Chương 28: Chapter Twenty-Eight: An IQ Too High?

What? Trickles of dust spill through my fingers from the previously whole mana stone, or geode, or whatever the hell it was called. I don't think that I broke it just by funneling mana through it, so I'm not really sure what happened. I mean, I know that my previous attempts at the exercise resulted in me hurting myself, but I didn't think a rock would turn to dust especially given the small amount of mana I had used. Maybe it was supposed to do that? It makes sense in a way.

Lirin said that I shouldn't talk to him unless I can complete the exercise, so perhaps this is just function of the stone itself. Once the exercise is complete, the rock turns to dust to show you did it correctly... I guess. Suddenly, finding myself with nothing to do now that the rock is gone, I finish up my plate of food before taking it back up to the mess hall. By the time I am back in the basement, I have decided to shift my focus to something else for the time being.

I have no idea when the warlock will return, so I resign myself to checking out some of the books that line one of the walls in the main room. Just as I reach out to grab a book that looks interesting, the door leading up to the staircase opens and Lirin emerges. For the second time today, my plans are thrown to the wayside, and I quickly leave the bookcase to follow the warlock to his desk.

The man sweeps a lock of silver hair over his ear and ignores me as he sits down and opens up the book he had been carrying in his robes. After almost a full minute of me standing in front of his desk, his unnaturally blue eyes finally flick up to me in annoyance.

"What is it? Didn't I tell you to not bother me until you have completed the cycle exercise?"

"I finished it."

"You mean to tell me that in the half hour I was gone, you miraculously completed an exercise that had stumped you for hours previously?"

"Yes." It is very satisfying to see the expression that currently sits on the wannabe-warlock's face. Before I can say anything further, Lirin opens up a drawer on the desk and removes another stone. A few beats pass while I assume the man is inscribing the stone.

"Show me." He hands me the stone, and I am about to begin the process of routing my mana through the pre-prepared lines, but he stops me with a wave of his hand.

"In the testing room you dolt." Biting back a response, I lead the way to the aforementioned room while Lirin grabs a few more things from his desk that he shoves in the billowing robes draped on his thin figure. Once there, I copy my previous attempt and concentrate while guiding the smallest thread of mana I can manage through the inscription lines. Just like before, the rock crumbles the second I complete the circle.

Dusting the remains of the stone off my hand, I look up at the man while he just watches the pieces of rock fall to the ground.

"What level is your <Mana Control> now?"

"Ten."

"When did it reach level 10?"

"Earlier today during the first training session." The man looks at me with his weirdly blue eyes and I suppress the urge to slouch under the heavy gaze.

"Attempt the exercise using your own body again." This time, there is no diagram, and Lirin just stands there while his eyes seem to glow. As he requested, I begin the process of cycling mana through my network like I had tried hundreds of times before. Upon completion of the cycle, the pattern turns into a shuddering ellipse that sends mana shooting through my limbs in random spurts. I hold the technique for as long as I can before letting out a breath while my mana calms down once again.

The serious expression on Lirin's face does not change, but I can visibly see the light in his eyes dim back down to the alien azure color I had become accustomed to. Fishing another stone out of his pocket, the man inscribes it quickly before handing it to me. This inscription is different from the cycling one, but I don't say anything and instead begin channeling my mana through the rock again to complete the inscription. Once again, the stone turns to dust upon completion.

Lirin is tapping his chin with a slender finger while staring at the ground, so I wait awkwardly while wondering what the problem is.

"You mentioned having a condition that mutates your mana in some way, yes?"

"Yes. I think the mana I produce also creates some sort of thermal radiation."

"I disagree with your assessment." His words lack the usual snide tone and matter of fact language that the wannabe-warlock normally utilizes. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"What do you mean?"

"Mana is all sourced from the same place. The body does not make mana but rather acts as a medium to convert the energy from this pool into mana. Therefore, the source of this energy is not so much the problem as your body itself is." Lirin steps back to retrieve the familiar metal sheet from the nearby wall.

"I have been using a specific array in this room to analyze your condition and the way your mana interacts with your body and skills. Given what it has gathered so far, I would say that your body is not compatible with natural mana. Instead, your condition aggravates the mana in a way that when your body attempts to convert the source energy into usable mana, it converts the energy into a volatile variant that is still able to function within your mana network somehow."

I really want to ask about the process he is talking about, but the warlock looks to be on a roll, so I leave it be and continue to listen closely.

"It is not uncommon for the user's body to change the energy into a more personal variant for better compatibility, but your body seems to have taken this practice to a new extreme that I have not seen before. At this point, the mana you create is more of a hindrance to your abilities rather than a boon. It seems to reject classical control while remaining inside the confines of your network.

