Chapter 26: Fixing the sword, and another Shock.

After laying down for 15 or so minutes, I stood up in a rather pathetic manner.

With all the Mana I poured in the spell, I was down to five percent of my reserves, by far crossing the ten percent critical zone.

As expected, it wasn't said to keep your Mana above ten percent, just cause it was a good figure...

Because as soon as I stood up, I faltered.

I was disoriented and my mind was a jumbled mess, it was jumping around, randomly focusing on different things, randomly surfacing various memories, and randomly thinking different thoughts, all while being pounded by a hammer, or so it felt.

If I had to compare this feeling, then I would compare it to suffering from a hangover while still being high.

Just hundred times more intense.

And the worst thing about this was that I couldn't take a Mana potion.

Just like in games where you can't take a Mana potion when your MP is below a certain point and have to rely on your natural recovery rate for a while, it was the same here.

The reason being simple, taking a Mana Potion in the end is injecting foreign Mana without a Mana signature in the Spirit body.

The Spirit body has to give this foreign Mana, its own Mana signature, making it no different from the Mana it owns.

But there is one problem, the Spirit body needs to be stable to do that.

And right now, when the Spirit body has most of its juice squeezed out, obviously, it isn't stable.

So, I had to wait for my Mana to reach ten percent, before I could use a potion.

Of course, I wasn't simply laying down, I used the so-called family exclusive breathing technique, [Blessed by the Mana], to accelerate my recovery rate, which was quite effective in my opinion.

No, considering I recovered 3% of my Mana in just 15 minutes, this technique was damn effective!

And that was not all, not only did this technique speed up my recovery, it's constant use also strengthened the Spirit body, reducing the critical number down from ten percent.

And from the way I could stand up while having only 8% of my reserves, I guess my critical point has already been reduced to 9%, which means...

...Rayne has been abusing this technique damn too much!!

'Son of a Bitch, this Rayne Bastard!!'

I cursed once as if it was normal routine, before driving myself to think of benefits.

'But well, thanks to that Bastard's efforts, at least, I can walk.' I thought, as I took unsteady footsteps towards my temporary lab.

-Step

-Step

I was done with the spell testing, for now.

So, it was the time to experiment with my attribute, [Enchanter].

-Step

-Thud.

...

*Ahem*, I didn't fell, I just wanted to rest for another 5 minutes, yep, that's all.

***

-Voom

-Voom

-Tap

-Tap

An hour had passed after I fell-I mean, I rested.

Naturally, I recovered after using some Mana potions and started working on the next thing in my checklist.

Experimenting with my attribute. And this room was fully furnished for some simple experimenting.

So, for now I started with some equipment repairs, cause I wanted some hands-on experience with it and, I just had a sword to repair...

Yes, my sword had been damaged.

More specifically, the magical aspect of the sword had been damaged, meaning My Bronze Class Enchantments were damaged.

And that was quite an obvious result, the Enchantments were never made to handle such power, and most importantly I think that they were just prototypes, made to be replaced and improved.

I could tell because the cohesion between the enchantments was quite loose.

'I have to create something better than this in two months.'

I thought as I continued to check my sword.

Just like before, the sword was placed on a table carved with a tuning Array, but this table was a light weight version of what I had in my lab, understandably, it lacked some more delicate features.

Well, it had everything I needed to repair my sword, so it worked for me anyways.

After some scrolling through the magical array, I finally started repairing my sword.

First step, analysis.

Two taps, and a pulling gesture, that was all it took to see all the Enchantments placed on the sword.

The Enchantments were displayed like a hologram, except they weren't a projection.

The Enchantments literally detached themselves from the sword and were floating in the air, ready to be worked upon.

This step also confirmed my hypothesis that this sword was a prototype, the obvious proof was the connections between Enchantment layers.

Unlike in any complete products that had an intense connection between its Enchantment layers, my sword had really low connections between them, obviously left like that to facilitate further modification of the sword easily.

With some more taps and gestures here and there, I observed all the layers of enchantments and the connections between the layers, before I actually started repairing.

Once done, I moved to the most important layer of the any Enchantment, the inner most layer, or should I say the 'Core'.

The Core of the Enchantment was the most important, most sturdy and yet the most delicate part of the whole Magical Structure. Something, that no-one other than the creator of Enchantment itself could repair.

It was another reason why the Empire made it mandatory for all Imperial Academy's students to make their own weapons.

Anyways, I observed the Core, which more or less looked like a sphere made up of strange glowing runes, and let out a sigh of relief when I noticed that it was undamaged.

It's connections with all the individual layers were intact, and except for some overloading, the core itself was in good condition.

Meaning, I couldn't overload it another time unless I want to destroy the whole enchantment, at least not before I repair it, and another thing, I could repair my sword right here, there was no need to go into my lab.

With main problem not being a problem, I lightly fixed the overloaded runes, tuning them a bit with the help of the array before moving on to the next layer.

The next layer was the same, in somewhat okay condition. In fact, rather than actually being part of Enchantments, this layer acted more like a stabilizer for the core, so naturally it wasn't as damaged, prompting me to jump on the next layer.

And that was where the actual work started.

The runes starting from this layer were 'cracked', meaning they needed to be repaired or replaced, and this finally gave my attribute a chance to shine.

Closing my eyes, I channeled my Mana that naturally had the Enchanter attribute and directly led it towards the cracked runes, slowly interacting with them, micro analyzing them, feeling them, and finally repairing them.

Using more Mental Power than I used on spell testing, I controlled my Mana delicately.

