Jack saw Austra motioning the last of the crew into the Turtle. The man noticed him approaching and smiled for a moment. Jack stopped tensing his bicep and smiled back, which is when he saw Austra's eyes widen. He dashed forward, grabbing Jack by the shoulders, and stared into Jack’s eyes.

  “When? How? Prism?” Austra asked, speaking much quicker than normal.

  The intensity radiating from the man was something new. Jack wasn't sure what it was about or how much he should say, but he liked Austra.

  “My eyes? Umm, like a minute ago, I guess? Maybe… I don’t know what to say. Do you know something about that?” Jack asked, trying to understand the excitement.

  Austra peered into his eyes and stared without saying a word. Jack felt a little uncomfortable. He pulled back slightly and his face softened slightly.

  “Talk later. Yes. Prism good. Make work easy. Prism eyes rare. Make work easier,” Austra said. With a squeeze on Jack's shoulder, he turned and ushered Jack and Turrel up the ramp and inside the Turtle.

  Processing the words, Jack assumed that somehow being a prism would be useful for the magitech Austra worked with. If that was the case, then his choice to upgrade was an even better one than he had hoped for. His feet clanged on the metal ramp and interior of the Turtle as he took his first step inside the slightly hovering vehicle.

  He had helped lay out the floor, but he hadn't seen the inside since then and he was quite impressed. It had that effect of seeming much bigger on the interior when the walls were up compared to when the space was open. He knew that directly in front of them was the small room that had the engine components and that to their left was the area designated for storage.

  As he was trying to take in the lights on the ceiling and some of the intricate shapes and designs on the modular plates that made up the walls, he was pushed gently towards the front of the vehicle. The space that was allocated for himself and Turrel was labelled as the Power Room, and it had an actual securable door that separated it from the rest of the interior.

  As soon as they had stepped inside the Turtle, the blue colour mostly faded from his vision. There were pops of colour elsewhere: whites and greys, reds, and a strange purple-black colour beneath his feet. But they were more like flashing LED lights he could avoid than a lens over his vision.

  Turrel pushed past him and opened the door to their space and walked inside. Jack quickly followed. Inside the room, he saw a number of shelves that he himself had constructed. There was a footlocker that took up most of the length of a wall and two large square spaces that took up the rest of the floor space in the room.

  Each square looked a bit like it was one of those thick gym mats, but as Jack stepped on it, it was much softer, and he imagined it was much more comfortable. Along the back wall were three large cylinders, similar to the ones on Monty's vessel but smaller. Two of them were life crystals and Jack could feel them humming with mana; as he approached, they gave off a bright green glow that he knew he could only see because of his new eyes.

  The other one, he assumed, was Air based on the feeling he got and how similar it felt to what was keeping them hovering in the air. He could feel from inside the footlocker there were a large number of fire gems, and the shelves were stacked with mana of different frequencies. He avoided looking directly at it as it felt like he was staring into a bright flashing light.

  “Sit down, Jack. You need to adjust and take it easy,” Turrel said as he opened one of the cupboards and pulled out a very familiar device. It was the mana converter from Vessara. Jack took a seat on the mat closest to the large gems.

  “Now, I am not one to discourage testing and learning. Sometimes the best way to understand things is to experience it directly. While your vision will likely adjust slightly on its own, that doesn't mean you won't be able to affect it yourself.” Turrel slid the device to him as he took a seat and leaned back with his hands beside his head.

  “You understand the idea of a control, yes? You used this device often enough before we left and you were trying to study it. You should understand how it works, if even just a little. Understand how it should look or feel while it is functioning, yes?” Turrel prompted.

  Jack nodded, catching Turrel's meaning. He could hopefully work out what was different with his new sense. Maybe he might even be able to catch what was happening as the mana was converted. With a smile, he thanked Turrel and, spotting a box with a few empty crystals, he set up the device.

  He drew on a little wisp of life mana from the cylinder and, as it flowed through his system, a shiver went down his spine. It felt… more. Not that there was more mana or that anything was different; he knew his pathways well by now. It just felt like he could feel more of it. He was much more sensitive to it now and he felt like his control would be better as well.

  Jack sat there for the next few minutes and just let the mana flow through his body. His vortex was shrunk to its minimum and whenever he felt he was at capacity he infused the crystal. He got used to the feeling of mana in his system again and, on a whim, purged a little bit of the mana into the environment around him.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Like a puff of air, he could see tiny specks of green glitter float away from him as it dispersed. He inspected his own body and where before he could see a slight sparkle on his skin when his [Prismatic Mana Skin] was activated, now he could see the outline of it. He could see the thickness, the bends, and how it coated his entire body, even covering a few layers of his clothing.

