Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: [Void Mana]
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Looking into the mirror, I saw a version of myself utterly different from yesterday, from my memories.
My height had increased, color had returned to my cheeks. Every single skin issue had vanished cleanly.
And that wasn't all.
Overnight, my hair and beard had grown thick and bushy.
It was as if I'd been asleep for ages and just woken up.
Black hair and beard.
The cursed color that was my mother's legacy, the very shade that led people to call me a devil, stood out more vividly than ever.
[While the Master slept, cell regeneration was accelerated by 30 times.]
The basic info on [Nano Machine Zero] included details on cell regeneration.
The human body is made of cells, and [Nano Machine Zero]'s role is to aid in their regeneration.
A human body consists of roughly 30 trillion cells, with about 330 billion regenerating daily.
That's equivalent to 80 grams by mass—and 30 times that had regenerated overnight.
I turned my head to look at the bed.
It was already a total wreck.
"It's going to be noisy from the morning."
Rumors that the mad crown prince had dabbled in black magic were bound to spread even further.
Of course, there were already countless gossips about me. One more wouldn't change a thing.
[Master. Most organs, including the lungs and stomach, have regained their original functions. However, restoring the skeletal system, muscles, heart, and liver will take more time.]
The tone was almost apologetic, as if sorry for not achieving it in a single day.
I was the one shocked.
"You mean it can get even better than this?"
I'd never breathed this easily before. The lightness in my body went without saying—I felt like rushing outside and running around right now.
I couldn't imagine it improving further.
[Yes, Master. We recommend consuming more nutrients.]
"That won't be hard."
Even if only in name, I was the crown prince.
This was the imperial palace of the empire, with more food than could rot.
'The next two years will be prosperous and bountiful.'
But two years from now, massive famines would strike across the continent, plunging it into hellish chaos.
That was one reason the current emperor would abdicate, and Isabella's family would fall after failing to pay taxes amid the famine.
The Holy Church preached it was God's wrath bringing famine everywhere, but someone had foreseen it long before.
'Who would listen to a mere scholar?'
His words were proven right later, but by then it was far too late.
With preparation, the damage could be minimized, though.
At the very least, I was now ready to heed his warnings.
"Germin, are you outside?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Come in."
Germin entered soon after, his eyes widening like full moons.
He quickly shut the door behind him and spoke.
"Y-Your Highness. What in the world is this?"
Anyone seeing the bed's state and what looked like my filth splattered everywhere would panic.
"Don't worry. It's just part of my body recovering."
Germin was trustworthy.
In this wretched palace, he was the only one I could rely on.
When I told him the truth, Germin clamped his mouth shut.
He met my eyes and nodded.
"...I'll clean up before the other maids arrive."
Among the maids were spies leaking palace secrets outside.
No matter how many Germin weeded out, more kept popping up like weeds.
Judging there was no need to fuel more strange rumors, Germin moved deftly to tidy the room.
"I'll help too."
"Just stay put—that's helping."
"......"
"...Could you open the window?"
Opening the window wide let fresh air circulate through.
Germin gathered the soiled bedsheets and stained carpet in one corner, then wiped his brow.
At the same time, he traced a circle with his left hand, chanting a spell.
"Wind, come."
1-circle magic, one of the simplest: wind guidance.
The basic elemental spell that mana-awakened people learned first.
Germin traced two more circles.
"Whirl fiercely and blow strong."
2-circle allowed control of wind direction, 3-circle strengthened its power.
Whiiiiiing!
Rumble! Rumble!
The wind blew so fiercely the window frames shook, carrying all the dust and hair from the room outside.
Thanks to my mania, the only things in the room were the bed and mirror—nothing else to blow away.
I watched in admiration.
"I'd forgotten you were a mage."
Germin chuckled and shook his head.
"Haha, strictly speaking, I'm not a mage."
"Do you have to be registered at a magic tower to count?"
"Of course. They don't even recognize 3-circle mages as proper ones, do they?"
Just awakening mana didn't get you registered.
Official mage status started at 4-circle.
Completing the magic towers' basics got you there, but it was a wall unreachable for the talentless.
And Germin had mastered up to 3-circle.
'I heard he had talent as a mage.'
Germin came from a family that had served as imperial butlers for generations.
They deemed 3-circle enough for a butler and stopped his training there.
He was fifteen then.
Reaching 3-circle at fifteen meant talent.
But then he started attending my late mother.
"Don't you want to resume studying magic?"
"Your Highness, what use is that now? I'm happiest when you're healthy."
Really?
Age didn't erase desires.
Especially when he'd forcibly abandoned his talent for an unwanted butler role.
It couldn't have been all fine.
'I hope Germin stays healthy from now on.'
Seeing his white hair and wrinkles pained me.
I wanted to share [Nano Machine Zero] with him.
But it would self-destruct if extracted from me.
This life, I wanted him to live as he wished.
Health as a baseline, and fulfilling his forsaken dreams.
Of course, he wouldn't leave just because I said so—I'd need another approach.
"Germin, why don't you teach me magic?"
"Magic... Your Highness?"
"Yes. Who knows—I'might have talent for it."
"Your Highness, if I'may be so bold... you lack the talent for mana..."
Germin trailed off.
Talent for mana.
It was determined at birth.
And all imperial sons underwent tests the moment they were born.
The other four princes were blessed with brilliant mana talent—only I was born without any.
Incompetent crown prince, half-baked without even mana's blessing.
Rumors the emperor was manipulated by a devil to name me crown prince weren't baseless.
And the consensus was, the talentless couldn't learn magic anyway.
But I hadn't said it lightly.
—What a pity. Void attribute is a talent that appears once per era. If discovered early, you could've reached the top of a magic tower.
The magic tower master himself said it—it had to be true.
Plus, for some reason, when Germin chanted his wind spell, I saw it.
The circle he drew with his left hand.
The mana circle, invisible to normal eyes.
The sensation of wind swirling at his fingertips!
"Wind, come."
Whiiiiiing.
Wind blew again.
Germin's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at me.
'It... works.'
I was just as shocked.
The wind's flow was clearly different from before.
This wind circling me couldn't be called natural.
I'd used magic without ever learning it.
News that would shake magic academia and the towers.
[Detected influx of deactivated nanomachines.]
[Unauthorized nanomachines fused with 'induced pluripotent stem cells.']
[We will take control and utilize them. Master, please approve.]
What was this?
Unauthorized nanomachines?
It took a moment to understand.
Did this mean the 'mana' gathered at my fingertips was another form of nanomachines?
[End of Void Mana]