'It's hard…'

The weight of seven bodies put a strain on him.

'It's really goddamn hard…'

His body was caught in the softest trap ever known to man.

'Yeah, life of a Harem Protagonist is absolute bullshit.'

Cid Kagenou's awakening was great, at first. He had a good night's sleep on very soft pillows (apparently Beta decided that his head needed something better than old bedding and placed his head in her cleavage… yeah…) after a great bonding over a game that Alpha suggested, though he could have sworn that in his previous lfie… Oh, right, "Spin the Bottle", sticks edition. And girls were very eager to get their lips on him, going as far as trying to cheat the spinning (yes, Epsilon, your slime is not invisible!); there were also other funny moments like when Delta's stick stopped in front of Zeta, which elicited… an interesting reaction. Delta started growling at cat-kin while Zeta hissed in return. It was quite interesting to watch, but in the end Cid got bored; he gently caressed their heads and smiled, after which they jumped on each other like these high-school couples he saw in his previous life. He doesn't even know, why? Was his smile really that good?… Well, yeah, he trained it in front of a mirror for hours, after all! Looks like it was not in vain.

Right, back to the topic. Beta's head was resting on his own from the left side, both beast-kins occupied his legs and snored peacefully, Alpha hugged his right arm with Gamma hugging her from behind, and Eta struggled to remain on top of him with Epsilon taking up too much space in the same place with her… slime.

And that was the problem. He was completely trapped. It was already morning, the sun shined brightly, and he desperately wished to test out his new theories, but they wouldn't let him go! And if he were to escape, he could bet TEN zeni that girls would be all furious and after that not only would probably refuse helping him but Gamma could take away his money, too! Because that money was actually still at Mitsugoshi!…

Does that justify them for stopping him from reaching power, though? Absolutely not! Alright, he will give them ten more minutes to wake up, and if they don't, well, he doesn't mind repeating Claire experience.

Right, magic.

He actually did not know how it functioned on the smallest level. Like, yes, there's magic in this world, and people have magical reserves, but why, exactly, does it dissipate into thin air the moment you release it unless you compress it beforehand? And why nobody properly researched it, merely focusing on body enhancement and artifact making? Like, when he used the "I Am Atomic" skill (his current peak of compression), he didn't even use that many mana! Barely a single percent which then regenerated back! And it's not even that hard to increase your reserves and control, just cause a magic overload and successfully overcome it, rinse and repeat… Yeah, painful, but no pain, no gain!

Well, truthfully, there was no real reason to know about how the smallest magic particles worked (if they even existed) unless you're diving real deep so he doesn't blame them. But magic dissipated if not controlled! Everyone knows that, but no one ever tries to understand it! How does it go? Where does it go?

And why?!

People, this is magic right there! Do you even know how much he wished for it?! How he did every ritual possible in hopes of obtaining the smallest spark of it?! And they were living with it since, what, time immemorial?! Yet everything he could find was some enhancement techniques and the most rudimentary martial arts ever known!

Seriously, he was now inclined to believe that there was some conspiracy where every top-tier knowledge was carefully taken away prom public eye and only used for the betterment of, what, royalty? Would explain why both champions were princesses, actually…

However, magic actually does not dissipate from artifacts as far as he knows. And neither does it disappear when contained within something, be it his slime suit or his own body… That means that only, so to say, stray magic is at risk. If magic is either contained, compressed, or has a specific order, it should be way more stable, thus… Thus giving him capability to actually use magic how it was written in fantasy books! Fireballs, geomancy, weather change, here he comes!

Well, first he would check out compressed magic as it served as a basis for his Atomic and he's most familiar with it; contained magic is self-explanatory as it is always inside of him, and for ordered magic he would need to create this order first. Come to think of it, Ancient Runes should operate on similar principle, right? Maybe this world wasn't as hopeless as he thought?

…All right, his patience was depleted. Mark his words: he, in his infinite kindness, gave them time, yet they had eyes, but couldn't see Mt. Tai.

So Cid pushed the screaming girls away from him and jumped up, donning his Shadow look.

"Get up, Shades! It is time for great deeds!" and mysterious look, because looking mysterious gives you +50 CHA!

But of course they were pissed… well, except Delta and Zeta: wolf-kin ran away into the forest to find another boar while cat-kin noted that there was a lot of fish she could catch. He couldn't blame Shades; he himself didn't want to get up, it was warm and soft together. However…

"I need. More. Power.", purple flame danced in his hand.

He merely mused at their antics and continued pondering about the intricacies of magic.

Even after getting attention from various women he still didn't forget about his goal: to become the ruler from shadows. And for that he needed to obtain power. He had they key to treasure in his hands, and now he only had to walk the dangerous path in order to receive it.

"Master Shadow… what is it… you wanted my help with…?" sulking scientist tried to get his attention.

"For starters, what do you know about magic itself?" he wanted to get an answer from one of the smartest minds he ever saw.

"Hmm… Oh… It is contained within user's body… And can be used to enhance your body first… Then, with practice… You can re-route it to something other… Like artifacts… Or slime… It is very hard to release it without conductor… It dissipates… If not compressed… So tools are a must…" she stared at him. He stared at her back.

"That's… all?"

He was disappointed.

"It's… hard to use magic outside of artifacts… and slime…" Eta pouted, "Master Shadow… Releasing magic energy in air requires big reserves and near-perfect magic control… What are you doing?…"

Cid merely made a pistol hand.

