Chapter 16

Every living thing possesses Mana, and because of that Naro could sense the Mana in other people, that’s when he realized that he barely had any mana in his own body. Even children had more than double the amount of Mana that he possessed. It was probably because of that Nefi and Aeli couldn’t sense his magic back then.

All magic that is cast draws from the Mana within the body, which slowly regenerates on its own over time by drawing in the magic around them.

Naro envisioned the whole aspect as a glass of water, with water or Mana continuously trickling into the glass or rather the body.

Skilled Mages build up how much Mana they can contain in their body at one time, more Mana, more spells, or replacing the glass with a vase or even a jug.

Most magic follows this logic, at least that’s what Aeli was able to share with him, or rather what Nefi would tell him since he wouldn’t let him meet Aeli again with such questions.

There are exceptions to every rule however and his magic was one of those.

The Spell known as Void main purpose wasn’t to use magic from the body, it was to drain magic from others, which in turn filled his own Mana.

Thus when Naro left the forest with Cores in hand, he had nothing but a smile on his face. Slimes were the one monster that he actually had an advantage against.

“I did it! I beat the slimes!”

Returning to the guild he turned in his quests to Ava, who arching a brow counted the Cores before confirming the completion of the quests.

“Yeah you…you definitely did…Congratulations.”

While she didn’t share in the excitement she set the pouch of coins down.

“Since this was a guild request, I took the guild fee out already,” Ava added.

“Thanks, are there any more Slime hunting quests?”

“I mean…I’m pretty sure there’s a few there-”

“Great, I'll take another one then.”

“...sure.”

The days passed as Naro worked for the Guild, his life soon fell into a comfortable pattern, he’d wake up and do a few jobs for the Guild, generally simple jobs. He’d then meet with Nefi to share information and would end his day buying bread from Venilis and chatting about random things.

The elder elf always told him he didn’t have to pay but in a rare moment of determination Naro actually put his foot down, making it clear he’d pay from then on. He owed Venilis more than he could put into words.

Things wouldn’t have gone over so smoothly at the Guild without his help, he also taught him about Monsters, since the only way to learn about them at the Guild was by buying ‘Monster Cards’ which had their information on it.

It didn’t take much thought for Naro to realize a Sage had been behind this method of learning as well.

Venilis also told him that all guild receptionists are good with art in some capacity, Ava has magic that lets her ‘sketch’ things she can see. The one who did his picture was actually her, though Venilis warned him to never bring it up if he wanted his pictures in the future to look normal.

Venilis was a walking dictionary when it came to the Guild, he only adapted quickly because of him.

He also owned Nefi and Aeli and that was why he had another conversation with him.

“...you want to alter our arrangement?” Nefi said once when the two met one evening.

The beastkin clicked his tongue as he narrowed his eyes at him, the boy’s body tensing.

“You ending our deal?”

“No no I’m not ending,” Naro said. “I’m just adjusting it. Instead of giving you bread…why don’t I just give you a set amount of coins at the end of the week. That way you can buy what you need.”

“You want to give me coins instead of bread?”

“Yeah, and in exchange you’ll continue to be my informant. I’ll pay you even if you don’t bring me anything that week, in exchange if you learn anything interesting, or what you think is useful. You tell me first…uh after your sister of course.”

He knew Nefi was having trouble getting water, Naro could buy it from the Bazaar with the money he had now, but these two weren’t so lucky. Nefi and Aeli were his friends, even if the former only considered their relationship business. He wanted to assist them to the best of his ability…but he also knew how prideful Nefi was at this point. This would also solve the matter when there wasn’t much to share, he’d thought about it long and hard and this seemed the best solution.

“...you have a deal. However, if I don’t bring any information I don’t feel I should charge full price, but paying for ‘first rights’ is fair.”

“Works for me, let’s discuss pricing.”

More time passed and Naro had gotten used to his daily wanderings, he thankfully was able to avoid Beso as well. He knew enough about this world to survive, he had a job that kept him fed and he had people he could depend on. For the first time since coming to this world, or rather for the first time in a long time, he actually felt a bit of hope for the future.

“Hey Venilis, sorry I’m late. The guild held me for a bit longer.”

Naro walked towards the elder elf’s stand only to stop as he noticed a small group of people surrounding where the stall would be, getting closer he weaved through the crowd until he could see for himself.

Venilis stall was collapsed into a black charred heap, still smouldering from the fire that had barely been put out, burnt pieces of bread laid splayed out all around them, and the old man himself stood a few feet away, singe marks on his clothes as he stared at his broken stand.