Changing the Origin
"That method is…"
Olivia started to speak but then clamped her mouth shut.
Why was she hesitating so much about whatever it was?
"What is it?"
"Ah, I'm not sure if this would even work… It's about changing the origin."
"Changing what?"
"I told you the phenomenon happening to that girl is a rejection reaction caused by the imbalance between her origin and her heart, right? If the first method is replacing the heart to restore balance, the second is replacing the origin to restore balance. It's another way to resolve the fundamental imbalance between the origin—the root cause—and the heart."
"Can you really just swap out something like the origin like that?"
"That's exactly the problem. The origin definitely exists, no question. But there are a few reasons this method is so difficult. For one, the origin exists in the conceptual realm, so it can't be observed in the physical world."
"If you can't observe it, doesn't that mean you can't manipulate it either?"
"Not at all. Mages accumulate mana in their origins to cast spells, don't they? Magic is the phenomenon where mana in the conceptual realm acts as a medium to influence natural mana, which in turn affects the physical world."
"I've heard that before."
"So how do mages accumulate mana in their origins? The origin is in the conceptual realm, and mana is tied to the natural world."
"Uh…?"
"In other words, it's correct to say we can influence the origin even if it can't be observed in the physical world. That's the basis for the theory I came up with: changing the origin…"
Olivia let out a sigh.
"In reality, it's more like transformation or manipulation than outright replacement. But this is only theoretically possible. That's why I didn't want to mention it…"
"So when you said using that method could enhance magical talent, that's what you meant?"
"Exactly. Simply put, the origin is the foundation of a being's existence. Manipulating the origin means that being is no longer human—or whatever they were before. They'd probably become whatever race matches the transplanted heart."
Suddenly, a flood of diverse knowledge hit me all at once, and my brain couldn't keep up.
Let me try to sum it up simply…
I couldn't. It was beyond my level of understanding.
"And we don't even know what race the heart that was transplanted into her belongs to. Races that store mana in their hearts aren't common, but they're not entirely unheard of either. And there's another issue…"
"What?"
"Do you happen to know what a non-human race's origin looks like?"
At those words, I focused my mind and stared at Olivia.
Something faintly glowing in the center of her chest seemed about to come into view when she suddenly turned my head away.
"Observing another race's origin is rude. I'm telling you this verbally because it's me—other non-humans might try to kill you, so be careful."
"Ah, sorry."
Were there non-human races even more ferocious than witches?
Non-humans really exceeded my imagination.
"Anyway, replacing the origin is just that difficult. I think transplanting the heart is more realistic."
"Thank you, Olivia. I'll keep that possibility in mind and look into it more."
"It's only relatively realistic—transplanting the heart is still plenty unrealistic. A normal transplant could critically damage the origin."
"Got it."
Olivia's expression changed as she finished explaining.
A strange pressure, like an interrogation, washed over me.
Olivia glanced back and forth between me and Vivian as she spoke.
Vivian froze solid under her gaze.
"So… what's your deal with that girl?"
"Huh? She's an experiment subject I picked up from the Magic Auxiliary Material Market. I'm just taking care of her because I felt bad for her."
I approached the frozen Vivian, hugging her to shield her from Olivia's eyes as I spoke.
I could feel Vivian slowly relaxing in my arms.
"Really? You're such a good guy. As expected…"
"As expected?"
"Nothing!"
For some reason, Olivia mumbled the end of her sentence.
"Anyway, I'll think about solutions too, so keep that in mind. It's a pretty intriguing topic. Coming out into the world really lets you have new experiences like this."
"Yeah, thanks, Olivia."
"Eek!"
I smiled slightly out of gratitude, and Olivia whipped her head away.
Her behavior was hard to understand.
The important thing was that I'd gained a lot of leads.
It wouldn't be solved right away… but I needed to mull it over more.
Just the new info from today was enough to make my head spin. I needed time to sort it out.
I returned to the dormitory with Vivian.
She must have been exhausted from facing Olivia, because she'd fallen asleep in my arms.
I laid the sleeping Vivian on the bed and sank into thought.
For some reason, hope was in sight.
It felt like we'd taken one step closer to solving Vivian's problem.
Once Vivian's issue was fixed, I'd help her gradually get used to the outside world.
Her aversion to mana would lessen over time, and so would her wariness around others.
And as she slowly adjusted…
I gazed down at the sleeping Vivian before leaving the dormitory.
