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Question

For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to call my main character Bob. That's not his name, but it makes things easier.

If a normal human from our world was transported to a world where magic exists but is only usable because biological processes make it possible, what would allow a normal human to be able to use magic despite not having those processes? (Clarification is in the following explanation.)

Character Background

Bob is a normal guy from "our" world. This means he has all the biology of a real world human. No fantasy tricks, traits, or inclinations. He's just an ordinary Joe Shmoe type of guy. Bob plays an MMO in his free time and is a professional YA writer. All he is equipped with are his real world skills (his ability as a writer and story-teller) and knowledge (which is pretty wide-reaching, but rudimentary at best except when it comes to the game he played). He does have on-hand a cheat sheet guidebook he wrote for himself back when he was getting the hang of the game, but that is only circumstantially useful and doesn't aid him in an endeavor to learn how to use magic.

World Background

The world is your standard medieval, high fantasy world. The world is effectively a combination of that MMO he plays and a unique world in its own right. There are many, many different races, more than a few unique to my story, albeit some of them share similarities to other concepts out there.

Some people in this world can use their mana to effect magic. Manipulation of their magical energy is a biological process that some have developed access to. (These people are what you'd consider mages, spell-casters, etc.) Not everybody can do so, but only because not everybody has taken the time to learn how.

Mana Biological Process Explanation

Mana is everywhere. Think of it like oxygen. If oxygen binds to hemoglobin, we can call the chemical (likely a protein much in the same vein as hemoglobin) in the body that mana binds to managlobin (because I am very creative). Bob does not have any managlobin, meaning his body cannot absorb and maintain a supply of mana for him to use. If he does manage to get a usable supply of mana from an outside source by some means, it would dissipate fairly quickly as it can't bind to him as is.

As for people being able to use magic, think of it like breathing. Everyone breathes, obviously, but not everybody can control their breathing well without practice and training. You can look at singers and athletes as a comparison for this. They control their breathing so that they can perform as they do. Have someone who doesn't know how to control their breathing do the same thing, and they will struggle if not outright fail. As a result, most people in this world don't know/use magic. It's a minority of people who either dabbled in it in their spare time, were trained specifically to use magic, or were born incredibly lucky meaning they're basically cheating at life. (You know the type.)

Complications

Mana is basically woven into the life of this world. So, by this world's standards, Bob isn't technically any more "alive" than a rock is. A golem at least has mana flowing into it to animate it, meaning a golem is considered to be more alive than Bob as far as their indication of life is concerned.

On the upside, because his body doesn't use mana at all, he's protected from the side effects of mana deficiency: headache, loss of consciousness, pain, and (if prolonged) death.

Additionally, Bob isn't the only one from "our" world who was sent to this world. Meaning, if any of these people want to learn magic, any process that works for Bob needs to be equally available to them. (So, solutions that are basically "wish on the Dragon Balls", "have God reincarnate him with his smartphone", etc. would not work because this wouldn't be a reasonably accessible method for the average person.)

Additional Notes:

While I could cheat and circumvent this problem by giving him an artifact or skill that also makes it so he can use magic despite not having mana, I don't want to do something so obvious and boring. Things like that would exist in this world, but Bob would have no way of knowing that, no way of finding those items, and no way of getting to the items without major acts of god basically handing them over to him. At that point, there's no real value in making it so he can't use magic on his own at the beginning. I think it is much more interesting if he goes to the other world completely as he is in "our" world.

Next, while I could have him just relax and live an easy life without needing to know how to use magic, I plan on having him getting into some trouble and wanting to learn it just for him to fail for the longest time initially. When Bob comes back to it later on, I want there to be an opportunity for him to succeed, but since he's not built for this world he's now in, I want to make it be a challenge; success in learning and using magic needs to make sense and be limited. I want his usage of magic in the future to be like a Stand battle in JoJo's Bizarre Adventures: full of suspense and strategy where victory is determined by who knows the opponent's abilities better.

Everything in this world that is living or animated has mana in it. It is this world's version of determining life, just as we determine life by certain variable factors; this is no different. He will first learn that he wholly lacks mana when he tries to join the local adventurer's guild early on in the story. He will be unable to formally join because the registration system won't be able to recognize him as "living". When he does gain the ability to learn/use magic, I want it to be limited, but able to grow. Bob also can't just be gifted "managlobin" by one of the more inherently magical races.

