"Ah, that felt great." Dia looked at the bartender, who was busily imitating a cooked prawn. "I didn't know that watching people improve this much over one session can be this gratifying. What is with this inordinate sense of gratification?"
Schwarz twitched. "I'm sure the only reason why you're feeling this gratified is because you spent the past four hours tormenting me."
"Don't use the wrong words, okay?" Dia raised a finger. A faint blue light burned on her finger. It didn't look like much, but the sight of the faint light was enough to make Schwarz hobble back onto his feet again.
"N-noted." Schwarz rubbed his muscles. "Man, they hurt. Is it normal for mana-users to swing around weapons that weigh around a hundred kilograms?"
"Only in training."
"What's the point of making me suffer through all this, then?" The bartender raised the training sword in his hand. Now that he had gotten the hang of it, his muscles weren't leaking blue light anymore.
"Check your status," said Dia. "You might be able to see a change in something.
"Alright." Schwarz took a deep breath. "Lyceris, Goddess of Learning, Fount of Knowledge—huh? What's this?"
"What's what?" Dia asked. "You look shocked."
"A textbox just appeared in front of me. What's this? By saying 'status', I can…huh. Interesting." Schwarz cleared his throat and placed the training sword down. "Let's try it out. Status."
"Did you not check your status after you became a one-folder?" Dia rolled her eyes. "You're weird."
"Hey, don't use your standards to judge other people." Schwarz examined the air in front of him, interest written all over his face. "Huh. There's so much detail in this status. It's as if…"
"We're no longer like the common folk," Dia completed his sentence. "What's your Mana Control Proficiency? With this set of training, it should be at Initiate now."
"Y-yes, it is at Initiate," said Schwarz replied. "Wait, are you saying that it's because I did this training that it's at Initiate?"
"Correct. There are five levels to Mana Control Proficiency — Novice, Initiate, Intermediate, Expert, Master. Without this specialised training, you would have been stuck at Novice. Of course, your talent plays a part in it too, since most people take a few sessions to advance."
"Uh…how do these classifications work?" Schwarz asked. "For instance, what's the difference between Novice and Initiate?"
"Here's a concrete example," Dia replied. "Someone who is ranked Novice can manipulate a mana strand that contains one percent of their current mana like a third arm. In contrast, someone who is ranked Initiate can output ten percent of their overall reserve with ease."
Schwarz nodded. "I see. The greater one's Mana Control Proficiency, the more mana they can control skilfully."
"Correct. For someone with Intermediate proficiency, like me, I can manipulate one-fourth of my overall mana without any leakage whatsoever," said Dia. "Once it goes above that, I start to leak blue light and everything from my arms or legs."
"Oh. So that's why there was a focus on not letting blue light out, eh?"
"Yeah. Incidentally, the reason why epic clashes and showdowns always see two people emanating blue light is because they're manipulating mana above their proficiency levels," Dia replied. "The books mostly get it wrong. Letting out light and heat in battle is a mark of using too much mana. The brighter the light, the greater the waste."
"I feel disillusioned for some reason."
"Feel free to cry or something, I guess. But the light from activating certain skills can't be blocked out, so it's not really a blanket criticism of the whole shining bit and all." Dia thought for a moment, and then began to slash out over and over. "If I want to, I can increase the amount of mana I'm manipulating to improve my strength."
The sounds of air parting intensified as Dia channelled more and more mana into her arms. The sword, which was a hundred and ten kilograms, was now like a feather to her.
"See? I'm still controlling my mana perfectly, which is why there is no light so far. Once I go overboard, however…"
Hundreds of afterimages followed as her arms began to glow faintly. Wind howled all around her, and even Schwarz began to stand back. The best way to train one's Mana Control Proficiency was to hover around the limit, which was indicated by the fact that only the blood vessels were glowing. Too bright, and it was essentially a loss of control. If there was no light, one wasn't pushing their limits.
