Kays Translations

Chapter 24: Optimization and Understanding of Magic Power

Isamu gradually became aware of a soft and warm sensation on his stomach, and his consciousness started to awaken.

Though his head felt somewhat foggy, he somehow realized he was lying on a bed.

"Mmm..."

"Nn!-san!"

When he tried to become more aware by moving slightly, he thought he heard a voice calling his name.

"Isamu-san! Are you okay?"

The voice that had been calling him from beside the bed became clearer as he consciously recognized it.

Slowly opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Orihime, curled up on his stomach.

"Nyaaaa~"

Upon realizing that Isamu had opened his eyes, she let out a small meow, walked across his body, licked his nose, and curled up on his chest again.

"Hehe, you're heavy, Orihime."

Isamu gently stroked the back of his beloved cat, who was resting on his chest.

"Isamu-san! You've woken up! I'm so glad..."

The voice calling him had come from the bedside, and it was the same voice that had been calling him earlier.

"Ah, Annemarie-san. Why are you here...?"

He said that and then his memory finally started to come back.

"I see, I suddenly lost consciousness while using magic."

"Yes! The Full-Body Enhancement was incredibly powerful, but you suddenly collapsed... My mother just laughed and said it was magic power exhaustion, but I was so worried."

Annemarie's eyes filled with tears as she spoke.

"I'm sorry for causing you concern... I didn't understand how it worked because I've been in a world without magic for so long. Haha..."

"No, I'm just relieved that you're safe. You slept for about two hours, so I think your magic power has recovered, but are you feeling okay?"

"Well, my head is a little heavy, but I'm fine now."

"That's good. Full-Body Enhancement Full Enhance is known to consume a lot of magic power, so they say..."

"They say? "

"Yes. Since no one had ever been able to use it properly before, the exact amount of magic power it consumes was unknown. But since it's a magic that enhances the entire body simultaneously, it was expected to be quite magic-intensive."

"Ah, I see. It certainly felt like I was using magic power all over my body..."

"Exactly. But now, it has been proven that it really does consume a significant amount of magic power."

"Yeah. I used it without being able to adjust my magic power, so it probably drained all my magic power."

"Most likely. Although it usually decreases gradually, and the body starts to feel fatigued, you likely ran out of magic power faster than you could feel it..."

"Oh, I see. I remember when I was practicing with Water Balls; it felt like that. But now, I can see the magic power flowing through my whole body! If I don't activate it, I can efficiently practice controlling my magic power."

"Hehe. Even though you just fainted from magic power exhaustion, you're still as determined as ever, Isamu-san. You’re not disciplined at all."

Annemarie said with a gentle smile.

"Ahaha, it's a long-awaited magic! I can't afford to miss this chance."

"Good luck! I'll be cheering for you too. But please don't push yourself too hard!"

"Yes, thank you."

"Then I'll go inform my parents that Isamu-san woke up. Marcella was quite worried, thinking it was her fault."

With that, Annemarie left the room.

(Isamu-san... It's finally not just "sama." I’m glad she’s not calling me ‘sama’ anymore, but I have to try not to worry her too much...)

At first, it was "Matsumoto-sama," then it became "Isamu-sama," and now it was finally "Isamu-san." She had always cared for him, but there had always been some kind of barrier. Now, it felt like that barrier had finally disappeared, and Isamu was happy about that. It was a silver lining to the injury.

(Alright, I'll do my best!)

With renewed determination, Isamu continued to practice magic.

From that point on, Isamu was like a fish out of water. He continued to practice magic control while maintaining the state before activating Full-Body Enhancement. This state wouldn't last long, and he needed to have a certain level of imagery for the magic to convert the magic power. When he focused on moving the magic power, it would often make the initial magic's image vague and stop the conversion. As a result, each attempt would last for about ten seconds. It was by no means efficient, and, to be honest, it felt like a form of self-torture.

However, Isamu, who enjoyed patiently verifying things, had no problem with it. In fact, he was motivated by being able to clearly confirm the magic power's manipulation.

After five days of practicing magic control with the state set by Full-Body Enhancement, he finally grasped the key to magic control. In the past two days, he had dedicated his afternoons to practicing magic control, thinking he was on the verge of grasping the key. As a result, Eto, the magic tools specialist, had been quite dissatisfied, while Annemarie was delighted.

And then, five more days after grasping the key to magic control. Today, in the backyard, Isamu was practicing magic. He still devoted a significant amount of time to magic practice but ensured he also spent time at the magic tool workshop. Otherwise, Eto would sulk. However, he didn't have time to begin the full-scale decoding of the function circles; he was focusing on minor changes to the startup arrays and conducting experiments.

"Water, flow out from nothingness and gather in my hand, Water Ball!"

As Isamu activated the magic, a water ball the size of a baseball appeared in front of his right palm, extending out.

"Excellent... Now, how much magic power can you control?"

With her arms crossed, Nicolette asked, genuinely impressed.

"At the moment, the smallest amount I can control is this."

"I see. Then, how about putting about five times the magic power of the one you just conjured?"

"I'll give it a try!"

In response to her, Isamu canceled the magic and then activated it again.

This time, a water ball of about the size of a large exercise ball materialized.

"I think it's about five times as much!"

"Hmm, the size has increased about tenfold... Thank you! Please take a break for now."

"Understood."

Considering the considerable size of the water ball, Isamu didn't deactivate it abruptly. Instead, he gently moved it close to the ground before releasing the spell. With a splash, the water ball lost its form, leaving the surroundings soaked.

As for what he was doing, Isamu, who had developed some level of magic control, was practicing adjusting the amount of magic power. Despite finally being able to control magic power, his precision still left much to be desired. Notably, without the ability to control the amount of magic power he used, there was not only a risk of magic power depletion but also a risk of an uncontrolled discharge. Hence, he was practicing filling a relatively safe spell with quantifiable magic power.

At first, he was quite vague in his control, only able to adjust between "too much" or "too little." But now, he had progressed to the point where he could control the smallest unit as 1 and adjust the amount in multiples of that. People in this world, perhaps due to having had magic from birth, didn't generally quantify their magic power. So, initially, they were surprised by Isamu’s approach. To him, being able to put "about three times" as much magic power as before was truly unbelievable...

Furthermore, another handy aspect of being able to adjust magic power was that he could now quantify his own magic power. When he first arrived here, he had his stats measured, and his magic power was said to be 105, which meant nothing to him. The average was said to be around 100, so he would be close to the average. But he didn't know what that meant until now.

However, now that he could control his magic power, he had completely quantified his magic power. Ideally, measuring the magic power by using magic until he fainted would be the most accurate method. However, due to past experiences, he rejected that method. Instead, he used the common sense empirical rule in this world: when magic power drops below half, the body starts to feel sluggish. Using this method, Isamu discovered that he could perform the smallest magic about 31 times before feeling sluggish, and if he pushed himself to exhaustion, he could use it about 60 times.

On the other hand, Annemarie used a similar method and found that her body started to feel sluggish after about 45 uses. It was approximately 1.5 times more than Isamu, but it couldn't be compared in terms of absolute quantity because the smallest unit might not be equivalent to Isamu’s. However, from a practical perspective, it would be easier to operate if you knew how many times you could use "the smallest magic power spell for that person." By the way, Nicolette, known as the "Witch of the Forest," had a different order of magnitude, measuring around 105 times. Although she claimed, "The difference in magic power is not a decisive factor in determining combat power," Isamu didn't overlook her little pout.

With this, Isamu finally felt satisfied with learning magic control and understanding his own magic power. From the next day, he planned to return to his initial schedule and dedicate all his afternoon hours to the study of magic tools.

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