When I woke up, the first thing I did was experiment with magic.

“Yeah, I’ve never tried that before… could be useful.”

I put my personal mana battery in my right hand, and the mana battery Amygdala extorted from my former boss.

The other mana battery was a cheaper one with almost the same capacity as my persona mana battery and the same size, but with no locking or mana reading capabilities.

I started streaming mana into both batteries. I felt the invisible goosebump sensations.

Okay, so I can do it with both hands at once. Though I have to do something about how quickly I’m channeling it. I quantitatively know from the readings that producing the spells doesn’t use nearly as much mana as just draining it.

I first started off doing the “shaking” spell on both hands. Then I did the shaking spell on my left hand while doing the small bubble shield on my right. Then I did the small bubble shield on both.

I did it for a while, then ran out of mana.

“If I could control the amount I channel mana into the battery, I feel like I could do those spells for way longer. I have to get Drago to teach me when he comes over again tonight.”

After that, I got ready and headed out.

“Hello hello, you look really pretty,” I said when I saw Licia.

I decided to pick her up from school again.

“Thanks, Precuneus,” she said.

I hugged her and carried her school shoulderbag. Then we held hands and started walking.

“How was school?” I said.

“Fine. A little boring. We’re prepping for a bunch of tests. It’s kind of stressful.“

“Oh, then let’s do something relaxing. I’ve got a surprise for you,” I said.

“Really?! What is it?” Licia said.

She’s really cute when she’s excited.

“Wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.“

“Yeah yeah. By the way, how was your day?”

“Mhmm… just woke up, actually.”

“Really! I got up at six today! I’m so envious…”

I squeezed her hand a little.

“Don’t be. When you become a big shot engineer you can sleep as late as you want.”

I took her to a more expensive restaurant with a private room. Sure, it cost more, but I was using the mana I got yesterday.

“Precuneus, this place is really expensive! Is it really fine?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just relax,” I said and put my arm around her hip, and pulled her closer.

“Say, do you know if there's any magical tools to help with personal magic?” I said.

“Mhmm… I don’t think so. The 5% are a really recent phenomenon. Engineering is expensive, so I think most companies would rather focus on profitable magic like transportation and construction.”

“Yeah… Say, what makes blueprint magical engineering so expensive?”

“Well… there’s a lot of experimentation involved. And you only know if a blueprint works after writing it out on the magical matter. And if you make a single mistake in the writing, all of the matter gets fried. And of course, there’s no reusability at all. Once you’ve used a material once, it’s over. And materials are kind of expensive. Most of the blueprints you use every day like when showering are very simple blueprints, and even those aren’t written manually but hard-pressed with metal. Also, if you want any spells more complex than basic elementals, you have to use more dimensions than a flat disc-like with the showering systems. And another big problem: Most companies are really secretive whenever they make a discovery on how to do something more efficiently. A lot of time and money is wasted by companies in also adding in safety systems in their blueprints which destroys the blueprint if anyone ever tries to open up the circuitry and take a look inside. The government tried to do something about this, but since everything is so decentralized they failed. The only success they’ve ever had in coordinating big projects is the metro system. Oh, and the matter used! For example, with the showering system, since it’s just elemental magic, you can use the cheapest magical material without worrying about it breaking. But when you get into the more advanced stuff, quality becomes an issue. And a very expensive one.”

It was cute watching Licia talking so excitedly about engineering.

“So, when you get older, what projects do you want to work on?“

“Mhmm… I don’t know. I probably won’t even get a say in what I want to do. But if I could choose, I’d for sure choose the new field of personal magic! For example…”

She stopped herself and looked shy. I pulled her closer.

“For example what?“

“Well… since I’m a 5% but don’t know how to use personal magic it’s really frustrating! So I want to make tools that stimulate your nervous system like how you described it and teach people,“ Licia said.

“That’s a good goal. Yeah, let me tell you more I learned about that. We can even try it later when my mana is regenerated a bit. So, when you try to do the nervous system stimulation, the most effective way is to have skin contact with someone performing a spell. But this technique only works if you already have a lot of innate mana. Since mana kind of works like a magnetic field. Where other mana moves your own mana which in turn stimulates your own nervous system.”

Wait! Is that how Psycho uses mind magic?!

“Whoa! I had no idea! Tell me more!” Licia clapped her hands and opened up eyes wide open and got her face closer to mine.

“Mhmm… I think that’s all I know, so far. I can tell you more in detail about every personal magic I’ve encountered so far?”

“Yes, please do!”

And so, we started eating while I told her all about my experiences.

***

“This is so cool!” Licia said.

