The Reason Elena Got Excited
"You must keep one thing firmly in mind."
In Elena's private training room, I nodded while meeting her grave eyes. She stared at me with a complicated expression for a long moment, then let out a heavy sigh and continued.
"First of all, you are only an unofficial disciple. By principle, since I am the princess's teacher, taking you as my disciple is impossible."
Of course it was. Imperial law dictated that a royal instructor could only take that specific royal as their disciple. They could never tolerate a non-royal sharing the same teacher-student bond as royalty.
"Yes. I'll keep it in mind. I won't breathe a word of this to anyone."
Taking me on as her disciple meant Elena was shouldering considerable risk. If it ever came to light, she could be cast out by the royal family.
"Hoo, then let's settle the matter of how we address each other first. We've formed a master-disciple bond, after all."
Forms of address. Truth be told, it had felt awkward from the very first time we met. In the game, I had always spoken to her with honorifics while she spoke down to me.
"Yes, please speak comfortably. I'm also uncomfortable being addressed so politely by someone of such high status like a professor."
"Hmm. I suppose I was rather formal. It just happened because you don't seem like an ordinary person."
She muttered to herself and loosened up her body. A blue haze began rising from her form. She was performing mana refinement.
"Then, from now on, I'll just call you Ed."
"Yes."
"The training will be harsh, so steel yourself. You're congenitally incapable of handling mana, so you'll need to put in far more effort than others."
"I understand."
Just as Elena said, I was originally a body that could not handle mana at all. The fact that I could do so now was entirely thanks to Engineering Thinking. Without that trick, I would never have been able to wield it.
"Then I'll take a rather crude approach. First, let's find the 'paths.'"
Paths? I didn't even have time to ask what she meant before she reached out and placed her hand on top of my head. At that exact moment, an overwhelming agony tore through my skull.
"Kyyyyyaaaaaaaagh!!!"
My head felt like it would shatter. It was like waking up after a night of heavy drinking, the mother of all hangovers pounding in my brain.
"Etch this pain clearly into your memory. The places where you feel it are precisely where mana flows in."
There was a reason she inflicted such pain. It was to intensely stimulate the nervous system responsible for accepting mana, thereby increasing its capacity.
Soon Elena removed her hand and spoke.
"You endure it well."
"Haa... haa..."
"Now, try performing mana refinement. It will hurt, but it should feel distinctly different from before. I've opened every path for you."
As she said, the quality of mana refinement would be completely different now. The nervous system that received mana had been so extremely stimulated that its senses had grown hypersensitive. It was like prodding dormant muscles until they became raw and responsive.
"Haa... haa... Um, but, Master..."
However, I couldn't follow her instructions to begin mana refinement. Because I relied on the Engineering Thinking trick, I could only succeed by directly observing my own body through a mirror.
"I... haa... whoo... To perform mana refinement, I need a mirror."
I explained my penalty to her. Elena fell into thought for a moment, then nodded.
"...Hmm. So awakening mana at that age comes with conditions after all. You need to look at a mirror?"
"Yes. The reason I sought you out, Master, was to eliminate this condition and perform mana refinement properly."
"...I see. Understood. Wait here a moment."
With those words, she dissolved into blue smoke and vanished. But she reappeared almost instantly, carrying a full-length mirror, which she set up in front of me.
"Will this do?"
"Yes. It's more than enough."
"Good. Then begin your mana refinement. Let's first determine the extent of your mana acceptance capacity."
I started mana refinement as instructed. Each time mana entered through my head, a burning sting like salt water poured into an open wound flared across my skull.
But I can definitely feel it now.
The pain made my senses sharper than ever. I could clearly perceive exactly which routes in my head the mana was taking.
Elena, who had been quietly observing me, moved closer and spoke.
"The number of receptors really is quite low. Take a look at this."
She raised a blue hologram above her palm. It took the shape of a human head.
"It's a model based on your head. See those blue dots? Each one represents a mana receptor capable of accepting mana."
Inside the head-shaped model were blue dots. One, two, three, four, five... Roughly one hundred and fifty of them.
Elena pointed out the exact figure of one hundred and sixty-seven and continued.
"A typical mage has around seventeen hundred mana receptors. You only have about one-tenth of that. Just one hundred and sixty-seven."
....Hmm. Hearing the numbers made the gap painfully clear. I had prepared myself to some extent, but I hadn't expected the difference to be this severe.
"The number of mana receptors is power itself. The amount of mana you can store in your body, your ability to circulate it, the speed at which you cast spells, and their destructive force—everything changes based on how many receptors you possess."
Elena summoned another human-shaped hologram and demonstrated how mana was used. The receptors clustered in the brain extended throughout the body to transport mana, ultimately activating spells. The entire process played out before my eyes.
"This is roughly the performance of a mage with seventeen hundred mana receptors. In contrast, you—"
She switched to a hologram with only one hundred and sixty-seven receptors and demonstrated spellcasting again. The result was, as expected, pathetic.
"As you can see, the casting speed is slow, the destructive power is negligible, and the failure rate is high. No matter how hard you try, there will always be limits."
