World’s Cutest Alchemist

[Blankets acquired! What’s the next step?]

Author: BinLover

(Photo of scarves and blanket)

Successfully knitted multiple scarves and a big blanket to an acceptable level! The scarves are considered D grade by my world’s standards and the blanket is C grade!

I’m ready for the next step! What do I do?

→ [Love Fusion Mix Hands: Oh? Such cute work~ Cutie likes raccoons and mice, don’t you?]

→ [Juxtaps: A raccoon and a mouse, I wonder the significance of choosing these two animals specifically.]

↳ [ObsidianTier: She probably just likes them. Bin isn’t exactly the type of person to hide secret meanings in their messages.]

↳ [Juxtaps: Pfft, you’re right. She’s way too lazy for that.]

↳ [BinLover: ???? >:(((( What the heck???? I’ll have you both know that there is a very significant meaning in choosing those two animals!!! I was going to tell you, but now? Hmph, I’m in a bad mood.]

↳ [Love Fusion Mix Hands: Cutie, message me secretly~ I won’t tell them :)]

↳ [Love Fusion Mix Hands: Aww, such a cute meaning. I’m glad to have heard it.]

↳ [Juxtaps: …You’re lying!]

↳ [ObsidianTier: I’m not with that guy. I’m sorry!]

↳ [BinLover: Hmph.]

↳ [ObsidianTier: Your knitting skill reaches the heavens! The blanket and scarfs are made so well, it’s obvious at a glance just how much effort you put into them.]

↳ [BinLover: Hm…]

↳ [ObsidianTier: They could be classified as artifacts! With time, they’ll easily become legendary artifacts passed down through generations!]

↳ [BinLover: Hehe, messaged.]

↳ [Juxtaps: !? Hey! Hey! Me too! I actually admire the skill level you reached in such a short time! You have the most talent out of anyone I know!]

↳ [BinLover: Hmph.]

→ [SlimeLube: Where slime?]

→ [EfficiencyLord: For a beginner they’re not bad.]

↳ [BinLover: >:( Let’s fight.]

→ [✪Potions Are Easy: Hm…Alright, you pass. You took a shorter time to reach this point than I thought you would. The next step is…]

→ [Juxtaps: Hey! Hey! Please! This curiosity is eating me inside!]

…

“Mm…” I stroked my chin in thought as I read the next step.

The next step was to string a line of mana through the scarf. It sounded simple enough? It’s similar to when I use my cauldron(pot) and draw out the properties from materials. Looks like this step will be an easy pass.

Grabbing my raccoon scarf, I drew mana from my core for the first time in a while.

“Huh?” I let out.

Surprisingly, despite not having done anything yet, it felt smoother? I felt like I had more control over my mana.

How is this even possible? All I did was knit…Does improving dexterity actually help with mana manipulation?

Instead of immediately moving the mana to the scarf, I played around with my mana for a bit.

Unless I’m experiencing some massive placebo effect, it really does feel easier to move around within my body. I’m not even focusing on avoiding the walls of the pathways, yet, I haven’t hit them once.

Hm…Let me try using a new pathway.

I drew a string of mana from my core and led it down a pathway leading towards my foot.

I’m really not hitting any walls? Is there really not going to be any mana backlash before I’ve even formed any mana memory?

Wow…I really am the be—“GAH!”

Spoke too soon.

But that was because I was being careless. On my second attempt, I smoothly led the string from my core to my foot without any backlash.

I wonder if there’s a skill I could gain here? When I wrapped my mana around my vocal cords, I gained [Mana Voice]…

Mm…Probably not? What would I even gain? [Mana Foot]? That sounds absolutely useless.

After dissipating the mana, I experimented a bit more with manipulation. It’s definitely not placebo, my control of mana within my body has improved immensely.

It hasn’t gotten stronger or more efficient or anything. I’m simply better at manipulating it now.

I wonder if I can…

I drew two separate strings of mana from my core. I led them in opposite directions, moving it to my fingertips of both hands. Touching just the tips of my fingers together, I tried to connect the strings of mana to one another.

A loop was formed. From opposite sides of my core, strings of mana were led to both of my hands and connected at the tips.

“Mm…Interesting, interesting.” I mumbled.

I drew mana from my core and pushed it through the loop, since there was no exit it’d just recycle back into the core. Honestly, I didn’t know a specific use for this at the moment, but, the fact that I could do it was neat.

The next thing I wanted to try was separating my fingertips but maintaining the loop.

If this worked…Wouldn’t this lead to mana projection? And then eventually to completing the task the manager assigned?

Slowly, I started to separate my fingertips. 1 millimeter…5 millimeters…1 centimeter…2 centimeters. 1 inch.

At this point, I could see the visible string of purple leading from one fingertip to another. But, it was also shaking. My control over it was weak, the most I could do was maintain it by drawing more mana from my core.

When I tried to separate my fingers a bit more, the string snapped and dissipated into the air.

“…How the heck am I going to complete that task.”

…

After playing around with my newfound manipulation for a while, I figured it was finally time getting onto the next step.

Picking up the raccoon scarf, I moved a string of mana from my core into the yarn.

“Let’s see…I need to move this string into each thread of yarn?”

“Hm…”

Following the first thread was easy. The problem came after. I had to backtrack and branch off the string to intersect the first. Repeating that a few times basically had me create a grid pattern.

This required precise precision and control. But, it wasn’t intense. If I messed up, I could just retract that string and try again.

