Chapter 84

As I thought that, a flash of blue caught my eye; that blue hair… it was Rain’s. I spotted her and shouted out for her to get her attention.

She jumped, really startled when I called out for her, making me disappointed to see because after going up by two ranks, I thought she would have some confidence in herself, but she was the same as ever.

Looking around frantically to see who called out to her, I waved with Mila on my shoulder.

Seeing me, she looked fearful, like she didn’t recognize me at all, which I guess was due to the hood covering my face. So, walking toward her, I partially took off my hood to reveal my face.

“Rain, it’s been a while. Sorry for not writing to you; a lot has happened. How are you doing?”

Her eyes widen seeing me, and before she could shout out my name, I shush her.

“Shhh, please keep it quiet.”

Whispering that for her to hear, she was caught off guard, but she smiled either way and happily said while scratching her head.

“Ah, right, sorry, I forgot what Clare told me. It’s really good to see you, but who’s that girl over your shoulder?”

Pointing at Mila, a bit curious.

“Oh, it’s Mila, Mable’s older sister.”

“Wait, what? Mable has an older sister?”

Shouting that out loud, she was really surprised by that revelation. I guess it makes sense, since Mable isn’t really the talkative type of person.

“Did Mable not tell you?”

“Umm… no, she never mentioned it. But why is she unconscious?”

“Oh, her.”

Explaining what happened and why I was carrying Mila over my shoulders, we made our way to the infirmary, with Rain helping by taking the other arm.

On the way, we had a nice chat about how things were going, with Rain filling me in on what she had been doing that Mable wasn’t able to tell me, while I told her about my time in Acton, like my time going into a dungeon or how I bought a house, which left her amazed.

When we reached the infirmary, Rain opened the door, and a doctor was there, politely greeting us.

“Ah, Mr. Nyx and Mr. Rain. I was expecting you after that loud tremor downstairs.”

“You were expecting us?”

“Ms. Emma had told us beforehand to prepare for this yesterday.”

“Oh."

Handing over Mila to the doctor, he examines her closely after laying her on an empty bed, then tells us that Mila just has a mild concussion.

Hearing that she was fine, I was about to say goodbye to Rain since Mable wanted me to watch over her because Mila would start making a mess of things again once she woke up, and Rain probably had other things to do today, but in the end, I didn’t need to, since the doctor then said.

“There is no need to watch over Ms. Mila. Ms. Emma already foresaw this happening and told me to inform you that she already had some restraints prepared, though I don’t think we need them.”

I blink my eyes, a bit surprised that Emma was prepared for this.

“Umm… okay, that is great, but personally, I think you should use them on her.”

“I’ll keep that in mind then.”

Not knowing what to do today since I hadn’t planned much—just staying in the library until Clare finished whatever she needed to do, which she said would take the whole day. Then, by closing time and after, I’d have the training area all to myself, where I could train in secret. Now that I don’t need to watch over Mila to make sure she doesn’t run off to Mable and cause even more of a mess, I’m left wondering what to do.

So, looking at Rain, I ask her. “Hey Rain, what are you going to do today?”

“Umm, I’m planning to tr—”

Stopping herself from what she was about to say, for some reason, she turned really pale, afraid of something, while not looking me in the eye.

“Ummm… umm…” Looking like she was coming up with something, she immediately responded, "Exchanging my monster parts at the reception counter.”

Hmm… why does she sound like she was about to say “train”? Speaking of which, maybe I should go to the training area anyway to do some physical training for now, and when there aren’t any more people in the training area, then my magic.

“I see. When you’re done with that, would you like to spar with me in the training area?”

It’s been months since I last saw her fight, and I could tell from her slight movements that she had built quite a decent amount of combat experience. It would be fun to see how much she has improved, but she took a step back with some sweat forming on her brow, Rain said, stammering.

“No, I—I—I can’t; I h-have to do some errands today for Emma. S—Sorry, but no, I can’t.”

Listening to Rain's almost incoherent speech, I was disappointed to hear that.

