Lilliana taught me how to put on a mana skin. This would prevent ambient mana from entering the body by the areas protected by the mana skin. Putting a mana skin over the mouth and nostrils was apparently impossible, so I couldn’t stop my mana regeneration entirely, but by limiting it, I could cut down the pain until the headache was nearly imperceptible. Another area I left unprotected was the ears. That way, I could hear miss Mana’s voice.

Therefore, my migraine disappeared.

I felt reborn. I was ready to unleash a new me into the world.

“Now, Lynch, we’re going to need to fill up your mana pool. We’ll never cure your mana deficiency otherwise. I know we just got rid of your headache, but we’ll need to bring them back for a bit.”

“Hell yeah! I’m not scared of anything, bring it on!”

“Now, undo the mana skin on your palm and, slowly, put your hand on the Mana Tree’s trunk. The mana surge will most likely hurt you. Hold your palm there for as long as you can.”

The reason Lilliana brought me there in the first place was to experience the vast amount of mana gathered by the Mana Tree.

With no hesitation, I put my palm on the white, blue-streaked bark.

And I instantly regretted it.

It was nothing like the tiny mana surge I got when I touched the blue leaf back at the Elven palace.

It felt more like I was struck by lightning, but continuously.

I tried to pull off my hand, but it wouldn’t budge.

I was paralyzed!

The surge had affected my nerves, and I could no longer move my body.

The electrocution kept going, and going, and going, for what seemed like an eternity. It hurt like hell. My palm was burning so much I could feel it melting away. The migraine obviously returned stronger than ever, but the pain signals coming from the rest of my body submerged my puny headache.

My vision turned blue until I could no longer discern anything other than this monochrome background.

At last, Lilliana pulled on my arm to disconnect me from the tree. Her mana pool being full, she wasn’t affected by the mana surge.

“So, how was it?” Lilliana said.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH! ARE YOU CRAZY? THAT COULD HAVE KILLED ME!”

“Do not speak to me in this way, young man. And for your information, your life was not in any danger whatsoever. I was healing you throughout the surge. However, I had some fun during your trial, and I counted the number of times you would have died if I hadn’t healed you. It amounts to three hundred and twenty-six deaths avoided!”

“You fucking psychopath…” I blinked a few times, and my vision returned. The pain faded fairly quickly as well. I looked at my palm, and surprisingly enough, it was scarless. It was already thoroughly healed, almost like none of this ever happened.

“I am slightly concerned. You just drained a phenomenal amount of mana from the Mana Tree, but it doesn’t look like your mana pool is filled yet. You have to do it again if your Excellency the Mana Tree doesn’t mind.”

“I-I don’t mind! It tickles a bit, that’s all. Take as long as you need!”

“Do you think I’m dumb enough to try that shit aga---!!”

Lilliana pushed me brutally toward the tree. I stumbled on one of its roots and fell face-first on the trunk.

**AAAAAAAAH!!!**

My cheek was stuck to the bark. I was sprawled on all fours, my face glued to the tree, and completely frozen. I hoped Lilliana could do something about the back problems this posture would cause me.

I couldn’t even scream out loud. I could only silently wait to burn to ashes. I felt like my very soul was disintegrating. Every second felt like a lifetime of misery.

Heck, even my mana skin, supposed to protect my face, was worthless in the face of such raw, supreme energy.

Once more, she tore me off the tree with a solid tug.

This time, I lodged my feet solidly on the ground, so I wouldn’t budge if she tried to push me again.

“Now I know why you don’t have a boyfriend, you sadis--!!”

“Starshield!”

The maniac used a barrier spell to push me toward it. My preconceptions on support magic were turned upside down. I didn’t know barrier spells could be used in such a brutal, barbaric way.

I fell on the tree and broke my nose on the impact.

“Aaah! Suck me dry, Lynchie!” miss Mana had a weirdly passionate reaction, for a stationary tree.

Once more, I was surged until Lilliana, in all her benevolence, pulled me away from this nightmare.

“This is alarming,” she declared. “It’s almost like your mana pool is… bottomless.”

“I’m done with this bullshit!”

I ran away from the tree until I exited the clearing and reached the forest. Hiding behind a bush, I was waiting for Lilliana’s next move.

“You can come out now. I won’t hurt you anymore, Lynch. Now I understand that all the mana in the world wouldn’t fill your mana pool.”

I peeked my head out of my hideout, and sure enough, Lilliana looked sincere. I walked back to her side, staying at a safe distance from the Mana Tree.

“Alright, Lynch! Ready to start your actual training?”

“Yeah, I guess…” My initial motivation had vanished at some point. Possibly due to the excruciating pain I endured.

“First of all, I’d like to commend you for abstaining from burning the entire forest or myself. Your self-control is remarkable.”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks.”

“Now then, the first step is to feel the flow of mana within your mana circuits. To do so, try to visualize energy coursing through—”

“Got it! It’s the blue string thingy wrapped around my blood vessels, right?”

“Oh my, looks like we’re witnessing the birth of a legend, isn’t that right, your Excellency the Mana Tree?”

