‘I thought I only had to guide them on the first day and today!’
Gracie Frail felt like she had been struck by lightning out of a clear blue sky.
As a proud descendant of Sage of Magic, welcoming a Saintess and Paladin and acting as a simple guide?
That was actually sothing Gracie had hoped for.
Guiding them to the Tower Master the next day?
That wouldn’t take long, so she didn’t mind.
But having to take care of them for the entire month they were here?
That was a problem.
In Gracie’s eyes, Alia was a good person.
Even when a “typical” magical accident occurred, she didn’t leave it to others—she went herself to treat the injured.
That alone showed she wasn’t soone who would ignore others’ pain or wounds.
But ironically, that very personality was now causing concern.
Gracie had already heard from the Tower Master why the Saintess and Paladin were here.
To help the Saintess grow by receiving support from the Magic Tower and polishing herself in the process.
So what does a Saintess need to grow?
What Gracie could imdiately think of was saving more people in distress and healing more injured folks.
And what if Alia decided she wanted to save more people and kept calling on Gracie every day?
‘M-my research...!’
Gracie’s entire month of research ti might go up in smoke.
Especially because Gracie was the type who needed deep, uninterrupted focus to do her research.
In other words, if soone called her or she got distracted while focusing, it was incredibly hard for her to regain that concentration for the rest of the day.
She had improved her abilities using magic tools, but to keep receiving her family’s stipend, she needed to prove not only her skill but also her knowledge as a great mage.
Lately, she had been agonizing over a thesis topic related to magic tools.
And so, Gracie prayed fervently in her heart.
‘Please, Saintess, don’t call too often!’
***
After finishing their eting with the Tower Master, Alia, Paulen, and the sli returned to the villa.
“Haa.”
“Why the sigh as soon as we get back?”
“Well, I still don’t know how I’m supposed to spend a whole month here.”
“What’s so complicated about it? Just take a nice walk around the tower every day, and if sothing happens, extend a healing hand.”
“A walk every day...?!”
“If you start worrying from that point, you won’t even get started, Alia.”
While Alia and Paulen were talking, the sli jumped down from Alia’s hand and headed to the kitchen.
Boing!
‘Water!’
“Jiggly?”
The sli, bouncing as it moved, reached out its tendrils to activate the magic tool that generated water in the kitchen.
Click!
Whoooosh...
Water poured into a pot.
‘Water!’
Shiver shiver shiver!
Last night and again this morning, the sli had helped Alia cook using the magic tools.
The joy of making food together with soone else— but even more thrilling was the sensation of using a tool.
The sli had always relied on its own body to move and fight.
So now, using tendrils to control tools was a completely new and delightful experience.
Dumbbells were also tools, sure— but lifting and lowering them was just part of self-training.
Actually activating a magic device felt fundantally different.
“Jiggly, we’re not cooking yet.”
Alia thought the sli was getting ready to cook again.
But—
Click!
Click!
Click!
“Jiggly?”
She tilted her head, watching the sli repeatedly turn the device on and off in a steady rhythm.
“I think Jiggly’s really taken a liking to using magic tools.”
“Taken a liking to magic tools?”
“Yeah. Doesn’t it seem like a kid playing with their first toy?”
“Huh…”
‘It really does look like that.’
“In other words, it’s like soone lifting a dumbbell for the first ti to start working out!”
“Did you have to use that example? But is it okay to keep turning it on like that? Won’t it use up the magic stone?”
“The type used in that one isn’t that expensive, so it should be fine. Besides, Jiggly’s smart. It won’t use it recklessly.”
It was still morning.
With nothing in particular to do, they let the sli play alone with the magic tool while they spent ti on their own.
Alia went to her room to read the scriptures, and Paulen stepped into the garden to train lightly with his sword.
anwhile, left alone in the kitchen, the sli kept playing with the magic tool.
Click!
Whooooosh...
Brrrrr!
The sli kept turning the water on and off over and over.
It was fun for the sli, but for most viewers, it was a boring scene.
▶ Is that all it can do?
▶ It’d be more fun if it trained with Muscle Human instead 😯.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ But if Squishy’s having fun, who cares~.
▶ What do we do? I’m bored!
▶ Is it really fun just flipping the switch like that? (Genuinely asking)
▶ Ah—it's overflowing.
With the water continuously pouring, the pot was about to overflow.
‘It’s overflowing!’
The sli, who had been playing with the magic tool without a care, suddenly realized what was happening when the water started to spill.
‘It can’t overflow!’
While living with humans, the sli had naturally co to understand the idea that “making a ss” was bad.
So the sli made a decision—it let go of the magic tool, grabbed the pot’s handle with a tendril, and lifted its body up.
Then, slowly lowering itself down, the mont its body touched the water—
Slluuuuurp!
The sli absorbed the water and entered the pot.
▶ LOL what is that lol.
▶ Overflowing? Nah~ just slurp it up~.
▶ Is Squishy gonna get cooked in the pot now?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Don’t speak such ominous nonsense, you insolent wretch!
