I contemplated his questions. “I think it’s about the amount of Mana Eject. If my Mana Eject at is at one hundred, let’s say that my maximum Magicluster in my hand is around eighty. I was trying to release all eighty of that mana at once. But to release mana, you need to leave a reserve in your hand. That’s the energy needed to shoot off the mana, I suppose.”
It made sense if you thought about it. It was like water dripping down from the ceiling. The water doesn’t plunge directly to the floor. There’s always a small amount that stays clung to the ceiling. You couldn’t rip all the water off the ceiling at once.
This explained why I couldn’t concentrate 100 percent of the mana into one point. In the same way, you couldn’t get rid of 100 percent of your mana at once. You needed some mana to push the other mana out. That meant that you could only emit about 60 percent of your total mana potential at any given time. It didn’t seem efficient, but I decided to worry about that later.
“Let’s go outside already!” I said.
“Ooh! I’m there!” Dad said.
“Why do the two of you always look like you’re having so much fun with this?” Marie sighed.
“Now, now, Marie. We’re going, too,” said Rose. This cheered up my exasperated-looking sister.
I led the three of them outside. Dad got to work setting up the bonfire, as always, while Rose and Marie drew some water from the well. I stripped off my shirt and filled a few buckets.
“Everything’s ready, Shion,” Dad called. “Let’s go!”
“All right. I’ll start now.” I faced the fire. I summoned Magicluster into my palms, and mana shot out from my body. When it reached the bonfire, it lit up in bright blue flames. From there, those flames floated up toward the sky and vanished.
“It worked? It worked!”
“Amazing! You did it, Shion!” Dad shouted, beaming.
Marie laughed in shock while Rose merrily applauded.
Wow—that was magic! Lame magic, sure, but who cares?
There was more to come, I was sure of it! Yeah, it was weak compared to the type of magic I expected. The fire literally just floated up and faded into the sky. I had conjured it, though. That was magic that I had thought of, searched for, and invented. What a rush!
Magic didn’t exist in this world, or it hadn’t, until now. I had found it. That thought alone made me so happy. The thought that I could use magic! I was so elated that tears flowed down my face.
“Hee hee, magic! I did magic. Muah ha ha!”
“Ugh! He’s doing the creepy laugh again, Marie!”
“Good job, Shion. Congrats,” Marie giggled.
“That was wonderful,” Rose agreed.
I appreciated the praise, but I wasn’t done yet. I wiped away my tears, then took something out of my pocket.
“Is that a flint?” Dad asked.
He nailed it. It was a tool shaped like a small pair of tweezers with a stone affixed on the end. It only released small sparks appropriate for indoor use.
“Watch this.” I lifted my hand out in front of me. It gripped the portable flint. I activated Magicluster, then struck the flint the moment mana released from out of the same hand. Instantly, the spark shot into the mana and burst into flame. The newly-born fire gently burned up into the sky and faded.
“Wh-what was that, Shion? That sure looked like magic to me!”
“Wow! Wow—I would’ve never thought of that!”
“Those flames…incredible. So, this is magic!”
All three of them were thrilled.
I had been mulling over this for a while. Up until now, we had lit a fire, then touched it with mana. That wasn’t magic, so I’d been thinking one step ahead. What could I do if I did figure out how to eject mana out of my body? I just never expected to be able to put the pieces together all at once. But I did now!
My magic experiments had advanced to the stage of practical application. Of course, there was room for improvement, especially considering that my so-called fireballs only floated up and away. I needed them to shoot straight forward like bullets. I felt eons away from learning how to make that happen.
Still, this was magic. There was no question what I’d been working toward for the last three years. The success lifted me up so I high that I started to worry what might happen were I to fall down.
“Heh, hoo! I made magic! I did it. I seriously did. I literally did it.”
“Wow, he’s so happy that his face is even creepier than usual,” Marie said. “And he can’t talk properly, either.”
“It’s quite a difference from his usual stern persona,” Rose said. “Although…I get the feeling that if he were to relax more, he’d always look like this?”
“He’s on top of the world now,” Dad said. “Just let him be, girls.”
The three of them ever so slightly inched away from me. I didn’t care. The happiness bursting inside me wouldn’t abate.
Thank you, universe! Thank you for granting me magic!
I swore to keep developing magic and to give it my best. I swore to work even harder to use more magic. I swore all of this to myself.
It was a week after our experiment and now a month since the goblin incident occurred. Since then, the villagers had been both thanking and showing their concern for me. A few kept their distance, but I understood, considering what happened.
It was unlikely that Dad had explained the details to the villagers. That would only cause confusion. He had told them not to speak about what happened outside of the village. The people here were kind, but some of them tended to gossip. They seemed to have heeded Dad so far.