The hidden shelf clicked softly shut behind them, sealing the passage back to the Sanctum of the Forgotten in a breath of cold air and dust-kissed silence. I emerged first, my black-gloved hand still faintly glowing from the Blood Echo reading I had just completed. My eyes shimmered with fatigue hidden behind practiced composure.
Selene followed, ever a shadow's breath behind me, the hem of her midnight-blue dress trailing soundlessly over the marbled library floor. She reached out and gently brushed a speck of spider-silk from my shoulder, her voice smooth as twilight rain. "Your mana threads are still humming. You'll overheat your vessel if you don't balance soon," she murmured.
I exhaled through my nose and gave a half-shrug. "The last book wanted to be difficult. Is there some kind of spell that allows the caster to draw the knowledge from any book, tome, or scroll and into their minds cape? I would love to have something like that."
Selene's lips curved ever so slightly. "Of course there is, Mistress. It is called Knowledge Drain. It was a forbidden Vladiscar spell from the Age of Silken Grimoirs. Your grandmother, Velomirra, was the one who created it actually."
My lips twitched. 'Why didn't you tell me about that before!?'
Together, we stepped into the Hall of Quiet Echoes, leaving the dim golden glow of the library for the pale frost-light of the corridor beyond. Here, silence reigned absolute. Our footsteps made no sound. Even the breath between words was swallowed by enchantment woven deep into the very stones.
The chandeliers above glowed with suspended frost wisps. As we descended the spiral stair toward Bathward Junction, runes along the wall pulsed in quiet recognition of my bloodline. One even whispered: "Vladiscar descends."
At the bottom of the stairs, three glowing signs hovered before us in the still air.
❄️ "Mirror-Frost Baths"
🌹 "Sanguine Petal Pools"
🌑 "Umbra Steam Hall"
Selene didn't ask. She simply gestured toward the sign that shimmered with icy script. The choice was the same.
We walked the last corridor in silence, passing through silver-edged archways and beneath stained glass moons that turned our faces pale and luminous. Before long, the doors to the Mirror-Frost Baths loomed ahead—etched with frost-spun roses and a central carving of a weeping eye above a pool of still water.
Selene stepped forward and pressed a gloved palm to the sigil carved into the door.
It groaned open, revealing the frigid chamber within: a vast expanse of moon-glass flooring, glowing frost lilies bobbing gently in crystalline water, and the scent of cold perfume, like mint and morning silence.
"I'll prepare your oils," Selene said softly, already moving to a cabinet of crystal phials. "Would you like assistance tonight?"
My fingers lingered at the clasp of my cloak. I didn't answer at first. My eyes remained fixed on the surface of the water, watching the frost lilies unfurl in slow motion.
Then, at last, I gave a slight nod. "Yes… but no humming this time."
Selene smiled faintly behind her hand. "No promises, my lady."
And the doors closed behind us with a hush like falling snow.
The crystalline surface barely rippled as I slipped into the frigid water, the temperature sharp as broken moonlight against my skin. I was proud that I did not flinch.
The Mirror-Frost Baths were silent, save for the soft tink-tink of Mirtorlilies brushing against one another—gray-blue blossoms with ice-kissed petals that pulsed softly when touched by thought. They floated in clusters around me, the air dense with their scent: cool, melancholic, like violet dusk distilled in glass.
A breath escaped my lips. It smoked faintly in the air.
The bathwater was neither still nor stirred—it simply was, dense with ancestral enchantments that drew out spiritual unrest and excess mana. The touch of the water was cleansing, yet ancient, as if the pool itself remembered centuries of Vladiscar souls steeping in its silence.
Selene knelt at the edge of the bath, sleeves rolled up, a silver basin at her side filled with moon-oil and braided threads of frostvine. With practiced grace, she dipped a cloth into the oil and wrung it out with a twist of her fingers.
"Close your eyes," she murmured, her voice as delicate as falling snow.
I obeyed.
The cloth passed over my shoulders, down the ridges of my back, following the contours of scars long-since faded and sigils burned faintly into skin—faint traces of bloodline rites and forgotten battles. The cold didn't bite me. It belonged to me. This was my domain.
Selene moved with reverence, never haste. Each motion honored the traditions of our house—cleansing not just the body, but the residual magic and emotion layered upon it. She washed down my arms, fingers splayed, brushing over calluses earned and not inherited.
