The White Mage (11)
“The reason I’m sure there won’t be any problems is this~.”
At that moment, Lucy held up several sheets of paper and spoke. When I was too moved to continue speaking, she must have thought I was doubting her.
“As the Depth of transformation magic increases, so does its output. However, the mana waveform that causes the transformation phenomenon is divided into a maximum of four stages depending on depth. The four stages are: Initial, Intensified, Dormant, and Terminal.”
The papers she showed me were numerous. They looked like ultrasound images drawn with various colored paints. They could also pass for slightly crude modern art.
“But transformation magic basically has a… well, let’s call it a limit. I’m talking about the maximum point at which physical transformation occurs. Once the body has completely finished changing, there’s no need to cause any further changes, right? You can think of it as something similar to that~.”
“Hmm. So that’s what you meant by the term ‘Terminal’?”
“Yes. This is the mana waveform shown by Mr. Wayne’s Beast Regression magic. The papers Lucy is holding are waveforms from other transformation magics. Can you guess what the two drawings have in common?”
Tirsi said this while lifting one of the still-wet papers to show me. I examined it carefully before answering.
“…They both give off a calm feeling.”
Since I wasn’t an expert, that was all I could say. The mana pattern of Beast Regression and the other drawings were almost perfectly symmetrical like decals, and the way the paint had splattered looked tame. As I stared at the green paint on the paper, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
“If I were to draw the movement of mana when I use Beast Regression, it would look exactly like this.”
“Correct~! These are pictures where a magic tool directly observed the mana and applied it straight onto the ink! The common point is that in both cases, the mana causing the transformation is in the Terminal stage.”
Lucy picked up another sheet. This one looked like a complete mess—both the types of paint and the drawing itself—as if a tiny fairy had danced across the paper with a brush.
“This is the mana waveform from the Intensified stage, when physical transformation is actively occurring. Anyone can clearly see the difference, right? Your magic shows this because the mana causing the transformation has stopped moving.”
“Ah, I understand what you’re saying now.”
I caught on to the conclusion the two women were driving at.
“Transformation magic has a ‘maximum’ point for the changes that occur in the body, that stage can be determined with this magic tool, and──”
I tapped the iron cylinder a couple of times and continued my reasoning.
“Since Beast Regression is showing the same symptoms as other transformation magics ‘after the transformation has stopped,’ no further changes will occur in my body. Is that roughly the right interpretation?”
“That’s right. You understood it perfectly.”
At her affirmative answer, I finally regained my composure. The Beast Regression-induced dick enlargement upgrade patch was one hundred percent complete, and there would be no further changes. So transformation magic didn’t cause the body to change endlessly; each spell had a set ‘goal’ it reached before stopping. Since this was a conclusion drawn by experts after compiling actual cases, it had to be reliable.
“The magic tools in our guild aren’t the highest grade, but their precision is solid, so you can trust them,” Lucy said as she organized the images containing the mana waveforms. “Especially yours—it came out as a really clean and easy-to-read picture.”
While organizing, she picked up one sheet, blew on it gently, and showed it to me. The drawing looked exactly like it had traced the shape of a man’s penis and testicles. Wait, why does this shape look so familiar?
“Ta-da~! This is a projection of the mana traces left on your thing! It’s also called an aftermath remnant diagram?”
It’s literally my fucking dick.
I was so dumbfounded I could barely speak.
“…Do the traces remain that blatantly?”
“It’s just a projection of the remaining mana, so it won’t last long. If you get examined again in a few days, it won’t look like this. Which brings me to… can I make something based on the shape in this picture?”
─Slurp.
Lucy licked her lips as she spoke. The sensation was like staring down a venomous snake; a cold sweat ran down my back.
“I’d rather you didn’t. Wouldn’t you get goosebumps if someone said they wanted to make something by copying your body?”
“Aww, what a shame.”
When I refused, Lucy backed off without hesitation. Then she waved the still-damp scan of my dick around playfully.
“If you don’t like it, there’s nothing I can do. What do you want to do with this picture? Want to take it? Or should I dispose of it for you?”
“I’ll dispose of it myself, so please hand it over.”
“Tsk.”
I took the dick scan and tore it to shreds. What the hell would I even do with something like this? It would be rude to the tree, so the polite thing was to get rid of it quickly and turn it into fertilizer.
Riiip— riiip—.
