Jason stared at the cyan screen hovering in front of his face.
[Adaptation to mana manipulation: 40%!]
His heart skipped a beat. Then another. His eyes darted over the glowing text, reading it again and again to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
Forty percent. Up from twenty. Doubled.
He had been at twenty percent adaptation to magic ever since that first encounter with Thalion's dream invasion. The system had given him that much and then... nothing. No increase. No progress. Just a static number that seemed to mock him every time he checked.
But now, in the span of a single night, it had jumped to forty.
Jason didn't need to be a genius to figure out what had happened.
"Someone has been using magic on me."
The thought should have terrified him. Someone—probably Thalion—was messing with his mind, planting suggestions, trying to influence him. The elf had tried to link with him during the journey. Tried to make him more agreeable, more trusting, more dependent.
