#123. Starting Point (1)
—
A voice came from the rooftop entrance.
— It was no joke! Ray had an electric mass floating above his hand, and the moment he detonated it, crackle! Seriously! Crackle, crackle!
— I wish I had seen that scene!
Tap. Tap. Tap.
With energetic footsteps ascending the stairs, Philip and Veronica appeared.
The two of them spotted Ray and approached him with smiles.
“Wow. I still can’t believe it. That all really happened here yesterday.”
“Me too. It’s a shame I didn’t get to see the magic circle I drew activate! It feels like I woke up from a dream.”
Ray watched the yellow mana swirling energetically within their vessels.
Excitement, anticipation, exhilaration…
It was mana mostly associated with elevated emotions.
“I called you because I have something to tell you.”
Philip and Veronica stopped talking, turning their attention to what Ray had to say.
They had questions for him anyway.
“First, there’s something I deliberately kept from you. The enemy officers also use summoning magic.”
Ray added a detailed explanation.
The enemy officer had used hundreds of mice as summon creatures to observe their movements.
The preparation of the magic circle had also been watched by the enemy.
Philip and Veronica, amazed and shocked, reacted in disbelief.
“So… that’s why the enemy spoke like that yesterday.”
“I had no idea. When preparing the magic circle, I didn’t understand why we labeled it as fire-type, but now it makes sense.”
To completely deceive the enemy, the truth had been hidden even from their allies.
Despite hearing this, both of them nodded in agreement.
“Hmm, if we had been aware of the enemy’s summon creatures, we probably would have given ourselves away somehow. I don’t think I’m bad at acting, but this was a large-scale plan. I would have been extremely nervous.”
Veronica added enthusiastically in agreement.
“I definitely would have given something away. My movements would have been too stiff and awkward, and the enemy would have immediately thought, ‘That one’s suspicious.’”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re not the type to deceive others. More likely to be deceived yourself.”
“Hmm, you’re not wrong, but that still kind of hurts…”
Philip lowered his hand to check the thick stack of books strapped to his waist.
Meanwhile, Ray prepared for his next explanation.
Swoosh.
Ray extended his palm forward.
Philip and Veronica simultaneously tilted their heads in confusion.
“Here.”
Veronica obediently placed her palm on top of his.
“To build a sense of camaraderie, your palm should be facing down, not up.”
Philip added his own comment, following Veronica’s motion.
“……”
Ray stared blankly at the three stacked hands, then pulled his own from the bottom and placed it to the side.
“Here.”
“This time, I was faster.”
Two hands quickly followed.
After a brief moment of contemplating a solution, Ray extended his other hand.
Just as Philip and Veronica were about to mimic his motion again—
“Wait a moment.”
He stopped them.
“I have something to show you.”
A glowing mass of light emerged from Ray’s palm, gathering in the air to form a shape.
Then the light disappeared.
Wooong──
A small yellow gemstone floated above his palm.
“A gemstone? Uh… uh… wait, wait, don’t tell me… This isn’t what I think it is, is it?”
“Didn’t you return that to Jade? Oh? The shape is different.”
It was the same gemstone that had risen to the rooftop through the hole yesterday.
However, Veronica and Philip had been unconscious or too exhausted in the control room at the time and hadn’t witnessed it.
[Ra, Ray! It’s, it’s dangerous!]
[…….]
Yesterday, right at this spot.
The boy had reached for the gemstone.
— Crackle! Crackle!
Hundreds of sparks clashed fiercely around the gemstone.
But the boy had an unshakable certainty that the tiny starlight wouldn’t harm him.
He didn’t know why.
Just like the overwhelming longing that filled his chest, the feeling welled up from deep within his heart.
— Crackle. Crackle.
As his hand extended, the starlight parted, as if making way for him.
And when his pale fingers finally touched the largest starlight—
──────.
For a moment, the world was engulfed in light.
When his vision returned, the countless starlights had vanished.
An empty void.
The hole in the rooftop floor.
That was all that remained.
But the boy knew the starlight hadn’t disappeared.
[…….]
The star-like gemstone now shone beside his heart and mana circle.
As if it had chosen where it belonged, moving into his body of its own will.
That was the full extent of what the boy had experienced yesterday.
“It came up through the holes in each floor and the rooftop. It seems like the gemstone buried underground awakened in response to the magic circle’s electrical element.”
Ray added his opinion alongside his explanation.
He suspected this yellow gemstone was the cause of the magic circle’s malfunction and the very object Murcred had been searching for.
“And I think there’s a possibility it’s a fragment of the Rainbow.”
Veronica, mesmerized, nodded rapidly.
“I’ve never seen elemental mana this densely concentrated before. This isn’t just an ordinary mana crystal… It’s too… too…”
“Unbelievable, right?”
“Yeah. Right. And I’ve never heard of a mana crystal freely moving between inside and outside a body, either.”
The three of them recalled a theory about the Rainbow.
That the Rainbow was originally a single gemstone capable of generating infinite mana, now broken into pieces scattered across the world.
Of course, it was just a theory.
But the gemstone before them strongly aligned with it.
Philip and Veronica’s heartbeats quickened, and the yellow mana within their vessels grew increasingly active.
“Then… does that mean we can use magic with the mana inside this gemstone?”
Philip swallowed hard and asked.
The gemstone transformed into light and was absorbed back into Ray’s palm.
Ray stepped toward the railing, extending his palm toward the cliffside of the basin.
Hoo.
He took a deep breath.
Gripping his outstretched wrist with his other hand, he slightly pulled back his right foot to brace himself for the recoil.
