Chapter 11: Pride almost always causes prejudice.
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—To the fool, anything is humiliation; to the intelligent, almost everything is learning; and to the wise, everything is a lifetime of experiences and metaphors.
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Hearing that, Aria smiled. Apparently satisfied; even though, at the moment, her position was inferior to mine, and the hierarchy was strange — at least for her, not for me —, she was happy to realize that she would not be just a mere slave with useful information.
“Deal done.”
"Excellent.
After this brief conversation, I devoured the rabbit I had once hunted.
"What is that…?"
I started to feel a strange energy; as if I was beginning to notice every geometric shape around me. My body also began to slowly generate and flow blood through my veins that I could not understand, nor even identify.
It's sis. Would I have absorbed some ability from the rabbit?
I closed my eyes and began to imagine the mana particles and their composition (interestingly, they resembled atoms, but at the same time, different), I tried to manipulate them; I wished that the mana particles that I released into the air would heat up, and it did indeed heat up, and after that, it became fire.
“...?!”
Aria, stunned, looked at me with wide eyes and her mouth almost falling to the floor.
"What it was?"
“How… how did you manage to use magic?! Couldn’t you just use nectar, qi, and nonsense?
“I have no idea.”
Informing Aria about all my abilities is not advantageous for me, as we are not in a normal teacher-student relationship, but rather one of cooperation, however, I have to collect as much information as I can about the abilities she knows about.
“Aria, could you explain to me what kind of energy this is?”
“Where… where.”
“Where?”
I asked Aria, who looked slightly irritated.
Aria continued her explanation… if her first response could be called an explanation.
“Mana, that's it... Can you see the little particles... or at least feel them?”
“I can see and feel..”
"Impossible!"
Aria almost screamed. I didn't understand why she was reacting. It's probably because controlling mana is hard, and I'm doing it in an easier way.
I tried to make a bigger fireball, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it to get any bigger.
“Why is it like this?”
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Aria calmed down, and began to explain to me.
“Your mana pool is small, and your mental strength is not enough for greater magic.”
“I see. Could you explain to me how to increase it?”
“Yes; you must expend all your mana, and then meditate. By repeating these processes every day, your mana reserve will increase.”
"Thanks."
Dediquei novamente minha atenção à mana. Tentei controlá-la, e consegui amontoar uma quantidade o suficiente ao ponto de formarem uma pequena bola de mana visível a olho nú.
Aquela bola tinha o tamanho da minha mão.
“.... Caralho…!”
Aria ficou chocada. Consegui controlar mana a esse nível sendo um iniciante é tão raro assim? Impossível; eu absorver esta habilidade daquele coelho, e seria muito estranho que eu herdasse uma habilidade de controle de mana deste nível de um mero animal de pequeno porte. Ou será que aquele coelho tinha alguma linhagem sanguínea escondida? Nunca saberei; não há nenhuma sistema me informando de nada.
Transformei a bola de mana em água, e depois, em vento.
“... Desisto.”
Aria perdeu a paciência.
“O que foi?”
“Nada!”
Ela quase gritou comigo. Tanto faz, vou continuar meus experimentos. E se eu… tenta solidificar a mana?
Manipulei a mana para que se condensasse e adquirisse a forma de uma espada de metal. E consegui.
“Muito conveniente.”
“Realmente, você tem mana infinita por acaso?!”
“Como assim? Você perde mana quando transforma ela em algo além de mana?”
Aria suspirou.
“Quanto mais complexo é aquilo que você vai transformar a mana, mais mana escapar do seu controle. Além disso, é muito difícil controlar mana ao estado original depois que você transformou ela em algo, principalmente em materiais sólidos.”
“Entendo.”
Cada dia aprendendo mais!
***
Aria Virelai.
Monstro; esta é a única palavra que me veio à mente para definir Riley Yuki; ninguém, até mesmo entre os Rute, tal habilidade é possuída apenas pelos membros da elite, e nem eles conseguem manipular de forma tão hábil na primeira vez.
Será que ele também é um reencarnado?!
Provavelmente, ele é igual a mim, e já reencarnou neste mundo, viveu aqui e já tem experiência em manipulação de mana. Mesmo que este não seja o cenário exato, no mínimo, ele veio de outro mundo.
Não faz nenhum sentido que uma capivara tenha habilidades como leitura de mentes e um controle tão hábil de mana logo no primeiro contato. Ou… ele já sabia mana antes e só revelou agora? Ele desconfiava que eu podia atacar ele? Por mais que eu o despreze, eu ainda preciso dele. Além do mais, ele leu minha mente e sabe que eu não iria atacar ele. Não faz sentido ele esconder que sabe usar mana, a não ser que… a habilidade de leitura de mentes tenha mais limites do que apenas resumir os pensamentos e memórias.
E se a habilidade não funcionar todas as vezes, ou ele não consegui controlar ela direito? Sendo assim, há horários no qual a habilidade dele funciona, e horários onde não?
Devo testar…? Se ele pode ler meus pensamentos, por que não responde minhas dúvidas agora?
Não; é muito arriscado. Por mais que eu esteja questionando isso agora e ele provavelmente esteja ouvindo, ele é uma pessoa irônica; muitas vezes brinca comigo para teoricamente me por no meu devido lugar (segundo a mente dele. Enfim, sou superior). Pode ser que eu ainda esteja sendo testada.
People don't tell you when they test you, they just test you. Everyone tests everyone. This is biological. So it's good to be cautious... Wait...
There is a catch; if he read my thoughts now, it means he doesn't want a relationship of trust; just enough trust to cooperate, that is, in my competence and whether I will betray him or not, however, it is very suspicious that he has revealed limitations of his psychic abilities.
Was this a test of trust, or did his mind-reading abilities actually have many limitations and so he needed to say them so as not to be deceived at critical moments?
If he spoke of limitations of abilities, whether false or not, he would still have much to gain; if the limitations were false, they would not be entirely lies, but rather half-truths, since he would not need to speak of such limitations to me if he did not have them, even if in small quantities, and it would still serve as a test of trust; and above all, I would underestimate him, which could be beneficial to him in future situations, since I would not know the limits of his ability.
If that's true, then he really meant it and he needs me. However, there's another scenario: what if he has many more limitations than the ones he mentioned, and so he desperately needed to phrase them in a way that made them seem less limiting, but at the same time, weak enough that I'm afraid of betraying him?
Of course, there's also the possibility that he's doing this for some other fun. I don't know how a monster's mind works; it's possible that he's already got all the information he needs about mana and is just messing with me, but still, it's possible.
Either he is playing with me and his limitations are false, or his limitations are half-truths and this is a test, or his limitations are much more complicated than he presented, and that is why he had to present limitations that were neither weak nor too strong, so that he can explain sometimes and that your skill fails, and still have credibility.
There is no accurate way for me to know. And there probably never will be.