The Mana Up App
Unless something unusual happened—like Arina stopping by to eat tteokbokki with Marily—Arina and Kain always sat at the same table for dinner. It was a routine that had remained unchanged for the past two years. At the same time, it was the part of the day Arina enjoyed the most.
"Mana Up, huh…"
As usual, Arina was recounting the day's events at the academy. Unlike how he normally ignored her while staring at his smartphone, Kain gave even the smallest details some reaction, no matter how trivial. Encouraged, she spoke with even more enthusiasm. To draw out just one more response from him, she rambled on, pulling out every little thing she could think of.
Before long, their conversation drifted to the rumors circulating around the academy.
"It would be nice if it actually existed. Just turning on an app and your mana increases."
She said it under the assumption that no such thing could possibly exist in reality. The idea of something increasing your mana without any cost or effort seemed absurd. If something that convenient did exist, it would never be handed out for free—it would be sold at an exorbitant price, like an elixir.
"Hmm."
Kain, on the other hand, was already half-convinced it was real. What Arina had told him was nothing more than vague hearsay, but rumors like that didn't appear out of thin air.
Dark mage, probably.
Even the underlying principle wasn't impossible. Kain took a bite of the rolled omelet as he quickly pieced together the culprit's identity. Maybe there was cheese inside. The ketchup drizzled on top blended perfectly with the omelet in his mouth, elevating the flavor even further.
They're using the Inner World in a pretty interesting way.
He didn't stop there. In his mind, he was already dissecting exactly what method the other party had used and what abilities they possessed. All it had taken was a single word from Arina. Simply by acknowledging the existence of the culprit, Kain had already overtaken everyone currently chasing after them.
The fact that their presence hasn't been properly exposed means the professors haven't solved it yet. So the rumor hasn't been spreading for long?
If that was the case, the incident was progressing far too quickly. Currently, there was a clear divide between first-years and second-years and above, like an invisible wall. That wall only began to crumble in the second semester of the first year—specifically, once first-years were allowed to join clubs. There might have been a few students who were already close with upperclassmen, but even so, the speed at which the rumor had spread was suspicious.
Jealousy, huh. For him, this is a pretty tame approach.
Kain had already figured out the entire sequence of events. While eating just one rolled omelet, he had predicted everything. He set down his chopsticks and picked up the bowl of soup beside it.
If that guy's involved, the incident will be over soon. Though there'll probably be some kind of accident before that.
Had eggs been on sale at the mart today? Rolled omelet and egg soup. Even when serving few side dishes, Arina usually avoided repeating ingredients. This was an unusual spread for her.
Probably struggling with her assignments.
Now that he thought about it, all of these were dishes that could be made quickly and easily. Had she not had time to prepare a proper meal?
If that's the case, she should just order delivery.
Maybe it was her pride as a top-tier homemaker. Anyone who saw this would think he was some terrible adult forcing housework on a little kid.
Just like that, Kain's interest in Mana Up faded in an instant, and his thoughts drifted to why tonight's side dishes were the way they were.
"Hey, kid."
"Yes?"
"Probably won't happen, but if some suspicious app shows up on your smartphone, don't touch it. No matter what."
Just in case, he gave Arina a warning. Jealousy would likely resolve things quickly, but if Arina got involved in the process, it would become a hassle. More precisely, the future where Arina got dragged in and he was forced to step in himself felt like too much trouble.
"Don't press it even if it's someone else's smartphone."
It wasn't about whose phone it was. If his guess was right, the curse would activate on whoever pressed the app, regardless of ownership.
"Yes, I understand."
Arina answered with a somewhat uncertain tone, as if she thought he was just being overly cautious. Her voice didn't sound very convincing, but Kain didn't press the matter further. Regardless of anything else, when he told her something, she always followed through. That was the kind of kid she had been for the past two years.
He's there too.
And even in the worst-case scenario, Arina's safety would be guaranteed. If Jealousy didn't want to die at Kain's hands, he would protect her even at the cost of his own life.
With that thought, Kain listened to Arina's continuing chatter while taking another sip of the still-steaming egg soup.
There was an old saying that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body. Studying was only possible when supported by physical stamina. Using one's head required a considerable amount of energy, which was why outstanding mages tended to manage their bodies with great care. They weren't obsessed with training like martial artists, but they exercised consistently every day.
