Chapter 76

Chapter 76. Test

In the dark night.

Sitting alone in my room, I took out the necklace I had hidden deep inside my desk.

It was Mirisa’s necklace, which I had swapped with Piar’s necklace after removing its gemstone.

Peaceful days had continued for a while, so I had not paid much attention to it. However, it looked as though troublesome matters would occur soon, so I took it out again.

Before anything happened, I intended to check and remove anything that might become a problem in advance.

On the surface, the necklace looked extremely ordinary.

It had a simple shape, with a small gemstone that looked like glass embedded in the center.

It was not even a gold necklace. It was a necklace made of a thin chain of metal.

“Was it not iron? And the gemstone does not seem like an ordinary gemstone either.”

However, when I focused mana into my eyes and examined it, the necklace’s material was not iron.

It seemed more like an alloy through which mana flowed well, and the gemstone was not an ordinary gemstone either. It was a transparent gem delicately processed into a strange form.

At a glance, it felt like an object filled with research value.

However, I was not in a situation where I could conduct that kind of research.

The reason I was examining this necklace now was not to find out how it had been made, but to find out what I could do with it.

In my previous life as well, I had not needed to understand the principles behind smartphones or cars. I only needed to know how to use them.

According to what I had heard from the man who called himself Piar’s master, this was a necklace that amplified and made mana run wild.

He had said it could also store mana and be used as a time-delay device to activate later, but I had not heard the details of that part.

It was an object that overloaded the mana of an inherited ability user wearing the necklace and made the person explode.

When I first heard about it, it had seemed like a terrifying object that would make my eyes widen, but fortunately, it had numerous restrictions attached.

First, he had said it was extremely difficult to make. He had confessed that even making two of them had taken more than a year.

And unless the person was a buffer or amplification-type ability user like Mirisa or Piar, someone who stored a large amount of mana inside their body, it seemed that even overloading them would not cause the person to explode.

On top of that, it did not work simply by putting the necklace on anyone.

It seemed the necklace would only activate if the wearer had high mana detection or had worn it for a long time, allowing the necklace and the mana inside the body to circulate properly together.

Moreover, there seemed to be almost no inherited ability users who could activate the necklace.

Aside from himself, the so-called master knew only one other person.

The female lecturer who had killed herself on the day of the entrance ceremony. She had been the remaining one.

He had boasted that only unusual ability users with high mana detection and the ability to use mana inside the body well could activate this necklace.

“I can infuse mana into it too, though.”

WOOONG. WOOONG.

The necklace lying on my hand began to accept mana and glow faintly.

Just in case, I had pushed mana into it with a sensation similar to the flow of mana I had seen that day, and the necklace had begun to activate.

It was a trick possible because I could see—no, feel—mana.

“I hope I am the only one who can do this…….”

I had not seen anyone else who sensed mana like I did, but it was difficult to be certain that only I could do it.

Still, it seemed clear that it was an extremely difficult task.

“Even so, it is not as though I can do anything with this.”

I placed the glowing necklace on the desk and shook my head.

Unlike the so-called master or the female lecturer who had killed herself, I could not activate the necklace from a distance.

Moreover, it was not as though it would work if I put it on just anyone.

Right now, the only use it had was to put it back around Piar or Mirisa’s neck, place my hand on their neck, and blow them up.

“If it cannot even be detonated from far away, that makes me a proper suicide bomber.”

In the end, it was completely useless right now.

“A suicide bomber, huh…….”

I stared intently at the necklace lying on the desk.

If I was going to become a suicide bomber, there was no need to put it back around Piar’s or Mirisa’s neck.

After hesitating for a moment, I picked up the necklace and put it around my own neck.

“…….”

Nothing happened.

A slight laugh escaped me. I had tensed up for nothing.

“As expected, there was no reason for anything to change.”

Then I moved my mana.

Mana began circulating inside my body.

“It moves around well.”

As expected, there was no problem this time either.

I carefully pushed mana toward the necklace.

The mana moving toward my chest passed through the necklace and seeped back into my body.

The necklace neither glowed nor stored the mana.

“Mm, it is true that ordinary mana does not activate it…….”

I tried infusing mana into my hand. Mana of a form similar to the one I had used when infusing mana into the necklace earlier.

I could see mana blooming above my hand.

I moved my hand toward the necklace.

Twenty centimeters.

Ten centimeters.

Five centimeters.

One centimeter.

At the final moment, I stopped my hand in front of the necklace.

“Surely this will not become suicide, will it?”

No matter how I looked at it, the chance of that was almost nonexistent.

Even so, it was not easy to place my hand on the necklace.

“Doing this kind of experiment with my own body really is foolish, is it not?”

I quietly began lowering my hand.

Then I stopped again. And sighed.

“If I did not revive after dying, I would never do this kind of thing…….”

I placed my hand on the necklace.

WOOOONG.

Mana flowing from my hand began to make the necklace glow.

“Uwaah!”

I felt as though electricity was flowing out from the necklace.

My body trembled with a tingling sensation, and mana was sucked into the necklace. At the same time, mana several times stronger flowed back out into my body.

Mana circulated madly. All the stagnant mana inside me was sucked into the necklace, became one enormous mass, and burst back out.

My muscles swelled, and steam rose from my head. It felt as though my entire body was filled with mana.

