Sealed

Nova woke up with a start.

『Dad?! Mom?!』[Nova]

He jumped up, immediately causing him to regret it.

「Ouch, ouch, ouuuuch!」[Nova]

He felt throbbing pain all over his body, specifically like it was burning.

「I'm...」[Nova]

One look around the room told Nova that he was back at the castle.

「...back here.」[Nova]

Nova immediately felt a weak cooling effect throughout his body.

「My necklace…? Why didn't the cooling effect work during the fight?」[Nova]

He pulled it out and saw that it glowed especially bright.

「Ah? Morning, sleepyhead! You seemed to have a hard time with the child-looking person! In fact, that battle overloaded the necklace with mana, so the cooling effect seems to have malfunctioned.」[Reischneid]

「Reischneid? What happened on your end?!」[Nova]

「Mm… I was there one second, then I got hit by something and turned into mana particles.」[Reischneid]

「What?! Was it the Remnant?!」[Nova]

「Suppose it was. Aside from that, I can thankfully tell you that most of the people you had me protect are okay.」[Reischneid]

Nova felt relief wash over his body as he let out a sigh.

「...Thank goodness.」[Nova]

「But your dad. How was your first encounter with him?」[Reischneid]

Nova suddenly felt a bitter taste return to his mouth.

「...He has a bad habit of changing topics when he doesn't want to talk about something.」[Nova]

He pulled his body up, propping his back to the bed frame before glancing around the room.

「...You said most. Who isn't alright?」[Nova]

「The only person that isn't in my range would be the girl. All of her companions are somewhere in this castle.」[Reischneid]

Nova frowned but said nothing.

「...As long as everyone else is alright...」[Nova]

Nova raised his arm to try and move the blanket, but his body suddenly stopped its movement.

「...Huh?」[Nova]

His arm jerked back and forth as if it was trying to move, but it wouldn't.

「My arm won't move...」[Nova]

「Huh? Wait… hold on,」[Reischneid]

Nova saw a flash of light next to him, as Reischneid appeared out of thin air.

He stared straight at Nova's arm for at least a couple minutes.

『Well…? How is it?』[Nova]

『...You know, it's pretty possible that your dad put a seal onto your body.』[Reischneid]

Reischneid raised an eyebrow at this.

『...Take off your shirt.』[Reischneid]

Nova retracted his arm and moved to take off his shirt before he was stopped by his lack of movement once again.

『...Can't.』[Nova]

Reischneid sighed before moving to just lift the fabric above Nova's stomach.

Right on his stomach were many green lines that crawled up to his chest.

『...Haah. ...Seems to be a seal, after all.』[Reischneid]

『...He… sealed me?』[Nova]

Nova put his hand on the lines, feeling it.

The moment he did so, a weird connection formed with him and the lines.

He felt his mana veins pulse throughout his body.

『Ngh..?!』[Nova]

He took his hand off as fast as he put it on.

『What's wrong?!』[Reischneid]

Reischneid grabbed Nova's shoulder, as if he thought Nova was gonna fall off.

It immediately resulted in waves of pain throughout his body.

『Ow-ow-ow-ow! That hurts! Let go!』[Nova]

『Ah- oops.』[Reischneid]

Nova leaned back a bit more.

『...When I touched the lines, it made a weird feeling pulse throughout my body.』[Nova]

Reischneid looked at the lines intently.

『...Seems to be a limiter on mana, judging by the thinness of the lines. The way it's attached to you also seems to help with the pain. Can you try circulating your mana?』[Reischneid]

Nova didn't know how to feel about the news he had heard, but he nodded his head and began circulating his mana anyway.

Once he did, he could see the lines light up extremely brightly- but his mana seemed to melt away into the seal.

『...Oho. If you could replicate this spell, it would be very nice.』[Reischneid]

『Huh? Why?』[Nova]

Reischneid then poked at Nova's stomach for a bit, causing Nova to accidentally let out a bit of a laugh.

『Pf...Pahahaha-stop!』[Nova]

『The spell is taking a portion of your mana and redirecting it towards the healing of your body. Along with that, it has a limit on its effectiveness. The lines get wider the more you use it, until the spell eventually breaks. This looks like a great training opportunity.』[Reischneid]

『...Uhh… So… circulate my mana as hard as I can?!』[Nova]

『NO!』[Reischneid]

He slammed Nova's head with his fist.

『OW!』[Nova]

『You limit your mana! Practice your control! I know DAMN well that you waste most of your mana reserves in about 5 spells!』[Reischneid]

『Well… what's wrong with that? I can just regenerate my mana with Blessed Flame Rebirth anyways.』[Nova]

『Nonono. Do you understand basic science?』[Reischneid]

Nova thought about it for a moment before scratching his head.

『...Well, I do understand enough… I think.』[Nova]

『Oh wait, you just scratched your head! I think that you can retain your full range of movement if you circulate your mana!』[Reischneid]

『Wait, back on topic. Come on.』[Nova]

Reischneid stared back blankly before realizing he had got off topic.

『Oh, right. Well, the more you burn the mana in your surroundings, the less mana there is to burn, of course. This means that after a certain point, you will spend more mana burning your flame than mana that your absorb.』[Reischneid]

『Wait, no! What if I use it to block spells from others, and just absorb their mana like I normally do?』[Nova]

『...You typically overdo it on the fire, don't you?』[Reischneid]

『...Aaah…. Damn.』[Nova]

『No, no. you should totally control your fire!』[Reischneid]

Nova mumbled under his breath.

『But… it.. lo...ks.. ool...』[Nova]

『You did NOT just say it looks cool.』[Reischneid]

Nova continued channeling his mana silently.

『...Anyways, someone is walking towards here. I'll make myself scarce.』[Reischneid]

He disappeared in another flash of light.

Nova nodded and laid down to make himself look natural.

「...Still, I guess… dad is still looking after me.」[Nova]