Chapter 10 - Chapter 9: The First Magic
Under a brilliantly clear blue sky, I sat down in the grassy thicket beside my house, practicing the release of magic.
Today marked the tenth day since I first succeeded in releasing my magical power.
The amount of magic power within me had already exceeded the equivalent of twenty softballs.
"Anyway, this should be fine for now."
I had started this morning, and already I had ten in each hand.
I was releasing the equivalent of twenty units of magical power.
When I was practicing gathering magic power, the sensation changed and it became easier to handle, but releasing it was nothing like that.
Until now, the image was of gathering magic power from all over my body, but now, just by trying to gather it in my hands, it comes easily.
Releasing the magic power also requires almost no concentration.
It has become as easy to handle as typing on a keyboard with blind touch.
The amount of magic power continues to increase day by day.
On the day I first succeeded in releasing magic power, I collapsed, so naturally, I refrained from releasing magic power after that.
I tried cautiously the next day, and even creating a magic sphere equivalent to two softballs did not make me collapse.
I stopped when I tried to make a third one and the gathering of magic power became poor, but the next day, making five of them only made me feel slightly unwell.
I wondered if the amount of magic power increased directly by the amount of magic spheres I created, but it seems that is not the case after all.
The rate of increase varies from day to day, and I cannot quite grasp the regularity.
However, I am even impressed with myself that it is increasing at quite a pace.
(If only I knew what the passing line was.)
Every day, I am becoming more proficient in handling magic power, and the amount is increasing.
But I did not know if reaching that proficiency and increase would be enough to reach the passing line.
(If the level is such that making 10,000 of these magic spheres won't reach the passing line, I'll cry. Seriously.)
I can feel my magic power growing, so my motivation is high, but I wonder how long that will last.
(Well, it's fine to continue this practice for a while. Even if I improve by making each magic sphere larger, the direction doesn't need to change. For now...)
Since I learned that releasing magic power increases the amount of magic power, I should continue this in the future.
However, a thought began to rise little by little: Is this enough?
I rolled over onto the grassy thicket and gazed up at the blue sky... blankly.
I considered going to listen to Radi, but dismissed the idea immediately.
If I asked her now, I felt she would strongly advise against my magic practice.
Despite being the "Laughing Virgin Mary," she was genuinely worried about Mika.
If Radi seriously advised against it, I could not simply brush it off.
After a short break, I created magic spheres again.
Lying down, I carefully created them one by one this time.
When I realized releasing magic power had become easy, I got carried away and started making magic spheres one after another, and suddenly I felt nauseous and vomited.
It seems I created more magic spheres before realizing my pace was too fast and I was feeling unwell.
Learning from the first time's lesson, I practiced outside so I wouldn't dirty the indoors if I vomited, but since then, I have slowed my pace after completing a certain number.
I alternately created magic spheres with both hands, and once I made ten, I took a break.
I was not feeling unwell yet.
In just ten days, it seems my magic power had grown from two magic spheres to over thirty.
(...Magic... magic... magic. Ah... I want to use it soon.)
In games, you automatically learn them upon leveling up, but in this world, it seems prayers must reach the gods.
(Just chant, consume magic power, and activate the magic, right?)
Why include such troublesome steps like "praying"?
Haaah... a large sigh escaped involuntarily.
I closed my eyes and calmed my mind.
The scent of grass and the gentle breeze brought a little calm back to my wavering heart.
(There's no point in wishing for things I don't have. I just have to do what I can do now.)
I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.
As if spitting out the depression accumulated in my heart.
I stretched both hands toward the sky.
Floating in my mind was a mass of water.
A scene from a movie I saw when I was a child.
I felt that was not magic, but a ball of water created by an alien's superpower or the power of science.
That mass of water floated in the air and was huge enough to hold dozens of people.
It was a movie from decades ago.
If I saw it now, it would probably be cheap CGI footage.
But back then, I was a child, and I was captivated by the beauty of that footage.
I can still vividly recall that footage even now.
Rather, since I am used to the current evolved CGI more than the actual footage, the imagination might be even more beautiful.
Memories are beautified, they say.
If I can use magic, I might be able to create such fantastic things not as images, but as reality.
