Chapter 7: A Burning Passion

Jackson felt like somebody beat him up with a sock filled with butter, while simultaneously burning him. He could barely sleep, not just because the slime on his leg, but also maintaining the construct keeping it from dissolving him. It took him a good few hours to fall asleep simply because of how much attention it took. Thankfully, as the construct was attached to him he had an easier time keeping it running. not that he could disattach it if he wanted to. 

He had probably only gotten 5 hours of sleep when he was woken up by the slime attempting to escape. He stood up and climbed out of his tent as best he could, then changed the shape of his construct into a hollow ball. Once he did so it was now a strange ball just stuck to his lower thigh, which was quite a strange sight. Jackson set the palm of his hand on the ball and tried to pick it up. He couldn't just move it from his leg to his hand without grabbing it as his clothes were in the way; unless he wanted to stretch them out and ruin them. Sadly, his dark athletic wear shorts had already been damaged by the slime, but even damaged they were still his most comfy pair, so he wanted to keep them. Putting his shorts aside, he tried to pick up the ball attached to his leg, but this is where a problem arose.

"Huh...? Oh, of course." He sighed and shook his head. "It's never that easy is it? You know what? I'll deal with this after I've eaten, that healing spell always takes a lot out of me."

Jackson had already disinfected and bandaged his wounds before he went to bed, while also focusing on healing his hands primarily. The burns were thankfully rather minor on his hands as he just touched the slime with them for a few seconds. Before he actually laid down he had to move the construct around but hadn't turned it into a ball until just now. Jackson spent a while healing his leg wound too, but as his spell was not the best, he still had some flaky skin and didn't want to risk anything.

"What, am I going to need to buy more bandages too?" He looked towards his bag, just to realize he had no rations left. "Why did I ever think this was a good idea?"

     

 

After spending more time then he would've liked to gathering assorted fruits, nuts, and berries that were probably safe to eat; he addressed the matter at hand. He set his hand on the bubble of Mana. It was hard to describe how it felt, It was completely solid, mostly transparent,  but felt almost gaseous at the same time. He tried to just grab it originally, but he still needed to keep up a connection with the ball to keep it together. he injected the ball with mana from his hand and voila, It came easily into his hand. 

He felt dumb, extremely dumb and annoyed about how he had spent a considerable amount of time gathering food while the orb was throwing off his balance and making him uncomfortable. 

While trying to calm himself down, he noticed something strange.  The ball moved loosely in his hand, while before it was completely stuck to him. Then he realized that he was still sending mana to the ball from his leg, focusing on his mana he could feel the attachment to his Mana ball. There were small mana strings attached to the ball. well no, strings wouldn't be correct; It was more like electricity moving through a wire, while the wire is absent.

He passed his free hand through the mana... flow? and instead of cutting off, the mana just went around his hand to keep a connection. The flow was so small it was invisible, but if he focused, he could feel it. He had looked stuff like this up on the internet all the time, but had never knew how to do it. It's kind of like explaining how to move your arm to somebody.

Finally, he knew how to rid himself of the slime. He walked a good distance from his camp site before he started to push the ball away from him, he was worried about it keeping up, but it was perfectly fine. once the ball had gotten about 2 meters from him, he dispelled his construct and the slime fell to the floor with a plop.

It took a bit for the slime to realize it was free, but once it did it scurried away quickly. Jackson was relived, slimes were supposed to be pretty rare, but considering how little people ventured into the woods it would make sense for them to not be seen often. What weirded him out was that people thought they were weak. Sure you can run easily from them and all but they are so resistant to physical attacks you practically need magic to fight them. Not to mention that If they sneak up on you they can get pretty scary if you ignore  their blobby exterior.

On the way back to the camp site Jackson realized that he hadn't looked at his progress since the day before yesterday so he pulled up a progress window.

 

Besides the fact that he gained a point in strength, Jackson couldn't say he was surprised at his progress; although he was a bit confused that there was an achievement for that.

"it's making me seem like some kind of wi-fi service. Man, I miss having a phone."

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Jackson went back through his routine as per usual. 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, and... however long he actually runs for, among other various workouts. then it's on to things like foraging, archery practice, and failing at catching meat to eat. And last but certainly not least, magic training.

Jackson wanted to work more on learning heat magic, but he would do that later. For now, he wanted to make his Mana Constructs permeable to gasses. Mana can work as a good filter for many things including gases; Alchemists also typically have enchanted gear that do it for them. Jackson wouldn't be able to make it filter as of yet, but he hoped to make it permeable to gasses in order to let him breathe inside a Mana Shield. 

To be honest, it was easier than he thought it would be. He made a face mask out of mana and left a hole where his mouth was. he would take breaths and then seal the hole, while trying to make it permeable. It only really took him 5 attempts, and after that he could do it every single time. It was like learning to swim, once you learned how, you never forgot.

Now, Jackson had a bit of extra time to learn some heat magic. He did the typical stuff, Meditating close to the fire while forming the impression of heat onto his mana. It was the same as usual, but something felt different this time. He was Channeling his mana, and attempting to meditate, but was distracted; He felt good about himself for the first time in awhile, to say the least. He had been putting in effort everyday to be a better person, and was changing to fit that image. looking at his stats really forced him to realize his own hard work. even though it was expected growth, it was growth nonetheless. 

For the past few years, Jackson was at a standstill. His wisdom rose when he studied, but he never got wise enough to face the truth. That he was paying for the consequences of his own actions. Everyday he suffered because he never knew how to speak up for himself. He would be a much happier person if he marched up to his Father and told him that he was going to be a Jack whether he liked it or not. It was almost ironic with how hypocritical his dad could be. "Follow your dreams unless I don't think you should" is in essence what he was saying.

He started to think about what he said to him that day on the walk back from the park. It was all a sham and he knew it. But... he accepted it for what it was, and learned from it. Although he wished his dad would have been kind and loving forever; he realized that people aren't set in stone and have the capacity to change, for the better or for the worse. It wasn't a quick realization, but gradual over time. He wasn't willing to be sad about the past anymore when the future starts to look so bright.

Jackson's chest felt light and warm, filled with a strong, but pleasant, catharsis. But then It started getting pretty warm.

Well, I am right next to a fire.

But then It got really warm.

He opened his eyes, half expecting to be on fire, but only saw smoke. He didn't realize it, but he started crying earlier and now his tears started to evaporate.

I'm not on fire, but I'm really freaking hot! What's happening?

He walked away from the fire and started to hyperventilate, he was scared and alone in the woods with nobody to call for help. As he realized his situation, he began to feel as if he was dunked into a bath of ice water. he immediately ran back to the fire, and sat down. he was so out of wack that he didn't know what was wrong even though the answer should have been obvious. He only realized when he noticed he wasn't getting any warmer.

Wait, I'm still channeling my mana. Oh, I'm an idiot, or am I a genius?

Jackson pulled open a progress window instantly

Jackson had a huge grin on his face; he was so happy! he almost jumped for joy! but he then fell flat on his face because of mana exhaustion, so he promptly went to bed, dreaming of fireballs.

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