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Test
A dark night.
Sitting alone in my room, I pulled out the necklace I had hidden deep inside my desk.
It was Mirisa's necklace, which I had swapped for Piar's after removing its gem.
I hadn't paid it any attention while peaceful days continued, but now that trouble seemed clearly on the horizon, I pulled it back out.
My plan was to check it and clear away anything that might pose a problem before something actually happened.
On the outside, the necklace looked exceedingly ordinary.
It had a simple design, with a small, glasslike gem embedded in the center.
It wasn't a gold necklace, either, but one made of a thin iron chain.
"Wasn't it iron? And that gem doesn't look ordinary, either."
But when I focused mana into my eyes and examined it, I saw that the necklace wasn't made of iron at all. It seemed to be an alloy that conducted mana exceptionally well, and the gem wasn't an ordinary jewel, either. It was a transparent stone delicately crafted into a bizarre shape.
At a glance, it seemed to offer plenty to investigate.
But I wasn't in a position to conduct that kind of research.
I wasn't examining the necklace now to figure out how it had been made, but to discover what I could do with it.
Even in my past life, there was no need to understand the underlying principles of a smartphone or a car. It was enough to know how to use them.
According to what I had heard from the guy claiming to be Piar's master, it was a necklace that amplified mana and drove it berserk.
They said it could also be used as a timer by storing mana inside it to activate later, though I hadn't heard any details about that part.
It was an item that overloaded the mana of an inherited ability user wearing it, making them explode.
When I first heard about it, it sounded so horrifying that my eyes nearly popped out, but fortunately, it was riddled with restrictions.
First of all, he had confessed that it was exceptionally difficult to make, and that it had taken over a year just to create two of them.
Also, unless the target was a buffer or an amplification-type ability user who stored a large amount of mana in their body, like Mirisa or Piar, overloading their mana didn't seem to make them explode.
On top of that, putting the necklace on just anyone didn't work, either.
It seemed to function only if the user had high mana perception or had worn it long enough for the mana between the necklace and their body to circulate smoothly.
And there were hardly any inherited ability users capable of activating the necklace in the first place.
The man claiming to be the master knew of only one person besides himself who could do it.
She was the female instructor who had committed suicide on orientation day.
He had boasted that only an unusual ability user with high mana perception and the capacity to use internal mana effectively could activate the necklace.
"Infusing it with mana is something even I can do, though..."
Hum.
The necklace resting in my hand accepted the mana and began to glow faintly.
Just in case, I fed mana into it in a way similar to the flow of mana I had witnessed that day, and the necklace began to work.
It was a feat possible only because I could see—no, feel—mana.
"I really hope I'm the only one who can do this..."
Though I hadn't seen anyone else who perceived mana the way I did, it was hard to be entirely certain that I was the only person capable of it.
Still, it clearly seemed to be an exceedingly difficult task.
"Even so, it's not like I can actually do anything with this."
I shook my head and set the glowing necklace down on the desk.
Unlike that self-proclaimed master or the female instructor who had killed herself, I couldn't activate the necklace from a distance.
Besides, putting it on just anyone wouldn't make it work.
Right now, its only use would be to hang it back around Piar or Mirisa's neck and place my hand on their throat to detonate it.
"Since I can't make it explode from afar, I'd practically be turned into a suicide bomber."
In the end, it was completely useless to me at the moment.
"A suicide bomber, huh..."
I stared intently at the necklace on the desk.
If I was going to be a suicide bomber, there was no need to hang it back around Piar or Mirisa's neck.
After thinking it over for a moment, I picked up the necklace and fastened it around my own neck.
"..."
Nothing happened.
A slight smirk escaped my lips. I'd gotten tense for nothing.
"As expected. Why would anything happen?"
Next, I tried moving my mana.
Mana began to circulate inside my body.
"It flows just fine."
Sure enough, there were no issues this time, either.
I cautiously pushed my mana toward the necklace.
The mana moving toward my chest passed through the necklace and seeped back into my body.
The necklace neither glowed nor stored any mana.
"Hmm, it's true that normal mana doesn't activate it, but..."
I infused my hand with mana—a form of mana similar to what I had channeled into the necklace earlier.
I could see the mana rising above my hand.
I moved my hand closer to the necklace.
20 cm.
10 cm.
5 cm.
1 cm.
At the very last moment, I stopped my hand right in front of the necklace.
"There's no way this actually ends with me killing myself, right?"
No matter how I looked at it, the odds were close to zero.
Even so, it wasn't easy to bring my hand over to touch the necklace.
"Conducting an experiment on my own body like this is pretty foolish, isn't it?"
I started lowering my hand slowly.
Then I stopped again and sighed.
"If I hadn't come back to life, I wouldn't be pulling a stunt like this..."
I placed my hand on the necklace.
Hum.
The mana flowing from my hand caused the necklace to light up.
"Whoa!"
I felt something like electricity surging out of the necklace.
My body shuddered violently as mana was sucked into the necklace. At the same time, mana several times stronger flooded back into my body.
Mana raced through me. All the dormant mana inside me was drawn into the necklace, gathering into a huge mass before bursting back out.
My muscles bulged, and steam rose from my head. It felt as if my entire body were bursting with mana.
It felt as though a considerable amount of time had passed, but in reality, hardly any time had elapsed since I placed my hand on it.
