Chapter 22
Reading Comprehension (Mana 4)
“But can you successfully keep a spell running while reading?”
Mary frowns as she considers the question.
Could she hold a spell while reading a book? Not merely skimming over the pages to get an idea of their content, but truly reading them with the intent of actually comprehending, internalising and ultimately using what she reads?
Mary feels her frown become more thoughtful as she turns her attention towards the telepathy spell that is lingering at the back of her mind, mental probes intently investigating her thought process, her ability to think.
‘Is maintaining this spell using any of my multitasking capacity?’
Mary asks herself in thought.
The startling answer to her investigation quickly becomes clear as she finally notices that her thoughts are somewhat more sluggish than she would consider normal.
The telepathic spell that she was maintaining was using a small amount of her ability to direct her thoughts.
‘Only slightly though; Alexander’s experience with multitasking and mental threading was mostly reliant on cyberware, but I still have his experience, and that is helping me.’
Mary gums at her cheeks briefly before turning her attention back to Sylvia, who Mary realises has been silently watching Mary's face shift with an almost worrying intensity.
“It looks like you have your answer, princess?”
Sylvia asks, a smile replacing the intense stare.
“Yes, I should be able to maintain at least one spell while reading these books, especially if I don’t need to think about or interact with them, unlike with the telepathy spell.”
Mary's firm answer causes Sylvia to lift an eyebrow in mild surprise.
“That is surprising. While most people end up being capable of some degree of multi-casting, it’s usually after at least a few years of work. Doing some sort of repetitive or simple physical activity while having a passive spell running is somewhat trivial, but a mental activity like reading is much more difficult, you know?”
Sylvia asks pointedly.
“Yes, but I have experience from my previous life. I might have had external aid, but I do have experience running dozens of thought threads simultaneously.”
Mary explains.
“I see.” Sylvia mutters, “So, if we consider your experience from your previous life, and no doubt your nature as a hero helps too, maybe it’s not a surprise that you can already multicast.”
“It does make sense that you’d have much more luck with multicasting than a native; it, after all, isn’t that difficult once you get down to it.”
Sylvia nods, accepting the explanation.
“I’d think that it has more to do with my previous life’s experiences. I haven’t been able to notice anything different with myself, certainly nothing like being a hero anyway.”
Sylvia smirks at Mary before asking pointedly,
“Oh? So, day-old babies on Earth can have full-blown conversations and finish tasks that most people on Terra only start to do when they’re approaching their teens, then? How amazing.”
Sylvia asks, her tone slightly mocking.
“As expected of those terrifyingly competent otherworlders, they’re just built different.”
Sylvia exclaims jokingly, clearly amused by the obvious fallacy.
Mary answers Sylvia's joke with a glare before conceding.
"You're right, of course. I shouldn’t be conscious. I shouldn’t be able to move. I shouldn't even be able to see colours. However, I am capable of performing all of these things, albeit to varying degrees.”
Mary admits to Sylvia begrudgingly and then asks a question out of curiosity.
“But are all of these things because of the status of hero or something else?”
Sylvia looks at Mary in surprise and answers shamelessly.
“Oh, I don’t know, remember? I have access to some of my ancestors’ journals, but she was a summoned otherworlder, not a reincarnator. What is unique for reincarnators like you, I couldn’t say.”
Mary withholds a frustrated sigh; it would be dangerous to think that her current state was solely due to the bizarre rules of this world surrounding otherworlders.
Mary still vividly remembered that Leslie had mind-controlled and murdered Alexander while clearly doing some sort of magic ritual.
‘Or that was what he wanted me to think; it could have just been an act to trick me into believing that some sort of ritual took place.’
Mary thinks with a pained grimace, her thoughts beginning to spiral again.
Sylvia, seeing the look on her princess's face, quickly continues their conversation.
“So, how do you want to do this then? Would you like to read a bit first, or are you going straight into the multitasking?”
Mary shoots a thankful look at her maid for the distraction and answers.
“I’ll cancel the telepathy spell and meditate to regain all of my mana.”
Mary begins to lay out her plan.
“And then put together a spell formula for ambient mana; I’ll use symbols to show the spell intent is to expand my mana reserves. Hopefully one of these books will give me a better idea on how to create more efficient formulas.”
Mary pauses, looking towards her arms thoughtfully.
“And then I’ll need your help turning the pages when I ask you to.”
Mary finishes her explanation, looking at her maid pleadingly.
Sylvia smiles in acceptance and responds.
“Of course, Princess. I might as well read along.”
Mary frowns in thought before nodding.
“That might be for the best.”
Mary concedes thoughtfully.
“Then let’s get started!”
Sylvia exclaims cheerfully.
Mary turns her attention towards the telepathy spell, towards the fragile line of mana that connects Mary to her maid, and promptly ends it before quickly moving to meditate.
Having already experienced mana regeneration via meditation before, Mary finds it trivial to do so again, quickly grasping a lump of ambient mana in front of her and guiding its attached streams into her mana reserves.
Mary turns her attention towards the soon-to-be-attempted mana reserves expansion spell during the handful of minutes that she needs to top off her mana reserves.
