One month passed. I couldn’t practice fire magic when Dad wasn’t around, so I worked on my mana instead. Sometimes Marie and Rose joined me, but Marie was becoming more focused on her sword training. I had a few new discoveries by the end of that month.
One: The amount of mana I put into Magicluster corresponded with the resulting volume of flames. The more mana, the more fire. This fit into my existing assumptions about magic. It meant that if I increased my mana output, I would be able to cast stronger spells.
Two: After experimenting around with various fires, it turned out that my mana didn’t actually need to touch a live flame. Strong heat could set fire to mana, too.
Three: Touching fire while in Magicoat didn’t do anything but catch fire normally. In other words, it was no different from how a non-magical object caught fire. The fire also stayed reddish orange, indicating a normal flame.
Four: If I clothed the part of my body that was using Magicluster, like my hand with a glove, the mana would go through the cloth and into the surrounding air. When the mana there touched the fire, it flamed up, but also burned the glove.
In summary, I learned how to control the amount of fire, but I hadn’t discovered how to safely ignite it up around the body.
Mana itself functioned as a kind of combustible fluid. Of course, I knew this only represented one facet of mana’s qualities. It would probably react in different ways to different phenomena. Only further experimenting would confirm that.
By the month’s end, I decided to take a break. That’s why this day found me hanging out in the living room. Dad, Marie, and Rose were gathered around the coffee table. Dad knew that Rose sometimes assisted me with my magic experiments. He was giving her his official permission to keep doing so while cautioning her to its dangers. It was an understandable stance from an adult toward children.
Dad broke the ice first, or should I say, lit the flame.
“Shion, I think it’s been a very productive month of experiments, but I feel like you’ve reached the limit. It’s going to be hard to learn anything else further if we only stay focused on fire. We’ve learned that mana catches on fire, and that you have some amount of control over it. But you need to move on.”
“I think you’re right, Dad,” I said. “I was hoping to find a way to turn the flame into a projectile, but I don’t think it works like that.”
“If only there was a fire-proof glove…” Dad sighed. “Unfortunately, there’s no such thing.”
I figured this world wouldn’t have fireproof gloves. If it had, the material would’ve already been utilized in fire protection.
As Dad and I grumbled about the sticky situation, Marie spoke up.
“What about the orbs of light from the trout? Those are mana, aren’t they? The fish shot them from their bodies. Why can’t you try to do the same thing with fire?”
“Yeah, I thought of that. It’s not possible.”
“Huh? No, it is possible!” Marie said with a decisive nod. She turned her palms face up to reveal small, floating marbles of light. They drifted up into the air, then vanished. My jaw dropped.
“What?” I shrieked. “How did you do that? Since when do you know how to use Magicluster?!”
“You told me how to, Shion,” Marie said. “So, I tried it out and it worked. I don’t think my—is it Mana Eject?—is as much as yours. Rose, you can do it too, right?”
“I certainly can,” Rose said. She did the exact same thing as Marie, except her orbs looked a bit bigger than Marie’s. The same beautiful, shimmering orbs rose from her palms and disappeared into the sky.
I guess you two are a pair of prodigies, I thought.
When had they learned all this? I had dedicated all of my time to magic, whereas Marie spent her time sword training while Rose did housework. Somewhere in between all that, they not only had learned Magicluster but figured out how to release mana from their bodies.
“I only recently figured it out,” Marie said with a shrug.
“I didn’t mention it because I assumed that you could already do it, Shion,” said Rose. “I apologize. I’ll be sure to bring it up next time.”
Well, that answered my follow-up: Why the heck didn’t you guys tell me?! I guess I couldn’t really blame them.
“Y-yes, please do,” I stuttered. “More importantly, tell me how you do it?”
“You just do,” Marie said. “You just try to release it from your palms, and it does. I guess it is kind of hard, though.”
“You have to maintain precise control,” Rose added. “The moment you lose focus, it won’t work.”
As the two of them spoke, little bubbles of light continued bubbling up from their hands. They were idly doing something I had never managed to do myself. I ignored a rising sense of failure to stay optimistic. After all, this meant it was possible for me to do. It should be, anyway, although I hadn’t ever managed to release mana from my body before. How were they doing it so easily?
I looked closer at their light orbs and Magiclusters. The orbs were no bigger than marbles. Their mana light membranes around their bodies were far fainter than mine. This meant that I had a lot more Mana Eject.
Light up! Magicluster activated in my palm. I concentrated on trying to release the mana from my hand. The next moment, a baseball-sized orb of light floated into the air. I watched it soar away and disappear.
“Hey, you just did it!” Marie said.
“That was a lot bigger than ours,” Rose said.
“Did he just do it?” Dad asked. “It’s frustrating to not be able to see. How did you figure it out? Why weren’t you able to do it before?”