"...Isn't there any way around it?"
"......"
Elena fell silent. She rested her chin on her hand, lost in deep thought. Finally she looked up.
"Well. You've already missed the optimal window... This is why it's crucial to increase mana receptors before the age of seven. It's the only period in which humans can train them. Frankly, the fact that you can even handle mana at all is a miracle."
Her answer was pessimistic after all. Even Elena, a master of both spell formulas and mana theory, had no suitable solution.
She shook her head and muttered.
"It's simply not possible. Unless it's a Blue Dragon that carries a mana crystal within its body and grows alongside it, every living being in this world during its infancy—"
"Wait a second."
I cut her off. A hint had sparked in my mind from her offhand remark.
"What did you just say? A Blue Dragon?"
"...? I said that unless it's a Blue Dragon, it's nearly impossible to expand mana receptors after leaving infancy..."
Impossible to expand mana receptors after infancy unless it's a Blue Dragon? In other words, if I became like a Blue Dragon, the problem would be solved.
Couldn't I simply embed a mana stone in my body the same way?
I lifted my head sharply.
"...Master. Then what if I became a Blue Dragon?"
"......?"
Elena stared at me with an expression that screamed What kind of nonsense is this? Since I'd jumped straight to the conclusion without explanation, she couldn't follow.
I decided to elaborate.
"I mean I'll copy the Blue Dragon's mechanism exactly. I'll embed a mana stone in my body to serve in place of the receptors."
"......"
Even with the detailed explanation, Elena's face was a spectacle. She was now looking at me like I had lost my mind.
"Ed... Embedding and growing a mana stone inside the body is only possible because it's a Blue Dragon. Implanting one in a human is impossible. It's extremely harmful to the human body."
She was right, of course. I had once ground up a mana stone and swallowed it, only to suffer miserably for days afterward. But I couldn't give up just because it was harmful.
"That's why we need to research it. Blue Dragons remain perfectly fine despite having mana stones inside them. We just need to figure out why."
Research was something I could handle. I had the hidden skill Hand Technique and Engineering Thinking on my side. I was confident I could unravel the Blue Dragon's secret in a week at most.
"...Haha. You want to research it... Alright, how exactly would you do that?"
"We'll need to capture a Blue Dragon and bring it back."
"C-capture? Capture a Blue Dragon...? Haha, Ed, Blue Dragons are extremely ferocious creatures. They're dragons, after all. The only people in the empire capable of capturing such a savage being..."
Elena trailed off mid-sentence. She had noticed me staring directly at her.
She laughed in disbelief.
"Haha, no way? Right?"
"Master."
"Come on, we've only just become master and disciple. You're not seriously suggesting that, are you?"
"If it's you, Master, it's possible. You know better than anyone how powerful you are."
"......"
Elena's expression shifted dramatically once again. Her face practically screamed What kind of lunatic is this?
She let out another dumbfounded laugh.
"So what you're saying is that I, your master and the Grand Mage of the Empire, should personally go to a Blue Dragon's nest and capture one? That's the order you want to give me?"
"Hmm. Not an order. More like your disciple's earnest plea."
"Puhaha. You really think I'll agree to this?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"You accepted me as your disciple. Even at the risk of breaking imperial law. That shows just how high your expectations for me are."
"......"
"Besides, Master, you're incredibly curious. You publish papers in academic journals every year. So I'll satisfy that curiosity of yours. Honestly, aren't you intrigued? A human who embeds a mana stone in their body and wields it like a Blue Dragon?"
"......"
Elena's lips began to tremble. An enormous blue haze surged violently around her body. She was becoming excited.
She feels sexual desire toward the person she considers the most talented.
It was still an utterly psychotic setting, even now. Feeling lust toward whoever she deemed the greatest talent.
But there was a reason Elena possessed such a trait. Deep in her subconscious lay the imperative thought: I must prepare for danger.
And the most reliable way to prepare for that danger was to bear the child of someone with talent equal to her own. In other words, it was an act of self-replication.
"Hoo... Hehe... How interesting... To treat your own master so recklessly."
The way Elena looked right now was, in a sense, familiar. While playing El Pandor Runtera, I had received her advances more than once or twice.
"Huu... Yes, you see me clearly. Honestly, my expectations for you are enormous. It's impertinent, but I suppose I can't refuse my cute disciple's request."
Still, I hadn't been fully acknowledged yet. The fact that she wasn't trying to pounce on me suggested she was still in the observation phase.
"Then wait two days. Capturing an adult would be too much, but a Blue Dragon still in its growth phase should be manageable."
"...Thank you."
Yet the gaze she fixed on me was filled with clear affection. Unlike before, her entire face was flushed red, and a distinctly seductive expression lingered on her features.
Even if I hadn't been completely chosen, I was clearly one of her final options.
"Then I'll see you in two days."
With those words, she vanished into blue mist.
The moment she disappeared, I let out a long, exhausted sigh. The memory of Elena nearly pouncing on me had flashed through my mind.