Chapter 7 Part 2: Mana Mutation

“The relationship between a mage and their wand was close to the point that many mages called their wands their other half. Such intimacy was the bond between mage and wand.

“No mage would allow another to use their wand unless in the most direst of circumstances, not their father, not even their spouse. Some mages would even prefer death. For another mage to do so was an act of humiliation greater than cuckolding that mage's spouse, it is an act of the greatest degradation. To use another mage's wand is a greater shame than rape.

“A wand is an intimate part of a mage. All mages will create their own wand. Some mages even compared it to childbirth because the mage will dedicate all their resources and time to the creation.

“Because each person is unique, the wands created are all unique as well. No two wands are alike. They may be similar, but never the same, just as no two people are entirely alike.

"Well, that part only applies to a mage's personal wand," Eric said. He raised the current wand in his hand. "This wand is something I made on the side, so if another mage uses it, I won't feel the slightest shame."

Eric slapped the wand onto his palm as he thought of another point. "A mage's personal wand does not always remain constant either. As a mage grows, they often find their wands failing to keep up, and so, they discard it for a newer one, much like how a noble will change his heir depending on their capability. Or how a man will forsake his old flame when he finds a better woman."

‘Those are terrible examples.’ Adelheid had to wonder if something traumatic resulted in her teacher’s current worldview.

In the Vuldar Empire, a noble's title is not eternal. A title is separated into three ranks, for example, a duke of a first rank, a duke of the second rank, and a duke of a third rank. The rank does not determine the authority of a noble. Instead, it represented a countdown.

The founding emperor, Ofnir von Vuldar, decreed that with each generation, a noble's title will be degraded. The son of a first-rank duke will become a duke of the second-rank. A third-rank duke's heir will become a first-rank marquis. The process will continue until the noble becomes a third-rank baron. The baron’s children will have no titles to inherit.

Unlike the Holy Seraph Kingdom, the Beast Kingdom, and many other kingdoms, nobles of the Vuldar Empire had no land. They were Nobles of the Robe. In other words, their power stemmed from judicial and administrative posts such as a minister appointed by the ruler.

Only the most skillful of nobles could retain their title. Some could even raise the rank of the peerage depending on their ability, but most of the time, their ability could not rise to their title.

For a noble to raise their title, they must hold a position above their noble title. For example, the Vuldar Empire had seven ducal posts: the prime minister and heads of the six ministries. However, attaining the post of a minister does not automatically raise the post holder's title.

If a third-rank marquis were to attain the post of minister, his title would be raised to the first rank. His son would inherit the father's second-rank marquis title. Then the son or heir after would need to become a minister to raise the rank of the title again until the house finally reached the rank of duke. However, to raise a ducal rank from third to second and first, the noble must become the prime minister.

Due to the above reasons, nobles of the Vuldar Empire often chose the most brilliant child as their heirs.

Just from this process alone, it was easy to see the founding emperor's Machiavellian personality. Not only did this centralize the emperor's authority, but it also guaranteed the abilities of the noble officials.

As for Eric's analogy with an unfaithful man, that was just his bad taste. Seriously, why was he so using such a vulgar comparison in front of a seven-year-old princess?

Adelheid's thoughts must have shown on her face because Eric coughed into his fist and diverted the subject. "Strictly speaking, wands are just the simplest focal tool that magicians craft. In reality, some mages use other tools such as staves and even rings. I won't get into the specifics, but the size of the focal tool determines the speed and power of the spells cast."

"Larger focal tools such staves offer more power, but in turn, they cause the spell construction to dramatically slow down. In contrast, smaller focal tools such as ring or bracelet casters offer speed, but their tiny size prevents their wielder from casting more potent spells. Wands offer the wielder the ability to cast potent smells—though not as powerful as staves—and decently fast spell construction. So most mage's first focal tools are wands." Eric explained.

The court mage turned around to cast a spell, causing one of the tables on the other end of the room to slide near the two. On the table were branches of different tree species and shiny gems and crystals were strewn all over. Comparing the neat and tidy arrangements of the bolts of fabric by Alfred, Eric's presentation was practically a pigsty.

Not that he seemed to notice. If anything, he seemed rather proud.

"Now, the two biggest components in the creation in a wand are the wood and magic stones. I have arranged them in an orderly manner before you," Eric said as he gestured towards the wood on one half of the table and the magic stones on the other half. On both sides, they were just haphazardly grouped together. Apparently, this was what Eric considered "organized."

"For now, ignore the specific properties of the materials and choose one or two branches and one magic stone. Just choose whatever appeals to you, touch them if you like. Perception is intrinsic to magic, so the more pleasing the materials, the better." Eric said as he stepped away, giving the seventh princess space.

