Reina didn't quite catch everything Alec tried to get out, but there was one point he made abundantly clear.
Formless mana was everything elemental mana wasn't. That was a very wide definition. In a way, he had removed any limit that formless mana might have had before. It wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Limits gave direction. Borders and boundaries made sure people didn't stray.
A fire mage wouldn't try to come up with magic that would aid in building roads. That wasn't something fire magic could do. It wasn't something one could draw out from the properties of fire mana. The fire mage didn't have to waste time and energy on a useless endeavor.
Alec had no such set limits. With his current mindset, anything was possible.
That meant he could fumble for days, months, and years in a random direction without ever getting closer to his goal.
But it also meant that he could look in every direction and still find something useful. It was both good and bad.
Reina made sure to bring up these points to Alec as soon as he collected himself.
He understood her worries better than she thought he did. It just didn't show on his face since he had a secret trump card.
[Reader].
His skill gave him the ability to read and understand runes. It was the best cheat he could have asked for when creating a new discipline of magic.
There were non-attribute spells already. But there weren't any spells specifically designed for formless magic, at least none that they were aware of.
That meant he had to create them from scratch.
Anyone else would have needed to first learn the runic language of magic in excruciating detail before they could design even a simple spell formation.
Although [Reader] didn't give him the ability to write spell formations at will, it did make the learning process a lot easier. It also made it so that he could experiment and use the process of trial-and-error to start creating.
He wasn't quite there yet since he first had to condense a magic circle and learn the basics of spell creation. But he had taken the first step.
His enlightenment had led to his awakening.
He could sense the omnipresent Aether in the world around him.
It was an odd sensation since it wasn't with any of his usual senses. He didn't see, taste, touch, smell, or hear it. It was close to sight, but only because his eyes acted as a medium to direct his consciousness.
Even when he closed his eyes, he could feel the Aether like fine, fine dust packed densely everywhere around him. It was to the point that he couldn't believe he hadn't sensed it before.
But it wasn't in the way. He could see and touch things without feeling the Aether's interference. It was like it both existed and was a part of his imagination.
It was like it didn't quite exist in this world.
'Amazing…!'
Alec couldn't stop trying to touch it in awe. But no matter how he dragged his hand through the air, the Aether remained undisturbed.
After he was done fooling around, he turned his attention elsewhere. He closed his eyes and focused on his insides.
It was something he had been unable to do before he awakened his…
"Miss Woltz, what do people call the sense they use to sense Aether and mana?"
"Aether sense, since both mages and warriors have it. Most of the time, though, warriors don't train it much after awakening it, so higher-ranking mages tend to call it magic sense or anything along those lines."
'Ah.'
"I see."
Before he had awakened his Aether sense, Alec had been as able to see his insides as he was able to see through a brick wall. But now, he could sense what was going on inside his body, though it would be more accurate to say that he was sensing the mana as it slowly drifted and bounced around rather than his actual insides.
The mana was like a weak light, barely illuminating the darkness within his body. He couldn't see much, and he couldn't quite make out what he saw, but he could get an image of his entire body just by following the path laid by the mana.
Alec kept the image of his body's external and internal outline in mind as he first just followed along the translucent wisps of mana swimming through his body like bloated, drunk fish.
Once he got used to how they moved, he exerted his will over them.
He wasn't sure how it would go at first since he had never used his mind to control anything before, at least not without his body to act as a medium for his thoughts.
But to his surprise, the mana obeyed his will.
'Is it the metaphysical properties of Aether and mana? It exists in a higher plane of sorts, which is only reachable by the mind of a human and not their body?
'Currently, my mind is trapped in my body, so I can't affect the Aether outside it.'
Alec couldn't help but think of the nature of the magic he was finally getting his hands on. But at the same time, he followed the instructions of the Hollow Gale manual as he pushed the formless mana around his body.
Getting distracted while condensing his mana was a bad idea, but Alec handled it.
Gradually, his wisps of mana clumped together. Eight wisps became five, and they grew in size. They also gained a more even shape. They were no longer tear-shaped. Instead, they were more like bubbles.
Before Alec could condense the mana further, more Aether slipped into his body, adding a wisp to the train of bubbles.
Naturally, he started condensing it into a bubble as well.
"Alec."
Alec felt like he could continue condensing his mana forever.
"I'm not sure Basra and Moira will wait for you."
Alec's eyes snapped open.
But food was more important than mana.
He didn't know why—maybe it was how hard he had studied and trained lately—but he almost always felt hungry. He was starting to get worried that he would eat Moira out of her greenhouse at this rate.
"See you tomorrow, Miss Woltz."
"Give Basra my regards."
"Should I blow her a kiss in your stead, or…?"
Reina looked up from the book she had just started reading.
"You can if you want. If you dare."
Alec gave her a finger gun.
"Good point." He slipped out of her office and headed off to Moira's greenhouse, blissfully unaware of the figure hiding around the corner.