Frontier Online

Three Steps Part 3

Eve hummed audibly, likely for Ryan's benefit, before she said, "I do, but I don't want to show you." Ryan's cloudy green body slumped noticeably. Since he still lacked a face, his avatar's notwithstanding, Ryan knew he couldn't blush. It still feels like I'm calling for aid...

He gestured at his avatar, arms to the side, eyes empty...and entirely nude. "You have me at a disadvantage here." He pleaded at the unfairness of the current situation. Ryan disliked feeling taken advantage of. He didn't want to see her naked body, but a face to talk to would be nice.

Eve grumbled at him, "Do you know how many naked people I'm talking to right now? I don't care about your fetishes." Her words stabbed through his chest, even though she said it in jest.

"I don't have a fetish about this!" Firm denial. Ryan definitely didn't like to show himself to others. He was sure of it. 

"It's not like you're powerless like this. You can have clothes if you really want to." Her tone remained level, but he could tell she was laughing at him. Even though she didn't address the fetish comment again, Ryan's face still felt like it was burning. 

So Ryan heeded Eve's advice and concentrated, envisioning a basic jean and tee combo. Nothing. Of course, it can't be that easy.

"It's not just imagination. Reach out with your senses, feel the substance around you, and mold it." Ryan repeated Eve's advice as he focused on the strange pulse he felt when his avatar manifested, and before when his phantasmal green body appeared. Coalesced might better describe it.

A muffled cough from Eve bothered his focus for a moment, but he tried again.

Ryan was, unwittingly, in the perfect situation to test the "sixth sense" that Monte had mentioned in his interview. Unattached to a physical form, Ryan didn't even need to breathe, which allowed him to focus entirely on the memories of Eve's tips and the sensation when things appeared in this world. Since I know mana is here, even if I can't see it...

Ryan unfocused his "eyes" and stretched all his available senses. The sensation was odd, like using peripheral vision as much as a faceless green blob could have a peripheral vision anyway. Bit by bit, Ryan managed to drag what was at the edge of his vision to the center of it so he could see it. It felt a bit like cool water from a hose as it washed over his head, where he rested just beneath a pool's surface. Once he was aware of it, it was like standing underwater. The strange sensation was synonymous with the visual manifestation in front of him.

Eddys of energy swirled around him, mana in its neutral blueish-green form. Ryan looked around slowly to avoid losing the feeling. It really is like I'm at the bottom of a pool on a sunny day. 

After Ryan basked in the surreal beauty of the mana all around him, the young man focused again, trying to mold the energy around him. As he maintained a relaxed state of mind, Ryan threw himself at the task. 

Starting with the energy nearest his green form, Ryan began small. He did his best to form a hand out of the mana. His first, second, all the way through his tenth try, Ryan failed each time. If he focused too much on the image, he could not relax and lost sight of the mana just as it started to shift. On the other hand, if he didn't try hard enough, then nothing happened at all. 

Undaunted, and with the promise of progress in front of him, Ryan mentally took a step back. While he kept the mana in-sight, he gave up on shaping it. He ran through a simple mental game, one he used whenever he had trouble with school work. 

In a black mind space, Ryan drew a circle, square, triangle, and star. From left to right, they burned themselves into the black in white lines. Over and over again, Ryan kept drawing them in his mind like he was filling up a blank sheet of paper. As more appeared, the originals never lost their clarity in his mind's eye.