Everything wasn't healed by a magical handshake, far from it. Years of ghost stories and an ingrained fear of monsters, constantly buffed by literature and movies, are not easily forgotten. Magda kept a comfortable space between himself and Tyler as he showed and explained his latest work. Tyler took no offence; to Magda it was like he was standing near a monster.

  Tyler was starting to be convinced the system was holding a light up to him, showing him who he truly was and giving him an option of paths. He could have just dismissed Magda, not even tried to reconcile differences, but that wouldn’t be moving in the right direction. The system didn’t just show, it told him through Magda that humans are monsters, or at least capable of becoming one. A future Tyler was determined to avoid.

  Magda opened a large book that rested on a heavy table, flicked a few pages and landed on a page with several small tables, all detailing a different mana affinity. Tyler took note of several: Earth, Fire, Wind, Draconic, and Space.

  “These are the affinities I have been able to study while at Pilton Hays. Others have been kind enough to assist. They say there are as many affinities as there are stars in the sky. See here,” Magda said as his finger pointed to the table detailing the fire affinity.

  “See how destructive it is against every other affinity, lesser so with wind, but not by much. It’s the same with every other affinity, destructive. Why is that, when it’s all just mana?”

  Tyler didn’t really have a reference to go off. He’d seen Shahan fling a fireball, very destructive, his own mana he’d seen explode when used on his weapon, but that didn’t really help. He needed to know more.

  “Tell me, Magda, before the system, before your planet was integrated, did mana exist there, or was its existence known?”

  The demon lifted up from his slouched position over the desk, this time Tyler involuntarily leaning back, not because of fear, but because of the sheer size of the creature. No man could ever be that big.

  “Huh. Hardly. Mana only presented itself as the system did. This, albeit not the most scientific reasoning, is why I focused on researching mana, to know more about what the system is. It’s connected fundamentally, how I don’t know.”

  “That makes sense, so the system comes, mana flows which we all can interact with, makes us stronger, faster, better.”

  “The system might help increase attributes of individuals, but do not mistake the arrival of the system as a good thing. My own world, Serator, was not the most idealistic place, but it was getting there. Demons were, in my opinion, on the verge, or at the very least starting on a path to enlightenment.

  For centuries, war and greed had ravaged our planet, but within the last fifty years demons started thinking of others and not themselves. We as a species still had a long way to go, but the building blocks were there, well until the arrival of the system.”

  The demon started pacing around his lab. He was obviously agitated by this, but Tyler wanted to know more, especially about a newly integrated planet. After all, Earth was such a planet.

  “How did the arrival of the system affect this progress? Making people stronger, healthier, even I have noticed the effects. Healing alone is remarkable.”

  “Because the system rewards power above all else. Where scholars would advocate for a peaceful resolution through discussion and forum, others would not. The best of us were decimated, either by the system directly through events or indirectly where it awarded our less than desirable members of our race with power far exceeding others, all through their actions of slaughter.

  Within the first year of the system arriving the death toll was at fifty percent. Fifty percent of a population of just over three billion demons.” Magda was shaking his head, his voice low and full of remorse.

  “Then the infighting started, the powerful wanted to dominate, our civilised society all but gone. We have some stable regions, well when I left we did, but there were also some powerful individuals wanting to conquer what they didn’t have. The best estimate we have is that of the demonic race, only fifteen percent are still alive.”

  Three billion. Half. Then half again. Tyler did the math without wanting to. Over two billion dead. In five years. His mouth went dry.

  Tyler felt his stomach lurch at this new information. Was humanity in store for the same fate? He’d experienced more fighting and death in the last few days than he had in his entire life. Seshka’s words echoed in his mind, her insistence to train to grow stronger, and it wasn’t just her. She was from an empire, with God knows how many people, all with the same mindset.

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  “I’m, I’m sorry, that is devastating. I... I... I...”

  The demon waved his arm in a placating fashion, interrupting Tyler, thankfully. He really didn’t know what to say. A species almost brought to extinction, what could someone say?

  “It is why I choose not to fight, hence my path leading me here, and why I choose to research the system. Why does it want to thrive on killing, on power? Here take a look at this, I have been investigating the use of mana outside its normal functions.”

  The demon stepped into the middle of the room, obviously wanting to change the subject, and Tyler couldn’t blame him. What he described was horrific by anyone’s standards. Tyler tried to push the thought away, not think about the ramifications for Earth and focus on what the demon was doing.

