Once breakfast was over, I immediately holed up in my room to begin practicing the Magic Focus Ren had taught me.
I sealed every magic pore across my body except for a single point on my palm, which I left open.
A thin strand of mana stretched out from my outstretched hand.
"Whoa! Incredible, Master Lloyd! You’ve already mastered that girl’s technique, haven’t you-ssu!"
"...No, more of it is leaking than I’d like. Magic Focus, huh? This is harder than it looks."
On the surface, it appeared to be working, but because I couldn't completely close every pore across my body, mana was constantly seeping out through the gaps.
Unlike the control of spell formulas that one could achieve by studying a magic book, this kind of fine-tuned mana manipulation relied entirely on time spent and raw concentration.
It was one thing for Ren and the others, who had been handling this ability since they were small children, but my background was mostly in academic study—I had spent my time focused on spell formulas.
And naturally, Magic Focus was several levels more difficult than its precursor, Magic Isolation.
It looked like it would take quite some time to truly make this skill my own.
When I finally released the Magic Focus, a wave of exhaustion washed over me.
"Whew, that’s surprisingly draining. But if I can learn to use this Magic Focus properly, I might even be able to cast Large-scale Magic all by myself."
Large-scale Magic normally required several casters and a formal ritual to execute.
With this technique, I could potentially unleash attack magic with strategic-grade power or even call forth Divine Spirit-class summoned beasts on my own.
If I could apply Magic Focus to my spellcasting, I was certain I could do even more fascinating things. Yes, definitely.
While I was lost in thought, Grimo began muttering to himself.
"Lloyd’s been putting even more effort into his magic research lately than before... Ha! I see, it’s because of that fight with the Demon the other day, isn’t it!? His magic hardly worked against a Demon. He managed to win, but that was mostly a stroke of luck. If they’d fought normally, he might not have lost, but there was a high chance the enemy would’ve escaped. Lloyd says he doesn’t like fighting, but conflict is inevitable for anyone trying to master magic. He must be thinking he needs enough combat power to crush anything, even a Demon...! Gehihi, this is a great sign. If Lloyd gains even more power, I’ll have an even better time when I finally take over his body. With power enough to kill a Demon, I could conquer the Demon World and become the Demon King! ...Master Lloyd! If that’s the case, then if I may be so bold, I have an excellent idea-ssu!"
Just when I thought he was deep in contemplation, he let out a joyful shout.
The guy was emotionally unstable.
"You might already know this, but there is a definitive way to counter Majins and Demons-ssu. It’s 'Holy Magic'—the art of reproducing and exercising the miracles of God through spell formulas. Setting aside the stuff those low-level priests use, if Master Lloyd used Holy Magic with your mana reserves, I’ve no doubt that whether it’s a Demon or anything else, they’d be turned to ash in an instant-ssu!"
—"Holy Magic." Of course I knew of it.
It was a technique that housed the miracles of God within the body, using holy light to exorcise evil.
While Holy Magic possessed immense power against non-human entities like the undead, spirits, Majins, and Demons, its use was strictly regulated.
Specifically, it could only be handled by those who served God.
One had to devote themselves to the Church through donations and chores, offer constant prayers, study the scriptures, and sing hymns... Only then, to those chosen ones who continued this for twenty or thirty years, would a heavenly messenger descend and grant a miracle. In short, if you were recognized as a truly devout believer, you would be granted the ability to use Holy Magic.
Magic exhibits greater power when bound by constraints.
Holy Magic likely utilized such heavy restrictions so that even those with little innate power could manifest significant strength.
Perhaps because of that, there were very few users, and using it indiscriminately was strictly forbidden.
Consequently, I had never actually seen it performed.
"They say Holy Magic normally takes decades to master, but apparently, some people are granted it much earlier if they happen to be liked by a heavenly messenger. I’m certain someone like Master Lloyd could master it in no time-ssu!"
"Ah... about that... hmmm..."
Contrary to Grimo’s enthusiastic pitch, I crossed my arms and groaned.
"What’s the matter-ssu? You’ve got a troubled look on your face..."
"Well, to be honest... I’m actually banned from the Church."
"Huh!?"
Grimo let out a voice of utter disbelief.
"About two years ago, I went to the Church intending to learn Holy Magic, but the apprenticeship was just so tedious. I don’t mind magic-related study, but there was so much busywork like cleaning, praying, and choral singing... I eventually tried to find a way to skip all that. Specifically, I went looking for Holy Magic books and started rummaging through the Church’s underground library. I got caught."
"A-Are you serious-ssu..."
"Yeah. I was young back then."
I nodded solemnly, reflecting on those distant days.
Back then, I was still green, which is why my intrusion was detected.
If I tried it now, I could probably sneak in without anyone noticing, but...
"...I don't suppose, Master Lloyd, that you're thinking of breaking in to steal something again-ssu?"
"No, no, nothing like that. I already confirmed back then that they didn't have any books of that sort. There's no point in going back for that."
"So you already ransacked the place-ssu..."
Well, I was already there, so naturally I’d take a look. It was only common sense.
My conclusion was that the only way forward was to have the power granted by a heavenly messenger.
However, that "granting" was likely just an abstract concept designed to produce devout believers.
The actual mechanism was probably different... regardless, going to the Church was an essential requirement for learning Holy Magic.
"When I think about it, it’s already been two years. The heat has probably died down by now. If I go back after all this time and apologize, they might lift the ban."
Besides, they might have even forgotten who I am.
There was a chance I could just walk in and out without being recognized.
And once I was inside the Church, I might be able to sense the essence of Holy Magic that I couldn't perceive back then.
I’d put it off because I had other research to do, but... yeah, just thinking about it made me want to try for Holy Magic again.
Up until now, I’d mostly been researching other schools of magic, so expanding my horizons into a new genre sounded like fun.
"Alright, I’m going to learn Holy Magic in earnest!"
Learning a new type of magic would surely provide applications for the ones I already used.
Knowledge was only useful if you had plenty of it.
And so, my next objective was decided: the mastery of Holy Magic.