Crackle.
The moment a sound was heard from his palm—
Crackle, crackle, crackle───!
Thousands of intertwined lightning currents blasted toward the cliffside like a beam.
Boom! Boom! Boom!───!
The impact sent rock fragments tumbling down as thick dust clouds rose.
As Ray moved his arm, the beam shifted slightly to the side.
All the workers inside and outside the building stood frozen, watching in shock.
Boom! Boom! Boom!───!
The beam lasted for over ten seconds.
As the dust settled, the letters carved into the cliffside became visible.
[Veroni]
“……”
“……”
Philip and Veronica were left speechless by the astonishing sight before them.
Countless thoughts swirled violently in their minds.
“Why did you stop writing my name?”
Half-conscious, Veronica asked a half-conscious question.
“There’s a limit to how much mana a gemstone can handle at once.”
“Okay, I get it. Finish my name when you have time later.”
Philip, also half-conscious, added seriously,
“I think it’d be better to complete the name. I don’t know why, but I feel like the cliff is mocking me.”
Ray nodded.
Originally, he had planned to engrave all three names—Veronica, Philip, and Ray—in that order.
It seemed like he could complete it with a few more attempts.
“You can use mana from gemstones to cast magic, just like earlier.”
Ray shared everything he had discovered.
The gemstone essentially functioned like a mana battery.
However, unlike conventional mana storage, which absorbs and stores external mana, this one generated mana internally.
…And moreover—
“The purity of the mana is incredibly high. Even more so than the refined mana within a circle.”
A shimmer of light accompanied the reappearance of the gemstone in Ray’s palm.
With curious eyes, Veronica cautiously asked,
“Can I try handling it?”
“Sure.”
Veronica took the gemstone.
Mana, infused with various elements—including electricity—spread from her palm throughout her body.
“Uh…? Huh? Huh?”
A bewildered groan escaped her lips.
The tingling sensation rushing through her body made the fine hairs on her neck stand on end.
The gemstone’s mana was surging through her entire system.
“W-Wait, what? Static electricity? It feels like I’m being electrocuted! It’s—ow!—it’s really stinging! Ouch!”
It was an entirely new sensation, something she had never experienced while handling mana before.
She tried to control it calmly, but the mana was moving too fast, making it difficult to rein in.
Tap.
Ray grasped Veronica’s wrist, focused his mind, and seized control of the wild mana.
Wooooong—!
He carefully guided all the mana.
He adjusted Veronica’s wrist so that her palm was facing the rooftop floor, slightly away from her body.
Then, he let go of his control over the mana.
Crackle—!
Multiple streaks of lightning shot out and struck the ground precisely.
Rumble—!
However, the power was no joke.
A portion of the floor collapsed instantly, widening an existing hole.
—Is it an earthquake?
—Go tell the boss! It feels like the building is collapsing!
—W-We’re under attack! Damn Brook bastards! Some of them must be hiding here!
Amid the sound of debris falling, frantic voices could be heard from below.
Philip hurriedly lay flat on the floor and shouted down through the hole.
“Ah! Ah! No, no! We were just experimenting with something! You can keep working!”
Meanwhile, Ray released Veronica’s wrist and took a step back.
Still dazed, Veronica murmured in a stunned voice,
“The mana… it was alive.”
As the shock gradually faded, her eyes widened, and she shouted excitedly,
“Ray! The mana was alive! It moved on its own!”
It was the exact same impression Ray had.
Of course, in a strict sense, mana was merely a substance. Saying it was “alive” would get any mage labeled as a lunatic.
Mana could be transferred into empty circles, controlled directly by a mage, manifest as natural phenomena like lightning or wind, or seep into objects based on emotional resonance.
It always moved due to external factors—it was a passive substance.
But the mana generated from this gemstone was different.
…Unbelievable as it seemed, it felt as if the mana had its own will.
It was like dealing with an untamed wild beast.
If atmospheric mana felt thick and resistant, like wet cement, then the gemstone’s mana was so fluid that it was difficult to control.
“Veronica, you’re right. I felt the same thing.”
“Right? So it wasn’t just me?”
At Ray’s agreement, Veronica was unable to contain her excitement, as if she had just made the discovery of the century.
Philip, who had been listening to their conversation, summed it up.
“So, it’s not mana that just anyone can handle.”
“Well, I definitely can’t. To be honest, my grandfather used to praise me a lot, saying I was way above average in elemental control. But this….”
Veronica shook her head as she looked at the gemstone.
In truth, her natural magical aptitude was among the top tier.
The fact that she had failed meant that most mages wouldn’t even be able to attempt handling this mana.
‘Whew, I really thought I was going to die from all that tingling.’
And yet, Veronica felt oddly exhilarated.
Because Ray was, of course, not part of that “most mages” category.
After all, hadn’t he just used the gemstone’s mana to carve letters into the cliff?
The letters were a bit crooked, but that was just how Ray’s handwriting always looked.
‘I can use lightning magic too, but….’
Currently, the two dominant elements in her ring, aside from regeneration and absorption, were wind and electricity.
If she wanted, she could cast a powerful lightning spell.
But compared to Ray’s beam of energy, her magic would probably feel no stronger than a static shock.
‘To handle such a wild element so effortlessly… Ray really is different from normal people.’
A warm sense of pride welled up in Veronica’s chest as she once again recognized how special Ray was.
She had so many things she wanted to say, but feeling shy, she kept them to herself and cheered inwardly.
‘That’s our Ray!’
Then, realizing she had forgotten something important, she quickly added,
‘And I am Ray’s sun!’
That was a very, very important point.