I had my forearm against hers, and our fingers were locked and in between her hand and my hand was my personal mana battery. I was using the shield bubble spell around her and my hand.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe it!“ Licia said. “I can’t even imagine how expensive it would be to turn this into a blueprint! And the mana cost!”

“Really? It doesn’t cost that much mana for me to start and maintain it,” I said.

“I knew it! I told you that’s what I thought! This is so cool! The potential of personal magic is limitless!”

She’s so cute.

Licia kept praising the wonders of magic in her feminine, high-pitched voice.

“So, do you feel anything?” I said.

“I’m not sure. Though it’s giving me goosebumps,“ she said.

What?

I looked at her arm, and sure enough, it was covered in goosebumps.

“Eh… that’s unexpected. So, can you feel my mana stimulating your nervous system?“

“Nope, just these goosebumps.”

“Do you also feel invisible goosebumps flowing down your arm?“

“Nope.”

“Okay. I’ll keep holding your hand and performing this spell. But take this other battery with your other hand and drain your mana and see if you feel something.”

Licia took the battery and drained her mana.

“So?”

“Well, I guess I kind of felt something? Or not? But a very, very tiny feeling.”

I stopped using the bubble shield and stopped draining my mana, but kept holding her hand.

“Mhmm… probably means you have very little mana. But still doesn’t explain why you got physical goosebumps…”

“Maybe it’s because I have so little mana and you have so much, and you were draining it at a high output, right? So maybe if I tried doing this with another magic user with less mana than you, then it wouldn’t work. But you had so much, that you forced a physical response,“ Licia said

For some reason, I got jealous when I imagined her holding hands with another man.

“Yeah, maybe,” I said. “But as your boyfriend, I forbid you from doing this with another guy.”

“What? Of course I wouldn’t! Wait, I’m your girlfriend now, huh? hehe,” Licia said.

Oh yeah, I never asked her to be my girlfriend.

I grabbed her hair from behind her head and pushed her closer to my face.

“You’re damn right you are. Mine, and no one else’s. Forever,” I said and kissed her.

***

“All right boys! Gather around! Gather around!”

After walking Licia home, I met up with the gang in front of North Exit at Central Station.

“It’s time for the weekly fights!”

So he’s already doing military training…

“You know the rules! Everyone has to fight, even the newbies. Now, no dangerous stuff, all right? Keep it safe. No weapons. No lethal spells. To all you fire boys, you gotta switch it over to earth. And to all you earth boys, gotta keep the velocity down. And to all you water boys, no, and I repeat! no sharpness! Let’s not repeat last week's mistake, all right? And strengthers, you are only allowed to fight someone in your class and, NO ATTACKS TO THE HEAD! And remember! These are friendly matches! One on one at a time, and no resentment afterward. Precuneus, you’re up first.”

“All right,“ I said.

“Pick someone, those over there are the newbies,“ Amygdala said.

I then turned away from the newbies and pointed at Tray.

“What?! You wanna go, huh?! You can’t even use magic!”

“Shut the fuck up. And get in the ring,” I said.

Tray looked over at Amygdala, but Amygdala just nodded.

And so we got in the ring and were surrounded by the rest of the gang. I got my two batteries out and ready in my hands. Before the right even started, I put one hand on my chest, and one hand on my forehead.

“Hey, no weapons,” Tray said

“What, you’re afraid of some batteries?”

“Okay then, let’s go!” Right when he said that, Tray made a waterball and fired it right at my face.

While running into him, I immediately made two shield bubbles.

When the waterball hit my shield, it absorbed most of the impact, but my hand still shook and hit me in the face, and I got a lot of water on me.

Tray had a look of, “Oh shit!“ on his face.

He started running back while firing waterballs at me.

I should have started the fight from a closer distance!

One waterball went over my shoulder and the other right into my stomach shield. Then just as I was about to reach him, one hit my legs.

“Fuck!” I said. I stumbled down on the ground.

Tray turned around and went on the attack, and started slamming waterballs into me.

I used the bubble shield on most of them, but the impact still hurt my body, and sometimes my hand hit back on my face.

Then the waterballs stopped.

While I was drenched in water, I looked up.

Huh? He’s already out of mana?

Before I could react, Tray ran over to kick me in the face.

Right when the kick hit me, I used the ‘spark’ spell I learned from Drago.

Loud noise and force ensued.

I was on the asphalt floor from the impact of the explosion.

God damn it! I hit my head so many times! My tinnitus is raging!

When I regained concentration, I looked up and Tray on the ground with burn marks on his clothes, but it wasn’t too serious.

“What! Did I say! About lethality! God damn it, Precuneus!”

