Success and Failure in Magic?
I returned the fallen leaves on my futon to the forest and put the rest in my magic bag to use for tonight's practice. I was already used to the morning routine—got dressed and washed my face with a quick Clean, then headed to the living room.
“Good morning, Dad!”
"Mornin', Vio. Did you get a good night's rest?"
Dad always goes to bed after me (and probably checks in once during the night) but somehow still wakes up before me. How much sleep does he get, really?
We sat down together for our usual breakfast of eggs, bacon, bread, and milk.
"Since it's a day off, I reckon we oughta spend some time gatherin' up what we need. But doin' that all day might get a tad dull, so I was thinkin' we could liven things up with some good ol' fashioned hand-to-hand trainin' for half the day. Sound good to ya, partner?"
“Guh-guh—jusht a thec!”
I quickly chewed up the bread in my mouth. Ah, and the milk too!
"Oh, don't you worry, no rush at all. Take your sweet time and enjoy your meal, ya hear?"
“I wanna do it! I want to try hand-to-hand! But… hmm…”
If we do that in the morning, I’ll probably crash during my nap and not wake up. Yeah, better to do gathering in the morning and training in the afternoon!
“Let’s do gathering first, and then training after lunch!”
I’d already decided not to overestimate my stamina. If I nap until evening again, I’ll only have enough energy left for some magic control practice.
Now that the plan was set, I hurried to finish my breakfast. I stacked the remaining eggs and bacon on my bread and chomped it all together. Dad chuckled and said, “There’s plenty of time, no need to rush,” but he was smiling. Even though he eats five times more than I do, his plate always empties at record speed—it's like watching fast-forward.
In the end, we finished eating at the exact same time.
“Ah! Dad, can I try washing the dishes with water magic instead of Clean today? I thought it might be good practice.”
I asked as I got up to do the dishes. Dad looked puzzled for a second but quickly nodded.
"Well, why not give it a whirl? Go on ahead and see how it goes."
He really trusts me.
Okay, since I don’t need to attack anything, I just need to make water. In light novels, they always made water from the air super easily, right? Even in Japan, there were those machines that made drinking water from the air, like magic. I only ever used tap water myself, but whatever—let’s try it.
Drawing in air might be tough, but if I use my own mana, it should move more easily. Let’s start by syncing my mana with the air.
I gathered some fluffy mana into my palm… okay, it kind of feels like sweaty hands, but oh well. Then I dispersed the mana into the air… now let’s gather that air-mixed mana back into one spot!
I could feel a large clump forming, even bigger than the original amount. Now what? I don’t have a filter or anything, so maybe I can just squeeze it?
Yeah, let’s stretch it like a towel and wring it out, and… squish!
Drip drip drip…
“Wahhhhhh!”
"Vio? What in tarnation—whoa, what do we have here!"
Turns out the cloth-shaped mana was too wide, and the water I wrung out spilled way beyond the sink. The kitchen was flooding.
Dad, who had been in another room, came running when he heard me scream. He froze when he saw the scene.
“Dry.”
He cast a drying spell, and the water vanished instantly. At least I still managed to finish washing the dishes with Clean.
"So, what's the story? You mentioned you were gonna practice that water magic, didn't ya?"
Instead of scolding me, Dad just asked, clearly worried. So I told him honestly.
I wanted to make droplets like with Clean, so I thought about how to create the water and gave it a shot—but way more came out than I expected.
“Liquid to my hand—Water. Wouldn’t something like that work just fine?”
Dad held his hand out and chanted a short spell. A little water orb appeared and floated on his palm, gently wobbling. It looked just like the water Clean uses. I see, I guess that would’ve been enough.
But now I was curious. Is that water made purely from mana? Or is it gathering moisture from the air?
Dad noticed my puzzled expression and asked to see my version of Water, so we went out to the field behind the house where flooding wouldn’t be a problem. We were going to gather there anyway, so first, we did our usual stretching routine.
