"Was I unconscious for long?" Carl asked.
A long silence followed until Carl's father opened his mouth. "No. Not as long as the first time."
"I see." Carl replied, and silence followed yet again. From the look of the person who was now his father, Carl could see that he has been fairly worried about him for quite some time.
'Marquis Chase Silversword. As a person who sells armoury to the military, he acquired a pretty high position among the nobility. However, he chose to stay neutral when it comes to the kingdom's politics. He is an astute person, and cares about his family more than anything.'
A series of information flooded inside Carl's head as soon as he wondered about what kind of person his father was. Carl felt it was pretty convenient for him. He did not have to fake about his own memories, and he got to live as Carl as long as he seem fit without a single worry about getting caught. With this, Carl believed there would be no problem for him if he were to continue being at ease.
To boot, he was given a father who does not care much about ascending to power even though he was of nobility. Carl felt his situation was simply perfect in order for him to live a normal life. And when he thought of his new mother and younger brother, they too did not seemed to be the type to intentionally pose a problem on him.
'I can live like this as long as I don't make myself too conspicuous.'
Trying his best to live as a normal person was something which Carl, or rather Dean, had never tried before. As the infamous genius in his previous life, for him to stay inconspicuous among his peers was something which seemed rather inconvenient. But with the notoriety of his new body being an incompetent person, Carl felt it was a chance worth taking.
'Since he won't receive any kind of expectations no matter what he do.' And with that, even if he were to travel around making a dent in the family's treasure, he still won't be reprimanded for it.
"What could you be thinking to make yourself smile like that?"
Carl suddenly went back to reality on hearing the marquis' voice. He realized that he had been smiling creepily as he touched his lips that were unusually high on both ends. Carl decided he really need to change his habit of smiling like a lunatic every time he was on his own little world.
"No. Nothing father. Just that my body feels really light."
When Carl thought about it, his body does not hurt like before. And he could speak just fine without having to muster his strength. It genuinely felt like he was finally healed from the torturous pain he experienced before he lost his consciousness.
"That's good, then. It seems the healer finally did her job right this time." Marquis Chase commented, with a sour tone visible in his voice. "Its a strange thing knowing she couldn't heal you before and now she suddenly could."
'Indeed..' Carl secretly thought to himself.
"Saying how you're finally able to absorb the lingering mana on your body and how she could finally make herself useful, I can't believe I paid her that much when all she could do was depend on your body." Marquis Chase muttered to himself.
However, in contrast to the marquis' opinion of the healer, Carl thought the excuse she gave to the marquis was quite understandable given she was treating a patient who suffered from mana explosion.
Mana explosion.
Mana existed in the form of nature. Some living organisms had the ability to handle mana and used them according to their needs- they were called magicians. Mana was present everywhere in the world and could even be in the form of air, water, fog and many other natural forms. That was why most people found it useless to take the time and level oneself up in isolation when a person could comfortably do it in his own backyard.
Pure mana, however, was the filtered version of mana. Just like how ores are dug out from the mines and filtered to get precious stones and gold, mana also get filtered by magicians of high level for their own use.
However, pure mana could not be handled by normal people. If a person wanted to handle pure mana and absorb them, that person needed to be at least in the level of 1st Domain. Any lower could lead to the repercussion of the mana and at worst, ended up in mana explosion.
'In the end, it all comes down to whether they could handle pure mana or not.' Carl thought, with a mischievous smile on his face.