Settling in for the night, Kay scavenged the jungle for leaves and any fluffy vegetation he could get his hands on. He also returned to the explosion site, recovering his discarded suit jacket. Wrapping all his findings in the still damp cloth, he walked back to the clearing where he'd killed the deer.
Sanson was cozying up by the fire. His complexion looked much better, having eaten several helpings of the fire-cooked deer meat, though he still wasn't the eccentric, high-energy mage Kay had gotten to know.
During their meal, Sanson had explained the basics of magic to him. In addition to allowing one to use spells, it was also directly tied to a person's life. Unlike in most video games, where running out of mana was an inconvenience at worst, for the people of Sanson's world running out of magic led to sickness, weakness and in some cases death.
It was pretty uncommon for a mage to die from mana exhaustion. So long as their body was well taken care of: given plenty of food, water, and rest, the detriments were minimal. However, for someone like Sanson who hadn't been eating well and was exhausted from his jungle trek the effects were deadly.
Having gotten some food in his stomach, his condition was improving. But only time and rest would allow his mana pool to fully recover. Sanson's condition may have impacted the speediness of the pair's journey, if he hadn't been traveling with Kay. His belly full for the first time in days, he was ready for a good night's sleep.
Though he had only taken a small portion of the deer's flesh earlier, after the tired mage and overweight man devoured it, he had stripped the corpse dry except for the less savory parts. He was a glutton, but he refused to eat the heart, liver, or any other of the beast's squishy internal organs.
Afterward, before he had left to gather his jacket and leaves, he'd tasked Sanson with disposing of the deer's remains. Adapting to his new jungle lifestyle, Kay had gained the bare minimum of survival instinct. He figured that the bloody carcass would only entice nearby predators with the alluring scent of blood. Besides, he didn't really want a decomposing corpse in his sleeping space.
When he'd returned it had been gone, and seeing as the area wasn't burned or flooded it looked like Sanson hadn't done so with his magic.
'He must be taking his recovery seriously. I guess not being able to freely wield his magic is really bumming him out.' he thought.
Choosing the spot opposite Sanson, he set down his accumulated foliage and held his jacket near the fire to dry.
"Hey Sanson, could you teach me magic?" he asked.
The old man hugged his staff as he gazed into the fire. With his white robes and solemn expression, he had begun to match Kay's image of a wizard. His gaze shifted from the fire to Kay. After a few seconds of appraisal, he answered.
"I can't sense any mana from you. Were there any mages in your world?"
"In fictional books and myths. But no, plenty of technology but no magic." Kay responded disappointingly, having understood that his dream was impossible.
He had to admit that the technology on earth had been pretty amazing. Automation and mass production had changed the world. Those of the middle class and above had access to food and anything they desired from superstores. With online deliveries, it was even possible to avoid leaving your house entirely. Technology had made most of his life a breeze. Though it hadn't helped him achieve his aspirations, it had trivialized the process of living. Not everyone had that.
He tried not to think about it, but in faraway places there were people not as fortunate as he. There were people who endured much harsher conditions than those Kay had braved in the jungle. There were people who worked for a pittance in grueling, physically demanding jobs, those who lived in desert villages or impoverished towns and put all their efforts into surviving only to live less comfortably than a lazy, unmotivated American.
Kay had plenty of complaints about his life, but his dreams and aspirations only seemed to matter because his basic needs like food and shelter were easily met. Living in the jungle for only a few days had given him a vast appreciation of the life he'd been blessed with.
"Then there is no hope of you doing magic. In my world, all humans had at least a little mana. For most it lay dormant, not enough to cast spells. To build your mana pool is a painful process, not many are eager to endure it."
"What's the process?"
"You must deplete your mana pool completely. After enduring the fevers, violent bouts of vomiting, and feeling like your body has been put through the wringer you end up with more mana than you had before. Not a bad deal, right?" said Sanson, as though anyone who disagreed was a complete idiot.
It sounded like an extreme form of muscle training, something that Kay had avoided in his previous life precisely because he disliked the exhaustion and muscle strain after a long workout. Magic had always sounded appealing to him, but if those were the lengths required to become stronger, he doubted he would've put in the effort.
'Was it really worth it?' he thought.
"You said you were royalty, right? You could've spent your life doing anything you wanted. So, why did you choose magic?" he asked the old man.
The wizard pondered his question for a time. He spent minutes deep in thought, occasionally muttering to himself. Eventually, he stood up and began pacing around the fire in a circle. Yet even after several laps and a plethora of time, he sat down seemingly no closer to an answer than when he'd started.
"I'm sorry, lad. No matter how long I think the answer won't come to me. It's true that I was given the option to pursue what I wanted. When I was young, every week at the castle was different. One of my older brothers tried teaching me swordsmanship. Another one tried teaching me military strategy. My father insisted that I learn the history of the kingdom. But they all seemed so boring to me," he said, his emerald eyes deep and unblinking as he stared into the fire.
"Then for my tenth birthday, my mother gave me a present. As a baby I'd always loved listening to the stories she read me before bed, especially those about great mages. She gifted me my first grimoire, and that's all it took. The rest of my life was the result of old stories and a birthday present," he finished.
Kay sat unmoving, staring intently at the fire. There were parts of the old man's story he understood, and others he didn't. He remembered the many things he'd loved as a kid: video games, anime, Youtube videos. He had undoubtedly loved doing all those things even as an adult, but he couldn't pick only one. If forced to do only one activity for the rest of his life, he'd get bored. Yet, the mage hadn't been forced into his choice at all. At the tender age of ten he had decided to pursue a single thing and had continued til death.
"If what the god said is true, we'll all be able to use magic in our next life. I wonder if Atlas' magic is different from your world," Kay masked his pondering with a question.
"I look forward to finding that out," Sanson said, smiling with anticipation.
Kay remembered his dream to become an author, something he had never pursued in life. He wanted the job because of all the fiction he watched or read, but he had never written a single story. Hearing Sanson talk about how he'd come to love magic, Kay began to doubt being an author was something he should pursue in his next life. Whether magic or writing, he desperately hoped to find something that rivaled Sanson's passion for magic.