Yuji Itadori POV
"Alright Yuji pay close attention to my words," Nanamin says as we stood in front of one of the trees in his garden.
I nodded while tugging at my yellow hoodie.
My old clothes were dirty when the police first found me, so they gave me a yellow hoodie to wear until my old ones were washed.
"Typically for magi we have what is known as magic circuits. To unlock them we typically first create a circuit and then trace or follow the pathway until we open up all the possible number of natural circuits while letting the created circuit disappear. This process is especially painful but once you've practiced how to mentally turn them on and off it'll gradually become numb. Are you with me so far?" Nanamin asks his arms crossed together.
"Y-Yeah I think I get it," I replied with a small stutter.
"Excellent now for you were going to do something similar. You're going to use that blood technique of yours's but don't do anything with it. Instead, what I want you to do is to mentally follow where the mana is coming from. Mana often feels like a hot or electrical sensation so that should be able to help," he instructed.
"Alright," I said, "so basically just...feel where it comes from."
"Essentially, yes. Don't force anything just observe."
I closed my eyes.
The garden was quiet around me, just the wind moving through the trees, and some bird doing its thing somewhere overhead.
I tried to do what Nanamin said and not think too hard about it, which was harder than it sounded because not thinking hard about something you're actively trying to do is like playing tug of war against yourself.
I called up the feeling I felt before when I controlled my blood.
It was there immediately, familiar now, like finding a light switch in a dark room you've memorized. That hot electrical pull gathered right at the tip of my fingertips read to escape from my skin.
Okay now don't do anything with it.
Just follow it backward.
The heat sat at my fingertips, and I mentally tugged at the thread of it. Following it the way you find a wire line back to the wall. It moved up through my palms, forearms, and past my elbows in a way that made the inside of my arms tingle like static.
I lost it somewhere around my shoulder.
"Damn I keep losing the thread around my shoulder," I grumbled without opening my eyes.
"Don't chase it," Nanamin spoke from somewhere to my right "just let it show you."
I tried again.
'Don't chase it.'
Let it show you right easier said than done I sarcastically thought to myself.
The heat gathered at my fingers again and I just watched it. Followed its trace without grabbing or latching on to it like a hawk does with its prey.
Up through the palms.
Up the forearms.
Past the shoulder this time, continuing, moving inward toward the center of my chest, and then dropping, not stopping at my chest but continuing downward.
There!
Dead center of my stomach well not at my stomach exactly, but deeper than that but otherwise in that general territory.
It was dense, warm, and continuously producing something that sat there like a disco ball that had been on for my entire life without me ever knowing it was on.
"It's in my stomach," I said, opening my eyes,"like at the center. Behind the stomach maybe."
Nanami uncrossed his arms and stepped forward slightly, "excellent this now brings us to one of the most basic of spells that some magi us called reinforcement. It is the most fundamental application of magical energy that exists. You basically pour mana into something to push its existence to its absolute limit."
"Like overclocking a computer," I said.
He blinked, "where did you learn what overclocking was?"
"Kenta had a gaming setup and explained it once," the name came out before I'd prepared for it but I kept my eyes on the tree "keep going please."
A brief pause then Nanamin continued on smoothly, without making anything of it "right well for something like a knife, reinforcement sharpens the blade beyond its natural capacity. For food, it increases nutritional value. For a living body-"
"Strength and durability right? Like it is in most rpg games."
"I-I..yes I suppose. However," he held up one finger stuttering slightly for some reason, "reinforcement isn't something simple. You are adding something to an object that is already complete. The structure must be understood from the inside before you can fill it correctly. Done wrong, the added energy becomes a poison rather than an enhancement. It rejects often quite violently," he paused, "for most magi this requires extensive study of the target's inner structure before attempting. But-"
"But I am guessing I am an exception, right?" I guessed with a slight grin.
Nanamin nodded "exactly for you the process is more direct. Your core produces mana continuously and in large quantity. What I want you to try instead is simpler in concept. Draw that energy up from the core, push it through the pathways you just traced, and let it accumulate in your hands. Don't shape it into the blood technique just let it sit there as raw energy."
I looked at my hands.
"The more energy you accumulate," he continued, "the greater the force and impact of a physical strike. Think of your fist as the delivery mechanism. The mana is what's actually hitting."
"Okay," I said slowly "I think I understand it."
"Excellent now for the last part" his tone sharpened slightly, "give your technique or spell a name or chant helps focus the effect and the power of its materialization. The longer the chant the powerful it is. You get it?"
"That's pretty obvious any attack needs a cool name to shout out like Son Goku's Kamehameha Wave," I said.
"Yeah, sure let's go with that. Now I want you to unleash the attack right on that tree over there once you get the hang of it. Just don't make it an overpowered strike," Nanamin warned.
I grew a serious expression, turned to face the tree, and shook out my hands.
Carefully I repeated the same steps as last time. Only instead I focused on taking some of that energy, letting it flow down my arms, and engulfing my fists.
Blue flame like energy covers both limbs.
The feeling felt different from my blood manipulation less instinctive but still easy to move and control around.
The energy flickered.
Okay so maybe not a 100% controllable but somewhat.
Next I thought of an awesome chant to use for the technique.
I pulled my fist back "divergent fist!" the name automatically slips out from my mouth.
I successfully hit the tree.
My punch landed true and I felt the bark compress under my knuckles and then a second later something weird happened.
A burst of blue energy appeared again and struck what looked like an invisible punch right in the same spot that I punched earlier.
The impact traveled through the trunk in a concussive wave that shook the branches overhead and sent a shower of leaves spiraling down around both of us.
A dent had appeared in the bark.
A genuine compressed dent in solid wood, roughly the diameter of my fist with a secondary ring of stressed bark around it from the delayed wave.
I lowered my hand and looked at it.
"That was-" I started.
"My tree..." Nanamin dully spoke.
I turned around.
He was standing with his arms uncrossed and the aura around him looking quite depressed.
"Interesting though," he muttered after a moment, "it seems like I underestimated what you were physically capable of Yuji. The speed from your punch alone made your magical energy lag behind. Thus, manifesting a secondary invisible phenomenon resembling your intial physical strike."
"Really? That sounds cool but is your tree going to be alright Nanamin?" I asked a bit in concern.
"Mm," he looked at the dent, then at me, and then back at the dent again "the tree," Nanami began slowly, "will survive," another pause went by "for the time being."
I looked back at the tree again.
The dent sat there looking unpleasant.
"Right well even so I am really sorry about your tree," I sincerely apologized.
"You'll be apologizing to considerably more parts of my garden before this is finished," Nanami stated, moving to stand across from me while unbuckling his yellow necktie and carefully wrapping it around his left hand.
"For the rest of the hour you're going to get used to using that attack of your and what better way to do that then to fight each other. Your quite strong so I'll take you just a bit seriously Yuji."
"Wait, what?!"
-end of chapter ten-
Next chapter we'll see Yuji and Nanami sparring with him still holding back but not completely.
Seriously Yuji smh ya shouldn't have wrecked the guy's tree so badly.
Anyways positive comments and power stones are always an excellent boost to my motivation. Seriously I could use both these days I find my motivation severely lacking.
Also I've got a discord which you can find posted on the synopsis feel free to join or don't.