There was still a lot to do.
I'd left the dorm with momentum, but now I hesitated about where to go.
Should I visit Dean Han Myeong-sin and ask more about the Hero Association's project?
Go to Latynia and ask more about magic?
Head to the library and search for races that store mana in their hearts?
All three seemed necessary.
But thinking about it, I'd been relying on the dean and Latynia too much lately.
I should exhaust my own options first and only go to them if I came up empty.
I decided on the library and headed that way, but at the fork in the path, someone was sitting on a bench.
"Ji-ah?"
"Ah! Do-jun!"
Ji-ah jumped up from the bench and approached.
Her face was full of delight.
"Fancy running into you here."
"Coincidence?"
"Yeah. A coincidence."
No matter how I looked at it, it didn't feel like a coincidence.
She'd clearly been waiting for me.
What if I hadn't come out today or had returned super late?
Still, I'd been neglecting Ji-ah lately, so I let it slide.
"Anyway, I have somewhere to be, so…"
"Ah…"
Ji-ah looked disappointed.
Her emotions showed so openly—that was Ji-ah's charm.
"I'm heading to the library to look something up. Wanna come with?"
"Yes!"
Ji-ah beamed and quickly sidled up next to me.
We walked shoulder-to-shoulder toward the library.
"What are you going to the library for?"
"Looking for something unusual. Ever heard of non-human races that store mana in their hearts?"
"No. First time hearing about it. Is that even possible?"
"Apparently. It's new to me too."
"For non-human races, you should ask the instructor who teaches about understanding other races… Ah."
Ji-ah started to speak but trailed off as if realizing something.
Yeah. Olivia's lectures were a bit like that.
But this time, she'd been really helpful.
"I asked Instructor Olivia, but she didn't know much."
"I figured as much."
"Still, she helped a lot. Mostly with magic-related stuff."
"That instructor must be really good at magic, huh?"
"She's a witch. It'd be ridiculous if a witch wasn't good at magic."
"Now that you mention it, yeah."
After that, Ji-ah vented enthusiastically about Olivia.
I nodded along appropriately as we gossiped, and soon we arrived at the library.
"Besides non-human race stuff, I need to look into something magic-related too. Can you help?"
"What?"
"Magic theory on the origin. As much as you can find?"
"Sure. Let's split up, find what we can, and meet back here."
"Sounds good. Thanks."
We headed in different directions.
But no matter how much I searched, I couldn't find anything on races that stored mana in their hearts.
Even basic info on non-human races was scarce.
The library at Prism—second to none in size—was completely barren on the topic. Not a single reference.
It felt like someone was deliberately suppressing the information.
I returned empty-handed to our meeting spot, where Ji-ah had piled up a mountain of books.
"What's with all these?"
"Magic research is pretty advanced, so there's a ton. And you… didn't find much, huh?"
"Yeah. Who'd have thought this huge library would have zilch on it."
"Non-human races are still mysterious. Especially on Earth."
"True enough."
I sat down in front of Ji-ah and started skimming the materials she'd gathered.
Hm…
I didn't understand a thing.
I had some related knowledge, but it was all too specialized to follow.
Looking at Ji-ah, she was focused on reading the books.
"You get it?"
"Yeah. The recent stuff is organized really clearly."
Clearly? I didn't get any of it.
"Mind explaining? The books are Greek to me."
"Sure. What part are you curious about?"
"Humans don't have this origin organ in our bodies. But it exists, and mages accumulate mana there?"
"Right."
"How? If it doesn't exist physically, I thought it wasn't real—but apparently it is."
"Ah… Yeah, that makes sense. It can feel tricky."
Ji-ah paused, lost in thought.
She carefully chose her words before continuing.
"Simply put, the origin is… like each person's mind. The mind isn't a physical organ, right?"
"Right."
"But it definitely exists."
"Tricky… but easier to grasp."
"That's good enough. Or think of it as the soul. The key is it doesn't exist in the physical world but definitely does in the conceptual one. We connect to it with our will and influence it. So the origin is the source of our will."
"Will… will?"
Something was clicking.
Will…
I sank into thought.
"I don't know everything about magic myself, so it's hard to explain more. If I learn more and can simplify it, I'll let you know."
"Yeah. Thanks."
"No problem. Between us."
With that, silence settled between us.
In the reading room, only the sound of Ji-ah turning pages remained.