Mana Compression and Creating a Highbeast
Written lessons ended midway through the morning. I wanted to spend my free time in the library, but my meeting with Solange was still days away. It was at times like this that I truly hated how everything in the Academy was done based on grades and influence; I yearned for the library more than anyone else, but my love was being denied.
Two whole days to go... I’m going to die! Someone, give me booooooks!
As I wailed in silent agony, I called over the first-years and had them start working on study guides for next year. Everyone leapt at the chance to help, especially when I mentioned that putting the work in now would make studying a lot less of a struggle for them in the future.
“Make sure to properly organize your notes, everyone. I will buy all those of a sufficiently high quality.”
“Understood!” the mednobles and laynobles enthusiastically replied. The archnoble, however, didn’t seem too invested.
“I am willing to help since you made the request, Lady Rozemyne, but I would like you to know that I am not fond of working for money like a laynoble.”
Oho, what’s this? Is working for money considered a laynoble thing? Are archnobles too proud to do it themselves?
“Are you unaware that I, the archduke’s adopted daughter, earn my own money?”
“...Ah.”
“Without the funds I made through my own hard work, I would not have been able to provide sweets as rewards or print so many educational books to be sold in the winter playroom. Am I right to assume you are used to spending your parents’ money and know not how to earn your own? I would advise you to learn a bit more about how income really works.”
“My apologies,” the archnoble replied, though I could tell from the look in his eyes that he still wasn’t convinced. There were no doubt many others who shared this view as well.
I glanced over at Wilfried. “Dear brother, do all archnobles think like this?”
“Yeah, pretty much. They live off the income from their land and annual salaries from the archduke, so the whole concept of working for money is completely alien to them. I get income too, and Oswald tells me where it all goes as my head attendant, but I don’t think I would’ve noticed you were earning money on your own had I not managed the winter playroom in your place.”
The money Wilfried received hadn’t been enough to continuously prepare sweets for the winter playroom, so he had apparently gone to Ferdinand, the manager of my funds, for financial assistance. While there, he was surprised to learn that my income was steadily increasing even as I slept. He had never even considered making money himself.
“It is unsightly for an archnoble to scramble to earn their own money,” the archnoble student said.
“So you say, but Giebe Haldenzel is an archnoble, and he is currently spreading my printing and paper-making industries through the duchy to earn a profit. Were you unaware of this also?”
“Giebe Haldenzel?!”
Elvira came from a family of archnobles, and it was only natural that this student would know about them. I nodded as he gawked with widened eyes.
“To rule land is to have commoners earn money for your benefit, so you will never be an astute and wise ruler if you deny the very concept of earning money. You must simply learn ways to generate income that are befitting of an archnoble.”
“You mean having other people work, instead of doing it myself...?”
“Yes. As you know, I am not personally responsible for the production of the products I sell. The ink, picture books, karuta, playing cards, and pumps are all made by workshops, but when they are sold, I am the one who profits. This allowed me to earn money even while I was asleep, and it is the very reason I am able to afford sweets for everyone, buy information, and have you all transcribe books for me.”
I was using the promise of payment to have the students feed me information and transcribe books, but considering how reluctant the archnobles were, it would be hard to gather anything from them. I didn’t want them refusing to transcribe books or gather information—after all, the more people helping me, the better—so I needed to change their minds and get them invested in making as much money as possible.
I need to make the archnobles understand the importance of earning money...
This realization played on my mind as I poured my energy into making the study guides. Fourth bell rang as I was busy putting everything together, at which point the senior students started returning to the dormitory.
Hm... I want the seniors transcribing books too, not just the first-years.
The other seven first-years and I were the only ones transcribing books at the moment, but it would be much more efficient to have all sixty-plus students involved. I wanted the archnobles to work alongside the laynobles, if possible, but to achieve this I would need to prove that there was value in earning money for oneself. I needed a product that the archnobles would want to buy—something so enticing that they would even be willing to work to afford it.
“What seems to be worrying you, milady?” Rihyarda asked.
“Can you think of anything I own that an archnoble would desperately want for themselves?”
