Leon tracked the back of the girl with his eyes. And only when she closed the doors behind her back as she left to gather more supplies did Leon allow himself to breathe a small sigh of relief.
'Now that I have some food, I should be able to regenerate the blood I lost,' he then thought, directing his eyes towards his meal.
The villagers really went the extra mile when preparing his food. There were chunks of bread, meat, and various vegetables all stacked within a single bowl and then soaked in some sort of gravy. And for every bite-sized chunk that Leon would fish out with his fingers before swallowing it whole, he could feel the strain on his flesh lessening a tiny little bit.
'Not bad for the first meal in another world,' Leon thought, lowering the hand in which he held the bow. 'But rather than regenerating blood, I should look into means of refining mana from the air,' he then decided.
Leon's eyes became distant as he immersed himself in the feeling of the world around him. And surely enough, he could feel mana everywhere!
It surged along the winds. It flew in complex patterns through the ground. More and more of it came from the fireplace that Sarah wisely set up when she first arrived.
But for how plentiful it was, it was more of a danger than it was a benefit to him.
'Let's do a small experiment,' Leon decided, squeezing out the tiniest silver of his own energy. He then used it to enclose a tiny cube of air, separating it from the world around it. And then, still using just an echo of his powers, Leon made the air within the cube spin.
Just like with any other kind of force, the power necessary to spin the air within the cube was directly proportional to its mass and speed. Thanks to this factor, Leon could easily maintain the process even in this strange, potentially hostile world where mana was to be found at every step.
'Faster,' he thought, staring down at the tiny tornado of his making, no greater in size than a small bug. 'Faster,' he continued to infuse intent into his creation, forcing the process to accelerate.
And soon enough, Leon achieved what he wanted; the very first step on the path of refining free mana.
By spinning the air to ungodly speeds, Leon made use of the centrifugal force to separate the tiny semi-particles of mana that were attached to the particles of air. And as the air within the cube continued to spin, it shed more and more of the power it hid within.
'It's done,' he thought, breaking the barrier that enclosed the raging winds within the cube from the rest of the world.
"Pop!" the winds surged forth, ready to decimate everything in their path... Only to dissipate in a mere instant when faced with the incomparable greater mass of the world around.
'That's physics for you,' Leon thought, his lips starting to form something akin to a small smile.
Leon then leaned back on the bed before reaching out and stuffing his mouth with another piece of greasy meat. 'That proves the basic refining processes does work in here,' he thought, keeping the tiny grain of crystalized mana separated from the world around it with another barrier.
Leon then stared at the grain for a moment, only to release the inner barrier as well.
Just like with winds, once two areas with different densities of mana appeared, the crystalized grain fell apart into a myriad of microscopic particles. And before Leon could as much as blink his eyes, it was gone from above the palm of his hand, carried away by the current its presence created.
'As expected,' he thought, slightly disappointed by the result.
"Can I come in?" a voice then called out to him from outside the door.
"Yes," Leon responded without hesitation. "Feel free," he replied, making sure to erase all the evidence of his small test.
Sarah then opened the door and stepped inside, being careful not to make any unnecessary noise. She then walked over to the bed where Leon lay down.
She changed her thin veil-like gown to the very same clothing she wore before, proving that at the very least, she was willing to take Leon's advice.
"Is there anything else you need?" she asked in a timid voice as she carefully sat on the edge of the bed, making sure not to touch him with anything other than her eyes.
"Yes," Leon nodded his head before sitting up on the bed as well. "I would like some information about this place."
Sarah looked at him with a confused expression. "What do you want to know?" she asked, not sure where he was going with this.
"Everything," Leon said in a serious tone. "I want to know about the people, the monsters, and anything else that might be of use."
"I can tell you about the people," Sarah said after a moment of silence as she started to regain her composure. "But I'm not sure about the monsters..." she trailed off, unsure of what else to say.
"Then start with the people," Leon prompted her, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible so he could focus on more important things.
Sarah nodded her head before starting her story. "This village is called Glenwood," she began. "We live mostly off farming and foraging. Although we have three hunters, we..." Sarah hesitated for a second as she glanced over at Leon's dish. "We source most of our meat from traders," she revealed, only to swallow her saliva.
'I see,' Leon thought, catching the movement of the girl's eyes and the reaction it caused.
"Here," he raised the bowl in his hand towards the girl. "I have a lot of questions so I can't have you getting hungry and distracted," he said, munching on a piece he stuffed his mouth with beforehand.
"We are far enough from the capital not to be involved in the greater events... for the most part," the girl spoke out fast as if hoping that her words would hide the quick snap of her hand as she snatched a piece of meat before hungrily biting down on it.
A look of elation appeared on the girl's face as the meat juices exploded in her mouth. Yet, rather than adoring the girl's cute expression, Leon lowered his eyes to hide his darkened expression.
'To get so high on a small piece of meat...' he thought, gritting his teeth as the reality struck him back in the face. 'I guess the people of this world really don't have it easy.'
"Gulp!" Despite splitting the small piece of meat between two bites, Sarah devoured it right away anyway. She then raised her eyes, only for her face to fill with desire mixing with fear as she alternated her pupils between Leon's face and the bowl in his hand.
"You really are hungry," Leon uttered in an exasperated voice. 'Is this village poor or something?' he then thought. Yet, before he could feel any pity, Leon shook his head only to tilt the bowl in his hand. "My hand is tiring out, hold the bowl for me," he then said, ignoring the greater picture of the whole village and opting to just get comfy with this particular girl. "Also, feel free to eat yourself," Leon then added, encouraging the girl to pick another piece only to snatch one himself.
The girl hurriedly reached out and picked another small, bite-sized chunk of meat... Yet, right as she was about to stuff it in her mouth, her hand froze.
She then lowered her head and hand alike only to end up looking away from Leon.
"About that capital and events..." Leon muttered, putting the girl back on her track.
"We are far enough for the nobles in the capital to mostly ignore us," Sarah said, sneaking the piece of meat into her mouth right after. "As long as we pay our taxes, we are mostly left to tend for ourselves... But with the ongoing mobilization, that's hardly the case anymore."
The girl turned silent. The mood thickened as the girl's face darkened.
Bringing the topic of capital and mobilization clearly brought her mood down.
"Hey," Sarah suddenly turned her head around. She gathered all the courage she had in herself before looking directly into Mathew's eyes. "Why didn't you jump on me yet?"