'Damn it, I'm not actually going to die, am I?'
It felt like my body was about to burst apart.
'The mana needs to be released. There has to be a way...'
I desperately searched my surroundings.
Perhaps because mana was boiling throughout my entire body, I could see and feel even the dust motes and tiny traces of mana in front of me.
I could feel the breeze brushing against the fine hairs on my arms, and my brain was spinning several times faster than usual.
'T-the dagger is here!'
I grabbed the dagger from inside the closet—
Crash!
—and clutched it in my hand as I unleashed my mana.
Whoom!
Red light surged from the dagger. It was an insanely thick sword aura.
'At this rate, it'll blow a hole through the ceiling!'
In a rush, I tilted it forward.
Crash.
The red sword aura shattered the window and shot outward.
Whoom!
The red sword aura streaked outside like a laser, then gradually faded away.
Thunk.
The moment the sword aura vanished, I collapsed straight onto the floor.
My mind was blank. Every bit of mana in my body had completely vanished.
It was total mana exhaustion.
"Grind."
I gritted my teeth, shivering violently.
My muscles, drained of mana, cramped up painfully.
This wasn't just mana exhaustion. It wasn't ordinary exhaustion at all.
It felt as if every last speck of mana inside my body had been squeezed out.
As I lay there trembling, a knock sounded at the door.
"What happened?"
It was Piar.
It seemed the noise had reached the next room.
But I couldn't let anyone into the room right now. Since I was wearing the necklace, letting Piar in was out of the question above all else.
I barely managed to open my trembling mouth.
"...I made a mistake... while practicing with my sword. I'll... be careful."
"...All right. Please be careful."
After a somewhat awkward silence, he replied. Then came the sound of him walking back to his room.
I let out a soft sigh, then inhaled again, repeating the cycle over and over.
But I couldn't feel any mana, and the pain persisted relentlessly.
Time passed like that.
I didn't know how much time had gone by, but at some point, I finally began to feel a threadlike trace of mana within my body.
Wriggle.
Mana gathered little by little.
I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Only when I began to feel the flow of mana could I pay attention to my surroundings.
The chirping of birds drifted in from afar.
Opening my eyes, I saw reddish sunlight streaming in through the window.
"Is it morning..."
I had definitely pulled that stunt before going to bed last night, but by the time I came to my senses, it was morning.
"Which means I spent the entire night gathering mana."
Even now, my mana was barely moving.
I really had nearly died.
Fortunately, I hadn't died, but it had hurt like hell all night long.
"I really shouldn't have done that."
With belated regret, I looked around.
The room was an utter mess.
The closet was broken, and the window was completely shattered.
That window must have been shattered by the blast of mana.
"Don't tell me I wrecked the closet when I pulled out the sword?"
I had thought I'd simply drawn the sword normally, but apparently, that wasn't the case.
I retraced what had happened when the necklace activated.
Mana boiled throughout my entire body, my strength and speed surged, my senses sharpened several times over, and my sword aura went wild.
"My thinking speed increased, too. That was all because my mana was amplified, right?"
It was as expected.
Since this necklace amplified or overcharged mana, I had thought that, as long as I didn't die, I might gain monstrous power, like an ultimate move.
And yet, its effect was even stronger than I had expected.
But once it overloaded my mana, collateral damage was inevitable—and far greater than I had anticipated.
"It's an ultimate move, all right, but the cooldown isn't any ordinary cooldown. It's not even a self-sacrifice spell, yet using it once leaves me broken like this and causes agonizing pain. I don't know if I could even use it in actual combat."
I tried moving my body around. My whole body was stiff and sore.
"Is it a blessing that I didn't die?"
I took off the necklace and stared blankly at it.
I felt like I'd found some tremendous use for it, but I had zero desire to actually use it.
"And if there are more people like that master, it doesn't even seem safe."
It would be a disaster if someone activated it while it was around my neck.
"Still, if I lower the output a bit, wouldn't I be able to use it in an emergency?"
Even as I entertained the thought, I shoved the necklace deep into my bag.
That day, when I walked into class feeling exhausted, Balea sat down next to me again.
"I heard an explosion came from the male dormitory yesterday. There are rumors about a ghost appearing, and stories about a red light soaring into the sky."
She waved to people as she spoke.
Although no one approached my side, the men and women alike warmly returned her wave.
It seemed I had made an unnecessary remark yesterday.
Just because she was sitting next to me didn't mean she would be ostracized along with me.
Then again, with that face of hers and that carefully crafted personality, there was no way she'd be ostracized.
Tsk. In the end, maybe I'm just the one lacking.
More importantly, it seemed the commotion had been bigger than I thought.
It was downright miraculous that Piar had simply gone back to his room. Was it because I was an outcast?
I attended the lecture while lost in such thoughts.
When class ended, Balea whispered in my ear before I left the classroom.
"Would you like to meet briefly tonight?"
Eh? What is she talking about?
When I looked at her in surprise, the corners of her eyes lifted slightly.
"Please go on a date with me tonight."
Her smile and soft voice were more than enough to make anyone look forward to tonight.
Yet the back of my neck prickled with goosebumps.
"I have something to ask you regarding my father, Young Lord."
She smiled brightly as she looked at me.