“Okay, I’m doing it.”
Like before, I gathered mana in my palm and dispersed it. It went way more smoothly this time—guess it’s easier the second time around. It felt more like the mist was naturally coming out of my hand than being gathered. Like, “Behold! Human Sprinkler!”
Okay, jokes aside, let’s gather less mist this time. Pull it together, shape it into a cloth, and squeeze.
Drip drip drip…
Just like before, water fell from the air, as if summoned from nowhere.
“Still can’t catch it in anything, huh. Maybe making water and using water are different skills.”
"Well, I'll be! I felt that mana burst outta you and gather up, but how in tarnation did water come outta thin air? I mean, you were tryin' to use water magic, so I reckon that makes sense, but I'm plumb confused!"
Dad stared hard at the air where the water had come from, mumbling to himself. If the Submaster saw this, he might be able to figure out what’s really happening.
Anyway, this magic might be able to create water, but it’s hard to control and not super practical. It’s probably better to do it the way Dad did, using mana directly. I’m no researcher, so I’ll go with what works.
So I focused on gathering mana into my palm again, but this time I concentrated only on converting it into water. Oh, maybe I should pull in surrounding moisture too?
“Water.”
When I chanted the trigger, a water orb just like Dad’s appeared in my hand, gently sloshing.
Finally! I did it!
The Clean spell makes water vanish after cleaning, and Water transforms mana into a water shape, not real water. That’s probably why people still go to the river for drinking water. Makes sense now.
Wait—but if I make Water myself, using my own mana, wouldn't I be taking that mana back into my body if I drank it?
I asked Dad, but he explained, "Since it's just mana shaped like water, it won't actually quench your thirst, I reckon." That’s why water magic doesn’t leave puddles after attacking.
Hmm… but what about my “towel-wring” water?
There’s still a puddle on the ground. That’s not mana-shaped water—it’s actual water squeezed out of vapor using mana. So it has substance. That means… it should be drinkable?
So we tested it.
Dad, being an adventurer, knew how valuable drinking water was. It’s one of the most important—and burdensome—items to carry in a dungeon. He’d even had to retreat mid-expedition because they ran out.
We brought the experiment indoors to the bath. I wrung out a big batch of water into the tub and finally felt like I’d done something amazing.
"Well, this here is definitely water, but... there's still a fair amount of your mana mixed in. Might give ya a case of mana sickness if ya ain't careful."
Looking into the water, Dad frowned slightly. So I focused and pulled only my mana back from the water. Since I’d dispersed it earlier, drawing it back was easy.
What remained in the tub was pure water. In fact, it was probably purer than natural water, since I’d filtered out even the magical particles in the air.
“Dad, I think it’s safe now. I took the mana out.”
"Well, I reckon you're right. Ain't a lick of magic left in it at all."
Dad stared into the water, clearly impressed… and maybe a little stunned. Wait, was this a success or a failure?
"Vio, this here is somethin' else. If ever'body could use this spell, dungeon explorin' would be a whole lot easier. Our country's got rivers aplenty, but in other places, findin' drinkin' water is a real chore. Some villages have even dried up and vanished."
If we had this magic—no, wait…”
“This kind of magic could really help places dealing with water shortages. Of course, natural water filled with mana might be better in some situations, but if you don’t have a water source nearby, you don’t really have a choice. Maybe if we told the Vice-Guildmaster, they’d help spread it?”
"Vio... But wouldn't it be a mighty shame if folks thought someone else cooked up this amazing magic you created? You deserve the credit, plain and simple."
Ahh, is that what’s bothering him?
Nah, if they knew a little kid made it, people would probably try to dig into it more, right? And I don’t even plan on doing the baptism ceremony—I’m not looking to stand out.
When I said that, Dad chuckled. So, we decided: after morning gathering and lunch, we’d head to the guild to talk to the Vice-Guildmaster.
What do you think about this chapter?