  The more he saw and thought about it, he was beginning to see how much of a benefit this could be for him. His new eyes were amazing. Which reminded him, he needed to see them himself. Looking around, the surfaces were all matte and couldn't show a reflection.

  He looked at Turrel and asked, “Hey, could you magic up a mirror for me? Water can do that, right? People see their reflections in water?”

  Turrel smiled and nodded. A small bead of water swirled into existence between them. It stretched out until it was almost razor-thin and was about the size of a hand mirror, its surface was clear and see-through. Suddenly that changed, as if someone flipped a switch, a ripple raced over the surface and it was as if the water had turned into a mirror.

  Jack stared at his own reflection and had to blink rapidly as the shock faded. He had noticed his eyes slowly changing previously. The green colour had been cracking through his pupil, filling it with lightning-like streaks of solid colour. That hadn’t changed, the lines were still there just thicker and about a third was now the solid green.

  No, the shocking part was the white part of his eye and the iris surrounding the pupil. The white part of his eyes now looked as if somewhere under the surface sat thousands of tiny angled diamonds. When the light caught them, it shone and prismatic colours reflected back. It looked as if someone had taken a shiny foil from a rare trading card and somehow embedded that within his eye.

  His iris was still its original hazel colour, but now it too had the same reflections and shapes underneath, glittering as he moved his head. It was a strange experience as he stared into the floating water mirror. He knew he was looking at his own reflection, but it was so different, so alien to what he remembered or associated with normal that he didn't believe it.

  “Wow, I think that will end up being distracting for a lot of people when I try to talk to them now,” Jack said as he turned his head side to side while staring at his reflection the entire time.

  Turrel laughed from behind the mirror.

  “Well yes, it is very noticeable. Most people will not comment on it; those that do will likely be either very positive or extremely negative. Much like most things in the universe, you will need to adapt slowly.”

  Jack thought it might take him a while to adjust to it himself. At least he didn't have to look at his own eyes very often. He looked away and watched as the mirror swirled into a small drop of water once again and simply turned into mist before his eyes.

  He shook his head as he infused the crystal one more time. It was ready to be activated and converted. Eager to watch the process with his new eyes and enhanced senses, he took a breath and slowed himself down. He closed his eyes and focused just on the device. The hum of the mana all around him made it difficult, but he tried to zone it out.

  He activated the converter and stared so hard at the device that he thought he might break it simply with his gaze. Like Turrel had said, he had done this hundreds of times already and he knew what to expect, but it all happened too quickly for him to piece it together. This time, he caught much more.

  As the Life mana flowed out of the crystal, he saw the path that it took on the device. It flowed forward and into the circular centrepiece that separated the two crystals. It swirled around the edges to the top and then raced back to the bottom and to the other crystal.

  The whole time the mana moved, its colour and feeling changed. Subtle, tiny changes, but happening rapidly. The light flashed in his eyes through every shade of green, yellow, and orange until it flared red as it entered the crystal.

  He felt the sensations of the shifting frequency in more detail, but he still had no idea how or why it happened. Where did the lost mana go? There was about one or two per cent of the starting mana that made it to the new crystal.

  This was a huge improvement for him. He had seen so much more. He had assumed it was somehow moving through the spectrum from what he felt, but to see it and confirm it was something else. His smile was ear to ear. Like pieces of a puzzle slowly appearing, he felt he was getting closer to understanding something.

  The floor shook and a massive pulse of air and what he guessed was gravity mana intruded on his senses. He looked around and everything was securely fixed and had not moved. He guessed they were leaving.

  He opened his vortex slightly. He wanted to charge the crystal again to watch the process once more. He scratched the back of his head and looked up at Turrel with a smile.

  “When it rains, it pours, hey?”

  He acknowledged the prompt in his mind.

  Mastery of a skill has been demonstrated and acknowledged. Skill will be progressed to its next stage.

  [Prismatic Mana Sense] (Tier 1 -> Tier 2) – Allows the user to perceive the flow of mana, both internal to their body and in a small external radius as well. Due to the prismatic modification, the radius and sensitivity of this ability is dramatically increased.

  Select a Tier 2 Upgrade to [Prismatic Mana Sense]:

  [Focus] – Allows the user to condense their senses to a singular specific target, whether frequency or location. All other aspects of their mana sense are significantly reduced and filtered out in exchange for an equal improvement for sensing the specific target.

  [Sensitivity Control] – Allows the ability to adjust mana sensitivity manually by the user. Visual and physical senses may have differing levels of sensitivity.

  He pondered the options while Turrel squinted at him.