Transmigrated Into A Tragic Romance Fantasy – Chapter 51

You Look Great

“Rachel?”

“Yes.”

“Could you teach me about mana manipulation today?”

As I headed to the training ground with Rachel, I asked her this.

I wanted to cultivate the power to manipulate mana, which was indispensable in a medieval fantasy world.

Fortunately, unlike other fantasy worlds, it was said that anyone in this world could manipulate the mana that flowed through the atmosphere.

However, each person had a limit to the capacity of their dantian that could contain mana.

Those with exceptionally large capacities had the talent to become great magicians or sorcerers, while those with moderate capacities could use mana in conjunction with martial arts, like Rachel, to compensate for their limited capacity. Those with small capacities could manage only minor feats like lighting a campfire or creating light, and those with extremely small capacities couldn’t use mana in daily life at all.

Since the theoretical books on mana manipulation explained it this way, I too must have the basic ability to handle mana. But I could only understand my capacity by actually trying to manipulate it.

I had tried to awaken my dantian and manipulate mana based on what I learned from the theoretical books, but it wasn’t easy to grasp.

Simply learning from written words didn’t give me a feel for it.

I asked Rachel, hoping that seeing an actual demonstration of mana manipulation would give me some insight.

Rachel was a romantic swordswoman who combined mana with swordsmanship.

She was known as the “Purple Knight” not just because of her violet hair.

Since she often used purple mana in battle, she naturally earned the nickname.

To overcome the inherent limits of her physical strength, she utilized mana, and I was curious if I could similarly take advantage of such benefits, starting with learning mana manipulation.

To turn high-grade monsters into culinary ingredients, one had to either walk a single path to the pinnacle of martial arts or use innate magical power to take a shortcut. One of these two methods had to be achieved.

Naturally, the latter was easier and quicker than the former, which required pushing limits to the extreme.

Of course, this also required an inherently large dantian capacity.

By the way, the monster grading system in the original novel’s world was different from typical fantasy settings. 

For example, dragons, which are often the strongest creatures in fantasy settings, were classified as mid-tier monsters in this world, which had a unique structure. One of the top-tier monsters was a [Slime].

To put it nicely, the original world had an innovative setting that defied common sense.

Or perhaps,

‘The original author might have been a slime enthusiast.’

The monster guide explained that the slime had a soft yet resilient body with a slippery, tough exterior that repelled all physical attacks and could only be harmed by fire-based magic, making it difficult to hunt. Moreover, its shape-shifting body could engulf hunters like a wave, suffocating them and then dissolving them slowly with its digestive fluids.

Its semi-transparent body allowed one to see the horrific sight of human flesh dissolving.

Despite this, it looked just like the typical round, plump slime in modern imaginations.

Ironically, its cute appearance made it a favored ingredient among the highest-ranking nobles, with slime pudding being the top-tier dessert.

Given their extreme rarity and the difficulty of hunting them, it was understandable that a single dish could cost as much as a small house, making it unlikely to appear on the table of a declining count.

If I couldn’t buy it, I’d make it myself.

Perhaps, my ultimate culinary adventure might end with [Slime Pudding].

Anyway.

Given my late start in learning, I desperately needed the help of magical power.

I hoped that my dantian capacity would at least support the martial prowess I started learning late in life.

Rachel, having finished preparing for training, held her wooden sword and replied.

“Mana, you say?”

“Yes, I think it would be helpful to have some magical power. But what I learned from books just doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Hmm…, I also happened to awaken it by chance, so I don’t know how to explain it.”

“By chance?”

“Yes. I awakened it in a life-or-death situation. If not for that, I wouldn’t be here now.”

Ah.

Hmm.

That was a rather grim awakening.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the desire to risk my life for enlightenment, so I needed to earnestly ask my teacher for a safer method.

“Could you at least give me a rough idea? Seeing it in practice might help me understand.”

“……”

Rachel’s black pupils turned to me.

It was the same as the first training session.

When I had pleaded with her to explain the basics of swordsmanship, she had looked at me with the same eyes.

Eyes filled with contemplation.

Then she had said, “I’ll gather my thoughts and explain it to you tomorrow,” and had promised the next day.

