Jonah and Serina continued walking through the forest, deciding on what to do in the future after they escaped the inquisitors, who were probably – guaranteed – looking for them.
Jonah had to rely on Serina and her resources if he wanted to survive in Thyskria for an extended period of time, longer than a couple of days. She had already averted a couple of beasts interested in a light snack. And that was just the start of it. He couldn’t even understand yet how much trouble he would be in without her.
Without Serina, Jonah wouldn’t even have a basic grasp of the geography. And he doesn’t speak the language, so unless he encounters someone who speaks the same language as him, uses magic to translate, or has a similar magic item to Serina’s Translation Necklace, he would be screwed. The first two options don’t even guarantee his survival. If anything, it confirms the fact that he’s an invader and to be killed on sight. Well, the first option, meeting anyone speaking aspian like him, is impossible in the first place.
Jonah did not consider the possibility of another Earthling arriving on Thyskria and surviving to be real. He looked at his own journey over the last couple of days. If a single thing had gone wrong or worse than it did, he would have already been chow for the creatures in the Jador Woods, as Serina had informed him was the official name for the forest they were in.
He had trouble believing any mages from Earth, where offensive magic was outlawed, would last long on Thyskria, where they would be attacked and killed on sight. Even accomplished mages with special government permissions and the like probably wouldn’t last long without anyone to help them. Jonah didn’t think even the strongest people on Earth would be much of a match for the more powerful people on Thyskria, considering the discrepancy in atmospherical mana density.
As he thought about it, Jonah once again realized how lucky he was to have encountered Serina, despite her personalities.
Even if he learned the language and used the identity given to him by Serina, he didn’t know things that a native would know, and he could accidentally reveal himself. He also wouldn’t have any backing or support to help him rise through the world and become stronger or learn more magic, which was something every mage worth their name wanted. And if he ever wanted to find a way back home, he would require resources that only some high up in the world would have access to.
Well, considering he had defeated a Rock Roarer as soon as he arrived on Thyskria, and he did it without help, the System’s or Serina’s, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to try and find his own footing if he learned the language and enough common sense to make do. But Serina’s help and influence would contribute greatly.
At least people couldn’t see his [Invader] skill due to its rank being (HIDDEN). It was good to know since even if people used a similar method as Serina and managed to peek at his status window, he wouldn’t be revealed.
Well, it wasn’t easy to see his entire status like that, anyways. It was only during thorough identity inspections and the like that people had to divulge all of their status window, and that was only when they didn’t have another way to guarantee their identity, which Jonah would have if he did stay with Serina. Serina’s method had also been reliant on his recent arrival on Thyskria, so the more time that passed, the more difficult it would be to use the same method.
The matter with his name could also be changed once enough people recognized him as Jonah Fairchild rather than Jonah Wilchammer. At the moment, everyone within the system’s reach who knew of Jonah knew him as Jonah Wilchammer. But once more people knew Jonah and heard that his last name was Fairchild, combined with Jonah’s own recognition of that being his last name, the status window would change.
The main problem was that there were strong people who could circumvent the hassle and peer at weaker people’s status windows. If that happened before Jonah became too strong, they could see his [Mana Heart (lvl 5) (EPIC)] and [Decapitation (lvl 2) (RARE)]. Both those skills were things that would make Jonah stand out.
[Decaptiation], he understood. But he had to ask Serina about [Mana Heart] and the reason behind its rank.
On Earth, everyone had something similar. After all, the mana heart was a mage’s engine and gas tank. Without it, magic would be nearly impossible.
Mages on Earth absorbed mana through their breathing and guided it to their hearts, where they stored it using a method generally called Mana Heart. So Jonah could understand the reason behind the skill’s name. And it had to be something the System had heard of before unless it accurately read all of Jonah’s information and brain and knew what he could do. It had also decided on a rank.
To Jonah, breathing in mana and absorbing it to reinforce his mana heart was the only way to grow stronger actively purely in terms of mana and mana output. Of course, learning more powerful spells would make a mage more powerful. But in order to cast powerful spells, even if they knew how to do it theoretically, mages still had to have enough fuel – mana – for them.
