Derek felt his heart racing.
He had somehow convinced himself that his sister wouldn’t try to kill him in the open, which was why he let his guard down in her presence.
But... To think his meal would be poisoned!
[You need to relax, Host. Panicking will only increase your blood flow, which will quicken the spread of the poison.]
’Easier said than done!’ Derek exclaimed while trying his hardest to maintain a neutral expression.
He slowly lifted his gaze from his barely touched meal and looked upon his sister—the likely culprit behind his current predicament.
Melanie hadn’t yet touched her food.
She instead adjusted her glasses as she focused on the book in front of her.
Having noticed his focus on her, she looked at him for the first time since he entered the room and took note of his peculiar state.
Derek froze once he felt her vermillion eyes rest on him.
Before he could even budge a little, she parted her supple lips and spoke with an emotionless voice.
"Why aren’t you eating your food?"
Derek’s heart jumped at that moment, not knowing what to utter in response.
Should he expose the poison to her? But if he did that, he would essentially be confirming that he found out her plan.
Wouldn’t that lead to more desperate measures from her?
’No, calm down...’ Derek took a deep breath and rationally assessed the situation. ’There’s no reason to jump to conclusions.’
"I lost my appetite."
Derek strained a smile in response, barely hiding the chewed food that remained in his mouth.
"You already blessed the meal in the Goddess’ name. You disrespect her grace by not eating the plate in front of you."
"I... I..."
Derek was stuck at this moment.
’What’s her fixation on me eating the food? She wants me to be poisoned, doesn’t she?’
Despite having these thoughts, he knew Melanie wasn’t wrong.
The Eastern Theocracy was an extremely religious state, and faith in the Goddess Lucia was the highest.
One of the doctrines of the church was regarding the blessing of food.
"Bless the Goddess for your meals.
Enjoy the meal that has been blessed by her grace.
Grant onto others the meal you have been graced with."
Thus, once a meal had been blessed, it was considered disrespectful to the Goddess to not finish the food in front of you at the very least.
In essence, this was a trap from the start.
’But it’s not a strictly enforced rule. It’s just something we are told as children so we can appreciate food and not waste what we are given.’
Derek’s eyes shone with determination as he forced his mouth open and spilled out the remnant food in his mouth.
’I’m not playing this game with you!’ He gritted his teeth silently.
Meanwhile, Melanie displayed mild emotion once she saw Derek spit out the food back onto his plate.
"Does the food taste bad? To think you would do something so—"
"It’s poisoned!"
Derek’s tone was deep despite also being shaky.
Melanie’s eyes widened once she heard this, but her expression remained stoic. She paused for a few seconds before her gaze narrowed.
"That’s a serious accusation. If you’re saying this just to get out of eating the food, aren’t your words too extreme?"
Derek shook his head as he suppressed his shaking limbs.
"I’m serious. If you don’t believe me, you can check it out for yourself..." As soon as he uttered those words, he regretted them.
After all, Melanie could have chosen to poison only his food.
Her meals could be perfectly fine.
"Hmm..." Her vermillion irises suddenly turned bright, shining as though they were brilliant gems.
Suddenly, a wave of powerful energy spread throughout the dining table.
Then, she spoke.
"Spell #35: Trace."
The moment she said this, brilliant sparks of light filled the dining area, almost like a pulsing frequency.
It covered every area within the room.
Derek’s eyes widened in great shock as well as amazement as he witnessed the discharge of Magia culminate into a supernatural outcome.
—A Spell!
The vast energy suddenly vanished once Melanie closed her eyes.
Then, she sighed and nodded.
"You’re right. The food is poisoned."
’Eh? She admitted it so easily?’ Derek’s eyes twitched, but he fought to maintain his composure.
"But there’s no need to fret..." Melanie continued with a calm voice. "Since you have already blessed the food, we shouldn’t waste the Goddess’ grace. Besides, we wouldn’t want to tip off the culprit that we are aware of their scheme, now would we?"
A small smile formed on her face at that moment, and it chilled Derek to the core.
’We? Is she insinuating that her meal was poisoned as well?’ Derek was confused, as he couldn’t tell if his sister was pretending or not.
The Magus Codex could also not assist him in this regard.
