I woke up to the sound of knocking. Is something wrong? Why is someone here to wake me up? Is Alice moody again?
“Lord Brian, are you awake?” I heard someone ask.
I sat up on the bed and responded. “Yes, I’m awake.”
The door opened and a maid stepped in. She was the one that tried getting me out of bed yesterday. “Lord Brian, oh you are still in bed. Did I wake you?”
“Yes, you did.” I told her flatly.
“I apologize, but I came to tell you that breakfast is ready.” She said to me.
Breakfast? Already? I must have overslept.
“I see. Please give me a moment to change.” I said to her as I got up from bed.
The maid left the room to give me a chance to change clothes.
I opened the curtains on the window and saw that it was still raining. The thunder had stopped though. Or at least I hadn’t heard any. I did my morning routine and put on my clothes. I also checked my status, but it was the same. Now, breakfast time. I’ll open my packs later.
“Good morning Brian.” Alice said as I walked into the dining room.
“Good morning.” Christina said.
“Good morning.” I said to the two of them.
The two of them had already begun their breakfast.
“Sorry we began without you.” Christina said as I took my seat.
“That’s fine.” I told her. “I’m the one that overslept.”
“So you actually slept that long?” Christina seemed surprised. “I thought you might, but I wasn’t sure.”
“I guess I was more tired than I thought.” I responded.
After a quick prayer, I began my breakfast.
“Brian, do you have any plans for the day?” Alice asked.
“Not really. It’s raining heavily so I think I’ll just stay inside. Perhaps some practice at some point, but other than that, no.” I answered.
“What are you practicing?” Alice kept up the questions.
“Mana control and telekinesis.” I told her. They are the main skills I want to level up at the moment. I think I’ll try to add some sort of close quarters combat into my routine, but not while it’s raining. I don’t think this manor has an inside training ground.
“Telekinesis? Do you really have that skill?” Christina asked.
… Oh yeah. Lucia told me it’s a rare skill. Well it is considered an ‘extra’ skill. Not that I have any idea what the difference is between normal, extra and unique skills.
I guess I should tell her yes. Then again, I could just show her.
I focused on the little spoon she had next to her tea cup, and used telekinesis to lift it up.
“Wow.” Christina let out in astonishment.
“How are you doing that?” Alice asked.
“Telekinesis.” I answered. “It’s an extra skill you can use to move items like that.” I told Alice as I was moving the spoon back and forth. It felt a little easier today, but I didn’t have mana control skill yet, when I checked my status after waking up.
“Can I learn it?” She asked.
“I think so, but I got it when I leveled up after the wyvern incident, so I don’t really know how you can learn it.” I told her.
“Brian, you shouldn’t get her hopes up.” Christina interrupted. “Alice, telekinesis is a high level skill that is usually held only by the best mages. It’s not so easy to learn.”
“... Brian, teach me.” Alice demanded.
“I said I don’t know how.” I told her.
“Just teach me what you do.” She told me.
“I guess we can try that, but I really don’t understand it that well myself.” I responded.
After breakfast, I was in the parlor with Alice and Christina. They both wanted to know how to use telekinesis. There were a few spoons on the table for us to practice with. For us, there is a spoon. Or more like five of them.
“So how do I levitate a spoon?” Alice asked.
“I told you, I’m not someone who should teach you this. I just focus on something I want to move.” As I said that, I used telekinesis to pick up a spoon. “And then Laura does the mana control for it. But I don’t have the exact details on how the mana control works.”
“You make it sound simple.” Christina commented.
“Well it is, but also isn’t.” I said to her as I lowered the spoon back onto the table. “Even with Laura taking care of the mana control, I still need to concentrate to keep it going and I can lose focus by something as simple as someone coming up to me and talking with me.”
“Then, is it impossible to do?” Alice asked.
I took on a pose that I hope tells them that I’m thinking about it.
(Laura, what do you think?) I asked.
(It is possible, but they must learn to control the mana outside of their body without the use of a spell.) Laura informed me.
… okay. Isn’t that just normal mana control? Why is that so difficult?
(Master, controlling mana within a mana circuit, like the ones in your body, is a lot easier than controlling mana outside a mana circuit.)
Okay, I’m not sure I understand. Any other way of explaining that?
(... If you don’t mind me using terminology from your world Master, it would be like trying to move electricity outside of an electrical wire. Doing it over anything other than a minimal distance is extremely difficult.) Laura explained.
