"Be careful with what I am about to show you today. Mastering the basics does not make you a healer. This path requires discipline, patience, and an uncompromising understanding of human anatomy. You will have to sacrifice time - a lot of time - to understand the body in all its facets. Do not expect to be able to snatch life from the jaws of death."
"I will keep that in mind", Cale replied calmly, nodding without breaking eye contact. For a moment, there was complete silence among them before Chief Merensen spoke.
"I had no doubt about that. Very well. I think that as a swordmaster and given your advanced age, you are probably better equipped than many of our mages. Mana control is the most important thing a healer must have. Even magicians with little RM can achieve a lot if they can control their mana well. Since you are familiar with the mana of Karekama, this exercise should be easy for you", Chief Merensen announced calmly, and pushed the small bowl of crystals toward Cale with his free hand. Without a word, Cale took one of the crystals in his hand and held it in front of his face as well. "Good. I want you to watch me closely. I will stop my mana from escaping and absorb the mana from the crystal into my body and let it flow through my mana channels."
As announced, the presence of the 2nd Chief disappeared completely, and Cale watched with interest as the Chief absorbed the foreign mana into himself and let it flow once from his hand, through his arm to his heart and back again. With a nod, the chief then instructed Cale to do the same, which made him laugh inwardly. A normal mage would spend years learning to control their mana output, let alone using mana transfer at the same time and not allowing the foreign mana to merge with their own. The fact that the chief started with such a challenge showed that he had a rough idea of how powerful Cale was.
Without much effort, Cale made his mana disappear and drew the foreign mana into himself, just as he had learned from Aletta. He let it flow through his body once and then sent it back into the crystal, causing Chief Merensen to nod in satisfaction.
"Good, then let's take it one step further. We will not use the mana cycle, but our blood vessels."
"What?", Cale asked in surprise, staring at the chief in confusion. "Like a Thormod?"
"So to speak, yes", Ninett Merensen replied simply and began to absorb the crystal's mana into himself again.
Without changing his expression, Chief Merensen let mana flow through his arm, but this time much slower than he had done before. Cale couldn't tell that he wasn't using the mana through his mana cycle, but through his blood vessels. Outwardly, it looked exactly the same, so he concentrated on feeling what the chief was doing. Ninett, on the other hand, held the mana in place and placed the crystal on the table before extending his hand. Surprised, Cale gave him his hand and began to check via mana transfer what the foreign mana looked like from the inside. However, it was strange, completely different from what he expected.
"What do you feel?", Ninett Merensen inquired.
"I can see that the mana is in your body, but it's not where I would expect it to be. It's probably because I'm using the mana cycle and not the blood vessels, right? The paths probably run parallel to each other, which is why I can sense the presence of the mana but can't pinpoint it."
"That's right. It's like two paths running side by side. You can tell what's happening on the other path, but you can't get there so easily."
"So you can't switch back and forth between blood and mana pathways?"
"That... is possible, but it's a step further. First, you have to learn to let mana flow through your blood. That's easier than trying to release mana while absorbing mana and concentrating on your own mana at the same time."
"You want me to be your test subject?"
"That's my intention, yes."
"Isn't that dangerous for you?"
"Why do you think I just checked how good your mana control is?"
"Ah", Cale began as he understood the ulterior motive behind the first exercise. Somewhat hesitantly, Cale looked at Chief Merensen as their hands rested on top of each other. "Well, I hope you won't regret this later."
Cale withdrew his mana and tried to find the path that the crystal's mana had taken. Although he could visualize how the body and mana behaved, putting the idea into practice was much more difficult than he had expected.
"As long as you don't send large amounts of pure mana into my cycle in jerks, everything will be fine", Chief Merensen began with a smile, presumably to ease Cale's nervousness, but this had the opposite effect.
He abruptly removed his hand from the chief and looked at him in shock.
"What?"
"It's okay, you don't need to be so careful. I can handle it if you use your mana a little more aggressively."
"I’m afraid I can’t take responsibility for that."
"What do you mean?", Chief Merensen asked in surprise, while Cale remained silent for a moment. He had great confidence in his abilities, but when Chief Merensen demanded that he use his mana more intensely, he felt uneasy. Since he kept his mana output at 20RM, the chief had no way of knowing how much mana he actually possessed, apart from the internal barriers that held back the rest of his power.
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"I think we should work on my body instead, Chief", he evaded the question, but Ninett would not be shaken off.
"You don't have to worry about hurting me. I am good with mana, even if it is abundant and uncontrolled."
"You underestimate my mana reserves, Chief."
"I underestimate... have you reduced your mana output all day?", the Second Chief asked in surprise when he understood what Cale was trying to tell him. When he received a nod in response, he sat there with his mouth half open and asked his next questions. "For how long? How much mana are we talking about?"
"I actually suppress it all the time. When it comes to mana, I am a real monster, worse than the Eldest himself. I have confidence in my abilities, but learning something new means taking a risk. If I am not careful and play around with my mana like that, I could really hurt you, Chief."
Silence enveloped the table, and even Chief Heriog, who had only been present as a spectator until now, stared at Cale in amazement. Ninett Merensen, on the other hand, let his mana flow back into his body and merged the crystal's mana with his own as he lowered his hand. Somewhat hesitantly, Cale stretched his hand forward and waited for the Chief to react, which he did after a few moments of consideration.
