Chapter 19
Regeneration (Mana 1)
Sylvia smiles at Mary and says, “Well, how about we see about refilling your reserves then? Do you want to try meditating or hugging?” Sylvia says mischievously.
Mary directed a baleful glare at her maid, effortlessly transmitting the words in her mind, even without the telepathic link between them.
‘You already know I want to learn how to do this alone.’ Thought Mary as she complained internally.
“Alright then, princess.” Said Sylvia with a sigh, a charming pout crawling across her face.
“Absorbing the ambient mana around you is simple enough; you already have all of the tools needed to achieve it, really.” Said Sylvia as she started to explain.
‘So, it’s going to be as straightforward as dragging the ambient mana around me into myself, and that’s it then?’ Thinks Mary, her eyebrows raised sceptically.
Sylvia's lips twitched into an aborted smile at Mary's sceptical look before replying to her princess’s apparent question.
“Drawing in the ambient mana can be slightly more difficult than it sounds,” Sylvia explains.
“But more important is filtering the absorbed mana's intent and elements so it can properly integrate with your reserves.”
Mary blinks in response before nodding firmly, acknowledging the obvious step that she had missed.
‘That makes sense. It’s sort of like rune making then, isn’t it? Creating true neutral mana to form runes with.’ Thought Mary.
Sylvia chuckles at Mary's expression of realisation.
“Yes, it is similar to the process of creating neutral mana for rune creation. Of course, speeding up your mana reserves' regeneration is the less useful part of absorbing ambient mana.”
Mary responds to Sylvia's words with a blank look, once again blatantly asking the question.
‘There’s something else?’
Sylvia smirks in response to Mary's blank look before asking, “You forgot about the so-called cultivation stuff then, Princess? My ancestor wrote how frustrating that aspect of Terran magic can be for you Earthers.”
In response, Mary tries to take a deep calming breath but finds that her still tiny lungs don’t have the capacity to calm her frustration. Instead, she lets out a weary sigh.
‘I did forget about Sylvia's talk of cultivation. But wasn’t that only for the hugging—the dual-cultivation part? Why does it also include meditation?’ Mary thinks before she immediately twitches in realisation.
“Yes, that’s right,” Sylvia adds expectantly.
“Drawing in ambient mana while your reserves are empty will refill them. That’s just common sense.” She states dismissively.
“But what about when your reserves are full? Obviously, if done correctly, your mana reserves will slowly increase; the container for your mana will slowly expand as its walls are stressed. What my ancestor called cultivation is the easiest way to increase your reserves and impact your other mana qualities.”
‘Obviously the density and other mana qualities of the ambient mana impact how efficient the entire process is, so meditating in so-called mana springs that are dense with mana would be highly desirable. Which means the mage guilds...?’ Mary comments to herself, grimacing as she once again understands just how much knowledge the mage guilds are hoarding.
Sylvia looks down at her now grimacing princess and once again accurately guesses what she’s thinking.
“Yes, it’s only a rumour—a half-confirmed one, really—but mages who join the more powerful guilds see explosive gains for their mana reserves and, to a lesser extent, other mana qualities. Coincidentally, the oldest and most powerful mage towers tend to be built at mana springs or where multiple ley lines converge.”
Explains Sylvia, her tone turning sardonic.
“The older guilds often attack newly formed guilds or individual mages who attempt to research what my ancestor referred to as cultivation formations; at least, that was Elizabeth's guess based on the reputation of those new guilds and mages.” Sylvia finishes with a slight sadness in her voice.
Mary nods at that, once again accepting that she has really found herself in an all-too- typical fantasy world.
‘But this is good news, in a way. What in Earth fiction was usually called a cultivation formation would at a minimum need to gather ambient energy, which is something I need to be able to do anyway. They might also be able to purify the energy they draw in, which could be useful. Yes, I can use this.’
Mary nods to herself firmly and then locks eyes with Sylvia.
Sylvia smiles warmly and asks, “Chatting is over then?”
Mary smiles back and nods again.
“Well then, it’s simple enough. Reach out to the mana around you, draw it in and remove any extra flavour.” Sylvia pauses her explanation briefly before adding, “It will be safe here in the capital, but mana can also be cursed, so be wary in places that aren’t as controlled.” she warns.
‘Cursed mana, is it? Would that be something like necromantic corruption?’ Mary thinks briefly and then nods at Sylvia in understanding.
Sylvia smiles back in relief and observes Mary shifting slightly, trying to find a comfortable meditation pose while Sylvia holds her in her arms.
“Ah!” Mary squeaks as Sylvia brings Mary down to her soft lap, and Mary, with feigned reluctance, leans back into Sylvia's warmth.
‘Isn’t this maid too affectionate?’ Mary privately questions.
Mary exhales, attempting to purge any thought from her mind as she once more dives into a meditation, her eyes closed.
‘I’ve been seeing Terras' ambient mana since I was born. So how do I take it into myself?’
Mary thinks for a moment and then, with her still immature knowledge of magic, she hesitantly attempts to reach out to the world around her.
Instantly, the darkness caused by Mary's closed eyelids disappears, and a world of colours returns. Mary allows herself to feel awe as she sees the mana imprint of the room around her.