Adelheid walked up to the table and did her best to ignore the irritation welling up within her due to the mess.

The aspiring mage inspected the magic stones first. She knew that magic stones were the hearts of monsters, creatures able to utilize magic. The source of the magic was the magic stone formed of condensed mana within the monster's body. These magic stones were a significant source of power for all of society.

As the military was tasked with the elimination of danger—chief among them were monsters—for the safety of the citizens, the imperial court was also tasked with the sales and distribution of magic stones. It was unlike the smaller nations and empire's borders where adventurers were hired to dispatch the threats.

An enormous magic stone the size of her fist immediately caught Adelheid's eyes. For one, it was the largest one on the table, and none of the other came close to half its size. The rest of the magic stones had sizes ranging from the size of her pinkie nail to her thumb. The second feature that caught her eye was the golden brilliance of the magic stone. It was a color more mesmerizing than topaz.

Adelheid reached out to touch and immediately shrank her hand back upon touching it. It was as if an electrifying shock had been transmitted through her fingers and into her body. There was no pain, but it still felt as if some part of her had been violated. It was extremely uncomfortable.

"I forgot to mention that touching magic stones directly often brings unwanted surprises. A good way to select your magic stone is one that feels pleasant to the touch."

The seventh princess snapped her head around and glared at Eric's fawning face. ‘That would have been nice if you warned me ahead of time.’

Taking a few deep breaths to suppress her irritation, Adelheid resumed her selection of magic stones. This time, she ignored the large magic stone that caught her attention first and looked at the others. The magic stones primarily came in red, yellow, green, blue, white, and black, with a few exceptions, such as the multicolored magic stones. Grouped together, it made for a colorful image.

In Adelheid's opinion, black was a good color, but it worked better as the dominant color. Her eyes turned towards the second color that caught her eye, red. The color red fascinated Adelheid in a way that she could not explain. She felt that she could stare at it for hours for no explainable reason. Perhaps it was the color that stained her parents’ bodies the day of their death, or maybe it was her own blood that fascinated her. Whatever the reason was, the seventh princess felt an intimate connection with the color red.

Gingerly, Adelheid brushed the surface of all the red magic stones with her fingers. Most of the time, a fiery heat would force her to retract her hand. Like earlier, there was no pain, but something more akin to a phantom sensation. ‘These must be magic stones from fire-attribute monsters.’

The few times that the red magic stones didn't transmit a burning sensation, Adelheid discovered that she didn't like the touch of them. Just as Adelheid thought none of the red magic stones would feel right to her, her skin grazed the perfect one.

The magic stone was a perfect sphere, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand easily. Its color was a blood-red at the center with the color lightening the further away it was from the core. More crucial was the feeling that Adelheid got when she touched it. When her skin came into contact, a warm feeling flowed out and seemed to merge with her mana.

The red magic stone was like a portion of Adelheid that she never knew she lost.

"What a surprise."

Adelheid almost jumped out of her skin upon hearing those words. She had been so entranced in the mesmerizing sensation that she had forgotten the world around her. The seventh princess looked at Eric quizzically, doing her best to mask her earlier shock.

If the court mage saw through her, he was doing an outstanding performance of pretending not to. "Does your highness know about attributes?"

Adelheid nodded her head. During the time she was practicing her mana control, she had visited the library to do self-studying on the topic of magic. Unfortunately, against her wishes, the library did not contain any advanced information on magic, only facts that everyone knew.

Each person, not just a mage, had at least one attribute they had an affinity with. The attribute was what allowed them to cast elemental spells. There were a total of six accepted attributes: light, darkness, fire, wind, water, and earth.

"Although rare, there are some special attributes that can't be categorized. In fact, they aren't even based on the elements such as contract, time, space, and plant attributes." Eric said.

"Does that mean that I won't be able to learn magic from you?" Adelheid asked with a frown.

"Oh, heavens no." Eric Redland said with a chuckle. "Attributes are just your natural talents in magic manifesting. Even if you don't have an affinity with certain attributes, and with enough time and patience, you will be capable of casting them. Not to mention that there exists a slew of attributeless spells. The only problem is that low affinity locks you out of advanced spells or advanced attributes. For example, only a select few people are born with the holy attribute, an advanced classification of the light attribute."

Affinity could be trained like muscles, but it was better to train one you were talented in than one that you had no talent in. However, there were some things that effort could never replace.

"Then what about me?" Adelheid asked as she rolled the marble-shaped magic stone in her palm.

