— — — — — —
Moments later, inside Kaguya's room.
Now dressed in clean clothes, Veyron began recounting his recent journey to Houraisan Kaguya in detail.
He spoke of the initial group dinner, the discovery that the meat in that world had miraculous effects on physical training, then how Merlin later confirmed that visitors from other worlds could learn Haki as well.
That led to the start of a Haki crash course. But after wasting over ten days on it, he eventually realized—yep, the Trait System was still king... Cheating was the best...
"So this is Armament Haki?"
Kaguya reached out and touched Veyron's arm, which had been hardened with Armament Haki. Though invisible, she could clearly feel the layer of armor covering it.
Intrigued, she asked, "If you can awaken Haki through feeling it, then in theory, couldn't that work for other powers too? Like spiritual energy, Curses or something?"
"…You're not the first to think that."
Not even the second, actually.
The first and second people to come up with that idea were none other than Veyron and Merlin themselves, back when they returned to Ruscaena Island.
In the Type-Moon world, magi born after the Age of Gods need to draw upon either Od(personal mana) or Mana(world mana) to cast magic by tapping into the world's foundation, which is basically its natural operating system.
Think of it like this: If magic were software, its foundation would be the operating system (OS) or runtime environment.
You can't mod Skyrim spells into Elden Ring unless you've hacked the engine itself—like Merlin did. It's like trying to run Python libraries in C++ without an interpreter.
But that's what makes Lady Avalon terrifying: Merlin's out here playing with cheat engine while most people are stuck on tutorial mode.
So the result should be a magus leaving their native world becomes a glorified muggle, powerless in a foreign system.
But the source of magic power still has a different story.
Mana (the Greater Source) is the life force of the environment—like that of the planet or atmosphere.
Od (the Lesser Source), on the other hand, is a person's own life force. Regular humans have it too, which is why some magi or supernatural beings turn to harvesting from them when they're running low on mana.
So in theory, if you knew how, you could extract mana from yourself—just like how Haki, which is based on willpower, spirit, and life force, can be learned by people even outside the One Piece world.
Which means, for those from outside the Type-Moon universe, it should be possible to draw out magic from their own life force too.
"Judging by your face, that didn't exactly work out?"
Kaguya asked, picking up on his expression.
"It's not that it failed exactly… it's more like we came up with a theory but didn't get enough proof to confirm it."
Veyron explained how even with Merlin's help, he still couldn't unlock the "Magic" trait in his system.
When they had gone back to Ruscaena Island to spend time with Hancock... Gwen, Selena, and Fubuki also returned after some time.
Gwen finally managed to awaken Armament Haki. And with her insane Spider-Sense, she picked up Observation Haki shortly after.
Selena and Fubuki also awakened Observation Haki, one after the other.
And all three of them had one thing in common: they broke through while they were back on Ruscaena Island.
With this pattern right in front of them, Veyron, Merlin, and some others in the group started to form a theory—
Even though powers like Haki or Magic, which come from will, belief, or life force, aren't restricted to natives of a specific world—and can be carried over to other worlds and even strengthened further there...
The initial spark—the "seed" of that power—might only be available in the world it originated from.
"Like a world-specific rule, huh?"
Kaguya nodded thoughtfully. "It makes sense. When Eirin gets here, we should ask what she thinks."
"...Wait, she's coming today?"
Veyron's eyebrow twitched. "That fast?"
"Don't underestimate the bond between me and Eirin~" Kaguya said proudly, lifting her chin with a smug little grin.
— — —
As it turned out, Yagokoro Eirin arrived even faster than Kaguya expected.
After receiving Eirin's secret message, Kaguya dragged Veyron out to meet her.
They had just stepped out of the main building and into the courtyard when a woman appeared in front of them in a way that could only be described as sudden.
She wore a half-red, half-blue short-sleeved dress, had elegant features, and her long silver hair was braided into a thick plait behind her.
(A/N: Image)
"Huh. I almost thought the Lunar Capital had developed some new technology to traverse hundreds of thousands of miles between Earth and the Moon during my absence. Turns out... it was her after all."
The silver-haired woman—Yagokoro Eirin—made her entrance in a manner all too familiar to Houraisan Kaguya: "Eirin, how did you convince her to send you down here?"
"I told her you were misbehaving again and that I needed to come down and discipline you."
Kaguya looked stunned. "She actually believed that?!"
"Why wouldn't she?" Eirin said with a calm nod.
"Tch."
Kaguya clicked her tongue and turned to Veyron. "Father, allow me to introduce you—this is Eirin, the one I mentioned before. She's the only friend I had back in the Lunar Capital."
Then she turned to Eirin. "Eirin, this is my father."
"Nice to meet you… I've heard a lot about you," Veyron said with a polite nod.
"I should be the one thanking you for taking such good care of the princess all this time," Eirin replied warmly, nodding back. Her eyes softened as she glanced at Kaguya standing quietly by Veyron's side.
No one knew the little princess better than Eirin, who had practically raised her.
Even though Kaguya was clearly acting a bit, the joy on her face was genuine—definitely far more real than when she lived in the Lunar Capital.
"Alright, enough standing around. Let's go inside and talk," Kaguya said with a little cough, breaking the moment between Veyron and Eirin.
She grabbed Eirin's hand and pulled her toward the bamboo house. "You've gotta see where I live now!"
"It's not as fancy or big as the Lunar Capital, but it's way more like what you used to say a home should feel like…"
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(50 advanced chapters are available at: patreon.com/_Coreal)