I hope this was a little more clear. If you have any other questions, ask. I'll update this with clarifications and elaborations as needed. Thank you so much for the answers given so far. While they still feel not quite right, they're already a huge help. I appreciate you guys so much!

just as hemoglobin carries oxygen in our blood, there is a similar biological component that allows mana to bind to these people, EVERYTHING in this world that is living or animated has mana in it Midi-bloody-chlorians again. How good are your lawyers ? :-) — 11 hours ago
Yeah, that's what StephenG is referring to. Though I doubt Disney would sue as long as you changed the name to something other than Midichlorians. To sue over the concept would oblige them to admit that, yes indeed, the concept appeared in the series they bought the rights to. No self respecting movie studio would admit to that. It's like admitting to filming Green Lantern in anything less than the over-the-top-hate-my-self way Deadpool does it! — 10 hours ago
Related: my answer to What is the smallest change to physics required to allow magic. The most natural moments for "magic" as I define it in my answer are also excellent times to give it an extra nudge with fictional magic! — 10 hours ago
@CortAmmon Hmmh .. "self respecting" and "Disney" - who'd have thought ? :-) — 10 hours ago
Its a shame, really. From what I have read, Midichlorians actually weren't a bad idea at all. But they were introduced soooo poorly that there really was nothing to be done with them after that. — 10 hours ago

score 4 · Answer 1 · 2018-11-09 01:11:31Z

up vote
4
down vote

Mana processing may depend on some chemical available in this world, which your protagonist initially lacks. As time goes by, some amount of this chemical is accumulated in his body, allowing him to use magic to some extent. But he probably can never match in magic ability the native people whose bodies are fully saturated with this chemical.

edited 11 hours ago

answered 11 hours ago

Alexander

17.5k42969

Quite plausible. For example, if mana is attached to an element or chemical found in food in this world, then by eating the local food will incorporate that substance in his body, leading to an accumulation of mana and the ability to work magic.
– a4android
11 hours ago

This could work. It'd explain quite a bit. I'm actually cleaning up my question, so check it out in a bit to see if the edit clarifies anything, but I so far like this explanation. My only major complaint being that it would imply magic usage being in part based on your diet, which isn't bad, (it makes mana effectively equivalent to blood sugar, which as a borderline diabetic I find ironically hilarious,) but it feels like that would make the solution for someone born into this world who's less naturally gifted with magic able to cheat the system by just eating a bunch. Still, good answer! :)
– Sora Tamashii
11 hours ago

If mana is attached to food, does that make fat people extra magical?
– Thorne
10 hours ago

@Thorne all depends on details of the magic system. For example, in Robin Hobb's Soldier Son Trilogy this is exactly the case.
– Alexander
4 hours ago

@SoraTamashii It may be a chemical that the body has to process with enzymes that also fulfil other processes and exist in our world - similar to Star Trek TOS S3E10 Plato's Stepchildren. Anyone who born & raised in the world will already be at their maximum saturation of the "processed" chemical, and all "eating a bunch" would do was build up their stored of the unprocessed chemical, with too much excess being excreted as a waste product. In which case, "Low Magic Potential" pretty much would be a copy of diabetes...
– Chronocidal
1 hour ago

add a comment |

Shadowzee 5,819824 · Answer 2 · 2018-11-09 01:04:18Z

So it sounds like magic is a evolved biological process in this new world and your Main Characters simply doesn't have it. Infact his system doesn't interact with mana and instead uses oxygen.

Instead of being able to bind and use mana, your Character is able to leech off the mana of other peoples magic. When someone casts a strong spell near him, the mana is cast out and some of the mana binds to his blood like it would for any other person. This gives your character access to mana and magic, however he needs to slowly accumulate it from the people around him who use magic in their daily lives.

This is also how other species and people can gift him spells and magics that are one time use only. They bind the spell and required mana to his blood like their own mana. Your character can't generate more mana and can't interact with it properly, so he can only activate the mana/spell once before its gone and used up.