Amygdala flew over to Tray and tried helping him up, but he was in a semi-conscious state from hitting his head on the floor. Though he wasn’t bleeding.

Amygdala had no smile on his face and was glaring at me angrily. All the other gang members were booing.

Amygdala handed over Tray to another gang member while I got up. He then walked over to me and got right in my face.

“Who the hell taught you that fire spell?“

Oh shit.

“I learned it by myself. What about it? You were too busy being a criminal to teach me magic as you promised,” I said.

“Oh, is that so…” Amygdala said in a tone I’d never heard before from him.

Everyone was silent.

Tray was now conscious and got up in my face.

“Hey, Tray…” Amygdala said.

“Yeah, Amygdala?”

“You know, that girl from the other day, she sure was cute,” Amygdala said.

“Yeah! That cute girl. She. Sure. Was. Cute. Such a cutie.”

“Yeah, Tray. She sure was cute,” Amygdala said while he was smiling at me.

I’m gonna kill you both.

“Is that how it is?” I said.

“That’s how it is,” Amygdala said. “Can you start behaving like a good boy, Precuneus?”

“Yeah. Of course, Amygdala,” I said.

I’m gonna kill you, Amygdala.

***

“I’m gonna kill him!“ I said while pacing around my small room. Drago was leaning up against the wall. It was nighttime.

“Calm down, Precuneus!“ Drago said.

“I’m gonna fucking kill him!”

“Oh yeah, and how will you do that, huh?!“

I went silent.

“God, you’re so damn reckless. It’s like you have a death wish. Can you sit down and calm down?”

“Y-yeah,” I said and sat down.

“You need to bide your time and get stronger. You can’t even control your mana yet and you wanna take out the strongest guy in Tyoto.”

“Okay. I’m calm. I’ll bit my tongue and bide my time. I’ll keep training and getting stronger, then I’ll murder him.”

“You forgot an important step,“ Drago said.

“What?”

“Stop showing off! All of your problems from start to finish can be traced back to you showing off. I mean, damn it, Precuneus! First, you run off your mouth on a damn train, and now you show off in front of everyone at the gang meet. And why the hell did you tell anyone about your mana capacity?”

“Ehm… yeah, you’re right. I never thought about it. I’ll keep my mouth shut from now on.”

“Good. Now, let’s get to work. I wanna practice that shield again. What do you wanna work on?”

“Yeah, I had this idea this morning. I wanna work on controlling the flow of mana I drain into the battery. It should be a doable first step,” I said.

“Mhm… usually I would say drop the battery, but yeah. For you, that’s actually a really good step. Okay, this is how we can do it. When I’m trying out the shield spell, you put your arm against mine. I’ll increase and minimize the channeling so you get the sensation right. But first off, show me that shield bubble again while I’m holding you.”

And so we started practicing. After showing him the bubble shield once, Drago started playing around with the wall shield while I touched him. Since had had more mana to burn this time, he could practice it for a little longer than last time.

“Any progress?” I said.

“Mhmm… for now I’m just getting the feel for it. Every spell has a lot of aspects you have to experiment with to get it right. Right now I’m having a hard time on how to make the shield flat and with no irregularities. But more importantly, are you getting the feel for it? I’m continuously increasing and decreasing my channeling to fine-tune the shield.”

“Yeah, I can actually feel it clearly. It’s pretty impressive the fine control you have over it.”

Just then, Drago ran out of mana, and the shield dissipated.

“Okay, my turn I guess.”

I grabbed my personal mana battery and started channeling mana into it. Then I tried to recreate the fine-tune channeling sensations I got from Drago.

“Fuck yeah!“ I said.

“Is it working?”

“Yeah! I managed to cut the flow off in half.”

“What? That’s not impressive at all. Normally you should be able to control it to around 2-5%. I can do 1-3% by the way.”

“Yeah, when I try to recreate the sensations you gave me, it feels way cruder. But this is progress.”

After that, I tried to do it without the battery but of course, failed.

“Okay, stop using mana,” Drago said.

“Why?” I said.

“You’re walking me to the station. You do know Doya is in the North? Last night I almost ran into a rival gang, asshole! You could have told me. Luckily they didn’t recognize me, but that was a dangerous situation to be in.”

“What? The North? Oh yeah, I think I heard about that.”

“Yeah, and now it’s even more dangerous outside,” Drago said.

“Why?” I said, confused.

“What? You don’t know? Tensions have started to ramp up between the Southern Gangs and Northern Gangs. It’s nothing serious yet. But tomorrow every magic user in the south, you included, is meeting up to discuss the alliance.”

Damn it.