(It would be nice to have such a dream.)
Remembering the nostalgic movie, I was able to calm my mind completely.
At that moment, the magic power inside my body suddenly began to move.
Startled, I opened my eyes, and a mass of water came down from beyond my hands.
"Huh?"
That mass of water, even larger than a big watermelon, fell directly onto my face.
Splash.
"Ugh!?"
And a large amount of water poured into my half-open mouth.
"Gugh!? ...Cough! Hah!"
I choked heavily on the water that had entered my windpipe.
"...What... this!? Cough!"
After choking for a while, I sat up.
I still felt strange breathing.
"What is this? Why!?"
My whole body was soaked, and I felt a bit gross.
It wasn't just that I was wet and felt gross; I was really starting to feel unwell.
This was the usual sign of releasing too much magic power.
"Ugh... this is bad."
I wasn't about to vomit, but I was dizzy.
For now, I would just stay still and wait for it to settle.
I wanted to change my clothes, but moving right now was a bit painful.
I decided to quietly wait for it to settle.
With my head slightly confused, I thought.
What was that mass of water just now?
I looked at my wet clothes and body, but it looked like just water.
It had no particular smell.
They say it was like rain from an overturned bucket, but it was impossible for such a mass of water to fall from the sky.
If it fell from the sky, air resistance during the fall should have scattered it.
It was unthinkable for it to fall while remaining in such a mass.
Thinking this far, I realized my own thoughts were unconsciously "running away."
As if averting my eyes from something I didn't want to see.
"...Could it be... that I did it?"
What, how, and why it happened.
I did not know the process.
But the cause was magic power, and the result was a mass of water.
Could I not think of it that way?
If so, it would be the memorable first magic, but there was no joy or happiness.
Rather—
"......This is the worst. And besides, it has nothing to do with God."
There was no praying or chanting.
I just imagined it, and it came true.
Such a dream-like story, but even though it was a dream, this was a type of nightmare.
Even if it required considerable concentration and a specific image to manifest, the fact that what I thought came true was already horror.
If I imagined something burning or breaking, it would happen.
That is no longer human.
It is like a walking disaster.
(Could this be an extremely dangerous situation...?)
I still could not confirm if I really did it.
But if this was as expected, it was quite dangerous.
I wanted to try reproducing the same thing, but I did not have enough magic power now.
If I forced it now, I would surely collapse.
"What should I do about this..."
Squatting on the spot, I held my head.
■■■■■■
To state the conclusion first.
It was black. Pitch black.
Yes, the culprit was me.
When I tried the next day, although considerable concentration and a specific image were needed, I was able to reproduce it easily.
No praying or chanting was necessary.
At that time, I was at least desperate.
I seriously worried that things would go badly if I continued like this.
However, I had thought of one solution.
On the day I first used magic.
Since the remaining magic power was low, I could not continue the training of releasing magic power.
Well, I didn't feel like training anyway.
So, I thought about it at that time.
If magic actually manifested just by imagining it, what should I do?
The answer was simple.
I should place restrictions on myself.
It was so-called "conditioning."
The answer was simple, but it was difficult to actually achieve it.
I made it so that magic would not manifest unless I spoke a specific "magic name," and conversely, if I said the "magic name," magic would manifest even unconsciously.
No, having magic manifest unconsciously was bad, but the point was to make it manifest only under certain conditions.
How to achieve that?
This was also simple and clear.
Just repeat it endlessly.
Repetitive practice.
"Water Splash!"
I thrust my right hand forward and spoke the magic name aloud, and at that moment, a spray of water burst out vigorously from my palm.
A sense of excitement rose in the movement of magic power throughout my body, and the clear sound of Kiiin... was pleasant to my ears.
The spoken magic name was consciously loud and clear.
Two weeks since I first manifested magic, I had been repeating this endlessly.
"Phew... Anyway, this should be it."
I had secluded myself in the forest near Rish Village since morning, practicing magic.
The sun was already high, and it was probably time for lunch soon.
Sitting on a felled log, I took the wrapped package I had placed there.
This log had been left for quite some time, and there were holes from insect damage here and there.