"I cannot be sure. That magic stone came from an ichor slime. It's a slime that lives in a unique location where ichorite is mined. It feeds off the ichorite dwelling in the mines, and as a result, it has mana absorbent properties. Coupled with its nature as a slime, it is a problematic monster for mages and knights to face. I cannot say what attribute you possess, but if I had to guess, it would be a mutated water attribute or an advanced earth attribute."

Adelheid took in Eric's words, but she felt that both the listed attributes were wrong. However, that was not important right now. After selecting the magic stone, it was time to select the wood. Having already decided on the color earlier, Adelheid began her selection among the black-colored branches.

Once bitten, twice shy. Fearing a repeat of her earlier experience with the large, golden magic stone, Adelheid cautious touched the wooden branches. Thankfully, there was no abnormal sensation transmitted into her body.

‘What was I thinking? Magic stones transmitted those sensations because of their nature. How could wood be the same?’ After criticizing herself for becoming so timid—something she blamed the court mage for—Adelheid continued to touch all the branches.

The branches had all been preprocessed. Their barks had been shed, and all of them were cut into similar sizes.

After some time, Adelheid began to grow frustrated. Although touching the magic stones was an unpleasant experience, it was an easy method to select the right one for her. However, the wood did not react to her at all.

‘Think, there must be something that I haven't thought of. That damn court mage must be hiding something from me just like earlier. Why did the magic stone react to me? What was conveyed to me was not magic but the feeling of mana. Perhaps while its mana was being transmitted to me, my mana was also transmitted to it. Although the nature of wood and magic stones is different, utilizing mana should be the correct method in selecting the most suitable wood for me.’

The seventh princess glanced at Eric before turning back towards the branches. She raised her hand and placed it on one of the branches. Next, she began to visually emit mana and attempted to insert it into the wood.

The wood exploded into a thousand fragments.

"My, my. It seems like ordinary wood can't withstand the power of your mana." Eric commented offhandedly.

‘So it is because I placed too much mana into it? I should look for a wood that can withstand my mana instead of reducing it. And a little warning would have been nice.’ Adelheid pointedly ignored what sounded like a snicker from the court mage.

After several more attempts and explosions, Adelheid narrowed down her choices. It was between a branch of pure white and a branch of pure black. Both the branches were several times heavier than all the other branches despite being the same size.

In the end, Adelheidl chose the black branch. I like the sensation of my mana flowing into the white wood better, but I like the color black more. The difference in flow is not that much different, so it should not matter too much.

"Excellent, now we can move onto the wand creation...is what I'd like to say, but we already spent too much time, so it shall be delayed until our next lesson." Adelheid's spirit, which had just lifted upon the first part of Eric's sentences, immediately plummeted. She couldn't help but feel that her teacher was doing this on purpose.

"Mister Redland, after I learn spells and use up my mana, will my body heal?" Adelheid asked.

"Heal, that is an incorrect term. Strictly speaking, there is nothing wrong with Your Highness’s body. It is your natural state, so why does Your Highness think it is essential for you to learn magic? If it is just a matter of too much mana, those mana tools should be sufficient."

Adelheid stayed silent, unsure of the answer. No matter how much she tried to think of an answer, she came up blank. Finally, she shook her head. "I do not know."

Instead of directly answering, Eric began to speak of another matter. "In the Vuldar Empire, there exists a unique place known as Divine Wrath Canyon. Legends say that it was a remnant of the battles between the gods and the first monsters. The dense mana that exists there makes it nearly impossible for ordinary animals and monsters to live there. Do you know how monsters are created?"

"Monsters didn't exist naturally?" Adelheid asked, understanding the implication of Eric's words.

"No, at least not all of them. You can say the monsters formed from the Six Camalities are natural-born monsters. They breed with other monsters and produce offspring with magic stones within them. However, there is another method."

The fawning smile on Eric Redland's face receded, and he gazed directly into Adelheid's eyes. "When a normal creature is placed into a mana dense environment of which their body cannot handle, there are two results. Either they die due to being unable to withstand the mana, which is most of the time."

"What is the other result?" Adelheid asked, already having an inkling of the answer.

"Mana Mutation. The creature's body adapts to the dense mana and forms a magic stone, becoming a monster."

"So if I don't learn how to control my mana, I will either die or turn into a monster?" Adelheid asked, her voice full of disbelief. "How is that possible?!"

"The court mages and healers all suspect it is due to your lineage. Halflings born of humans and elves are already rare, but there has never been a halfling born from a ljos Alf, the greatest of all elves. We speculate that you inherited the natural mana of your mother, but you did not inherit her body. Perhaps, that's why the Principality of Alvarius is so against the birth of halflings from their lineage." Eric explained. His words were frighteningly calm to the point it was as if he was reciting a research essay and not the condition of the princess standing in front of him.

After leaving, Adelheid locked herself in her room for a week.