03

“Magic power control? Are you saying you use magic while swinging a sword?”

Laika asked.

“No, that’s not it. It might still be a bit early for you, Laika, but listen to this as knowledge. It’ll definitely be useful.”

Holding the wooden sword in his left hand, Ains put some distance between himself and Sophia and faced her.

“Where should I start… Laika, how do you use magic again?”

Laika had Riste, who was standing nearby, bring her a chair and sat down.

“You manipulate the magic power inside your body and release it outside. Chanting and imagery give that magic power a path, allowing it to manifest with various forms and properties… right?”

“That’s right. You remember well. Strictly speaking, magical aptitude consists of three factors: the total amount of magic power one can manipulate, the ability to control magic power and emit it outside the body, and whether one can draw the path that makes released magic power become ‘magic’ through chanting and the like.”

“Yes. For me, it’s the precision of magic power control and chanting that holds me back, which is why I can’t use magic,”

Sophia answered while checking the sensation in the hand not holding her sword.

“The total amount of magic power is largely innate. Of course, it can increase after birth as the body grows, but it doesn’t change dramatically. Enhancing imagery through chanting can be managed with effort. But magic power control depends heavily on talent.”

What Ains was saying was this:

Magic was something that could only be used when innate ability, talent, and effort all came together.

“But Sophia, magic power control can be further divided—into control inside the body, and control outside the body.”

“Inside the body, and outside…”

“And internal control is simple. It takes a bit of a knack, but if you start by consciously sensing the magic power within your body, it’s nothing difficult.”

Ains drove the wooden sword into the ground and used the ring on his middle finger to open his item box. He took out a potion and showed it to Sophia.

“You used this potion too, right, Sophia? When your wounds healed, didn’t you feel something?”

“Yes. I felt something welling up from inside my body.”

“That was magic power. This is a potion that activates and amplifies magic power. Healing wounds is just a secondary effect. Try recalling that sensation.”

Sophia closed her eyes and turned her awareness inward.

Because her magic power was not currently being activated by a potion, Sophia—still unaccustomed to this—had to concentrate to sense the magic circulating within her body.

In less than a minute—

“I can’t be sure, but I think I felt something like it.”

“Once you’ve sensed it even once, internal control is easy. And for you, Sophia, getting this far means that strengthening your body through magic power control is practically accomplished.”

Ains returned the potion in his hand to the item box.

“Wait, Ains. If that’s the case, I can do it too, you know? I can use magic, and I’ve already mastered internal control,”

Laika said from her seat, then asked,

“So why do you say it’s still too early for me?”

“That’s because you don’t yet fully understand how your body moves.”

“How it moves?”

Laika tilted her head without thinking.

“For example, Laika. Close your eyes, spread both arms out to the sides, and try to keep them level with the ground at shoulder height.”

Not understanding what Ains was getting at, Laika still did as she was told, closing her eyes and spreading her arms.

“Riste, how are Laika’s arms?”

Ains asked Riste, who was watching beside her.

“Let me see… Her right arm is lower than shoulder height. On the other hand, her left arm is slightly higher than her shoulder.”

“Huh? Really?”

Laika opened her eyes and looked at her arms.

“…I can’t really tell.”

The exact height of one’s arms was not something one could accurately judge without an outside perspective.

“That’s one part of the answer.”

Ains continued, addressing both Laika and Sophia, who were silently watching him.

“There’s always a discrepancy between the image in your mind and your actual movement. Even with a simple motion like that, a discrepancy appears. With more complex movements, it becomes even more pronounced.”

“Yes. Even when I swing a sword, there must be slight discrepancies between my image and my actual movement,”

Sophia agreed with Ains.

“A seasoned swordsman, through relentless training, reduces the gap between image and movement to the absolute limit. Even then, the discrepancies that cannot be eliminated—”

“In sword swings, I account for all of them,”

Sophia finished Ains’s sentence.

That was precisely why, amid swordplay that shifted at a torrential pace, she could wield her sword as freely as if it were part of her own body.

“And there’s one more thing,”

Ains added, turning back to Laika.

“When you raise your sword upward and then bring it down, which muscles do you use?”

“Why ask that? That’s easy. Arm muscles—arm strength, right?”

As if he had expected that answer, Ains quietly shook his head.

“That’s far from correct. Sophia?”

“Yes. You use the muscles of your entire body.”

“Exactly. That’s the correct answer. Let me give a simple example. When the sword is positioned in front of your body, your center of gravity naturally shifts forward. To support that, you use the muscles of your back—your back muscles.”

Ains went on.

“Even a single small movement uses the muscles of your entire body. That’s why, when you use magic power to strengthen your body, if you don’t understand how your body moves, strengthening just one part will put strain on another, and everything will collapse.”

That was why a seasoned swordsman—one who had mastered a rational swing and understood the movement of their muscles—could successfully perform body enhancement.

“I see.”

“I don’t fully get it yet, but I do understand that not understanding it means body enhancement is still too early for me,”

Laika said. She hadn’t completely digested it, but she was at least convinced for now.

“Alright, Sophia. Come at me using body enhancement. I’ll use it too, so don’t worry.”

Ains pulled the wooden sword from the ground and took his stance.