Character Information - Who is who?

Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven't. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!)

Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin)

* Transmigrated from the Earth and the MC

* The fourth child of the current Leonandra household

* Golden eyes

* Snow-white fur and hair color

Ocilia Leonandra (Spider-kin)

* Disciple of the MC

* Specialized in magic/alchemy-oriented threads

* Purple eyes

* Purplish-black hair color

Maurice Leonandra (Wolf-kin)

* Personal protector of the MC

* Specialized in two-handed mace arts

* Blue eyes

* Brown fur and hair color

Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy)

* Messenger of the temple

* Head of a temple branch in the east of Moorgrel

* Teaches the MC magic

* Specialized in healing, herbalism, agriculture, and administration

* Light-green eyes

* Greenish hair

* Autumn-colored wings

Melina Leonandra (Spider-kin)

* Maid in the Leonandra Household

* Personal head-maid of the MC

* Mother of Ocilia Leonandra, MC's disciple

* Blue eyes

* Purplish-black hair color

As Alexander entered his office, he saw a new face, "I guess you are here to learn, huh?" He walked towards his desk with a smirk.

Maurice, an almost two-meter (~6.6ft) buff wolf-kin, sat beside Ocilia, a 1.6m (~5.2ft) spider-kin girl.

'What a weird class.'

"Mr. Alexander!" with a smile, he almost screamed, "...yes! I am ready to learn magic and get even stronger!"

Alexander sat down and sighed while showing with his hand to be quieter, "Calm down. Did you forget that getting the skills will not be pleasant?"

Maurice forgot the night when Green explained how he would be learning them, "I guess? But isn't learning [Mana Sense] the only hard thing?"

Alexander shook his head, "Not at all..." he pointed at Ocilia, "...did you forget? She can only use all the mana skills through her threads, and if I go by her and how difficult it was, it will be much harder since..."

Maurice finished his master's thoughts in shock, "I need to get hurt... I remember..."

He wasn't too deflated from remembering the night, as he could already see himself wielding his energy with more power than everyone else. Nobody could take away from him his overflowing persistence.

While Maurice had his delusions of being a magic knight, Alexander shrugged, "Something like this..." he looked at Ocilia, "...how is your progress going?"

She didn't hear him. She was too absorbed in weaving her threads to look like constructs and tried to chant quietly, always changing the tone, pronunciation, etc.

Suddenly, something cold and wet invaded her nose. She stopped everything and swatted it away. Looking up, she saw her master and Maurice sitting beside her, "Oh, hello, master!"

Ocilia ignored that her master was trying to stick a tiny ball made of ice inside her nose. It wasn't also the first time it happened. She would become too hyperfocused on things in which she developed a strong interest, like the spells she learned for the last few days.

This resulted in her ignoring her surroundings and trying to learn them for hours. Hence, such situations occurred where something was put into her nose to get her attention. However, even if she found it funny, her parents didn't like when she told them such stories.

It was so bad that even at dinner, she stopped telling her parents most of her funnier stories because it mostly ended with her being reprimanded, especially by her father.

He didn't understand that her master was very leger in most things and would slide disrespectful behavior. However, even when she tried to tell him, he became immediately tense since he never liked nobles, especially with his background in the underground of Wolfsteeth.

Her father also told her that Alexander was too young to understand what being a noble meant and that her master's attitude would eventually disappear with age. She didn't believe it, though.

When she looked at her master, who was now cheekily smiling at her, in her mind, he didn't change in the last years and wouldn't also probably in the future, even though Aro or other servants bothered him to no end to be more noble-like.

"Yeah, good mornin'. Show me your progress, please."

She nodded and became giddy because she wanted to demonstrate something to him as she worked day and night without a break.

After a short burst of mana, her thread was all over the room. It was intricately woven like some artwork. After the barely audible chant, mana poured into it, which wasn't little as the whole room lit up.

Alexander frowned and readied to take the fire out if she wanted to burn down the whole room, but nothing happened. He looked at the now brownish thread and touched it. It felt Cross and smelled not bad, "The bread spell, huh?"

He couldn't believe it, 'This little scoundrel stole the conjuring bread manual, hehe.'

