Otherworld Adventure

The Method to Moving Forward

As the sphere was gradually lighting up, the light emitted grew brighter and brighter. It grew so bright that Cecil and everyone couldn't even see the hand he had placed on top of the sphere. Cecil shut his eyes and he could hear Silver barking while Lucia raised a surprised cry.

"Uwaaah!!!"

"Is this supposed to happen???" He asked aloud in worry.

He was worried if this fitted the criteria of being able to wield magic or not.

"Keep your hand on the sphere Cecil! It's almost finished!" Mrs. Anna yelled excitedly on the side.

'This should be a good reaction, no?'

Cecil held his position for about 2-3 more minutes before the light started to fade away.

"Was… was that good enough?" he worriedly asked, still unsure whether it was a failure or a success.

Mrs. Anna walked over to him with sparkling eyes and shouted.

"That was more than enough!! Fufu~ to think you could actually make the orb shine so brightly like that! It was even a silvery-white glow too!"

'What a relief that means the test results were good.'

Cecil heaved a sigh of relief before asking excitedly, "So? So!? Can I use magic?!"

"Yes!"

"AWESOME!!!"

Not even having 5 seconds to be happy about the news, Mrs. Anna had a 'but'.

"But, you do have a problem…"

"Eh?"

"The shine from the orb was really bright, much brighter than Lucia's when she first tested her aptitude. In fact, that kind of shine is only found on people who have reached the solidified mana stage."

"What? So doesn't that mean it's a good thing?"

"Yes and no."

'If I have more mana doesn't that mean I could similarly use more magic? What's so bad about that?' Cecil thought to himself.

"You see, the attribute that you have is a silvery-white, which means it's a non-elemental attribute."

"What!? Really!???"

'Woah! Doesn't that mean I can go Super? How sick is that!'

"See, that's the problem."

"Wh-what problem?"

"It's because you have a high amount of mana that means the amount of mana you could infuse into your body would correspondingly be high as well."

"Isn't that a good thing? The more the better right?"

Cecil didn't see the problem with having more mana as a non-elemental attributed user. Mrs. Anna then continued.

"Did you forget the side effects of what happens if you have infused too much mana into your body for even for just a short time?"

"Of course, I still remem–"

Remembering the consequences of using non-elemental body enhancement, Cecil soon arrived at a horrible conclusion.

"NO WAY!"

"Yes, way," Mrs. Anna said with a wave of her finger before continuing, "With the amount of mana that you have Cecil, the mana you infuse into your body for even just a second would cause you to enter the first stage of the side effects. 5 seconds would turn you into a mindless devourer."

"What!!! How come?!"

"That's because most–No. All non-elemental mana users–even the ones from the Non Continent, would only cultivate to the liquefied mana stage to keep themselves from being affected by the side effects of non-elemental body enhancement. Even then, they'd still be able to fight against a master or perfect stage enemy."

"Really?"

"This is because no individual on the planet has any sort of delicate mana control that's able to regulate the amount of mana they use in a spell or technique…"

In Alterna, the might of a magic spell increased depending on the stage of one's mana cultivation. The higher the stage, the stronger the magic spells and techniques.

Mana control and manipulation was something still being researched by a majority of Alterna's magic researchers. This knowledge was something the mages and spellcasters of this age, desperately needed to find and confirm if they wanted to further improve or have a major breakthrough in their magic and cultivation.

This was especially important to the individuals who have already cultivated up to or even passed the perfection stage. Just having strong magic wouldn't make any of these people truly strong, in a sense. Being strong didn't just mean having highly destructive spells, since it could also be a hazard instead.

If the mages and spellcasters of Alterna had a way to better control the mana they used, then the advancements in magic that they could bring to Alterna would be near limitless. If these individuals had the method to control mana more delicately, coupled with the knowledge that they had, many great changes could take place in regards to the world's current level of magical knowledge and magi-tech.

The innovations and advances would change people's current way of life on Alterna. It's just like back on Earth. If humans never learned how to control fire or any of the elements in nature then the current lifestyle on Earth wouldn't have been so pleasant.

Of course, it's not like the people couldn't control their mana at all. It's just that, the higher the stage you have, the more difficult it was to control the mana you wielded. Some individuals have a hard time controlling their mana that even the simplest of spells like the fireball spell, the aero blade spell, or even the water bullet spell, could cause widespread destruction upon being invoked. That's why most researchers are actually people who are in their later stages of mana cultivation.

As Cecil was despairing, he suddenly remembered that non-elemental mana users could still cast magic by imitating the elemental magic systems.

"Wait! What about using non-elemental magic without the body enhancing part!?"

"That's… also impossible. You see, to shoot non-elemental mana like a fireball, for example, it still requires the user to infuse mana into their body before gathering it outside of the body and shooting it."