I tore it, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into my pocket. I’d burn it in a brazier later. After that, I let out a deep sigh.
“Anyway, I’m worried about what comes next.”
“About what?”
“The Beast Regression magic. If this becomes known to the world, it’s going to cause a huge stir.”
Beast Regression was basically a magical dick enlargement surgery. A massive cock transformation with zero side effects! What man in the world would just let that slide? Just as I had guessed several times before, everyone and their mother would try to learn Beast Regression like it was a passive skill. For some reason it only worked on me right now, but if they researched it thoroughly and identified the cause, other people would probably be able to use it too. In the end, wouldn’t the average dick length of men in this other world eventually hit thirty centimeters? Fuck, that’s terrifying.
“No~? That probably won’t happen,” Lucy said. Her voice was surprisingly confident. I looked at her in confusion.
“Why not? I know it sounds ridiculous coming from me, but I think a lot of people would try to learn it specifically for the side effect.”
“Hmm~ Explaining that would make for a long story.”
Lucy tilted her head, then stretched and suddenly blurted out something completely irresponsible.
“Okay~! I’m not in the mood for boring talk, so I’m passing!”
“Huh?”
“Hehe. Ask Tirsi about the tedious stuff~. She’ll know better than me.”
Lucy stood up, moving her legs in a seductive manner, and waved her hand as she walked past me. She stopped, giving off a strong whiff of perfume, and looked at me with a bewitching gaze.
“Or… would you like to come to my room and have an interesting chat instead?”
Lucy’s finger slid along my jawline. At that familiar move, I answered without hesitation.
“No, I appreciate the offer but I’ll have to decline.”
With Franc waiting for me, she wanted me to cheat? No way. Of course I was the kind of guy who dreamed of polygamy, but that was completely different. Sneaking off to sleep with another woman behind Franc’s back and then casually announcing, ‘This is my second wife! Get along!’ would cause way too many problems.
What if Franc gets hurt by something like that?
When bringing in a new wife, I had to discuss it properly with Franc first. That was the bare minimum courtesy I could show her as someone who had accepted this world’s culture. Besides, Franc and I weren’t even properly married yet. How could I throw myself at another woman when I had only just met my first wife?
“Kyahaha! I knew you’d say that.”
Even though I had shot her down immediately, Lucy laughed without minding at all. It was impressive how she didn’t dwell on these little failures. If a girl rejected me after I made a move, I’d probably remember it for a whole week.
“Then I’ll be going! You two have fun~!”
And with that, the blonde social butterfly tossed a bomb into the conversation and breezed out. Tirsi and I were left standing there like scarecrows in the aftermath of a storm, and we both sighed. It seemed that in any world, introverts could never keep up with the pace of extroverts.
Tirsi and I returned to the office that Earthrate had been using.
“For now, the biggest worry—the side effects—has been confirmed to be fine, so I feel relieved,” I said, leaning back on the sofa and letting out a deep breath.
Tirsi sat across from me and nodded.
“Yes. I’m glad I could give you a good answer after the examination.”
Her smile was slightly awkward. Well, it was pretty embarrassing content to brag about.
Your dick is healthy! That’s great! Clap clap clap!
It was definitely not something a young woman would want to say out loud. Thinking of Tirsi’s feelings, I changed the subject.
“Anyway, I’d like to finish asking the question I started earlier… Why did Miss Lucy say there wouldn’t be anyone trying to learn Beast Regression?”
Since it was an important topic, I straightened my posture as I asked. A magic that enlarged dicks would sound attractive to anyone. Most men in this world, wives dissatisfied with their husbands’ size, and even people trying to make money with this magic! I had secretly thought that all kinds of people would be captivated by Beast Regression’s so-called side effect. If I didn’t make the magic public, I might end up suffering through all sorts of worldly troubles like someone who won the lottery.
That was why I had planned to donate the Beast Regression spell to the Mages’ Guild before any problems arose on a scale I couldn’t handle. The dick upgrade patch magic was basically a lottery ticket that literally anyone could use. Holding onto it without the ability to protect it wouldn’t help me or Franc at all. It was better to hand off this kind of troublemaking material to someone else so that no responsibility or damage would come back to me. After all, no idiot would come looking for me to obtain a magic that had been made public to everyone. And even if someone did, they’d probably be a pathetic loser who couldn’t even afford to buy a spellbook.
