Alright. So I realized there was something I wanted to talk about before the stories. In 1.5 I expand on the use of mana a bit, but I think I need to clear that up before I continue on with the stories. It helps to flesh everything out for storytelling purposes, ahem…
So Mana!
Mana is the magic blood and battery. Mana is life. Mana is the energy that runs through your body in the world of MGE. The short answer is that this is fantasy and in fantasy, magic powers exist, and mana is used for them.
The long answer, and my version because I am a nerd, is that mana is an alternate, more volatile, and template version of a basic molecule, maybe glucose, that exist in mge. This molecule is made of the six basic elements found in almost every walk of life, which is why it can be found in the ground and sky, in flora and fauna, and in humans and mamono. I know Virto would love that explanation.
The abilities in this world depend on the absorption, manipulation, conversion, and release of mana. You have to be able to naturally take in the elements needed to make this mana, be able to convert it from foods, fluids, and stuff that filters in and out through your skin, be able to manipulate the mana by changing it to another form and release it in that form without destroying yourself. My logic is that in the age of the current demon lord, the monsters physiologically are able to do this best when sexual fluids are the source of absorption, whether it lands on the skin, is drunk down, or taken in through...the lower parts of your torso, *clears throat*.
With the basics of mana, which forms all magic in my book now down, time to move on to the different types of mana usage in characters seen so far.
Virto - As an isekai character, he does not naturally gain this mana like the humans native to this world. It is only after he starts getting it on with Vargas that his body begins adjusting to this world's laws of mana. Until then, his relies completely on the watch to be the bridge.
Lao - Lalu didn't have to follow this law, as he was transferred into a boy's life instead of coming in with his own. His only mana manipulation was a boost in physical ability, indicated by a white hazy aura that appears around his body. When activated, all of his physical aspects are heightened, until he exhausts his reserves, and then exhausts his muscles.
Leana - Leana also didn't have to deal with it like Virto, as she was corrupted rather quickly. Still, though, Virto gave her a specialized phone to do the brunt of the mana control.
Mizuki - This brings us to the last main character, Mizuki. As a yokai, her mana manipulation extends to nature itself, being able to play with water, moisture, and the plants as much as she pleased. It is done by controlling the mana that resides inside those things. She also gets mana from followers, as their donations come unknowingly with a piece of their mana in their bodies being drawn out by the shrine grounds.
Now for the major and minor side characters!
Kiris - By the time of RPZ, Kiris's mana manipulation would be mainly categorized as a powerful physical boost and a standard aura of seduction. She has a special power though, as she builds mana through sex, and periodically shoots out her mana in an explosion, creating a pink fog around her that makes everyone hornier by the half-second. Yes, this will probably never be mentioned again. Araki memento.
Isuka - She is probably the staple example of magic. Her prowess comes from her understanding of basic principles, and the many, many spells derived from manipulation. Combined with a large repressed bank of mana achieved through a bad experience, and you have the perfect magician.
Calice - Isuka, but with a larger amount of mana, the ability to push out more power at once, and with no need to learn anything; just use her imagination and her body naturally does the rest.
Headen - She can do an above average amount of mana manipulation, but her true craft comes in the bottles. Making bottles that have effects doesn't just require manipulating mana. She needed to first convert the energy into the wanted effect, then put that output into a liquid form, or mix it in with a liquid base into a bottle. Or she could, just, be doing alchemy. Would explain why there are so many weird ingredients in some spells bottles, the wanted effect is so specific that the ingredients needed for just the right mix are weird but exact amounts of what is needed.
Dr. Holtz - As a fairy, we call her mana "magic". She uses mana to change and fix up teeth, pulling mana in her client's teeth to straighten them out, or giving a clean with a magic scrub.
Natsumi - The boy doesn't have the body capacity to store too much mana, so he mostly has tools embedded with Isuka's magic and spells. He was given user training on them, so he's pretty much a less skilled Headen.
Viscosa - Her mana manipulation comes down to altering the properties of her body. Changing into different types of slime uses up quite a bit of mana, since she has to adjust to new physiology each time.
Samoa - She also manipulates her body, but more so in size and development than changing her entire form. The rest of the mana goes toward sabbath-specific spells and seduction.
Melisa - She takes in her mana from blood as well as sexual fluids. While some goes to natural seduction, most of it is used in the same way as a food supply. She can change between her bat form, Dhamphir form, and Vampire form independent of mana, but each one burns through consecutively bigger amounts of energy to fuel speed, agility, power, and healing properties.
Valhalla - She is probably one of the few that purposefully gains energy via atmospheric absorption, done by meditating. Summoning and lightning strike burns through a large chunk of her total mana supply, so it can only be done a few times in a row before she is completely powerless. She also puts much of it into strength for challenging flights or to be able to swing her huge ax around like it was lighter than a sword. Valhalla can do the same thing as Dark Valhalla, but then risks impure thoughts and the fallen god in her head tempting her away.
