04 - The Tree and its Branches

After my mana had recovered, I went back to testing the healing spell, or rather, testing the base of the healing spell.

Comparing the three healing spells and how the base was only slightly different for each of the spells, I began to understand this structure a little more.

It was as if the base of the spell was the trunk of a tree.

Each of the three healing spells I saw caused branches to grow from this trunk.

The different branches that appeared on the trunk made the spell behave in different ways, but still maintaining the same base.

For example, [Examen Vitalis], the examination spell, created branches on the trunk that probably induced the spell to go through the person's body, analyze how it was and return the information to the mind of the person who cast the spell.

The basic healing spell, [Spiritus Vitae], created branches on the trunk that probably caused the spell to transform the Mana used into vitality for the target, speeding up recovery from injuries and inducing the target's body to start healing faster too.

While the spell that transformed Mana into nutrition for the target's body, [Nutrire Vitae], probably created branches that made the Mana do exactly what the spell's name said.

With each spell showing that small variations in the base of the spell could bring completely different results, I was tempted to just start randomly tinkering with the base structure of the spell, creating various random branches and see what that would result in, but remembering that I was now dealing with real magic and not just a game, tinkering with a spell in such a reckless way didn't seem like a wise choice.

Instead of “creating new branches” on the spell tree, I could try to do the reverse process and “break existing branches” and see how that would change the spell.

Feeling that [Examen Vitalis] was the most harmless of the four spells I knew so far, counting the summon water spell, this was the spell I decided to test.

Not to mention that it was perhaps the only spell I could perform, since even my father, who has more Mana than me, said he couldn't perform the healing spells that could help Finn's body.

The [Examen Vitalis] tree had a total of 12 branches.

To make sure nothing went too wrong, I first decided to do the spell with all 12 branches intact.

With my hand pointed towards me, I performed the spell and analyzed everything with my magic eyes.

As soon as I began to control the mana in my body to form the trunk of the tree, my attention focused completely on the spell and each stage of the trunk was successfully done, after which I began to focus on making the branches.

As it was my first time making these branches, this was a little more difficult than making the trunk, but before long everything was complete.

As soon as the 12 branches were completed and I cut off the flow of Mana for a second, the [Examen Vitalis] tree was complete and the spell began to be performed.

First, green Mana flowed out of the palm of my right hand and then into my left arm, which was stretched out ready to serve as a guinea pig.

When it entered my left arm, the Mana stood still for a fraction of a second before starting to move again, traversing my entire arm, passing through my chest, down to my belly and following my entire body until it returned to my left arm and exited my skin, returning to my hand.

As soon as the Mana returned to my hand, information about the state of my body came into my mind, causing the spell to finally stop and the spent Mana to disappear, leaving me in a much more exhausted state than when I used the [Aqua Evocare] spell.

Breathing heavily, I leaned on the store counter and let my body rest while I focused on the information that came into my mind.

Although it wasn't a precise and detailed diagnosis like that of the doctors in my previous world, the quality of the information I received wasn't useless.

It ran through my body as I made basic checks on my organs, analyzing whether they were functioning 'OK' and how worn out they were.

Unsurprisingly, my body was entering a state of severe malnutrition.

Even without a mirror I had already noticed that I was much thinner than I should have been, and when interacting with other people I also noticed that I was smaller than a 14-year-old boy should be, something that was probably also to blame for the malnutrition...

So receiving this answer for the spell didn't surprise me at all.

What did surprise me was that the only “organ” that the spell declared as “Ok” was my Mana Core.

Unfortunately, the only answer I received from the spell was that my Mana Core was Ok, nothing about the quality of it, the amount of Mana it recovered, the total capacity, or any detail that could give me more information about myself.

But knowing that at least the basis for me to practice magic was “Ok” made me quite satisfied.

Unfortunately, the Mana cost of this spell was much higher than that of [Aqua Evocare], so this time I needed three hours of rest to recover the Mana I had used to do this spell.

During this time my father and I had lunch together, a porridge that tasted terrible that my mother had prepared for us.

I couldn't even complain about her cooking skills because I knew it was only bad due to a lack of money to buy other ingredients...

So I just shoveled this porridge into my stomach since not eating it would be even worse.

While we were eating, my father tried to talk to me.

“How's your spell test going? I saw you practicing them when there were no customers.” He asked curiously as he looked at me a little expectantly.

From Kael's recollections, he and Alden hardly talked at all at work since the former boy had extremely poor social skills, preferring only to remain silent or answer questions with monosyllabic responses.

He was probably seeing this as something we could talk about together, perhaps trying to shorten the distance that had built up between the two of us?

That was a strange feeling for me.

As an orphan who was raised in an orphanage until he came of age, the feeling of someone caring about you in such a sincere way was a little disconcerting.

Unlike talking to someone random, something I had to get used to because of the success I'd had in my previous life, talking to someone who really cared and was worried about me was more suffocating.

“Okay.” I replied uncomfortably, but thinking about the effort the man was making to get closer to me, I decided to add a little more. “I managed to reproduce the [Examen Vitalis] spell.”

Listening to my answer, I could see that he was looking at me differently.

“Was that the first time you practiced that spell?” He asked, his bright purple eyes looking at me strangely.

“Considering that I practiced twice before how to do the structure of the spell and that this was the first time I tried to do the complete spell, both the structure and the smaller details, this was my third attempt.” I said as I looked away from him and focused on the wooden bowl I was using to eat the porridge, ignoring the fact that the second attempt was only interrupted because of him.

“You only saw the spell once and managed to reproduce it in just three attempts?” He asked again, trying to confirm that what he had heard was right.

Thinking about how he was reacting made me worry a little. 'Maybe being able to reproduce it so quickly and easily showed a worrying level of talent?' I thought.

Considering that this was a medieval world, with nobles and wizards who could do whatever they wanted and who could make excuses for any whim of theirs, I should be careful about anything I showed others.

'Even if my talent isn't as good as I'm assuming, just my modern thinking and advanced knowledge could be considered heresy depending on who I was talking to...' I thought as I began to worry.

“Yes...?” I replied uncertainly.

Hearing my answer, a big, proud smile appeared on Alden's face.

Even with those bright, scary purple eyes, you could see that his smile was one of happiness and pride, something that made me feel even stranger.

“Heck, even Hal, who always showed a talent for magic even greater than mine and my father's, couldn't learn spells as fast as you, even though he had a supply of Mana several times greater than yours, Kael!” He said smiling as he gave me a thumbs-up.

Seeing that it was only pride on his face, I finally let out a sigh of relief.

“I still remember some spells from when I was young and still trying my chances as a wizard, if you ever want to learn those spells I can teach you.” Alden said as he looked at me expectantly, totally different from the way he had been despondently telling me how low my chances of being a wizard had been a few hours ago.

'Maybe the talent I showed him was really so great that he disregarded the deficiency of our eyes and saw so much potential in me? ' I asked myself worriedly.

“All right, if I need more spells I'll ask you.” I replied in a low voice, while thinking that I should be more careful in the future.

Showing talent at some point can be good, but showing too much talent without any ability to protect myself won't do me any good...