Science/Magic

Imagine if you have been tone-deaf your entire life. When you sing, even the rats run away in fright and your mother tells you to shut up.

But suddenly, after you took a bath while singing to your heart content, a talent scout approaches you and tells you that you have the most angelical voice he has ever heard and you will be very successful if you debut as a singer.

Bloed felt exactly like that right now.

You could say that his lack of talent over mana was the reason behind everything that happened in his life. Starting from his exile from the royal family to his encounter with Camilla and then his adventures through the continent.

Bloed knew about his lack of mana talent better than anyone. He could barely feel the mana in the environment, and that was after his psychic energy grew to B-Grade.

But now, a Peak A-Rank practitioner told him that he had the best talent over mana that she had ever seen.

Bloed was completely speechless.

Was she crazy?

However, after thinking for a moment, he understood what was happening.

Normally, mana practitioners found it hard to control the mana in the environment.

Most practitioners could only absorb the mana and then use it to increase their mana pool, making it theirs. However, doing something such as controlling external mana freely just like Bloed did just now was very hard.

Even mages, whose spells made use of the mana in the environment, did not control that mana. They just relied on the magic circles to absorb the mana and then use it in a spell.

Of course, controlling the mana in the environment was not entirely impossible. Most geniuses and demigods could do something like that.

But it was a completely different story if they wanted to control it so precisely as Bloed did.

At the very least, none of the people around Bloed could do that.

When Bloed realized that, he noticed the strangeness of the situation as well.

He tried it in the heat of the moment, but now that he thought about it carefully, how in the hell did he manage to do that?

It was true that psychic power could control mana. But it was the first time Bloed tried it; plus, his talent over mana was obviously lackluster.

Despite all of that, though, he managed to manipulate the mana to build the mana pathways perfectly!

'… Could it be… Was it due to Enhanced Brain Capacity?'

That was the only reason Bloed could think of.

Enhanced Brain Capacity was an ESPer ability that enhanced all the mental aspects of Bloed. Could it be that it also enhanced his control over psychic power and consequently his control over mana?

'I should study it later…'

If his guess was true, then it would open a world of possibilities for Bloed.

It would be an entirely new way to use psychic energy. It would enhance his abilities greatly!

This method would be completely different than his plan to create a body-enhancement technique (that was still in progress). Perhaps, he could use true magic!

Just thinking about the possibilities made Bloed's eyes brighten.

At that moment, Bloed felt the eyes of Diodora, Toby, and the others on him. He realized they were still waiting for an answer.

Coughing, Bloed decided to feign ignorance. After all, not even he was sure about how he did it.

"Cough… Anyway, Toby, I finished the golem, what should I do now?"

"W-Well, try to control it using your soul power."

Bloed nodded and did just as Toby said.

He sent a thread of psychic energy to the magic circle on the torso of the golem and activated it.

The next second, the mana in the core started to circulate and the golem lit up, taking one step forward.

The golem's movements were pretty shaky at the start, but before long, its movements became smoother and smoother, until it was walking just like a human.

"Amazing. You managed to control it perfectly so quickly."

"Is it supposed to be hard?" Gina, who had arrived while Bloed was building the mana pathways, asked with a curious expression.

Toby smiled wryly.

"Of course, it's hard. It's like controlling another body besides your body. That is the reason very few people use golems in battle. And the people that do it never use more than one. Well, the previous leader of the club was the exception. She could control three golems as strong as her at the same time and use them to fight beside her."

Bloed raised an eyebrow when he heard that. If Toby's words were true, the previous leader of the club was someone more amazing than he thought.

"Let me try." Gina skipped towards Bloed curiously. Bloed smiled and cut off the link with the golem, allowing Gina to take over it.

Smiling happily, Gina used her psychic energy to control the golem. But immediately, the golem collapsed on the ground

"Huh?" Gina tilted her head. She tried to make the golem stand up again, but it staggered and fell again.

"Why is it so hard?" She murmured softly and looked at the golem frowningly. "It's much harder to control than the birds you made, Bloed."

Bloed smiled amusedly and nodded.

"Yes, it's harder."

Most of the time, golems were used together with automated magic circles to defend places. That way, they can move semi-independently, though they could only follow simple orders, such as 'Fight' or 'Defeat the enemies'.

Very few people used Golems in battles.

After Bloed tried to control a golem, he understood the reason behind it.

Golems were not suitable to be used as combat companions. At the very least, they could not be compared to Tito, Leto, and Oculus.

They were not as versatile as his robots, plus, they needed much more focus and training to be used effectively.

Actually, even Bloed, with his [Enhanced Brain Capacity], could control at most two or three golems at the same time right now, and his control over them would not be as smooth as his control over his mechanical pets.

That was a low number considering that right now he could control five thought-controlled machines. Tito, Leto, Oculus, the predictive program in his eyes, plus a slot that was still free.

That made Bloed wonder about the previous leader of the Golem-Making Club. To be able to control three golems proficiently as an A-Rank practitioner showed that she was very special.

Of course, it was not as though golems did not have any advantage.

Their main advantage was that golems could use magic.

"This golem is the simplest one," Toby explained. "If you use better materials, a stronger mana core, and carve stronger and more versatile mana pathways and magic circles, you can make the golems much stronger and even give them abilities such as using fire and lightning or things like that."

"Really?" Gina asked curiously.

"He is right." Bloed nodded.

Of course, that was not the only advantage of golems.

Another advantage was that they relied on mana pathways and magic circles instead of circuits and electricity to work.

Now, what if Bloed combined the techniques to make golem with his current robots?

'Perhaps I can give my pets new abilities and make them one level stronger!' Bloed thought to himself excitedly.

That was definitively possible.

If Bloed succeeded, his battle strength would definitively grow!