Now to allow him to slowly build up more power, as your Character is introduced to more magic, his body slowly changes. He is able to start harnessing the magic, as the magic interacts with and changes his body. Since he was originally a blank sheet with no mana, as he develops, he is able to combine the magics of different species and continue to use their spells. It takes him much longer to learn, because he has to figure it out from scratch and his mind is no longer developing and discovering things like a babies would be, and this is a foreign concept/feeling for him.

I should clarify: The oxygen example was just an analogy. These humans don't breathe mana in place of oxygen. It's just a similar process. That said, regular magic use isn't common. I thought I made it clear in my post, but I'll clean it up and make it more clear. It's a trained process. Like being a good singer or athlete requires control over your breathing. Your answer sort of says what I want to do, but it doesn't really give a how without (seemingly) being a misunderstanding of my (possibly unclear) question and explanation. I'll try fixing it now. Sorry for any inconvenience! T-T — 11 hours ago
@SoraTamashii I thought it was more of an evolved biological process. Like an addition to the human body that has developed. You could replace blood with just their body. So your main character has both no way to use mana initially and no knowledge of mana. So not only would he need to undergo the training process to use mana, he would need to undergo an evolutionary change to be able to generate mana and store it in his body. A bad example would be like he was fair skinned and needed to be dark skinned. Constant exposure to the sun(mana) will eventually cause his skin to turn dark. — 10 hours ago
You're right in that it is an evolved biological process. I'm in the process of cleaning up my post to help better reflect that. That said, maybe I misunderstood your answer. Please give me a little more time. Cleaning up my post and giving it a good formatting is taking time. Sorry! Also, for your skin analogy, it'd be more accurate to say the MC is albino, meaning no melanin to absorb sunlight. I get you said it was a bad example, but I wanted to make that clarification. He doesn't have the thing that acts as a binding agent at all, so absorbing from the ambiance alone can't work. — 10 hours ago
@SoraTamashii Yeah, Albino would be much better, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go there... but I guess I was already implying that he turns black... hopefully you get more helpful answers. — 9 hours ago

adaliabooks 10.2k33562 · Answer 3 · 2018-11-09 10:54:33Z

It may not entirely fit with a typical medieval fantasy world, but what if Bob were to receive a blood transfusion after a serious injury, and the blood he was given (being of the magical world) contained managlobins and started his body producing them itself.

The biggest issue is probably one of technology, in our world the first blood transfusion didn't happen till 1665, well over 150 years after the end of the late medieval period.
But perhaps the use of magic allows some kind of rudimentary blood transfusion to take place despite the other inferior technology level?

The upside of this explanation is that unlike absorbing mana through eating or just living in the world he would only develop magical abilities after being saved from a life threatening injury (so you can control exactly where it happens in the story).
And due to the dangerous and experimental nature of the transfusion process it's unlikely others like Bob would voluntarily undergo it in an attempt to receive magical powers unless they were really desperate.

Of course you might also have to explain how the blood types of the people in your fantasy world are compatible with Bob or other real world humans, but I think that's a fairly minor hand wave in the grand scheme of things.

He might got dragon blood from somewhere. dragon blood contains more managlobin or eat a golem plant ... But this is like giving him an artifact, which is forbidden by the op btw ... — 1 hour ago
@Jannis I suppose you could see it like that, but I was thinking it would be an incidental side effect rather than something that was sought after or given to him. So instead of being handed the magic ring of mana manipulation and suddenly he's a wizard he suffers a terrible injury and later finds he is able to use magic. — 1 hour ago
It may be a spell to cure a curse, transferring blood from the caster to the recipient? (A bone-marrow transfusion is also a possibility, and is more likely to give him the ability to generate the managlobins for himself - it would also allow a slower and less noticeable build up of him having Magic.) — 1 hour ago

Elmy 7,66611034 · Answer 4 · 2018-11-09 11:00:23Z

Bob has detailled knowledge about the game he played, so he knows about items that enhance abilities either permanently or temporarily. As in any game, these items are quite rare.

Initially, since he is virtually "dead", he is not affected by spells that target living matter (like mind control or paralyze). But he is very much affected by spells that target nonliving matter (like necromancer spells). His only luck is that these spells are usually not casted in populated areas and on moving and breathing targets.

