Several hours had passed with me drifting in and out of consciousness trying to access my mana pool with no luck. All I could fathom was that due to my new dual realm nature that the knowledge and power of the soul stone I had taken from the thug leader had been consumed and integrated into my own. Without being able to feel out the mana pool though I couldn’t be sure it would make sense if I was able to access some of his knowledge to fill in the blanks of my own such as understanding the language. I wonder if he was able to read? Hopefully, I’ll be able to put it to the test soon. Testing, that’s it! The greatest talent that rose me to rule over all wasn’t raw magic or unbridled skill it was my ability to think outside the box and test things. If I wasn’t able to find my mana pool on its own then what if I used my mind’s eye? Normally entropic magic needs an external source of energy but if I do have a mana pool shouldn’t I be able to pull the energy from that and then by following the traces locate it and focus it? But what spell to use? This was unfortunately a rather common way for entropic innates to meet their demise at their own hands by attempting to supplement the energy with their own they effectively implode, and with my injuries and stage of development, I’d need to be extra careful. 

What about not using a spell at all? Regardless of the foci, all magic users controlled their respective flow by the mana channels within their bodies to varying degrees. If mine had been trained I probably wouldn’t have had to rely solely on touch magic earlier and my siphon life spell would have taken much more than just the thug’s arm. In a nutshell, it affected how well one could control magic and mana. In my time I would practice and exercise my mana channels by holding a charged mana crystal in one hand and an empty one in the other and pass the power continuously back and forth between them while circulating it throughout my body. It was a dangerous and unheard-of training method at the time but after decades it became like second nature to me, although the first time I did attempt it I did lose control resulting in a shattered tibia, an exploded mana crystal, four broken fingers covered in splinters from said mana crystal as well as unceremoniously soiling my drawers… But when compared to the risks of outright casting a spell using myself the risks were definitely on the milder side… 

I exhaled slowly and then took a long breath in and began steadying my breathing until it was in a perfect rhythm. Thankfully I was already bundled and tightly fastened in a lying position which helped me find my centre. In my mind’s eye, I began the training exercise faintly pulling on my being. I delicately navigated around my heart and brain so as not to accidentally draw out the wrong energy and tugged faintly across the rest of my body until I felt the pull of mana. With my severely injured form and mana channels being almost non-existent it took several hours but all the while the wagon rolled on so all I had was time. Occasionally my mother or father would open the flap of fabric separating the wagon from the driver seat and check on me or gently touch my face or kiss my forehead but with my steady breathing, it must have seemed like I was peacefully sleeping. 

It had grown somewhat warmer as we travelled but now the weather was growing milder once more. I didn’t open my eyes but I could tell it was approaching dusk and would probably be nightfall soon. The wagon slowed and there were several more large bumps as if we were going slightly off-road before the wagon came to a stop. I guess my training will have to wait.