Sometimes it acted like glue attaching series of broken runes, sometimes it was like a knife that removed the completely broken runes, only for them to be replaced by the ones that I made on the spot.

After a dozen or so of these repairs and replacements, I was done with this layer.

Passing my Mana throughout the layer, I checked its overall condition, along with any compatibility issues with the new runes, finding none, I moved to the next layer.

Repeating the process again and again and again till I reached the last layer.

-Huuuuu

Taking a long breath, I finally relaxed when I saw the Enchantments I fixed working properly.

Like a multilayered planet, its layers rotated and revolved with the core as the center.

The layers I fixed or the runes I replaced, all of them working exactly like I wanted them to, making the whole Magical Structure of the Enchantment stable.

With a downwards gesture and a few taps, I placed the Enchantments back on the sword.

-Voom

After a low vooming sound, the rotating Enchantments stopped for a bit before they got smaller and smaller, and then burst in a magical dust which finally engraved itself on the similarly floating sword, with a – Whoop.

The whole process was smooth and quick, there was no rejection between the Enchantments and the sword, and that was a given, because even if the Enchantments were detached from the sword they still had a connection with it, plus the sword's materials were top notch, tough enough to withstand the whole process.

'Finally, I repaired it all.', I thought as I turned off the array and picked up the sword.

Honestly, that was tough and lengthy.

And in fact, this wasn't the normal process of repairing, rather it was the short and most direct method, made possible only because of my attribute.

Directly using your Mana to interact with the runes is a recipe of disaster that's what any Rune Scholar would tell you, but for me it wasn't.

My attribute granted me the ability to do just that without any problems, making the process a lot easier, less complicated and quick.

Though doing it this way costed me way more Mana and Mental Power, that was but a small compensation.

Storing the sword back, I checked my Armor's condition next and as I expected, it wasn't damaged even a bit.

Other than an overload, nothing else happened.

And the Armor was good enough to repair itself from just that without any problems, not like I could do anything even if it wasn't.

Because repairing this Armor was way above my paygrade, it was so complicated that I just couldn't repair it.

Plus, I was low on Mental Power, the repairing earlier costed a lot of it.

So, even if I wanted to continue experimenting with my attribute, regretfully I couldn't.

After all, Mental Power = Zero = Mental Death.

And I didn't want that.

So, with a regretful heart, I left my Training Room.

'Oh! It's almost time for lunch.'

'To the dining hall then, I guess.'

***

Lunch happened just like it was supposed to, in a surprisingly normal way, some idle chatter here and there, some funny moments at Reonald's expense, some words of wisdom by my Magus Father and that was it.

So just when I was about to leave, this call-

"Rayne, wait for me outside."

-left me perplexed.

'Did I mess something up?' I thought as I mentally scratched my head at the Countess' call, while I stood outside, leaning against the wall with my hands crossed.

As far as I know, I didn't do anything out of ordinary, so what was this for?

Not even a minute had passed when the door opened, it parted, revealing the beautiful figure of Countess, as she walked towards me with steady steps.

The Countess' style was once again different from yesterday, unlike the modern office lady attire, today she wore a gown like dress that gave her quite regal look.

Seeing her arrive, I stood up straight and waited for her to reach me.

And when she did she started with a troubled expression.

"I'm sorry for the wait. How about we talk while walking?, it won't take much of your time like that."

Though I wouldn't have rejected an after-lunch tea, it was fine either ways.

"You are heading towards the arena, yes?"

The Countess asked as we walked.

"Yes."

"Thought so..."

"Say Rayne, would you like to dance with me..."

Okay, that came out of nowhere.

Calm down Rayne, calm down!

She must have misspoken!

Why would she dance with you, a kid, when she has that handsome hunk of your Father?

In the first place don't forget, you can't dance!

"Or you would prefer Amy, to dance with?"

I had an almost deadpan expression when she finished.

Seeing my expression, the Countess cutely giggled for a bit, before stopping to ask,

"Do you know how to dance, Rayne?"

SO, YOU KNOW!!

You know I can't, and yet you still asked!!

You are supposed to be my mother!!

"Hm? Was this a sensitive topic?"

"No! It wasn't! Why would it be!?"

I firmly denied, before realizing I just made it worse.

"If you say so~"

'Way to blow yourself up, you loser.' I reprimanded myself before changing topics.

"Why would I need to dance, Mother?"

"Dear, who is going to dance in your Coming-of-Age Ceremony, if you aren't?"

"And if I have a way to avoid dancing?"

"No, you can't do it like your last time, Rayne."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. You know how strict the Empire is with its rules and traditions.

And most importantly Her Highness the Empress along with the Emperor are going to attend the ceremony, so this time not even your Father can pardon you, so behave."

The Empress?

"The Empress?"

"Yes, Her Imperial Highness is attending, it has been confirmed just this morning."

Confirmed this morning?

"So, I have to change your schedule a bit and teach you how to dance and a few other things. Thankfully, we have two months, so just taking out two hours a day would be enough."

"Bear with it Rayne, just for two months, okay?"

Everything she said after that, I didn't hear.

"That's all, you can go do your own thing then."

Even when she left, I just lightly nodded, and didn't pay much attention.

I was too busy in my own thoughts.

Why is she...?

Why is the strongest human...?

WHY IS AN ETERNAL MAGUS ATTENDING MY COMING-OF-AGE CEREMONY!!!!!?????

All sorts of thoughts, reasons and contradictions ran through my head before I came to a preliminary conclusion.

'I have to be careful, I have to change my plans, and I have to absolutely make sure to not ire her in any possible way.'

Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!!!

One thing after another, just what happened to my slow life!!