Bob needs to find a permanent magic enhancer and use it. It could be a potion he drinks that causes his body to create managlobin or a prolonged stay in a sacred cave where he inhales natural gases that enrich his body with managlobin. He should feel the effect of the enhancement like a high, feeling connected with his surroundings and experiencing everything more intense.

Bob notices that he is now affected by spells targeting living matter.

Then he needs to start training the control of mana. He should realize that the amount of managlobin in his blood is barely enough to create the smallest magical effects (no more than harmless poltergeist stuff), so he starts searching for the next magic enhancer.

During his adventure, he realizes that temporary magic enhancers work on him as well, giving him enough managlobin to cast one bigger spell for a limited amount of time. But the more managlobin in his blood, the more intense the effects of spells are on him.

That adds the strategic element to magical confrontations. Is the opponent casting a fireball and he needs to drink his mana potion now to defend against it or is the opponent casting a paralyzing spell and not drinking the mana potion protects Bob against the effect?

Renan 38.5k1187194 · Answer 5 · 2018-11-09 11:08:50Z

Reverse the relationship between mana and magic.

Mana is not used for magic. In fact, mana interferes with the usage of magic. The more mana you have, the harder it is to cast.

Magic users are people who are able to reduce the amount of mana in their bodies temporarily, through breathing techniques and concentration. By doing so the amount of mana in their managlobin lowers and the "magic resistance" of their bodies is also lowered.

Because people who have just cast a spell have a lower concentration of mana than they had before, it has been assumed for centuries that the body has spent mana in order to cast the spell - but this is mistaking the cause and the consequence. The correct way to describe the process is that the body could cast because it had less mana.

As for golems being animated by mana: they are not. They are animated by the life force of their creators (perhaps the golems have some of their creators' blood in them), which is something else completely different from mana. However, since that life force is alive, it has mana of its own, hence the presence of mana in golems.

As a result, Robert is not only able to use macic, he is incredibly powerful at it. The only thing preventing him from casting is lack of knowledge. Once he learns a spell, he will be able to cast it more powerfully than any mage. This can vary from comical to outright dangerous or catastrophic depending on the situation.

His approach has to be different, though. Rather than reducing the mana in his body, he has to learn how to tap real magic wlthout overdoing it. There will be no teacher available in the magic world. Robert must learn magic all by himself, through techniques unfamiliar to mages, and with a distinct learning curve. Even the nature of his spells may be different.

If you want to see a similar situation, consider the animé Naruto. In that animé's world, people use a kind of mana to cast spells. It is also tied to phisiology, so that the amount of mana everyone has is limited, replenished through breathing and eating, and complete depletion of mana causes instant death.

The protagonist, however, cannot use his own mana for spells. He taps a different, outworldy source, which is overflowing infinitely for all practical purposes. That makes spell casting much more difficult for him. Whereas other people learn to cast by making an effort to gather the right amount of power from zero for each spell, Naruto has to learn how to reduce the amount of power from infinite to the right amount. The quality of his mana source also makes most spells unavailable for him for other reasons.

Also due to power considerations, he learns his masters' signsture move, which is power ball the size of a bowling ball; when he finally peaks in his skill with that spell, his own version is large enough that he could fit inside it while standing.

Remember how people hate SAO for how overpowered Kirito was? Also for gods' sake Naruto didn't have to remove Kurama's chakra to use jutsu, he had to learn to properly control his system because the seal keeping him and and the fox seperated interfered with him — 1 hour ago
The way I understood he was using Kurama's chackra to do jutsus, and he botched many jutsus by using too much chackra. Kurama's chackra in him is also purely yin, which is why he is never able to use jutsus like the illusion clone properly. — 1 hour ago

Ynneadwraith 3,053923 · Answer 6 · 2018-11-09 11:10:11Z

'Managlobin' isn't a direct biological product of humans (or animals) like haemoglobin. It's a pervasive microbial organism with a symbiotic relationship that feeds on mana and produces magic.

Bob (or others like him) gain the ability to use magic by becoming infected with this micro-organism (perhaps from other magic users, perhaps by microbes in the wild). Some people's immune systems reject it, either becoming inert 'nulls' or dying a nasty death, whichever you prefer.

