Chapter 28: Magic, Spells, and Runes ii

The gauge let out an incredible light. One which caused Cerise to instinctively close her eyes and throw the stone away from her.

The stone hit the wall with a loud thud before falling to the ground. It was still glowing but the light dimmed with time.

‘That’s a problem.’

Cerise wasn’t able to control her own Mana. She could bend it to her will and even mold it into different shapes but preventing it from flowing out? She simply lacked the control. Maybe it was due to her lack of training or maybe because of her [Dual Polarity – Mana Diffusion]. Her Mana was flowing on the inside and outside of her. She could literally breathe foreign Mana and use it as her own.

As such, the moment her Mana infused skin came into contact with the stone, it immediately absorbed the free flowing Mana and blinded everyone with azure light.

Even now she could see the faint shimmer of red on top of her skin. It wasn’t very obvious but a keen enough eye would spot it.

She eyed the Mana Gauge still on the ground, the azure light it emitted had dimmed down to a mere luster. She shot arcs of red mana towards it which were absorbed by the stone, the azure light brightening up once more.

“Hey! Stop that!”

She was stopped by Tsuru however as he didn’t want to go blind. He grabbed the stone and stuffed it back into his bag. He took out a small iron ball instead and set it on the table.

“Now, lift this with your Mana for at least a minute. If it falls, you have to restart.”

Cerise didn’t understand the pointless tasks Tsuru made her do. She’d rather just learn to do magic now than lift a ball.

Tsuru saw this and grunted disapprovingly.

“You need to learn how to control your Mana. Just because you have a lot of it doesn’t mean you are strong.”

Tsuru demonstrated his control over his mana. Bluish mana escaped from his staff that adhered to the surface of the iron ball. It twirled around it lifting the ball up into the air.

“It looks simple but it’s harder than it seems. You need to expel Mana from your body and maintain it while also creating the necessary lift to keep the ball afloat. Granted you won’t know what lift is but imagine a bird flying. Keep the ball up is all you need to know. Now then, I’ll go see if Roy is finished sorting out your… debts.”

He grabbed his staff and his bags before turning to Isbeth who was currently sitting at a desk on the other side of the room. Papers with complex diagrams and a small alchemy setup was placed on the desk.

“Isbeth, watch over the girl for now. I’ll also you need a month’s worth of those pills in exchange for my services. Preferably the ones that won’t cause others to view me unfavorably.”

“Mm. You didn’t do much but fine.”

She had finalized the recipe for the Satiation Pills with the substitute Rockroot petals but she still needed to work out a few kinks in the production process. Namely, the toxic waste left behind due to the weak poisons in said petals. In the earlier designs, she ignorantly left the weak poison in which was the ‘root’ of the vomiting problem.

Isbeth didn’t know what to do with the waste and had it piled up on a metal sheet on the desk. The goopy purple substance would cause serious issues when it came in contact with the body but has no other threat than that. The finished Satiation Pill (v1.2.4) was a lighter brown than the murky brown it had been before. It had less potency than the original she developed with Shivertail roots but it was much cheaper to create in comparison.

She frowned as she looked back at the steps of production, her inner scientist prodding her to experiment more.

Cerise continued to stare at the iron ball on the table. She shot some Mana at it but it just bounced right off. Confused, she looked closer at the ball but found nothing out of the ordinary.

The sizzle of Cerise’s Mana attracted Isbeth’s attention to the table.

“Ah, that’s a mage’s ball. A little toy used by western guilds to test applicants. Iron rejects Mana so you shouldn’t throw Mana at it. Don’t know what that guy wanted you to do with it other than make it float but you should be able to figure it out eventually.”

Isbeth turned back to her work leaving Cerise to grumble in her own thoughts. Magic was something that children dreamed of and wished to have. From what her mother told her, fairies danced around and dragons flew about the land. A man with a shiny sword had even formed his own kingdom because of magic.

So what was she doing wrong? She tried applying her centripetal technique once again but the red Mana merely skimmed off the iron surface. She looked at her hands and saw her sharp nails. Maybe she could pierce the ball.

She released another Mana string once again, however, this time it was short and thin. She ran the thread over the ball but the Mana dispersed as it came in contact with the ball. She tried again but this time she weaved multiple strings together.

This time the mana thread didn’t disperse when it came in contact but it didn’t do much either. She had increased the thickness of the thread but reduced the cutting power as a result.

Frustrated, she threw the ball as she did with the Mana Gauge before but the moment it hit the wall with a thud, she realized something. The ball was solid. Pure iron. It wasn’t tempered like the steel and pig iron she was used to. An absolute purity incapable of being formed by any metal.

And even then, she had thrown it with enough force to dent the wall yet the ball was undamaged. Perfectly spherical and clean.

She lifted the ball closer to her eyes. Thin grooves were travelling in a distinct pattern on the ball. Small enough to evade even her eyes if she wasn’t looking carefully.

She released a small trickle of Mana and sure enough, the Mana followed the line of the grooves spiraling outwards. The Mana simply dispersed across the surface of the sphere before dissipating due to the insufficient density.

The iron ball itself didn’t absorb any of the Mana. It instead dispersed it like her own skill…

Wait. Didn’t Tsuru’s Mana stick to the ball? She released her Mana to coat the ball. At first, a bit of Mana was lost thanks to the grooves but eventually she coated the ball with enough Mana for the grooves to be rendered ineffective.

Though, just because they were ineffective didn’t mean they didn’t have some other impact. The Mana still followed the grooves but it didn’t dissipate like before. Instead, her Mana moved without her control. Cerise tried to bring her Mana back under her control but it was too late. In a single second, the red sphere encasing the Iron ball fell apart leaving Cerise panting on the ground.

“See how difficult it is? I’d rather mess with atomic bonds than that.”

Isbeth had heard her panting and turned around to see the girl collapsed on the ground. The iron ball that had destroyed the hopes of many aspiring mages rolling on the ground next to her.

The process was mentally taxing. Cerise could understand why this was set as the standard. It seemed that Tsuru really did know his stuff, even if he wasn’t a good mentor.

Cerise had a new goal, well, her old goal didn’t change. She still needed to find that man’s brother but now she could see physical representation of a pathway forward. The book was poking out of Isbeth’s bag but Cerise didn’t need that anymore.

If she could manage to lift the ball for a minute, she could probably be taught more. Excited and without further ado, she tried to coat the iron ball once again but before she could do so, a voice rang in her head and she keeled over onto the floorboards. Her mana had turned from a scarlet red to a dark crimson in a matter of moments. She ceased the flow but the damage was already done.

Warning! MP and SP have fallen to critical levels

[Blood Bound] has activated. HP will be used as a substitute

Warning! HP has fallen to critical levels

[Twisted Fate] has activated.

‘Must I say this again? Fine… The untold truth is wisdom.’

She had run out of both Mana and SP judging by the series of messages in her head, and she had hurt herself in her haste. Stupid. But the echoing voice spoke to her again. And it had a sassy tone this time? She couldn’t move her body so she just lied there waiting for her SP to recover.

Isbeth’s worried face shadowed over hers once again but she couldn’t do anything. All she can do is wait.