After a short moment, the bread crumbled and fell to the floor and desk, "Yeah! It's nice, right? It costs a bit of mana, but I really like this much more than the ones we get from the bakers!"

Maurice took a piece of bread that fell on his desk and ate it, "This is magic? I thought I would learn to cast fire and ice, though?"

Ocilia turned her head towards him, "Oh, I can do this too!" the threads were woven around her hand, and after another chant, her hand caught fire, "...like this?"

Maurice looked at her in surprise, "Isn't it hot?"

She shook her head and explained how spells worked and the difference to alchemy. While she blabbered on and Maurice nodded to it, Alexander was in his own world while waiting for Green.

He was in a good mood. His disciple was hardworking and talented, so in his thought, she would have a splendid future. He didn't know where life would take him and what would happen, but if something happened to him, at least he would know that his retainers would be fine.

Ocilia could visit a MU and later become a mage at the Leonandra estate. He wasn't sure why he started to think like this, but if he wanted loyalty from his people, he thought he should somehow secure their future if something happened to him.

This was something on his mind as he revised some of his mother's tactics on how she led. But he would need much more time to think it through.

Alexander was brought out by the smell of his magic teacher, who smelled, for some reason, somewhat similar to all the other females in the estate for the last few days. It reminded him of distress.

A cry resounded from the outside, "This whole household is crazy!" it was the fairy.

"Ms. Green, I don't think it is appropriate to speak like this." this was Melina, who sounded very desperate.

"I. Don't. Care!" the door opened, and she flew inside while multiple servants were behind her, "...this stupid mutt wanted to attack me because I talked with a male?! What is wrong with her!"

Melina and many other servants came in. Two of them were Francesca and Cloelle, his personal ones, and some lesser servants from the main mansion. They were primarily part-time workers as their spouses were soldiers, guards, or similar. They worked for a bit of extra coin.

Behind them were even more servants, primarily male swan-kin, and beautiful, 'Don't tell me... fuck me...'

Melina was apologetic but stern in her tone, "Ms. Green, you are talking about the daughter of the lady..." She looked toward Alexander and bowed. After her, all his servants did the same, including the lesser servants, with the utmost respect. The swan-kin guys didn't and only bowed slightly.

She continued, "...like I said. It seems her first mating season started, so I hope you will be lenient with her mistake."

Melina learned a lot about etiquette from Aro and tried not to piss off Alexander's teacher while defending the dignity of the household. This didn't work, though.

Alexander's annoyed voice was heard, "Did the mutt try to attack her out of jealousy while you followed with her servants, so we could trade for the next weeks?"

Green flew over to the front desk and threw her bag to the side in an angry manner, "Yes! She is insane!"

Alexander looked at her sternly, "She is my sister. If I call her insane or a mutt, it's okay, but...," he pointed at her lazily, "...not you."

Green squinted at her student, but before she could rant on, he continued, "However, looking at you, she didn't even touch you. So it's fine..." he turned to the servants, "...now to you. I see a lot of cute swan-kin standing here, and all male. Don't tell me that Lori had such a thirsty side to her. Please also tell me she has some female servants?"

Alexander knew from Anastasia that Lorient's mating season should start soon, and to all the estate's luck, she wasn't as poled as Narsiz. Nonetheless, it seemed to him that she became very aggressive when a male was close by and thus needed to have only female servants.

Usually, the servant male/female ratio at the estate was around 40/60, but by the looks of it, Lorient took all the 40% to herself.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room till Green's giggle interrupted it. Alexander sighed loudly, "So, is this a command from my mom, or did you decide it yourself?"

Melina looked apologetic, "We only talked about it between ourselves and wanted to ask for your permission, Mr. Alexander."

Alexander's head maid was tired. Some of the lesser maids under her wanted to woo the swan-kin men and thus saw this as a chance to work more closely with them. Therefore, they pestered her to no end. She already regretted it even if she had, per the agreement they made, less work afterward as they would take most of her chores.

She and all his other maids bowed, and only now could he see that they were all female, 'Well, someone is a hypocrite here.'

He stood up and walked toward the Korean boy band with his small but imposing stature, "So, do you know your job?"

A young swan-kin man bowed barely toward Alexander and answered condescendingly, "Yeah, sure."