“I would say your mana compression method. The results are already more than apparent: Damuel developed enough mana to propose to Brigitte, a mednoble; Angelica was able to master physical enhancements and is now Lord Bonifatius’s favorite disciple; and while Cornelius is not yet as good of a fighter as Lord Karstedt, he has already matched his mana capacity. I would say that any student of the Royal Academy is desperate to gain such knowledge.”
I was already well aware that my method increased one’s mana capacity, but I hadn’t realized just how effective it was proving to be. It seemed it would serve as excellent bait after all.
Once everyone had sat down for lunch, I revealed that I had an important announcement to make, drawing all eyes to me. “I have decided that those who wish to learn my mana compression method must pay the fee using money they have earned themselves, even archnobles and archduke candidates.”
Upon hearing this news, first Wilfried, then the archnobles of the same faction who had expected to learn my method with ease all froze in shock.
“There are many ways to earn money here in the Royal Academy,” I continued, “whether that be gathering information, transcribing books, or selling feystones and other materials. My plan is to charge archnobles two large golds, mednobles eight small golds, and laynobles two small golds to learn my compression method. This price will be halved for family members of those who have already bought it, and I will allow parents to contribute toward that halved price for their children.”
“Is that not being too harsh on archnobles?!” came a cry from among the students. I could see the archnobles looking around with panicked expressions.
“Archnobles already have an advantage in both practical and written lessons due to their plentiful mana and skilled tutors,” I replied. “Does the former not also make it easier for them to defeat feybeasts and acquire their feystones? Considering that laynobles have to work just to be able to afford the library registration fee, I think this pricing is more than fair.”
As the students paled at my sudden declaration, Cornelius—having already learned the compression method himself—looked at me in confusion. “Where is this coming from, Lady Rozemyne?” he asked quietly. “Did something happen this morning?”
“It seems the archnobles do not understand just how difficult it is to earn money, so I wish for them to learn. This is certainly not because I became irritated with an ignorant archnoble who described earning money as unsightly behavior.”
As Cornelius began scanning the crowd, hunting for the culprit, I suggested that the fretting students transcribe books to make the money they needed. “Is it not wise and very archnoble-like to earn money through writing books?” I asked.
Sensing that I had no intention of changing my mind, Hartmut shrugged. “Even the archnobles will be spurred into action with you dangling the mana compression method in front of them. This allows you to spite the fool who misspoke, alter how archnobles perceive money, and secure new books all at the same time. Truly an outstanding move, Lady Rozemyne—you can obtain all you want without so much as lifting a finger.”
My plot here would provide me with many more books and for much cheaper than usual, since I could cut costs by using plant paper and its corresponding ink instead of parchment, all while using my mana compression method as bait to get students to transcribe material en masse.
Hartmut gave an amused grin. “I suppose I shall show my loyalty here by gathering up information and transcribed books for you as well, Lady Rozemyne.”
“Are you not morally opposed to working for money?”
“I view this less as working for money, and more as receiving the proper compensation for what I normally do anyway. I have already been running around gathering information on what concerns me as an archnoble, so I will simply be hiring others to transcribe the books for me. I won’t be desperately working for money myself—after all, archnobles need only earn money in archnoble-like ways.”
Nobody could protest my decision after hearing that.
During the afternoon, we had practical lessons on creating highbeasts. Women needed to wear special riding clothes before they could straddle their highbeasts, so Rihyarda and Lieseleta helped me get changed. This was my first time wearing them, and the long, frilly-hemmed culottes looked a lot like a skirt when I stood normally.
“You don’t usually need to wear riding clothes because of the nature of your highbeast, milady, but since you need them for your lessons here, we had some made anyway.”
“I suppose I can’t be the only one wearing a skirt while everyone else is changed...”
Once I was dressed and the metal cage containing my highbeast feystone was secured on the belt around my culottes, I started making my way to the practical lessons. Philine and I were going to be attending classes in different rooms, but as a fellow first-year, she was wearing riding clothes as well. There was a pouch containing a feystone dangling from her hip, which she stroked from above with delicate care.
