Chapter 50: 51-Results

Three days have passed since Rowan began working on his new technique.

Progress was gradual, as his improvements were considered neither fast nor slow by his standards. That’s how it was for new techniques, especially when learning the skill on your own.

At this point, Rowan had named the technique mana pulse. It wasn’t a fancy name, but Rowan didn’t want to waste time thinking of a good name and chose the name that came to mind.

Right now, Rowan was able to spread his mana without losing control for a diameter of ten feet. A vast improvement when compared to the first day when he could only manage a range of one foot.

However it was still inadequate for Rowan.

When Rowan first saw the mana pulse from the Mother Tree, her range had been beyond his senses. She was able to spread the mana for miles without losing control. He was still far away from being able to achieve such results. 

As a sensory technique, it did what Rowan wanted. It allowed him to estimate the strength of an opponent through their mana. Every time Rowan released a mana pulse, his mind would create a mental map of everything his mana passed through.

That was a problem in itself, he realized

Since the map would be formed in his mind, this wasn’t a technique meant to be used while in combat. He would need to split his attention in half, one on his opponent while the other on his mind. Not to mention he would constantly need to release mana pulses to update his mental map. In a constantly changing battle situation, having his mind focused elsewhere could be fatal. There was also the fact that the mana pulse wasn’t a constant technique as it only allowed him to sense his surroundings within those seconds. Not to mention that the mana usage could not be ignored. Constantly releasing pulses would drain his mana which he could use elsewhere. Rowan didn’t know how many mana pulses he could release, but he would have to experiment to find his limit once he was satisfied with his control.

Ten feet was far too short for Rowan, especially as an archer. If he could spread his mana like the Mother Tree, then his archery skill would be evolved to a completely new level as the pulses would allow him to see beyond his normal vision. Unfortunately he was far from that level of control.

It was too early for Rowan to say that everything he concluded was bad so far. He discovered that if he shortened the range of his pulse to just one direction, he would effectively duplicate his control. Ten feet would become twenty feet if he limits the scope of the mana pulse to just the view in front of him. The increased range would be much more helpful in scouting, but would lead his back vulnerable. In the end it came down to which one would be more appropriate depending on the situation. If he was surrounded in a fight, a regular mana pulse would work. If he wanted to see further ahead, then he would use the increased range version of the mana pulse.

While it would be better for Rowan to spend a couple more days practicing the mana pulse technique, he decided it was time to take a trip outside for test practice. At this point, Rowan could feel that he was reaching a limit in his control. It was best for him to take a break and train once he felt better.

There were really only two targets that Rowan could use mana pulse on in the camp, the Mother Tree and the Barrier of Thorns. Both had helped in the way in telling him when he had succeeded in the technique, but that was where their helpfulness ended. The Mother Tree was too powerful to call a regular target to practice on while the Barrier of Thorns had been used for practice too many times. He recognized its mana signature the mana his pulse hit it which defeated the purpose.

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What Rowan needed was something different. He needed something that he never practiced on in order to figure out how dangerous it was. An actual standard to figure out how dangerous something was. His newest planned target practice was the trees right outside the camp. While Rowan could try practicing from inside the barrier, he did not want to. The barrier would appear in his mental map every time he tried to practice on trees from beyond which is an interference he did not need. The increased distance also increases the mana usage. It would be much easier to just walk past the barrier and try it on the nearby trees. It saved a lot of mana and time this way.

Which was what Rowan did in the end as he walked up to different trees that surrounded the camp. All the tree’s manas were different hues of green. Some were vibrant, while others were more dull. At this point, Rowan attributed the green color to be nature mana. It could be said that nature mana was close to life mana since the Mother Tree was responsible for distributing her mana through the forest. This type of mana seems like a close relative, but still developed its own properties that made it distinct.

Rowan could say that doing the test run results were pretty good as he already discovered one of the flaws of his technique. It wasn’t a major flaw as he was slightly aware of it. It happened as his mind was looking at the mental map.

Whack!

Rowan had somehow walked into a hanging tree branch. It wasn't too painful, but still stung a bit. It was mostly his pride that got hurt. He already knew that that mental map would be distracting, but this was a slightly painful reminder of how much. Rowan knew that he would have to learn how to split his attention in the future.

After observing the nearby trees, there was one last spot he wanted to test his mana pulse technique on. He wanted to see what the mana signature like for the killer tree he saw on his first trip. Was there something in this new technique that would allow him to discover what set it apart from regular trees? Hopefully just looking at it mana would give him an idea. This would greatly help when he was exploring the Forest of Death in the future. He would no longer need to be afraid of the trees attacking him.

Rowan remembered the approximate area where the killer tree was. He kept on sending mana pulses as he walked, both updating his mental map and working on his control. When he got to the spot where the killer tree was, he immediately focused his mind on it.

Compared to other trees, the mana in it was much more vivid compared to all the trees he observed earlier on. Not only that, Rowan noticed that the mana signature of the tree seem murky. While this tree had more mana when compared to most of the trees he noticed, the mana was less clean, especially when compared to the Mother Tree. A notable difference that would be helpful to Rowan in his future journeys.

Happy to have found this discovery, Rowan turned around to return to the camp. While Rowan would have liked to perform a few more tests on the killer tree, he knew it would be too dangerous. Rowan would have liked to see how the mana moved around when it attacked. The Mother Tree and the Barrier of Thorns were stationary, so they weren't good observation targets. However it was better to perform such experiments at a considerable distance which he could only do when his control improved.

As Rowan walked he heard rustling nearby. While sending out mana pulses around him, he turned his head to the sound. That was when he saw his old foe.

Wolves.

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