Wise Wand

The magnetic field needed for mana training is relatively easy to create once you understand the principle. The workmanship does not need to be very precise, either, and with skilled craftsmen accustomed to extremely difficult Gremlin processing and metallurgical workers—mainly those who handled the manufacture of the spring-powered components—the mana-training coffins were mass-produced at a breakneck pace and deployed throughout Tokyo.

The mana-training facilities in every area had enormous queues day and night, and data was gathered at an incredible speed.

Thanks to that, many new facts have come to light.

For example, mana apparently has no upper limit, if you ignore the drawbacks.

Anyone can increase their mana by roughly 1–2K without any trouble. Beyond that, however, there are major individual differences.

As you train your mana, it begins to fluctuate at some point. Your ability to control magic declines, and backflow becomes more severe.

Even the shooting magic's core spell, "Shoot," considered the simplest spell of all, begins to run wild. Many people have broken their hands or arms because they made "Shoot" run wild.

If you continue increasing your mana anyway, magical illnesses begin to appear and worsen.

Stalled mana recovery, mana leakage, spell failure, increased mana consumption when using magic, magical hypersensitivity, and impaired magical perception all begin to appear and grow more severe.

So, although it is possible to increase your mana without limit, the drawbacks appear and become increasingly severe at some point, meaning that there is a practical limit.

There are two ways to determine the limit of mana training.

One is to have a witch or mage examine you.

From the perspective of Transcendents capable of mana control, your mana apparently begins fluctuating very noticeably as a precursor to the drawbacks of mana training. You can simply stop training at that point.

The other is to use a structural-color Gremlin.

When measuring your mana capacity with a structural-color Gremlin, the gauge display becomes unstable and starts wavering as you approach your mana-training limit. Once the mana gauge starts wavering, you can stop training.

Witches and mages can increase their mana, too.

Their personal impression is that "the better your mana control, the higher your training limit will be."

Humans probably work the same way.

Humans cannot control mana, but it is believed that people who "would have been good at mana control if they could do it" have high training limits, while those who "would have been bad at it even if they could do it" have low limits.

Mana training is a world of talent, too. That's a little depressing.

Still, the person with the lowest recorded mana capacity—someone whose initial mana capacity was 0.2K—has already increased it by 6K and continues training without showing any sign of reaching their limit, so there is actually some hope.

It seems possible that even someone with a low initial capacity could train hard and reach around 200K. That's exciting.

Even if you started with only 1K mana, you could surpass the Blue Witch's 11,000K by training for about 160 years. Let's do our best!

Anyway.

I picked through the various data being sent to me to deepen my understanding, while clearing out the storage room at home and turning it into a mana-training meditation room.

It was a small room about two tatami mats in size, with magnets embedded around its outer wall. By meditating while rotating the room with spring-powered machinery, you could train your mana.

I had Hiyori, who had brought over a barbecue set in preparation for our river outing, try it out, and it worked perfectly, so the system was a complete success.

After actually building the meditation room, observing the magnetic lines with magnetic-field observation sheets and iron filings, and deepening my understanding, I thought, "Couldn't this be made into a wand?"

My meditation room was small as a room, but large as an object. The mana-training coffins used downtown were about the size of portable toilets. They were not impossible to transport, but they were far too big.

If I could compact the meditation room's functions into a single wand, it would be incredibly convenient. A meditation wand you could use anywhere, anytime.

Creating the magnetic field needed for mana training is not particularly difficult as long as you understand the principle. The workmanship can be imprecise, too. It is extremely forgiving.

With that much leeway, miniaturization was possible. Miniaturizing precision equipment is difficult, but when the original device is this large and tolerates this much sloppiness, miniaturization is a realistic proposition.

The Japanese are a people who are good at miniaturization. There is even an international joke that Americans invent things, Japanese people miniaturize them, Chinese people mass-produce them, and Jewish people profit from them.

I ordered textbooks on magnetic properties, read papers from the Department of Mutant Studies, and devoted myself to incorporating a magnetic-field-change reverse-playback mechanism into a wand while conducting repeated experiments.

Since the original device was the size of a coffin or a shed, I had to miniaturize it considerably to fit its functions into a wand. The mechanisms intertwined, and I had to arrange the magnets like the pieces of a puzzle.

In principle, you place the tip of the wand against your forehead to fix the coordinates. Then you turn the wand's dial to wind up the spring. After that, the spring-powered mechanism inside the wand slowly rotates, allowing you to train your mana anywhere and anytime as long as you meditate at the same time.

While I was making the prototype, Hiyori brought a beach umbrella in preparation for our river outing and asked, "Does this really need to be a wand?" But that was a foolish question.

There is absolutely no need!

I'm only making it a wand because I'm a wandmaker. I'm pretty sure a helmet would work, too.

Once you're used to working with Gremlins at that level of difficulty, the processing itself is easy. Designing the internal mechanisms so they fit together properly is much more difficult.

But after five prototypes, I somehow managed to pull it off.