(But lightning is a thing.) I argued.
(Lightning is uncontrolled. You need to keep the mana under your control to be able to use telekinesis.) Laura said.
(So it is impossible?)
(Of course not. Master can do it, so it is possible. It simply takes a high amount of skill.)
… Fine. I’ll take that as the answer.
I looked back up at the two.
“Laura said it is possible if you learn to control the mana outside of your body. Without using a spell.” I told them what I heard from Laura.
“But how do I do that?” Alice asked.
“I really don’t know. Laura just does it.” I told them.
“But then how can I learn it?” Alice asked.
“I don’t kn… “ I was about to say, but something that Laura said repeated in my head.
‘It would be like trying to move electricity outside of an electrical wire. Doing it over anything other than a minimal distance is extremely difficult.’
Wouldn’t that mean that a minimal distance might work? And if you learn to do it for a small distance, you can move up the distance from there.
I think we should at least try.
“Brian?” Alice looked at me. I did cut off mid sentence.
“I just got an idea. Do you want to try it out?” I asked.
“Yes!” She immediately responded. “What should I do?”
“I think we should start a mana loop, like the one you do with your teacher.” I told her.
“Sure, but how will that help?” She asked.
“Let’s just start with that. I’ll tell you the rest as we get to it.”
I took Alice’s hands into my own and with the help of Laura, our mana began to swirl back and forth. Alice’s mana was nice and smooth. Compared to the almost tar like mana of Dark Sage, hers was smooth and flowed well. Like comparing thick and thin oils. Perhaps the mana of Dark Sage is so viscous is because he is much more powerful and just has thicker mana as a result.
“So now what?” Alice asked.
“Now we will slightly bring our hands apart and try to keep the loop going.” I told her. Technically it should work. I think.
“But that won’t work.” Alice said as I moved my right hand slightly away from her left.
The way we had our loop setup was that we would send a pulse of mana from our right hands into the receivers left. As I removed my right hand, I was the one to send the mana pulse without direct contact.
“... it worked.” Alice said as she sent the pulse back to me.
“Yeah, it did.” I said as I continued the loop. Without actually touching Alice with my right hand. My left was still grasped by her right.
“I just did it.” Or perhaps Laura did. I’m honestly not sure.
“Then can I do it?” Alice wondered.
“Well you can try. That’s the fastest way to find out.” I told her. “But don’t move your hand too far. I think the longer the distance, the harder it is.” If the electricity example is to be believed.
“Then I’ll try.” Alice said as she moved her right hand. With my hand being face-up on the table and hers being on top of it, it was all on Alice to control the distance. I just needed to have my hand still to receive the mana pulse.
I felt the tingle of mana enter my left hand. It was a lot weaker than it was when we were touching, but it still came through. I let it flow through my body and sent it back to Alice.
“Did I do it?” She asked as she got the pulse back.
“Yes, but you lost a lot of it in the transfer. I think you should bring your hand closer to mine.” I told her.
“I could just put more power to it.” She argued.
“A mana loop doesn’t need more power though.” I argued. Other than the initial mana I put in the loop, I haven’t added any. At least I think so.
(I have had to add some to it. The transfer is not perfect, but the amount is minimal enough that Master can’t feel it.) Laura told me.
“How can you do that?” Alice asked as she stopped the loop. “I need to constantly put more mana into it.”
“I blame Laura. She is too good.” I responded.
“I want system support as well.” Alice muttered.
“Perhaps you will get one if you practice enough. The system might see you as worthy of the system support if you manage to take down a behemoth.” I joked.
“Then let’s continue.” Alice said as she restarted the loop again. We took each other's hands for the start, but then again took some distance as we got the loop going.
“Madam, there is a messenger from the guild.” A maid informed Christina.
“I see. I’ll go meet them.” Christina said as she left for the front door.
The guild? As in the adventurer’s guild. Wonder what they want.
Well, if it’s something important I’m sure Christina will tell me. Thɪs chapter is updated by novèlfire.net
“Brian.” Christina called for me as she came back. “I need you to come with me to the guild.”
But I didn’t need to wonder for long.
Find them and help them back to town.
If no action is taken to help them, no reward will be given.
“Yeah,” I said as I cut off the loop I was keeping with Alice. “We’d better get going.”