Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 98: Damien’s Magic Copying Mystery

From what he gathered, this was probably a spell that would burn or even char the contact point, so it was still scary, but at least he had some warning.

"I’ll adjust the power to feel like touching a dish with hot soup in it. If you feel it’s even a bit hotter, or if you experience a different kind of stimulus, or even if you feel nothing at all, please let me know right away," Theo instructed.

"I Got it," Damien replied, nodding.

Seeing him nod, Theo took Damien’s left hand and positioned his fingers toward his palm.

He was so nervous...

"■■■■■■"

Theo quietly recited the spell and pressed his finger against Damien’s palm.

"...Hm!"

Damien felt the heat exactly as he had been warned; it was as if he were holding a hot dish.

Well, since he had been forewarned about the heat, he was surprised but managed to endure it without much fuss.

"It’s hot!?"

But even more surprising than the heat in his hand was how Theo suddenly screamed and jerked her left hand away.

"Are you okay?!"

Sebas rushed over, taking Theo’s left hand to inspect it.

"I-I’m sorry. I was just startled; I didn’t expect that at all. It shouldn’t be anything serious. It felt like I just pressed a hot dish against my skin," Theo reassured him.

Sebas, looking at Theo’s left hand, nodded, indicating that there was no issue.

Huh? What did that mean?

...

After that, Damien learned a few things from Theo, who pressed his fingers on various parts of Damien’s body.

"So, basically, I’m reflecting magic?" Damien asked, trying to understand.

That seemed to be the case. Every time Theo pressed his heated finger on Damien, the same area on Theo’s own body, although it was untouched, would feel the heat. For instance, when he pressed the center of Damien’s left palm, Theo’s own left palm heated up. When he touched Damien’s right knee, Theo’s right knee would heat up as well.

They tried various other spots on his body, but the result was always the same.

Once, Theo increased the temperature slightly—it was apparently the lowest possible level so far—and even then, the temperature he felt also rose accordingly.

"It’s actually a bit different from reflection," Theo explained. "There are spells that reflect magic, but in those cases, the person reflecting doesn’t experience any effects themselves. But for Damien, the effects remain on him too."

That made sense; it didn’t quite feel like "reflection" in the usual sense.

"Alright, let’s go again," Theo said.

"Okay," Damien agreed.

Reaching over Sebas, who stood between him and Damien, Theo prepared to continue the experiment. It looked a bit amusing, as if he were hiding behind Sebas, but this was exactly the setup they needed. They were testing what happened if something—like Sebas—stood between Theo and Damien.

Theo’s touch made Damien feel a quick surge of heat. By now, he was getting used to the sensation.

At the same time, Theo winced slightly.

"Yes, I still feel the heat," he noted. "How about you, Sebas?"

"I didn’t feel anything at all," Sebas replied.

"So, even with someone standing between us, it doesn’t seem to block the effect," Theo concluded.

"What kind of mechanism could be causing this?" he wondered aloud, clearly puzzled.

"With reflection spells," he added, "not only are touch-based spells generally non-reflectable, but if there’s something in between the caster and the reflected target, the magic would hit that instead. So this really doesn’t work like a reflection spell. It’s more like... copying?"

Copying, huh? Damien thought that sounded closer to what he was experiencing.

It seemed his sensations were being perfectly copied onto Theo.

"Sebas, Leonide," Theo called to the other two mages, "next, I’d like to see if this effect occurs with other magic types as well. Can you both manage to cast at the lowest level?"

Both nodded, and Theo looked pleased.

"Alright then, Damien," he said, smiling widely, "stay still, and don’t worry—I won’t hurt you."

Theo’s grin made it clear he was excited about the experiment, almost too enthusiastic.

"Uh... please, go easy on me," Damien said nervously, feeling a slight sense of dread.

...

After trying various experiments, they learned a few things about Damien’s copying ability.

First, it was clear that the activation and cancellation of the copying had nothing to do with Damien’s will. No matter how much he thought about not copying, it happened anyway. And even if he wanted it to stop, the effect would only end when the original caster canceled it.

They also found that there didn’t seem to be any limit on the types of magic that could be copied.

Later, when they realized they were missing wind magic, Theo promptly summoned Lucian who could use wind magic. Although Lucian was in the middle of other tasks, Theo’s eagerness overruled any concern, and, seeing that even Sebas didn’t protest, Damien assumed everything was under control.

With Lucian joining the group, they tested all four elemental magic types. Every single one was copied without any variation across elements.

Having confirmed there were no differences among the elements, they proceeded to try out different types of spells. They discovered that Damien would copy any magic that had a direct effect on him. This included spells like the contact-based attack magic "Fire Pledge" (the spell Theo had used to make touched areas heat up), the mind-affecting spell "Sleep Powder," and targeted defensive magic like "Aqua Ring."

On the other hand, spells that didn’t affect Damien directly—such as "Rock Throw" (which hurled stones), "Ember" (a flaming projectile), and "Air Slash" (a slicing wind)—were not copied at all. Even though these seemed like they had a direct impact, they actually worked by creating objects or effects outside of Damien. As a result, he couldn’t copy any of them. Essentially, any conventional attack magic failed to copy.

The spells with no effect on Damien whatsoever, like self-enhancement magic, were also naturally impossible to copy.