Self-Hypnosis.
It is a concept that every Magus is intimately familiar with.
It is a process in which the Magus uses their convictions and internal image to suggest their own soul, allowing for the activation of their magic circuits.
More often than not, it takes the form of a combination of a mental image and a personal aria, just like how my counterparts use the image of a gun being loaded and the Trace aria to activate their circuits, or how I use the image of a pipe system and a control valve as the image and a similar aria to my other versions.
However, thanks to my memories, I have found that aside from simply activating my magic circuits, Self-Hypnosis can also function for a different task.
Meditation.
I do not mean the kind used in yoga or other such stuff where they tell you to empty your mind or other such unreasonable stuff.
I mean true meditation. The process in which your consciousness becomes aware of your body's every intricacy, including your very soul, allowing a magus to control the metaphysical nervous system that exists within their very soul.
And this is exactly the effect I am concentrating on right now.
"Trace. On."
My Self Hypnosis took root, and suddenly, I am completely aware of my body's every aspect and my soul's every pulse.
The way my Reality Marble was lurking right beneath my skin, ready to intervene at a moment's notice, responding to my brain's need to preserve my body. The way my soul pulsed every second with each of my breaths, drawing in the mana in the world and turning it into magical energy for me to use.
The way my flesh and bones turned to steel at my command and turned back to their original form with another command.
The way my body temperature rose to abnormal levels with each second of my magic circuit's activation, triggering a gradual and permanent change to my physical body by tanning my skin and bleaching my hair strands white.
However, my concentration was not on all these aspects of my body. No. It was on something else. Something that I noticed very recently, which prompted this whole experiment in the first place.
Deep within my self, beyond the physical body, beyond my Reality Marble, even beyond the surface of my soul, in the farthest depths of my very self, I felt it.
A small pulse. Unfamiliar, yet potent.
I still remember the magecraft lessons that various versions of Rin taught me. She described the origin of magecraft and Mystery as a whole to be from two different sources.
Mana, the Greater source. The breath of the planet. A power produced by the very planet and the source of power for nearly all types of Phantasmal species, especially creatures like Dragons and other such things.
Then, there is the second source, one that is used by nearly all Magi. Od. The Lesser Source. The life force of a living organism. One that every living creature in existence has.
Both of these sources are raw energy that is converted into magical energy by the magic circuits of a Magus, with the quality and quantity of the magic circuits determining the quantity and quality of the magical energy a magus can use.
This is the reason why Magi value magic circuits to such an extent and, once the theory of inheritance was proven, valued bloodlines over most things so much in all the worlds of my counterparts.
The reason why I am even thinking about all these lessons from Rin is quite simple.
There is something within my soul that should not exist based on these lessons I remember.
It is a source of power. One that I recently stumbled upon when I was charging up my rubies, but accidentally used up all of my magical energy, only for something else to fill in the gap briefly before fading.
This source is not Od, because I did not feel any dip in my life force, and neither is it Mana, since I was within my isolation Formalcraft circle, which shut out all mana from the world.
This is the reason why I decided to try this experiment and try to understand what this power was, and now, I have found the source.
Deep within my soul, I feel a source of power that feels similar to the mana in the air, yet it is as malleable as my magical energy produced by my magic circuits.
Cautiously, I tried to consciously move the power around, trying to see how it would react to intent, and surprisingly, it obeyed immediately.
It felt far easier to use compared to my magical energy, but somehow, it felt a bit 'lighter' than my magical energy conceptually and felt a bit less dense. The difference was not much, only by a fraction or so, but I could feel the difference as clear as day.
'What fresh hell is this? How did I miss something like this existing within my soul for so long when my magecraft and reality marble involve the literal manifestation of my soul?'
'...Granted, I haven't gotten around to manifesting my Reality Marble yet since there was no opportunity, but still, the point stands.'
Slowly, for what felt like hours, I cautiously moved the energy around, pulling and pushing it with my mind, before finally deciding to move on to the next stage of my experiment.
'Nothing too dangerous. A simple pack of razors should do.'
"Trace. On."
I decided to take things slow and activate the seven steps of my tracing slowly since I was using an unfamiliar source of energy for this experiment. This will allow me to stop at any moment should I feel like things are going wrong.
Judging the concept of creation.
A pack of blades used in various ways for personal hygiene and in many other ways.
Hypothesizing the basic structure.
Metal processed into sheets, which are then passed through stamping machines that cut them into shapes. Heating, quenching, and tempering sets it into the desired ratio of hardness and flexibility.
Grinding is used to sharpen them, and polishing is used to clean them up. Then, Chromium-based coatings are used to enhance their longevity and rust resistance.
Duplicating the composition material.
The strange source of energy was molded according to the blueprint in my Reality Marble, far easier than my magical energy.
Imitating the skill of its making.
Machine-like precision born from the very nature of my Reality Marble allowed for the object to be manifested as a near-perfect replica of the original, with the difference being so minor that it would be nearly impossible to notice it.
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
Since it was just a pack of razors with nothing special to write home about, there was nothing much to gain from this step, yet I went through it anyway.
Reproducing the accumulated years.
Again, there was nothing much to say about this pack of razors that was barely a few months old.
Excelling every manufacturing process.
With the final step complete, a pack of razors manifested in my hand with the new energy I discovered, exactly as I envisioned it.
However, somehow, I could tell that this was different from my usual projections.
Somehow, it felt 'lighter'. It felt like it was missing the conceptual weight behind every other pack of razors I traced with my magical energy in the past.
Again, the difference is fractional, yet I could still feel it.
Looking back at the source within my soul, I nearly fell to the floor in shock as I saw the source already regenerating its energy.
It was fast. Not so fast that I would quickly regain it all within minutes, but fast enough to be noticeable.
Based on the regenerative rate and calculating based on the full capacity I could sense within my soul, I would say it would take, at most, a couple of hours or so before this new source of power regenerates back to full after completely draining it.
A ridiculous regenerative rate compared to how long it takes for my magic circuits to generate magical energy to their full capacity.
'Just what is going on here? Is this another chance unique to my world? But if so, what does the existence of this new source of energy mean for humanity? Is it the same situation as the magic circuits, where only a select few have it, or is this universal?'
'Now that I am aware of this energy, maybe my sixth sense will help me identify others who hold this energy within them? Maybe this will help me find a few answers to the many questions I have?'
With a sigh, I stopped using my self-hypnosis and got up from the ground, exiting my Formalcraft circle, and started cleaning up again.
Another new mystery to investigate. As if I did not have enough on my plate already.
As many of my servant counterparts would say, looks like my E-Rank luck has struck again.
Installing my Archer card, I headed back home.
One mystery at a time. First things first, I need to find out what the hell the deal is with Rin, Luvia, and those two sticks.
And why are there traces of unnatural mana density within the caverns of Mount Enzou recently? The very same location where the Holy Grail exists in many other realities out there.
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Author Notes: So, our boy finally discovered the 'mana' of the DxD world. Let's see what he does with it in the future.
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