Quickly excusing herself, Rain ran off, so seeing that, I also excused myself.

At the training area, I saw adventurers who looked to be complete novices swinging their weapons. Their forms and stance were completely off, from just learning how to use their weapons from their trainers.

Finding an empty corner all to myself, I’d begun training. I focus on just doing the basics, mainly to not draw attention to myself since there were just a bunch of newbies in the training area.

Instead of focusing on sharpening my swordsmanship and skill, I was focusing on improving my strength and endurance.

I did that until the people coming in and out of the training area gradually became fewer and fewer, and I then began to do much more advanced moves and sword techniques.

And when I was the only one left, I decided to take a break, a long one this time, because I was planning to use my magic since there was no one to watch me.

Sweat drenched my body, especially with the fact that I have a cloak covering my face, which doesn’t help much. But since the last person in the training area, other than me, just left, I decided to take off my hood.

I felt completely exhausted, and every muscle in my body felt really sore. Did I overdo it? Yeah, I think I did.

Taking the flask of water from my belt, I chug down the rest of the water inside. The water was really warm and tasted kind of bad, but it was better than nothing, and I was really thirsty.

After around 10 minutes, I got up, no longer as exhausted as before. Then, I took a couple of steps forward to give myself some room and held out my arms with my middle and pointer fingers extended.

Controlling my breathing, my hair glowed black, and my eyes turned blue. I focused and controlled my mana as much as I could, then recalled a basic spell in the book I read yesterday called Lightning Strike, which is just to send out my mana toward a target.

Focusing on the dirt ground as my target, I try to let out my mana; however, nothing comes out of my fingers, so I try forcing more mana into my fingers, but still, nothing comes out of my fingers.

Adding even more mana and focusing it even more on my two fingers, I notice it has become more unstable the more mana I put into it. But seeing nothing happens, I steadily add more mana till… instead of the normal electricity coming out, black lightning sparks around my arms, to which I immediately feel my mana reserve depleting fast.

Feeling like I was about to pass out, I pulled my arm back and instantly stopped mana from flowing into the tips of my fingers.

“Haa… haa…, what the heck did I just do? Was that my mana nature?”

Taking several steps back so I could lean on the wall, I thought to myself, "So using attack magic may not be a good idea if that happens." It confirms that I can’t use basic spells because, for some reason or another, my mana would be infused with my mana nature.

So doing that is out of the question, which, honestly, I wasn’t too disappointed about since I figured as much, so I guess I should try something else instead.

Grabbing a monster core in the pouch that stores them, I held it in my hand and stared at it.

Remembering my fight with Boras, when I first started using my magical powers, it felt a bit fuzzy, but what I could recall was my mana leaking out of my body, making contact with the monster cores scattered around the pile of rubble I was on.

So with that in mind, my hair glowed black, my eyes turned blue, and I let my mana, infused with my nature, flow through it.

Almost instantly, I felt the mana inside it being absorbed and flowing through my body. This surge of mana felt invigorating, and unbeknownst to me, the smallest form of a grin appeared on my face.

Mana was beginning to overflow out of my body, so, not trying to leak the mana out of my body, I concentrated inside my body, condensing it as much as I could.

Instantly, I felt my body grow even stronger, and I felt a burning sensation inside me, which felt really hot but wasn’t painful.

Inadvertently, condensing my mana basically activates the nature of your mana.

My body grew blistering hot, like I was standing directly in front of an oven or furnace, which honestly felt uncomfortable, not painful.

Closing and opening my hand, I test how much stronger I’ve gotten. By the looks of it, around twice or 3 times my base strength.

Now let's test out the limit of it. Drawing out my sword, I ready my stance and imagine an opponent in front of me.

Anger filled my mind, imagining he was there right in front of me with a malicious smile. It felt kind of dumb that imagining Boras there would make me this upset if I think about it, but I can’t help it.

