part1 · 041-ep41

Episode 41: Moving Magic

Since learning of MP's existence, one thing had nagged at Ren.

That mysterious power he'd felt inside himself. If it really was MP — magic—

"...Can I move it?"

Ren sat down and closed his eyes. He turned his awareness inside his body.

The usual feeling. Something flowing. But until now, he'd only ever sensed it.

"...Move this."

He concentrated. To his hand. To his arm. An image of gathering power.

"..."

Nothing happened.

"Figures. It wouldn't be that easy."

Ren opened his eyes once. But he had no intention of giving up.

If he didn't know, he'd test. If he couldn't do it, he'd change the approach.

That was the way Ren had built up over this past year of living in the dungeon.

Ren closed his eyes once more.

　　　　　◇

This time, he didn't try to force the power to move. He searched for what was inside his body.

Where did it come from? Where did it flow? He turned his attention to it.

"...Here?"

Deep in his chest. From there, a slow sense of something flowing.

Ren followed the current. From chest to arm.

And—

into his palm.

"...!"

Just for an instant. A sense of something gathering in his palm.

Ren opened his eyes. Nothing to see. Nothing happening.

"...My imagination?"

He tried again. Concentrated. From deep in his chest, to his palm.

And this time, he felt it clearly. A faint heat.

"...This is it."

Ren stared at his palm. Nothing was coming out of it. It wasn't glowing, either. Power was simply gathering there.

"Is this... magic?"

Ren kept chasing that feeling, carefully.

And—

"...I feel a little sluggish."

The fatigue had set in. Ren appraised himself at once.

《HP: 100/100》

《MP: 27/50》

"...It's down."

His MP was lower than when he'd checked before.

"Just from moving my magic... it uses MP?"

Ren thought. He hadn't used magic yet. Hadn't fired anything off, either.

He'd only consciously moved the power inside him. Even so, his MP had dropped.

"...I see."

Ren let out a small breath.

"Maybe this is what it means to use magic."

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Ren didn't push himself any further. When MP dropped, the fatigue got worse. He knew that much from the experiments just now.

In that case, there was no need to force it now.

Ren rested a while. Once the fatigue had eased, he appraised himself again.

《MP: 40/50》

"It's back."

Sure enough, rest brought it back.

Ren thought a little. Magic existed. MP apparently measured its amount. And even just moving magic consumed it.

"...But."

Ren looked at his palm.

"I still can't control it at all."

All he'd managed was gathering magic into his palm. And only for an instant, at that.

He couldn't use it to attack, couldn't use it to change anything. It wasn't anything you could call magic.

"First... I guess it starts with learning to move it."

So Ren decided.

　　　　　◇

He stood and took up his spear. His exploration of the third floor had only just begun.

There were places here he'd never seen. Monsters he didn't know yet, too, probably.

And—

powers he didn't know of were still plentiful.

"...Little by little is fine."

Ren tightened his grip on the spear. To freely control magic — for that, too, he first needed to know more about his own body and this dungeon.

Ren turned his gaze toward the unseen depths of the third floor. And slowly, he began to walk.