Another Application of Mana

While meditating on the carriage, I gradually felt something. I could feel something familiar in the distance. However, I couldn't really tell what it was. The only thing I was pretty sure of, was that this familiar sensation was related to mana.

Out of curiosity, I attempted to reach out to it.

It was quite difficult, but over time I was slowly able to reach out with a tendril of mana. And when I did touch it-

"Yah"

Raisa let out a small scream and jumped out of her seat. She looked to the left and right with a panicked expression.

"Eh? Did you see a bug on the carriage?"

Ah. I think I understand now.

"Um, sorry. I think that might've been me."

Raisa looked back at me with an appalled expression.

"Wha- How were you the one that did that?"

I scratched the side of my head.

"There was this familiar sensation that made me curious, so I reached out to it and that happened."

Raisa fell silent for quite a while. After thinking to herself for quite a while, she rushed up and grabbed onto both my arms with a serious expression. She made sure to speak in a soft, but urgent voice.

"Don't talk about this to other people. Let's stop discussing this for now and go to my room first."

I gave a small nod. It appeared I had done something even stranger than just manipulating someone else's mana this time.

Once the carriage did stop, I noticed that the maid looked rather surprised, showing that my visit was probably not expected by most people around here. Nonetheless, Raisa promptly grabbed me and dragged me all the way to her room.

Several servants looked at us with confusion, including Raisa's personal bodyguard, but she told them all to leave and not to bother her. In the end, I found myself in her room.

As expected of a large house, there were also large rooms. There was a rather large bed on one side with an overhead curtain, which served a purpose I could not think of. There was even a relatively large dining table with several chairs inside as well, along with a private bathroom.

Huh. Was it the Arden family that was relatively frugal, or these guys that spent too much? Wait, this was probably because of the difference in rank now that I think about it.

"Hey."

Raisa called out to me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Ah, yeah."

She blinked a few times before taking a deep breath.

"Shouldn't you already have known what you were doing was strange? You have studied magic, have you not?"

My eyelid twitched. In truth, that was Bryson that had done all that. What I knew was still limited to what the game had said about magic (which was very little) and what the teacher had explained to us. After taking a seat at the table, I responded.

"I guess I thought it was strange, but I haven't read anything on that kind of thing yet."

Raisa sat next to me before taking a deep breath, with her brows still furrowed.

"That's... really strange you don't even know this much, but whatever. Originally, people have an incredibly difficult time sensing mana that is near them, but it is said that prestigious mages are able to do it if they are in direct contact with said mana. Those that are a step higher can vaguely sense other people, but only if they are in the process of using mana."

She let out a sigh.

"Although nobody has ever heard of a mage manipulating someone else's mana through contact, it isn't so outlandish that one would think it is impossible. However, what you have done hasn't been something ever recorded, or even thought to be possible. My mana was laying dormant, so you shouldn't have been able to sense anything in the first place."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Huh. So doing that can actually be considered something pretty cool, huh?"

The corner of Raisa's lip twitched.

"I... suppose you could see it that way, but this really is something you should be keeping a secret. Some people may label you as a heretic or perhaps a demonic species."

What? Well, to be fair Bryson was labeled as a heretic in the story, but that was because he was using Dark Arts extremely recklessly. I felt it was too far to call myself that when this seemed more like a party trick.

It had the same energy as tapping someone on their right shoulder while quickly ducking to their left and saying, 'Huh? No, I didn't tap you on the shoulder.'

I mean seriously, what else was I supposed to do with this ability?

...Actually, now that I think about it, that might be quite fu-

"You aren't thinking of using it, are you?"

Raisa interrupted my thoughts, making the smile on my face freeze.

"Uh... no."

Raisa's face twitched as an annoyed smile formed on her face.

"I told you before that you were bad at lying, why did you even try?"

Hey, come on! I was told I was good at lying earlier...

She let out a long sigh.

"Listen. I'm not telling you this because I'm overly paranoid, ok? I believe that you aren't some heretic or demon, but other people wouldn't be as understanding. You seriously have to keep this a secret."

I gave a small nod.

"...Alright."

Man. Why was I getting babied so much by the women around me? Maybe my face was a bit too chubby. But then again, this isn't my actual body, but Bryson's. His cheeks are caved in, so that couldn't be it.

Unless... she could see that I actually had chubby cheeks despite being in someone else's body?!

Wait, why the fuck was I talking about that?

I couldn't help but feel strange at Raisa's strange look.

"I mean, it's not like I could actually do anything dangerous with this kind of ability, other than maybe playing pranks."

Raisa let out a helpless sigh.

"It's not about how lethal it is, but if it goes against common logic. There are a lot of wizards that could really wreak havoc on the kingdom, but they have few actual restraints put on them."

Well. She definitely had a point.

"So... should I just give up on doing things like this then?"

Hearing my words, Raisa clearly hesitated. It was easy to tell she really wanted to say yes, I should give up. However, there was a part of her that couldn't. She hesitated before speaking.

