After the monkey hunt, I gave myself a few days off. Well, "days off" was a bit of a stretch—truthfully, I still had to enter the Virtual World to continue with my usual duties.
Seina was engrossed in researching how to create an optimal energy source for the Virtual World, while Suzu had already started a series of experiments related to magic.
And me?
I wasn't exactly idle either.
Currently, I was using [Insight] to continue receiving information about the structure of the universe—the unfinished project I'd left hanging previously. The task wasn't particularly hard. All I had to do was sit still and let the flow of information pour into my mind, then memorize it all.
Everything was proceeding as usual, until Suzu suddenly came to find me, looking somewhat serious.
"What's wrong, Suzu?"
"Well... I've made some progress in my research on magic. But I realized... we still can't directly use magic yet. So... I need your help."
Oh? That sounds like good news. What exactly do you need me to do?
"I found out that no matter how much we use a skill repeatedly, its proficiency won't increase unless there's a real user involved. So... I need you to learn a few fundamental skills to approach magic."
There's something like that?
"Yes. My [Inference] hasn't leveled up at all even though I've been using it non-stop."
Haizzz...
I let out a deep sigh.
I thought having three of us working together would triple our skill grinding speed...
"Hahaha! You're too naive, kid," said a familiar voice. Exc appeared out of nowhere, arms crossed, laughing heartily.
"What are you doing here, old man?"
"Got bored out there, so I came in to watch you kids argue."
"Argue? We're perfectly harmonious!" I shot back, then turned to Suzu and pulled her close beside me as proof.
For some reason, Suzu's body started to tremble slightly, and her face turned... redder than usual.
"You have a fever or something, Suzu? Though that makes no sense here..."
"I-I'm fine. We should get started."
OK.
"Then use [Soul Link] now, and I'll transfer all the theoretical knowledge of magic to you."
Piece of cake.
"Ah... wait."
What now?
"We... need to hold hands."
Huh? Why? Does it help speed up the transmission?
"Yes! That's exactly it!"
"How sweet..." Seina's voice suddenly came from afar, dripping with sarcasm.
Behave, Seina!
"I'm not a child."
Haizzz...
I didn't continue the argument and followed Suzu's instructions.
We held hands, closed our eyes, and I activated [Soul Link]. Soon after, a massive amount of magic-related knowledge flooded into my mind.
Though we were technically one entity split in three, our knowledge and memories weren't completely shared, but transferring information between us wasn't all that difficult.
At that moment, I thought maybe I should plan a knowledge-sharing session with Seina too. She'd probably love it.
Back to the matter at hand—after a long while, all of Suzu's magical knowledge had been transferred to me, and I had committed it all to memory.
"Although I've finished transferring the knowledge, I'll still go over a few key points. Try to connect the dots in your head as I speak, it'll help you understand better."
Got it.
Seeing Suzu talk to me so naturally made me happy. This was the personality I once wanted to forget, to run away from. But now, facing her, that feeling had vanished.
"First, you need to be able to sense the flow of mana within nature. For that, you'll need the skill [Mana Sensing]. After detecting it, you have to transform it according to the type of magic you want to use. At the same time, you'll need to coordinate with your internal [Mana Vein]."
"Tch, I already explained this," Seina's voice echoed again.
"Oh? Then let's jump to practice. I've already managed to sense the surrounding mana, but no matter what I do, I can't obtain the skill. That's why I need your help."
Leave it to me.
I replied with full confidence—only to realize later just how difficult this would be. I tried my hardest but couldn't sense even a bit of it.
"Ah, I forgot. You have to go outside. There's no mana in here."
...
I didn't even know what to say.
"Sorry, my bad."
It's fine.
I patted Suzu's head and returned to the outside world.
"Just stay calm. Imagine them as streams flowing gently in the air. But don't picture them as too dense or too thin—mana is constantly circulating and changing every second. If you try to fix their form, it won't work."
"Use [Soul Link] again. You'll be able to access my sensations, which might help you find your own."
OK.
"Let's begin."
Once more, I tried to sense the mana around me—but still, nothing changed. Suddenly, a faint figure appeared before me, surrounded by a gentle flow.
I knew right away it was Suzu—her perception of mana.
So that's how it is.
Thanks to that, I began making progress. Besides the usual scenery, I started seeing a faint mist enveloping my surroundings.
"The first step is the mist. Then, condense it."
Without saying a word, I followed Suzu's instructions. The mist that had been scattered began to condense slightly and focused more around me.
"Keep altering its form—never let it remain static."
I followed.
Constantly transforming the mist, making it condense and disperse repeatedly. The density changed, and so did its shape.
"Hold steady. Next, I'll let my perception dive deeper. But remember, only use it as reference—not as your direction."