Some people keep this infection in check slightly better than others (producing natural variation in magic use), and the more magic/mana you use the more these microbes multiply explaining how people gain magical power with practice.

Bonus point: the debilitating side-effects of mana withdrawal are caused by this microbe. The headaches, pain, death are caused by chemicals released when these microbes starve, and evolved as a method for coercing their hosts into finding more mana.

It's like midichlorians...but nastier ;)

Yep. Realised that halfway through writing it :S I still hold that midichlorians is a halfway decent idea implemented terribly. If they'd gone down the road of making them a little nastier (introducing a parasitism/withdrawal perspective, or making it so that these microbes are giving visions and assistance to the Sith as well as the Jedi making their motivations highly questionable, or having someone industrialise midichlorian production for nefarious ends), it could have been an ok development. — 1 hour ago
I think the midi-chlorians back-lash was because A) people didn't want a "scientific" explanation and B) it gave Aniken/Daarth Vader a almost godl origin, and they had no other purpose in the story than that. But we would have to face the fire in the Star Wars forums to know for sure ;) — 1 hour ago

Varad Mahashabde 1536 · Answer 7 · 2018-11-09 11:08:55Z

Ok so you know how oxygen binds to hemoglobin and mana binds to managlobin?

Well what if I tell you (insert Morpheus) that we can make crystals of organic compounds which bind metal ions by coordination (basically share lone pairs with it's d/f orbitals) who in turn bind oxygen by co-ordinating some more (actually hemoglobin does the same with iron binding the oxygen with one iron pere heme protein and 4 heme per hemoglobin)?

You also know how Sony's Spiderman was literally bitten by a spider and somehow developed web-slinging abilities but in Marvel's Spiderman and the new PS4 Spiderman had to make their own tech and shoot special fluid out of small containers that oxidize and become sticky upon contact with air? So basically the same for mana.

Now what is required to make this depends on what is mana? We could turn to zero-point energy or lepton field density or some other pseudo scientific explanation, but let's just make our own : sub-atomic black holes.

OK I am joking with that, but let's just have mana droplets irradiated by stars that are an active biological component here. Of course, in that case, as the MC breathes this world's air, she will also start accumulating the stuff, but let's just say that his biology makes him allergic, so he needs to work with the locals to ensure he doesn't get too much of it. But of course, if he stores some for magic use outside his body, no harm done right? He won't have an allergic reaction and should someone cast a "mana vaporiser" spell to deplete people, he wouldn't be affected, just left with some useless bracelets

score 0 · Answer 8 · 2018-11-09 11:34:16Z

If he hasn't mana in his body, he uses the mana around him.

Mana should be everywhere. And Bob takes the mana around him to cast spells. The spells are not always the same, since mana around him is either stronger or weaker, or has ,if you have a system like that, different elements or properties than other mana.

Bob just has trained to or, if you're quite the funny guy, if he's drunken he can feel and use the mana around him to cast magic. There are plenty of other reasons why he could gain this ability. (You could ask another question on worldbuilding).

But: people feel, when their mana is robbed and try to keep it. So he cannot take mana from persons.

Like Naruto can collect chakra from the surrounding, Bob ... well he cannot collect but use mana instantly

I hope this helps :)

Ok, but OP says that the species using magic/mana have a special protein which helps them manipulate mana. How will MC interact with mana without one present? — 1 hour ago
@VaradMahashabde Maybe with negative pressure? The mana is everywhere, so it tries to float somewhere where it isn't, He uses his emptyness to create negative pressure and gain mana for a short moment. That could be a reason... Good question. do you have other ideas? — 1 hour ago
But that doesn't provide an interface for him to voluntarily use it. It means he has the some 'ambient' mana concentrations as any dead object would, as stated by OP. Maybe the drunken idea could work as the alcohol directly binds to mana and brings it to his neurotransmitters, permitting use? — 1 hour ago
Thats a cool idea, make an answer out of this @VaradMahashabde :) — 1 hour ago

Amadeus 21.3k42983 · Answer 9 · 2018-11-09 11:42:40Z

Perhaps the solution to your problem is magic; some powerful good witch casts a spell to transform Bob, out of kindness for something brave and selfless that Bob did. Or she gives him a device, a ring or bracelet that once he puts it on he cannot remove it, that is (magically) taking mana from the air and transfusing it into his blood.