That was one of the reasons why Jonah was so excited about being in a place with mana as dense as Thyskria. Since there was more mana in the air, he breathed in more mana with each breath than he did in a day on Earth. In fact, the mana was so dense that he was already making more progress than he had done in several weeks.
If he stayed in Thyskria for long enough, he would eventually gather enough mana in his heart to surpass all the mages on Earth, just because the density, or lack thereof, of mana on Earth, simply made it impossible to breach a certain level.
However, the reason why [Mana Heart] was so highly ranked by the system, despite all the mages using something similar, was the fact that it wasn’t common on Thyskria. Of course, the rank wasn’t only a descriptor of the skills’ rarity, it was also an indicator of its usefulness and value, which Jonah only understood once Serina explained that she hadn’t even heard of something like it, but if he was speaking the truth, his growth as a mage wasn’t restricted to the system’s help.
Mages – anyone who used mana in any way, shape, or form, really – didn’t use anything like Jonah’s [Mana Heart] to start using mana. They relied on themselves and, above all else, the System.
Thanks to living and being born in such a mana-dense atmosphere, babies, as long as they were talented enough, could awaken mana on their own once they grew and accumulated enough in their bodies.
Simply living gave them enough mana to use without learning how to accumulate it on their own.
Even if they didn’t naturally awaken to mana on their own, there was still hope to develop some way to use mana as they grew, not in age, but in level.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Thanks to the system, every time someone killed someone or something else, the System guided part of what they killed’s power into the killer. If the unfortunate one had mana, the killer would get some of it.
By leveling up, people accumulated mana, which would let them try and become mages if they were talented enough at controlling it. Otherwise, they could simply use it to reinforce their bodies and get [Body Reinforcement], which was also mostly possible to get so easily thanks to the System. But with that skill, anyone could use mana to strengthen their bodies and fight.
Of course, leveling up didn’t only give people more mana. It also increased their other basic functions and things like strength, speed, reflexes, vigor, and whatever else made a person a person. Well, since the System wasn’t only for people and humans, it simply strengthened the killer in whatever way it found suitable.
And since the System cared about the user’s efforts, it made sure to strengthen the aspects of the user that were used when killing. A mage got mana, a warrior got strength, and so on. It was only a general description, but since Jonah had stopped listening once he heard about how people on Thyskria kill each other just to get more mana, Serina didn’t explain in more detail.
Jonah couldn’t quite believe it. People killing each other for more mana when they already live in such a mana-dense atmosphere. And since they were aware of other worlds, they naturally had to know that not everyone, not every world, was as rich and blessed as Thyskria.
Besides, they already knew that living and breathing such mana-rich air helped them accumulate enough. It naturally wasn’t enough for any really powerful magic. But it wouldn’t be strange to take it one step further and develop a method that built onto that. How difficult could it be to develop a method that used one of the basic understandings of life on Thyskria and turned it into something controllable?
How difficult could it be to realize that it would be easier and less harmful to breathe and store the mana of the world in one’s own body instead of stealing it from others by killing?
“That’s actually why not everyone is against invaders, you know?”
Serina wasn’t surprised by Jonah’s doubts.
“Invaders come from other worlds, dimensions, and planets, which naturally have different societies and histories, and thus also different ways of interacting with mana. They also have different technologies, some of which are advanced enough to pose a significant threat to Thyskria. Just as all those things are dangerous, especially when combined with [Invader], they are also learning opportunities.”
Jonah could only listen in silence at the impromptu lesson.
“Left unchecked, invaders are definitely dangerous, especially ones who are already strong before the system and who are used to fighting and killing. Unlike you, they won’t have any qualms or difficulties when it comes to killing people, especially those from another world.”
“...”
“However, they have become strong enough to compete with people using the System without the System. While they’re dangerous, imagine if we, the people of Thyskria, could get our hands on those methods and combine them with the growth provided by the system. We could be strong enough to never worry about invaders ever again.”