The once-blurry figure of Suzu became clearer, and I could now see her form. She approached and embraced me, while the streams around her merged with my mist.
I didn't forget her warning. Even though our flows were intermingled, I kept them mentally separate and guided my mist to follow hers.
I was merely tracing her path, but my mist gradually took on a more mystical quality, transforming into flows—still faint and sparse, but it was a good sign.
"It's time for you to take your own path. From here on, I can't help anymore."
Thanks a lot.
Suzu's figure disappeared along with her flow, but mine continued.
From those faint and sparse flows, I gradually gathered them together, still continuously altering their form. I kept this up for who knows how long, until suddenly, my flow had fully formed—and I sensed something new.
This... this was mana.
The flow was just my mental construct to represent mana. But if I couldn't sense the actual mana within, it would all be for nothing.
I focused with all my might to hold onto the sensation, and gradually, it became clearer.
It was no longer a flow—it resembled countless tiny particles scattered all around me. Even inside my body, they existed. But inside, they were different—they appeared as straight lines interconnected and spread throughout my body.
This part was odd. Suzu hadn't mentioned anything like this, but the weirder it was, the more I wanted to grasp it.
I focused on what was inside me and discovered it was also mana—but unlike external mana, it didn't stay still. It flowed constantly throughout my body.
I spread that sensation across my whole body, trying to track its path. But no matter how I observed, it simply kept circulating inside me.
I looked closer and noticed that whenever the mana passed through certain pathways in my body, those paths would glow faintly, sometimes displaying strange symbols that vanished in a blink.
After several instances, I still couldn't fully see those symbols since they appeared so briefly, but I remembered everything.
While I was observing inside, I also kept sensing the outside. The mana particles were now incredibly clear. And when my perception heightened, I realized they weren't motionless either—they moved.
Their movements were peculiar. They didn't fall straight down but rather revolved around each other. Each mana particle had a few others orbiting it.
I tried to grasp the shape of their movement and realized it was chaotic—not overly chaotic, but without any fixed pattern.
Back inside my body—after hundreds of observations—I noticed something new: each time the mana completed a circuit, the path it traveled became more defined. With each reinforcement, phenomena like glowing pathways and the strange symbols lasted slightly longer.
It was as if it were maturing.
After who knows how many cycles of internal and external observation, finally—on a day I couldn't pinpoint—I heard the notification:
<
<
There it is!
"Oh wow, you actually did it! And you even acquired the [Mana Vein] skill too!" Suzu exclaimed in astonishment.
Whoa, I really didn't think I could pull it off. And I even got two skills at the same time?
Could it be that I'm a magic genius too???
Heh heh.
But that joy didn't last long, as an overwhelming hunger hit me like a truck, and I collapsed to the ground.
Oh man, just how many days have I been lying still to be this hungry?
"You've been like that for eight days," Suzu replied.
Nai wa!
It's really been that long???
I need to eat right now.
Learning all these magic-related things really is complex. I closed my eyes for just a bit, and nearly ten days passed like that.
...
Finally, I managed to fill my stomach. The meat I once thought I'd never finish eating was now more than halfway inside me. Even though I ate so much, my body didn't get any bigger.
Just where did all that food go???
"Um, could you come in here? I want to check a few things," Suzu said.
Sure thing.
Let me finish this last bite of meat.
After that, I entered the Virtual World and shared my experience with Suzu.
"Yup, just as I thought."
So you're not even a little surprised?
"Well, those two skills are closely related, so it's not impossible to acquire them together. It's just relatively rare. If someone can do that, they're usually considered to have a magic talent."
Oh? What about you then? How long did it take you to get those skills when you first started?
"Well... I got both in a day, and another day to smoothly manipulate mana."
Nai wa!
I thought I was impressive, but the real magic monster is right in front of me.
But wait, since we're the same person, why is there such a big difference?
"I don't really know. But everything I did before was limited to this Virtual World, so no matter how much I trained, I couldn't manifest those abilities unless I acquired the skill."
So what about now?
"It's like... my sensing ability had already reached 100, but it was stuck at 0 until you got the skill. Once the gate opened, I just shot straight to 100."
Suzu then raised a finger, and a beautiful source of energy gathered on its tip.
"Before, since I didn't have [Mana Vein], I could only create mana using the Virtual World's functions, so it wasn't real. But now, this is true mana drawn directly from the [Mana Vein] in our real body."
Whoa, that's amazing.
You can control it already?
"Yeah, like I said, mana doesn't have a fixed shape. It's multi-formed, depending on how you perceive it."
The light on Suzu's fingertip began shifting into various shapes, even forming strange symbols at times.
Hmm?
What are those symbols?
"They're what you'll use to create magic circles. You draw in external mana to shape the base, then use the internal [Mana Vein] to inscribe symbols to complete it."
