted to about 1,4 per minute, barely an increase. His finger was also growing uncomfortably warm and a slight ache coursed through it.

  He closed the valve again, worried that something might happen to it if he kept it up. Whether that was relevant or not, a new message appeared in front of him.

  Congratulations! Bulbousness (Magical) has expired.

  Mana should never be collected inside your body like it has been. Repercussions are likely, and they are seldom good.

  Trait gained: Magical Ears.

  Magical Ears (Trait): Your ears have bathed in pooling Mana, a dangerous thing for even the most magic resistant of beings. Your ears will now light up in a slight glow when you channel Mana.

  "The gift that keeps on giving," Theo sighed as his ears popped.