The reason you can still complete the mana cycling exercise using the stones is because the stone itself acts as a filter that is only receptive to natural mana. Without this filter, the mana is unreliable and falls apart the second it leaves your network." Lirin explains further while hastily writing things onto the sheet in his hands. At this point, the high and mighty man I had come to know is replaced by a slightly obsessive mana scientist.

I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing just yet, as I am familiar with the type of obsessive compulsion that comes from people like him. In the end, the good ones just want to learn as much as they can in a controlled environment with all the time in the world; While the bad ones immediately start trying to experiment on your body. For right now though, the wannabe-warlock in front of me looks like he just wants to observe me using my mana, so I don't fret just yet.

"So, what you are saying is that I just need a skill or some other kind of filter in order to control my mana normally?"

"That is an inadequate conclusion to my explanation." It seems the asshole part of the mana maniac's personality hasn't left the chat just yet.

"So, I don't need a filter?"

"You need a filter to use your mana correctly outside of your body." At this point I don't even bother asking another question and instead let him just tell me what he wants to.

"You have the skill <Emit>, yes? If you use the skill properly, you can modify the output of your mana in a way that releases the variable causing your mana to become volatile. It can act as a secondary filtration system for your body's conversion process that will allow you to utilize normal mana."

"How exactly am I supposed to <Emit> this variable thing if I don't even know what it is? Also, that sounds incredibly complicated and impossible to keep up just to use mana normally." My question seems to actually have gotten through to the man, and he stops himself from trying to offer another solution immediately. Nodding to himself, Lirin takes off his robe once again and tweaks the array system on the wall.

"You mentioned that you thought your mana was producing some sort of thermal radiation, correct? Is the weak display of heat coming off you right now your current application of your skill <Emit>?" I affirm his hypothesis with a shake of my head while ignoring the obvious insult he somehow naturally weaves into his sentences.

"I see. I'm assuming the byproduct of your mana is fairly distressing on the body, which is why you are maintaining a constant emission rate using your skill. This is a novice level solution to your problem that will only worsen the more attribute points you gain in PWR. Before long, I expect your emission rate to reach a level that makes it impossible for you to function without burning down a building or worse based on what the byproduct of your mutation actually is.

I suspect the excess energy is mostly kinetic, and the process of your body releasing this kinetic energy is causing your perceived thermal radiation due to it causing the particles around you to move at an exponential rate. I am unsure of the exact properties of the particles being released by your mana, but if they are transferring their kinetic force to others around them, then theoretically you could wait the entire process out until your mana expels the entirety of the decaying particles.

This would potentially result in a leftover pool of natural mana for you to use. Of course, this would also just lead to more volatile mana being converted once again from your condition to refill the lost energy. Have you attempted to <Emit> all of the excess energy from your body at once before attempting to use mana?" I am barely following what the man is saying with the veritable word vomit that just came from his mouth, but his last question rings a bell immediately.

"Actually, I tried doing this one time and had success. I continuously let out the byproduct energy in bursts rather than the constant stream I use now, and I was able to identify my mana after doing that."

"Show me but use the entirety of your body to release the energy in as big a burst as you can manage." Following his orders, I begin expelling the entirety of the current energy that resides in my body in large waves rather than letting it seep out passively. It is difficult at first, but after getting a feel for the process, I can feel more and more energy releasing at one time.

The production rate for the energy is pretty quick, but if I time it correctly, the intervals between my body being filled and the energy being expelled gets close enough that I can manage moving my mana around in between each fill. It's nowhere near enough time for me to actually attempt the cycling technique Lirin was trying to teach me earlier, but it is enough for me to identify that the entire exercise could be useful if utilized correctly. < Emit Lvl. 9 -> Emit Lvl.

10 > I feel the notification hit, and I quickly stop releasing my energy to revel in the level up.

"Why did you stop?" It takes me a moment to realize that the area around me in the room is slightly scorched black. It would seem that the quick expulsion plus my growing PWR stat creates a hot enough reaction to actually burn my surroundings a bit through sheer volume alone. I worry for a moment that I might have inadvertently burned the warlock in my ignorance, but I shortly notice an untouched ring of the floor surrounding the man.

I don't even know why I was worried in the first place, as a semi-transparent barrier of mana surrounds the man in a pseudo-hazmat suit. Man, I really want that mana creation skill he has. Another slap to the face pulls me out of my thoughts and back to the asshole in front of me.

"I asked why you stopped."

"My skill hit level 10."

"I see." The man just continues to stare down his nose at me, and I inwardly let out a sigh while preparing to start the exercise again. I can already tell this is going to be a long floor.