Black Clover: Nah I'd Lose (UPDATED)

(Guys, this week's goal is 800 Powerstones, let's kill it 🔫. 

Whether this fic would continue or not would depend on the support I would get.)

Akeru's eyes widened as he resisted the urge to jump forward on instinct.

'So fast, it's like facing Captain Yami all over again. My sensory field is useless; I won't be able to react to his speed,' Akeru concluded while turning around.

"I go by Gaja, and I am responsible for guiding you. It's my pleasure to meet you all," he said while bowing slightly.

The others present introduced themselves, and Akeru copied them.

'I see no blue lines on him, and no lines from him either. I wonder who would win if he and Captain Yami fought currently?' Akeru entertained himself with pointless thoughts while tuning out some of what Gaja was saying about the exchange program.

Gaja was also kind enough to give all seven of them some kind of juice.

"Woah, this is amazing," Akeru said while sipping the juice after passing mana through it.

He hadn't drunk anything this good in taste in both of his lives combined.

"Our Heart Kingdom prides itself on our flora," Gaja said.

On seeing a waterfall-like structure, one person asked how they would get there, and Gaja said that the Queen would transport them.

"The whole kingdom is under the influence of her mana zone," his words shocked everybody on the boat.

Even Kirsch did a double-take when he heard this.

'What the fuck? Mana zone is like control over mana in an area, which requires sending mana a bit outside too. Even if we ignore the sensory overload one might experience, the mana required would be just enormous,' Akeru was momentarily left speechless—no, thoughtless.

Soon, they went through one canal where they even saw some citizens of the Heart Kingdom waving at them.

They were deposited in one part of the forest.

Gaja showed them their settlements. Despite being made mostly of natural forest and looking "shabby," all of the people present could sense countless rune arrays present on the objects, increasing the class of the settlement to be comparable to what they were generally used to.

Truly fitting of royalty.

"The part you can access is limited due to various reasons, which I would like to apologize for in advance. Your lectures will start tomorrow, and I will be nearby, so you can contact me by reaching the boundary of this area in that direction," Gaja said before disappearing like lightning.

'I really can't get used to him being in my mana field one second and disappearing the next. It makes me fidgety,' Akeru inspected the settlement he was given.

"It really has its own taste," Mimosa said.

"Yeah, really unexpected, but very close to nature-like vibes," Akeru chuckled while keeping his bag in the room.

After chatting with Mimosa for a while, he retired to his room—or more like the house he was given.

He jumped on the bed with leaves.

'Damn, this bed is really good. I might be able to sleep on this instead of sleeping on the floor,' Akeru really liked the leaves and the tone of this room, as it reminded him of his "seclusion" days when he lived in forests and generally slept on branches of trees, hidden in leaves.

Akeru closed his eyes.

'I would have normally trained to increase my speed of rune array deployment, but I feel like I could get spied upon. If the Queen has her mana zone spanning the entire kingdom, then she definitely should have the means of seeing one spot in focus, so I don't want to risk getting exposed.'

'Hehe, it's very similar to the time I transmigrated to this world. I guess I might as well work on my internal control,' Akeru joked and started compressing mana inside him into a sphere.

He had long ago subconsciously learned not to let any mana leave his body naturally, which is a very difficult task in itself.

Generally, it's possible only for people with low reserves; royals can't do it, and commoners who have the chance don't have either the talent or resources to make it possible.

Despite Akeru's mana reserves increasing considerably over the years, his mana control hadn't decreased due to his practicing regularly to prevent his technique from declining because of his mana growth.

All the mana in his body condensed to form a sphere.

The sphere instantly reduced to a small size.

It slowly started shrinking, and at one point, it stopped.

'Time to break my limits,' Akeru thought with a grin.

If somebody saw him from outside, they would think he was having an interesting dream.

For the next few hours, with intense focus, Akeru was able to shrink it to nine-tenths of its initial size.

'I am tired as hell. Continuing this should increase the power of my spells, though not by a considerable amount as I have long passed the stage of getting explosive gains from this. Soon the gains will become even lower,' Akeru thought gloomily, shaking his head to rid himself of useless thoughts.

In the evening, he had dinner with Mimosa while talking about some trivial stuff.

"The food here is really good; I don't want to go back," Akeru said while eating like he was starved.

"Maybe we should invest in hiring some more expert plant magicians to look after her garden," Mimosa joked.

The next day, Akeru, with the other six, looked at the person who was going to give a lecture.

He saw a man with a stocky build and medium-length blond hair.

'That guy should also be a Spirit Guardian. I faintly remember him from the anime,' Akeru thought as the man with a round face and freckles introduced himself.

"My name is Potrof. It's my pleasure to meet the next generation of the Clover Kingdom. I am one of the Spirit Guardians of the Heart Kingdom," the man said with a smile.

After saying some more things, which Akeru selectively ignored, the guy started talking about plant magic, more specifically about nature and how mana is found in it.

Akeru could really understand the man due to his prior study of mana and learning runes and arrays, which are directly linked to one's understanding of mana.

He saw the guy making some words with mana.

'WAIIIIIIIIIIIIT...' Akeru slightly moved his hand but soon stopped.

'Not here. I will try this out later,' despite having an urge to do it now, he decided to postpone it.

His cautious personality really made him wary.

He was afraid of not being able to return to the Clover Kingdom if he showed too much.

While his worries might be exaggerated, it doesn't hurt to be cautious. What if Akeru somehow learned the Heart Kingdom's methods and the people here saw it?

Would they let him return to the Clover Kingdom?

They might risk this exchange to stop it from leaking.

Potrof's lecture soon started touching on magic closely related to nature rather than plant magic solely.

Akeru listened with rapt attention and even asked questions to clarify some doubts.

He had a new way to look at magic from now on.

'This should have been logical from the start. How did I never see it before?' He was dumbfounded that he never thought of looking at mana from this perspective.

Then again, he can't be blamed.

It's similar to how a person looking at the world through the interaction between objects through force suddenly looks at it from the perspective of energy.

It's really shocking.

The lecture ended, and Akeru walked out satisfied.

He had a lot of things to test out, so he went straight to his room and got to his bed.

He closed his eyes and focused on the mana inside his body.

A few minutes passed, turning into nearly half an hour before something happened.

If someone had magic with x-ray vision, they might have been able to see a mana word inside Akeru's body.

'Damn, I fucking did it,' Akeru thought, unable to suppress his excitement.

It might be the happiest day of his entire life.

'I finally will be able to use the mana of nature. My mana reserves are no longer a problem!' The biggest thing that held him back was finally removed.

He felt like the road ahead to the top would now be smooth.

'I thought I would be like Magna, who was unable to learn due to his mana reserves. Luck, while similar to him in that aspect, was able to learn due to his instincts. I did have Ki, but I really didn't expect that the thing that would help me learn it would be my mana control.'

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