We wrapped the peralite slabs in cloth and used them to carry thundercite back home. We took a stone of about eight inches in diameter. We couldn’t haul something too heavy; plus, the larger the stone was, the more dangerous it would be. This was the biggest one that we could handle, according to Dad. There was no argument from me. It was the perfect size for my research.
We gave the leftover peralite to Graste, which was only fair—considering he ended up paying for half of it. Plus, he was a good guy. It went for a hefty price, but he forked over the lirum with a smile, saying I was like his nephew. I needed to do my best with this research in order to repay his and Dad’s kindness.
You should have seen the look on the receptionist’s face when she saw us carry the thundercite out of the mine.
After we got back home, I stood in the garden with the thundercite. It wouldn’t stop crackling and sparking, so naturally we couldn’t bring it inside. We didn’t want any house fires, so we placed it on a bed of stones inside the garden.
Thundercite was an ore that intermittently released an electric current. I had a lot of questions about where it got its energy from, but I was neither a physicist nor a geologist. No matter so long as I could use it for magic. I had no intentions of investigating its energy source.
Mom and Dad watched over me from a safe distance. Dad’s eyes sparkled with excitement, while Mom wore her typical smile. I felt safe with them there.
Marie was out, apparently. I wondered what was she was up to, but decided to stay focused on the matter in front of me. Dad and I returned straight home, so Rose wasn’t around either. I wanted to research with everyone together, but the timing couldn’t be helped.
I stood in front of the thundercite and extended my hand. I used Magicluster and sent mana to my right hand. Then a large orb burst out of my palm and floated toward the thundercite.
The moment the mana touched the stone, its blue sparks turned red. For a moment, the light pulsed.
Dad gasped and leapt up. “Wh-what?!”
However, his excitement drained away as fast as it appeared. The sparks had returned to their bluish hue. The thundercite kept crackling as if nothing changed. The phenomenon had only lasted for a second.
The application of mana changed the color of the light and the amount of electricity, but nothing more. The amount of voltage only increased slightly. Unlike with fire, where the mana I released moved for a bit before vanishing, this time the mana disappeared a mere instant after it touched the thundercite.
“Did it work?” Mom asked.
“I don’t think so,” Dad said.
I heard their disappointment and concern from behind me. I hadn’t budged from the stone, and so my parents approached me.
“Not everything will go smoothly, Shion,” Dad said. “Think of all the failures you went through before you figured out how to use fire magic. So, don’t be so down on yourself.” He patted me on the shoulder.
At that moment, Mom tilted her head. “Huh? Shion, don’t tell me…”
My shoulders were quaking, not with sadness, but with joy. I was cackling.
“Hoo! Hoo heh! Heh heh heh!”
“Shion, what’s going on? I thought it didn’t work! But your expression…are you going to puke or something?!” Dad exclaimed.
“Oh my, Shion, you’ve got that special look on your face.” Mom chuckled. “I can tell you’re happy, and I can’t help but to be happy, too.”
“Shion! Have you got a gash in your brain? Get it together!”
I don’t think getting it together would be possible if I really was brain damaged, but forget that. I couldn’t be happier.
“It worked. I did it!”
“What do you mean?” Dad pressed. “Nothing’s happening, Shion! Unless… Does the color change and spark bursts mean that it worked? It doesn’t seem like much compared to what you demonstrated with the fire!”
While I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face, I did explain the situation to my parents.
“Ha ha. You see, a flint produces the same physical phenomenon as the thundercite. They both use sparks to start a fire. When I touched the fire with my mana, the flames turned blue.
“When that happened, I formed two possible theories. The first was that even though it didn’t have any other physical properties, mana was a flammable substance. The other was that mana could be a flammable substance, while also possessing some other properties. These are both provisional theories, mind you. But since the only thing I knew about mana was that it’s flammable, that implied that it would light up in flames when it touched the thundercite. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the electricity changed colors and grew stronger. That proved the second of my theories—that mana can be a flammable substance, but it can also do other things. That means that I should be able to use magic in many different ways, just like I hoped.”
When mana contacted with fire, it set ablaze. When it made contact with electricity, it flashed. I was willing to bet it would have other effects when applied to even more substances!
It was hard to make assumptions based on scientific laws from Earth. I certainly wasn’t a scientist. All I could do was apply mana to different substances and build a theory based on the results. The outcome this time changed my whole view of what I could achieve with mana.
The result was important, even if it was a partial one. Above all else, I now knew that mana could do other things besides catch fire. Of course, I had no clue how to create lightning magic out of this. The flash was a good start. I couldn’t stop smiling.
It’s not like I had been expecting something dramatic. I was only hoping for an outcome that was different from the flint, and I had not been disappointed.
Dad sighed and asked, “Does this mean that you can use lightning magic now?”
“Possibly,” I said. “Of course, not like this. It looks like the mana just alters the electricity a bit.”
“And what, exactly, does a successful result look like to you?”
I thought about it. “Well, I want to shoot electricity out of my hand.”
“Wouldn’t that only end up in shocking you?”
Dad’s thought process made sense, and I had been wondering the same thing.
“Yes, if I directly touched the electricity with my hands. It’s just like with the fire. I need to figure out how to channel it properly. I’ll need to do some more testing to get there.”
“I get it,” Dad said. “Well, I’d love to watch you do more research, but I think that’s enough for today. We only just got home.”
He was right. We’d done a lot in one day: we traveled to Istria, went to both the mine and the market, and did some other shopping while we were at it. We hadn’t returned home until early evening. There was still plenty I wanted to do, but it was getting late.
The day had been all about me, and it cost Dad both plenty of his time and money. He paid for the peralite and the mine entrance fee, and it wasn’t cheap. Maybe it was selfish to think, but I felt grateful to have been born a noble.
As Dad suggested, I walked through the garden to return to the house. Behind me, I saw that the sky was dyed red and illuminated by the occasional sparks of thundercite.
That stands out like a sore thumb.
I realized we needed to build some sort of cover, immediately. With those thoughts in mind, I finally went inside.