"O-Of course it's bad, but if that's the way you like to fi- um, use magic, then I think it's fine. You... are like a protector and that's cool!"

...

"Did you really just try and copy what Nathan said before?"

Raisa blushed rather hard and averted her gaze.

"Wha! N-No..."

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"For starters, the answer that he gave doesn't even apply to my situation. They may seem similar in principle, but they really are different things. And second, I was literally right next to you when he said that. Do you really think I forgot?"

Raisa covered her face with both hands and remained silent. It appeared the embarrassment was too much for her.

I let out a long sigh.

She really just tried to hit on me with the monkey see monkey do approach.

"Whatever, can you just tell your honest opinion about it?"

Raisa parted her fingers and peeked at me with one eye.

"You'll forget about it?"

My eyelid twitched.

"I'm not trying to remember, but if you keep bringing it up, then I'll think about things like how you wet the-"

"Okaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!"

Raisa lunged at me and covered my face with her hands, almost like she was trying to transfer some of the shame she felt to me.

"I'll tell you, ok?"

She took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. While her cheeks were still a bit red, she explained it to me without panicking.

"While it would be heretical for someone without much progress in magic to show this off, that doesn't mean you can never use this ability in public."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? How the hell does that work?"

Raisa patted her cheeks twice before continuing on.

"If you become a very reputable mage that is known to be quite strong and has reached the peak in the traditional way, it's different. After some time, if you suddenly reveal this new ability, people will think that you have just made progress into magic past the peak, and this is only the natural next step."

I tapped my chin a few times.

"How do you know all that?"

Raisa tilted her head to the side.

"One of my tutors had explained to me the history of magic. Originally, people had only casted spells through flat diagrams that could be easily drawn on paper. However, Leo, a mage from long ago, had discovered casting spells without a flat diagram. Since he was a mage at the peak, everyone followed his example and came to discover that magic could be far more powerful and complicated, making many different new spells."

Oh. I guess that's why there weren't spell scrolls and instead those weird stones.

"So you're saying I should practice it and only reveal that I can after I become the best mage there is?"

Raisa nodded with a smile.

"Yeah! That should work."

A bitter expression formed on my face.

"...Will that even be possible with my limited supply of mana?"

Raisa's expression froze.

Because I had a point.

This world was rather cruel in a way, since everyone was born with a certain magical aptitude that would determine their ceiling. Even if I theoretically understood how to cast certain high level spells, I wouldn't have the mana to actually carry it out.

That was really shitty, but at the very least this game didn't make it so the protagonist had no magical aptitude, else that would really be taking it too far. Unfortunately, I was not in the position of the protagonist.

Raisa blinked a few times before responding.

"It's not like it's impossible to raise your magical aptitude! It may take a while, but you can definitely get there. You don't necessarily have to be the strongest mage for you to reveal this power and have it backed up by others."

That sent me into thought. Yes, she definitely wasn't wrong about raising magical aptitude. However, she was thinking of using elixirs. As for me, it made me think of a rather brutal, but possible way to do it.

Iridescent stones and crystals.

To be specific, forcefully implanting it into the body by removing something inside oneself. Essentially, the body would be tricked into thinking that the iridescent stone or crystal was part of the body and automatically attune the mana contained within.

Depending on the kind of stone or crystal one used, one could increase their own mana regeneration and/or their mana capacity to different extents.

This wasn't known to the people in this game because of a very simple reason. It was incredibly brutal. People weren't just going to test that kind of thing.

...I think.

The only reason I knew this was because the protagonist could use these stones and crystals to increase their magical aptitude at the cost of their health. It wasn't all that helpful since the protagonist already had a high magical aptitude, but the difference was substantial.

For a person that had a low magical aptitude, the difference would be enormous.

In our playthroughs of this game, we would usually use one or two of our more valuable iridescent crystals to have an easier time clearing them. Of course, we also tried not using it to see if there was a different outcome, but other than a few changed dialogue lines, there was nothing.

Just one crystal... could help me tremendously. And it shouldn't be too hard for me to secure the funds to get it as a noble.

"Bryson?"

Raisa called out to me with a worried expression.

"I could be mistaken, but it appears you are pondering over something dangerous."

Well. Strictly speaking it was, but if controlled, then it was relatively harmless.

"There is a way I can think of to increase my magical aptitude, but it will probably be a little bloody."

Raisa furrowed her brows.

"Don't do anything stupid. There are people worried about you, ok?"

I gave a quick nod.

"Alright."

At first, I was about to brush it off, but then suddenly remembered Jess. Since she forced me to take a bath with her all the time, she would definitely notice if I made an incision on myself to insert any crystals.

If she thought I was doing self-harm, then Jess would go full-on crazy overprotective older sister.

Well, it's not like I had to do it right now.

But... I really wanted to know what kind of price those things were. Since Nathan had secured a hefty sum of income, I wasn't too worried about keeping all the money I had on me.

"Hey, do you mind if we go to a real black market?"

The only place the protagonist was able to afford low-end crystals was in the real black market. Still, it was a bit of a rip-off even then. But it shouldn't be a big deal for me.