It seemed as though quite some time had passed, but in truth, not even a moment had passed since I had placed my hand on it.

‘Damn it, I am not really going to die, am I?’

It felt as if my body was about to burst apart.

‘The mana has to leave my body. There has to be some way…….’

I desperately looked around.

Perhaps because mana was boiling throughout my body, I could see and feel even the dust before my eyes and the faint traces of mana.

I could feel the wind touching the fine hairs on my arm, and my mind spun several times faster than usual.

‘The d-dagger!’

I took the dagger out of the wardrobe.

BANG!

I gripped it and released mana.

BWOOOONG!

Red light surged from the dagger. It was an incredibly thick sword aura.

‘At this rate, I will pierce the ceiling!’

I hurriedly laid it forward.

CRASH.

The red sword aura shattered the window and stretched outside.

WHOOOOOSH!

The red sword aura extended out the window like a laser before gradually disappearing.

THUD.

The moment the sword aura vanished, I collapsed to the floor.

My mind was blank. All the mana in my body had disappeared.

It was mana depletion.

“Ughhhhh.”

I trembled all over and clenched my teeth.

My muscles, now devoid of mana, twisted violently.

It was not merely mana depletion. It was not simple mana depletion.

It felt as though every last drop of mana inside my body had been squeezed out.

As I trembled like that, I heard someone knock on the door.

“What happened?”

It was Piar.

It seemed the sound had carried all the way to the room next door.

However, I could not let anyone into the room right now. Since I was wearing the necklace, Piar was especially out of the question.

I barely opened my trembling mouth.

“……I made a mistake…… while practicing with my sword. I will be…… careful.”

“……Yes. Please be careful.”

After an ambiguous silence flowed at my words, his answer came. Then I heard him return to his own room.

I let out a small sigh, then inhaled again, continuing the process over and over.

However, I could not feel mana, and the pain continued.

Time passed like that.

I did not know how much time had gone by, but at some point, I finally began to feel a threadlike trace of mana inside my body.

Twitch.

Mana gathered little by little.

Only then was I able to let out a sigh of relief.

Once I began to feel mana flowing again, I was finally able to pay attention to my surroundings.

Chirp, chirp.

I heard birdsong from far away.

When I opened my eyes, red sunlight was entering through the window.

“Is it morning……?”

I had definitely started this before sleeping last night, but when I came to my senses, it was morning.

“That means I gathered mana all night.”

Even now, my mana was barely moving.

I had truly nearly died.

Fortunately, I had not died, but I had been in enough pain all night to feel as though I would.

“As expected, it would have been better not to do it.”

With belated regret, I looked around.

The room was a complete mess.

The wardrobe was broken, and the window had been shattered.

The window had probably been destroyed by the mana that had burst out.

“Do not tell me the wardrobe broke when I took out the sword?”

I thought I had simply taken out the sword, but it seemed that had not been the case.

I looked back on what had happened when the necklace activated.

Mana had boiled through my entire body, my strength had increased, I had become faster, my senses had risen several times over, and my sword aura had run wild.

“My thoughts sped up too. It must all have been because the mana was amplified, right?”

It had gone as expected(?).

Since this necklace amplified mana or made it run wild, I had thought that if I did not die, perhaps I could gain explosive strength like a finishing move.

But to think the effect was even stronger than expected.

However, since it caused an overload, there was no way it would be without harm. And the harm was far greater than I had expected.

“It is a finishing move, but the cooldown is no ordinary cooldown. It is not as though this is a self-sacrifice spell, but after using it once, I am ruined and in enough pain to die. At this rate, I do not know whether I can use it in actual combat.”

I tried moving my body this way and that. My entire body ached and throbbed.

“Should I be glad I did not die?”

I took off the necklace and stared at it.

It seemed I had found some great use for it, but I had no desire at all to use it.

“And if there are more people like that master, it does not seem safe either.”

If I wore it and someone else activated it, it would be a disaster.

“Still, if I lower the power a little, perhaps I can use it when I am in danger?”

Even as I thought that, I shoved the necklace deep into my bag.

That day, when I entered class with my exhausted body, Valea sat beside me again.

“I heard there was an explosive roar from the male dormitory yesterday. Some say a ghost appeared, and there is also talk that red light shot into the sky.”

As she spoke, she waved to the people.

No one approached my surroundings, but at her gesture, both the boys and girls greeted her warmly in return.

It seemed I had said something needless yesterday.

Just because someone was beside me did not mean they would all become outcasts with me.

Well, with that face and that carefully crafted personality, there was no way she would be treated as an outcast.

Tsk. In the end, perhaps it was because I was lacking.

More importantly, it seemed the commotion had been bigger than I had expected.

It was strange that Piar had simply gone back. Was it because I was an outcast?

I listened to the class while thinking such things.

When class ended, before leaving the lecture hall, Valea whispered into my ear.

“Will you meet me briefly tonight?”

Huh? What did she mean?

When I looked at her with startled eyes, I saw the corners of her eyes lift slightly.

“Please go on a date with me tonight.”

Her smile and gentle voice were enough to make one look forward to tonight.

However, a chill ran down the back of my neck.

“There is something I would like to ask you about my father.”

She looked at me and smiled brightly.