Dragon Reincarnated (Working title)

Magic and Maintenance

The first thing I learned about magic? Mana depletion is tragic!

Okay, it wasn't the first thing I learned, but it was my biggest take away from my days endeavors into magical 'training'.

At first it was a hell of a lot of fun, and pretty interesting to play around with. I started with using my <Stone Bullet> spell, and was surprised at just how simple it was. I tried doing by just saying the name of the spell in my head at first, because Momma bird already witnessed my horrid flight maneuvers... I really did not want to embarrass myself further by shouting out random spells to the universe.

And I was able to pull it off too! With nothing more than some visualization and thinking the words, I was able to lift several rocks out of the soil and send them hurtling through the air where three bored sizable holes into some trees and several others disappeared out into the depths of the forest.

So, lesson one was that magic was pretty easy! At least, that is what I had thought at first. But that opinion changed after about an hour of firing off stone bullets and realizing, just because I could do the spell did not mean that I could aim it very well. Just like a novice archer might be able to draw a bow, it did not mean that they could easily hit a target.

Much like my flying skills, my magic would need practice to get it right.

The next thing I learned was that <Stone Bullet> was actually pretty versatile, even if I didn't think it would be too effective on anything with a thick hide. for one, I could create stones, as well as summon them up from the earth. But I found out pretty quick that 'creating' the stones from nothing was really hard, and required a great deal more concentration. It also tired me out quite a bit faster than just using stones from nature.

It was <Sand Wall> that taught me that I did, indeed, have a mana pool, and it was not limitless.

My first try of the spell was down by the river. I had to move when I realized that my wayward bullets might accidentally hit Momma Brid or one of the chicks. So my usual haunt at the river was where I decided to continue my experimentations.

I assumed that <Sand Wall> would be like <Stone Bullet> in that it would take a lot more out of me to create the spell out of nothing, rather than using the sand from around me. And it was good that I did try to do it the less costly way first, because I went and stupidly tried to summon a massive wall.

Not sure why I couldn't have aimed for something knee height for my first attempt. Maybe my success at the <Sone Bullet> spell had me over confident? Either way, it was as the mana rushed from my body while sand rushed up from the river bead, that I learned that I was not without limits.

And pushing those limits sucked! Like, big time.

I watched, pretty full of myself, as the greyish sand wall sprung up out of the river, reach up past my pink snout, and stay there. But it was about then that I started to feel dizzy, and my video game trained brain reminded me that mana bars were a thing, and that the power for my several hours of constant spell casting had to of come from somewhere.

The accumulated sand fell back into the river and I stumbled out of the shallow water. Feeling a little drunk, I wobbled to the bank and lay down, heart fluttering. It was about then that I found out that it was not a good idea to deplete your mana. Not a good idea at all.

It actually scared me. I felt both ill and drunk at the same time, and was afraid that I was just going to pass out right there along the river. Most of the big baddies may have made themselves scarce in recent days, but that didn't mean that there was nothing around that wouldn't take advantage of a great lizard laying flat out on its belly, defenseless.