"……"
Jeon Raydel was no exception. After losing his father to dark mages in his childhood, he had developed a deep hatred for criminals—especially dark mages. From then on, he dreamed of becoming a special police officer who handled cases related to the underworld, tracking down and arresting wanted criminals. It was an elite unit that took on the most dangerous work even within the police force. To apply, graduating from Benedict Academy with excellent grades wasn't a choice—it was a requirement. That was why Jeon never stopped pushing himself every single day.
I can't afford to fall behind when my starting point is already late.
At fifteen years old, he was still young—his life had barely begun to bloom. But considering that the average admission age at Benedict Academy was twelve or thirteen, he was several years behind. So he had to work even harder to catch up. If he wanted to become the special police officer he dreamed of being. No, if he wanted to become one and wipe out the criminals who harmed society, he had to train and study without wasting even time for sleep.
It was this effort that had allowed him to enter the academy as the second-ranked student in his year.
"Hoo."
In the academy's training facility, freely available to students, Jeon Raydel was the only first-year working out. While others were buried under assignments or hanging out with new friends, he never skipped a day, focusing on self-discipline. After stepping off the treadmill, he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the towel around his neck and steadied his rough breathing.
Should I stop here for today?
His routine focused on cardio for stamina improvement. He didn't skip strength training entirely, but since his goal wasn't to bulk up, its priority and frequency were relatively low. This was true not just for Jeon, but for most mages. Unless they were also martial artists or fitness-obsessed "gym rats," their ultimate reason for exercising was to research and study magic more efficiently.
"……"
After standing still for about a minute to rest, Jeon picked up the smartphone he had left nearby before heading to the showers. He checked to see if any messages had come while he was working out. At the same time, his eyebrows twitched slightly as he looked at the black app installed on his phone.
An app he had no memory of downloading.
Was it because of what Professor Karlsen had mentioned recently?
What's this?
His eyes wavered with displeasure. One corner of his mouth curled upward, forming a twisted smile filled with irritation. He quickly gathered his things and left the training facility in a hurry. A shower was the least of his concerns right now. He didn't even notice the sticky feeling from his sweat or the chill of the night air cooling his body. He headed straight for his dorm.
Thud.
He tossed his bag onto the bed and pulled the smartphone out of his pocket again.
So this is Mana Up?
Even on closer inspection, there was nothing particularly remarkable about the app. He couldn't sense any suspicious mana from it, and since he wasn't skilled in programming, he had no way to break it down to the code level to check for embedded dark magic spells. It was just a plain black app, identical to any other.
But perhaps because he suspected a dark mage had created it, everything about its design felt suspicious.
If you want to catch a tiger, you have to go into the tiger's den.
Unlike current students who were ranked by grades, new students were evaluated based on the potential the professors saw in them—whether they had exceptional talent or not. Even though Arina had reached the same 2-star level as him, she had been ranked first while he was second simply because she was younger. In terms of actual skill, Jeon Raydel was considered the strongest among the first-years. Combined with his exceptional talent among his peers and the anger toward dark mages clouding his judgment, his teenage impulsiveness was greatly amplified.
"So this is what it feels like."
Without hesitation, he pressed the Mana Up app. It was the exact situation Professor Karlsen had warned against—the very reason Professor Magnus had avoided asking students for help. The moment the app launched, he felt the star inside his body stir. Mana flowed into it as if through an inserted tube. Mana from an unknown source mixed with his own, flowing naturally through his body against his will.
It was a sensation he had never felt before. It was as if he were sharing mana with someone else.
That's impossible.
But he quickly dismissed the ridiculous hypothesis. Just as Professor Karlsen had emitted mana from another dimension or Professor Clara had spread vast amounts of mana for emergency treatment, influencing others with one's own mana was simple. But sharing mana that was completely identical to another's was an entirely different matter. Whether it came from an elixir, a mana crystal, or the ambient mana in the air—once mana was stored in a human body, it carried the user's genetic information. Replicating mana that had been filtered through another person's body was extremely difficult. That was why "mana transfusion" was considered an extremely advanced and difficult spell, possible for only a small fraction of recovery-type mages. It wasn't something that could be done with the press of an app.
"……"
Aside from his mana actually increasing, there was nothing else different. No matter how much he examined his body, he couldn't find any problems, nor could he identify the cause of the increase. The only notable thing was that his mana continued to flow without stopping. Normally, mana should pool inside the star like a lake, but now it flowed endlessly between stars like an undrying river. Even though mana should naturally be wasted when used continuously, there was none.
Come whenever you want.
His preparations were complete. With a hardened expression, he put the smartphone away as if daring them to come. Reflected in the mirror beside him, his eyes had grown cold with fury toward dark mages.