"These symbols signify that the magic circle belongs to that person. When casting, it prevents them from getting hit. Also, each person's mana vein is unique, so the inscribed symbols and their effects will differ too."
Whoa, that sounds powerful.
Can I try doing it now?
"First, you need to learn to manipulate mana. This includes absorbing, converting, and amplifying mana, so this step is a lot more difficult."
Huh? Aren't those each separate skills?
"Nope. They're all part of the [Mana Manipulation] skill. But it has four distinct areas, and you need to master all of them equally to level up the skill."
Nai wa!
That doesn't sound easy at all.
Looks like I'll need another ten days or half a month.
Haizz...
"Don't worry. I... I'll always be here for you... So hang in there!"
Thanks, Suzu.
"So lovey-dovey," Seina called out from a distance.
Good girl, Seina!
"Shut up."
And with that, she went quiet. Seems like that phrase works on her. I wonder if it works on Suzu too...?
Hmm...
"W-why are you staring at me like that?" Suzu started fidgeting from my intense stare.
What's going on with her? Why is she flustered by herself?
I don't recall having this kind of reaction...
But I want to try something.
Good girl, Suzu.
"Y-yes!" Suzu straightened up and immediately went silent, not making another sound.
It really worked. And better than it did on Seina too.
Just kidding. Don't take it so seriously. Now, tell me the next step.
"R-right..."
Suzu then taught me what I needed, and I returned to the outside world to begin practicing. First, I focused my entire being to sense the surrounding mana again, and then carefully observed it.
According to Suzu, natural mana is in a chaotic state because it lacks control and balance. And that was my job now — to balance it. First step: establish balance.
Suzu said to start with a small mana cluster, as it would be simpler. A mana cluster occurs when one mana particle is surrounded by others. The more surrounding particles, the larger the cluster.
After observing for a while, I spotted a relatively small cluster — only seven particles around it, with not too wide of a movement range.
Now that I had a target, I needed to figure out what its balanced state should look like.
According to Suzu, balance is when the outer mana particles have equal energy levels, and the center particle has the highest.
The outer particles exchange energy with the center one. Through this process, all particles maintain full energy and none get destroyed.
That's the theory, but how to do it was still beyond me.
Ugh...
My brain hurts!
Suzu just told me to redistribute excess energy from one particle to another, preventing overload or depletion.
Let's see...
Hmm, this one looks the largest, so it probably has the most energy. I should try siphoning some off. But how...
I just thought of something. Don't know if it'll work, but let's try.
Instead of overthinking, I simply used my foot to "grab" the mana particle and split it evenly into two.
Why was I able to do that?
I don't really know either.
The idea just popped into my head, so I went with it. But I thought these particles were supposed to be untouchable???
Well, whatever. Since I succeeded, I just have to keep doing it the same way.
Let's see...
This one's lacking...
This one has too much...
Oops, a bit too much there...
And this one... here we go...
Phew.
Finally done.
Now the mana particles all have equal energy levels and are neatly distributed instead of moving around randomly.
Next, I needed to connect them to the central particle, so they could start exchanging energy. If I could do that, it meant I had completed the first step of [Mana Manipulation].
When I first heard Suzu explain it, it sounded really tough. But hey, maybe I really am a genius. This is nothing!
Now, for the next step, I figured I needed to visualize how the energy was exchanged.
Hmm...
A pipe?
Like a pipe connecting both sides with a valve switch...
Yes.
That's it!
Just like before!
Imagination is basically my specialty now.
I began forming threads connecting the mana particles together. But then I needed to figure out how to adjust the energy flow.
Oh! A faucet!
I'll use a faucet to regulate the flow and divide the levels.
...
After a full day and night, I finally succeeded.
The cluster was now perfect. So the next step was to keep doing this until I could do it effortlessly. Then I'd be able to manipulate mana properly.
From small to large, I used the same method. It got easier the more I practiced. I even tried changing the shape and orbit of the clusters while still ensuring energy flowed evenly.
Eventually, I didn't need pre-existing clusters anymore. I could grab loose mana particles and manipulate them into clusters however I wanted.
I also experimented with the structure. Instead of one center with outer particles, I added multiple center particles and layered them to form a mega mana cluster.
Hahaha!
Playing with this stuff is actually really fun.
I began performing all sorts of tricks with the mana particles, changing their shapes nonstop. I even tried evenly distributing energy to all mana particles, not just within a single cluster.
<
It was quite difficult, since I had to link thousands of mana particles. But with each new connection, my manipulation ability improved.
Push it further!
Stay steady!
Adjust it!
Complete!
After ten days, I finally smiled in satisfaction as the notification appeared.
<
Yahooo!
I am a genius!