Chapter 179
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 179
Chapter Title: A Lesson by the Stream
"Hmm..."
Sienna didn't know what to say.
She knew Loan's talent better than anyone, so the offer was both delightful and pleasing.
On the other hand, something about readily accepting a junior's proposal didn't sit right with her.
Instead of answering him, she glanced around. And then.
"Let's rest over there for a bit first."
The place Sienna pointed to.
A long log lay across a stream, serving as a bridge.
They had just finished lunch nearby and were about to take a short break anyway.
"Wow... what is this?"
"Eat up."
For some reason, Sienna had prepared food. It was bread with cheese spread and shredded carrots inside—too simple to be called a proper meal, but considering it was Sienna who had made it, it was a surprisingly impressive dish.
"I'll enjoy this."
Loan was very grateful, yet he felt a bit daunted by the prospect of chewing on raw carrots.
"Huh?"
"What is it?"
"It's... delicious."
He was surprised by how good it tasted.
He even felt a little proud, wondering if his palate had matured.
The two of them sat perched on the log, gazing blankly at the stream flowing beneath their feet, their mouths constantly moving.
Crunch, crunch. Even without words, it wasn't awkward or boring.
The autumn sun was quite pleasant.
For a moment.
Even after finishing their food, the two sat side by side, swinging their feet back and forth, enjoying the quiet excitement within.
Finally, Sienna spoke.
"Thank you for the offer."
"Uh... you don't have to thank me."
"Never mind that. So, what is it? This thing you've realized."
Loan began to explain what he had felt as he passed through each of the Magic Towers.
"In the end, I think mages, swordsmen, and priests are all the same. They just express their mana in different ways."
"Right. That's common knowledge."
"The basic framework for mana cultivation is also the same. It's all about drawing in and accumulating external mana."
"Right. It just differs depending on one's constitution or disposition."
"My method is like that, too. You'd have to start your cultivation from scratch, but once you learn it, you'll be remarkably different from how you are now."
"How so?"
"That, I'm not sure..."
"What was that?"
"But there is at least one effect you can gain."
"Which is?"
"You become less affected by dark mana."
Loan told Sienna about the people who had lost their minds under Amy's influence, and about Boris, who had entered the forgotten wheat field with its dense concentration of dark mana and ended up making a pact with a demon.
He added that there was likely information about the 'gate' the demon had crossed through beneath the wheat field, but that ordinary people couldn't go there because of the dark mana.
"What worries me is this: if a gate to the demon world opens and demons pour in, and dark mana spreads throughout the world as a result, will we be able to respond properly?"
"I understand your concern, but aren't you looking a bit too far ahead? It seems like you're worrying more than necessary."
It could seem that way.
He may have earned the title of Runner, but it was too grand a concern for a rookie who hadn't even been in the Union for a full year.
It was a reasonable thing to say for someone who didn't know about his vision of destruction.
Loan thought it might be time to start discussing this issue with others and preparing together.
Teaching the Tower Masters the concept of Circles, discussing the Union organization with the Principality, and having this conversation with Sienna—it all felt like steps in preparation for that day.
"Like you said, it might be a needless worry, but..."
Loan cautiously began to talk about his vision.
He didn't mention that he had seen it through the human tree in the past.
He spoke of it only as a dream he'd once had, and thankfully, Sienna didn't dismiss it as a delusion.
She was suddenly reminded of when she first met Loan.
A child who, at a young age, had been deceived by those close to him and had lost them all.
Could a 'fear' born from that experience have taken root inside him?
Was that why he'd had a 'nightmare'?
Was that why a future where he lost everyone around him felt so real to this child?
As her thoughts lingered on this.
Sienna found herself looking at Loan with affectionate eyes.
"There's no harm in being prepared. It's something that could very well happen."
"Thank you for thinking so."
"Alright then, why don't you teach me a thing or two."
Sienna said, getting to her feet.
Loan gently guided her back to a sitting position.
"From a seated position, starting with your breathing."
"Huh?"
And so, the mana breathing began.
Sienna sat upright, closed her eyes, and slowly inhaled and exhaled.
Watching her quietly, Loan carefully explained the principle of circulation.
"...The core of this cultivation is to manifest the circulating flow of mana in the form of a Circle in your heart. First, I'll teach you where it enters, how it enters, and where it passes through before exiting."
"The path inside the body, you mean."
"Yes. Starting from your lower lip, you draw it deep down below your lower abdomen..."
This time, he didn't give a vague, verbal-only explanation like he had with the Tower Masters.
To clearly show her the path the mana flowed through, he gently extended his Convection, making direct yet indirect contact with Sienna's body.
Loan's Convection traveled down Sienna's neck, past the center of her chest, brushed against the point below her navel as if caressing it, and then rose back up the same path.
He was stimulating the path, watching the mana pass through with Sienna's breaths.
Under his gentle guidance, Sienna completed one full circulation.
"Mmm..."
Her breathing hitched slightly on the way up, but it seemed she had felt something.
She looked at Loan, her eyes wide with a somewhat surprised expression.
Loan asked.
"It's a feeling like this. Do you get it?"
"...Yes."
"Your breathing became a little unstable. Should I guide you one more time?"