"So—"
Before he could say anything, Melanie closed her eyes once more and made yet another chant.
"Spell #33: Cleanse."
Once again, Magia was discharged, and it spread all over the food and everything else on the table.
The frequency of the pulse was different from the initial Spell, and the way the Magia interacted with everything it touched was also distinct.
Derek witnessed all of this with wonder.
Even though he had been born into a Magus Household, he hardly got to witness any Spell or Rune being used in his presence.
Watching his older sister use two Spells in succession felt exhilarating.
Unfortunately, this feeling wasn’t bound to last. Melanie cast a tired gaze on him and pointed at his food.
"It’s been cleansed now. Eat."
She didn’t say anything more, as she closed her book and started eating.
Derek watched in stupefaction.
He didn’t know whether or not to believe his sister’s words. Even if he trusted her Spell, there was a chance that she purposely didn’t get rid of all the poison.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have much of a choice left.
He had already disrespected the Goddess by refusing to eat blessed food. He also had his sister exert herself by using two powerful Spells despite her extremely low pool of Magia.
If he chose to remain difficult, he would be completely spitting in her face.
’I’ll have to put my faith in Max if there’s any poison left.’ Although he had lost his appetite, Derek dug in once again.
Fortunately for him—
[No poison detected this time, Host. The poison in your system has also been fully cleansed thanks to the earlier Spell from your sister, Melanie.]
’You mean, you didn’t cleanse it on your own?’ Derek’s eyes widened in mild surprise.
[No. The poison was very potent because it had qualities of Magia in it. It would have taken at least an hour to detoxify the small dose you ingested.]
’I-I see...’
Derek’s heart shook once he took notice of just how severe the attempt on his life was this time around.
A single bite would have killed him if he didn’t have Max with him.
If he had chosen to keep eating despite the poisoning, chances were that Max wouldn’t be able to keep up with the detoxification before he died.
Once again, he had barely escaped death.
’This can’t continue...’
Derek gritted his teeth at intervals, forcing himself to complete his meal.
Once he was done, he rose to his feet, bid his sister farewell, and hurriedly left her presence before she tried anything else.
On his way back home, he felt his anxiety rising to an unbelievable extent.
His heart kept pounding.
"I need to get stronger... quickly."
[Unfortunately, it will take at least a few months for your Magia Circuits to be fully developed. You will have to wait at least one month before you can even utilize Magia to a reasonable extent.]
’I can’t wait that long!’
Derek desperately sought a way to get out of his predicament.
As long as he remained in the Lewis Estate, he was convinced that attempts on his life would continue.
So should he escape?
No, that would yield an even worse outcome.
Perhaps this was what the culprit wanted.
Things were a lot less safe outside the Estate, which meant he was stuck in this place like a bird in a cage.
He was like livestock awaiting slaughter.
’I have to become strong... no matter what!’ His crimson eyes shone with determination as an idea suddenly manifested in his mind.
"Is it... possible for you to focus the Magia Circuits in a single direction, rather than my entire body?"
[What do you mean, Host?]
"I mean, the reason it will take so long before the Circuits are formed is because you are dispersing all the absorbed resources to every part of my body. If you focus on specific parts, the time needed before the incomplete circuits’ completion should be drastically shortened."
[You are correct, Host. But are you sure you want to do that? If you choose specific points for the circuits to be created, it will completely stall the development of the circuits in other parts of your body until the designated areas have been fully developed.]
"I understand!"
Derek thought about it carefully.
The reason it took ten years for Magia Circuits to reach a certain threshold in an ordinary person’s body was because their body was passively absorbing Magia and said Magia was automatically dispersing through the body to create a complete network where Magia could flow.
The core of coalesced energy was referred to as the Central Path, while the connected channels formed the Magia Circuits.
Since he had the Magus Codex controlling all of these variables, he could take in Magia faster than the passive absorption of normal people.
Thus, it would take him less than ten years to develop a complete Magia Circuit.
In addition, by customizing the circuitry, he could further shorten the time needed before he could have a fully developed but incomplete channel within his body.
"If we do it like this, how long will it take before I can use Magia?" Derek smiled as he asked.
Max was quiet for some time.
Until it spoke.
[A week at the latest.]