Strange, Why Does My Mana Bar Seem Endless?

How should he put it? Even setting aside the question of how to explain the sudden tattoos on his body to his family.

By common sense, when a persistent spell had an extremely obvious feature that let anyone tell at a glance that you had used it, you had better have a reason why you absolutely needed to keep that feature.

Otherwise, you might as well not use the spell, because at that point, it no longer brought you any benefits.

[Beast Blood Baptism], enhanced to +100000, could perfectly replace [Myriad Beasts Totem] mechanically. Taking only a slight hit to the numbers in exchange for avoiding that side effect was purely an advantage for Manus.

"The material requirements for the spell aren't high. Now that I can cast it, I can start preparing."

Every kind of creature could bring Manus a different baptism. That temptation was considerable. If they were just ordinary animals, obtaining them would take hardly any effort.

Even if the baptism boosts they provided were small, that was acceptable. Little by little, it would add up. The creatures in this world were remarkably diverse.

Besides, Manus had to give very little in return. He was not greedy.

"Other than nearby wild animals, I can probably get creatures sold elsewhere, even magical creatures. I might just need to make a trip to Diagon Alley... Now that I've been allowed to get involved with magic, that shouldn't be difficult."

After giving it some thought, Manus decided that, apart from materials for Beast Blood Baptism, he could also consider getting himself a magical pet.

A magical pet could scout the surroundings independently and share its senses with him. It could also deliver spells—spells that originally required contact could be cast through the magical pet, extending his casting range while avoiding the danger of getting too close to an enemy.

Both were abilities seven-year-old Manus currently needed. At this stage, his top priority was not piling on combat power, but avoiding risks that could have been avoided in the first place.

Ideally, he could avoid fighting altogether. If that was impossible, then he would avoid the possibility of getting hurt in battle.

Although he could summon animal spirits and turn them into magical pets through the spell for finding magical pets, magical pets summoned that way could not last long, and using them would make him look highly suspicious.

So, since he was buying animals anyway, picking up a pet while he was at it was perfectly reasonable, right?

"I can turn the pet into a fey creature and then contract it as a magical pet. I just need to choose a smarter species, or it'll be hard to explain how I trained it."

Having added that matter to his schedule, Manus had mostly recovered as well. Other than a faint sense of fatigue, his arms no longer ached much, though there would probably be some aftereffects tomorrow.

"Perfect. I can test the spell I just learned and compare it with the spells I used before."

Manus drew his wand and traced a simple curve toward his left arm.

"Episkey..."

The Standard Book of Spells said that this spell could only heal minor wounds. Muscle strain and lactic acid buildup from exercise should fall within its scope.

Most importantly, Manus knew exactly which parts needed healing and how those injuries had been caused.

Then Manus put away his wand and cast Cure Minor Wounds on his other arm.

It was one of the spells he had learned through the panel over the years. Although it had likewise been enhanced to an extremely high level, he had memorized the low-level spell model already, so naturally, it was impossible for him to be unable to cast it.

Now he only needed to wait until tomorrow morning and see how effective the two spells were.

"As expected, I can barely sense any decrease in my magic..."

Manus found it strange. He could clearly feel that the total amount of magic in his body was not particularly astonishing, yet why did casting spells seem to consume almost none of it...?

Could the consumption of magic have been reduced?

After some thought, Manus decided to test it.

Dimension Door!

Manus cast a spell that could be called extremely familiar to most wizards. It was a fourth-circle conjuration spell that could teleport him from his current location to anywhere within casting range.

Of course, the destination had to be somewhere he could see, clearly imagine, or accurately describe with distance and direction.

With a casting motion, Manus instantly teleported from the chair in his bedroom to the bedroom floor.

"Hiss—"

Feeling that the magic inside him still showed almost no depletion, Manus sucked in a sharp breath.

Th-this was impossible!

Did he really have endless magic?

Suppressing his excitement, along with the urge to immediately try casting Wish, Manus cast Teleport once more—

"Bang—"

Manus, who had teleported onto the bed, saw darkness descend before his eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep.

"Manu~ Manu—Manu?"

Two hours later, Aivina's voice gradually changed from calm to faintly puzzled as it drew closer from afar. After calling out several times without receiving a response, she pushed open the door and took a look.

There, Manus was sprawled on the bed without even changing into his pajamas, sleeping like the dead.

Holding a cup of hot sweet milk, Aivina immediately smiled.

"Looks like Manu wore himself out today too..."

He was still a child, after all. His energy was not that abundant.

Aivina did not wake Manus and make him change into pajamas. She simply drank the milk in her hand in one gulp, then quietly tiptoed out of the room.

"Good night, Manu~"

When Manus opened his eyes the next day, he felt as though his body no longer belonged to him.

"This feeling... Am I injured? No, it feels more like the weakness of someone recovering from a serious illness."

Manus forced his eyelids open and recalled what had happened before he lost consciousness.

"There's no reason for this. I barely felt any consumption from a fourth-circle Dimension Door. How could a seventh-circle Teleport leave me this weak...?"

What exactly was going on?

After that experience, it was clear that he did not have infinite magic. Nor was his total magic truly so great that even casting teleportation spells barely depleted it. Otherwise, a single Teleport could not possibly have drained him dry.

Still, for a seven-year-old child to be able to cast a seventh-circle spell at all was absurd enough.

Then there was only one possibility: his magic was not endless, but was replenished after being used. So where did that replenishment come from?

Manus tried moving. His hands and feet could twitch slightly, but he could not get out of bed at all. He felt as though he had just finished an exercise session that pushed his physical strength to its limits.

Clearly, his magic came from the conversion of physical stamina.

Manus gave a bitter smile.

"Should I be glad that it isn't magic converted from my life force? Seriously, things have probably been going too smoothly lately. I actually let my guard down this much."