NOVEL NEXT Chapter 54: DIY’ing transition magic
Ren Xiyang took most of the children up into the air for a flight. He asked the ones who hadn’t taken the initiative, in case they were shy. Some of them were indeed shy. But others refused. The biggest shame was when some of the children clearly wanted to have a go, but their membership in certain factions stopped them.
He also asked Rian. Rian ‘reluctantly’ agreed.
With that, Ren Xiyang feigned tiredness and took a seat, while Rian returned the two swords to the Royal Guards.
Prince Rian was very friendly towards the other noble children, and when he smiled at them, most of them felt honoured at having his attention.
However, people talking to them and being friendly was normal. Earl Rosewood taking them to fly (high up in the air!!!) was not normal.
More than anything else, Earl Rosewood’s actions broke multiple barriers between himself and the other children. They sat or wandered over; multiple children glanced furtively (or not so furtively) at him, wondering if he would show something else amazing.
Earl Rosewood was as young as them, he was already an earl, he was as strong as Prince Rian, and oh, not to mention, he could fly!
Alexius stood near Earl Rosewood, taking over the role of speaking to the audience of children. “Well, you all know about germs now, since I told you yesterday,” he said with a puffed-up chest. “And you now know that Earl Rosewood can fly on a sword. Anything my big brother can do, Earl Rosewood can do too! He can make even more beautiful fire flowers. He can duel anyone and win, even adults!”
Nicola Storm, a lightning mage child, spoke up: “Baron Carmine was a weak fire mage. Earl Rosewood has never fought a proper lightning mage, right?” The Storm family, headed by Duke Storm, was the most powerful lightning-mage family in the kingdom. Their family guarded part of the Sedaverian border against Angio, and their family also trained and managed the elite force of lightning combat mages.
“I haven’t,” Earl Rosewood replied mildly. “I haven’t seen lightning magic yet, do you know any spells?”
“Yes!” Nicola Storm paused guiltily. “I’m not allowed to cast them without my tutor or my parents around though. But I want to see Earl Rosewood fight my big brother!”
“Earth is strong against fire,” Malin Brown, an earth mage, said. “I don’t think Earl Rosewood would win against my mother!”
“He’d win against you!” Günter Blewitt retorted. And then he turned back round to Earl Rosewood and said, “Though of course my grandfather would win.”
Ren Xiyang: “…” How did it come down to insulting his skills?
“If you pay me sufficient gold, I will duel whoever you wish. Minimum 1500 gold, and more if I win.”
The noble children and their guards: “….” They all recalled the gossip that Baron Carmine had been forced to give Earl Rosewood 2500 gold…
Off to the side, Rian was trying not to smile. “Study magic well. Remember, once you can cast nonverbal spells, come to me or Earl Rosewood.”
More than one noble child had the glorious daydream of flying on a sword and being better than their parents.
More than one guard had the anxiety-inducing vision of chasing after a flying noble child.
Rian looked at the various childish faces. “Don’t forget, we are the future of Sedaveria. Our fiefs, our kingdom, should get better and better.” He smiled. “That said, we don’t need to be like Earl Rosewood. We each have our own unique strengths.”
Adrienne Obsidian, a shadow-mage child, stepped forward. She tilted her head up, her long black hair parting to reveal her shadowed eyes. “I already know nonverbal magic and even some direct-magic manipulation. Will Earl Rosewood teach me how to fly?”
Ren Xiyang glanced at the accursed Prince Rian who had sold him off as a babysitter-teacher. “Yes, I can. We can meet either tomorrow or the next few days, or you can come to the Rosewood fief whenever you wish.”
That made the other children extra jealous.
Adrienne Obsidian was surprised. She didn’t think Earl Rosewood would agree. Shadow mages tended to be disliked or avoided, and the shadow-magic families tended to keep to themselves—the loose faction of shadow-magic families was in name only.
“I—I will talk with my uncle,” Adrienne finally stammered.
Ren Xiyang nodded. “Send me a message.”
“Yes.” Adrienne lowered her head and melted back into the edge of the group.
After that, Rian gently steered the conversation to the magical theory of nonverbal magic and direct magic manipulation, which was well-received.
Eventually, the noble children were collected by their noble parents. Prince Alexius was ushered by Sir Gerlach Aegean away for a nap.
Ren Xiyang and Rian boarded an Imperial carriage, finally on their way to the Imperial Bookstore.
They went to the Imperial University, which sat near the Imperial Palace and next to the Imperial Magical Academy. The Imperial University Bookstore was near the perimeter of the university, and it was mostly frequented by university students and other scholars. There was also an Imperial University Library, but only members could borrow books.
The Imperial Bookstore had a lavish white-stone front and wide tall windows with clear and stained glass. There were two rows of bookcases along one side and five semi-enclosed seating areas with lounge chairs and tables along the other side.
A bookstore staff member immediately hurried up to them when he saw them coming. “Your Highness Prince Rian, Earl Rosewood, welcome to the Imperial Bookstore. How can I help you?”
“We’re looking for some healing and medical texts,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Please take a seat, my Lord, Your Highness. I will fetch the books immediately.”
While the first staff member went away, another staff member came over and served them light refreshments.
Ren Xiyang sipped his unexpected cup of tea.
