127. Fundamentals of Mana Manipulation
The sword spirit asked me where I'd learned this technique.
"It's the trick to infusing mana into a sword, and you've got a mentor who taught you Mana Reinforcement. Where'd you pick it up?"
I glanced briefly at the dark elf scout team's insignia pinned to my chest plate.
The first person to properly teach me swordsmanship had been Rizmel. The basics of mana manipulation came from Elenoir. But the technique for channeling mana into a sword and Mana Reinforcement? Those I'd pretty much figured out on my own.
"No mentor. I just learned the basic knack for handling mana, and the rest came from feel."
"You awakened Mana Reinforcement just from feel? How many years did that take?"
"I didn't count exactly, so I'm not sure... but probably about a month or two."
From clearing the Floor 7 epic quest and getting the pendant to awakening Mana Reinforcement on Floor 9, it was roughly that timeframe. Time sense gets all fucked up living in the Tower, so I couldn't swear to it. Even counting from when I first awakened mana sensing and started practicing, and giving it a generous estimate, it was around three or four months tops.
"That makes it even harder to believe. You sure you're not some other race pretending to be human?"
"I'm human, for fuck's sake."
"Then you must've been blessed from birth or something. Otherwise, it doesn't add up."
I was about to say it was thanks to the special growth environment of the Tower of Trials, but thinking it over, that didn't really apply to Mana Reinforcement. My class was still a normal Warrior class, and I'd never gotten any system bonuses related to magic. The only perks were a boost to my base mana capacity in my body—which was prerequisite for wielding Mana Reinforcement—and my physical abilities.
"Well, I did grow up in a pretty unique environment. And Mana Reinforcement wasn't entirely self-taught."
I told him how I'd first handled Mana Reinforcement using the power of the dark elves' treasure pendant from the outside.
"Alright, that brings it down from utterly incomprehensible... though it's still hard to swallow."
The sword spirit muttered, his expression subtly shifting. The thick-headed glare he'd had toward me was completely gone.
"Heh heh... Worth lingering on as a sword all this time. To witness the genius of such a brilliant swordsman once more."
He looked utterly satisfied. In his eyes, I must've seemed like prime material for an incredible swordsman. Back then, he'd thought I had zero athleticism or fighting talent.
Anyway, if he'd finally gotten serious about teaching me properly, I was all for it. But so what about my technique? Was it good or shit?
A moment later, the sword spirit pointed out that my mana manipulation was way too reckless.
"If you'd had a mentor, I'd tell you to hunt the bastard down and chop his head off. Anyone who teaches a suicidal technique like that deserves it."
"What, I figured my way was a bit sloppy, but that serious?"
"Serious? Shoving unrefined mana in like a brute—no matter how badass you are, it'll cripple you."
Saying that, the sword spirit began explaining the mana circuits running through a living body's pathways. The terminology differed in details, but overall, it matched what I'd heard in the dark elf village. But when he got into methods for enhancing physical abilities via those internal mana circuits, one key part was drastically different.
"In short, to pull off Mana Reinforcement with a human body, you need to process the mana accordingly."
He said my mistake was trying to ape the Mana Reinforcement from the pendant exactly. It was the same skill, but since it used externally charged mana, it skipped several processing steps.
The more I heard and understood, the clearer it became why he'd been so baffled by my Mana Reinforcement. Simple analogy: Mana Reinforcement is like pouring molten metal into a mold. You melt down the mana produced in your body and absorbed from outside into molten form, then flow it through the circuits. But I'd skipped refining the mana—the part where you melt raw metal lumps into molten metal. Instead, I'd been cramming in scrap metal and rusty bolts and nuts, then smashing it down by force to shape it.
"Normally, you'd rupture your mana circuits all over, your body would shatter, and you'd die."
"You said there's always intense pain after using Mana Reinforcement, like your body was tearing apart, right?"
"Spot on. That's because your body was tearing. Honestly, I have no idea how you're still alive."
The sword spirit said it was absurd from the start that I could even do Mana Reinforcement this way.
"Lend me a sword you don't use. Any will do."
I handed him a [Steel Straight Sword]. He gripped it, closed his eyes for a moment.
-Clank, clank!
Mana injected into the straight sword in his hand, and the blade base started trembling violently, emitting noise. Seconds later, the sword shook even harder, glowing red-hot like it'd been shoved into a furnace.
And a few more seconds...
-Boom!
The sword exploded, scattering dozens of metal shards everywhere. The blast and flying fragments looked just like a thermobaric grenade going off.
"That's what you've been doing. Whether it's a weapon or your body, it should've shattered and scattered long ago."
I'd heightened my mana sensing to watch his actions closely. Seeing it like this, it really hit home. How cheat-like my
skill was.
The reason I'd been able to do Mana Reinforcement with unrefined mana all this time was entirely thanks to that skill.
Mana Control, the pinnacle passive skill in the mana sensing line—one of a mage's three ultimate arts. Its transcendent control over individual mana particles had turned the impossible possible.
"Jesus, it's ridiculous. You were so damn good at it that you didn't even realize you'd gone down the wrong path. Genius or idiot?"
"Shut up. Now that I know, it's embarrassing as hell."
"Well, you need that much to be the hero who awakened me... From now on, do it my way."
Saying that, the sword spirit taught me how to refine mana in the body. Crucial stuff, but picking it up wasn't hard. I could fully control mana thanks to Mana Control. Just hearing the method let me mimic it right away.
-Rumble!
With a thunderclap, Mana Reinforcement activated, power surging through my body. The boost magnitude wasn't much different from before, but the feel was. Much smoother. MP consumption dropped noticeably too. The one glaring flaw—shitty fuel efficiency—was cleanly fixed.
And this mana refining could apply straight to other skills too. Let's test it lightly.
-Crackle! Zzzap!
"What the hell is that?"
I tried combining Lightning Charge and Lightning Palm. The glow of Mana Reinforcement turned straight to lightning, arcing around.
"Hold up, anything nearby?"
Leaving the sword spirit for a sec in that state, I spread my senses and locked onto a nearby Minotaur Warrior. Activated Swift Step to close in.
The minotaur spotted me and swung its axe. I pulled out my shield instead of a sword and blocked the axe lightly, infusing it with Lightning Charge's effect.
-Zzzap!
"Moooo!"
The electricity flowing through my body and shield rode the axe into its body. The minotaur staggered back, then flopped down. Not dead, but properly electrocuted. Just blocking with the shield.
"Holy shit, this is nuts."
I placed my hand on the fallen minotaur's chest near its heart. Lightning surged again.
-Crackle! Zzzap!
The influx of electricity made its body convulse for seconds before going limp. The limp corpse dissolved into light and faded away after a bit more time. Just touched it and zapped briefly, and this huge fucker electrocuted to death.
-Crackle!
Plus, with Mana Reinforcement, I could even control some of the lightning spilling out of my body. A bit more practice, and I could probably shoot it at range. That electric lizard from Floor 3 suddenly seemed kinda funny.
I finished the minotaur and headed back to the sword spirit.
This guy's the real deal.
"Hey, got anything else? Teach me all the tricks I don't know, from the basics up."
I'd thought of it as an inconvenient sword with useless decorations, its unique option just a one-use meat shield summon. No wonder I couldn't quit hunting hidden bosses. This meant another storm of growth coming.
"Hah, finally realizing how amazing this Kaleon is?"
The sword spirit grinned at my return. I gave him his due.
"Kahaha! Then how about a deep bow to your master here!"
Of course, that was that, and I wasn't letting a tool climb over its owner.
-Clang!
"You're lucky I consider you a private tutor at best, asshole."