The problem was it was very time consuming and expensive. I had to continuously draw mana from my core to maintain the mana within the scarf. And the more threads I pushed my mana into, the more mana I needed to draw out.

This…was a problem.

At the current rate, I won’t be able to even thread my mana through a tenth of the scarf.

Cutting my losses, I withdrew all the mana back into my core. I didn’t get a 100% return, but that was fine.

“Haah…” I sighed. This step might not be as easy as I thought.

The stitching was just too complex. Though it’s gotten easier, manipulating mana is still not simple.

After trying and failing a few more times, I eventually dropped the scarf and pondered what to do next.

Ask for advice on the gallery? Heck no! Giving up so easily is just not my style.

I tapped my finger on my thigh a few times.

“Problem is that the stitching is too complex…” I mumbled, “Hm? So, let’s use a scarf that’s less complex?”

The solution was right in front of me the whole time. It wasn’t like I completed the first step immediately anyways. I started from rags to reach my current skill level.

So…

Let’s just go in order.

My very first scarf was at Luna’s house, so, I couldn’t use that. But I did have my second scarf stowed away in some box somewhere.

Perfect. It’s a perfect progression path! Hehe. I internally giggled at my genius.

…

I found my box of scarfs about 10 minutes later. I really did just lazily toss them in a cardboard box haphazardly stored in the closet.

“Hm…” I picked up my second scarf ever made. It really is crazy seeing how bad I was at it back then.

There’s so much holes and the stitching is terrible. Yet, for what I’m doing, it’s perfect for practice.

Bringing it to the couch, I drew a string of mana and led it to the yarn. Threading the mana through the yarn was significantly easier this time—though it was still time consuming and mana expensive.

Around an hour later, my core was nearly depleted, but my mana stretched into each and every thread of the scarf. The problem was I couldn’t maintain this at all, in fact, sweat formed on my forehead and I was gradually feeling more and more exhausted.

Only a few seconds after I finished, I withdrew everything back into my core and let out a deep breath of exhaustion.

“Haah…”

Only about 40% of mana refilled. I quickly grabbed a mana potion and drank it.

“Paaah, now I feel alive.” I let out an old man noise.

Flopping onto the couch, I found myself lost in thought.

I clearly completed the step…Yet, it doesn’t feel right.

It felt extremely satisfying and fulfilling when I went from creating rags to creating a C grade blanket. But this…This just felt too wrong and lame.

“Hm…Alright.” I nodded to myself, “Let’s not mark this step as completed until I can successfully thread my mana throughout the entire blanket.”

I decided. Is this a stupid decision and bad idea? Perhaps. Could the next steps the manager gives be ways to reduce mana consumption and better methods? Perhaps.

But, I don’t care.

If there’s a more efficient way, I’ll learn it myself; If there’s a better method, I’ll experiment until I find it.

“Okay!” I nodded in satisfaction, “Let’s do this.”

…

“Ugh…Such a stupid idea.” I groaned, laying dead on the couch and staring at the ceiling, “Someone go tell the past me to stop being arrogant and stubborn…” I complained, holding my throbbing head.

If you haven’t guessed it, I’m currently in a state of mana exhaustion. The beautiful brilliant purple luster from my core has vanished.

“Who forced you to continue drawing your mana until you collapsed?” A pitying voice came from above me.

That’s right, I currently had my head laying on Luna’s lap.

“Dummy.” She said.

“Mm…” I groaned.

“What were you even trying to do anyways?” She asked.

“Mana…manipulation…training…” I softly let out.

“Hm…” Luna brushed the hair on my forehead, “I don’t recall that training is supposed to cause you to reach mana exhaustion.”

“…I thought I could complete the loop.” I mumbled.

“Yes, yes. You were so close, weren’t you?”

“I was…”

Halfway counts as close, right?

“So, what exactly is this training method of yours?” Luna asked.

“I need to thread my mana through every thread of yarn…”

“Hm…” Luna thought for a moment before grabbing the scarf, “Thread your mana through…Like this?”

“…I don’t know what I’m supposed to see here.” She can’t just say ‘Like this’ and expect me to be able to tell what she’s doing.

“Here, close your eyes and hold onto the edge of this scarf.”

I did as instructed. Though, I’m not exactly sure what this is supposed to accomplish.

“Can you feel the mana?” She asked.

“Feel the mana?” I repeated, how am I supposed to do that? “I don’t think so?”

A second later, I felt a cold energy entering my fingertips which caused me to flinch,

“I’m sending my mana into your body, do you feel it now?”

“Mm…” I nodded, “It’s cold.”

I could see it. A thin but sturdy blue string of mana was gently circling in one my pathways. Following that string, I could see even more. Her mana had perfectly threaded through the yarn, but, it didn’t cover the outside of the yarn—no, rather, it went through the middle of it.

To compare it, her mana would be like the bones and the yarn was the skin.

I was shocked—not literally. I was trying to cover the yarn completely with my mana, but she just goes through it and uses a minimal amount of mana.

Why didn’t I think of doing it like that? Although you’d have to be more precise, it’d reduce the mana consumption a lot.

“…If you were to stop supplying mana to it, how long would the mana maintain itself?” I asked.

“Cut the connection?” Luna asked, “Let me try.”

I could see her string of mana snapped towards the other end of the scarf. The mana didn’t dissipate immediately, rather, it tried to maintain itself, circulating through the scarf. But, it didn’t last long. Within a few seconds, the mana started to dim.

Soon, the mana completely disappeared.

“Mm…” From that, I gained a basic understanding of where this task would lead me.

And…I’m certainly not excited for it.