I had realised that the repaired cell parts were made of the smallest and most angular Manies. I didn’t know the reason for that, but if I could alter the composition of the Manies cloud— increasing the angular builders—then I should be able to strengthen the infusion.
But before I got into experimentation, I realised there was a missing link in my thought process.
If I increase the Angulars, but there aren’t enough destroyed parts, then the Angulars won’t find anything to fix.
That’d inhibit the cell’s empowerment. The cell would still be strengthened—having more Angulars meant having sturdier parts—but not by much.
The power-up wouldn’t be worth the hassle of finding a way to selectively increase a part of the Manies cloud.
I have to think of something else.
The function of Mana infusion was simple: it destroyed and rebuilt a momentary, better replacement. So, I had to destroy more while repairing it quickly and sturdily, but that could only be solved with more levels, as controlling a Mana particle, the same way infusion did… it was impossible at my current skills.
It was like a racing horse. I wanted to increase its running speed by better equipment or maybe decreasing the rider’s weight, but not by changing the horse. Even though that might be the better choice in the long run, it would just need too much investment of time and resources.
I strived to tweak the skill, not enhance its fundamental function—that’d need too much work, if it was even possible.
To summarise, I wanted to increase Angulars to make the fixed parts last longer and hold better, but if there weren’t enough Manie Destroyers in the first place, then the damage wouldn’t be enough to satiate the Angulars.
The same held if you were to increase the Destroyers. Without more Angulars, it wouldn’t work.
There has to be an equilibrium between Destroyers and Angulars, or it wouldn’t work.
Like always, any idea brought with it a thousand problems that’d need a thousand thousand ideas to fix.
I contemplated the problem a bit more, focusing on its essence.
Cell parts got destroyed. Manies repaired them, making them stronger. But the battle didn’t stop here. The destruction and reparation continued until they cancelled each other. The Angulars, when infusion was on, always survived and won the battle, enhancing the cell in the process. If the infusion happened without the skill, then the Destroyers could win, killing the cell in the process.
Hm… doesn’t that mean it’s not a complete equilibrium with the Angulars always winning? Or maybe it’s an equilibrium, but the skill influences the result by favouring the Angulars.
Counting the precise number of Angulars and Destroyers inside the Manies cloud would be impossible—there were just too many of them. But I could get a general sense of their numbers, and they looked about equal to me. This made me lean towards an influence from the skill that tips the war’s favour to one side.
What if I stop this… war?
Angulars and Destroyers had different shapical functions. Being together would always lead to a battle of dominance. It was inevitable, but…
If I find a way to segregate the Manies cloud into Angulars and Destroyers, the battle will stop.
I’d first send the Destroyers to demolish parts of the cell, then the builder Angulars would come. By separating these two processes, I would stop them from interfering with each other’s work. Hopefully, that’d strengthen the end result.
But how do I do that? Manies are just too small and numerous. Separating them at such a fine level? I’ll probably need a higher level of [Mana Manipulation].
More contemplation.
***
Once the Manies cloud was spent, the Angulars would hold out for a few moments before dissipating. For a short while, I had a cell with only Angulars.
Now, these Angulars couldn’t be used for reinforcement, as they were mostly spent and would dissipate in a short while, but…
From Kamos’s and Somani’s memories, there was this thing called a sieve: a metal or wooden thing with fine holes that humans used to separate rice from dirt.
Using these soon-to-dissipate Angulars, I’d create a sieve by shooting them at a single layer of cell walls.
After getting the sieve, I’d use it to separate the bigger Destroyer Manies from the smaller Angulars—The Angulars would pass through the punched holes, while the Destroyers wouldn’t.
This was the idea I had come up with after a few hours of contemplation.
I got to work.
Finding a random cell, I cut it open, emptied its insides, and spread its cellular wall.
I chose a batch of the cell wall—one without any tubes or other openings—and cut it from the rest using a protein cluster with a sharp edge.
I ended up destroying the cellular wall.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Sigh…
It took me a few cells and many horrible cuts to finally get what I wanted: A circular cell wall devoid of any openings.
Activating [Mana Infusion], I strengthened a random cell with a Mana particle.