“It must have been hard work for you to dye your feystone,” I mused aloud, thinking back to how much mana the feystone had sucked out of me at once when I made my own highbeast. I could only imagine how arduous this process must have been for a laynoble like her who had never compressed their mana before.
Much to my surprise, however, Philine tilted her head in confusion. “Why would it have been hard work?” she asked. “I had been storing mana for it since birth using magic tools.”
Nobles were apparently given magic tools when they were born that would suck out their mana, and feystones for storing mana that would then automatically be filled. The magic tool would only extract from the person registered to it so that the mana would remain pure, meaning it would not extract from siblings, parents, and attendants. This allowed children to slowly save up more and more mana whenever it started to overflow, then use the feystones during Royal Academy lessons.
They need a magic tool for each child, and enough feystones to store ten whole years’ worth of mana... That must cost a lot of money.
I was aware that noble children weren’t taught to compress their mana until they were old enough to attend the Royal Academy, and they weren’t given rings until their baptism ceremony, but only now was I finding out what they did with all the mana that built up over the years. It explained why nobles who couldn’t afford magic tools sent their children to the temple.
“Did you not do the same, Lady Rozemyne?”
“Erm, well... I was raised in the temple, so I generally just offered my mana to the gods.”
“Oh? Then how did you prepare your highbeast feystone?” Philine asked, her eyes widening as she recalled that I had indeed been raised in the temple up until my baptism.
“I dyed a feystone that Ferdinand gave to me all at once by directly pouring my mana into it.”
“Ah. You were capable of such a feat because of your mana capacity, so tremendous that it earned you a place in the archducal family. I could not do the same.”
Right, right... There are so many basic things about noble life that I’m still clueless about, huh? I should probably keep my mouth shut as much as possible.
I parted ways with Philine and the other lower-status nobles, then arrived at the hall where my lesson was going to be held. Rihyarda warned me to wait until someone came to get us, as per usual, then allowed Wilfried, me, and the single Ehrenfest archnoble in our class to enter. Inside the hall, everyone took out their dyed feystones and proudly showed them off—Wilfried included.
“Your feystone’s light yellow, Rozemyne, but mine’s light green.”
“Wow. So it is.”
The color of one’s mana largely depended on its elemental affinity. Mine was somewhere between yellow and gold, which meant my strongest element was probably either Wind or Light. Wilfried, meanwhile, had a mana color that suggested his strongest element was Water.
The more elements one had, the fainter their color became. I had seven elements, so my yellow was rather light, while Wilfried only had six, so his green was slightly darker. The only element Damuel had was Wind, and I remembered his feystone being dark yellow as a result.
“Yes, yes. Quiet down, everyone!”
We were being taught by Professor Fraularm, a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties. She had a distinctive high-pitched voice and wore a prideful expression that matched the sharp, prickly aura she exuded. I had heard that she was the dormitory supervisor for Ahrensbach, and this was very quickly proven—she directed curt, forced smiles to the Ahrensbach students, but everyone else she more or less ignored.
“Today you will practice pouring mana into and changing the shape of your feystones. Please begin by increasing their size,” she instructed.
It seemed our class was starting in the same way as my lessons with Ferdinand. This much was easy, since I already used my highbeast feystone all the time, but I wanted to use this opportunity to practice controlling my mana. I stealthily removed the magic tool from my left arm, then started pouring mana into the feystone while trying to change its shape. The hardest part was trying to properly restrict the flow.
I just need to imagine the process as similar to using faucets, rather than pouring water from a bucket.
And so I visualized my fingertips as faucets as I practiced adjusting the amount of mana I poured into the feystone at once. I was used to offering up my mana, but I wasn’t used to withdrawing it again, so I also used this opportunity to practice that. In the end, while everyone else was busy changing the size of their feystones, I put my all into controlling my mana as a whole.
“Those who are confident in their ability to control the size of their feystone should now move on to shaping it into a highbeast,” Fraularm said. “Many choose the animal used in their family crest, while many others go with horses as they are comfortable to ride.”