A hollow fatigue gripped her body, and the faint lines around her arms began to darken.
"So yes, that's about it," said Dia, wiping off her sweat. "For someone like me, whose talents lie in combat, this is what we try to do every day. Of course, since your talents lie elsewhere, you don't need to worry about this too much. The others also rank Initiate in mana control, so don't worry."
"Alright." Schwarz rubbed his arms. "I'm going to go back now. There's a bunch of documents lying around for me to examine."
"Sure thing." Dia yawned. "Maybe I should go back to sleep or something, though."
"Didn't Farah give you another assignment yesterday? You should hurry up and work on it. Remember to use the Band of Duplicity when you're out there walking, got it?" Schwarz waved a hand. "See you at lunch or something, I guess."
"Right, an assignment." As Schwarz vanished off into the distance, Dia thought about the various things the others had gotten her to do. Risti and Farah wanted her to gather data on Licencia's inns, while Claud wanted her to try breaking into Licencia at night, through the city's defences.
After checking up on the Moon Guards, who were now running laps around the mansion, she returned the training gear to their original locations and headed into the house, where Farah was reading a newspaper.
"Anything interesting?" Dia asked.
Farah nodded, her expression sour. "There is. In fact, it's so interesting that Lily and Claud have went over to check it out, with Risti acting as their support."
"Bad news, then."
The countess nodded. "We've found Zulan Patra."
"The Spear of Fate? Didn't he leave Licencia angrily a few weeks back after some disagreement? Why would he come back?" Dia asked.
"Bold of you to assume that he had a choice in coming back," Farah replied. "No, we've found his dead body. From the state of decay, he has been dead for some time."
The world seemed to shake for a moment. "Dead?"
"Yes," Farah replied. "Deader than a doornail. Kicked the bucket. Pushing up the moonflowers. Yes. He's dead. Here. Read the news and see for yourself."
Dia looked at the newspaper.
Apparently, after repeated reports of a horrible smell by residents, the Licencia's administration had dispatched some of the city guards over to check out the place. What they saw, however, was not for the eyes of the faint-hearted. Zulan Patra's decaying, half-liquid body sat in the middle of the living room, a dull spear at his feet.
The corpse was chained down heavily, but the most terrifying of all was how he died. The top half of his skull was nowhere to be seen, and initial analysis by the city guard revealed that his brain had been dug out by some perverted murderer.
By their estimation, the Spear of Fate had been dead for weeks. The owner of the house wasn't any better too — his equally-decayed body was found not too far away.
"For such a thing to happen…"
"Especially since the count has departed for Istrel's inauguration," said Farah. "We've been asked to investigate the Spear of Fate's death by the administration, to give an accounting to the Church of the White God."
"But he's been dead for weeks, right? And he had ostensibly left Licencia too," Dia replied. "Now that I think about it, after that Tri-Head Snake incident, the Spear of Fate hasn't been in the public eye. He must have been killed at that time, and—"
A horrifying thought as memories of her discussion with Norn floated to the forefront of the mind.
Brain matter.
An abnormal proficiency with the spear.
Experiential Potions.
As those terms floated around in her mind, Dia found herself connecting the dots.
"No way," Dia murmured. "This can't be."
"Dia?"
"They were using Zulan Patra's brain to create Experiential Potions," Dia murmured. "To create enhanced versions of these potions."
Farah froze. "Wait. What are you saying? What do you know?"
Dia shivered and hugged herself. What kind of person did it take, to treat others as materials to be harvested? As ingredients to cook something? She didn't know, but such a person could only be a monster and nothing else.
"Dia?" Farah grabbed her shoulder. "Do you know something about these things?"
Dia hesitated for a moment. It was possible that the others might guess that she had used Experiential Potions to build up her foundation as a mercenary, but…
This wasn't the time to think about superfluous things.
"Yes," Dia replied. "The party leader of the Seekers of Truth, Norn, had a little discussion with me in private…"