The pain across Scias's chest had dulled.
He examined the wound carefully—three parallel claw marks where the Water Hare's magic hit him. Though they'd bled profusely, they weren't deep enough to reach muscle.
'If I truly gained levels, what exactly has changed?' Scias wondered and decided to find out.
First came strength.
He approached a fallen log he'd previously used for training—a thick section of oak he could barely lift before.
Bracing himself, he gripped the wood and lifted. What had once required his full effort now came with surprising ease.
'Interesting,' he thought, lifting the log above his head several times. 'Definitely stronger.'
Scias checked his wounds if they didn't start to bleed again.
'Seems fine.'
Next, reflexes.
He tossed small stones into the air and attempted to snatch them before they fell. His hand moved with unfamiliar quickness, catching objects that would have eluded him days before.
For another test, Scias ventured to the forest edge where he had space to run.
After marking start and end points, he sprinted at full speed, pushing his body harder than he had since arriving in this world.
He was still aware of the wounds on his chest, checking them occasionaly.
The forest blurred around him as he ran. When his lungs began to burn and muscles began to ache, he channeled mana through his body, using magic to recover his stamina, refreshing his muscles.
He repeated this several times, running until fatigue started to set in, then casting his spell to recover.
Each time, the weariness in his muscles vanished completely, replaced by renewed vigor.
Scias slowed to a stop, breathing deeply but not desperately.
A thought struck him as he examined his legs without fatigue even after such punishing run.
'The spell doesn't just mask fatigue,' he realized. 'It actively returns the body to peak condition. It's not suppressing damage—it's repairing it.'
His hand drifted to the makeshift bandage on his chest.
If the spell could restore muscles to their peak condition, could a similar principle be applied to wounds?
Carefully, Scias unwound the cloth from his chest, exposing the injury. They had scabbed over but would clearly leave scars without proper treatment.
'If healing is possible...' Scias settled into a comfortable position and began to concentrate.
First, he simply envisioned his chest whole without any claw marks, directing mana toward the wound.
Nothing happened.
'Too abstract?' he thought.
'The magic needs direction, process.'
Scias altered his approach, recalling his training with elemental magic.
Just as earth spells required understanding the structure of earth and stone, perhaps healing required understanding the structure of flesh and body.
He closed his eyes and focused on the damaged tissue.
In his mind, he visualized the wound to the best of his knowledge—the torn skin and muscles, his blood and exposed nerves. Then he imagined the process of repair in exact detail.
Blood clotting to stop bleeding. A scab covering the wound. Underneath the scab, new skin and muscle forming at the edges of the wound, multiplying and stretching toward each other, knitting together, first fragile, then strengthening, until only a scar remains. Finally, even the fading of scars.
This was the extent of Scias's knowledge of treating such wounds from his old world.
As he held this more detailed visualization, Scias directed mana toward the wound.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then came a curious warmth, not unpleasant but strange, as though sunlight had concentrated directly on his injuries.
Opening his eyes, Scias watched with amazement as the edges of his wounds visibly contracted.
The process wasn't instantaneous but drastically accelerated under his focused attention. Within minutes, what would have taken days of natural healing had completed before his eyes.
Where three ugly claw marks had been, only faint pink lines were visible and were slowly fading.
Scias touched the newly formed skin carefully. It felt slightly tender but whole.
"Remarkable," he whispered, tracing the disappearing scars.
He stood, feeling lightheaded—not from the healing itself but from expending so much mana.
A quick check confirmed his suspicion: the healing drained his reserves almost completely.
He stretched cautiously, testing the new skin's flexibility. Perfect, as though he'd never been injured.
The healing had worked perfectly, though the mana cost told him this wasn't magic to be used frivolously. Atleast not until his mana capacity increases.
Questions came his mind.
Could he heal others or only himself? What were the limits—broken bones? Severed limbs? Internal damage? Death itself?
The possibilities seemed both wondrous and terrible.
'Better to hope I never need to find those limits,' Scias thought.
He'd seen enough battlefield medicine to know how fragile the human body is.
Some injuries went beyond any healer's abilities.
Scias dipped his hands in the creek, splashing cool water on his face.
Between the leveling, enhanced physical abilities and mana capacity, and this discovery of healing magic, the day had brought news that would take time to fully comprehend.
He looked toward the southern forest where he'd encountered the Water Hare, looking beyond the forest edge to the depths of the forest.
That region clearly contained more dangerous—and potentially rewarding—creatures than his familiar territory.
The path toward awakening and choosing a class would likely lead him deeper into those unknown woods. And eventually, to civilization.
'For now, though,' Scias decided, watching the last of sunset paint the sky, 'I'll focus on mastering what I've already learned.'
* * *
After several days of rest and leisure, Scias returned to the blue gem he'd extracted from the Water Hare.
He'd stored it wrapped in a bowl he created by his magic, periodically examining it with curiosity.
The polished azure stone fit comfortably in his palm, roughly the size of a small plum seed but oval in shape.
In the morning sunlight shining through his cave entrance, the gem caught the light in peculiar ways, refracting it in patterns that seemed almost deliberate rather than random.
Its surface was smooth and cool to touch, not unlike polished glass, yet it possessed an unmistakable hardness that suggested greater durability.
