7B. Magical Verification 2

Just as a series of operations became smooth enough to execute in about one second,

——『[Mana Manipulation] has reached Level 2』

——『[Mana Perception] has reached Level 2』

the system announced. Mana Perception had leveled up because, with practice, mana had become clearer to see.

At first, it had been little more than imagination—now, it was visible, faint but distinct.

“Huh. Pretty quick level-up, huh.”

“Typically it takes several days to weeks. That’s quite fast,” Mitoka said, her expression impressed.

“Could it be the effect of the Apostle title?”

“Possibly, but in this world, books and paper exist—barely—but they’re still rare, and there’s no such thing as moving images. So most people aren’t used to vividly imagining or visualizing things from scratch. That’s why ordinary folk struggle with that part. Shiro, on the other hand, has a rich imagination.”

To convert mana into physical matter through magic, one needs imagination that’s close enough to reality—imagination capable of being rendered into a scene graph.

In that sense, it made perfect sense that in the apprentice system, masters would show their disciples the way.

Good. Time to try fire next, Shiro thought. He decided to test the fire attribute.

Using the same mana manipulation, instead of water, he visualized a fireball. Specifically, he imagined the molecular formula for oxygen and a flammable gas—methane, for now. His willpower remained at 120, but he focused on imagining a phase transition into a gas, and further, the state of combustion—oxidation, in other words—and chanted, “Materialize.” The fireball appeared, safely.

Overconfident, Shiro began experimenting with various things.

Stone—silicon dioxide, in this case. Focus, focus... Shiro sharpened his concentration. Solid phase transition required high willpower, 130, and strong focus. A translucent white stone. Its surface rough, uneven.

With the right mental image, he managed to shape it into a glass bead—though the clarity wasn't great. Glass required a glass phase transition, so fine-tuned magic adjustment was necessary, he thought.

Compressed air—imagine it in a high-pressure state. Willpower 130 needed, focus! He activated it, but after a few seconds, it burst. Shiro flinched. He realized he needed to maintain the compressed state in his mind. The fireball had held shape for a while, so visualizing sustained form seemed important, he concluded.

Lightning—this was essentially a clump of electrons... too risky, he thought. Maybe try a plasma ball instead? Phase transition to plasma required imagery of magic, plasma, subatomic particles, and electrons. Willpower 140, intense focus. He succeeded in creating a chunk that sparked wildly, crackling all over.

—What the hell is this thing even supposed to be? Shiro frowned, unable to quite accept the result.

Ice—this was actually fairly advanced. Start with a water sphere, add mental image of temperature drop. Reverse it, and you get hot water. Temperature change required imagining molecular motion changes—high focus, willpower 140. Phase transition to liquid or solid, plus excitation of molecular motion—so a touch of electromagnetic wave imagery needed in his magic.

Trying various things,

—‘[Magic Manipulation] has reached Level 3.’

—‘[Magic Perception] has reached Level 3.’

—‘[Materialization] has reached Level 2.’

——‘[Magic] has reached Level 2.’

——‘[Magic] has reached Level 3.’

“Ooh, level up. Hmm, materialization skill’s pretty versatile, huh?” Shiro said, buzzing with excitement.

“Shiro, normally it’d consume a ton of magic power, and we don’t even know the exact chemical formulas or physical laws behind materials, so you couldn’t conjure all this stuff like this.”

Mitoka watched him with a mix of disbelief and exasperation.

“Meh, I guess I’m just a developer and knowledge cheat. Wait… now that I think about it, didn’t I only have 100 magic points? How am I using this much?”

Shiro suddenly wondered aloud.

“Thanks to the [Idea] skill. Beyond its intended function as a tool, it lets you cast magic continuously without limits on magic power.”

Mitoka casually dropped what sounded like a crucial detail.

“Wait—so that’s not just powerful? That’s broken!”

“No, actually there’s a significant limitation. Attack magic or any persistent magic that doesn’t stay on you won’t draw power from the skill. So experimentation and personal use are fine, but anything else still requires normal magic consumption. Basically, it’s like a developer license—meant only for self-use.”

“…I see. Whether that’s good or bad, I can’t tell. Still, being able to test freely like this is pretty great. For real-world use, I’ll just grind up levels normally…?”

“That seems to be the case…”

The two fell silent, caught between a subtle convenience and its hard limits.

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