It was about five meters long, with a diameter of over fifty centimeters.
To Mika now, it looked quite large.
Moss grew on the part close to the ground, but the whole was not so damaged and was sturdy.
Spreading the package on my knees, inside were hard bread and fruit.
This was lunch I brought from home.
In this world without a refrigerator, prepared soup for lunch was not available.
This was before I swapped bodies with Mika either.
Especially in this season where summer has truly begun, in this world with a thin concept of hygiene, what would happen if I ate such things?
I would surely get food poisoning, and the spread would be so fast that the village would be wiped out.
Well, even if it didn't lead to total wipeout, I could only imagine a terrifying future scenario.
"Waterball."
Muttering that, I washed my hands in a mass of water the size of a basketball that appeared before me.
I casually blew away the "Waterball," lightly shook my hands to dry them, and took the bread to bite into it.
There was a time before when I stuffed my cheeks too much and couldn't chew properly, but since I eat it every day, I have learned to adjust.
Putting an appropriate amount in my mouth and swallowing, I muttered "Waterball" again.
This time, a small mass of water appeared before my eyes, and I put it in my mouth as if to bite it.
I had once seen a certain astronaut perform drinking floating balls of water like this.
I imitated that to be able to replenish fluids even without a water bag.
Of course, putting water created by magic into my mouth required considerable courage.
I had been drenched heavily with it the first time, so I carefully tested if it was safe to drink.
I held it in my mouth and immediately spat it out, or swallowed only a very small amount.
After confirming it was harmless over several days, I could now drink it without any hesitation.
Rather, requests were increasing like "Can I flavor this water?" or "Can I make it carbonated?"
Well, I hadn't succeeded yet.
After finishing lunch, I took a breather.
The forest, where sunlight filtered through the leaves and sparkled, was quiet and cool.
Although it was called a forest, it was only about 20 to 30 meters inside.
Rish Village had an extremely low population density to begin with, so practicing magic near my house would rarely be seen.
Still, if I did it every day, someone would notice, especially if I was making a fairly loud noise.
So I started practicing in the forest, but—
"It's not listening to me at all."
I involuntarily gave a bitter smile.
I was openly breaking the rule not to enter the forest.
To enter the forest, I had to cross the fence surrounding the village, but there were broken spots here and there.
It wasn't so badly broken that I couldn't slip through without effort with this child's body.
I had my own reasons, but since I was secretly breaking the rule, I would likely be scolded if I was caught.
I was saying things like "I don't want to worry my family," so anyone else hearing it would say, "Who are you to talk?"
I knew it myself, but I was making excuses to myself, saying "I was compelled by necessity."
Since noticing the magic power within me, I had been obsessed with manipulating it, and since I could use magic, I had been obsessed with magic.
I was aware that I was bad at switching gears, but now, whether sleeping or awake, all I thought about was magic.
I had become completely captivated by mastering this incredible power.
"Alright. Let's go for the next one."
My stomach was full, so I immediately moved to the next practice.
Jumping off the log, I went a little deeper into the forest.
From there, I aimed at a rock about five meters away and unleashed a massive "Water Splash."
Then, I similarly unleashed "Water Splash" at the trees around the rock.
With the preparations done, I gathered my spirit and aimed my right hand at the rock.
"Fireball!"
As soon as I spoke it, a bright red fireball the size of a tennis ball flew from my right hand.
That fireball hit the rock and instantly exploded and disappeared.
Fragments of the fireball scattered around, but thanks to the water I had just sprayed, it did not spread.
I would rather not do this in a forest like this, but I had no choice since I didn't want to be seen by anyone.
At least, to prevent a forest fire, I was carefully doing the preparations and the post-cleanup extinguishing.
I fired "Fireball" a few more times and moved on to the next magic practice.
"Fire Breath!"
This time, I radiated fire toward the rock.
I named this magic after imagining the breath of a dragon.
The fire only licked the surface of the rock; it had no firepower to melt the rock.
I continued emitting fire for a while, but there was no sign of the firepower increasing.
I was trying to imagine the firepower increasing, but there was no visible effect.
I stopped "Fire Breath" for now and began the cleanup.
I once again sprayed "Water Splash" massively around to extinguish the fire.
