Chapter 8
The next morning I woke up with the sunrise again. There should still have been people at the campsite. Looking closely in that direction I had a feeling I could see a faint red colour.
It was harder to tell in the daytime than at night, but I could still recognise last night’s elemental magic particles by “colour”. Apparently, it wasn’t just my imagination and my brain really did “perceive” magic particles as having a colour.
But both Feld and that woman’s master said that magic particles should be “felt”. So maybe “seeing” was unorthodox. Currently, I could feel the magic particles around me within a few metres, but using my “sight” I could see a little further.
I had a hunch that this would become my “weapon”.
If I practised feeling the sensations of the magic particles a little more, I might be able to expand the range to which I could see them. And I’ll train myself to see the colours more clearly by becoming strongly aware of my current perception.
I began my daily routine of gathering wild grasses and blackberries away from the campsite, while looking at the colours of the magic particles and feeling them with my senses.
The food supply was really scarce. The dried meat and cheese would be finished by tomorrow, so should I head into town soon?
I stopped halfway up the stream to clean the blackberries and eat them before washing my face. I rinsed my mouth well and rubbed my teeth with the stem of a shaved herb, which was something of a habit that my parents ingrained in me after repeating it many times when they were alive.
Lastly, while refilling my canteen with the Daily Life magic, Water, I thought about the thing I became able to do at the end of last night.
I became able to see the colours of the magic particles, and by consciously inhaling the colours of my surroundings and matching my magic power to them, I felt as if my presence had melted into the forest. If it wasn’t just my imagination, it could be very advantageous for stealth.
“…”
When I looked closely while being conscious of the fact that magic particles had colours, I could see the surrounding scenery becoming faintly coloured and even the places that I couldn’t see before became “visible”.