"Your mother used to train her mana while she bathed here," Selene said softly. "She called it Frost-Thread Immersion. Would you wish to learn it?"
My eyes remained closed. My voice, when it came, was quiet but sure. "Oh? How does that work? I understand that mana could be increased, however it's to my understanding that the how's are rather difficult."
Selene nodded, her fingers now combing through my hair with chilled oil that shimmered faintly with mana. The strands floated around me in the water like ink in snow. "Much like building muscle, the more often a mage uses and then recovers their mana, the more their body adapts to store larger quantities. Repetitive cycles of spellcasting followed by deep meditation or replenishment gradually stretch the internal wellspring of energy. So yes, I suppose it can be rather difficult."
She paused to grab the bowl of conditioner oil and started massaging my hair and scalp. I groaned in pleasure. The head message felt soooo gooood~!
"Frost-Thread Immersion is a sacred Vladiscar method to forcibly expand and refine one's mana channels, increasing both control and capacity. Unlike external methods, this one works from the marrow outward—hardening focus and burning away excess or stagnant mana."
Water was poured over my hair gently. Then Selene started massaging my scalp again but with the shampoo this time. Hmm, pomegranate scented. I think this was favorite so far.
"Centuries ago—during the last eclipse of the Silver Veil—Mistress Velomirra secluded herself in the Mirror-Frost Sanctum, a hidden bathing shrine within the glacial vaults of the Vladiscar ancestral estate. At the time, she was suffering from a soul fracture caused by forbidden blood-thread experimentation gone wrong during a failed ritual within the Sanctum of the Forgotten.
To heal herself—and more importantly, to reforge her fragmented mana soul—she devised a method of channeling mana through disciplinary weaving, using extreme cold and elemental pressure to crystallize and refine the thread patterns of one's inner essence."
"The Frost-Thread Immersion, right? So my grandmother was the one who created the method, hmm? Figures," I tsked. The females in my family seem to be just as amazing as they were crazy.
"Yes my lady. Your grandmother believed that true mastery over mana did not come from raw power, but from control and resilience. She viewed pain not as a barrier—but as a refining fire. Her theory was that any mage can swell their pool—but only the broken ones learn how to thread it back together." Selene finished washing my hair, rinsing it gently then combing my ends. "Do you wish to learn it? Mistress Velomirra taught the method to only a handful of disciples—most of them sworn Vladiscar blood or select witches of Hecate's Circle. I was one of the last to be trained in the ritual directly before she vanished."
I waited till Selene finished combing my hair before stretching my body. I was relaxed. So I figured I might as well try it.
"Sure. Teach me this Frost-Thread Immersion, Selene."
The silver tray clicked softly as Selene set it down beside the bath floor—neatly folded silks, a coiled rune-thread of shadowspun silk, and a bowl filled with what looked like crushed frostglass.
I wrapped myself in a thin silk robe that clung to my still-damp skin and stood quietly on the etched stone tiles. The steam of the Mirror-Frost bath still curled lazily behind me, but here in the adjoining chamber, the air was colder. Sharper. Alive.
The bathing pool before her was refilled with frosted water, faintly glowing from the mana glyphs carved around its perimeter. Shards of mirtorlilies floated across its glassy surface, their translucent petals pulsing faintly in time with my heartbeat.
Selene stepped behind me, brushing a strand of black-and-silver hair from my cheek.
"You're warm. Good. That warmth will keep you from shattering." She picked up the rune-thread and tied it carefully around my left wrist, her fingers precise, reverent. The silk was cold to the touch, like it remembered where it came from. "This will tether your threads. Should you falter, I'll pull you out. But only once."
I glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, but Selene's eyes were focused, not unkind, but not soft either. "Step in. Slowly. Let your soul feel it first."
I obeyed. I wasn't going to question it. For now.
The instant my bare foot touched the basin floor, the cold struck like winter. It wasn't painful, not exactly. It was structured. Every nerve sharpened. Every breath became deliberate.
I took another step, then another, until the water reached just above my knees.
"Now… breathe." Selene's voice dropped to a whisper as she knelt beside the bathing pool. She didn't touch me, but her presence was heavy as a weighted cloak. "In for four. Hold. Out for six. Again."
I followed, and on the third breath—
"Whisper your name through your mana, not your mouth."