So you have a mentor or ally or grateful stranger Bob meets; early on he has no magic, but after a week wearing this device he starts being able to do small conjurings, then more, etc. Turns out he is a natural.

score 4 · Answer 10 · 2018-11-09 01:11:31Z

up vote
4
down vote

Mana processing may depend on some chemical available in this world, which your protagonist initially lacks. As time goes by, some amount of this chemical is accumulated in his body, allowing him to use magic to some extent. But he probably can never match in magic ability the native people whose bodies are fully saturated with this chemical.

edited 11 hours ago

answered 11 hours ago

Alexander

17.5k42969

Quite plausible. For example, if mana is attached to an element or chemical found in food in this world, then by eating the local food will incorporate that substance in his body, leading to an accumulation of mana and the ability to work magic.
– a4android
11 hours ago

This could work. It'd explain quite a bit. I'm actually cleaning up my question, so check it out in a bit to see if the edit clarifies anything, but I so far like this explanation. My only major complaint being that it would imply magic usage being in part based on your diet, which isn't bad, (it makes mana effectively equivalent to blood sugar, which as a borderline diabetic I find ironically hilarious,) but it feels like that would make the solution for someone born into this world who's less naturally gifted with magic able to cheat the system by just eating a bunch. Still, good answer! :)
– Sora Tamashii
11 hours ago

If mana is attached to food, does that make fat people extra magical?
– Thorne
10 hours ago

@Thorne all depends on details of the magic system. For example, in Robin Hobb's Soldier Son Trilogy this is exactly the case.
– Alexander
4 hours ago

@SoraTamashii It may be a chemical that the body has to process with enzymes that also fulfil other processes and exist in our world - similar to Star Trek TOS S3E10 Plato's Stepchildren. Anyone who born & raised in the world will already be at their maximum saturation of the "processed" chemical, and all "eating a bunch" would do was build up their stored of the unprocessed chemical, with too much excess being excreted as a waste product. In which case, "Low Magic Potential" pretty much would be a copy of diabetes...
– Chronocidal
1 hour ago

add a comment |

Shadowzee 5,819824 · Answer 11 · 2018-11-09 01:04:18Z

So it sounds like magic is a evolved biological process in this new world and your Main Characters simply doesn't have it. Infact his system doesn't interact with mana and instead uses oxygen.

Instead of being able to bind and use mana, your Character is able to leech off the mana of other peoples magic. When someone casts a strong spell near him, the mana is cast out and some of the mana binds to his blood like it would for any other person. This gives your character access to mana and magic, however he needs to slowly accumulate it from the people around him who use magic in their daily lives.

This is also how other species and people can gift him spells and magics that are one time use only. They bind the spell and required mana to his blood like their own mana. Your character can't generate more mana and can't interact with it properly, so he can only activate the mana/spell once before its gone and used up.

Now to allow him to slowly build up more power, as your Character is introduced to more magic, his body slowly changes. He is able to start harnessing the magic, as the magic interacts with and changes his body. Since he was originally a blank sheet with no mana, as he develops, he is able to combine the magics of different species and continue to use their spells. It takes him much longer to learn, because he has to figure it out from scratch and his mind is no longer developing and discovering things like a babies would be, and this is a foreign concept/feeling for him.