“Y-yes! My Lynchie is a true genius! I’m so proud of him! He even recognized the geometrical shape of the mana circuits!”

Here’s some context information about mana circuits.

As I stated a while ago, mana is stored within every cell of the body in the form of incorporeal potential energy. Then, when magic is used, the mana circuits gather this energy and transport it somewhere else, like the palm of the hand, to cast the spell. Also, wizards often use staves to extend their range and help amplify their powers.

“Now, Lynch, move the mana inside your circuits to your palm and keep it there.”

“And please, don’t convert it into fire or lightning, I beg you!” cried miss Mana. She really was scared of fire.

“That’s kind of vague… Do I make a ball out of mana or something? And why don’t I just use an incantation? It was super easy last time I tried…”

“If the image of a ball of mana can help you visualize the process, go ahead, but keep in mind that mana is incorporeal until it is converted into magic… Start by gathering energy in your palm, then we’ll give it a tangible form. Concerning incantations, it is indeed the easiest way to use magic, but in light of your innate talent, I think it is preferable to instruct you this way.”

“If you say so. Alright, here it is, a ball of mana, whatever that means!” Sure enough, there was a glowing blue ball in my hand. “What do I do now, Lilliana?”

“What the fuck?!” she was taken aback. She was not expecting me to materialize unconverted mana, I guess.

“Wow!” miss Mana, on the other hand, gasped in amazement. “You can already manifest mana just like me! You make me proud!”

“Shit! The ball keeps growing. It’s gonna get out of control!” The ball was now bigger than my head. It was still holding in my palm, and it wasn’t heavy. It looked like it wasn’t affected by gravity, or maybe it simply had no weight. “Help!”

“Uuuh… Quick, convert it into water and throw it into the air!” Lilliana hesitated a bit at the beginning, which made me think the procedure was most likely improvised. It didn’t make me feel very safe.

I didn’t have time to think. I had to act fast, so I simply went with the flow. Last time, when I created rain, I imagined a peaceful, rainy day. I just had to recreate this situation. I willed it, and the mana obeyed. It turned into a massive ball of water and flew toward the sky.

Then it shattered, and the water fell down in torrential rain. Curiously, there was a lot more water in this rain than the volume of the ball should have permitted.

“Lilliana! Shield me from the rain, please!”

“Do it yourself, Lynch. I’m sure you can do it!”

That bitch. I had most likely less than a second to learn how to make a magical barrier.

“Starshield!” I exclaimed, my palms aimed toward the tiny rainbow the artificial rain just made. I willed with all my might to create a cover above my head to protect myself from the calamity that was about to befall me.

And… nothing happened. The rain fell on me, and I was drenched from head to toe once again.

“Why is it like this?” I whined. “Why can’t I use magic when it really matters?”

“I’m slightly curious about what you think magic is for, but let’s try this again. Take my hand and feel the flow of mana. Focus your attention on the moment I convert mana into light mana and turn into a magical barrier.”

I took her hand and closed my eyes. I felt her mana circuits pump mana into her palm. I had already grasped that part since I experienced it with the water ball.

“Starshield!”

But I couldn’t comprehend anything beyond that point. Nor the conversion into light mana, nor the activation of the spell.

“Wizards can commonly only understand one type of magic, so don’t be disappointed if you can’t grasp light magic.” Lilliana must have seen my dissatisfied frown because she instantly tried to comfort me. “You can already use fire and water magic, and since you’re a special case, I’m sure you can master light magic given some time.”

“You can do it, Lynchie!” miss Mana’s encouragements were always welcome.

Lilliana continued teaching me new ways to control magic and also new mana types until well past sunset.

The next morning.

We had a breakfast made entirely out of meat, out of respect for miss Mana and her cousin vegetables. As I devoured this delicious meal, I noticed something moving among miss Mana’s branches.

“Eagles? No no no, these things are way too big… And what are they doing, climbing on each other’s like that?”

“These are gryphons,” taught Lilliana to my ignorant self. “They are currently having sexual intercourse…”

“Oh shit, in broad daylight like that? Should we, humm, give them some intimacy?”

“Why? This is simply nature running its course. They have nothing to be ashamed of. However, staring at them like you’re doing right now could be considered shameful.”

For real, though, gryphons! So fucking awesome! I couldn’t say more about it at the time because I couldn’t get a good look at them without getting embarrassed. I could say, however, that both gryphons were very energetic.

The training went on for another two days. During that time, I learned a multitude of magic types. Everything I learned basically only scratched the surface of what magic truly was. Still, in that short amount of time, Lilliana managed to teach me the fundamentals. The rest, I would learn from experience.

Unfortunately, even after many efforts, light magic was still beyond my reach.

At last, we had to leave miss Mana’s side. She gave us a heartfelt goodbye that made it seem as if she was crying. She kept pleading to me to come back later to tell her my stories.

“Miss Mana is such a cutie, isn’t she? Her voice is so childish and joyful!”

“The voice tone you’re hearing is simply the voice type you want to hear, and her personality probably also adapts to the interlocutor. For my part, the voice of the Mana Tree has a masculine, guttural voice that closely resembles the one of my late father.”

“Goddamnit!”