The older mage that stumble across Kuta was interested in her but had enough sense not to careless approach her. Even in her current state as she was clearly somehow living off of mana. According to the stories she had been here for long then three days without doing anything other then acting those that got too close with the wrong intentions either for her or what she had.
"A feat like this should not be possible for someone like herself," the mage thought to themselves aloud.
Forget learning how to run before you could even walk. This was running one of the most difficult marathons successfully when you can not even roll over properly. This girl jumps over every step imaginable between just using mana to use it to sustain themselves on it alone. This is how she managed to live going three days with water. Going a month without food was considered the limit of what the human body could handle in an ideal scenario. However, just going merely three days without water was enough to end almost anyone in that time. At least anyone other than a mage as not even a master amongst masters in the usage of ki could get around this limit. The reasoning was that a ki master was using their own internal mana that was being produced and used as ki could not function properly without water. Using ki when dehydrated was considered foolishness completely and utter foolishness because of what it did. It merely makes dehydration even worse and speeds up the process even more. That how dangerous it was to use ki when not in the proper state of being as one was using their own internal mana and thus could never use beyond a certain point if they did not want to and/or enjoy playing games with their lives. Converting internal mana into ki was converting the very power that ran their powers into everything they used it for. If they did not have anything to keep them going then they would surely die as what powering them if they truly and completely exhaust their internal mana through excessive and lethal ki usage.
Mages on the other hand can not convert their internal mana into anything instead they just take in external mana and then convert that into the magic they use. This makes it so that they never run out of magic themselves it is always the area they are in running out of mana which is not likely. No mage is skilled enough and/or gifted enough to drain a place full of mana entirely. To do so would be to kill that area entirely as it would have been stripped of all its mana thus not able to support life anymore. The idea that anything is lethal regardless of what it is in the right amounts is true of mana as well. Should a mage take in too much mana they would suffer the effects of mana poisoning from doing so. The effects would vary from mage to mage but doing so in every case leads to death once it reaches the point of no return.
What is the reason for how something such as existing on just mana alone as this is not something that is done normally for living or even surriving even. It is just done to continue existing as you live without this ability and surviving is easy without it as well. It case where just because you can do something does not mean you should ever do it beyond extreme circumstances. As for how this unique mage knows about this method of mana usage is because they are considered a unique type of mage that looks into various usages not just of magic but of mana as a whole.
Kuta was not aware of this but everyone who can use mana is considered a mana user however in the cases of mages was unique. Every ki user was also considered a weapon user because whatever they used to fight with even if it was their own body was considered their weapon. The only difference between weapon users was if they were mainly armed or unarmed in their fighting style. Mages were different as while every mage was mana user not every mage used magic. Magic was something that had to be taught, learned, and practiced over time. Just having a talent for mana usage did not automatically translate to a talent for magic usage.
The mage looking at Kuta from just looking at her could tell that she was somehow already at the master level of mana usage possibly in a vast amount of area. How she managed to reach such a level at such an age was beyond them but this was something they never thought they would find again. A seemingly once in a lifetime occurrence happening a second time for them. They were not going to pass up this chance to get her under their wing if possible. She was clearly abandoned from the looks of her and whatever or whoever caused left her in this state she was in now.
"Path of the Mana Blade," the mage said all of a sudden.
They noticed that what they just said caught Kuta's atttention and thus began to continue onward with what they had mention just now.
"Whatever path you were denied maybe it was not the path itself that was wrong but your view of what it was instead. The path you wanted to follow was not wrong it was merely you being steered in the wrong direction by the wrong people. The path of the Mana Blade is something that is considered a fantasy, a myth, and/or a fairy tale that I learned merely the name of at a glance one day when I was younger. It started me down the path to seek out unique forms of mana usage more than that of magic" they said
The mage was impressed that she took the saying make your weapon an extension of yourself to the literal extreme by having that actually happen. They would tell she was a mage and that her wand was her very arms from just looking at her.
"Do you know the way?" the unique mage asked Kuta
Kuta reacted slightly but not that much.
"No, you do not know the way thus I will show the way," they said
Assuming that she had merely lost her way but had not lost her drive or her desire. Her mind might have given up hope but in her heart, she did not seem to have done so as her body reacted to defend the only thing she had left to a clue to show her the way. Almost as if her body was waiting for her mind to realize what the way was thus allowing them to walk it once more.
"Come with me if you want to find the way. While I can not walk it with you two I can watch you as you go down it to discover what lies ahead" she was told.