‘I said I would use symbols instead of attempting to use some sort of proper mathematical formula.’ Mary thinks to herself, grimacing in thought.
‘A battery symbol worked well enough with a fireball spell; my intent was to use ambient mana to essentially charge the fireball. So, what could be used to expand my mana reserves?’
Mary pauses, her eyebrows lifting in surprise as a thought occurs to her.
‘Would an accumulator work?’
Mary frowns in thought before shaking her head, ‘From an energy standpoint, an accumulator is just another word for a battery.’
‘The intent matters here more than simple logic. As long as I consider the symbols used to have the intent of permanently increasing my mana reserves, then it will try to do so.’
Mary nods before conceding, ‘But it will be incredibly inefficient.’
‘Do I care that it's inefficient at the moment? Or do I just want a proof of concept for later?’
Mary hums thoughtfully. If she thinks of it like that, then the choice is clear enough, isn’t it?
Mary shifts her focus to a new spell after making her final decision. Instead of creating an external spell circle, she looks inward to her now full mana reserves, crafting her first primitive mana reserve expansion spell.
In her mind's eye, a spell circle writes itself into existence. A solitary ambient mana rune in its centre is accompanied by an almost childish drawing of an industrial-scale accumulator.
Mary frowns as she finishes the creation of her newest spell, feeling it linger in her metaphysical depths.
‘Is that it then?’
Mary asks as she attempts to feel the effects of her first passive spell.
As she investigates her new spell, she immediately notes, without any true surprise, that it is slowly draining some of her mana to keep itself active.
‘From what I’ve seen so far, an ambient mana rune by itself should be able to power itself completely off of the ambient mana it draws.’
Mary notes,
‘That it is taking my mana to keep running indicates that it is actually doing something.’
Mary intensifies her internal investigation, and what she sees causes her to smile in elated relief; the mana is slowly, almost imperceptibly, increasing the size of her mana reserves. The metaphysical walls of the reservoir in her soul, much like when she has drunk Sylvia's mana-rich milk, are slowly being added to and expanding.
‘How long can I keep this active, I wonder?’
Mary asks, frowning, as she mentally eyes how much mana is being used, attempting to gauge the change in her reserves.
‘Hours at least, plenty of time to do some reading.’
She eventually concludes, turning towards her maid.
Sylvia, who has been watching her princess, silently smiles as their eyes meet.
“Finally ready to start reading, then?”
Sylvia asks teasingly.
Mary adopts a serious look and nods in return.
“Mmm!”
“Then let’s get to it. You wanted to read the introduction to mana first, right?"
Sylvia asks rhetorically, but Mary gives another affirming nod and grunt regardless.
“Ok then.”
Sylvia chuckles as she stores the other two books in her pouch of holding and brings the introduction to the mana text over to herself.
“Now then, how to arrange this?"
Sylvia asks teasingly, balancing her princess on her lap, before holding the book in front of both of them.
Mary watches as Sylvia runs a thumb over the words on the cover and involuntarily reads it with a frown.
‘A comprehensive introduction to mana, compiled by Elizabeth Midgard.’
“She really did hate how restricted knowledge could be, so she spent months gaining access to as many introductions to mana texts as she could before compiling and editing them into this massive thing.”
Sylvia notes sadly, “Guilds and kingdoms have different focuses; if it's not immediately relevant to their surroundings or objectives, then chances are they’ll ignore it.”
‘That really is stupid.’
Mary comments to herself.
“It really is, isn’t it?”
Mary twitches in annoyance at being read so easily once again, as Sylvia replies mischievously.
Sylvia opens the massive tome; even though it lands on her soft thighs, there is still an audible thud as it lands. For a brief moment, she skims over the clearly marked preface and instead goes to the index.
“The preface," Sylvia explains, "is Elizabeth's way of conveying her hopes for this comprehensive book to any reader. She wanted to eventually release it into the wild for mages to buy, to help mages become more worldly and well-rounded.”
“She also acknowledges all of the works she’s compiled here, the writers and book titles.”
Sylvia smirks bitterly, “That would have gotten her into even more trouble. None of the guilds or their mages would have thanked her for acknowledging what they would have regarded as stolen work.”
Mary frowns at that. How had a guild system that was presumably created by someone from Earth ended up being so inclusive and restrictive?
‘Maybe the guild system hasn’t been updated since the information revolutions?’ Mary thinks to herself doubtfully, ‘This sounds more like medieval guilds fiercely guarding almost irrelevant secrets.’
“The index, as you might expect, lists every single chapter in the book; some are taken almost wholesale from others, and those are noted in the index.”
Sylvia continues to explain, brushing a thumb over a particular part of the index. Mary chooses to read one of them.
‘Natural Ice Mana in Mountainous Lands.’
“These are taken from Midgard’s own introductory books. I think you’ve noticed by now, haven’t you? Midgard is an icy, mountainous land; there are others like us, of course, and Elizabeth got her hands on those texts as well.”
“So, chapters like this that note special areas, places that are influenced by their natural mana, these chapters are heavily merged and edited; it was her attempt to be as comprehensive as possible, you see.”
Mary nods in acceptance.