This irked Alexander as one of his skills activated: [Noble's Pride]. This behavior was out of line for everyone who worked as a servant except those who were allowed to, 'So, how to deal with him?'

Alexander smiled at him and tried to first talk to him, "So tell me..."

He was immediately interrupted by the swan-kin teen, "Is that all? I have no time to chit chat here..." he looked around the room at all the bread lying around and back at Melina, "...it seems I will not have much work to do if it always looks like this, hehe."

A vein popped on Alexander's forehead, 'Diplomacy is over. Force it is.'

All the swan-kin wanted to leave immediately and saw this as a vacation as they wouldn't move a single finger, but something restrained them. They looked around and toward their feet, where they saw that threads were holding them in place.

They looked around again to where it came from and spotted a spider-kin girl smiling at them. Ocilia didn't like that someone was disrespectful to her master, and even Maurice was ready to smash them to a pulp as he held his mace while slowly standing up.

Even if someone didn't like a noble, a standard of respect must be given. Alexander didn't like such conduct but understood that it was necessary to enforce it if he wanted to live in this world as a noble.

He smiled as he spoke, "Just so you know, because of Lori, I will not kill you..." his words were full of poison and viciousness, "...although, I can make your life for the next month a living hell. Choose wisely because I can start right now."

Almost all of the male servants became instantly frightened. They bowed at a ninety-degree angle, while two didn't and voiced their opinion, "Why should we, the servants of one who will inherit the estate, bow down to you?! You are only the fourth child who can do some little magic tricks!"

Alexander shrugged while his smile went wide, "Alrighty! Your choice."

The swan-kin servants who didn't bow down smirked at what this puppy could do. They knew he started learning magic a month ago, and even the teacher showed up only two times, who was only some fairy.

They didn't believe all the rumors that he was some genius but thought that he was only lucky in acquiring [Mana Sense]. It was ridiculous that he could do something to them in their mind. This changed fast as two icicles were instantly conjured, which bored into their shoulders.

Both screamed.

"Ahhh! What the fuck?!"

"You asshole!"

Almost simultaneously, Melina, Ocilia, and others rolled their eyes at their behavior. They were clearly not close servants or even lesser ones who heard about Alexander from their spouses or family. Otherwise, they would know that he had some fighting ability.

However, as calm as they appeared, Maurice wanted to rush in and beat them up but decided to only charge at them when his master was in danger. Ocilia was of the same thoughts.

Alexander kept smiling while he opened his arms wide, "Come on. I can only do a little magic, right? While you are the proud servants of Lorient. You can probably do more, right?"

They used energy to try to stop the freezing effect of the icicle, which bored into their shoulders, but it barely worked. Alexander controlled the freezing effect of his contraptions, which became colder and colder. He wasn't too keen to let them walk away without having at least a pound of their flesh.

All the other servants scurried to the sides while looking at the floor. They were wrong to think this would be a vacation, and the last notions of lazing around went out of the window. Nobody wanted to end like those pierced in front of them.

After some seconds, Alexander's voice was heard again, "I think you read too many stories about nobles and how siblings act toward each other, but know this: If someone of mine did something this disrespectful as you did, I would beat them to the inch of their life while Lori would probably do worse."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The puppy was right. Almost every swan-kin servant here thought that the relationships between siblings of nobles were always on edge and in competition for power.

Narsiz and Alexander were the only children who really wanted to inherit it. Lorient, Sarah, and most probably Janina, as much as Alexander saw it, weren't interested in the slightest. One wanted to fight to her heart's content, while the other was more fond of clothes than the economic situation of the rural areas, and the last one did nothing but draw and paint the whole day, showing her strong interest already at this young age. Because of these fortunate circumstances, their relationship was excellent.

From what Alexander read and talked with others, as long as the lord or lady didn't have a harem out of various political or economic reasons, there was almost no real rivalry under siblings in that sense.

Why should there be? Occurrences of untalented children were common, but almost all of them were educated or trained with a lot of care. With this, they could always go out into the world with their household in the back and archive a lot, even if they only relied on nepotism. Killing off or angering your future allies, which would lead them to more fortune and power was one of the most idiotic ways to fail.

'These servants read too many stupid novels and took them for reality.'