"Watch."

A purplish spark of magic appeared on his finger. After a moment he released onto the large faraway stone. It flew slowly and disappeared over time, not even reaching one fourth of the distance.

The next spark was way smaller, yet significantly brighter. The moment it was free, it broke the sound barrier and made contact with stone, making a big deep hole in it.

"The power at the start… Is the same…? But it's not even enough to create magical slash… Then how?…" Eta tried to understand what's going on.

"You see, Eta… It's not about how much magic power you have…", even more compressed spark appeared not even on his finger, but in front of it, "It's about how well you use it."

Boom!

The stone completely exploded.

"And once again… the same amount of mana…" Eta frowned, "but now even stronger…"

"But Shadow-sama, how could that be?" Epsilon was dumbfounded, "As Eta correctly pointed out, it requires a large amount of magic to send out a magical slash… But you just casually send a single spark and it just flies, not caring about anything?!"

"I remember him releasing his magic before… When he granted us the reward in form of healing…" Gamma pondered, "But back then it was way bigger…"

"Wait, Master Shadow…" 'Eta, from where did you get these cuffs?' "These… restrain the ability to use magic… and disrupt it…"

"Then let me try them on…"

'Indeed, it is harder to feel magic in my body… But nothing I couldn't get past,' Cid flexed his fingers and created purple flame in his hand.

"Impossible…" Eta's eyes widened, "Even one of the Seven Shades… would experience problems with access… to their magic… yet Master Shadow… didn't evel feel difference?"

"No, Eta, the cuffs are working. It's harder for me to actually move it outside my body," he cleared the misunderstanding.

"Outside…" Eta noted, "You are saying… inside isn't affected?"

"Oh, it's somewhat harder to feel, but nothing like 'restricted access' you told me about," Cid blinked.

"…Ah, so you compress you magic energy inside of you, correct?"

"Oh, you just realized that?"

"Compressing magic inside… is very hard… and requires the most stable mental state… Should you lose control of it once… And your whole body becomes damaged…" Eta explained the unspoken truth… Well, for Cid it was really unspoken as every other Shade paled.

"L-Lord Shadow, these are not games! What if you get hurt?!"

"Mhm… Master Shadow… in fact…" scientist's voice lowered, "losing control over your magic… is the reason Curse of Diabolos manifests… It rampages and expands in quantity, mutating your whole body…"

"Oh, you mean Magic Overload?" Cid blinked again, "Well, that's exactly what I did."

"…Excuse me, Master Shadow…" Alpha got dangerously close, "are you implying you were aware of the risks… And still did it?"

"There were no risks," he denied her allegations, "At least, not for me. I was completely in control of the situation at all times."

"Just because you discovered how to treat it, doesn't mean you should now go on and inflict yourself with it! Why would you even do that?" Alpha was angered.

"It increases magical capacity."

"…What?"

"Whenever you experience Magic Overload, it is usually because there is way more mana that you're usually able to control, which inflicts mana rampage. However, if you manage to stabilize it, this will increase the mana available at your disposal," he patiently explained. "This is exactly the reason why you, Alpha, were way above me in magical capacity back when we first met. You have gone through Curse of Diabolos and then received treatment from me, which stabilized your magic. Honestly, it should've been common knowledge for you, my dear Shades. I taught you that, after all."

"…You do realize that you could have died, right?" Alpha looked him in the eyes. "This is exactly what we are fighting against, Master Shadow! You saved so many people by finding a treatment against Curse, yet now you inflict it upon yourself? Master Shadow, please…"

"I wouldn't. It's that simple, Alpha. I would not die. I had it under control."

"…Don't. Don't do it anymore. Don't make us worried like that, Master Shadow."

Well, now that's asking too much.

"I have been practicing magic since childhood, Alpha. I have studied it. And I never experienced Magic Overload since then, so it's arlight."

"…Hah," Alpha sighed, "please, at least be more careful, Master Shadow. You're not alone now, you have brilliant minds on your side that can help you out with your magic research."

"Hmm, yes, that's exactly why I called you all, isn't it?" he smiled at her as she weakly smiled back.

Suddenly they heard rustling from the forest, and as they turned around, they saw a big boar flying in their direction followed by Delta.

"Did Delta miss something?!" her ears twitched as she watched the silent group in confusion.

"No, nothing much, Delta," Cid retracted his Shadow outfit, "Alright, enough experiments for today. It seems like we are way out of touch with each other, so let's just compile everything we know about magic and then compare the notes… Honestly, should've done that from the beginning…"

"Good idea," Alpha nodded, "At least that way I won't get heart attack from your sudden antics…"

"Ah, so this is the First Shade privilege… to be able to talk like that to Lord Shadow…" Gamma sighed in envy.

What was Beta doing? Writing everything that happened down, of course. Oh, and here's Zeta with fish. Better not tell her anything…

'But you know what? I am not telling them about Blood Magic. They were pale enough upon hearing about Magic Overload, and I am sure as hell if I ever told them that I actually enhanced upon concept of Overload and made my own technique they would faint. Bona fide Blood use? Alpha will receive heart attack for sure…'

When I was reading LN, I realized that it was never mentioned whether or not Cid revealed that he has undergone his own version of Magic Overload to girls… So I assumed he didn't. I mean, imagine their horror if they realized that in canon?