The body’s output is determined by how much mana it can disperse in an instant.
The prime example of this is Helen Oberon—a fighter who enhances her physical abilities by channeling a tremendous amount of mana throughout her entire body.
To achieve this, Helen continuously expands her mana, pouring it into every fiber of her being.
As a result, her fists—imbued with concentrated magic—are stronger than most of her weapons.
Simply put, what I’m doing right now is forcibly replicating Helen’s method.
I’m injecting more mana into my heart than it should possibly contain—pushing it to the limit—then releasing it in an explosive burst.
The mana overflows, even though it’s saturating every mana passage in my body.
To handle it, I forcefully widen the magic channels—widening, widening, and widening them again—to allow all that magical power to surge through.
It’s the only way to expand my mana paths beyond what a lifetime of magic use could accomplish.
It felt like my entire body was melting.
Maybe this is what it would feel like to jump directly into Marinen’s forge—the one I saw in Vulcanus.
“Keah!”
A violent cough escaped me, followed by clots of blood.
“… Next.”
Still, I couldn’t stop now.
Two magic stones remained.
Out of the six I brought, I had already used four—I had to use at least one more.
With great effort, I blocked the mana channels, allowing only the bare minimum of magic to flow into the stone.
I endured the searing pain, reminding myself that no matter how much it hurt, I wouldn’t die.
And the moment the mana from the fifth stone surged into my heart—
—I saw hell.
This technique originates from the “Ancient Ruins” arc at the end of the story.
It was written on a stone tablet excavated by the prince and the heroine. After deciphering it, they attempted the method themselves using the magic stones recovered from the ruins.
Initially, it seemed manageable.
But they couldn’t withstand the pain and failed.
They released all their mana at once, but it didn’t expand—it simply dissipated.
The only way to succeed was to endure until the excess mana naturally drained from their bodies.
In the end, the prince survived it through sheer mental strength.
The heroine endured her suffering by dulling the pain with the Saint’s Ring, infused with the Holy Spirit.
What I’m doing now, of course, is the former.
“AAAARRGH!!!”
Unbearable agony ripped through me.
The original description was nonsense.
This pain cannot simply be endured.
It felt worse than being stabbed with needles, hacked apart with knives, or burned alive.
No matter how many times I slammed my head against the wall or rolled across the floor, the pain didn’t subside.
I kept wishing I could die.
But I already knew—I couldn’t.
In the end, all I could do was pray for the time to pass.
“… Alive.”
At some point, the pain stopped.
The endless hell had finally ended.
As I slowly got up and examined my body, I saw red, swollen veins bulging all over.
Aside from that, nothing seemed different.
“Whew…”
I took a deep breath.
Wary that the pain might return, I slowly raised my mana.
It flowed through my body smoothly.
Thankfully, the agony didn’t return.
But my body had definitely changed.
“Yeah. If nothing had changed, it really would’ve been unfair.”
The amount of mana released from my heart had increased significantly.
And the speed at which it dispersed was faster than ever.
My body felt lighter, more responsive.
I felt like I could now face the prince on equal footing in the dance competition.
“Shouldn’t I have done this as soon as I arrived?”
…No. That would’ve been impossible.
If I had attempted this before the competition, I wouldn’t have been able to endure the pain.
There wouldn’t have been enough time to recover.
Now, after everything I’ve learned and endured, I was finally able to succeed.
This was the right moment.
“How long has it been?”
In the original story, it took the crown prince five days to complete the process, and the heroine seven—excluding failed attempts.
Just to be safe, I assumed seven days, though it could’ve been shorter.
“Should I go out and ask?”
There’s a clock in my room, but it doesn’t show the date.
“Noel?”
“Yes, young master.”
When I opened the door, Noel was standing there, smiling as usual.
“How long has it been since I entered the room?”
“You entered at 9:10 AM on Monday, September 15th. It’s now Monday, September 22nd, 7:02 AM. Exactly six days, twenty-one hours, and fifty-two minutes have passed.”
“…Thank you. And thank you for your patience.”
“No need. I’ll return to my duties now.”
Noel bowed politely and walked toward the dining room.
I opened the magic mailbox in my room.
Three letters had arrived.
Of course, they were all from Raina.
I’d told her in advance there’d be no contact for about a week, but she clearly didn’t care—that’s just like her.
I opened the letter from Tuesday.
It was her usual casual chatter.
Thursday and Saturday’s letters were the same.
Though in the Thursday one, she did mention being a bit bored without my replies.
“…Should I write back now?”
Normally, I write replies in the evening after my daily routine, but I had asked Father to excuse me from training until today.
So writing now wouldn’t hurt.
Even if Raina’s still following her regular routine, the reply would reach her by tomorrow evening.
I sat down, wrote a reply, and placed it in the outgoing section of the magic mailbox.
In it, I mentioned the magic stones, the pain, and a few interesting tidbits from the original world that suddenly came to mind.
Within seconds, the letter in the outbox dissolved.
“No matter how many times I see it, that part never stops being amazing.”
Now all I could do was wait.
As expected, her reply should arrive by tomorrow evening.
But no response came from Raina—
—not after days…
—not even after months.
And just like that, I turned seventeen in this world.