Thicker Than Butter

Altair was confused as to why all of the servants were so happy when she woke up. She didn't expect the massive meal they had made for her to be so delicious either. Nor did she figure she was so hungry that she ate, what felt like, her entire body weight in food. She had never felt like a pig before but now she did. She was completely bloated.

After she had eaten, still feeling a pulling sensation on her very body, Altair was taken around the house on a tour. She was forced to attempt to ignore the sensation she constantly felt due to the closeness of the Manamium. The good thing was that its grasp upon her paled compared to how bad it was when she had first arrived.

She no longer had a headache. In fact, she felt pretty good after waking up. She didn't feel completely refreshed, but close to it. As a result, she didn't even notice the fact that the oppressive feeling she felt when she first arrived wasn't there anymore. It was only after she had finished eating that she suddenly started to notice it.

It was like a constant itch on her body that she couldn't scratch. But, she knew that if she went over to the pool of Manamium and touched it the itch would fade. She didn't know why she knew that, it was just an instinctive feeling she had.

The new home she was taken to was a three storey building. The decorations were lavish without being gaudy. The furnishings were all designed to be as comfortable as possible. It came complete with five bedrooms that guests could use, along with three for family, and six for servants. There were four bathrooms, a training room, two entertainment rooms, one of which was filled with paraphernalia that Altair was still not used to seeing, and one dining room with a massive table. The garden outside had that massive pond that still glowed green to Altair.

Overall, the home had everything she would need to relax in. The entertainment rooms had plenty of shows about Mecha that she was keenly interested in when it was pointed out to her. She was more interested in them then the collector's shelf of Miracle Dancing Magical Girl Arneli Arnessa, which had every season and episode up to date in collector's format that could be obtained. She just didn't have the time to watch any of them at the moment she found them due to the tour.

However, there was something that bugged Altair as the tour of the building went on. She noticed it immediately when she was taken down to the second floor, as she was sleeping on the third floor. She could see the Mana inside the building. It was like an invader to the premises and Altair started to wonder why it was able to linger for long.

Normally, Mana would dissipate over time after a battle had ended. It would scatter to the winds completely within a day or two. Even if there was Manamium around, she still didn't understand how it could linger for so long. She didn't even know why there was so much Manamium at this place to begin with.

It was only when Altair burned her Mana reflexively at the thought of Mana being everywhere that she noticed the change in her body. The familiar swirl of Mana that she felt was no longer just within the core of herself. Instead, it seemed to move all the Mana within her body, even the parts that weren't apart of her reserve, around within her. The only Mana that didn't move around with its comforting cycle was the Mana that was still locked away with in.

This was downright absurd to her. It was like her Mana Pool was now encompassing her entire body instead of just itself. While she couldn't feel the excessive Mana that was flooded through her body as part of her Mana Pool, she could still burn it instead of the Mana from her Mana Pool. As a result, she effectively had more Mana than she was aware of. Furthermore, her body wasn't attacking the Mana like before when she was soaking in the Manamium.

When Altair was taken down to the first floor, the Mana she could see was so dense it was like she was walking through fog. Everything that was pointed out to her she couldn't actually see. She was effectively blind downstairs.

However, as she drew closer to the Manamium, the itch grew more and more distracting. She couldn't ignore it that well and, as it was last place she had to be shown, with the Mana so thick that all of the hair on her body stood up due to how it pervaded the air, Altair felt like she wanted to burn her Mana badly.

It was like she had drank too much water and needed to go to the bathroom really badly. Her body started to instinctively burn it and, since Body Reinforcement Magic was the Magic she was most comfortable with, she would up using that Magic just to feel some relief from the pressure. Yet, despite the pressure getting bigger the closer so got to the pond, she still wanted to get closer. She wanted to dive in. It was driving her mad.

And then, Din, the elderly female steward with a warm aura about her offered, "We often let our feet soak in the pond, would you to as well? It's actually quite comfortable."

Altair's heart leapt to her throat at the offer and she nodded vigorously with a look of expectation. In her heart, she was filled with eagerness and anticipation.

Din nodded to her, although Altair couldn't see it at all, and said, "Well then, be sure to take your socks off first. I'll go and get you a towel for when you're done."

Altair heard her walking away through the fog that prevented her from even seeing her nose. The wind breeze that blew in did nothing to stir up the Mana in the air at all. It was just too dense for the wind to penetrate at all, although Altair still felt the cool breeze on her warm skin.

Altair took off her socks and tossed them to the side. Since she couldn't see anything around her she had no idea where they landed.

She then walked towards where she felt the Manamium was. Her excitement grew with each step she took towards it and she stumbled into the water when she thought there was another step left. She barely managed to prevent herself from falling completely into it.

She could actually feel the Manamium within the water. They were like little spiky rocks that pierced into her body, but didn't cause her pain after they went through the skin. They then divided and multiplied as they pressured her insides in a way she didn't think was possible.

It sent a shiver down her spine as she immediately felt a wave of euphoria. However, she hated that feeling. It caused her mind to blank and she found herself to be completely defenseless when that happened. With her knowledge of how the nervous system worked, she immediately cut the receptors she found sending the signals to her brain that caused that reaction. After it was cut, she let out a sigh of relief and sad down on the edge of the pond.

The Mana in the air was so thick she frowned as she felt it was ruining her view. Everything would have been perfect if she could just see her surroundings. Sitting in the Mana Fog while she absorbed Manamium through her feet caused her to feel slightly uneasy. It was like the space around her could hold anything in it if she couldn't hear it.

She then had a terrible idea that she would regret for a long time to come.

She wanted to try and burn the Mana that was in the air so it would go away.

The problem was that her Body Reinforcement Magic made her feel giddy and urged her to move, to act, to do SOMETHING when she used it. The feeling was compounded several times over the more she stacked the effect. Her Shadow Magic might be visible to people around her, so she didn't want to try that, especially since she couldn't see if she was being watched or not.

That left her with her Thread Magic. She knew that she could use that and no one would be able to see it.

With that thought in mind, she began to burn her Mana and made multiple threads out of her body. Since she couldn't see anything around her, she could only use herself as a medium for them. This allowed her to feel her surroundings that she couldn't see as the threads fell limply to the cobblestones around her. They fell onto some chairs near her, a table, a parasol that was on the table, on her socks that she found out were on the cobblestones nearby, and into the Manamium before her.

Upon touching the Manamium, she felt the Magic start to resist her control and it caused her brows to furrow. She exerted more force over them to keep them under her will while moving them out of the water and placing them to her sides. When all of the Manamium had dripped off, they stopped resisting her and she sighed in relief.

Still, it was something to take note of later for further investigation.

However, at that moment, she saw the Mana Fog around her swirl and mix as she continued to burn the Mana within her body. It moved in time with her own Mana Pool and, before long, it began to condense before the Manamium pool in front of her. She could tell that it was reacting this way because she was burning Mana.

And then it started to swirl faster and faster. It picked up speed and outstripped Altair's own Mana Pool speed like it had a mind of its own. This caused Altair to tilt her head in confusion as she witnessed the bizarre phenomena. However, it also cleared up the area surrounding Altair so she could actually see her surroundings.