Jonah was a little scared by the thought, even if he couldn’t understand just how great the System was yet. But he knew that there were some freakily exceptional and talented mages on Earth, who were only limited by the thin mana in the air.
If they were let loose in this place with [Mana Heart] and a cold heart, and they went on a killing spree, Jonah could only imagine how strong they would become. If they also developed and adapted the spells of Earth to fit the dense mana and their own overflowing mana hearts, their power would be nigh-unimaginable.
“Also….”
Serina interrupted Jonah’s thoughts with a hesitant voice.
“I almost don’t want to say it since I don’t want to think my fellow thyskrians would ignore an opportunity to fortify our defenses against powerful invaders, but….”
“But…?”
“It’s entirely possible that people, natives of Thyskira, have developed those kinds of methods but kept them to themselves, selfishly caring about their own strength and nothing but that.”
“I would almost say that it’s guaranteed, no? You do seem like a slightly sheltered princess or noble lady, but you should be aware of the greed and selfishness of man, right?”
Jonah did not have a hard time believing accomplished mages of Thyskria intentionally kept useful magic and mana-using methods to themselves. After all, on Earth, it was practically a given that high-level magic formulas and spells were exclusive only to those who had access to or developed them.
He could understand it when it came to offensive magic since that was outlawed in most countries. But even some theories or formulas and spells related to harmless magic, like how to assemble a table in one go, were strict secrets kept by certain high-level societies and whatnot. However, the art of mana breathing would be great for the people of Thyskria, so why keep it a secret?
‘Ah. It’s too good.’
Jonah realized why it wasn’t as widespread on Thyskria as it was on Earth. Earth was relatively peaceful. Thyskria wasn’t. People wouldn’t think that they could rely on mana breathing instead of killing. They would think ‘How great. Another way to become stronger.’ They wouldn’t choose one method over the other. They would use both. And it would be chaotic.
“You’re so rude for someone who agreed to work for me.”
“I didn’t really have a choice, did I? Besides, I’m only working for you on the surface. We’re working together. As equals. You’ll help me get settled on Thyskria, then I’ll help you with your duties, and then you’ll help me again by finding a way back to Earth. And I will help you by teaching you magic from Earth. Don’t forget that.”
“Yeah, yeah. I still can’t believe your home planet is called ‘Earth.’”
“What’s so hard to believe about it? It’s like a person being called Serina.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with my name?!”
“Nothing. But just like nothing’s wrong with being named after a type of grass, nothing’s wrong with a planet called Earth.”
“Serina’s not a grass!”
Jonah held up his hands with his palms facing away as a sign that he wasn’t going to argue. But Serina could tell from his face that he didn’t agree with her.
“Anyways, you’ve got it all memorized now?”
Jonah nodded and tapped the folder tucked into his belt.
“Yep. Jonah Fairchild, a single child from a couple who died when I was young. I lived in a village called Lotter. Eventually, I decided I had enough of being a leech and decided to roam the world and become something. That’s when I met you, who, thanks to your skills as the Stargazer’s daughter, recognized my magic talent. Now, we’re on our way through the woods to Rindol. After that, we’ll go to the Chambria Royal Institute of Magic.”
“Good.”
Serina gestured for Jonah to hand over the folder, which he did. As soon as she got it, it caught fire. Serina let it fall to the ground as it slowly turned to ash.
“We can’t leave evidence, right? Young Fairchild.”
“But what if I got it wrong?”
“Then you’re on your own.”
Serina grinned, despite Jonah’s worries.
“Besides, we’ve got more pressing matters to attend to.”
Serina turned serious and looked into the depths of the forest. It was only when several faint figures appeared that Jonah understood what she meant.
If they were caught walking around with a folder containing all the details about a made-up identity when they encountered the inquisitors, even the dumbest of them could tell that Serina and Jonah were suspicious enough to, at the very least, be brought in for an interrogation
Jonah subconsciously put his hand on the necklace around his neck. The translation necklace was the only thing that could help him communicate with the natives of Thyskria and hide his identity as an invader.