The injured swan-kin servants sweated and clenched their teeth together, but their energy did not stop it. After every moment, it became worse for them, and for some reason, Alexander wasn't troubled by it, which he solely attributed to his new skill [Absolute Mental Control] and not that they really pissed him off.

However, an old, very deep voice rang out behind the servants, "What is going on here?!"

Everyone made space for an old swan-kin. He had black hair and wings. His mustache remembered Alexander of a certain American president as his stature.

He came over and turned his head multiple times to take in the situation at hand. He frowned heavily and looked at Melina, who was frowning too. She explained to him the whole situation quickly.

In between, Alexander heard his name, Franko. After Melina was done, he turned towards the puppy and bowed heavily, "I am very sorry for the impudence of these idiots, Mr. Alexander!"

Alexander tilted his head in confusion as he released the icicles and turned them into water, "Who are you exactly?"

He stood straight again and introduced himself formally, "I am Franko Leonandra, the main personal butler for Ms. Lorient, and these idiots are my children."

Alexander looked to the side as the swan-kin started squinting and asked, "These two idiots?"

Franko shook his head, "No, all of them."

Now Alexander was baffled, 'Holy shit. He is really at it, huh?' But didn't show it.

He turned back to Franko and Melina as he addressed them, "So, you will be my temporary servant for the time?"

Franko nodded, "Yes, Mr. Alexander."

The puppy sighed, "All right, take those idiots out of my sight and educate them. If the others do the same, I will punish them as I see fit."

At this point, Alexander was not really annoyed by the servants who didn't know better but by his sister, who obviously didn't care who served her as she just took everyone by the looks of it. It could also be that her head butler pushed his sons as servants to her, and she just accepted them. However, this would need to wait until after the mating season, as coming close to her room as a male would be suicide at this point.

Franko nodded again, clenching his fists, "Of course, Mr. Alexander, I will educate them thoroughly!"

Alexander waved his hand, "Green, please heal these morons."

Green sighed but jumped down from the table and got to work. The whole situation went swiftly, and after some talk and threats, Alexander made clear that he didn't need any annoyance in the next month.

It was clear to him that the old swan-kin was a true professional and that he got the jobs for his children as working here as a servant was much more preferential than some other menial jobs on the open market. Too bad he had so little time to educate them since he was occupied with other things.

After the spontaneous meeting was over, at last, his magic lesson could start. Green put some parchments down for him, "You should learn this for today... I mean for the next couple of minutes, hehe."

Then she went towards Ocilia and her new student, Maurice, who looked ridiculously large beside her as he nodded towards Green as she explained everything.

It was a fun sight for Alexander, for sure, and even the exclamations of Green when Ocilia showed her the conjuring bread spell.

The little fairy was baffled by the learning speed of the girl. She didn't expect it at all. It was clear that she would need to press her colleague for more material as her students soaked up knowledge like a nature-dweller who was too long in a desert.

However, Alexander didn't notice that Green looked perturbed. Instead, he concentrated on the spells before him. He felt like he was in a candy shop with all the spells in front of him.

Every other mage would look at him like he was crazy, as this was nothing compared to the libraries even third-grade MU's had, but Alexander had no idea and didn't care even if he knew. He would need to play with the cards he was dealt with.

"A spell to dissolve matter?!"

Green turned around and explained before her student started to think of the worst, "It just dissolves matter, which has barely mana or energy. So even dissolving slightly bigger insects would be impossible."

The fairy turned back to Maurice while Alexander was a little disappointed, 'What a deceitful name, tsk.'

Nonetheless, he started to learn it immediately since he could think of many situations where such a spell would come in handy, and as he read it, some questions which he had, were answered fully.

'So, the matter will be dissolved by mana into smaller and smaller particles till there is nothing left... huh.'

This spell pamphlet answered Alexander an interesting question he had in mind for a long time. He wondered whether this world knew about the atom theory and that matter was made out of charged particles (and Neutrons) but looking at how it was worded, it seemed not to be the case.

He started to build the construct, which was slightly bent, and after a successful chant, he used it on the bread leftovers from Ocilias spell casting earlier in front of him. The bread slowly crumbled into black flakes till it fully dissolved.

At this moment, Alexander realized, "Isn't this the bathe spell?"