Imagining how he moves and his abilities, I move to counter, whether it’s random wind bullets being fired at me in unexpected directions that are infused with his mana, spheres of wind to entrap me, or other spells he uses to attack me. I dodge as best as I can with those imaginary spells, calculating whatever damage I take. But in the end, just before I was a meter away from him, I imagine I took 6 air bullets infused with his mana nature and a wind blade that took off one of my arms, but before I could kill him, he sent out a blast of wind to stop me from getting closer and used his sword to stab me in the heart.

Putting my sword down, I realized that I needed to train more with my magic because even with all that, I still lost to Boras.

The power I had with Boras gave me close to 8 to 9 times my base strength, but I’m working with 3 times my base strength. I need to do more with less.

Keeping that in mind, I began practicing, repeating the simulation over and over again, but always fell short of killing because I needed to pay attention to the bullet hell he was unleashing onto me, since I couldn’t make a barrier around my body to protect myself from it because doing that takes a massive amount of mana, which I couldn’t maintain for too long and would be a massive gamble if I did so.

Additionally, not only was I not able to do that, but I also wasn’t able to use my magic to attack, only for enhancing, because it would take even more mana than what I remembered.

After what seemed to be roughly 10 minutes, I felt my mana pool starting to dwindle.

Breathing a bit roughly, I sigh because not once did I land a killing blow. In the imaginary fight, I managed to hurt him, but it was not enough to kill him. Even if I aimed for a fatal area, I would be left open to the air bullets he was firing or other spells in his arsenal, including the ones that I don’t even know he could use.

Maybe I am trying too hard; I’m not allowing myself to put my victory against an imaginary him without good luck being the deciding factor.

I should take a breather. I am completely exhausted because this was way more mentally and physically exhausting than I thought.

Knowing how my Aias works, I guess the wear on my body is to be expected.

Should I try one more core, maybe at least to try to use a lightning attack instead of enhancing my body?

Yeah, I got plenty to spare, and maybe after that, I should try fighting without the monster cores, where I use my mana to enhance my body at the last second. It should be simple enough to do, since I just need to adjust my fighting style for that.

So doing that, I got up, took out another core, and—

“I thought I sensed quite a large amount of mana here. So it was you, Nyx.”

Instantly stopping using my magic and turning behind me, in the direction of the voice, I realized it was Emma’s. She was by the entrance, looking at me with interest.

How long has she been observing me? Why didn’t I hear her footsteps walking here or even notice her stare?

Our eyes lock, and I stare at her in silence for a bit, completely surprised that she is here.

“Huh… I did not expect you to use magic. Were you the one I sensed yesterday in the infirmary?”

Hearing her question, it took me a bit to respond.

“Yeah… How long were you watching?”

“When you were in the middle of whatever imaginary opponent you were fighting.”

Damn, so she saw most of it.

“I've got to say, I was really surprised that you can use magic and your nature as well, especially with that level of control. But didn’t you say you don’t have any magic?”

Not saying it in an accusatory tone, but a curious one, I was relieved it wasn’t the former.

“Yeah… It’s a long story; it was only recently that I could use my magic.”

“Recently? But how come you could use your mana nature?”

“Like I said, it’s a long story, and I don't know how I have access to it either.”

Proceeding to tell her about how I somehow managed to unlock my magic when I was fighting with Boras, where I was also able to use my mana nature, Emma raised her eyebrow in surprise, which I guess would be a valid reaction since you don’t just unlock your magic like that, especially after confirming that you don’t have magic with the church.

“That’s pretty unlucky, having the mana appraiser malfunction on you.”

“Yeah…” You could say that, not once but twice.

An awkward silence settled between us until Emma asked. “Even more surprising is that you’re training to use your mana nature.”

“How so?”

I don’t really know much about mana nature, but Boras mentions it, meaning it must be important, especially so when Emma is talking about it.

“You don’t know?”

Nodding, “I only know how to use my magic just recently, you know.”

“Right… sorry, I thought you knew. But if you're wondering, mana nature is something that occurs in mages rarely.”

