Wish 24 : Empire
I spent the whole night recovering mana, and all I could manage to recover was just 5%.
Well, it's better than having nothing.
Owning a huge amount of mana also has its drawbacks.
But this made me discover something I had never realized before...
My mana range became smaller after consuming my mana.
Mana range is like a sixth sense that makes you feel your surroundings more accurately, enhancing your other senses and enabling you to measure the mana of others and its aura to some extent.
If my mana range is smaller than someone else's, that person can detect several secrets about me, and they can even restrain me.
In this life, I've experienced having a larger mana range than mine twice...
The first time was when my mother killed me in my first life in this world...
She froze my movements and senses because she had the holy mana, which is stronger than regular mana.
As for the second time...
I still feel that fear running through my bones...
This gives me a strange sensation.
Since I came to this world, I've tasted sudden defeats.
Sometimes, I feel as if I've returned to my original world, the first world!
I suffered a lot in that world, much more than 60 lives...
Short lives and long ones, all in the first world...
I was incredibly weak back then...
Well, I'm still weak, weak in several ways.
Who said experience is everything?
In a world ruled by logic, perhaps that might be true...
But in a world where entities like virtues exist...
Will logic or experience be of any use here?
No!
Whatever you are, you are still weak in front of them...
The word "weak" won't accurately describe the state you'll be in.
Huuuhh...
Before, I knew that the path to divinity was impossible...
Then I found that I was strong enough that divinity wouldn't be an obstacle in my way, but...
I found that there's something even stranger than divinity...
Yes, the right word for it is "strange"!
Virtues are strange, something you can never truly understand.
However, achieving it is simple, controlling a specific path within the limits of the universe, not just the world.
And that's what makes it strange.
I imagine that something as strange as that has put me in this pathetic state...
"Ha ha...
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha"
Ah... yes, that's really funny!
...
Five days have passed since I started recovering my mana.
The good thing is that I've begun to regain my mental strength.
I think that defeat made me realize many things.
I also found an easier way to recover mana...
So that mana will regenerate on its own without me having to enter a state of meditation.
In fact, applying the theory of magic circles and celestial stars to myself would've been faster...
But unfortunately, I don't know if it would work on my current body...
Also, I don't even know what my race is, and on top of that, my mana is not homogeneous...
I feel like I'm a creature that shouldn't exist in this world.
Something like what happens in stories where the hero defeats the villain, and the villain transforms
into a strange creature with immense power...
Wait...
I'm not a villain, am I?
So I'm the hero!
"Master Tell~ I'm back..."
She looked at me with empty eyes and said, "Continue what you're doing; I haven't seen anything~"
In this way, I'll lose my authority as her teacher...
...
We've finished all our affairs within the Frost City...
I also taught Kugssa the flying skill, so our journey to the Svant* Empire will be faster.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*Svant means saint, but I'll leave it as it is, it's better that way.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Then we directly fly right after leaving the Frost City...
At first, Kugssa struggled to maintain her balance, but she quickly adapted and became even more
skilled than before...
Her talent is truly scary.
We spent the whole month flying towards the empire in the morning and resting at night.
And since I managed to get enough sleep due to my easy mana recovery, all that mental exhaustion
disappeared.
At the same time, I began to delve deeper into that mysterious energy...
I feel like I'm on the edge of discovering its nature.
Then, after another week...
We finally arrived at the Svant Empire!
We descended upon the first city we saw from above.
Then, we paid the entrance fee to the gatekeeper and entered that city...
From the outside, it would appear to anyone as a large city...
But from the inside...
What in the hell is this?!
Is this a city or a village on the brink of destruction?
The view in front of me is unrelated to it being an imperial city with a rich history.
There are no stone houses except for the palace in the center of the city...
Most houses are made of damp and dilapidated wood...
And that's not all, Are those the people of this city?
If it were night, I would have thought they were ghosts with their weak bodies and fading faces.
Just how severe was the famine that hit this empire?