Green flew over to him, looked at the flakes, and then at him with a smile, "Good job, and yes, this dissolving spell, like the bathe spell, comes from the same family of spells which, well, disintegrate dead matter, aka. Matter without mana or energy."

She looked at him more intensely since he learned the relatively complex spell for newbies in only 10 minutes while she needed more than four weeks of sleepless nights. For some reason, she wasn't perturbed by this sight anymore. No, she saw the long-term prospects of being closely acquainted with this puppy.

While Green's pride was hurt with every lesson she gave, at this point, she saw the possible power this miracle puppy in front of her could produce, and she would be at the forefront of it.

She smiled at him, "Any more questions?"

Alexander shook his head and took another spell, "No thanks... oh, air shield?"

Green ignored him and flew back again. She would need to ask for a raise as her class grew and wouldn't probably stop any time soon.

...

10 minutes later

A shield manifested around Alexander's head of swirling green-yellowish light. From what he read, the spell air shield was something akin to a protective measure against strong miasma or poisonous gas, 'It's a gas mask, and it costs barely any mana... fuck me, I really needed it.'

He remembered his skill test and where he controlled masses of contraptions simultaneously like his improvised air shield contraption to protect him from the smoke. The contraption, which worked the same as the spell he learned, was hard to control and dangerous. A wrong calculation, and he would knock himself out if he accidentally cut the air off.

Alexander dissolved the construct and took the next spell, "Oh, animal talk... this is a newbie spell?!"

Green sighed and flew back to him again, ignoring the confused Maurice, who hardly understood her explanations about magic and how to acquire the [Mana Manipulation] skill.

"Yeah, it is, but learn it first and try to talk to any animal after. Then you will see why, even if you learn it, no animal would understand you."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Green waved her hand in dismissal and flew back, "Just learn it and try it out. Later on, you can think about the intricacies..." She looked around, "...try it, for example, on your insects. You seem to collect..."

Insect collecting was not a weird hobby, but what was weird for Green was that they were alive and well. Usually, collectors would kill them very carefully without damaging them and put them into a glass container or something similar for display. However, her [Mana Sense] picked something up as she inspected his student's three specimens.

She flew closer and analyzed them more thoroughly, and suddenly her eyes became like giant saucers. She turned around to Alexander and screamed at him, "Are you insane?! Did you breed mana locusts?! Do you want to bring a new famine?! How do you even do this! No! Don't say anything!"

Through the screaming, he reeled his ears fully back. He experimented on insects to learn more about mana and created insects with a relatively high amount of mana after he had bred them for dozens of generations.

Alexander already forgot about them as he had the same thought as Green and thus destroyed them. But he wanted to leave at least three of them as a token, who were now in the terrarium, living happily. He explained this to her.

She looked like she was about to have a heart attack as he told her how he did it.

Green looked at her pocket watch, "Class dismissed..." She looked at her other two students who already knew about this, "...who else knows about this?!"

Maurice didn't know anything except that his master liked crawlers. He thought it was a boy and age thing since he also enjoyed collecting them when he was little.

Ocilia, on the other hand, knew about her master's experimentations, but all she did was complain to her family about the cleaning she did. Anything more, and they wouldn't understand her.

This they told her. She sighed in relief and looked back at Alexander, "I know you write everything down. Where are your notes?"

Alexander nodded at Ocilia, who stood up and looked for the next minutes for them. The silence was eerily, and Alexander had an idea of what this was all about.

When she found them, Green grabbed them from Ocilia's hands and started reading them. After every parchment she went through, she looked more and more distressed.

After reviewing ~50 pages of research and observations, she conjured the ignition spell and burned it wholly. Alexander let her as he could remember everything.

After Green burned down his research about the mana insects, she looked at him more intensely, "Who else knows about this?"

Alexander shrugged, "Nobody, really. Like I said, everyone thought I either just collect or use them to increase my mana skills."

Green flew closer to him, grabbed the sides of his head with both of her hands and pressed, "Listen, you little damn mad alchemist, nobody is allowed to even know about this, okay?"

Alexander, with his squished face, nodded to her.

She continued, "First, let me congratulate you for your exquisite mana skills since doing something like this needs more than a little talent..."

