Chapter 10: Pride almost always causes prejudice.

— An immature teacher's pride destroys a student.

____

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?”

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.”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Thanks."

I devoted my attention to mana again. I tried to control it, and I managed to accumulate enough of it to the point that they formed a small ball of mana visible to the naked eye.

That ball was the size of my hand.

“.... Fuck…!”

Aria was shocked. Is it really that rare to be able to control mana to this level as a beginner? Impossible; I absorbed this ability from that rabbit, and it would be very strange for me to inherit a mana control ability of this level from a mere small animal. Or did that rabbit have some hidden bloodline? I'll never know; there's no system informing me of anything.

I turned the mana ball into water, and then into wind.

"... I give up."

Aria lost her patience.

"What it was?"

"Nothing!"

She almost yelled at me. Whatever, I'll continue my experiments. What if I... try to solidify the mana?

I manipulated the mana so that it condensed and took the form of a metal sword. And I succeeded.

“Very convenient.”

“Do you really have infinite mana by any chance?!”

“What do you mean? You lose mana when you transform it into something other than mana?”

Aria sighed.

“The more complex the thing you are going to transform the mana into, the more mana escapes your control. Furthermore, it is very difficult to control mana back to its original state once you have transformed it into something, especially solid materials.”

"I understand."

Learning more every day!

***

Virelai Air.

Monster; this is the only word that came to mind to define Riley Yuki; no one, even among the Ruth, such an ability is possessed only by the elite members, and not even they can manipulate it so skillfully the first time.

Could he also be reincarnated?!

He's probably just like me, and has already reincarnated into this world, lived here, and already has experience in mana manipulation. Even if this isn't the exact scenario, at the very least, he came from another world.

It makes no sense that a capybara would have abilities like mind reading and such skillful mana control right from the first contact. Or... did he already know about mana before and only revealed it now? Did he suspect that I might attack him? As much as I despise him, I still need him. Besides, he read my mind and knows that I wouldn't attack him. It doesn't make sense for him to hide that he knows how to use mana, unless... the ability to read minds has more limits than just summarizing thoughts and memories.

What if the ability doesn't work every time, or he can't control it properly? So, are there times when his ability works, and times when it doesn't?

Should I test…? If he can read my thoughts, why doesn't he answer my questions now?

No; it's too risky. As much as I'm questioning this now and he's probably listening, he's an ironic person; he often jokes with me to theoretically put me in my place (according to his mind. After all, I'm superior). It could be that I'm still being tested.

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 the times when his ability fails, and continue to have credibility.

There is no accurate way for me to know. And there probably never will be.