"So you're what made that monster so dangerous," Scias murmured, turning the gem between his fingers.
His chest muscles contracted as he remembered fighting the Water Hare.
Unlike the gems and precious stones he'd encountered in his old world, this one emanated a subtle energy he could perceive when he concentrated.
Having spent months attuning himself to mana through his magical practice, Scias recognized the sensation immediately.
'This contains mana,' he realized. 'A natural reservoir of magical energy.'
He placed the gem on a flat stone before him, settling into a cross-legged position.
For several minutes, he simply observed it, extending his senses toward the object.
The longer he focused, the more certain he was—the blue gem contained a concentrated amount of mana, far denser than what naturally permeated the air around him.
"This must be what separates monsters from ordinary animals," he reasoned aloud.
"Regular rabbits don't have this, nor do the fish or birds I've hunted."
Scias reflected on the dead bodies he'd found when he first arrived in Ostea.
He'd 'examined' them thoroughly and found nothing resembling this gem.
If humans possessed similar mana cores, he would have discovered them inside the cave where the dead bodies were.
'Do humans generate and store mana differently? Or is this a fundamental distinction between people and monsters?'
Carefully, Scias picked up the gem again and channeled a trickle of his own mana into it.
The gem remained inert, having no reaction to the energy he directed toward it.
"Hmm, not quite that simple," he muttered.
He tried a different approach, attempting to draw mana from the gem as he would from his surroundings when casting spells.
Scias stumbled upon this way of casting spells by accident.
However, it is very inefficient because it takes much longer to gather the necessary amount of mana. Much longer than using mana inside his own body.
At first, nothing happened. Then, when he adjusted his technique—imagining the gem as a concentrated pool similar to his own body rather than ambient mana —he felt a connection form.
A startled laugh escaped him as mana flowed from the gem into his control.
The sensation was distinct from his normal casting—smoother, requiring less concentration to maintain the flow.
The mana itself felt slightly different too, with a faint resonance that suggested its water-based origin.
"So that's how it works," Scias said, carefully directing the borrowed mana to form a simple ball of water above his palm.
The spell materialized with surprising ease, requiring less effort than usual.
The water sphere hovered before him, its surface more stable than his typical spells.
When he released it, the water splashed harmlessly to the floor.
Scias examined the gem again, extending his senses toward it.
The mana inside it had slightly diminished.
'Interesting. Let's see if it recharges.'
Over the next several days, Scias periodically checked the gem, measuring its mana content through careful probing.
Despite leaving it in various conditions—sunlight, darkness, submerged in water to match its elemental affinity—mana inside the gem remained the same.
"So it doesn't regenerate naturally when separated from the monster," he concluded after a week of observation.
"The creature must somehow replenish it while living."
"Also, mana from the gem can be used only for spells of the same affinity."
He conducted further experiments, drawing out the remaining mana in controlled amounts.
Finally, after nearly emptying the gem, Scias attempted one last spell.
He channeled the borrowed mana into an ambitious water blade, similar to what the Water Hare had used against him.
The spell formed with remarkable precision, though the blade lacked the cutting power of the monster's version.
As the last traces of mana left the gem, something unexpected happened.
The vibrant blue color faded to a dull gray, and hairline cracks appeared across the surface. Within moments, the once-smooth gem disintegrated into fine dust between his fingers.
"Well, that answers that question," Scias said, watching the dust scatter in a breeze from the cave entrance.
He brushed the powder from his palms, contemplating the significance of his findings.
If he could target and damage these mana cores during combat, he might be able to limit monster's magical abilities or even incapacitate them entirely.
'The System suggested killing monsters is the primary way to gain levels before awakening,' Scias thought. 'And now I better understand how they function.'
He glanced toward the deeper parts of the forest where he'd encountered the Water Hare.
More powerful monsters were likely to be there, each possessing mana cores that might be useful—both for experience and the magical energy they contained.
'I should craft a proper weapon before going there again,' he decided. 'And perhaps develop some defensive magic.'
The destruction of the gem left him with mixed feelings—disappointment at losing a precious resource, but also satisfaction at learning something new.
Each discovery brought him closer to understanding Ostea and his place within it. Information was what he needed the most. When he entered the deeper woods, he had none. Had he encountered stronger monsters, he'd be dead now.
This was the reason why Scias valued information so high.
***
Scias had a sudden moment of realization.
The memory flashed vividly—the giant feline beast digging through the defeated bear's carcass, extracting something with deliberate precision.
At the time, he'd heard a distinctive crunching sound as the cat consumed its prize.
"The gem," he whispered, the pieces falling into place. "That's what it was after."
He paced the cave floor, connecting these observations with his recent discovery.
The feline hadn't simply killed the bear for territory or food—it had specifically sought out the mana core, consuming it immediately after victory.
"If monsters can become more powerful by absorbing these gems…" Scias trailed off, his mind racing with implications. "That could mean they can evolve, similarly to me getting a class."
Scias recalled the Water Hare's gem. He'd destroyed it through experimentation rather than consumption.
Scias's mind wandered to the System's explanation of advancement through monster killing.
What might have happened if he'd attempted to ingest it instead? Could he benefit similarly?