Well, there was no visible spread of fire to begin with, but just in case.
"Why isn't the firepower increasing? I'm trying to imagine it."
Do I need a more specific image?
But what is a specific image of firepower?
I returned to the log from before and tried to organize my thoughts a bit.
First, for these two weeks, I had practiced with "conditioning" as the top priority.
What I thought of there was this "magic name" system.
I thought of several combinations where the "magic name" and "effect" were easily consistent in image.
And when manifesting magic, I always spoke the magic name clearly and repeated it.
First was "Waterball."
That one that manifested accidentally the first time.
I had been practicing with this one for a long time, but recently I suddenly thought of something.
Perhaps I could already use other magics?
The important thing was the image.
If the image was solid enough, surely I could do more than just "Waterball."
So the next thing I tried was "Fireball."
However, the problem that arose there was the place of practice.
In the forest, there were flammable materials here and there.
They say green wood is hard to burn, but it is not unburnable.
In fact, forest fires in places like the Amazon had become a global issue.
Playing with fire in a forest was the act of a fool.
But there was no place other than the forest where I could practice without being seen by people.
So I thought of water sprinkling as preparation and cleanup.
To ensure that a forest fire would never happen, to be fully prepared.
What I thought of for that preparation and cleanup was "Water Splash."
At first, I was sprinkling water around with "Waterball," but for a narrow area it was fine, but for a wide area, it was troublesome.
I wondered if I could sprinkle water around massively, tried it on the spur of the moment, and it went surprisingly well.
With preparations thus complete, I tried "Fireball," which then developed into "Fire Breath."
But regarding this "Fireball" and "Fire Breath."
The appearance was perfect, but the firepower was not quite there.
It would be enough for interpersonal combat, but in my image, it should have been more like "melt the rock."
Don't you imagine dragon breath like that?
"Well, being able to do this much in such a short time is excellent."
Just two weeks ago, I was grumbling about wanting to use magic.
Now I was using four types of magic.
Moreover, there were several ideas I wanted to try as well.
Due to the conditioning, I should master each one thoroughly before moving on, but I was itching to try various things.
"About increasing firepower, I'll do that tomorrow."
Deciding to end today's practice here, I approached the rock I had used as a target for "Fireball" just now.
I checked the surroundings carefully and sprayed "Water Splash" on them once more.
I also sprayed "Water Splash" on the surrounding trees, both up and down.
I imagined a fire truck spraying water and sprayed water everywhere.
I exhausted all extra magic power until the very limit before feeling unwell from lack of magic power.
By doing so, I reduced the amount of magic power within me and ended the magic practice.
"Limiter On."
Muttering that, I switched my mood.
As the movement of magic power in my body weakened, the excitement subsided, and the clear sound of Kii...n also disappeared.
In reality, it was not that easy to switch, but this was also one of the "conditionings."
When not using magic, "Limiter On."
And when practicing magic, "Limiter Off."
As a conditioning to prevent accidental magic discharge, I had been doing this for two weeks as well.
When I said "Limiter On," I had to be careful not to let the magic power within me move afterwards.
I consciously suppressed the magic power to keep it from moving.
Well, I still lacked confidence, so I reduced the magic power to the limit at the end of practice.
I absolutely must avoid accidental magic discharge that would involve my family.
I don't follow instructions very well, but I have firmly sworn in my heart that this one is "absolute."
The conditioning I adopted for that was "Limiter On," which does not move the magic power.
Just a while ago, I was desperately practicing moving magic power and releasing it, but now I was doing the exact opposite.
During "Limiter On," I constantly focused on not moving the magic power and not letting it leak.
It was something natural before I noticed the magic power, but now it was quite tiring.
Having no time to rest was a luxurious worry, wasn't it?
Those who gain power, or those who seek to gain it, must bear corresponding responsibility.
There were other concepts for "conditioning," but first, the "magic name" and "Limiter."
I would make these two certain, and further development would come after that.
"Well, shall I go back?"
Dripping water from the trees, I was soaked as if caught in a sudden shower, but I left the forest as is.
Thinking that if I had brought a towel, I could have wiped myself clean, I set off on my way home.