Several students immediately began working to shape their feystones. Wilfried had gotten quite used to controlling his mana over the past two years, so he always blasted through the mana-related practical lessons.
“I’m going to make my highbeast a lion, since I’m the archduke’s son. Though I do kind of want a soft highbeast like yours, Rozemyne...” Wilfried furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, then started pouring mana into his feystone. It took him an extraordinarily long time, but it eventually ended up in the shape of a lion.
“That looks a lot like Ferdinand’s highbeast,” I observed.
“It’d need to have three heads for me to copy Father’s. It was easiest for me to just base it on the one Uncle has.”
“Now that you mention it, I did see Sylvester’s three-headed lion once. It certainly is quite a strange highbeast, is it not?”
“Were Father here, I’m sure he’d yell that you’re the last person he’d want to hear that from.”
Wilfried was right that my Pandabus was perhaps a teensy bit strange when compared to regular highbeasts, but Lessy was cute, convenient, and better than any other style in my opinion.
“Thirteens! Be silent and focus on forming your highbeasts!” Professor Fraularm shrieked in her sharp, high-pitched voice.
I obeyed and went back to looking at my feystone, now deep in thought. Would it really be acceptable for me to pop out my highbeast here considering how weird everyone thought it was? Fraularm must have interpreted my internal debate as laziness, because she briskly strode over and sharply jutted out her chin.
“Highbeast. Now!”
I gave a shrug and summoned my one-person Pandabus, just as I always did. The students from other duchies immediately balked at the sight, then began to laugh.
“The heck is that?” one person sneered.
“That thing’s way too tall for her to climb on top of,” added another. “How does she expect to ride it?”
“What a strange highbeast...”
“Oh, but it is quite cute. A shame it seems so impractical.”
They were laughing at Lessy for being weird, but while they were all commenting on his shape, none of them compared him to a grun as Ferdinand and the knights had. Nobody was asking why I had shaped my highbeast after a feybeast.
“Weird...” I murmured. “Everyone kept calling him a feybeast before.”
“I’m guessing first-years just don’t know what gruns are called, since they likely won’t have hunted any before,” Wilfried said. “I don’t know all that many feybeast names myself.”
As I mulled over his observation, Fraularm alone paled and uttered, “A grun...” under her breath. She was a professor, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise that she recognized the feybeast.
“Lady Rozemyne!” she shrieked. “Highbeasts are not meant to be played around with. Take this seriously!”
I couldn’t help but grimace. What had I done to deserve this scolding? I wasn’t playing around in the slightest.
“But I am taking this seriously.”
“How is this serious?” Fraularm snapped, angrily gesturing at Lessy. “The moment you made a grun as your highbeast, you forfeited all right to use that excuse. I will not accept a highbeast like this. Change it at once.”
Her insistence on getting rid of my Pandabus annoyed me. Sure, it wasn’t a traditional shape, but I had made a highbeast as instructed. Lessy was amazing as is, so I had absolutely no intention of changing him.
“Professor Fraularm, please excuse my curtness, but I will not change my highbeast. I can say with the utmost confidence that it is far superior to any other.”
“How is a highbeast modeled after a feybeast superior to anything?!”
“I can ride it without changing into riding clothes, and multiple people can fit inside at once,” I explained as I enlarged the one-person Pandabus enough to accommodate more passengers.
Everyone gawked at how Lessy had so suddenly grown in size, including Wilfried and the Ehrenfest archnoble. Now that I thought about it, those in the castle and dormitory had often seen me riding my one-person Pandabus, but I couldn’t remember ever showing them its larger form.
“I can freely change the size of my highbeast,” I said, using my excess mana to make Lessy shrink and then grow again. Fraularm stared at me in silent shock all the while, then snarled slightly when I puffed out my chest with pride.
“But this highbeast cannot even fly! It has no wings!”
“My dear Lessy can fly with ease,” I said, shrinking him back to one-person size before getting inside. I then flew up above the hall and spun circles around the onlookers as they gasped in disbelief.
