A sunbeam woke me up. I scratched my belly and got up. I had slept in a disgraceful manner again... it was also quite bright outside. I looked out of the window and the sun was quite high. Did I sleep until noon? My [Acedia] is gone but my sleeping habits have remained.
I yawned, made some mistflower tea and opened the paper on [Hattrick] to do a peer review.
There aren’t many Misha that can correct my work and Agnis has the same problem. We even have the danger that we could make the same mistake and nobody could point out the flaw. Agnis’ paper had flaws but I couldn’t correct them as I only knew it was incorrect and not the solution to it. He knew that too but that was the best he could do in the absence of a correct answer. Despite that, [Hattrick] was highly functional.
I pulled the hairpin out of my hair and used [Hattrick]. The hairpin copied itself and 2 fans floated in front of me. Each hairpin contained as much mana as I possessed. It effectively tripled my mana. This was one of its selling points and the runic structure responsible for that piqued my interest.
The Misha had tried to achieve this for millennia and never succeeded. How did he find out? No clue. It certainly isn’t from my research but he somehow referred my research.
A lot of his theories or claims couldn’t be supported and he pointed that out. Our field is in its infancy but he made a gutsy move and based his work on those theories. It created something that worked. That should normally be proof but it has to be reproduced first. I didn’t have time to test that out but that didn’t matter now.
The mana replication rune cluster occupies 15.73% of [Hattrick]. The magic circle was structured like a book and had 21 chapters with each at least 90 folds. All were extremely complicated. The rune clusters coding for mana replication formed the backbone keeping the chapters coherent and together. It was also the largest rune cluster of [Hattrick].
My eyes skimmed over the properties he had listed. The whole skill could be taken apart by knocking those clusters out which was why he had build a form of security around it.
I kept reading and while I didn’t understand the security system, one thing was clear. Interrupting or copying [Hattrick] was impossible. Not even Agnis or I could interrupt or forcibly crack this skill.
A smile crept up on my face.
Misha don’t have race-specific abilities but this will be our first and strongest one. Nothing can counter it.
My peer review turned into me nerding out trying to find out how mana got replicated.
“Wow, he didn’t half-ass this...”
There were 3 mechanisms. It took me 3 hours to find it. One mechanism pulled mana from a different plane. Another one had smaller clusters loop into each other generating mana without putting a burden on the caster and the last one was converting the different mana type in our hats into the mana we’re used to.
I leaned backward and looked at the ceiling.
His identity as a spirit fox was bleeding through with this solution. Drawing mana from another plane... only a spatiotemporal magic using mythical beast would come up with that idea. Looping mana runes into each other and ordering the other to produce more mana is so simple and sill that it might actually work and it did. Reducing the burden on the user seemed to be the hardest part. The last aspect was completely foreign to me.
He referred to an appendix which I brought in front of me.
It was about magical weapons. His expertise as a magic weapon blacksmith had aided him here.
“Hmm, let's see. Magic weapons have a core which gives the weapon itself something akin to a mana system. It’s independent of the user and can still be used in mana-free zones or areas that block magic circle formation?”
I flipped through the pages and found the answer I was looking for. [Hattrick] could be used in situations where magic can’t be used or activated.
“So our hats have mana different from our own?”
I had a great bond with my hat so finding this out shouldn’t be difficult.
A floating fan came toward me and I focused on it. There was my mana in it and... a different type of mana. I only found it because I was looking for it.
Agnis basically peer-reviewed me on this as I was confident that Misha hat’s only hold 70% of our mana. It’s not wrong but it’s not the full picture. Besides that it holds a different type of mana.
This mana gets converted to mana we can use.
The 3 aspects combine and give the illusion of our mana multiplying. Again this plays into his identity as a trickster and illusionist. Making 3 difficult concepts seem like a simple multiplication.
Just a small peek into it put me on this trail of following different methods.
My head hurt and I put the paper aside.
This paper has 3 difficulty levels of which I’ve cleared 2. Decrypting it is the first one, the step the Misha are still struggling with. The second step is learning it based on its magic circle. I’ve cleared that too.
The last one is deepening my understanding of it. The theoretical limit of hat copies appears to be 10 but this can only be achieved by practice and understanding.
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My stomach grumbled. I had no food... Is it time to go to the village?
I looked through the tablet I had gotten from the headmaster. This electromagical wonder can grant me access to information from all over the continent with several presses. And it’s easy to use!
I looked up the map of the area and the village of interest was named Verghis. Its local specialties were listed and lodging places. It even had an Adventurer’s Association which is referred to as the AA.
Adventurers can stay there or use it as a hub to get quests and missions and help out with requests. Civilians can use it to purchase certain items and post requests.
I was vaguely familiar with it as I had visited one before I left for Nesher.
My stomach rumbled again, motivating me to set out. Gold was still the currency used for transactions so stocking up shouldn’t be a problem.
My hairpin got pulled out of my hair as I walked outside. I hopped on my fan and flew north.
The air was a bit chilly but nothing I couldn’t handle. A fire magic affinity often came with some resistance against cold and heat. This was still bearable. Moreover, my younger years were spent in a cold like this but this was before I became a student in Witchaven.
The village was small and had wooden or brick houses and was filled with coniferous trees. It looked as if they didn’t bother cutting down trees to make their village. It was still less densely populated by trees than the surroundings, however.