Alexander smiled, but she squeezed his face more, "Don't. Smile. You. Moron...."

Her face approached his, "Second, what you discovered is considered against the empire law. No, not even that. If someone else finds out about this, you, your family, and everyone you ever came in contact with and their close ones would be eradicated. Do you understand?"

Alexander nodded, and before he could answer, Maurice asked her. He stood before the terrarium and looked at them, scratching his head, "I don't get it. It is just a locust and two spiders?"

Green got almost a heart attack, "Don't touch them!"

She flew immediately to the terrarium and, without saying anything, killed them. A sigh of relief escaped her, "Please tell me you don't have more of these anywhere?"

Alexander shook his head, "No, and I get what you want to say, but is it really that bad?"

Green was visibly more relaxed and looked at her student like he was insane, "Yes, and worse. The last time something like this happened was around three to four thousand years ago when some enemy did the same and released them into our territory. A famine and tens of millions dead were the results, so never ever talk with anybody about this, got it?"

Alexander was a little perplexed but nodded. He was fine with forgetting that he brought a new species to life, which could bring a massive famine. But, he was very interested in knowing why insects with more internal mana were much more dangerous in this sense, but the answer to such a question needed to wait.

Green turned around, sweat from her flew in Alexander's face, which he wished away, and she pointed toward Ocilia, "You..." and to Maurice, "...and you!"

Both looked at her perplexed but also understood what happened. Ocilia understood the intricacies partly, while Maurice only understood that it was something bad and that he should shut up about it.

Green looked more intensely at them, "If this leaves the room, I will be the first to rat you out so quickly that the secret forces of the emperor will have your head before dinner if the lady will not get you before them!"

Both nodded, and Green nodded back and turned back to Alexander. Sweat hit his face again, which annoyed him a little, "Listen, I will go to the lady and tell her this in secret. So, just forget that you ever did research. You are just a lazy insect collector. Got it?!"

Green was nervous. She feared that one of the three would tell this to someone, and she was ready to put them under the most high-level mana contract she had at hand. However, if she did it, her little miracle puppy, or rather his mother, would not be amused by her, so she would risk it in hopes that it would be worth it, and as far as she could see it, it was worth the risk.

Alexander nodded again, and she sighed, "Huh, fine. Give me the spells. As per the deal, you will only learn them while I am here so you don't accidentally create an apocalyptic spell." While she joked, for some reason, she started to believe it.

Alexander sadly handed her the other spell pamphlets over and suddenly remembered something, "Don't you have something different till your next visit? I am very bored waiting for you."

He had at most two hours of non-scheduled time a day, but since he was physically recovered and mentally stable, he wanted to fill it out with something new and exciting.

Green frowned but decided that she should occupy him with something more complex and something not dangerous. Mana-theory was out of the window, so she thought while mumbling under her breath, "How about artificing? But this kind of work could be under you... so maybe..."

Alexander interrupted her, "Under me? Isn't this just magic engineering, basically?"

Green raised an eyebrow, "Yes and no... what an interesting comparison.." she stroked her chin and flew towards her bag, "...but yes, I have a book on artificing with me and how to create mana items."

Alexander was hyped up and already forgot his apocalyptic insects of doom. He thought for a long time about creating weapons and household appliances but did not know how to build them.

The concepts were easy enough, but that didn't mean he could go to home depot (hardware store) and buy all he needed. This frustrated him since he also needed to build everything from scratch, like the paper he wanted to create, from the materials to the tools.

Magic and alchemy would probably do the trick if he wanted to become an artisan, but what he was aiming for was something akin to industrialization, 'Hm, I have an idea what to build next... but all the tailors would start going for my head, hehe.'

Green slammed the book on the desk and brought Alexander back, "Daydreaming is not healthy, especially not if it leads to insane ideas. However, here you go, an introduction to artificing. Not many mages know the basics as they see this as something lesser, and I also have only the literature about fundamentals right now, but if you find it interesting, I'll get you more. Now, excuse me. I need to talk with the lady."

She actually wanted to read her novel. The centaur needed to go through a trial and collect rare items for his lover to win her back, but on the way, he would find more love interests, which Green liked. But she left quickly and flew out as she had a long talk before her.