Once I get my damn dick problem fixed, I can just say ‘not my problem’ and bounce. Everything would be fine.
That was why I had been honest about the side effects. Yet for some reason, other people seemed indifferent to this magic. Even that racist bastard Earthrate, who didn’t seem to have a shred of conscience. It was unimaginable that such a selfish piece of shit would kick away a golden opportunity that had rolled right up to him. If he thought Beast Regression could make money, he would have tried to coax me somehow and monopolize the magic. Therefore, this pointed to the fact that the side effect of Beast Regression—dick enlargement surgery—did not seem attractive to mages.
I was genuinely curious about the reason.
“Hmm. To get straight to the point, it’s because there’s no guarantee that other people will experience the same ‘side effect’ as you, Mr. Wayne.”
Tirsi chose her words carefully, as if organizing her thoughts.
“The side effects of transformation magic differ from person to person. That’s because transformation magic is tied to an individual’s aptitude and genetic traits.”
“…I’m having a little trouble understanding. What do you mean by that?”
Just because someone was well-educated didn’t mean they were good at teaching. When I couldn’t quite grasp it, Tirsi seemed to ponder for a moment.
“I can explain it in detail, but it will be a long explanation. Is that alright?”
“Yes. Please go ahead.”
Tirsi nodded in understanding, then took a blank sheet and a pen from the shelf. She drew two figures of people. They weren’t as good as Franc’s, but the penwork was quite delicate.
“The origin of transformation magic was a spell that ‘changes the body to suit a desired aptitude.’ The lich, the endpoint of black mages, is one example of that.”
An arrow was drawn next to the human figure. At the end of the arrow, Tirsi drew a skull.
“Black magic is incredibly powerful, but the user must also pay a price, right? The fundamental reason such penalties occur is because the human body cannot withstand wicked mana.”
“That’s true.”
They say that every time black mages use magic, their blood rots while they’re still alive or their bodies swarm with insects. Their bodies become tattered like wooden containers filled with sulfuric acid. The thought of bugs writhing inside a perfectly living body was so grotesque I didn’t even want to imagine it. Because they paid such a terrible price, the black magic of this world displayed insane performance, like the demonic arts from martial arts novels. That was why the representative inhabitants of dungeons were the hiding places of black mages. If someone was using magic that wrecked their own body, whatever schemes they were cooking up in hiding couldn’t possibly be anything wholesome. Naturally, you had to exterminate them the moment you found their cockroach nests.
“But if they can transform their body into a lich or a demon race, that black mage can gain ‘aptitude’ for wicked mana.”
Tirsi’s pen moved a few times. The skull transformed into a figure emitting a thick black aura.
“A lich does not pay the price of black magic. In magical studies, skeletons and corpses are symbols of death. To a lich, who is also one of the dead, the mana of darkness and yin is simply a resource that amplifies their power.”
“…Are you saying Beast Regression is that kind of magic?”
“No. It’s not such an ominous spell. It’s just that… the side effect of Beast Regression appears to be dependent on what we call ‘aptitude.’ This is because the shape of its mana waveform matches the BSK-type transformation pattern reported in academia.”
What the hell is a BSK-type? Wait, I think I heard something like that earlier when talking with Lucy.
Tirsi, who quickly noticed my confusion, provided additional explanation.
“The BSK-type here is an abbreviation for ‘Berserk’ type. It refers to the same mana waveform used in the ‘Beast Transformation’ magic employed by berserkers.”
As she spoke, Tirsi added cat ears and a tail to the person in the drawing.
Berserk. It was a term referring to the people of a certain race that, along with the Ulsters and Vikings, formed one of the three great barbarian tribes. However, among the barbarian races, these guys had an oddly weak presence. Personally, I suspected they had been added as a third just to avoid the awkwardness of calling them the two great barbarian tribes. After all, there were no records of them leaving any significant mark on history. Their strength fell short of the Ulsters, and their ferocity and technical skill were incomparably inferior to the Vikings. The berserkers I knew were either crazy humans swinging around massive greatswords or ghost swords who activated frenzy and went on slashing sprees, but the berserkers of this world were surprisingly gentle beings, making the etymology of ‘berserk’—meaning ‘to go mad and rampage’—seem completely out of place.
The reason such gentle people were called barbarians was because berserkers possessed the physical characteristics of animals—so-called beastmen.