"Good afternoon, everyone. Today we will start practicing what is often referred to as manual mana manipulation. Or in simpler terms, how you can use your mana in other ways outside of the set abilities of your blessings."
Hearing Mrs. Bright talk about other ways to use mana, I made sure to keep my ears open to the point where I wouldn't even miss a single word, trying my best to ignore the presence of the blue-haired girl and the red-haired boy in the front.
Out of any of the courses that I had chosen, this one stood uncontended as the one where I would have to try my hardest to concentrate, mostly due to the fact that all kinds of important actors were part of it.
Stella, Astor, Lydia, Celina, etc. the list went on and on as a large majority of the freshmen had all picked this course, and there was no question as to why that was. Because, in the end, mana was the end all, be all of being a hunter.
Mana was the reason why for example a woman like Levi could probably compete with most burly construction workers when it came to pure strength, as the mana in her body strengthened her to the point where the physical barriers were easily overcome.
Now, that didn't mean that a [B]-rank hunter specializing in strength wouldn't be stronger than a [B]-ranked mage, but it did mean that an [A]-rank could often be physically stronger than a [D]-rank fighter.
So there was no question as to why so many of us had picked this course, even though it had been Dona who picked it for me.
The problem that I had with it was the fact it was impossible to not notice that I was beginning to gather more looks from two people in particular.
One of them was Matthew, the purple-haired, self-proclaimed hero of justice that Hugo had for some reason been deathly afraid of, and the other was... a girl from the other freshmen class.
If I had to describe her, the only word that came to mind was delinquent. With an incredible amount of piercings, and her shoulder-length black hair with a red strand, her whole aura screamed of her being someone quite haughty.
"... so, what that, you are free to begin. Remember, even if you already know how to do this, I still want you to show me that you are able to withdraw and shape your mana outside your body."
After she had finished her presentation of the lesson, it didn't take long for several of the students around me to start glowing in reaction to them moving their mana, all in accordance with the elements of their blessing.
Inadvertently, I couldn't stop myself from glancing at Levi in the front, her body glowing in a very bright blue as she also moved her mana. Then, it didn't take long until a blue orb of mana came out of her hands, as she had completed the first step without any issues at all.
Following this, clearly showing just how simple something like this was for her, the orb started moving, elongating, and changing forms all according to her wishes. From a sphere to a square, to take the form of a small snake, with just enough details that it was impossible to not see what she had created,
Showing that he didn't want to lose, Will also expelled an orb of red mana, and mimicked whatever creation she formed her mana into.
'He still doesn't want to lose to her, I guess...'
Probably due to the fact that he wanted to prove himself worthy of her, Will was always intent on never being second in anything. It didn't matter if it was sports, academics, or even extracurricular activities, he was always intent on becoming number one.
Yet, he never was. Or, at least he never was in the past.
So although I knew it was childish, I was suddenly filled with a motivation of also not wanting to lose. Not wanting to recognize that both of them had already left me behind a long time ago, I also began to move my mana.
Or at least I tried.
Once again, I was having trouble trying to follow Mrs. Bright explanation about how to move one's mana, and a large part of it was most likely due to me having no idea how to circulate my mana, which happened to be the primary step before one could start manipulating it.
So, being the demon I now was, where I didn't circulate my mana in order to refine it to empower my alignment with a god, I had no idea what to do.
'-Stop being so dramatic about it. Demons don't care about that sort of stuff, just drag it out.'
The blunt words of Lucifer kind of made sense, but they also seemed to completely hollow out any semblance of integrity the process had. Because it made it sound as if while humans had to discipline themselves, refining their entire beings through hard work over multiple years, I was just supposed to... drag it out?
'-Yes, that's how it is. Oh, do be careful though. There is also a slim chance that when you reach into your core, you might withdraw too much power.'
My back got cold when I heard what she said, as her words could only pertain to one particular outcome in my head.
'Are you saying that if I bring out too much mana from my core, my vessel wouldn't be able to handle it? In other words, I might die...?'
'-Don't be silly. At most you would lose an arm or a leg.'
'That's... great...'
Still, if Dona had allowed me to continue participating in the course, wouldn't that mean that as long as I didn't overdo it or do something stupid, I would be fine? Also, my resolve wasn't so weak that I would be dismayed just because I might lose a limb. The medical facilities were developed enough that they should be able to reattach it anyway.
Closing my eyes, I went through the same motions as when I refined my core, starting by recognizing and accepting its existence. Every time I tried this, it felt like it only got more and more natural, and this time was no different.
'-You still have a long way to go, darling. If you want to freely manipulate your mana in the future, you will have no choice but to get to know our bond well enough for the connection to be second nature.'
Somehow, her words only made my old acquaintances seem even more impressive. Because they had already gotten to the point where they could seemingly manipulate their mana flawlessly without having to take the time and establish the connection.
However, I was still intent on chasing their backs, if not only for the childish reason that I found it quite embarrassing that even the crybaby Levi had gotten so much stronger than me. So, I reached out to the core.
This time, however, instead of trying to further my understanding of it, I was in the position of a commander, trying to order the energy inside of it to follow my directions. And, just like that, I could feel a small stream of energy slowly filling my body.
Not even the smallest strands of muscle were left alone by the energy, and despite me not knowing what was happening, I also didn't want to stop. The euphoric feeling of my entire being getting colored by the power was just too alluring.
At the same time, I had already learned enough from my past mistake to not underestimate the instincts of my current body. Therefore, as I felt like I had already gathered enough mana, I cut off the supply, taking a moment to only feel the mana that had already entered my physical body.
'-This is the first stage of mana manipulation. Unlike humans, demons are empowered just by releasing their mana into their physical vessel, so that's the reason why you feel as if you have gotten stronger. Because you have.'
I knew that there were advanced methods of mana manipulation where you could empower your body, but it was quite amazing to think that I got something like that for free just for being a demon.
Yet, I also knew too well that if something seemed too good to be true, it most often was. Even if one of the catches was that I had to live my life hiding from humans, I also couldn't help but think that there was another demerit to this kind of constitution.
And right I was.
'-Unfortunately, demons aren't able to use their mana outside of their abilities, you can only empower the demonic attributes you already inhabit.'
What did this mean?
'-So, there is actually no way for you to learn any null-magic spells nor use your mana in any other way than to empower your body. But that doesn't matter! Because you still have your claws!'
[3rd person Pov]
"I-I'm sorry!"
"Hmm? Now, what would you ever feel sorry for? Didn't you try your very best? If so, there's no need for you to feel guilty. Right, Hugo?"