Chapter 67: Methods of Controlling Mana
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 67: Methods of Controlling Mana
"Xiao Han!"
Seeing me waving, Bai Yu ran over, looking quite excited.
"Hehe, Sister Bai. Sorry, I lost track of time. I didn't mean to disturb you so late..."
"It’s fine. I wasn't sleeping anyway," Bai Yu said immediately, brushing off most of my apologies. "You said over the phone that your meditation was a success. Is that true?"
"Eh? Are you still doubting me, Sister Bai? That hurts my feelings." I channeled my mental power, holding it out in my hand as if to show off. "Look—mental power threads~"
"Hmm?" Bai Yu’s expression turned into one of clear confusion.
"What’s wrong? Can’t you see them, Sister Bai? Use your Spirit Vision."
"Your Spirit Vision can see things like mental power?" Bai Yu asked back, her face suddenly turning serious.
Hearing her question, I realized there was a problem. I seemed to have accidentally revealed something I shouldn't have.
After a brief silence, Sister Bai and I reached a tacit understanding and didn't mention the matter again.
"Alright, there’s a good girl~ How could I not believe you?" Bai Yu reached out, pinching my cheek with a smile to break the tension.
"Mmm, thank you, Sister Bai~"
"It’s nothing. Just be more careful in the future. A genius like you needs to watch out for jealous eyes."
"Only the mediocre are never envied. Let’s go, Sister Bai~"
"True, you certainly have a way with words." Bai Yu nodded in agreement. She didn't bring it up again and instead accompanied me out of the area.
On the way out, I kept chatting with her. I had so many questions I wanted to clear up, though there were also many I couldn't bring myself to ask—secrets that would likely remain mine alone for a lifetime.
"Sister Bai, I have mental power threads now, so why can't I call upon mana at all?"
"Mana has a very high energy level. It’s the highest level of transcendent energy discovered so far that can be harnessed by living beings. It’s also an energy that only Witches can master. The reason it’s called 'Mana' is actually derived from the name of the Witch race itself~"
"Huh? Is mana really that terrifying?"
I listened to Sister Bai’s explanation, surprised that mana held such a powerful status.
The highest energy level in existence?
Doesn't that sound even more impressive than the Three Great Academies?
It turns out the Witch Academy was the one truly hiding its strength. I definitely made the right choice!
"Of course it is."
"Then how many threads of mental power do I need before I can control mana?" I pressed further. After all, if I couldn't personally wield mana, then spells and Mana Sources would always be external tools rather than power I held firmly in my own hands.
"You're asking the wrong question. No matter how many mental power threads you have, you can't budge mana," Sister Bai corrected me immediately. "The only thing that can move mana is more condensed mental power. Only higher-quality mental power can interfere with mana, let alone control it."
"Improve the quality of the threads? How do I do that?"
I knew for a fact that the meditation method hadn't mentioned anything about refining the density or quality of mental power threads.
"By raising your life level, of course. I know you don't quite understand these things yet, but once you grasp the relationship between them, it’ll all make sense."
Sister Bai cleared her throat and continued her explanation.
"Right now, you are a Prospective Witch. To master mana, the first threshold is meditation to condense mental power and obtain threads. You have the threads now, but you still can't move mana. This is where you need to improve the quality of that mental power."
"How do you improve quality and density? You need to raise your own life level. An increase in life level will passively boost the strength of your mental power."
"And... how do you raise your life level? Remember the 'Witchification' I mentioned when I put the Mana Source into your body? Witchification is the process of elevating you to the level of a Transcendent Witch. Advancing the Witchification process is, in a way, raising your life level. And how do you speed up Witchification? Take a guess."
In the end, Sister Bai didn't tell me directly, making me guess instead.
I actually had my own theory about this, so I spoke tentatively. "Is it... by increasing the number of Mana Sources in my body?"
"Exactly! It’s by increasing your number of Mana Sources! You seem to know quite a bit." Bai Yu was surprised that I had made the connection.
In her eyes, I shouldn't have known much about this.
But then she realized she couldn't keep looking at me with her old perspective.
After all, I had just achieved a feat.
Succeeding in meditation on the very first attempt.
That was something only the top geniuses of any given year could accomplish—someone like Tan Han, who was being held in such high regard this year. She was this year's Top Scorer; her talent went without saying.
As for why everyone assumed she would be an equal genius on the path of transcendence just because she got a perfect score on the College Entrance Exam...
That was a level of information ordinary students couldn't access.
"Hehe~ I know a little bit," I said modestly.
"That’s more than just 'a little bit.' Fixed mindsets can be very harmful; many freshmen spend half their first semester without even knowing you can have more than one Mana Source." After leading me out of the meditation room area, Bai Yu pulled out her broom.
"You don't mind riding a broom, do you? You look exhausted. I'll take you back first."
"Thanks, Sister Bai. Now that you mention it, I really am sleepy." I subconsciously let out a yawn. Realizing I was tired was probably the root cause of the sleepiness hitting me all at once.
If I went back to the villa to sleep now, I felt like I wouldn't be able to get up tomorrow morning.
Maybe I should send a text to Senior Sister Ying Shiqian or Senior Sister Tang Yihan. I hadn't missed much lately, so a sudden late arrival should be reported, even if I was just a part-time worker with no fixed hours.
I sat on the Senior Sister's broom. Even though it wasn't my first time, I still felt a bit nervous, terrified of falling off.
However, the biting cold wind of the night sky was quite sharp, helping me wake up a bit.
"How about it, Xiao Han? Do you want to learn how to use a flying broom?" Bai Yu asked on a whim, seeing my reaction.
"Eh? But I don't have the money to buy one, do I?"
"Not having it now doesn't mean you won't have it later. If you want, I could even buy one for you~ provided you can get your Flight License."
"Haiya~ No need for you to spend money, Sister Bai. But flying is definitely cool. As for the Flight License... we'll see when there's a chance."
"Don't you want to try it out now? There's still quite a while before school starts." Sister Bai seemed to want me to try, a hint of anticipation in her voice.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt?" After thinking for a moment, I relented. There was still so much time before the semester began; I couldn't just spend all of it working part-time at the bakery, right?
Besides, if I could fly around on a broom by myself, that would be a pretty cool sight!