In the same week.
Japan, Saitama, Saitama Medical Center.
Inside the hospital's white room a young boy stayed quiet while reading a book while in the room's bed.
But what he is truly different from what it seems.
'276 pages, inside page 79 there are 256 words, in page 127 there are 312.' Using his newfound magecraft, the boy practiced the art of Structural Analysis, using it to find out certain information about the book.
'I can find out how many words each page has, but finding out how out the book is currently beyond me.' He analyzes the current situation.
'If I recall correctly, Magecraft is the act of replicating natural phenomena through unnatural means. So, using that as a basis I can say that I am using magecraft to simply read a book's page and counting how many words it has on that page. But figuring out how old the book is, is an another matter completely. So if I can do something manually, theoretically, I could use magecraft to do it but using magical energy instead of doing it naturally.' He muses about his current practices.
'Of course, that is just for the most basic things. Soon I will need to apply mystery in order to accomplish more complex things.'
As he thinks about his next actions a knock can be heard from the door.
"Yes?" He asks slightly loud.
"Oh, young Niko, may I enter?" An elderly voice says through the door.
Recognizing the voice he answers. "Doctor Uchida? Sure, you can enter."
Upon receiving permission he opens the door and enter the room, holding some papers.
"Are those the exam's results, Doctor Uchida?" He inquires once his eyes drift to the papers at the doctor's hand.
The Doctor then explains the current situation.
Physically, Niko is perfectly fine, other than sometimes having a a bit of heatstrokes(Magic circuits being used) and a bit of malnourishment that is being corrected by the diet he receives from the hospital, he has no problems at all.
Because of that, and the fact that no progress was made in the case of the memory loss, it's just a matter of time for him to be discharged from the hospital.
Now, that normally would be good news but there's just a little problem.
Niko has no identity, like at all.
Everyone who lost their memories still had their existence registered in the system, everyone but Niko.
The current theory was that he was an homeless orphan who somehow got into the area and was hit by whatever did this whole thing.
'Ah, knew that would bring problems for me later. Still wondering why I don't have any documentation but in doubt I am going to blame a magus.' He thinks.
"So, what will happen to me?" He asks with some hesitation.
The doctor sighs, clearly regretful. "Originally they were trying to kick you to the streets. It pains me to admit but your complete lack of identity brought some suspicion to you, I even heard some ridiculous theory about you being a some type of foreigner spy."
Niko suddenly snorts. "Haha, a foreigner spy really?" He says with a incredulous voice.
"Oh yes, of course I had to 'educate' them about baseless and frankly crazy accusations." He says with a small laugh. "I then was able to convince them to send you to the orphanage alongside the other children who didn't have any possible guardian."
'While not ideal this is for sure a good enough situation. Inside an orphanage I won't be closely monitored and will most likely have some access to libraries, that while won't help me learn magecraft can have more obscure information that can aid me.' Niko thinks with some annoyance.
'Wait, what about...'
"Wait, does that means...?" He asks a bit hesitantly.
"Yes, my proposal about adopting you sadly won't happen, the Child's Services are rather involved in this case, and for some reason they're completely rejecting any attempt at adopting any of the children that have nowhere to go. Truthfully I found that thanks to one of my fellow doctors, they were willing to take one of the other children but was completely rejected, not only that, they receive a warning to not press on it." The Doctor says with a slightly dark face.
'Huh? That's really weird, for Child's Service to interfere that much... perhaps this situation is more problematic than I thought. While I am a bit hesitant of going with doctor Ushida despite his help, being adopted by him was arguably my best option. Why would they try that hard to stop adoptions? Perhaps whoever did this whole mess has contacts with Child's Services and is holding the children in order to get them again? If that's the case going to the orphanage is doubtless a terrible idea. Maybe I should run away the moment I am discharged? While it would be hard to get things such as food and water it would also allow me more freedom, maybe I could even try contacting some nearby magus? I believe Alice Kuonji lives in a nearby city, Misaki I believe, and maybe Touko Aozaki is still in Mifune, while they would probably dismiss me they are good enough people that could help me in the short term.'
He thinks a bit more before shaking his head. 'Yeah, no fucking way. That's a disaster waiting to happen, I can't base peoples action's on what I once read in a VN, I don't even know if this is Fate or Tsukihime yet, for all I know they would kill me on sight or something. I need to find some foundation to my life in order to do anything impactful for now.'
________________________________________________________________________________________
Once our conversation finished, Doctor Uchida left the room to analyse the exams results. If they're stable I will most likely be discharged at the end of the week.
So until that happen I will try to at least practice some type of magecraft. Structural Analysis is the only one I tried to learn until now, Gradation Air is too noticeable so I prefer to wait until I can practice it, same for Reinforcement.
I think Rune Magecraft is the better option for now. I was a bit obsessed with Skadi when she was first introduced and tried to learn everything I could about her and her skills. So much that I have a good understanding of the Runic language she uses.
Basically I have a good understanding about the Elder Futhark and how it could be applied in magecraft. And ironically because of my 'alien' understanding of them they would most likely be slightly superior to the average user, as my 'source' are the likes of Scáthach and Cú Chulainn, so I am not using an outdated barely functional replica but a barely functional mess of concepts. Which is not strictly better, but can be kinda useful even for an amateur like myself.
I have an understanding of twenty runes. If I recall correctly while their meaning is important one's understanding of them is overwhelmingly more.
The meaning can be influenced by their user's understanding. For instance, fire could be used as a type of purification, ice as the halt of an action and even beyond that!
But for now, a basic sight rune would be ideal.
I had asked Doctor Ushida for some papers a while ago to draw or something, and I can't use anything else for now so they will work.
Let's try ᚲ (Kenaz), it's meaning is Beacon but can also mean torch, it's most basic function is 'to shine upon something', in other words, better vision.
It took a few tries to write it perfectly in the paper but I think I got it.
After focusing for a while I activate my circuits, I really need to create a mental trigger to activate them, I haven't done it yet because I used the my nerves to create my circuits and I am worried that if I tried creating a trigger so soon after using that method I would need to use the pain I felt as a trigger and that would be completely counterintuitive.
With my magic circuits active I begin gathering Magical Energy in order to tap into the Thaumaturgical Foundation of the runes.
"Kenaz" I apply the rune into the paper and place it on my forehead.
I could see, even the smallest speck of dust is now easy to spot.
I allowed a smile to grace my face.
"Perfect. One down, nineteen to go."