‘Done!’
With the overflowing water problem solved, the sli decided to try sothing more creative with the magic tool.
Using sensing ability to locate the magic tool from inside the pot, the sli extended a tendril and grabbed it again.
Click!
Whooooosh!
Holding the magic tool above, it activated it and caught the falling water.
‘Washing ti!’
The sli was recreating the ti it had bathed with Alia using the magic tool.
Since it could just absorb the water when the pot got too full, the sli thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of water falling on it.
It was so fun, it didn’t even think to turn off the switch.
Whooooosh...
‘Huh? It stopped!’
The sli kept using the tool until all the mana in the magic stone had run out.
▷ No water coming out!
Feeling the need for help, the sli used chat to ask a question.
▶ Huh? Is bath ti over?
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Shouldn’t the water still be running?
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Hoho, it seems the magic stone’s mana has been depleted.
‘The stone ran out?’
The sli brought the magic tool closer to examine it.
Even though the mana had been drained, the stone inside the tool was still intact.
▷ Still have stone!
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Sure, the stone’s still there, but the mana inside is all used up, Squishy.
▷ Mana ran out?
[Free Spirit] ▶ I’ll explain!
When the dragon realized the sli didn’t understand, it tilted its body in confusion—so Troll stepped in to explain.
Even if Troll was a natural-type mage, it didn’t an he lacked knowledge about magic tools.
In fact, seeing the sli interested in magical items made him want to explain it even more kindly.
Fortunately, the sli could understand Troll’s explanation.
Magic stones contain mana, and magic tools work by consuming that mana.
To put it simply, it was just like when the sli used its own skills.
The power it used to extend its tendrils?
That was mana.
With the explanation simplified, the sli had a realization.
‘Out of mana! Need mana!’
To use the tool more, it needed mana.
And the sli ca up with one pure, simple idea.
Magic tools run on mana.
Mana is stored in magic stones.
The sli also uses mana when activating skills.
The sli has mana.
So maybe... it could power the tool using its own mana?
‘Mana!’
The sli acted on that idea right away.
It opened the lid where the stone was inserted and extended its tendril inside.
‘Mana!’
Then, it tried to transfer the sa power it used when extending its tendrils—
The sa force it used during bounce-jumping— into the tool, but without activating a skill.
‘Urrrrgh~!’
But it didn’t go smoothly from the start.
The sli understood the feeling of mana being used, but controlling it freely and directing it sowhere specific was not easy.
Still, the sli didn’t give up and kept trying.
It kept retracting and extending its tendril, trying to figure out how the mana flowed.
And the more it tried, the better it got at sensing it.
‘Mana!’
Vwooooom!
Finally, the sli managed to concentrate its mana at the tip of the tendril inserted into the magic stone slot.
At that mont—
The sli felt the mana it had gathered begin to be pulled toward sothing.
‘The magic tool!’
There was no doubt—it was the force of the activated tool attempting to absorb mana.
The magic tool couldn’t imdiately draw mana directly from the sli.
Even though the sli had learned to move mana into its tendril, it hadn’t yet figured out how to release that mana outward.
Still, the sli didn’t get discouraged.
“Uuuuuugh~!”
Just like it had when learning to move its mana, this ti it focused on pushing the mana outward so the tool could absorb it.
It pictured the act of releasing the gathered mana outside its body.
It imagined sending mana directly toward the tool trying to absorb it.
The sli tried again and again, repeatedly attempting to get it right.
And at last, the sli’s efforts bore fruit.
[Skill Acquired: Mana Manipulation]
The system’s voice rang out, announcing the acquisition of a new skill.
The mana concentrated in the tendril shot outward toward the magic tool, and the tool successfully absorbed the released mana.
Whoooosh!
‘Water!’
Shiver shiver shiver!
Boing!
Splash!
Soaking in the water made from its own mana, the sli didn’t just tremble with excitent—it leapt inside the pot, splashing loudly.
▶ Why is water coming out again? Didn’t it run out of mana?
▶ Didn’t Squishy inject mana into it or sothing?
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Wait, was that what it was doing just sitting there? Classic Squishy, always doing sothing.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Wow! Squishy, you can use mana freely now? Congratulations!
[Squishy Queen] ▶ This is only natural for my kin!
To monsters, mana was extrely familiar.
It was essential for surviving in the wild and constantly used to activate skills.
Using those skills always required mana.
That’s why, to most monsters watching, it simply seed like Squishy had gotten better at using a skill.
But there was one viewer who was utterly shocked by the sli’s actions.
‘W-what the hell did Squishy just do? The others don’t know enough about magic tools to even realize what happened!’
That viewer was none other than Troll.
‘That’s not just basic skill usage!’
Troll, a forr human mage and now a lich, instantly understood what had just happened—and was horrified.
‘It activated a mana stone-powered magic tool without a mana stone, using raw mana injection? That’s high-level mana manipulation—sothing only advanced mages can pull off!’
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