This wand is merely a miniaturization project, something that someone else would eventually have created even if I had not.

Frankly, I think even craftsmen at the wand workshops in the cities could make one if they gathered their best people. Based on what I saw when I ordered and disassembled commercially available general-purpose wands, they seemed to have about that level of technical skill.

However, I was the first person to make one.

I was the first spear!

No, the first wand...!

The first airplane ever flown was the Wright brothers' Wright Flyer.

However, almost no one knows what the second airplane to fly was. Being first at something is important in every field.

I named my new anywhere-anytime mana-training wand the "Wise Wand."

The Wise Wand is a wooden wand with a stylish wooden burl attached to its tip. The wood is a hard, unidentified species that Fuyo provided. I embedded a large sapphire in the burl at the tip as a marker indicating, "Place this against your forehead when using it."

It contains no Gremlins or magic stones. This is strictly for mana training. I embedded a clockwork mechanism using magnets inside it, and although I made sure it had a certain degree of strength, I never intended it to be swung around in battle.

I considered holding an auction to sell this new Wise Wand, but decided against it. After all, less than a year had passed since the new currency was issued.

For now, only witches and mages have much money, so it was easy to predict who would win the bid. An auction would not be very interesting.

It would be better to hold an auction after the monetary economy has spread further and the number of wealthy people among the general public has grown. The more people there are competing, the more exciting the bidding becomes, and the greater the wand's prestige when it is sold.

I decided to give the Wise Wand to my best friend.

The day before our river outing, Hiyori brought over a case of Flower Cola—a Taito Ward specialty released after the new currency was issued, a cola substitute cleverly made with plant-based ingredients. I wrapped the wand in some extra cloth and gave it to her, and she accepted it happily.

"Thank you. I'm happy. Did you choose the gemstone to match my color?"

"Something like that. I used the biggest sapphire I had."

"I see. Nice. I really like it. I'll meditate with this every day. I'll take good care of it... Hmm? What's this cloth?"

Hiyori unfolded the deep-indigo cloth that had been wrapped around the wand and realized it was a brand-new robe.

I explained with a smug look.

"It's a robe tailored from cloth woven by interlacing the Spider Witch's spider silk with Iron-Steel Sheep wool. It's heat-resistant and durable, with a little resistance to magic, too. It's resistant to dirt, doesn't wrinkle easily, is lightweight, and won't fade... Well, in short, it's a personal robe for the great Blue Witch-sama.

"Your black coat has been ragged forever, hasn't it? I know you keep wearing it because it has sentimental value, but the color on the back is worn away, the shoulders are frayed, and the edges are coming apart all over. It's reached its limit. If you don't mind, wear this."

When I urged her to take it, Hiyori held the robe against herself and checked it in the full-length mirror at the edge of the workshop. Then she began to fidget restlessly.

Fiddling with the snowflake crystal brooch on the robe's collar, she asked me, acting strangely,

"...If I accept this, I'll be carrying your wand, wearing your necklace, and wearing your robe. Dairi, what are you trying to do with me? Are you trying to dye me in your colors?"

"No, I wasn't thinking that. But you're a witch—and a really beautiful girl, at that. I want to see you wearing something that suits you. Please wear it for me."

This was the Blue Witch Makeover Project.

The first Blue Witch I met had been dressed shabbily in a tattered black coat, clutching an unprocessed magic stone. She had been incredibly intimidating, but it was questionable whether she had looked cool.

Then, bam! An array of witch-style equipment designed by me!

A Witch's Wand!

A Witch's Amulet!

A Witch's Robe!

Hiyori, become a full-on witch...!

It would definitely suit you. I want to see the classic witch straight out of a fairy tale.

When I demanded that she put it on, my desires running wild, Hiyori let out a strange little sound and strode toward me.

"Hey, I'm going to hug you. Let me squeeze you tight."

"Huh? No way! Hey, cut it out!"

Hiyori hugged me tightly without giving me a chance to argue, then went to another room to change. The moment she returned, she spun around to show herself off.

"How do I look? Does it suit me?"

"Oh? Ah, y-yes, it suits you. It really does. It's perfect for the world's most beautiful witch."

"Heehee, heeheeheeheehee...! Let's show Kei-chan, too!"

Hiyori left in such a good mood that I could tell even through her mask.

After watching her go, I stood motionless in the workshop.

Being hugged so suddenly had left me shaken. Hiyori, who had once smelled of blood and gunpowder and seemed dangerous, had smelled pleasantly of perfume this time.

My heart felt strange, too. It was pounding.

Well, if Hiyori hugged me with that strength, she could give me compound fractures all over. So having my heart pound once, twice, three, or four times was only natural. I was just glad it hadn't literally burst.

Heh heh heh. The more the strongest Blue Witch equips herself with my products, the more valuable my brand becomes. I want to keep giving her new equipment.

Hiyori's happy to have powerful, stylish equipment.

I get publicity and a visual treat, so I'm happy, too.

Everyone's happy.

The world has turned into a fantasy, after all.

Let's live like we're in a fantasy world!