Maurice and Ocilia already forgot the whole ordeal when Green left and started to discuss how Maurice could manipulate mana through his skill.

On the other hand, Alexander had a lot of time, so he opened the book and started reading quickly, hoping to finish it before the training with Sarah began.

It wasn't too complex and explained the fundamentals smoothly, step by step: First, you needed a mana-treated material. Alexander had no idea what it meant since it was not specified. However, it made sense. When learning EE (Electric Engineering), there wouldn't be any descriptions of how the silica was produced, for example.

Next was the quite exciting find as it was described in a half sentence: '...we will describe mana items with engraved constructs in this literature. For contraptions, please read literature for higher grade alchemists from O. P. Saji...'

This showed him that there was a difference in mana items and that alchemy could be used, but sadly, it was not further described. This thought flew away as Alexander read further at an incredible speed.

He needed seconds to read a page while almost memorizing everything. Skills obviously aided him; otherwise, he would need much more time to understand even a fifth.

After a while, he found something exciting: Circuits. They were called EC (Engraved Constructs) and were a combination of multiple different constructs engraved on specific mana-conductive material.

Other things were also described, such as converters which turned energy into mana since not everyone could use mana. It was interesting that, for example, [Aura] couldn't activate it, but this book obviously didn't go into depth.

However, it made sense if he took the term energy in the most straightforward form. The standard car engine converted chemical energy from the fuel into kinetic energy. Nobody could take the fuel in its raw form and use it as a ledger to heap something. It needed to be converted first.

Next was the EC, which was very different from what he knew. The ignite construct, for example, looked very different, 'Did they integrate the chant?'

Alexander instantly created the construct described in the book, but it didn't work, 'Maybe the material has something to do with it?'

There was no description since it was a simple introduction book. Alexander scratched his head in annoyance, 'Calm down. You are too hasty. Everything with time...'

He read further till Ocilia interrupted him, "Master? I think you should talk with the lady after Green is done."

Alexander looked at her and sighed heavily, closing the book, "You are right."

Ocilia smiled at him, "Since you have a couple of hours, it would be perfect, right master?"

Talking with his mother after Green told her everything was a good idea. Lorient wouldn't be available today, and he had the time before he met up with Sarah for his bea... training session. But before that, he looked around and waved at Maurice to come over, which he did.

"So, did you learn how to manipulate mana?"

Maurice shook his head, "No."

Alexander sighed and already had an idea how to do it but wasn't really keen on doing it, "Take off your shirt."

While he did it, Alexander continued, "Alrighty, Maurice, you learned your [Mana Sense] through pain and the damage done. You know what that means, right?"

Maurice grumbled a little but answered, "I need to learn to manipulate mana through... pain?"

Alexander shrugged, "Pretty much..."

He took out a letter opener from the drawer and slowly poked Maurice's hands. He also, for some reason, didn't know why he commanded him to take off his shirt as telling him to put it on again would be embarrassing, so he let him be half-naked, "...though, you only need to feel the pain slightly, so try to somehow concentrate your [Mana Sense] where the pain is and grab the mana and move it, okay?"

Before Maurice could nod, Alexander was already poking him with the letter opener. He could probably also just try and punch him or use contraptions, but one, it could be too weak to activate Maurice's skill or too strong so that the pain would come into the way of sensing the mana.

After an hour of poking and healing the wound with his first aid spell, it went much better than he thought. Maurice came out of his concentration and yelled, surprising everyone, "I got it!"

Alexander stopped, "You got the [Mana Manipulation] skill?"

Maurice stood up and proudly presented himself with a disfigured hand, "Yes!"

He instantly used his energy on his hand, and after almost a minute, everyone in the room could feel how mana rushed into the energy, and it became denser and more volatile.

Alexander clapped, happy that his lab r... personal guardian learned it so quickly, "Good for you! Try now to learn more mana-based skills and increase your power! You should know how."

Alexander sounded a bit bored but was truly happy for him. It was just nothing new for him at this point. So he told him more ideas on how to learn other skills and increase them.

He looked at his pocket watch, and since he had a couple of hours, he should meet up with his mother.

After a while, he arrived in the main mansion and immediately felt the demonic energy around him, 'Holy shit Lori...'