"N-no… my dream…" Cecil said as he collapsed on all fours dejectedly.

How could he not despair? Having been fed fantastical ideas from his family's two seniors, his father, and grandfather, ever since he was a child, using something as mystical as mana would have been a dream come true for him but now, he couldn't even use it despite knowing that he had the mana quantity and magical aptitude for it. If he forced himself to use it then he could potentially endanger his own life as well as the life of everyone around him.

Just the thought of being the cause of his loved ones' deaths made Cecil determined to not use mana ever in his life.

'Crap, my dream... haaahh... nevermind, I've still got my martial arts.'

Cecil came to a quick decision and promised himself that he'd never try and train to become a spellcaster. While he was feeling down in the dumps, Mrs. Anna threw him an olive branch.

"As I said, that's only a problem for now. There are still plenty of ways you could train and eventually use mana in the future."

"Really!?" said Cecil excitedly, his blank eyes now brightening up like the rising sun overhead.

His resolve was weak and not even 5 seconds after he was determined to not use magic, his heart wavered at the first sign of hope that Mrs. Anna tossed out to him.

 Cecil turned his brightened gaze at Mrs. Anna and thought, 'Angel, she's an ANGEL!'

To Cecil, the foxkin woman in front of him who could grant him his dear wish of using mana was an angel.

'Please miss angel, please have the solution to my problem!'

With his resolve thrown to the wind, Cecil immediately asked hopefully, "So, what do I need to do?"

"You just have to be able to control the amount of mana that you could infuse into your body!"

"Eh? How do I do that?"

"Through practice, training, and meditation."

"…"

Even in this world, Cecil still couldn't escape training. He once thought that maybe he could skimp a little on his martial arts training and relax a bit since his family wasn't around to monitor him anymore and seeing the children of the village having fun and playing with friends made him envious of their carefree life. At their age, he was training in the middle of his family's private island battling against the elements, hunger, dehydration, and death.

Mrs. Anna then continued her explanation.

"It's pretty hard to control mana like that though. In fact, it's so hard that it'd be much easier to just stop using mana altogether than risk turning into a monster. The only people I know that could actually control mana to such a refined level are those people who were born with elemental constitutions."

'W-why not say so in the first place!'

"I-is there no hope then?"

Even after having his expectations dumped with cold water twice already, Cecil still had hope that the cold water dumping angel in front of him would have a solution.

"Well, the fastest way would be if you could actually see mana but –"

"See mana?" Cecil interrupted and asked.

"Well, most mages can only feel the mana in the atmosphere, no one can actually see it like how you described in your theory."

"Oh, well, that's a given."

If mana was like a particle in the air, then no human eye could see it. Even on Earth, there wasn't any sort of equipment that could let a person see a particle or element in the air. The most was a microscope that could let people see micro-organisms, cells, and such.

"But! Some people were specially gifted since birth. They have eyes that could actually see the mana in the atmosphere."

"Huh? If there are, then how come the theory I had earlier gave you such a surprise?"

"That's because you described there being a method using a tool instead of being able to do so innately. Also, there's no precedence of a person with the mana sight being able to live past 10 years."

"Eh? So all the people who could actually see mana never made it past childhood?"

"Yes. But, the children who had mana sight displayed a high degree of control over mana. Research showed that these children could control mana as easy as breathing."

"Wow, it's like they've been blessed and cursed at the same time."

"Yes, it's a blessing, but at the same time, it's also a curse. The reason they couldn't make it past 10 years old is that by the time or even before a child is at that age, the elemental property of their mana would have finally changed in nature."

"Uhh, okay?"

"Children with mana sight are basically children that have a small crystalized orb of mana in their eyes since birth. Basically, they have an extra pair of mana cores given to them from birth which would give them an advantage in both the quantity and the control of their mana."

'What the hell. Does that mean researchers have already dissected a child with mana sight before? If Mrs. Anna has this kind of information...'

That was a frightening Cecil thought.

Cecil concluded that the researchers on Alterna would practically do anything, even border-line inhumane practices, to further their research.

"So? They have mana cores in their eyes, how is that fatal?"

"Well, just think about it. What would happen if the neutral, non-elemental mana crystal in your eyes suddenly changed attribute to fire?"

"Wouldn't that just mean the crystal would– Oh my god!"

Using the knowledge he acquired about mana elements, he arrived at a frightening conclusion.

'Wouldn't that mean the fire mana crystal would burn up their eyes? Maybe not just the eyes, but it could affect their entire bodies?'

Cecil immediately paled at the thought. Seeing Cecil pale up, Mrs. Anna was a bit shocked that he could come to a horrible conclusion just from the little bit of information he studied.

