Partial Mana Deficiency

On Earth, Ethan had had the occasional headache, but he had never experienced a migraine until now. It was only now that he had a migraine that he could understand the difference between the two. Ethan couldn't even think straight from the pain. It was good that they were camped for the night, because he didn't think that he would be able to walk through the woods like this. The migraine wasn't his only problem though. He also had an intense pain in his abdomen, so bad that he couldn't even stand. He was sweating profusely, his skin was turning deathly pale, and the veins that were visible near his skin had turned black. On the whole, Ethan was not feeling very good, hence why he was crying out in pain.

"Here, drink this! It will make you feel better!" Mia said while handing him a small blue bottle of potion after rushing over from her tent.

Ethan took it and drank it down. It was bitter, but Ethan didn't care much about the taste as the pain and other symptoms disappeared almost instantly. Once that happened, Ethan could finally think straight.

"What was that?" Ethan asked.

"That was a mana potion. You were showing symptoms for partial mana deficiency. You are human after all I guess, despite your claims that in your homeland no one has mana. How it wasn't total mana deficiency, as you haven't had any mana since we found you, I don't know. Partial mana deficiency usually occurs when one has less than a tenth of a standard unit in your body. Total mana deficiency usually occurs when you have no mana at all. Anyway, with that mana potion you now have one standard mana unit in your body, which should allow you to maintain basic bodily functions for quite a while, as long as you don't cast any magic." Mia said.

Just then Ethan noticed that Mia was glowing blue. All of the other knights were also glowing blue as well but none were glowing as brightly as Mia. He then looked down at his own body and he was also glowing a faint blue, but it wasn't very bright. His body was glowing about one fifth as brightly as most of the knights were or one tenth as brightly as Mia.

"Why are we all glowing blue?" Ethan asked, confused.

"That is what mana looks like. Do you mean to tell me that you haven't even been able to sense mana until now?" Mia asked

"No, I couldn't. I think that this world may be affecting me gradually. That explains why I just now started to have symptoms for this 'partial mana deficiency' that was nonexistent on Earth." Said Ethan.

"What do you mean by 'this world'?! And putting that aside for now, what kind of place is this 'Earth' that it has people who can live without mana? Even if I suspend my doubt that the human body can survive without mana, how do you use magic without mana? And assuming that you don't use magic without mana, how do you build civilization without magic? I am now convinced that you are not just a simple minded barbarian, so you must have had some kind of education. How do your philosophers and scholars study without the assistance of magic?" Mia asked

"We don't use magic. We don't really need it. In absence of magic, we develop more advanced technology. That smartphone that you have is an example of it. It is not just a music player, it has many more functions. It is like the all-purpose tool that people used where I am from. Institutions of learning also use technology. Philosophers and scholars study mostly words, but they also go and do experiments in the natural world. When I was a university student, I studied language, not magic." Ethan answered.

"Language? Well I guess that partly explains why you were able to pick up the Vorbei language so quickly. But what other functions can this smartphone do other than playing music?" Mia said

"It can't do much here, but when it is on Earth, it has a map function, it can be used to communicate with people who have a similar device, people can even read books from it." Ethan said.

"I suppose it really is useful. I should probably give it back to you." Mia said

Ethan thought about this for a moment and then said, "You keep it. It's not much use to me here, and you seem to really like the music." Ethan said. [ This will be a good way to ingratiate myself with her. Plus, she can't use it without me unlocking it for her, so I still maintain my leverage.] he thought.

"Thank you" She said. "Oh, and by the way, tomorrow we will stop in a small village called Verafgelegen to resupply. While there, I would love to learn more about this technology of Earth that has allowed your people to create civilization without magic."

[I really don't want to give away all of my modern knowledge, but if it's just abstract stuff then there's no harm in it. Plus, I could potentially use her wanting to learn technology to get her to teach me magic in exchange. Still, this is a little suspicious. Being a nerd myself, she doesn't strike me as the nerdy type who would just scroll through w*k*pedia articles for fun back on Earth. If someone like Mia wants to learn something, she must have a specific purpose for learning it. Maybe I can her reason get it out of her if I pry.] Ethan thought.

"Sure, I don't mind particularly. While we're at it, maybe you can teach me some magic. If you don't mind my asking though, what brought this desire to learn on? No offence, but you don't strike me as the type of person who would seek knowledge for knowledge's own sake. I assume that you have a specific purpose for learning this?" Ethan said.

"Of course I can teach you magic, so long as the magic you want to learn isn't a military secret. And as for why I want to learn about this technology, well, I do have a purpose in mind, but it's nothing much. There's just a very bookish man whom I would like to impress with that strange technology of yours." Mia responded.

"Really? What's his name?" asked Ethan.

"Josef Von Buch, the Minister of Education for the Vorbei Kingdom." Mia answered while smiling.

[Well, I guess that I'll just take that at face value for now. It's not like Mia can kill anyone with abstract knowledge anyway. Even if she could, It's not like I have any attachments to anyone in this world.] Thought Ethan.

"Well, that sounds nice. I hope that everything goes well between you and him. In any event, I should probably get some sleep." Said Ethan.

"Before you go to sleep, drink some more mana potions. You are going to practice magic tomorrow, plus it will be good to know what your maximum capacity for mana is anyway." Mia said.

"Maximum capacity?" Ethan asked.

"The most mana that your body can hold at one time. My maximum capacity is ten standard mana units. That much is considered exceptional though, the average for the population is three standard mana units."said Mia.

"That's why you glow brighter than everyone else? Because you have ten standard mana units inside your body?" asked Ethan.

"Yes." Said Mia.

After that, Ethan drank mana potions until his glow was as bright as Mia's. It seemed that his mana capacity was ten standard mana units.