Causing a scene might not be beneficial so I landed and walked into the village.
Humans wearing thick coats walked around transporting logs or warm food. Kids were running around freely. This village was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The cold fresh air mixed with the smell of pine trees, fir trees, and other types of trees added to the rural feeling of this village.
Even the AA, which is often relatively modern, appeared to blend in with a look of antiquity and thus was difficult to spot.
While it looked antiquated, I was old enough to remember when houses made out of wood and bricks were the norm. Not a lot of magic was used to build back then which had changed drastically.
I felt like a kid again as it felt like I went over 2000 years back in time.
A pleasant smell pulled me out of my thoughts. I followed my nose and found myself in front of some sort of restaurant. It was open as the only walls were to separate the kitchen from the dining area. It had wooden floors and a wooden ceiling but it just had low wooden fences to mark its territory. The tables and chairs were made out of wood as well.
Unknown to how this was supposed to work, I entered and sat at a table. Not much mana was used in this village at all.
A short yet broad woman walked up to me with a wide smile.
“I haven’t seen you around. New here? How about our Rabbit stew? It’s on the house.”
“Oh, I can pay.”
The woman smacked my back with force.
“Don’t sweat it, lass, we will do just fine, just take the offer. Want some mead with it?”
“Ehh, sure, thank you.”
The woman waddled away and I wondered why this continent had such extreme examples of how people live.
This village had hardly changed since how humans used to live 2000 years ago. Meanwhile, a city like Gittrian was extremely advanced. Is it because this place is rural? Or it’s distance from larger cities?
The most common transportation method was still outdated. Physical transport was still the norm. No teleportation or even flying. Going around with carts or...
I tapped on my tablet and found images of metal boxes on wheels called cars.
Going around in carts or cars was still how most of Kaledon went around with transportation. Communication had improved however. These tablets weren’t a thing before I left for Nesher.
Is the transfer of technology related to the speed of transportation and communication? It makes sense.
My meal arrived and I thanked the woman. It didn’t fall within my preferences but it tasted good enough and above all, it was filling. It had the taste of my childhood.
I used to pity the rabbits that ended up in the rabbit stew but my time in Nesher had changed how I viewed meals like this. As long as no four-tailed forest rabbits were used in this meal, I wouldn’t mind eating more of this.
I was full but there was still stew left. What do I do?
Nobody was watching so I froze the stew and put it in my dimensional pocket. I leaned backward and digested.
Due to its size, there is not much exploring to do in this village. I will do groceries, check out the AA, and head back home.
I left a silver coin on the table before leaving. More people had come for a meal so the wide woman was quite occupied.
The groceries were cheaper than I ever remembered Witchaven or Boshi town to be. They do know that they can sell it for more, right? maybe the village’s economy doesn’t allow for it.
I focused on meat and herbs they didn’t sell mistflowers regrettably.
The AA’s interior was modern however. And most of the inhabitants seemed to hang out around here. It was doubling as a mall and items impossible to get from the area were sold here.
It was as if I stepped into a modern city. The contrast was quite jarring but nobody seemed to care. This place must have introduced a lot of convenience for the inhabitants which is why it’s still here.
Anything that I thought I wouldn’t be able to get in this village was sold here. Accessories for my tablet were one of the things I never expected to find in this village for example.
Adventurers from near and far were taking up missions and requests to help out or just explore the area.
A banner of recent news floated by as large screens created holograms.
“The contrast is a bit extreme...”
I followed the news as I was still relatively clueless about the state of this continent.
A strange monster had been terrorizing the area and adventurers had been asked to deal with it. More news about the Nightmare Dungeon which was quite popular under the adventurers.
People disappearing from Verghis and their corpses that get found 2-3 days later with their hearts missing.
I reread that. Hearts missing? Isn’t that how Cockroach steals abilities? That bitch is killing these friendly villagers? Unacceptable!
How do I approach this? I’m not an adventurer. Will they let an outsider handle this? Cockroach is too much for an adventurer. Do they know that?
[Search: Imposter] indicated that she hadn’t started her reviving process yet but that she was near. I got up and walked to a counter reading ‘Helpdesk’.
“Excuse me, I saw something about people disappearing and their corpses turning up with their hearts missing. I’ve been hunting someone with this modus operandi for.... a long time. Is there any way I can get more information on this and that this problem can be dealt by just me?”
The clerk tapped on her tablet and looked up. “You’re not an adventurer, are you? Are you perhaps a bounty hunter?”
Do I lie or tell the truth?
I turned my hairpin into my hat and pulled a wand out of my dimensional pocket.
“I’m a Misha... ehh witch. My target is also one.”
The clerk was taken aback and typed furiously. “I understand. This problem is bigger than we thought. We don’t want to make exceptions but this changes when a witch is involved. Do you mind waiting? This mission needs to be taken down and any adventurers that had accepted this need to be recalled.”
The clerk continued typing and then ran off moments later.
What had just happened? It seems that telling the truth worked out better than I expected. I sat down and got curious gazes.
The clerk returned 10 minutes later with a well-dressed man.
“Please follow me.”
I got up and followed the man through some corridors and into a spacious, well-lit room.
“Please sit down, my name is Vincent, tell us how we can help you.”