I guided Edward to the outdoor training area. It's still March, so it's a bit chilly to train outdoors, but well. We'll probably sweat once we start training, so it should be fine.
"Seo-hyeon, keep an eye on Jae-ho and Song-jin hyung's training."
"Alright."
The weak-bodied Han Seo-hyeon is gone! Han Seo-hyeon, who realized the importance of exercise under me and became a gym rat, no, a healthy exercise enthusiast, approached Cha Song-jin with shining eyes.
"N-no."
"Haah, hyung. You know you can't avoid it even if you say no. Let's just get it over with quickly."
"Sob sob."
Cha Song-jin followed Han Seo-hyeon, half-crying. To think he hates exercise that much. That's why his body is in that state.
"Tsk, tsk. Not realizing it's all for his own good."
I shook my head watching Cha Song-jin being dragged away with a crying face. Well, I can rest easy leaving him to the merciless Han Seo-hyeon.
I gestured to Edward.
[Come this way.]
I drew up magic power and re-compacted the ground that had become a mess while we were away. The sunken ground became flat, and rocks embedded here and there were tidied to one side.
Edward's eyes sparkled at this scene that was like magic.
[Can't you move magic power at all by yourself?]
Edward's expression immediately darkened at my words.
[Yeah. I told you. I can only move it after absorbing magic power flying at me. Honestly, I'm not even sure if there's magic power in my body.]
But that doesn't make sense. There's always magic power in an awakened person's body. I approached near Edward.
[Is it okay if I put my hand on you for a moment?]
Edward swallowed hard at my words and nodded. I placed my hand on Edward's shoulder and slowly drew up magic power while concentrating. The magic power gathered at my fingertips flowed directly into Edward's body. The magic power sucked into Edward's body immediately escaped my control.
'Hmm, I was quite confident in my magic power control.'
—It doesn't seem like that kind of problem.
I had no choice but to leave it to Ray, whose eyes for seeing magic power were better than mine.
'Can you see?'
—Roughly.
Ray, who observed the flow of magic power for a moment, continued as if surprised:
—This guy, his core is a bit unusual.
'Core?'
—Yeah, in human terms, it's the center of the mana circuit. What you call potential refers to the size of that core. But in this guy's case, well, his core is small, but should I say the efficiency is extremely good? No, in other words, should I say it's twisted?
'What do you mean? Please explain it in an easy-to-understand way.'
At my question, Ray slowly began to explain. To sum up in one sentence what he said over several minutes...
'So if I'm a faucet, he's like a bucket?'
—How can you interpret my words like that?
It's not that different, is it? Anyway, unlike my core which releases magic power steadily just by turning the tap, Edward has a nature that traps magic power and amplifies it.
The reason he can't release magic power by himself is probably because he doesn't know how to push water out of the bucket yet.
Unlike others who naturally release magic power when they generate it, Edward tries to store magic power.
Edward's magic power was already well settled in his body. Like a glass of water already full. So when someone pours water from the outside, that water overflows.
If I could modify the bracelet I use and hand it over, it seems like he could fly...
—Ordinary people don't have circuits to receive magic power.
'But in Edward's case, he's naturally accepting power from the outside, right? So it seems like we could apply that somehow.'
But to do that, we needed to meet someone who could properly handle artifacts. To be honest, the bracelet I made can't be called a good artifact. Considering how both my arms became well-done steaks when I first made the bracelet, it's definitely not something I can give to others.
[Hey, how long are you going to keep fiddling with my shoulder?]
[Ah.]
I got lost in thought for too long while leaving Edward standing. I quickly took my hand off. Hmm, good. Now that I've checked this guy's insides, it's time to test his combat ability.
I put some distance between Edward and myself and asked:
[Can you absorb any kind of energy?]
[Most of them. Ah, things like poison are troublesome. I'd be poisoned before I could absorb the energy.]
[Hmm. Want to try receiving one?]
The first start was lightning. The lightning that tore through the air melted away in front of Edward. A red flame rose in the center of Edward's golden pupils.
Lightning struck the ground in front of me. It was the lightning Edward sent back.
[Your reaction speed isn't bad.]
The corners of Edward's mouth turned up at my words.
[If my reaction speed was bad, I wouldn't have survived this far.]
Indeed, having survived rolling around at the bottom, Edward's skills weren't bad.
'By the way, when I sent lightning, it came back as lightning. Hmm, but it's definitely not reflection, right?'
—That's right. Though you might mistake it for that because of the speed, that wasn't reflection. Your magic power definitely passed through that guy's body and came out again.
Unlike the talent of reflection that deflects energy pouring in from outside at the body's surface, the lightning magic power I shot was definitely sucked into Edward's body.
That's why he called it absorption. Absorption and emission.
I wove an ice spear in the air. If lightning was one stroke, would this be about two strokes?
[Uh, uh...]