A few moments later, the Manies cloud was spent, leaving Angulars.
I focused on the Angulars, trying to control them with [Mana Manipulation].
It was impossible.
They were just too small, so I stopped.
This won’t work.
Choosing another cell, I infused it with Mana, but this time, instead of one particle, I did the maximum [Mana Infusion] would allow for a single cell, 5 particles.
The cell lost 3% of its build.
The Manies wave was huge, attacking and rebuilding in a war of dominance, but as usual, the Angulars outlasted their enemies, and the ravaged cell lost its halo.
Sweeping in, I controlled the Angulars.
It was still difficult, although more manageable than before—The Manies cloud was larger, hence easier to control.
The extracted Angulars from the cell were different from their original counterparts.
Their wavy movement was less vigorous and slowing visibly.
Is this their energy counter?
I wasn’t sure if this wave movement speed correlated with Manie’s energy levels; it seemed logical, though.
I moved on to the next part.
I shot the diminishing Manies cloud at the cellular wall.
It didn’t work as intended.
The size difference was just too large—The Manies weren’t able to pierce all the way through.
I need something even thinner than a cellular wall.
After searching for a while, I came up short.
The best choices were either hair or teeth materials, as they were consistent in their build. Unfortunately, cutting them to such a thin sheet was still beyond my current capabilities—I needed something pre-built.
I tried sending salvos of Angular clouds at the cellular wall, hoping to penetrate it, but that, too, didn’t work.
The dozen attacks had left the cell wall with craters way larger than the small holes I had first intended to create. I wasn’t able to punch through except for a few large openings that’d fit a Destroyer Manie, rendering the sieve useless.
The search continued, and as I was starting to lose hope of finding something suitable, I noticed something.
I had been trying to separate the Destroyer and Angulars manually. Zooming in on the cloud, I’d find a batch with a higher concentration of one of the two. I’d try to punch it out. Depending on its size, it’d work sometimes.
The results were mixed. Some punched clouds had a noticeable difference of Manie types, nothing too major, but that didn’t matter.
What mattered was that, through these failed experimentations, I had noticed that the Destroyer clouds were harder to move than Angular ones.
The Destroyers… they’re heavier?
Being larger, it was paramount that they’d be heavier than their counterpart, but I didn’t expect that their movement would be slowed.
Maybe it’s not about heaviness. Maybe it’s friction because of a wider surface or something else. Whatever it is, if I can make use of it…
At this point, I was ready to abandon the sieve project, so noticing this… it felt like a light in the darkness.
I experimented.
Taking a mixed Manies cloud, I started to move it up and down, hoping that the slower Destroyers would be left behind…
It didn’t work.
Dammit!
I tried different jerking motions, but the difference in speed was just too small to allow for separation.
I either have to move the cloud at an insane speed or move it a long distance.
Both ideas had their advantages and disadvantages, but…
Circular motion.
Circles allowed for infinite loops of distance, although the control would be harder.
No matter, I’ll try it.
Creating a large Manies cloud, I got to work.
Taking hold of the cloud, I shaped it into a hollowed sphere.
I spun it.
Creating this motion was hard. I had to hold the shape while pulling at different points in two simultaneous directions, and as it gained speed, controlling it became even harder.
I put more BP into it, easing the stain.
The hollow sphere slowly turned into a ring as its hollow part grew.
Faster, faster!
With more speed, the ring got more condensed, giving a brighter green colour.
The fast speed had me pour more BP into the project, as it got harder to keep the ring’s shape. Faster speeds also needed more spinning points (The places where I pulled in two directions to create the third spinning motion).
At ten spinning points, I was almost at my limits, and not wanting Somani to notice the brain drain, I stopped adding more.
After a while, the ring colour started to change until it settled. Now, it had two parts with varying green shades. Half the circle was light green, while the other half was jungle green.
Holding the ring’s shape, I zoomed in.
Yes!
The huge Destroyers dominated the jungle coloured half, while the lighter side had more Angulars.
If I were to guess the percentage, I would say 1/3, meaning that in the jungle green side, for every one Angular there were three Destroyers. The same held true for the other half, but in reverse.