I closed my eyes. Inside my mind, I whispered my name. 'Poppy Nyxaria Vladiscar Nocturne... Poppy Nyxaria Vladiscar Nocturne.'
And then it happened. My mana twitched. No longer a river but threads. Strands. A weave undone by warmth, now coaxed into tension by cold.
"Visualize the thread," Selene intoned. "Let it stretch. From your core… to your limbs… to your lips. Back again."
The water rippled. My breath hitched then steadied. I saw it. Crimson silk, unwinding from my ribcage, spiraling into my fingertips and returning with a soft hum. It vibrated. Resonated.
"Begin the first loop."
My thread wove from my right hand, spiraled up my arm, across my collarbone, down my left, and back to my heart. I reversed direction.
The bathing pool responded. The mirtorlilies bloomed. The rune-thread tightened around my wrist—not to restrain, but to anchor.
Selene watched in silence, only speaking when I hesitated mid-loop. "Don't stop. Even if it stings. The cold is your ally. It teaches the weave to obey."
I pushed through. My skin glistened with frost. My lips went pale. But my posture straightened. I breath deepened.
And then a hum. It was low and steady. It didn't come from Selene. Nor from the glyphs. But from me.
"Good…" Selene whispered, her voice barely audible now. "Congratulations Mistress, you just finished the fragmented stage of Thread Stability. Your soul temperature should be around 32% and your mana pool should have increased by 1.2%."
I just groaned before everything went black.
***End of chapter.
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Hello readers. I have decided, that instead of info dumping you in the story, I'll just put the info at the end of the chapter. That way if you forgot something, you can just look back. Also, if you have questions, feel free to ask me in the comments. I'll try to get to them as soon as possible.
Here's the info dump:
🌌 How to Increase One's Mana Pool in Koray
🔹 1. Consistent Mana Expenditure & Recovery Cycles
Much like building muscle, the more often a mage uses and then recovers their mana, the more their body adapts to store larger quantities. Repetitive cycles of spellcasting followed by deep meditation or replenishment gradually stretch the internal wellspring of energy.
Method:
Cast moderate to high-effort spells until depletion.
Meditate in a leyline-rich or elemental environment to restore.
Repeat daily with escalating intensity.
Used By: Students at magical academies, beginner to intermediate mages.
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🔹 2. Frost-Thread Immersion (Extreme Discipline Method)
A specialized Vladiscar family technique involving submersion in Mirror-Frost waters while weaving threads of mana through one's limbs, nerves, and veins.
Effect: Forces the mage to maintain control of mana flow in harsh, mana-constricting temperatures, forcing expansion under pressure.
Risk: Can cause soul-freezing if pushed beyond one's limit.
Used By: Vladiscar bloodline heirs and elite cryo-magisters.
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🔹 3. Mana Core Compression & Refinement Rituals
Intermediate to advanced mages learn how to compress their internal mana into a more refined form, allowing them to store more mana per volume within their cores.
Effect: Shrinks mana particles through spiritual pressure, making room for more.
Downside: Painful, requires absolute focus. Mistakes can cause core fractures.
Usually Performed: Under instructor supervision or with artifact-assisted chambers.
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🔹 4. Leyline Resonance Training
Standing or meditating within areas where leylines intersect—especially at ancestral nodes or world-blooded sites—can naturally stimulate the growth of one's mana pool.
Tools: Resonance stones, meditation charms, or leyline-tuned familiars.
Warning: Overexposure without grounding rituals can lead to ley-sickness.
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🔹 5. Consuming Etherial or Magical Essence
In rare and risky cases, ingesting magical essence—whether from monsters, artifacts, or distilled elemental cores—can expand the mana pool by absorbing their latent energies.
Caution: Unrefined or incompatible sources may poison the user.
More Common Among: Warlocks, ritualists, and darkblood mages.
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🔹 6. Bloodline Awakening & Inheritance Unlocking
Those from magical bloodlines (like Poppy) can awaken dormant potential within their veins, causing a dramatic surge in mana capacity.
Trigger Methods:
Blood rituals
Memory-thread resonance
System-triggered evolution
Ancestral communion
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🔹 7. System-Based Progression (For System-Bound Individuals)
For those with a System interface, such as Poppy, mana pool increases can occur via:
Skill tree advancements
Stat point allocation
Bloodline or class evolutions
Hidden achievements tied to rituals, kills, or awakenings