~ Support & Read 10 Advanced Chapters on my Patreon
<><><><>
Even more terrifying, she was now completely immersed in Haru's 'magical power.' The 'magical power,' in its energy state, was in close contact with her entire skin.
Alice blinked, then shook her head violently, forcibly discarding the chaotic thoughts, and focused on absorbing the magical power. She even took out all her magical power storage tools and began to stock up.
Magical power, equivalent to life force, was exceptionally precious. And magical research was a major consumer of magic. To be able to replenish a large amount of magical power, every qualified magus wouldn't mind a one-night stand.
This was also why the prostitution industry in the Clock Tower was so developed.
Now she had the opportunity to obtain magical power. A little psychological discomfort was nothing.
The fairy tale witch, with a spirit of sacrifice for magic, continuously absorbed the magical power from the air, her pale skin, which had never seen the sun, now tinged with a faint pink.
However, Alice, still within the human category, had a limited capacity for magical power. In just a few minutes, she felt that the magical power in her body was completely saturated, and even her storage tools were all filled.
Looking at the still-high-speed evolving formulas on the parchment, Alice sighed. She really didn't want to look at this unobtainable True Magic anymore.
Alice quietly stood up and slowly walked towards the living room door. As she passed Haru, she said, her face flushed, "Thank you."
The young woman herself wasn't sure if she was thanking him for showing her True Magic, or for giving her a large amount of 'life force.'
Creak—!
The living room door was gently closed.
"Hmm? Aoko." Alice, who had just walked out of the room, looked at the furtive Aoko running towards the guest room with confusion.
"Eh!!!" Aoko trembled, quickly hiding the books in her hands behind her back, and turned to look in the direction of the voice.
"What, it's you, Alice. You scared me to death!!!" Aoko said with a long sigh, her face filled with relief.
"Where did you get that grimoire?" Alice asked, eyeing the two books hidden behind Aoko's back, her tone severe.
Without Aoko answering, Alice already knew who the grimoire belonged to. As Aoko's magic teacher, she had a duty to stop the young woman from stealing grimoires.
After all, in the magical world, stealing grimoires, which symbolized knowledge, was an exceptionally serious crime, a capital offense for which the original owner could kill you without consequence.
"...Um, well, they fell on my head while I was cleaning the study," Aoko said with an embarrassed expression, turning her head away, not daring to meet Alice's stern gaze.
Though she was an intern, she was well aware of the basic rules of a magus. But for some reason, when she saw these two books, she had an instinctive desire to possess them.
"They fell on your head?" Alice's gaze went blank. How could a grimoire, which was strictly protected by a barrier, have such a mishap?
Alice subconsciously turned her head, her gaze falling on the closed living room door behind her. Her lips parted, then slowly closed, a hint of understanding in her dark eyes.
Without Haru's permission, with Aoko's half-baked magical skills, how could she possibly have obtained a grimoire?
So, the matter was obvious. These two books were a gift from Haru to Aoko.
"Wait, Alice, you said this is a grimoire?" Aoko looked at the books in her hands with a dazed expression. Recalling her strange possessiveness, her pretty face instantly turned deathly pale.
To protect grimoires, the strange formulas attached to them were said to be countless. Could it be that she had been hit by some strange magic?
Aoko's face paled, her teeth chattering. "A-A-Alice. Can you do me a favor!"
————
In the east wing of the Tohno mansion.
In the guest room temporarily assigned to Aoko Aozaki.
Alice Kuonji sat on the bed, her left index finger habitually tapping her chin, her free right hand silently flipping through the grimoire titled 'Mana Burst,' her brow furrowed in thought.
As she turned the pages, the 'knowledge' recorded in the book, under the effect of the 'teaching' magic inscribed on its pages, continuously flowed into her mind.
'As expected of a True Magic User, to casually give away such a high-level mana control technique.' Alice secretly clicked her tongue.
Though 'Mana Burst' was unremarkable among Heroic Spirits, that was only in their eyes. With 'Mana Burst,' Artoria had gained the terrifying power to go toe-to-toe with a Giant Dragon.
"Well, is it cursed?" Aoko, hunched over on the edge of the bed, her slender arms wrapped tightly around a white pillow, asked, a hint of fear in her voice as she looked at the grimoire.
Though she was convinced the grimoire was cursed, she still couldn't tear her eyes away from it, which only strengthened her conviction.
The thought of the mages in the biographies, who, to prevent their books from being stolen, had laid down all sorts of vicious curses, such as making the peeper's body rot and their mind twist... it made Aoko's hair stand on end.
"There's no curse, but the grimoire's style is more of a personal training manual," Alice said, silently closing the book and picking up the other one, 'A General Theory of Destruction.' She opened the title page.
Since Alice knew the book was a gift from Haru to Aoko, she was naturally certain it wasn't cursed. That's why she was reading it with such ease.
If it had been a grimoire handed to her by anyone else, she would have checked it a hundred and eighty times for safety before daring to touch it.
However, the techniques in these two books...
"This is...!!!" When the first page was turned, Alice's dark eyes widened, her face a mask of shock as she looked at the name in the author's column: Shiva.
Her brow furrowed. She quickly flipped through the book, examining its contents. After a long moment, beads of sweat on her forehead, she closed the book with trembling hands.
'It's the training philosophy of that Trimurti God. To give away even this?' she thought, her heart pounding.
"Hey, hey, Alice, are you okay?" Seeing the sweat-drenched Alice, Aoko's pupils constricted. She instinctively reached out to knock the book from her hands, but her arm froze in mid-air.
It wasn't that she was afraid of being cursed and didn't want to save her. She was afraid her rash actions would lead to even worse consequences.
"I'm fine!" Alice picked up the 'Mana Burst' book she'd been reading earlier, opened the title page, and stared at the name in the author's column: Artoria Pendragon. Her gaze focused on the Pendragon surname.
<><><><>
Support & Read 10 Advanced Chapters
https://p-atreon.com/dragonnx
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)