'Could it be this is what mana is? And that I'm absorbing some of it?' he thought, not realizing he was kind-of spot on. 'Now… if it's being absorbed, shouldn't I be able to feel where to?' he thought, in what many of this world's Magic Researchers call the Initial Breakthrough. Something that often happened between the years of early teenagehood.
Focusing on the flow of the strange wave-like thing, Laudat felt the place where it diverged first, and started flowing through his body. Oddly enough, the path it took was one he was familiar with, and he used his hand to feel his arm. 'Yep, this is where my vein is,' it was a realization that was not with no meaning, as he could now pay more attention. 'No, that's not it. it's not exactly where my vein is, more like, a little under it.' His observations quickly became more detailed, as he followed the flow of the strange thing, feeling it get joined by other flows from other parts of his body.
'I see, somehow my body is able to absorb and collect this energy. This is probably what is used to cast magic,' he thought, while still following the power inside him. 'There!' He found where it had gone to. A small round-ish reservoir that seemed to be almost full. It was slightly above the heart, near where the aortic arch should be. He kept focusing all his attention on the tingling sensation, mapping the paths the absorbed thing took inside his body, which matched almost precisely that of his veins, but always a couple millimeters off of where he would expect them to be by touch.
'So it's a parallels circulatory system. If this is the path it takes in from that strange organ, there's probably another system outwards of it. But… I don't know how to use it.' Laudat recollected his memory from a few months prior, where the goddess who reincarnated him told him what magic was. 'Belief and what? Damn it… I should've kept her words in my mind,' he cursed his lack of attention, thinking about what she'd said, when he felt that tingling sensation intensify around the strange organ. 'It seems to be full now?' he focused on it, as the power inside started to swirl slightly. 'I wonder what'll happen next…' he thought, wondering whether something interesting would happen. 'Eh?' He was surprised, as a tiny burst of that power flowed in reverse from the organ through the veins that usually absorbed it, heavily losing its properties on the way, before it disappeared on his body as a whole, too weak to be even felt. 'Did it get absorbed? or emitted outwards through my skin?' he wondered, but since the small quantity was so widely spread out, he couldn't know for sure. 'The organ thing seems to have returned to that almost full status of before… I guess this is a protective measure, so it doesn't overflow,' he took a wild guess, as a completely random sentence from his last life came up in his mind, almost as if it were planted there.
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'Ipsa scientia potestas est…' he thought, opening his eyes and looking towards the ceiling. 'That's it! Knowledge!' An eureka moment ensued, as the small baby remembered the other thing needed aside from belief, in order for magic to work, knowledge.
'Belief and knowledge, huh…' he thought, thinking about what this meant. He had no idea on how magic worked, what media was necessary, or if it was necessary at all… He just knew he needed knowledge and belief. 'But what do I need to believe in? Myself? That it will happen? God?' he asked himself in thought, a sound humming through his mouth "Hmmmmmm…"
"What is it, little boy, did you wake up?" his mother's voice broke his train of thought, as she grabbed him by the sides, and put him over her shoulder, rocking him into sleep.
'Damn it… I know I was close to something… Guess that's something for another time now,' he thought, yawning, as he quickly fell into slumber.
Laudat woke up to the unusual bustling of his sisters in their parents bedroom, where he slept. There was clearly something different about today. Laudat turned belly down, and started crawling awkwardly towards the edge of his manger. As he reached the edge, with the help of his hands, he slowly raised his body until his eyes were above the edge of it. He saw… he lowered himself back down, as he thought about what to do. The room was filled with naked and half-naked girls, his sisters, but still. He felt like it was awkward if he were to see them like that. He sat with his back against the side of the crib, his tiny hand against his chin, as he thought about what was the best course of action. Should he cry? Should he just pretend he'd not woken up yet at all? He didn't know what course of action to take, but he also wouldn't have the chance to think.
"Mom, Lau has woken up!" He was startled as one of his sisters yelled for his mom, the voice sounded like it was from Laye, one of the oldest.
Soon, her hands made their way down, as a shadow loomed over him, and he looked up to see her warm expression. 'Being a baby is tough,' he thought, as she raised him over and put him on the bed, with a full view of everything happening around him, that is, the girls slowly dressing themselves up with each other's help. All in all, it was a heartwarming scene, as the older girls helped the younger ones with their hair, and put very light make-up on them, helped them tighten their corsets, for the ones above a certain age, and, overall, helped whenever needed. It was still strange, and he felt guilty, since he was a man in his forties, for being in this room seeing the girls, but as they came to him to play and tickle one by one as they became free, the giggling baby slowly grew able to disconsider what they were dressed in, focusing his eyes in their faces.
"Where's my little boy? Let's go take a bath," his mom didn't take long to come and save him, but her words left him horror stricken.
'No! Not the bath! Please don't bathe me!'