Now… how to separate them?
Outlining the Destroyer half with [Manima Nanosenses], I pulled it away using [Mana Manipulation].
The ring was split in half.
The two halves immediately started to diminish in size.
Quickly choosing a random cell, I shot the Destroyers’ cloud at it.
It became riddled with damage—about 55% of it was destroyed.
That’s heavier than even skillless normal Mana infusion.
Before the cell died, I injected it with the Angular cloud, and…
No, no, no, no, NO!
It didn’t work.
For some reason, the Angulars, instead of helping fix the cell like usual, started to destroy it—as the Destroyers had done.
After a short while, the Angulars were spent, killing the cell.
Argh!
I decided to give up on altering [Mana Infusion] and instead try to strengthen the neuron tube through other means.
***
Creating dozens of protein disks was easier than before because of the new skill evolution.
This time, the protein disks filled the tube from both sides, not taking into account the space between the particles.
Pushing, I reached 45% quickly before breaking through.
Yes!
Unfortunately, surpassing the 55 mark, the particles shook so violently that they ate a disk every moment.
A few moments later…
Poof!
The explosion, like the one before, was surprising for the amount of Mana invested.
The tube had held, but at the explosion, the particle had destroyed about a dozen disks, creating two beams.
I need more disks, I guess.
As I created the disks, aiming for a hundred this time, my mind couldn’t help but wander back towards the [Mana Infusion] experiment.
What had gone wrong?
The Angulars seemed to forget their purpose—fixing.
How do the Angulars even know how to fix the cell in the first place?
I meant, it wasn’t like they had knowledge or consciousness, nor could it be the system, as infusion had worked without it.
Or… maybe they do have consciousness.
This thought sent shivers through me.
If Mana is conscious, what kind of being is it?
The System, maybe?
All Mana in the world had a single consciousness, a consciousness that exerted its will through the System… crazy idea, but not impossible.
I refocused on creating the disks, shrugging off the crazy theory that I had no way to verify.
But my annoyance at my failure, maybe spite, kept me coming back to the problem.
What did I do wrong? No, what did I do differently?
I had just separated the Angualrs and Destroyers, stopping their conflict.
Maybe it’s the conflict. The war that leads to creation after destruction, but how?
It was then that I remembered something.
It always began with destruction, not creation.
Oh… oh, oh, OH!
I got it.
The Manies didn’t know how to create. They just fixed something in the same way they had destroyed it.
That’s why separating the Destoyers from the Angulars led to failure. They were never meant to be separated. They complement each other!
That meant that my experiment was meant to fail from the start, as separation rendered the Manies useless.
Ha…haha…hahahaha!
I couldn’t help but laugh.
So this is how discovery and creation work: a cycle of trial and error.
Reaching this conclusion, I felt my annoyance vanish, replaced by an unyielding desire for discovery, and…
I’ll succeed!
Creating a huge Manies cloud, I poured 13MBP to make it spin.
Would Somani notice? Yes, but this had to work.
The ring turned into two separate colours, one for each half.
On each side, the percentage went from 1/3 purity to about 1/4 purity—one Destroyer for four Angulars or reverse.
Outlining the meeting points of the two sides, I separated them.
But this time, instead of cutting them entirely, I only cut one connection, turning the ring into a tube.
The tube had destroyers at the front, while the back half was made of Angulars.
I shot the Manies tube at a cell.
The Detroyers impacted first. They wreaked havoc before the Angulars came for help.
It… it works!
If I had an eye, I would’ve shed a tear.
The Destroyers had destroyed about 40% before the Angulars came for rescue.
They rebuilt the cell perfectly, and this time, there were no Destroyers to annoy them. There was still some left, but way fewer than before.
The cell shone with the brightest halo to date.
It felt indestructible as it radiated sheer power.
But the surprises didn’t stop there, as the System decided to reward me with an unexpected present.
Would you like to evolve the skill [Mana Infusion] into [Destructive Manies Infusion] (Unique)?
But the skill hasn’t reached Lv. 10 yet… Don’t mind if I say, Yes!