“I’m glad to hear that.”
Yerna had been anxious lately and hadn’t been able to sleep well.
However, she would be able to relax properly after seeing the results of the evaluation this time.
With various subsidies being provided, it would be even more helpful in taking care of Luke.
“Luke, is it uncomfortable living in the forest?”
“I’m fine. The forest is more comfortable.”
“Hmm…”
But Luke still decided to stay in the forest.
It wasn’t as if he could receive all that 3 million guild from the mana subsidy.
The mana accumulation syndrome, shortened to the support funds available for Circle patients, was capped at a maximum of 1.5 million guild per year.
Of course, that amount of support would be enough for most patients in average families, but…
“Luke spent twice that much in just a month.”
How surprised she had been back then.
It seemed that it was indeed not a normal rate of consumption.
“The child made a mistake. I can’t scold him.”
Anyway, it was much better than having nothing.
So, it would be unreasonable to complain about the annual subsidy being small.
Yerna was well aware that she couldn’t revamp the entire system for the sake of a single exceptional case.
The government’s welfare system had already been sufficiently helpful.
And Luke, too, felt uncomfortable in such a city.
1st Circle. He was still at a stage where he continually needed mana.
The 1st Circle was a very basic mana circle, so one couldn’t help but be concerned about the loss rate.
If likened to a water bottle, it could be said to have no lid.
Just leaving it out would cause it to gradually evaporate, and if left unattended for a moment, the water would spill out.
When mana was lost in such a manner, the circle would constantly cry out for replenishment from the depleted mana.
The cries linked to the heart naturally accompanied pain, and in severe cases could lead to shock, paralysis, or even death. Therefore, mages kept needing mana.
It was similar to the “compressed mana” used in mana power plants.
It would condense the wild mana, leaving it in a controllable state.
By binding it to one’s heart and maintaining its wildness, it was stabilized.
The ‘wild’ mana contained in the circle could be easily transformed into magic.
That was the principle of Circle Magic.
The reason higher-level magic carries a risk of failure was precisely that.
If the wild mana lost control and rampaged from the heart, it could lead to catastrophic outcomes.
“Now we have entered an era where we can compress mana without tying it to our hearts.”
In the past, requiring mana wasn’t a penalty.
Mana existed everywhere.
There was no price placed on it.
It didn’t matter how much mana an individual wizard consumed.
Unless they used potions or mana stones, that is.
Still, Luke had no regrets about binding a circle to his heart.
“I will need a 2nd Circle soon.”
The loss rate of the mana contained in the circle decreases the more layers of circles one stacks.
Luke was still only rotating one circle, hence the loss rate was significantly high.
A circle was like a gear.
When one circle is spinning, it inevitably squeaks.
No matter how talented one might be, it’s difficult to balance with just one circle.
But what about a 2nd Circle?
The second circle would rotate in the opposite direction of the other circle, leading to stabilization.
The more circles there are, the greater the stabilization and strength.
As the number of circles increased, the loss of mana decreased.
And when finally reaching the complete form at 10…
One could achieve a level of mana generation comparable to that of the World Tree.
“Well, in this era, reaching 10 circles might not even be necessary…”
With the new system of Class Magic and the privileges acquired upon reaching 10 circles seeming of little use.
The world was exceedingly peaceful, so even with just 7 circles, it would be more than sufficient for personal advancement.
“But what exactly is 7 circles in terms of authority?”
Luke recalled the events at the mana power plant and flipped through the pages.
There was the “Strength Enhancement” that Gerard had shown him.
It was definitely classified as a 3rd Class support magic.
What reason could there be for it to be classified as 3rd Class?
His thoughts spiraled, leading him back to events in the high-pressure mana zone.
“What did the spirit who transferred mana to me even say? I regret not studying spirit language.”
For some reason, he felt that he had quite a high affinity for spirits.
He could see, hear, and feel them.
In fact, wizards and spirits often had a poor relationship, as the spirits were an integral part of the mana itself, whereas wizards interpret and accumulate mana in their bodies.
Therefore, there was a significant gap between wizards and spirits, which led Luke to never learn a language he considered unnecessary in his life.
Looking back now, he regretted it.
Suddenly, as if a thought had struck him, he said to Yerna.
“Yerna, I have something I want to ask.”
“Huh? Go ahead.”
Yerna, who was securing her hair with a pin, turned to Luke with a bright smile.
Her reaction made Luke feel a bit shy as he averted his gaze and asked.
“Can you speak the spirit language?”
“Spirit language…?”
Yerna was bewildered.
Spirit language?
There were no spirits in this era.
Even if they existed, they couldn’t speak anymore.
So, there was no way there could be a spirit language.
Yerna, who deeply pondered how to respond without shattering Luke’s innocent thoughts, finally exclaimed, “Oh! I just remembered something! I’ll be right back!”
Choosing to flee instead of answering.
Tap!
“….”
Luke barely had the chance to react.
Was it really such an urgent matter?
A feeling of something contrived caught Luke’s senses, but he chose not to mention it.
After all, even among renowned spirit masters from 5000 years ago, very few could properly converse in spirit language.
Spirit language was that difficult and unstructured.
So it wouldn’t be entirely strange for Yerna not to know it. Come to think of it, hadn’t she said she hadn’t contacted any spirits lately?
Perhaps communication was indeed difficult.