  The demon closed his eyes and put his hands together like he was about to recite a prayer. He stayed in that position for a while, long enough for Tyler to actually wonder if the demon hadn’t drifted off to sleep, when a purple glow started to emit from his body. It was like a wild, crazy light was coming from within him.

  The light continued to grow in intensity, until a very faint dome appeared around the demon a few inches away from his body, like a protective shield. The demon opened his eyes and smiled.

  “This is what the system calls a soul shield. It is not generated from the core and through your channels in the traditional sense. Instead you can think of it more as an expansion of your soul space, although it’s not technically your soul space that remains the same.

  It has several practical uses I have found so far, mainly all relating to defence. Not physical, but mana related. It successfully negated a fireball from twenty meters away, only diminishing the shield durability by eighteen percent. Of course I have other tests I plan to carry out.”

  “I knew I liked him,” Al’s voice sounded in Tyler’s head, shocking him so much he stumbled on the spot. “Smart demon that one, you should do that. Why didn’t I think of that? Is it because I’m not a demon... maybe, but who do I ask.”

  Tyler for once agreed totally with Al. He should definitely learn how to do this. The defensive application would be invaluable, as long as it could be called upon quickly enough.

  “How did you do that, care to share?” Tyler asked, hoping their newfound friendship might be enough to let the demon share. The demon smiled a toothy smile in response.

  “Of course, I even have notes I have written up you are welcome to read. But this is not something easily done. I have focused on my core for years, training it daily to be able to project a barrier like this.”

  “It’s easy, just make it bigger, not small, big, and done. You can do this,” Al said, full of confidence.

  “I’m a quick study, just give me the basics, I’ll go from there,” Tyler said to the demon. He wasn’t sure in Al’s confidence, but he did now have a stable lesson core.

  The demon seemed almost excited at Tyler’s words. Maybe he just had someone to share his work with, someone he could talk to on the same level.

  “Fair enough, let’s start easy. I take it you can feel your core. I do not sense much of your chakra, don’t worry we do not use that in a sense. Normally we feed mana from our core through channels in our body, directing it to where we want it.

  Instead focus on your core, feel how your soul space encompasses it, that small part that is entirely you. Feel the mana in your core, feel it expand out to fill that soul space, as if your core glows with mana, its light filling everything. As it fills your soul space and reaches the edges let it keep going out through every part of your body as if it is soaking right through. Then when you feel it leave you, lock it in place. You have to pull it back in but push out from your soul space at the same time.”

  Tyler nodded, having understood what the demon had meant, make your core shine bright like a bulb. Tyler looked in on himself, felt his core, steady and full. He couldn’t see a soul space, but would feel an area around his core that was and wasn’t there. He pushed the mana in his core all at once, trying to make it shine like a light.

  “No, no, no, that’s pushing again we did that. What the big demon means is to make it resonate, shake it,” Al said, sounding offended for the demon.

  Tyler closed his eyes and focused on his core again. This time he thought about making it vibrate, the way he could with his ear drums by clenching the muscles around them. He did the same to his core, clenched the mana around it and to his surprise the mana vibrated and started to glow outwards.

  He seemed to have some control of the glow and directed it through his soul space, passing outwards and filling his body until he could feel the energy on every part of his skin.

  “This is, this is just... snap it back, whatever you did at your core, feel the outside edge of your extended mana and do the same,” Tyler heard the demon say as he kept focus on what he was doing.

  Feeling for the edge of his mana as it left his body was harder said than done. Once it left his body through his skin he could hardly sense it. Instead he felt for the energy just underneath his skin. It felt diffuse, like trying to catch sunshine with a thought. He applied pressure nonetheless, trying to vibrate the energy, resonate it with the vibrating mana at his core.

  He could feel the mana vibrating, even when it left his body now. It moved closer in sync with his core until he felt it lock in place. All the vibration stopped as he opened his eyes to see a white vibrant glow surround him and a gaping demon standing just off to the side.

  He could feel the soul shield, feel the power it contained, instinctively knew how hard it was, the same way if a person held a material in their hands they could judge its tensile strength. This was a huge advancement and it seemed the system agreed as a bunch of notifications popped up just behind his eyes.

  Congratulations new skill acquired

  Lesser soul shield

  Congratulations you have gained a level.