To her immediate front, she sees a solid wall of mana; instantly, she understands that the wall of mana she is seeing with her eyes closed is in fact the grey blocks of the palace wall that she was looking at when her eyes were open.
‘Did I really forget about the mana sight?’ Mary admonishes herself.
The multi-coloured mana wall before her is a collection of thick mana streams; each individual stream is a singular colour that, when woven together, creates what feels like an impassable object.
As Mary looks closer, she can see bright mana runes are woven into the mana weave that is the wall.
‘The wall enchantments that I saw earlier.’
Mary shakes her head, dismissing thoughts about the wall, and in shaking her head, she sees the blinding light that she is currently sitting on. Mary looks down in awe at the almost solid mass of mana that is Sylvia; she shines so brightly that Mary almost misses the comparatively dull hue of the maid outfit that Sylvia was wearing.
Mary allows herself a moment to stare, not just at the not-blinding light that is partly Sylvia's soul, but at the clear runic language that Mary can see inscribed on the maid outfit that Sylvia is wearing.
‘I need to ignore it and focus on the ambient mana.’ Mary distantly thinks to herself, still staring intently at Sylvia.
For a moment, Mary opens her eyes and stares directly at the lap that she is still sitting on. With the light of mana once again capturing her attention, she can now see it clearly.
‘She’s wearing a dress that fully covers her legs. But I could swear that I can still see them like this.’ Mary thinks in wonder.
Briefly, Mary swallows, breathes out and closes her eyes again. She forcefully ignores the awe-inspiring glow of her maid and instead directs her focus to the connected cloud of ambient mana that floats around her in clumps.
‘How do I do this?’ Mary wonders.
‘The mana flows in streams but seems to collect into floating masses too. If I grab one, would mana flow towards me or do I need to continually direct it?’
Mary frowns as she extends her senses outward, sending an almost tentacle-like strand of mana to latch onto the cloud of mana that is directly in front of her.
‘Nothing’s happened, and I don’t feel anything. So, I draw it in then?’
Following the instructions of Sylvia, Mary pulls the cloud of mana towards her and watches as it joins into her still largely empty body like a malignant tumour.
Mary frowns again as nothing seems to happen; the mana cloud simply dwells inside her body, her mana container, without doing anything, without integrating.
"Remember, Princess, you need to remove the external aspects of the mana.” Sylvia's voice comes like a whisper, trickling into Mary’s ear.
Mary nods distractedly and considers for a moment how to go forward.
‘How do I do that?’ Mary frowns, internally staring at the mana cloud still hovering inside her. ‘This cloud is comprised of three colours… a neutral blue, the same as what I can create; an icy-cold blue; and a green life.’
Mary nods as she reaches a conclusion: ‘Separate and remove the ice and life.’
With her decision made, she intently grabs at the unwelcome mana aspects and slowly peels them away from the ambient neutral mana.
Mary watches as she throws the unwanted mana out of her body; each time, she feels the neutral mana integrate with her mana reserves, gradually refilling them.
‘The cloud isn’t getting smaller.’ She notes, watching as the multi-coloured streams of mana attached to the mana cloud that she has claimed continue to flow, first to the cloud and then back outwards to the room beyond.
The process, Mary finds, is incredibly tedious, having to consciously separate the mana aspects repeatedly. But the flow of the interconnected mana streams is swift enough, and her reserves at this point are still small enough that her meditation ends quickly.
‘If there are mages that do this for hours on end, it is either something you get used to or there is some sort of trick that I can’t see at the moment.’ Mary notes, ‘Maybe they use a passive spell that automatically does it all?’
For a moment Mary considers trying to expand her reserves through the cultivation she had been told about but ultimately decides that it would be too tedious right now. Instead, she removes the mana cloud from her body.
“Are you done then, princess?” Comes Sylvia's voice again.
Mary blinks, opening her eyes again, and attempts to turn her head towards Sylvia but finds that she lacks the flexibility to do so. With a frustrated sigh, she thinks back to the spell she had recently cast and finds that it is still fresh enough for another cast.
Instantly, she ignites her telepathy spell and connects to Sylvia to continue their talk.
“For now, yes.” Mary answers in her still masculine voice, “I really need to think about how to create my passive magics, though.”
"Sorry, princess. I really can’t help you with that; all my passive magic relies on my reserves.” Sylvia answers apologetically before adding sadly, “Elizabeth could have helped; she always seemed to be able to throw around more magic than she should have been able to.”
Mary lifts her eyebrows in surprise and asks, “You think my mother had some way to use ambient mana for her spells, then?”
“Well, if she did, she never mentioned it. Not that I blame her; that kind of behaviour attracts unwanted attention even for men.” Sylvia answers, grimacing.
"A noble woman like Elizabeth, exploring things that they try to restrict? Well, that has one ending… the one that Elizabeth got." Sylvia finishes bitterly.
“Then I need to think on this some more. I’m going to attempt to make an ambient mana rune; it’s the most likely answer.” Mary states confidentially.
“Then deactivate this telepathy spell and get working.” Sylvia answers teasingly, “I’ll be right here if you need anything.” she adds with a firm hug.