Chapter 105
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Mana Regeneration +40, Did I Do Well?
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Kim Muggle <- Honestly, this bastard's been getting arrogant lately. Upvote if you agree
This bastard seems to be getting more and more arrogant as time goes on. Am I the only one who thinks that?
Luckily won the Subjugation Festival,
Used sword-fighting aptitude magic before that too,
Now he's confidently gobbling up dirt.
Honestly, it's just "use mana to replace the digestion process," right?
Directly manipulating mana inside the body without a magic formula is something even mid-to-high-level mages can barely do,
It's actually in the same vein as engraving a casting formula,
It's not more dangerous than engraving a casting formula, but the difficulty is even higher,
If you hadn't warned that engraving casting formulas is dangerous, this bastard would've died trying it alone ages ago.
Mages aren't defined by words. If you pull it off, it's proof. If not, you're trash.
Mimicking the digestion process with mana.
Easy to say, but actually trying it brought a flood of thoughts.
First up: the mouth. In the mouth, food is chewed and broken down.
So, moving mana to finely grind the dirt should do it.
The esophagus? Not sure. Protect it with mana and send it down to the stomach.
The real work happened in the stomach.
The stomach dissolves food with gastric juices.
Similarly, gather mana like water, break down the 'Echo of the Earth' within it, and fully absorb the soil mana into my circuits.
Melt the soil mana into my body's mana.
This part didn't quite click.
No choice but to try it for real.
Start with a moderate amount.
I steadied my breathing and focused my mind on the flow of mana.
My senses gradually shifted from the physical world to the realm shaped by mana.
The air, which I'd thought empty, brimmed with natural mana.
The blue glow of natural mana easily overpowered the room's lighting.
Narrow the sensory range a bit more.
The flow of my mana tracing along my body.
My circuits were far brighter than the first time I'd done this.
'Draw mana from the circuits.'
Normally, mana circulates along fixed paths in the circuits.
It's a natural phenomenon, not something I control.
But pull some of it along a path I want.
Not easy. The circuit structure—whatever it was—was far more complex than I'd imagined.
Touch one, and the whole circuit backflows, mana surging out in a gush.
Forcibly suppress another circuit to draw from just one spot, and that one clogs up too.
An unexpected hurdle.
I'd thought I was using mana smoothly up to now.
But on second thought, I'd just been drawing magic formulas,
and mana followed its preset paths.
Like how humans don't fully grasp the body's mysteries.
Manipulating the intricate circuit structure at will wasn't simple.
Using released mana versus directly controlling its path from within the circuits were worlds apart.
I let go of my focus for a moment.
The haze cleared, revealing the familiar dorm room.
"This is tough. Should I give up...?"
Tough from the start.
Meaning the gallery folks weren't lying.
Moving something in my mana circuits was this hard?
No.
No, I couldn't quit.
A powerful intuition hit me.
If I pulled this off, my world would expand massively.
Mana casting was engraving formulas directly into the circuits too, right?
Probably the same kind of difficulty.
That one added tattoo-like marks to the circuits, so it could cause damage.
But master this, and I could learn mana casting the same way.
Maybe even more.
With that hope, I sank my mind once more.
'Don't try to control it.'
I couldn't comprehend this complex circuit structure anyway.
Humans don't understand the body's structure to use it.
The brain handles everything unconsciously.
Circuits aren't forced by the mage either.
They're one entity from the start, so,
Roar—
Tilting my mind toward it, mana cascaded like a waterfall through my body and circuits.
The paths were too numerous to count.
But as the archmages said, circuits aren't paths.
If anything, closer to the soul.
Maybe the flow happens because I perceive it that way.
That thought trailed off when
the roaring mana began to calm.
The countless branches merged, the massive whole pulsing.
Like water. Like konnyaku. Or solid rock.
Shifting forms, the circuits ceased being circuits.
Yet it was still the mana making up my being.
I just let it be.
Instead, wrap part of it where I want.
Mana free from circuit constraints began enveloping my mouth, esophagus, and stomach.
It wasn't about control from the start.
Circuits had no fixed form to begin with.
Before this state faded, I hurriedly scooped a handful of dirt and shoved it in my mouth.
Then used mana like teeth, chomping up and down to grind the dirt finer.
Crunch-crunch—the soil with tiny pebbles fully broke down.
More precisely, the soil mana within it.
Natural mana, once like oxygen in the air, had soaked into the dirt over time, becoming soil mana.
Grinding that dirt finely.
The finely broken soil mana slid down my esophagus.
It plopped into my stomach.
I'd filled my stomach with mana shaped like water.
Not exactly "filled"—just placed there, unaffected by the stomach organ itself.
I realized swallowing the dirt wasn't necessary at all.
Just melt the soil mana through my circuits.
But this method felt most comfortable for now,
so I scooped and ate the rest the same way.
"Hoo..."
How many minutes passed?
The 'Echo of the Earth' reward was completely gone.
I'd eaten it all.
Felt like good absorption, but not perfect.
Maybe not used to handling circuits yet, or concentration lapsed.
There was a sensation like actual dirt digesting midway.
To test, I cast a spell to burn some mana and check regen speed.
Mana capacity hadn't risen much lately due to Subjugation Festival prep cutting training time.
Anyway, burned 600 mana, waited for regen.
Surprisingly, it regenerated 40 per second for real.
Mana Capacity: 44140/44700
Mana Capacity: 44180/44700
Mana Capacity: 44220/44700
"Oh."
Exactly 40 regen per second.
About 80% absorption.
Gallery folks said even they digest 80-90%.
This is satisfactory.
"Almost an hour passed...!"
Time flew more than expected.
Focused too long on handling circuits.
Planned to finish in 30 minutes. Now the others would chew me out.
I packed up, headed out, and posted to the gallery.
Mana Regeneration +40, Did I Do Well?
Author: Kim Muggle
As expected, eating dirt ain't easy, just like the archmage bros said;
Seems like mana regen went up by about 40;;
Is this around 80% absorption?
What % do you archmage bros digest? ㅠㅠ
What, these guys don't believe me.
Same with the mana capacity before. They straight-up won't believe anything.
What do I even say?
Now even gallery users attacking me directly.
Lately, some floaters subtly sniping my posts.
Feels like they're pouncing now.
Maybe because I hadn't shown growth lately.
But I delivered big this time, so why no belief?
I did it all!!
There's a way to verify, though I hesitate to bother.
These bastards for real.
But proof would actually be good.
With ~40 regen now,
A spell burning 40/sec would regen as fast as it burns—basically infinite sustain.
Video of sustaining a spell proves it via duration.
Most spells dump mana upfront.
Flight magic burns per second.
Didn't know any burning 40 or 400/sec, but gallery would provide.
Especially one floater kept sniping me, stirring up sentiment.
While I was digesting dirt, they posted about hating me.
Never lied, even as a muggle from an archmage view.
To show floaters the fear of Muggle, I checked the spell right away.
Simple 3rd rank magic formula.
No real effect, pure mana dump.
The spent mana would scatter into natural mana, no doubt.
Utterly inefficient mana-burn spell.
Perfect for proving my mana capacity.
I started recording and computed the spell.