Hearing that, I already knew that part since Boras had already told me that, but then Emma told me something that really surprised me.

“Only 200 mages in the kingdom can use mana nature. You need to be at a bare minimum a high mage, even hoping to have that ability.”

Really… is it really that impressive?

“Umm… Why is it that few? Is there, like, a condition you need to fulfill to be able to use your mana nature?”

“Yes, it's quite simple but really hard to do, which is to compress it. The hard part is to have absolute control over your mana since the more you compress it, the more volatile it will become.”

“Is that dangerous?” A bit concerned over my safety, since I’ve been using my mana nature quite a bit, I ask that.

“Most of the time it’s not since, but sometimes it could explode on you if you’re not careful.”

“Since you need to have a complete and utter mastery of your mana control, and your talents are something else entirely. I’ve never seen it before at such a young age with my own eyes, other than royalty. You really are a genius to be able to do that.”

Right… genius, more like artificially programmed into me in my past life.

“I see, so it’s quite a rare achievement then.”

Nodding, “Yep, but I should advise you to use basic lightning magic first, then infuse it with your mana nature. You said you’ve only recently awakened to your magic for a short while.”

Showing concern that I was going a bit too quickly with my magic, I said, a bit awkwardly, though Emma didn’t notice through my expressionless face and flat tone.

“About that, I don’t know how to use my magic with normal spells, or I can’t.”

Hearing that, she was definitely confused, and I explained how I try to use my magic without my mana nature but can’t for some reason, and when I try to use basic spells, I instantly run out of mana.

“Umm… What?”

Looking at me, even more confused, I told her plainly. “I can’t use basic magic; I don’t know why I can’t.”

“Oh, I see…”

Still confused, I just showed her.

“This is what happens when I try to use basic lightning magic.”

With the monster core in hand, I flow my mana through it, which was infused with my mana nature, and I try casting a basic spell again, this time with enough mana to power it.

Pointing my middle and pointer fingers toward the middle of the training area, I let my mana flow out of my body, causing black lightning to form around me. Then, focusing it on the two fingers pointing to the middle of the training area, I let out black lightning.

A loud crackle of lightning instantly flows through the air, followed by a really loud boom when it hits the ground.

"Stop absorbing mana from the core, which has roughly half of its mana remaining," I said.

“See.”

A silence formed between us till.

“What?! What was that?”

The most confused I’ve ever seen her, I tried to ask what she meant, and she responded.

“What was that sudden surge of mana?”

“That… It’s one of my two mana natures.”

“Two?!!”

“Ugh… Yeah, one is to enhance and the other to absorb mana.”

Should I just tell her everything? She is really shocked by my words, which I guess would be true since she said people able to have mana natures are rare, and two must be even rarer.

After explaining it all, such as markings that show up on my body when I try to enhance my body too much, how my eyes change color, which surprisingly she didn’t see when she was watching me without me knowing, the fact that I can only use my mana if it’s infused with my mana nature, etc., she looked at me like I was some sort of strange creature.

“Yeah, that's all. Do you have any questions?”

“... No…”

Then, taking a deep sigh, after shock after shock, she took a breath and calmed down.

“Sorry there, I was more surprised about what you did with that monster core; that was a massive amount of mana you were working with. I thought you were going to get yourself killed with that much mana. Honestly, right now, I’m just baffled by everything.”

“I see. Sorry for scaring you.”

Feeling apologetic for scaring her, then remembering Emma was in fact a mage, I thought, maybe I should ask her for advice.

“Could you help me with my magic?”

“Why so?”

“The books Mable lent don’t really help much, and I can’t really ask her, because she’ll probably figure out my situation if I ask. If it’s not too much trouble, could you teach me?”

“I can try, but I don’t really think I will be much help, but if you really want me to teach you, could we do it in the morning, early in the morning, before we open?”

“Umm, yes, but why that time?”

“It’s so we don’t have other people walking into us.”

“Oh, got it.”

Right, that seems like a way better idea.