He couldn’t move the surrounding mana, but he had many ways of moving his own. When he used Cultivate Toxin, he always poured mana straight out of his hands into the plants, and when using his crafting skills, he naturally poured mana into the bowl.
So, what if he moved the mana not according to the pattern of a skill, but simply as an attempt to affect his surroundings? It was weird that the thought hadn’t occurred to him earlier, but in his defense, the concept of moving an invisible force was not exactly a natural thing to him.
Hours later, he hadn’t found much progress, but he did have some. It was early days, but he felt like he could slightly move the atmospheric mana by using his own as a catalyst. It was currently hugely inefficient, the mana literally pouring out of him. But he
