New Magic

Azra didn't think too much of what he was doing. He wasn't doing anything other than petting Lo's childhood dog and becoming acquainted with it so it would be easier to deal with both Lo and Erlo in the future. However, those thoughts influenced his still active magic.

The divine power in Azra's hand on Erlo's forehead was affected by Azra wanting to be able to make the most use of Erlo in the future.

Azra's intentions were too vague to have a noticeable effect on the divine power entering Erlo, but Azra felt how his mana drained at an increasingly rapid pace. He didn't know what he was doing that caused his mana to drain so quickly, but he didn't let it show on his face as his brain raced to understand the situation while he could still use Erlo as a test subject.

However, as Azra straightened his thoughts and tried to figure out where his mana was going, his subconscious didn't have any room to interfere with his magic and the mana consumption went back to normal. At the same time, Erlo pulled away from Azra and went back to Lo.

Azra didn't let the frustration of not knowing what happened show on his face as he walked back toward the family of Thorns' home. He had often heard how inclinations helped the humans possessing them with vague instincts or by straight out telling the human what they had to do to awaken the inclination or grow stronger.

However, Azra hadn't experienced anything like that with his own inclination at any point throughout the entirety of his life. Even after finally awakening his inclination, Azra had to figure out how to get stronger using vague hints by himself. But there was only so much he could deduce without any clues.

Azra's frustration surged as he found out his element and magic were capable of something else, but he couldn't determine what it was.

After using his divine power to heal people, Azra managed to figure out it was something similar to a power of miracles influenced by his will. However, such a description was way too vague and empty for Azra to know what he could do with his divine power other than heal and help people. He had inadvertently discovered there was at least one more way, but that discovery didn't give him much since he didn't know what had happened when his hand touched Erlo.

The only thing Azra could do, despite his frustration, was to go through the scene again and again inside his mind until he figured it out. Azra replayed the scene where Erlo came up to him and met his hand several times, but he still couldn't figure out why his mana suddenly began decreasing.

Azra checked on Lo's expression as well, but the only thing he got from that was that Lo was steadily becoming a devout believer of Azra, which was naturally a good thing. But it should have led to an increase in his mana, not a decrease.

Since it wasn't related to Lo, and most likely no other hidden spectators, the only thing that could have affected Azra's divine power was Azra himself.

Azra's thoughts were interrupted by Lo.

Lo had noticed that Azra wasn't very active and merely followed behind as they walked to the house. Lo didn't mind since Azra was probably extremely tired after all the work he had done. It also gave Lo some time to fill Erlo in on what had happened the last few years, which wasn't much, but Lo liked talking to Erlo, so he just said what came to mind.

However, when they arrived at the house, Lo had to interrupt Azra's deep thinking so that he didn't trip and fall on the stairs or the threshold.

Lo was correct in assuming that Azra was exhausted. Azra was slightly worried that retiring to the room he was borrowing might seem rude since Mirabelle offered dinner, but he wasn't in the mood to partake in idle chatter. Azra would much rather relax in his room while trying to figure out what he had done to Erlo.

It didn't take long for Azra's pondering to be interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Mister Azra, are you asleep already?"

Melly's soft voice barely reached through the door, and while Azra knew he could pretend to be asleep, he also wasn't willing to give up a chance to get another person to believe in him. And in order to get Melly to believe in him enough to increase his power, he would have to make use of every opportunity he got.

Azra held back a sigh as he rose and put on a soft, welcoming smile to greet Melly with while he opened the door.

"Not just yet. How about you? Shouldn't you be sleeping by now?"

"Mom let me stay awake and play with Erlo tonight."

Melly answered Azra's question with pride before she remembered her purpose in knocking on Azra's door.

"Right. Mom told me to give you some dinner."

Melly handed over the tray in her hands to Azra.

Azra received the tray with a grateful smile.

"Thank you. It smells delicious. Be sure to tell your mom I appreciate it."

"Yes, mom's food is the best! Good night, mister Azra."

"Sleep tight, Melly."

Azra closed the door again after Melly skipped away down the hallway.

Azra had a satisfied glint in his eyes as he began devouring the soup and bread Melly brought. Melly's attitude toward him was very promising. Lo had told Azra many times how shy Melly usually was, even with villagers and neighbors she had known for a long time.

However, the infamously shy Melly happily talked with Azra and showed quite a bit of favor toward him. Azra was sure that he could transform that favorability into faith if given the possibility.

Melly had only seen Azra heal the scrapes on her hand, and while she had heard Lo's stories about him, she hadn't seen Azra's miracles for herself. With Melly's childish mind, she might even be quite susceptible to believing in Azra in a way different from simply trusting his abilities as a healer.

But Azra wasn't in a position where he could orchestrate a situation to turn Melly into an ardent believer, so he focused on what he had been doing before Melly delivered a late dinner.

Azra was determined to figure out what he had done to Erlo before falling asleep, but he knew he was getting tired, and sleeping might help restore his brain to full capacity. However, that would also reduce the freshness of the situation and make it harder for him to recall all the small details he would need to piece together the answer.

Azra decided to make one last attempt at figuring it out before passing out in exhaustion.

The mana didn't disappear as soon as he placed his glowing hand on Erlo's forehead. It happened shortly after. But Azra couldn't find anything that would trigger such a change.

What changed in the short few moments that Azra had his hand on Erlo's head? Azra had been focused on calming Erlo. But after Erlo accepted Azra's touch, Azra didn't need to do that anymore.

'Was that it?'

Maybe the food had helped Azra's thoughts along, but it seemed like he had figured something out.

After Azra relaxed, since Erlo wasn't on guard against him anymore, he let his thoughts wander. And with stray thoughts, it wasn't weird if one or two of them influenced his active magic. The only questions left were what kind of effect it had and if Azra could replicate it.