I Ask You, What Is Magic?

'So, care to explain?'

[About what?] Codex acted innocent.

'Acting coy, huh. About Nova, of course. It is fully charged and back online. So what about its features? And what is using more than half of the total volume? The brain chip isn't that big.'

I was currently sitting in the backyard by my lonesome. The ground was still slightly moist in some places due to the rain yesterday, but most of it had evaporated due to the bright sun today.

I sat here in sunlight because I was looking forward to experimenting with Nova, and considering I didn't want it dying on me, I thought it would be appropriate to expose as much of myself to the sun as I could to keep it charged.

Speaking of Nova...

[Status:

Name: Nova

Condition: Online - Intact

Total Volume: 500 ml

Free Volume: 200 ml

Power: 100%

End]

As ENAMAL, now Nova, was fully comprised of many miniature robots, and essentially acted like a fluid with a hivemind, its quantity was measured like any other fluid - in liters.

In terms of weight, Nova weighed around five kilograms per liter in volume, so the additional weight my baby body was carrying was quite substantial.

Still, I was more interested in the functional features of this marvelous creation of the modern world than the clearly warm and cozy weather. And the smell of wet soil. Or the chirping of the birds.

Shaking my head, I once again prompted Codex to spill the beans, 'So?'

[It's all gone.] He sighed eventually.

'What do you mean it's all gone?'

[I meant what I said, all of the previous preset modules are gone, the energy pistol, the combat gloves, all of it.]

'Well... what use is it, then? I don't know how they programmed the three dimensional models, and I don't even have any material to work with now!' I thought, biting on my thumb with my newly formed milk teeth.

[There's good news, though. Whoever tinkered with me and sent Nova along with you, also added some features of their own into it. Although there are no presets now, there is a new freeform mode available. You should be able to manipulate its physical form if you concentrate hard enough. Though I do not recommend going at it with full force, much of the used portion is actively being used throughout your body, maintaining it in a good condition, moving them recklessly would result in less than favorable outcomes.]

'That sounds... like a chore.'

It is a shame that I won't be able to use the earphone preset to finally listen to some music.

Oh well, at least there was some use to it, still.

'So, how do I go about it, then? Just like when I meditate to sense mana?' I inquired, dejectedly falling back onto the grass and gazing upon the clear blue sky with sparse, cotton-like clouds.

[That won't work, if it were to work, you would have been able to sense them long ago. I'll try to vibrate some of the free ones, see if you can feel them, if you do, try to move them as you would your limbs.]

I nodded in understanding, even though there was no need for such physical cues between us.

Closing my eyes, I tried to feel any form of movement in my body.

There was the beating of my heart, the expansion and contraction of my lungs, and... there it was, a slight tingling on the inner side of my right forearm.

I sat up straight and looked closely at the area, flexing and relaxing it.

Nothing.

I once again closed my eyes and focused on the feel of the movement, and willed it to move towards my hand.

At first, nothing happened. But then, the vibration suddenly stopped.

I opened my eyes and asked Codex: 'It isn't working. You are able to vibrate it, can't you control it too?'

Before I completed the thought, veins lit up on my forearm. Starlight colored, thin, snake like things crawled out of my forearm and coalesced into a blob above the palm of my hand.

'Beautiful, did I do that?' I mumbled.

[Indeed. Even though I can somewhat command it to do some things, I have a vastly lower authority over it than you.]

[Free Volume: 193 ml]

Concentrating on it further, I willed the starry blob to cover the tip of my index finger.

And it did.

[Try to sense it with meditation.] Codex suddenly suggested.

Without any verbal response, I held my wrist with my left hand to keep a part of my concentration on maintaining the cover on my finger, while the rest of me sunk down into the meditative state I had grown used to.

Looking around me with my mana sense, I could feel the warm embrace of the sunlight around me and and gentle touch of grass and soil below me. Shifting my focus to my hand, I saw something confusing.

'Are you seeing this?' I asked, perplexed.

[Yes, as I suspected, it appears you and Nova share the same mana signature.]

To my mana sense, it looked as if my index finger had swollen irregularly, while I could tell that my finger was just encased in some sort of cold, fluid metal because of my control over it, it was indistinguishable from my finger under my mana sense.

'Oh well, I don't particularly see any substantial use in it.' I shrugged.

[True. Moving on, try to make Nova release some of its stored energy, this is the most important segment. If we succeed, we can advance to actually interacting with mana.] I could hear Codex being excited from his tone.

Because I was the same.

Feeling the heat of the sun catching up to me, I stood up and waddled over to some shade near the wooden wall and plopped down again, all the while keeping the finger glove stable.

Bringing the finger close to my eyes, I willed Nova to seep back inside, but stay in the finger's general area.

It definitely felt stuffed, like it was swollen after a nasty bee sting.

Next, I willed the part inside my finger to release some of the mana stored in it.

It didn't work.

'Maybe I need to visualize it better.'

So I did. I imagined my finger sweating to release the swollen mass inside it.

The next instant, my finger turned numb as the skin near the tip of my finger turned translucent...

[Hurry! Stop it!]