She had apologized, saying she wasn’t good with words.

It was the same look today, so I thought she would promise to explain tomorrow.

“Alright. I will try to convey the feeling. But please bear with my lack of eloquence.”

My teacher kindly accepted her student’s request.

Rachel, who had made me her father’s secret honey water for my hangover and had generously shared the best part of the Green Lizard tongue, readily accepted what might have been an unreasonable request from her student.

She was particularly kind today.

**

“Like this… feel something wriggling inside and move it up….”

“Like this… gather it in your heart….”

“Like this… send it to your shoulders….”

“Like this… gather it in your elbows….”

“Like this… send it to the fingertips of the hand you want to use….”

Bang!

Purple flames bloomed from Rachel’s hands.

“This is how you manipulate mana.”

….

…….

A very….

……..kind teacher indeed.

How about it? Pretty easy, right?

It was just like how Bob Ross, with his curly hair, would swiftly paint a lifelike landscape and then ask, almost tauntingly, “Isn’t it easy?” Rachel’s lesson ended just like that.

The progress is too fast from the morning, teacher.

I should have protested, but knowing that Rachel, who had never received or given instructions before, did her best, I stood up quietly, brushing off my seat.

Actions over words.

Practicality over practice.

Asking Rachel, who grew through self-study and had coincidentally mastered mana manipulation in a life-or-death situation, to explain it eloquently was a contradictory wish.

Moreover.

I certainly felt more from her demonstration than from the books.

Thanks to Rachel’s demonstration, the dense fog that clouded my vision seemed to clear up a bit.

It was as if I could feel the mana rising from Rachel’s dantian and flowing through her bloodstream.

I felt like I was starting to understand it a bit.

Seeing is believing.

Our ancestors had long realized that seeing something was more effective for enlightenment than hearing about it a hundred times, which is why they left us this saying.

Not wanting my teacher’s efforts to go to waste, I took a serious approach.

I placed my hand near my dantian.

For some reason, I felt a pulse.

And I sensed something swirling inside.

“If you give me some time, I’ll refine my explanation and teach you more.”

Rachel said, but I was already too focused to respond.

Feeling the pulse in my dantian, I tried to pull it upwards, following Rachel’s instructions.

“Move it… up.”

I confined it in my heart.

The pulse of my heart quickened momentarily.

“Then… to the shoulders….”

I split the pulse gathered in one place into both shoulders.

The heartbeat gradually slowed down.

“Gather it in the elbows….”

I focused on my fingertips, but something felt blocked, and the pulse gathered in my elbows seemed to slacken.

The pulse that was strong in my left elbow faded and seemed to return to my shoulder.

Eventually, the pulse in my left elbow stopped altogether.

I gritted my teeth.

I clenched my fists.

I tightened my abdomen.

For some reason, it felt right to do so.

“……”

My whole body started to tremble.

It was a deep-seated vibration, like a chill, and the weakening pulse roared back to life.

Then, I felt something gathering in my right elbow, flowing down the fine blood vessels towards my fingertips.

It was like a loud thunderbolt spreading out in a fine streak.

And then.

Fizzle…

Crackle…

Black sparks began to flicker on my palm.

It was more like a current than a flame, a glowing arc that sparked brightly and then fizzled out.

At the same time, I felt all my strength drain away, and I had to support myself on my knees, gasping for breath.

“Hah… hah….”

I realized my whole body was drenched in sweat.

After catching my breath, I straightened up.

“……”

I saw Rachel’s dumbfounded face.

She seemed taken aback by how easily I had managed to grasp what she had only learned in a life-or-death moment.

I scratched the back of my head sheepishly and tried to explain.

It was almost like an excuse.

“Ha-ha… I really didn’t expect this to work….”

A moment later.

For the first time, I saw something new in Rachel’s eyes.

It was similar to the look Ariel had when I recommended a novel.

Joy… excitement…?

Something like that…?

And that evening.

Rachel came out wearing a red dress for Ariel’s party.

The dress had open shoulders and revealed her curves.

It was the first time I’d seen her in such a feminine outfit.

“D-Do I look strange…?”

Rachel asked shyly, adjusting the red dress, and I conveyed my honest impression.

“You look great.”