"Please show me how large your mana pool is", Ninett Merensen interjected. When Cale nodded, he placed his hand on Cale's and slid over the mana pathways to his heart. For a moment, Ninett couldn't feel anything, but suddenly a shockwave hit him like a huge wall, and his hair immediately stood on end. Cale had released very little mana, but that allowed the leader to see the inner barriers and the massive mana masses. "By the holy mana, what is that?"
"Igrikum. I said that I am an Apostle, but I am a little different. With my Igrikum, I prevent my mana from destroying my body. Currently, I only have about 100RM of my entire Igrikum available."
"Only 100RM? What?", Chief Heriog repeated in shock, unaware of what Cale's inner self really looked like.
Chief Merensen, on the other hand, was completely silent and seemed to be completely lost in thought. Cale could draw another barrier, but he couldn't maintain it passively. He had played around with his mana and Igrikum a lot in the past, and if he tried to lock away too much mana or use too much of his Igrikum, the whole thing would become unbalanced and only cause him problems. His current setup was so perfect that he wouldn't even change it for testing unless it was really necessary.
"It's a long story. Would it be possible for me to just work with my body and the crystal?"
"That could be difficult", Ninett Merensen replied quickly, still overwhelmed by the fact that he hadn't noticed these massive amounts of mana. Ninett was well aware that 100RM was too much for him. Even half that amount would be difficult for him. His body simply wasn't made for that much mana. "We have conducted many studies on this, and controlling mana through your own bloodstream without knowing what you are doing is complicated and dangerous."
"What if you send your mana into my bloodstream? Wouldn't that be like healing me?"
"We use significantly less mana for healing. I can try, but if you can't feel or control it, then we'll inevitably have to work with more, and that could be painful."
"I'll survive that", Cale replied with a smile on his face. How painful could it be when he had survived the agony of his own mana trying to tear him apart from the inside?
"Fine, if you say so. If it becomes problematic for you, let me know. Not that I..."
"I will."
Ninett looked at Cale suspiciously, but said nothing more. He withdrew his mana and took one last look at Cale before beginning to use his healing abilities. Suddenly, Cale could feel the strange sensation spreading through his body. It wasn't unpleasant or painful, just a little unusual. But as Chief Merensen had mentioned, Cale couldn't really make out the mana. He could feel it clearly in his arm, but he couldn't access it. Frowning, he stared at his arm as he tried to focus only on the feeling.
"I will... slowly add more."
"All right", Cale confirmed, noticing the chief adding more of his mana step by step. At a certain point, however, he began to feel a tingling sensation, almost as if someone were pricking his arm with a needle. This tingling turned into a burning sensation, as if fire were spreading through his body. He hissed softly as he tried to access the mana, but it felt as if there were an invisible wall between him and the mana.
"If I go any further, it will be really dangerous, Sir Adenia", Chief Merensen announced. Although Cale could endure a few more levels of pain, he had long since realized that the problem was not locating the mana. It was as if his own body was preventing him from accessing it, even though he knew that the pain would subside afterward.
"Ah", he exclaimed, as if someone had hit him on the head.
He suddenly had an idea and relaxed his body. All this time, he had been trying to access it by force, but the barrier between them prevented him from doing so. So why not bypass the barrier? He could also make mana appear outside his body and control it, so it should work similarly on a small scale.
Cale closed his eyes in concentration and made a small amount of his mana appear next to the leader's, while the pain got worse. He grimaced, but at the same moment, he felt himself gain control over the foreign mana and pulled it toward him. In a fraction of a second, he converted the mana into his own and distributed it throughout his body, while Merensen pulled his hand away at the same time. The connection between them was broken, but Cale no longer needed his help. He could feel his blood becoming noticeable next to his mana cycle, and as he slowly let the mana remain there, he realized how fine and branched the pathways were. Without a word, he watched as he created a small map of his body and overcame the obstacle that had been causing him so much trouble.
"How...?", Chief Merensen spoke up after a few moments of silence, and Cale slowly opened his eyes again. He looked at his hand and felt that both mana sources were in the same place, but were still separate. With a satisfied smile, he let the mana jump back into his mana cycle and turned his wrist in a circle a few times as he restored it to its original state.
"I think I understand."
"How did you do that?", the chief finished his sentence, causing Cale to look up at him. Both Ninett Merensen and his colleague looked at him with wide eyes, causing Cale to pause in his movement.
"What do you mean?"
"You were able to switch mana between your blood and the mana cycle."
"Wasn't that exactly what you wanted to achieve?"
"Well, kind of, but... actually, you just skipped an intermediate step. You made mana appear in your blood out of nowhere. Normally, we first try to bring the two channels as close together as possible so that...", Chief Merensen tried to explain, but when he noticed Cale's irritated look, he fell silent. He considered his next words before turning his serious gaze back to Cale. "What did you do?"
"It felt to me as if there was a barrier between your mana and my mana. So I overcame that barrier and simply made my mana appear next to yours, and then merged your mana with mine."
"Your mana control is incredible, you know that?"
"Is it?"
"How did you learn that?"
"Good question", Cale began, thoughtfully holding his hand to his chin as he thought about when he had made someone's mana appear outside of their body. Just a few seconds - then it hit him.
Zero magic.