“Th-That is simply not right!” Fraularm screamed, spit flying from her mouth. She collapsed in shock not even a moment later, which brought our highbeast class to an abrupt end.
Fraularm was carried out by two knights while Hirschur was called to replace her. She narrowed her eyes in displeasure when she arrived, then announced that today’s lesson would be continued at a later date.
As the students shuffled out of the hall, Hirschur called me over. She reassured the worried-looking Wilfried that she would just be asking me for the details of what had happened, and once he was gone, she turned to look at me.
“Now then... I wish to see this unnatural highbeast for myself—the one that shocked Fraularm unconscious. The potion I was in the middle of brewing was ruined due to my being summoned midway through my stirring it, so you owe me this at the very least.”
“S-Sure. I don’t mind,” I stammered as Hirschur gave me a sickly sweet smile. Her expression made her look like Ferdinand to a T, and it was in that moment I realized that she truly was his teacher.
We had mana compression lessons the next evening. Many professors were mobilized in preparation, so we first-years were divided into two groups, with half of us learning court etiquette while the other half were taught mana compression. I was in the latter group, while Philine was in the former.
Around ten professors were lined up in the mana compression classroom. Among them were Fraularm, who had now recovered from yesterday, and Hirschur.
“Your mana capacity grows along with the growth of your body, as your mana-containing vessel naturally changes in size as well. You can stimulate the growth of said vessel by storing as much mana in it as possible, and since you are all still in your growth period, it is important that you start doing this now,” Hirschur explained. Once she was done, Fraularm stepped forward.
“Mana capacity is more important than anything to a noble, so you must increase it as much as possible before you stop growing. There is only a particular window during which mana compression has a significant impact, so you must take this seriously!” she declared shrilly.
A third professor raised a magic tool up high for all of us to see. “We will first use these magic tools to measure the density of your mana. Once we have put it on your wrist and gotten a measurement, you will attempt to compress your mana. We will then measure your mana again, and if you have compressed it even the slightest amount, you will have completed the lesson. You will need to find methods that work for you on an individual basis and dedicate yourself to them. All we can teach you are the starting steps.”
So in other words, I have to compress my mana even more? Nooo...
As I cradled my head in despair, the professors each began explaining the particular way in which they compressed their mana. “I visualize it as removing the unnecessary components from your mana, like removing the water from fruit juice,” one said.
“I picture the misty mana within me gathering at my core,” noted another.
“Mana compression is much like boiling down a potion.”
“Just push, push, and keep pushing.”
The professors listed their methods one after another, but they were providing so many contrasting suggestions that they would surely only breed confusion. A quick look at the students around me confirmed that this was indeed the case.
“The most important thing to remember is to not push yourself too hard, under any circumstances,” one of the professors warned. “It could put your life in danger.”
“That said, you do need to push yourself to some degree if you wish to compress your mana. You have to overpower the mana within you,” added another.
Wilfried furrowed his brow in bemusement. “Aren’t these explanations kind of a mess? What exactly am I supposed to be doing here?”
“It sounds like a mess, but nothing they’ve said so far has been incorrect. The most efficient way to compress your mana is by finding a method that works for you, and your mana won’t compress unless you pump yourself up and really forcibly squeeze it,” I explained. “As the professors said, however, if you push yourself harder than your body can handle, compression can actually kill you. Ferdinand said there are several teachers per student here to reduce the risk even just a little.”
Wilfried paused, tightly clenched his fists, then gave me a serious look. “How do you do it?”
“Well, I suppose I can tell you the first step of the process. You have a vessel for containing mana within your body. Envision that vessel as a box, pack so much mana inside that you really struggle to close it, then force it shut anyway and lock it so the mana doesn’t come out. Anything beyond that is part of the secret Rozemyne method,” I said with a smirk.
Wilfried balked. “Just how many steps are there?”
“Three. Ferdinand took on the third step and ended up sick enough that even he couldn’t hide it.”
“The Ferdinand?” Wilfried asked, his expression suddenly turning stiff. “He got sick?”
It was at that moment we were called to the front.
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