The first staff member carried over multiple books on an ornate tray, which is placed down on the table. “My Lord, these are the healing magic books.”
“Do these include any books on anatomy, or on healing magical theory?”
“My deepest apologies, I have not yet fetched them. Please take a look at these to see if they are to your liking and I will return quickly.”
The service at the Imperial Bookstore—at least towards Ren Xiyang/Earl Rosewood and Prince Rian—was impeccable. Ren Xiyang skimmed various contents pages and flipped through dozens of books, before selecting the ones he wanted to purchase.
It was a pity that nothing contained exactly what he wanted, but he also expected that.
After the purchases were completed, Ren Xiyang and Rian went to the Rosewood house first.
Unfortunately for Rian, he had other meetings, so he couldn’t continue accompanying Earl Rosewood.
“By the way, Earl Rosewood, when were you planning on leaving?”
“After I give that flying lesson, confirm communication methods with Florence, and meet with the water systems engineers again in a week.” Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow. “Why, plans?”
“Something should happen very soon,” Rian said mysteriously.
“Okay.”
Ren Xiyang didn’t give Rian the pleasure of being curious. After he farewelled him, Ren Xiyang headed inside first. He and there-the-entire-time-in-the-background-Kel each carried half of the newly purchased books to Ren Xiyang’s quarters.
“Kel, take the rest of the day off. I don’t have any work for you.”
“My Lord, there is still work that I can do,” Kel said seriously.
“Then you can do that if you want,” Ren Xiyang conceded.
“Yes, my Lord.” Kel bowed and quietly left the earl, closing the door behind her.
Ren Xiyang went over and locked the door nonetheless. He didn’t want to be disturbed.
He went back to his desk and sat down. He looked over the books on his desk and flipped open a few to see their contents page again.
Promised contents included basic to advanced healing spells, medical information and spells for children’s bodies, detailed human anatomy…
None of them mentioned gender transition magic.
Maybe gender transition magic existed already, in some obscure book, or under an unexpected name. Perhaps in the novel world, gay and trans people lived their best lives all entirely without the main female lead noticing.
But Ren Xiyang didn’t want to risk it. This body was already ten: it should have started the very first stages of puberty. There was time pressure for him to develop something and stop his body from undergoing the wrong puberty again.
He pulled the anatomy book closer and turned through the pages. He pulled over some fresh sheets of paper and a pen, to take notes.
He first wanted to refresh his knowledge of the human body and its processes.
Back in his previous world, he had done some research about how biological sex appeared in fetuses and how various sex hormones were produced in the body or synthetically and how those hormones affected the human body, before he had started on T.
But how that came about physiologically or mechanically wasn’t in Ren Xiyang’s research. He wasn’t a scientist in those fields.
…
The anatomy book had no mention of hormone-producing glands.
Ren Xiyang tried the other books next. He was skimming by the end of it.
Nothing close.
Ren Xiyang exhaled, closed the books, and went to have dinner with Kel.
(He learnt that Kel had been communicating with the Rosewood managers on various matters for the Rosewood Estate council.)
After dinner, Ren Xiyang was back again at his desk, but this time, he didn’t open any books. Instead, he started to write down his wayward thoughts on what he needed to do.
Developing magic spells was out of the question. While Ren Xiyang was getting better at guessing how to pronounce spells, he still didn’t understand how to create spells.
This meant he needed to use direct magic manipulation.
His current progress with healing magic was mediocre. He could cast the formal spells upon the in-need Rosewood residents who came to the weekly charitable lunch. And in private, he had also practised direct magic healing on himself for minor injuries.
But that direct magic healing wasn’t from scratch. Firstly, he had the formal spells, so he could learn how the healing magic behaved and how the body behaved as the magic fixed it. Second, he could usually compare the injured location with a nearby uninjured location, which gave him a focused target for what the end result should look like.
He found no formal spells to increase or decrease hormone production. He found no formal spells to magically transform various sex characteristics.
He had no formal method to pick out the pituitary gland or the adrenal glands or even the ovaries in his body to try and control the ratio of produced hormones.
He had no formal method to distinguish sex hormones from other hormones, let alone from the thousands of different chemical compounds and cells in the human body.
So what could he do?
He needed at least one target example. He needed a detailed magical study of a least one cis male body, preferably an alive one.
The first person who came to mind was—
—Rian.
Ren Xiyang frowned. Would Rian agree to be studied? Would it be creepy, or would it stoke Rian’s ego? Given Rian’s jealous rich-second-generation nature, he would probably agree if Ren Xiyang mentioned finding some other men instead.
Then maybe he could get his body to act like a cis male body. Then maybe he could slowly make it become a cis male body.
Ren Xiyang listed out multiple things he’d need to learn and do before he could even think about asking Rian. If he could get this to work, then maybe transmigrating into this novel wasn’t such a bad thing.
Transmigration Bureau clerk: Oh~?
Ren Xiyang: 🔪🔪🔪
Transmigration Bureau clerk: Never mind!
You can see hints of the route I’m going to be taking with Ren Xiyang’s medical transition in this story. I have deliberated over it a lot. By writing a bit vaguely here, I also give myself some wriggle room in the future! Ultimately, what I want changes depending on my mood 😆
I also wrote a fanfic for Kinktober! It's First time (for the Nth time) [explicit] for Teaming Up with System 225