Unlike lightning which was formed by condensed magic power, the ice spear had substance. Unlike the lightning magic power that was smoothly absorbed into his body, the ice spear with the substance of ice couldn't be absorbed in that way.
I'm curious how he can deflect something like this...
[Can I throw it?]
[Ugh, alright.]
Edward nodded. I threw the ice spear towards Edward. The ice spear lost power in front of Edward and fell, piercing the ground. But the 'magic power' in the ice spear remained intact.
What Edward absorbed was the kinetic energy generated when the ice spear was swung down.
Edward's body accelerated momentarily.
'Hmm.'
It seemed like I could roughly get the hang of it if I tested just one more thing. I took out the dagger I had at my waist and threw it to Edward.
[What's this for?]
[Can you break the ice spear?]
I told Edward the thought that came to my mind.
After absorbing the kinetic energy contained in the ice spear, could he break the slowed ice spear and absorb the magic power inside? Or would it just end with breaking the ice spear?
[You mean absorb the magic power contained in the ice spear?]
[Yeah.]
[I've never done anything like that before. Just absorbing kinetic energy has been enough so far.]
[That's why let's try it this time. Aren't you curious too about what will happen?]
I created an ice spear and nodded to Edward. While Edward was nodding, my ice spear flew towards him. Edward broke the ice spear that had slowed in front of him. And then...
[Oh.]
Edward clearly absorbed the magic power contained in the ice spear. I clearly felt the magic power in the air disappear. Edward released that magic power straight ahead.
Seeing the ground freeze over, I moved towards Edward. I took out a mana stone from my bracelet and placed it on Edward's palm.
[What's this?]
[Can you perhaps absorb the mana contained in that mana stone?]
[There's no way that's possible. It's common sense that humans can't use the mana in mana stones.]
[If it doesn't work, try breaking it and absorbing.]
Edward frowned at my words. As Edward said, humans can't directly absorb or use the mana contained in mana stones.
But Edward was a special awakener who couldn't release magic power by himself despite being an awakener. So it means common sense doesn't apply to this guy.
Moreover, what I saw earlier. Seeing how he absorbed the magic power that flowed out after breaking the ice spear...
[I told you such a thing is impossible.]
[Just try it. It doesn't matter if you break it.]
At my words, Edward broke the mana stone with an uneasy expression.
And then...
[What the.]
Magic power clearly moved around Edward. The magic power stayed only for a moment, but it definitely moved. It was very slight, but certain.
[It's exactly the same as when you broke my ice spear and absorbed the magic power inside. It's just that the subject became a mana stone. Isn't it stranger to think it wouldn't work?]
I looked around and continued:
[The efficiency is not great. Certainly, only a tiny amount of mana flows out when it breaks. Hmm, but definitely. You were able to absorb it.]
Since my side melts mana stones with mana circuits, while Edward absorbs the tiny amount of mana that comes out when broken, the efficiency was bound to be different. The firepower issue seemed like it could be solved by properly decomposing mana stones and creating a device to extract magic power.
Anyway, the conclusion was one.
[It means you can move magic power by yourself too. Though you'd have to consume mana stones each time.]
[Oh.]
Edward's pupils shook at my words. I patted Edward's back.
[I know you're surprised, but don't space out like that. The test is just starting from now. What attributes you can absorb, what your limits are, whether you can apply the absorbed magic power in ways other than just sending it back. There's more than one or two things I want to find out.]
[Oh.]
Edward still had a blank face at my words. I shrugged my shoulders watching Edward who couldn't take his eyes off the shining mana stone powder in his hand.
Well, I don't like getting lost in sentimentality during training, but... I understand since that must have been a huge complex for that guy.
[I thought for my whole life, uh, that there was nothing I could do by myself...]
[You're an awakener too. It's natural that you can handle magic power. Your core was just different from other people's.]
[Just different core...]
[Yeah.]
[If I just have mana stones, I can, I can do something too.]
I lightly hit Edward at those words. Meeting the blank golden pupils, I said:
[You were already an amazing awakener. Right? Being able to absorb someone else's power means you can unconditionally block the opponent's attack. It means you can be a perfect shield. And does it end there? You can also return it to the opponent right after. It means you're an awakener with perfect offense and defense.]
And such people are rare. Usually, ability points are skewed towards either attack or defense.
But Edward is not like that.
It means he has the ability to be both a perfect shield and a perfect spear.
[Learning that there's a way to absorb energy by breaking mana stones just added one more option for you. It's not like you suddenly became competent when you were incompetent before. You were an awesome awakener from the start.]
The corners of Edward's mouth turned up at my words.
[An awesome awakener? Haha! It's funny hearing you say that in your honor student way.]
[Geez.]
Edward burst into laughter at my words. Edward, who tightly gripped the sparkling powder, said:
[Alright, let's find out what I can do from now on.]