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What the heck is going on here?

“Take it off… what?”

“…Don’t make me say it twice.”

Seriously? Take it off? Right now? Here?

If I didn’t expect this kind of situation, I’d be lying… but isn’t this a bit too fast?

In the midst of all this, her figure… the proportions are perfect!

She really is my favorite heroine.

At this point, I wouldn’t mind dying.

No, I have to pull myself together!

“Wait! Stella still isn’t ready mentally!”

“D-Don’t get the wrong idea!”

As she said that, her face was turning so red it seemed like it would burst.

“What do you mean ‘ready’? What are you thinking, you perv!”

And then she started kicking me like crazy.

“Ow! Aah! W-What are you doing? You should explain!”

At that, Stella stopped kicking and began to take deep breaths.

“Okay… I’ll explain first.”

With that said, there was a sound like a pop, and before I knew it, Stella had changed into her school uniform.

“I should have explained beforehand… Anyway, there are two types of Mana Circuits.”

Saying that, Stella rolled up her sleeves.

“First is to create a new Mana Circuit within one’s body—that’s the usual method.”

“…Uh-huh.”

I couldn’t concentrate because my mind kept drifting back to that earlier scene.

“Typically, Mana Circuits don’t just appear naturally; usually, some mages will create the circuits, but in special cases, if a person has a lot of innate mana or talent, a circuit can be created naturally.”

“…Uh-huh.”

“Are you focusing?”

“…Uh…”

“The second method is to implant someone else’s Mana Circuit, which usually happens between relatives.”

“Implanting a Mana Circuit?”

“Yeah, a Mana Circuit is essentially a record of that person’s life.”

As she said this, a blue light began to illuminate special patterns from her wrist to her shoulder.

“Originally, formless magic is shaped over a lifetime by mages who inherit it across generations. The Three Great Houses have passed down these Mana Circuits.”

“Then… what about Unique Abilities?”

“Yeah, Unique Abilities are inherited alongside that as well.”

So, that’s why Siel, Scarlet, and Lucid can use the same abilities as their family heads?

“So… if I inherit your Mana Circuit, I’ll be able to use your abilities too?”

“Not quite. Unique Abilities can only be inherited by those who are related by blood.”

I see… well, if anyone could inherit such an op ability, it would definitely lead to crime and abuse.

“Hmm… I get it. But why the clothes…?”

“…To implant the Mana Circuit, we need to reach a heightened state of empathy.”

“Ah… I see.”

Then Stella hurriedly added,

“So don’t misinterpret this! Taking off clothes is just to facilitate temperature transfer! There’s no deeper meaning at all!”

“Ah… got it.”

But when Stella looked at me, she suddenly glared coldly.

“Hey…”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you looking at me like you’re disappointed?”

…Did she catch me? Honestly, how could I not have thoughts seeing her like that? I’m a guy too!

“Ugh… I-I don’t want to go this far either…”

I could see her eyes glistening, almost on the verge of tears.

Seeing her body tremble like that made my heart sink.

“Stella!”

Without thinking, I pulled her into a hug.

“I’m sorry… If it’s too hard, you don’t have to do it. You don’t need to go this far.”

“…Enough, it’s too late now.”

After pushing me away, Stella took a deep breath and said,

“Let’s just get it over with.”

“…Okay! All I have to do is take off the upper part, right?”

At that, Stella’s face flushed and she shouted,

“Do you really need to ask such an obvious question?!”

*

In the darkened room, only the ticking of the clock echoed.

Thinking about it, just wearing underwear seems really wrong…

So I decided to at least put on a school uniform skirt.

I looked over to see Nova meditating with his eyes closed, calm as ever.

Relax… Don’t be tense… This is nothing at all.

I’m a guy, right? Why should I be tense about a male body now?

Nova’s upper body was covered in scars.

‘…Has he pushed himself this far?’

He must have been overworked all this time. Beating Siel, known as the genius of swordsmanship among great households, wasn’t just a fluke, but a result of accumulated experience.

“Alright… Let’s begin.”

I placed my left hand near Nova’s heart and my right hand near my own heart.

Gift.

The human nervous system spreads throughout the body. Normally, the usual nerves would be inverted into Mana Circuits.

I could feel something inside my body being replaced.

For Nova, the process triggered a severe rejection response.

‘Then I’ll just force it in!’

Of course, it’s possible, but there are drawbacks if it’s not between relatives.

Taking off clothes is one of them.

If they share blood, such drastic measures wouldn’t be necessary.

Adding a new organ inside the body is…

Messing around with something likened to “internal organs” can have serious implications on the body, as you can imagine.

If something goes wrong, one could end up with a limited lifespan or become a vegetable.

Yet when I asked if he wanted to proceed, Nova said,

“It’s fine. I trust you. You’re the most skilled mage I know.”

…If you say that, then I have to deliver on that expectation.

Including my 16 years of experience as a mage in my previous life, I’ve accumulated much more. I will make this a success.

I sent my mana into Nova’s bloodstream, connecting it to the mana that remained in his body.

The mana he absorbed from my hand activated his circuits.

Soon, the patterns on my body began to shine vividly.

Then, the patterns started to replicate themselves as if by auto-replication.

The effects of the newly added organ caused agonizing pain to wash over me.

“Ugh!!”

“Are you okay?!”

“I’m—uh, I’m fine… it’s almost over.”

It would be done as soon as I handed this Mana Circuit over to Nova.

The patterns crawled up my hand and began to engulf Nova’s body.

“Ugh…!”

It seemed like something foreign was entering his body, causing him to bite his lip in pain.

“Breathe slowly and exhale. You might end up disabled if you’re not careful. Keep your mind clear!”

The tattoos started moving inside Nova’s body, searching for a place to settle.

After a while, they settled onto Nova’s shoulder, marking him with a blue pattern.

*

What is this… this sensation?

My body felt as if it were floating in mid-air, like I was drifting through the sky.

As I opened my eyes, I saw a pitch-black space.

There, countless stars were shimmering.

‘Where am I?’

No matter how far I walked, I couldn’t see the end.

All I could see were stars slowly descending.

In that moment, one of the starlight bolts began to charge towards me.

‘W-what?!’

I tried to block it, but it was way too fast.

The starlight passed straight through me.

In that instant the space changed.

What lay before me was a red-tinted, devastated world.

Of everything around me, nothing maintained its form.

The ground was riddled with thousands of meter-deep holes, swirling like a mirage.

“What the heck is this place?”

I’d never seen anything like this in a game.

There were no traces of humanity to be found.

As I wandered about for a while, I discovered two dolls.

One was a small child, and the other was kneeling, chained in platinum chains.

“Is that… no way!”

I dashed over to them.

“Hanbyeol…”

Sure enough… I recognized him. My only friend, Hanbyeol, whom I’d known since childhood and shared a bond with until high school.

He had a vibrant personality, loved helping others, and was kind to everyone—if he wasn’t a guy, I might have wanted to marry him.

After becoming a doctor, I suddenly lost contact with him, and hearing that he had died made me cry for three days straight.

“What on earth are you doing here?”

But he wasn’t looking at me at all.

He was expressing an indescribable rage toward something that took the form of a child right in front of him.

[Then please, continue to fulfill the contract, Hanbyeol-nim.]

“…I will definitely kill you.”

With those words, I found myself back under the starry sky again.

“…What was that memory?”

In the next moment, countless stars began to pour into me.

“What the heck? Not again?”

After the starlight passed through my body, I realized one thing.

“Stella is a time traveler?”

 

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