'What a sharp boy, he would make a good researcher,' thought Anna before she began explaining.

"If the element turns into fire, the transformation would burn up the individual's eyes, but don't forget that when the mana attributes change it's always accompanied by a small surge of mana which signifies that their attribute has undergone a change of quality and the mana capacity of their bodies would also increase. Remember, these individuals have mana crystals not the initial mana vapor in their eyes."

"That would mean not only their eyes but their entire head or even body would burn up or outright explode."

"Exactly, if its water then they will freeze or liquefy immediately, lightning would mean that they would be electrocuted. Some do survive, but then they would have to live the rest of their lives in a vegetative state. Wind would mean decapitation, disembowelment, or implosion which is really gruesome, but the worst would have to be earth. At least the others would die right away without having to endure any pain, but for earth, the child would start turning into stone or disintegrate into dust from their feet, slowly and painfully."

Cecil thought that the results were horrifying, even Lucia on the side started to pale and tear up after hearing her mother's explanation. These were things that would eventually happen to children who had mana sight. Mana sight was more like a curse to these children rather than a blessing.

"Ugh, all those sound horrible. Since I'm not born with it that means this isn't even a solution at all!"

"You may not be born with it, but you and only you can actually acquire mana sight!"

Cecil was confused, what did Mrs. Anna mean by that? Seeing the confused look on his face, Mrs. Anna began explaining her reasoning and the method that she wanted Cecil to try cultivating.  

"Huh? So you want me to infuse mana into my eyes? Isn't that dangero–"

Cecil stopped abruptly and started thinking.

'With my innate mana attribute being non-elemental, I wouldn't have to worry about the dangers. This could actually work!'

Seeing him think, Mrs. Anna thought 'This child really is brilliant.' She then continued to explain and confirmed Cecil's thoughts.

"As I've said, the children who have Mana Sight or Mana Eyes are people who have mana crystals in their eyes, so that just means you would have to condense one in your eyes too."

"Sounds simple and I also don't have to worry about my mana changing since it's inherently non-elemental, but it doesn't sound so easy to do though!"

"Hm? Did you already forget that you have a mana quantity that rivals a person that has stepped into the crystalized mana stage?"

"Eh?" Cecil replied dumbly.

"You have mana at the gaseous stage that could rival a person's mana in the solidified or crystalized stage. Normally a person can't even accumulate that much at the gaseous stage because the mana would only disperse, but it seems that your body is rather unique and well-trained that it has the capability to hold all of that mana in without it dispersing or blowing you up."

'B-blowing me up?' Cecil inwardly thanked his two father and grandfather for giving him such rigorous training since childhood.

'Grandfather, father. Your bullshit stories and unreasonable training are actually a blessing for me on Alterna. Thank you.'

This was the first time Cecil actually thanked the two for all the suffering he went through. He then had another thought.

'Since my brothers and sisters have also gone through the same initial training as me, wouldn't they also have a good aptitude for magic? I just hope that their mana attributes aren't like mine.'

His family had also gone through the initial training since childhood so Cecil concluded that just like him, his family should also have an edge when it comes to mana capacity and aptitude. For once, Cecil thought that his family's martial inheritance was actually quite awesome.

While Cecil was rejoicing in his heart for him and his family, Mrs. Anna's explanation continued.

"You have the ability to crystalize mana in your eyes quickly with the amount of mana you have. Of course, this could only happen gradually with training and while other people would experience bottlenecks with their training, you, Cecil, on the other hand, wouldn't experience any of these things until you reach the mana core stage because of your initial mana quantity already rivaling that of individuals who are at the mana core stage!"

Mrs. Anna paused for a moment to catch her breath before continuing.

"Others can't do this because of their mana attributes. Not to mention it's impossible to condense elemental mana into your eyes for prolonged periods of time without suffering any side-effects. Many have tried and faced the consequences of doing so, at worst they end up losing their eyes or just impair their sight. Not for you though Cecil, you can crystallize your mana into your eyes without worrying about any potential side effects or harm coming to you since your innate attribute is non-elemental, at least, this is all in theory."

"In theory... I still want to try and crystalize mana in my eyes and gain mana sight! At least, in theory, I wouldn't have to worry about the side effects since my innate attribute is already non-elemental, to begin with! Mrs. Anna, thank you!"

Cecil bowed deep towards Mrs. Anna.

'As I thought, she really is an angel~'

"Fufu, as I said, this can only happen with more training."

"Yes! I'll be in your care then, Mrs. Anna!"

Although there were some hiccups along the way, Cecil finally found a way to use mana and magic. For him, things weren't any different from back when he was on Earth. He still had to train, train, train, and train some more!

'Let's train hard for magic!'