Chapter 11

Mana Arts

-Quest Info

▶ If you fail the events listed in this section, you will incur significant penalties!

◈ Fake Marriage

You have been chosen as Lady Noel’s spouse. Maintain the contract with her to the end!

◈ Act I, <Imperial Capital Fracture>

Your frequency of contact with key figures in the scenario has increased sufficiently.

Soon, your existence will be officially incorporated into the scenario. The course of the scenario will be determined by your actions!

A related event will occur soon. (D-2)

Still, it was a window that made my stomach churn every time I looked at it.

Aiden read over those lines with a gloomy expression.

That feeling was especially magnified in the window displayed at the very end.

◈ Life is Beautiful

Katya Heinkel Craven desperately wants something from you. Do your utmost to help her fully feel ‘sensation’!

A related event will occur soon. (D-2)

…Well, whatever.

Strictly speaking, I had deliberately done it in the first place to draw her interest, but seeing it officially registered in the quest window like this gave me a strange feeling.

‘They called it a sub-quest…’

Apparently, relatively less important things were displayed separately as sub-quests, and only matters with a critical impact on the main scenario were listed in the quest window.

It started as a sub-quest, so why did it end up here again?

As if hinting that I would be meeting her often from now on.

‘I do have an appointment to meet her next time.’

I was the one who summoned her in just two days. Telling her I would teach her how to feel pain.

◈ Weaver of Fate

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『Dunadan Uzal』

Bond: Level 1

<Copied Skill>

◆ Universal Ability: Mana Arts

An ability granted by Urgan, the God of Ascension. It can be wielded by imposing a prohibition upon oneself.

…There was also this.

Three abilities were exactly the number needed to manifest full power.

The problem was, unlike the others, he didn’t even know how to begin using this one.

‘Then I’ll just have to ask how to use it.’

Fortunately, there was at least one person nearby he could ask.

▣

If you wanted to meet the Dragon Hunter, Dunadan Uzal, it was common knowledge you only needed to go to the training grounds.

Everyone knew that if you were a senior figure in a country that worshipped the God of Ascension and revered values related to martial strength, you were bound to be a man addicted to training.

That seemed to hold true even here in the Empire, where he was staying temporarily for an exchange event, and sure enough, as soon as Aiden stepped into the place, he spotted Dunadan at a glance.

He was monopolizing this vast indoor space, pushing a lump of metal the size of a house with his bare hands. Well, anyone would notice that.

“……”

Aiden watched with narrowed eyes as the multi-ton mass of iron scraped smoothly across the floor.

‘…Is he even human?’

He mulled over the same thought he had once entertained before.

The scarier part was that even a man capable of this kind of brute strength wasn’t considered a ‘main character’ of the main scenario.

That meant the people he was currently entangled with—like Noel and Katya were monsters who surpassed even this…

“I recognize that face. Here to train?”

Apparently, Dunadan had spotted him while exercising and stopped to look his way.

The way his muscles, thick enough to deflect a spear or sword, rippled was deeply intimidating.

“…I came to ask for some instruction.”

Aiden unconsciously shrank back and then forced himself to steady his posture as he spoke.

No matter how frightening the other person looked, he still had to do what he came for.

“Instruction? From me?”

Dunadan tilted his head with a puzzled look, prompting Aiden to swallow dryly and continue.

“I want to learn how to handle Mana Arts.”

The moment he said that, a fierce grin spread across Dunadan’s face.

“You’re already wielding Heart of Pure White and royal Holy Flame. And now you want to master a new ability on top of that? You’re quite greedy.”

Though he said it that way, Dunadan’s eyes were scanning Aiden up and down with an intrigued glint.

“Any particular reason for it?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m asking why you’re so committed to training. Even the talents you already have are far beyond what most people would call blessed.”

“……”

Ordinarily, that was a fair point.

‘When it comes to the main scenario, you never know what might happen…’

…Because I didn’t want to die.

When it came to the main scenario a threat to life on the scale of the world itself no amount of safeguards ever felt like enough.

More than anything, because I wanted to survive and return to my family, to live a normal life.

That was how I truly felt.

Still, here it would be better to give some convenient excuse or gloss it over. There was no need to stir up unnecessary trouble.

“…There’s someone I’d like to impress.”

“……”

“I thought I should try to become a better person.”

Anyone who heard something like that from someone effectively living in a newlywed state would naturally think of Lady Noel. It might even get back to her ears eventually.

If that happened, perhaps it could slightly improve her opinion of me. That intention was partly behind what I said.

‘…What nonsense.’

It was a ridiculous thought. Aiden chuckled inwardly.

Even if she did hear it, she would probably just dismiss it without attaching any significance.

After all, their relationship was founded on a contract marriage. Even if she heard words like this, she wouldn’t take them seriously.

More than anything, when I thought about the “gap” between the two of us, it only became clearer.

Even though we’d developed a few points of contact, in the end, I was just an ordinary person you could find anywhere, while Noel was someone who could leave her mark on history.

There was no way my goodwill could ever look serious to someone like that.

“Well then, if you’re just getting started, I can help you easily enough. It’s not a difficult thing.”

Still, since there was nothing unconvincing in what I’d said, Dunadan simply smiled broadly, as though he understood.

“Do you already know the basic concept of Mana Arts?”

“Roughly.”

Mana Arts had quite a peculiar nature.

Urgan, the God of Ascension, hadn’t only lifted the restrictions on Mana Arts for his own followers but also for others equally.

Handling multiple abilities was, of course, far from ordinary talent, but the reason the concept itself wasn’t all that rare was thanks to Mana Arts.