Elizabeth - Normally, Liz would follow the same rules as normal women in the MGE-verse. But with Shadow-Star bonded to her, she is immune to normal avenues of corruption, through the sword already corrupting her. However, it comes at the cost of needing to eat a lot more to convert the energy into mana, as the sword passively burns through her reserves like a parasite. She is also susceptible to being turned into a cursed sword through corruption performed in high levels.
Dominika - The oldest wolf sibling focused to put her mana manipulation solely into lewd tactics and seduction, always radiating aphrodisiac with her mana. She rose the ranks through intimidation and being a dominatrix.
Mei-Ka - the cap-armor duo has their own mana reserves, but mostly relies on the wearer to provide the bulk of power. Their specialization is defense, turning mana into a magic shield layer or more material to make the wearer a total tank.
Maddie - The mantis does this on a passive and less powerful level, but her mana specialization goes towards powering her fast-twitch muscle groups for sheer speed, acceleration, and agility. Slow-twitch comes second for long-distance sprinting.
Anna - She gets mana through followers and meditation, but instead releases mana by shooting it out as fire made inside her. She can also turn mana in plants and people, including herself, flammable, resulting in her being able to light anything on fire. As her body is made for this, she has high resistance.
Meridian - She does the same thing as Mizuki, minus the harvest powers and making the storm powers more intense.
Ganan - Her body has been trained by Amaterasu to be insanely powerful; enough to establish a connection to the star up high, raise and lower it from the ground. When her power isn't going towards that, she is consistently honing her physical prowess. She embodies the "teleports behind you" meme. She also has fire shooting abilities.
Marsaw - Her lack of mana manipulation is the notable part. She has the potential, yet never developed her magic side. At least that's how I wrote her, pure physical power.
Nabu - I explained it before a bit, but she has the ability to steal other yokai's mana manipulation abilities. This does not apply to normal mana, only powers that are specifically for yokai. Meaning, she can't touch Isuka and become a god. Her abilities also allow her to create a new yokai ability, but as a result she now has to spread that ability across the world as its prototype, so it is balanced.
Tamiko - Same thing, but with enough mana to also make a slime army. So basically a bit less than Nabu.
Sana - Ironically the hardest to explain for me. Hmm….alright. Sana's mana goes towards casting good luck, so I'm guessing her presence or blessings goes affects the bodies of the victims. It puts muscle memory into their bodies, the ability to play the perfect music for events and such. Also, good luck for parties, I don't know really.
Seika - Her mana goes towards ensuring reproduction. Boosting virility, fertility, libido, and causing ovulation by converting mana into hormones and chemicals geared towards those aspects.
Mervana - An insanely high level of temperature manipulation, at least only the ability to make things cold by pulling energy out of things, then using that mana to fuel storms that could probably go on for a lifetime. If she can mess with a higher council member, she's probably no joke. She freezes things by releasing mana as small amounts of water, then freezing that water right after it leaves her hand.
Arkayda - A portion of Mervana's mana she split off and then made alive to handle rain matters on the mountain. Probably a good time to put a reminder that yokai need two things to be a yokai - natural power and a vessel. Mervana basically made her own energy into a casing, then filled that casing with mana, one of the ways to make a less powerful yokai.
Uddona - She was made a different way. A human body was the vessel, and the natural power came from the first iteration of Mizuki's core. Her power basically gives her free rein over the scrolls. Anything not written in her blood cannot be trusted.
Namaru - Last but not least, Namaru. Her powers rely on her using her mana to change humans and yokai at the molecular level, into her slaves (shown by them having just a dark-purple silhouette with solid white eyes). She gains her power through sleeping around, while also getting a roof to temporarily live under in the process. A constant process of sex, sleep, and then enslaving, leading to eventually having an army at her disposal and total command.
2) Secondly, since her slaves are made from her body, they have the power to convert people as well, but on a way weaker scale. That's why it takes swarms of them to surround and press onto the victim like bees to near suffocation until they get turned.
3) Next, it is possible to leave a small part of their body left unturned. This basically allows for her to take pity and release people, but only if she chooses too. People that experience being unturned will be extremely light-headed and feel cold around the body, since their body was no longer working and moving, only being moved like a puppet. Effects cap out at over a month, where people would feel a complete numbness and chill around the body and will need a period of time before they are even able to move a finger again. Stasis is a cruel thing.
4) Lastly, since her mana can be put into and taken out of a human to slave and unslave, she could technically use slaves as mana storage devices. If she runs out of mana in her own body, she could release a few people and yokai to get some more energy. However, I cannot explain the "shadow void" she is able to travel through very well. Maybe it's like a pocket dimension -esque path she can establish through shadows, or something.
That should be it though! Now, let's actually make some stories.