I should clarify: The oxygen example was just an analogy. These humans don't breathe mana in place of oxygen. It's just a similar process. That said, regular magic use isn't common. I thought I made it clear in my post, but I'll clean it up and make it more clear. It's a trained process. Like being a good singer or athlete requires control over your breathing. Your answer sort of says what I want to do, but it doesn't really give a how without (seemingly) being a misunderstanding of my (possibly unclear) question and explanation. I'll try fixing it now. Sorry for any inconvenience! T-T — 11 hours ago
@SoraTamashii I thought it was more of an evolved biological process. Like an addition to the human body that has developed. You could replace blood with just their body. So your main character has both no way to use mana initially and no knowledge of mana. So not only would he need to undergo the training process to use mana, he would need to undergo an evolutionary change to be able to generate mana and store it in his body. A bad example would be like he was fair skinned and needed to be dark skinned. Constant exposure to the sun(mana) will eventually cause his skin to turn dark. — 10 hours ago
You're right in that it is an evolved biological process. I'm in the process of cleaning up my post to help better reflect that. That said, maybe I misunderstood your answer. Please give me a little more time. Cleaning up my post and giving it a good formatting is taking time. Sorry! Also, for your skin analogy, it'd be more accurate to say the MC is albino, meaning no melanin to absorb sunlight. I get you said it was a bad example, but I wanted to make that clarification. He doesn't have the thing that acts as a binding agent at all, so absorbing from the ambiance alone can't work. — 10 hours ago
@SoraTamashii Yeah, Albino would be much better, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go there... but I guess I was already implying that he turns black... hopefully you get more helpful answers. — 9 hours ago

adaliabooks 10.2k33562 · Answer 12 · 2018-11-09 10:54:33Z

It may not entirely fit with a typical medieval fantasy world, but what if Bob were to receive a blood transfusion after a serious injury, and the blood he was given (being of the magical world) contained managlobins and started his body producing them itself.

The biggest issue is probably one of technology, in our world the first blood transfusion didn't happen till 1665, well over 150 years after the end of the late medieval period.
But perhaps the use of magic allows some kind of rudimentary blood transfusion to take place despite the other inferior technology level?

The upside of this explanation is that unlike absorbing mana through eating or just living in the world he would only develop magical abilities after being saved from a life threatening injury (so you can control exactly where it happens in the story).
And due to the dangerous and experimental nature of the transfusion process it's unlikely others like Bob would voluntarily undergo it in an attempt to receive magical powers unless they were really desperate.

Of course you might also have to explain how the blood types of the people in your fantasy world are compatible with Bob or other real world humans, but I think that's a fairly minor hand wave in the grand scheme of things.

He might got dragon blood from somewhere. dragon blood contains more managlobin or eat a golem plant ... But this is like giving him an artifact, which is forbidden by the op btw ... — 1 hour ago
@Jannis I suppose you could see it like that, but I was thinking it would be an incidental side effect rather than something that was sought after or given to him. So instead of being handed the magic ring of mana manipulation and suddenly he's a wizard he suffers a terrible injury and later finds he is able to use magic. — 1 hour ago
It may be a spell to cure a curse, transferring blood from the caster to the recipient? (A bone-marrow transfusion is also a possibility, and is more likely to give him the ability to generate the managlobins for himself - it would also allow a slower and less noticeable build up of him having Magic.) — 1 hour ago

Elmy 7,66611034 · Answer 13 · 2018-11-09 11:00:23Z

Bob has detailled knowledge about the game he played, so he knows about items that enhance abilities either permanently or temporarily. As in any game, these items are quite rare.

Initially, since he is virtually "dead", he is not affected by spells that target living matter (like mind control or paralyze). But he is very much affected by spells that target nonliving matter (like necromancer spells). His only luck is that these spells are usually not casted in populated areas and on moving and breathing targets.

Bob needs to find a permanent magic enhancer and use it. It could be a potion he drinks that causes his body to create managlobin or a prolonged stay in a sacred cave where he inhales natural gases that enrich his body with managlobin. He should feel the effect of the enhancement like a high, feeling connected with his surroundings and experiencing everything more intense.

Bob notices that he is now affected by spells targeting living matter.

Then he needs to start training the control of mana. He should realize that the amount of managlobin in his blood is barely enough to create the smallest magical effects (no more than harmless poltergeist stuff), so he starts searching for the next magic enhancer.

During his adventure, he realizes that temporary magic enhancers work on him as well, giving him enough managlobin to cast one bigger spell for a limited amount of time. But the more managlobin in his blood, the more intense the effects of spells are on him.

That adds the strategic element to magical confrontations. Is the opponent casting a fireball and he needs to drink his mana potion now to defend against it or is the opponent casting a paralyzing spell and not drinking the mana potion protects Bob against the effect?

Renan 38.5k1187194 · Answer 14 · 2018-11-09 11:08:50Z