"No. That's enough. I can do it on my own now."
Sienna said it with a rather stern face, making Loan inwardly cringe.
Excessive kindness could inadvertently wound a senior's pride.
Without a word, Loan gave Sienna a slight bow, apologizing for any potential offense he might have caused, then moved away to give her space and sat down.
As Sienna immersed herself in cultivation again, Loan also began to contemplate the changes within himself after completing his third Circle.
It was a much-needed moment.
"Hoo..."
With each breath, three Circles spun around his heart.
He quietly observed their unstable completion and carefully traced the path of circulation that had led to the third Circle.
The path of circulation pierced through his entire body in the shape of a mountain.
The midpoint of the flow was his eyes.
Perhaps that was why his eyes felt brighter and clearer after obtaining the third Circle.
This led to an improvement in his eyesight and ocular arts, but strangely, it wasn't just his physical eyes—his mind's eye had improved as well.
'Could this be a form of synesthesia?'
After experiencing the Tower of Senses, he often felt that his five senses had become more sensitive and seemed to complement one another.
Feeling the mana flowing through his eyes, Loan carefully observed the flow of mana in the atmosphere.
Loan exhaled, and Sienna absorbed it. He absorbed what she exhaled and returned it to nature.
It was a gentle, beautiful flow that perfectly embodied the word 'natural'.
'She's following along really well.'
She might have a natural talent for it, but clearly defining the position, showing her the flow, and matching her breathing speed helped her learn quickly.
The fact that the first path was nearly identical to the common mana cultivation method most people learn first would have also helped her understand the path of circulation.
The only difference was that instead of forcing the mana to stay in the core of one's energy, it was allowed to pass through and exit at the same speed it entered.
Loan gazed blankly at the flow, at the movement of circulation created by another.
It was different from how the Tower Masters had looked while practicing. He found it quite beautiful.
Perhaps it was because of the fondness he felt for Sienna.
Loan consciously blocked the attention that was unconsciously drawn to her and focused on what he needed to do to advance to the next stage.
'If circulation is natural, then my current unbalanced state must be unnatural.'
The one who had helped him obtain the third Circle was the Master of the Tower of Senses.
He had achieved it by directly observing and imitating how she manipulated mana to enhance her ocular arts, but the next step was the problem.
While the improvement to his ocular arts from the third Circle was a very good thing, he felt the need to quickly stabilize his current, incomplete state.
Loan examined every corner of his body.
He did so in hopes of finding a clue.
'I need to form an 'X' over my heart with the fourth Circle. What kind of path would make that possible?'
Perhaps because both his physical eyes and his mana-seeing eyes had improved, the amount of information coming in had increased significantly.
Just looking at it all made his head feel hot.
The fact that he had occasionally focused on 'mana' itself while trying to observe the path was likely another reason.
'It could be due to the instability of the Circles. Or maybe my ocular arts have improved too much, throwing my senses out of balance.'
That's enough for now.
Loan slowly evened his breathing, pulling himself out of that microscopic world and back to reality.
Sienna was standing close by.
"What are you so deep in thought about?"
It seemed she had worked up a sweat, even in the cool breeze.
Seeing the sun's position behind her, he realized a considerable amount of time had passed.
'I didn't even realize time was passing.'
Feeling Sienna's gaze, Loan spoke.
"I completed my third Circle not long ago, and I was thinking I need to create a symmetrical structure with a fourth Circle to make it more stable."
Loan conjured water droplets in the air, illustrating the three Circles spinning around a heart and then tracing the paths of circulation that had led to the third Circle.
Sienna, who had been quietly listening to his explanation and taking in the image, spoke.
"You learned about mana cultivation after coming to the academy, right?"
"Yes. The basics."
"Swordsmen learn swordsmanship from their families or the martial houses they join. Naturally, there are long-established methods of cultivation."
"I suppose so."
"You're figuring this out on your own, but in fact, the paths of circulation you mentioned are also familiar routes for swordsmen who use their bodies to manipulate mana. They're probably not exactly the same, since our goal is to draw upon the mana accumulated in our core."
Suddenly, she moved behind Loan and sat down.
Her finger passed through his Convection without resistance. A warm energy, a soft touch, a familiar and kind sensation slowly traced its way down Loan's back.
It followed the path of mana flow.
"I can't use magic like you."
"Yes..."
"From a swordsman's perspective, if the vertical circulation you taught is the basic method for accumulating mana, then the second, horizontal circulation is used to send that stored mana down to the lower body. In swordsmanship, it's used as a concept complementary to the vertical circulation."
"I see."
"That, too, is fundamental. And next, the flow you describe as mountain-shaped is also something that those who practice swordsmanship train extensively..."
Loan felt a little embarrassed.
For some reason, the feeling grew stronger as her finger gently traced his back.
It tickled, too.
And so, he finally understood why Sienna's breathing had become a little rough earlier.
"Are you concentrating?"
"Yes!"
He said so, but his concentration quickly scattered.
It was because of the strong, grass-like scent coming from Sienna, who was breathing mana so close to him.
It was a familiar scent he'd noticed since he first rode the horse leaning against her back, but today, it somehow made him feel giddy.