In terms of simply “manifesting” abilities, Mana Arts had the most accessible conditions. Even those who didn’t belong to the Tribal Alliance could manifest them immediately if they made the Vow of Prohibition correctly.

However.

“When you first begin, of course you won’t be as good as me. An average person has to train a full ten years just to barely reach the level of an apprentice warrior.”

“…Ten years just to be an apprentice?”

“Ten years to be an apprentice.”

The problem was that apart from manifestation, the difficulty of actually “mastering” it was beyond imagination.

It was still better than Qi, which you couldn’t even begin to train in if you had no talent, or Holy Flame, which only a few people with specific potential could manifest. But the sheer difficulty of simply “handling” it was so extreme that there were hardly any who could actually use it.

Opportunity was fair.

But everything was judged strictly by skill.

A trait that perfectly suited the God Urgan, who pursued growth above all.

“Well then, let’s get started.”

As he spoke, Dunadan solemnly wound a rosary around his hand.

It was Urgan’s sacred relic, an item used to offer prayers to him.

“O Orb. O Lotus. Let your radiance shine forth.”

In response to the incantation dedicated to Urgan, a bright light settled into the rosary. Aiden had witnessed this once before.

Immediately after, Mana Arts surged up around Dunadan’s body.

If Qi appeared as mist and Holy Flame took the form of fire, Mana Arts was a luminous aura that radiated in every direction.

Hundreds or thousands of brilliant fireflies seemed to be drifting through the air. Aiden unconsciously parted his lips as he scanned the lights with his eyes.

“The method of handling Mana Arts itself is simple. From the flow of energy moving like this…”

As he spoke, a few of the glimmering motes began to gather together, forming a clear “shape.”

Dunadan looked as if he were precisely timing the moment when the drifting motes collided, then clasping them together.

A round circle. A sphere of light formed by the gathered motes.

“You start by learning to compress them into a core you can use like this. That’s the standard for measuring a Mana Arts user’s skill. How many cores you can form out of the Mana Arts.”

As he listened to this explanation, Aiden’s expression grew rapidly darker.

Even just watching, he could immediately see how impossibly difficult this was going to be to “handle.”

Aiden answered blankly, staring at the motes of light drifting around Dunadan’s body.

Trying to follow just one or two of their paths was enough to make his eyes ache and his head pound, but here were hundreds—thousands of them.

To pinpoint the precise moment they converged and form a core out of them, you would need reflexes and intuition far beyond ordinary.

“If Qi is the process of filtering impurities out of your body, and Holy Flame feels like taming something that doesn’t obey, Mana Arts is often called ‘communing.’ Do you see what I mean?”

“…Roughly.”

To skillfully manipulate them, you had to trace every route and possibility, every variable and vector, and derive every branching outcome to understand their motion…

‘I can’t do that…!’

And it wasn’t just him—this was impossible for the vast majority of people.

That was likely why they called it communing. You didn’t calculate it. You had to sense it and respond in tune with it.

“Shall you try it once?”

“Try it…?”

“You look like someone who’s never imposed a prohibition. I’ll lend you my Mana Arts just once. Try forming a core.”

“…You can lend it like that?”

“Normally you can’t. But if you’re talking about sheer output and control of Mana Arts, I could hold the entire Great Plains in the palm of my hand.”

No wonder. Even compared to the motes he’d seen around other warriors, the volume was overwhelmingly different.

Clearly, the prohibition Dunadan had imposed on himself was no ordinary restriction…

“Well then, go ahead.”

As he said this, an unfamiliar energy rushed into Aiden’s body.

Before long, though it was far less than what had surrounded Dunadan, a wave of bright motes burst up around him.

“……”

Aiden blinked and looked around quickly.

‘Am I even supposed to be able to learn this…?’

The very first hurdle was impossibly high.

He was supposed to catch them the moment they converged into a core, but it felt like trying to grab intangible phantoms with his bare hands. He couldn’t keep up at all…

▶ Verifying operation of ‘Mana Arts.’

▶ Confirmed that additional abilities have been unlocked.

▶ [Skill: Omnipotence] level has increased.

▶ Additional effects have been granted to the skill.

And just as that thought crossed his mind—

Suddenly, a new window appeared before his eyes.

< Skill Info >

󰁱 Omnipotence [Level 2]

You can combine two or more abilities to produce effects more powerful than before.

You can pierce into the origin of abilities, making mastery and analysis easier.

▶ Discovered Combinations

〓 Guardian’s Flame (Heart of Pure White ↔ The First Vow)

※ The higher the skill level, the more abilities you can combine, and the more additional effects you gain.

※ Increase the number of abilities you can handle to raise the skill level!

“……?”

Aiden stared at the window that had suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Come to think of it, he had heard that if you increased the number of abilities you could wield, the skill would level up.

But…was it supposed to work even with abilities someone else put into you?

“……”

Then.

Aiden blankly looked around.

The moment that window appeared, he immediately sensed that something had changed compared to just before.

‘…Huh?’

Something.

He could see it.

Amid all these motes of light that had been scattering in a chaotic frenzy, he now saw a kind of “law.”

Clearly.

As if he could reach out and grasp it.

“Don’t be too greedy.”

Perhaps thinking that Aiden was just overwhelmed by the movement of the motes while he silently kept glancing around, Dunadan folded his arms with a kindly smile and spoke.

“Even I, who was called the greatest talent of the tribe, needed a full year to form my first core and advance to apprentice warrior. For now, you should just focus on getting used to how they move—”

His words cut off abruptly.

Because he had just spotted a sphere of light the size of a fist forming near Aiden’s body.

Barely five seconds had passed since the motes had appeared.

“……”

Dunadan’s face went completely stiff.