Affinity and communication skills are not the same.
“Ere, Ere…”
The only word he could recall from the language spoken by spirits.
This wasn’t an issue of Luke’s memory.
In reality, most spirit language consists of sounds that cannot be articulated by human mouths. Their conversations are shaped by sound waves that lack tongues and vocal cords.
It’s nearly impossible to fully comprehend those subtle tones unless one is also a spirit.
The human brain interprets such signals as “noise,” not as language.
In the past, Luke had never even considered learning that difficult language.
After all, spirits often learned human languages, but it was rare for humans to learn spirit language.
However, spirits do use vocalizations that humans can pronounce for “nouns.”
Like mana, which exists everywhere in this world, spirits also exist almost everywhere.
And they always hope that someone will call for them, which is why they create their names in pronounceable human language.
This was a trait of spirits who liked to be acknowledged.
“So ‘Ere’ must definitely be a name…”
Ere.
What on earth could it mean?
He felt he had heard it somewhere before, though he couldn’t recall where.
As he racked his brain, pondering deeply, he felt no relief from his frustration.
“Hmm…”
Should he perhaps visit Gerard later?
He might be the closest person to a “mage” that he had met so far, so perhaps he could help clarify what “Ere” meant.
——-
A while later, during lunch break, Yerna returned to find Luke reading a book in a box, with a troubled expression on his face.
Why was he looking so troubled?
“Lu, is something difficult for you?”
At Yerna’s question, Luke immediately looked up at her.
“Ah, Yerna. I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you came. Could you wait a moment? I’ll be up shortly…”
“No, don’t do that. Just relax. By the way, why were you looking so troubled?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just thinking about something.”
“Is that so?”
As Luke quickly relaxed and began looking at the book again, Yerna suddenly recalled her promise with Daphne.
“I definitely asked her to take a picture of Lu looking cute, right?”
Since Daphne had informed her about the provisional protection extension system, she could easily send a picture of Luke.
She had received a picture before, and Luke seemed to have no objections to being photographed.
Lifting her phone, Yerna said,
“Luke, look here.”
“Uh? Oh, a picture? Here.”
Luke naturally made a peace sign with his hand next to his face.
“Pff.”
It was quite unique that Luke always struck that pose whenever a photograph was being taken.
Did he really enjoy being photographed?
He had been very pleased when he first showed him the picture taken of him, and Yerna wished she had kept that moment in a picture as well.
“Does he actually know he’s cute?”
She stifled a laugh, shoulders shaking slightly.
As a moment’s delay occurred in taking the photo, Luke, confused about why Yerna was suddenly acting this way, spoke up.
“Why are you laughing? Stop laughing and take the picture quickly.”
“Ah, sorry, sorry. I’ll take it.”
Luke merely found Yerna’s sudden outburst of laughter to be odd.
Click!
And thus, the photo captured Luke inside the box, reading a book with a peace sign made.
“This should please Daphne.”
Yerna smiled satisfied as she looked at the captured photo.
“Do you want to see how it turned out?”
To that suggestion, Luke immediately replied.
“Of course.”
There was no way Luke would miss the chance to check out the phone.
“Well, what do you think?”
As Yerna handed the phone to Luke, who carefully accepted it, he once again marveled at the image.
“Magic truly is incredible.”
Once again, Luke was quickly absorbed in the magical processing of this planar manifestation method called “photo.”
How could such a sophisticated magical arrangement be created by human hands? For Luke, the use of such magical power was nothing short of mesmerizing every time he witnessed it.
“Do you think it was well taken?”
“Ah, yeah. I think it turned out well.”
In truth, Luke wasn’t particularly interested in what was in the photo, but he had no reason to claim that it had been poorly taken, so he gave a vague positive response.
With Luke’s permission, Yerna took back the phone and said,
“By the way, Lu, how about we have lunch and then go for a walk?”
“A walk, you say?”
“Yes, let’s get some fresh air after we eat. It would be boring to just stay inside all the time, right?”
Yerna hadn’t been able to go for a walk with Luke for the past week because she had been so busy.
Luke, still a child, really enjoyed walks, and Yerna felt quite guilty for not being able to provide that for him.
“Alright. Let’s do that.”
Of course, it was better for Luke to walk outside than to replenish mana indoors, so he did not refuse.
“Great! Then let’s eat.”
Luke nodded as Yerna handed him the packed lunch.
The menu was the same as always, salad and canned food. While he hadn’t had any complaints before, to be honest, he was getting a bit tired of it.
As he opened the can and placed its contents on his portion of salad that Yerna had brought, mixing it with a fork and eating, he suddenly felt nostalgic for Dayton’s cooking.
The taste of those skewers was deeply engraved in Luke’s memory.
After finishing the meal, Luke asked Yerna,
“I haven’t seen Dayton around lately. Is something going on?”
Yerna hesitated for a moment, then asked in a serious tone.
“…Lu, do you miss Dayton?”
Miss? That feeling wasn’t it at all.
Luke shook his head and replied.
“I’m not saying I miss him. I was just a little worried. We haven’t seen him at all in the past week.”
“So that’s why you’re worried?”
“That’s right. Also, I quite liked the dishes he made. Since I haven’t seen him, I can’t request them again.”
“….”
Yerna frowned and thought.
“I should probably go visit him later…”
…Since she had gotten a bit too excited back then and mismanaged her strength.
