Chapter 22 – Mana Overuse

Just as the card was about to fully solidify, Mo Lan felt a wave of weakness surging from deep within her, and in the next moment, she lost consciousness.

Without its supply of mana, the Book of Cards vanished without a trace.

Lilith withdrew her hand chop and caught the fainting Mo Lan in her arms. “Good thing my reflexes are fast! Otherwise you’d have been bedridden for a whole month!”

She propped up the unconscious Mo Lan and walked toward her dormitory.

Sylph and Vasida, who had been clearing weeds in the yard, saw them and hurried over to help.

One went ahead to open Mo Lan’s courtyard gate, while the other helped carry her.

They couldn’t help but worry. “What happened to her?”

“She recklessly channeled her mana without controlling it properly. The consumption was too great, and she passed out,” Lilith said.

Who would have thought? Vasida, the one who looked most likely to get into trouble, was still full of energy, while Mo Lan, the one who seemed the most level-headed, had collapsed!

These junior students! You really couldn’t judge a sorceress by appearances—each one was as reckless as the next.

Now unable to feel at ease about Vasida and Sylph either, Lilith warned them:

“When you two study your Manifested Gifts, don’t be as hasty as Moira. It’s best to wait until after the first week of classes, when you’ve more or less learned to control your own power and have a sense of your limits, before channeling mana to study your Manifested Gifts!

Try not to exhaust your mana completely.

Vasida, you can at least replenish yourself by eating with the Devouring Stomach, so that’s one thing. But Sylph, you must be careful—once mana is overused and completely depleted, the recovery time increases exponentially, and it leaves your body in a weakened state.

It’s partly my fault too. I spoke a moment too late, and Moira’s mana surged uncontrollably into the Book of Cards.

Fortunately, I stopped her in time. Moira’s mana hasn’t been completely depleted—she just needs some rest and she’ll be fine. But if she wants to fully recover her mana before Monday, she’s going to have to suffer a bit.”

Vasida and Sylph nodded vigorously. As long as Mo Lan was alright, that was all that mattered.

But then: “Senior, are you saying we can also use mana to study our Manifested Gifts?”

This time, Lilith had learned her lesson. She refused to mention how it was done no matter what, saying only:

“Once you get your own Grimoires, find a book called *The Path of the Sorceress* and read it—then you’ll understand! Make sure you understand it thoroughly before attempting anything. Don’t be reckless!”

The three of them worked together to get Mo Lan into bed.

“Senior! When will Moira wake up?”

Although she knew Mo Lan was fine, Vasida was still worried. Her complexion looked truly terrible.

Her dark circles were only slightly lighter than those of the zombies back at her home.

“She stayed up all night studying her Manifested Gift. I’d guess she won’t wake until evening,” Lilith said.

“Then I’ll come check on her around dusk.”

The three of them left Mo Lan’s dormitory.

When evening came, Mo Lan sat up rubbing the dull ache at the back of her head. She looked up to see three dark silhouettes sitting quietly by her bedside and nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Moira! You’re finally awake!”

“How do you feel?”

Hearing Sylph’s and Vasida’s voices, Mo Lan’s racing heart finally settled back into place. “What happened to me? I remember I was condensing a card…”

She raised her hand to summon the Book of Cards and check on the card, but Lilith grabbed her wrist immediately.

“Don’t summon it! You do still have a little mana left, but it really is only a little!

You could technically summon your Manifested Gift, but with this tiny amount of mana, who knows which attempt might drain the last of it. And then you won’t be feeling nearly as comfortable as you are now.

Haven’t you noticed you barely have any strength? That’s your body sending you a warning—your mana has hit the critical threshold!”

Mo Lan endured a thorough, heartfelt lecture from Lilith before finally understanding what had happened. “I’m sorry! I made everyone worry.” She had been too eager for results. Fortunately, it hadn’t led to a serious disaster.

Seeing that Mo Lan understood the gravity of the situation, Lilith finally let go of her hand. “As long as you know. Be more careful in the future. Right now, aside from feeling weak, do you have any other discomfort?”

“Mm… just the back of my head hurts a bit. Other than that, nothing serious,” Mo Lan said.

Lilith guiltily averted her eyes.

It had been her first time knocking someone out with a hand chop, and she hadn’t quite gotten the force right. It had been just a teensy bit too hard.

“You’re alright for now. Your mana wasn’t completely drained. Using what little you have left as a catalyst, once you recover even a small amount, the physical discomfort will fade. You just need to be careful about using mana.”

“Senior! When will my mana fully recover? It won’t affect Monday’s classes, will it?” Mo Lan asked anxiously.

“If it recovers naturally, at least a week! But if you don’t want it to affect your classes, eat plenty of breadfruits from now on—you might be able to restore yourself to full capacity.”

Seeing that she was genuinely anxious about this, Lilith reassured her. “Even if you don’t recover to full capacity, it’s fine. mana is of a higher quality than magical power. If you recover just ten or twenty percent and use it sparingly, that’ll be more than enough to handle the coming week’s classes.”

“*Gurrgle~*”

Vasida instinctively clutched her stomach, but immediately realized something was off. “That wasn’t me! I’m stuffed!”

Mo Lan smiled sheepishly. “It was me.”

She hadn’t eaten all day. She was hungry.

She got out of bed, and Sylph moved to support her, but Mo Lan waved her off. “I’m fine. I’m not that weak yet.”

She went downstairs to the storage room and plucked one of the breadfruits from the bunch she had brought back the day before yesterday. She took a deep breath and bit down hard.

The next moment, her face scrunched into a knot.

There was no helping it. To recover some mana faster, she had to eat.

Lilith glanced at Vasida—well, that one was an exception—then looked at Sylph. “See? This is the price of overusing mana!”

Sylph’s teeth ached just watching Mo Lan. “I’m so envious of Vasida!”

Mo Lan, for whom eating breadfruit was nothing short of torture, agreed wholeheartedly.

Under the envious and resentful gazes of all three, Vasida poked her fingers together. “(*▽*)”

It was so sour that Mo Lan didn’t even dare chew properly. She’d take a bite, crane her neck, and swallow it whole. She managed to finish most of it before feeling full.

She did feel her strength returning to her body. “Senior, how much of my mana has recovered?”

“Less than five percent!” Lilith delivered the cruel verdict. “Breadfruit is so filling that you can’t eat much at once…”

Vasida: “???”

“…Vasida excluded!” Lilith added. “And since mana is at such a high energy level, the amount recovered is limited. You’ll need to push yourself to eat more breadfruit if you want to recover faster.”

The lights in the dormitory were clearly on, yet Mo Lan felt surrounded by darkness. So sour!

Just the day before yesterday, she had thought to herself: sure, breadfruit could restore mana, but it tasted so awful that she would absolutely never eat it unless she had no other choice!

Yesterday, after bringing back her ingredients, she had banished the breadfruit to cold storage in the storage room.

Who could have predicted that today she would not only have to eat breadfruit, but actually pray that it wouldn’t be so filling—so she could eat more of it.

(End of Chapter)