“What’s wrong? Do you have a question?” asked Curiosity, sensing her student’s curiousness.

“You, how are you lifting that stone, when you didn’t perform an invocation?” questioned Chara.

“Ah, this…?” Curiosity presented the piece of obsidian and chuckled. “I did perform an invocation; you just didn’t notice~!”

Who didn’t notice? I’ve been watching you the entire time! The little spirit wasn’t convinced.

Noticing her skepticism, the curiosity spirit decided to explain further. “First, I envisioned lifting this rock.”

She raised the rock slightly.

“Then, I expressed the principle of ‘holding’ by grasping it with my mana.”

To illustrate her point, she flung the piece of obsidian upward and caught it using a different mana tendril.

“……What?”

As Chara attempted to make sense of this information, her swirling grew increasingly turbulent, and her mana rippled meaninglessly. It wasn’t that she didn’t grasp the explanation, it just seemed so arbitrary that it felt absurd.

Does this mean that if I think of ‘owning’ something, and then I write my name on it, it will really become mine? What kind of ridiculous logic is that?! Hmph, I should write my name on Curiosity, just to see what happens…

Amidst her nonsensical thoughts, the little spirit was struck by a sudden realization.

Now that I think about it, why did I have to write and recite my own poem to move that creepy rock, when I could have just done this instead…

As she compared her overly complicated, amateurish ‘floating’ spell to the curiosity spirit’s easy and simple ‘holding’ spell, Chara felt as though she had spent over two hours planning and executing the most ingenious plan to bypass an impenetrable locked door, only to belatedly realize the obvious “pull to open” instructions on its glass.

At that moment, her swirling slowed dejectedly, and her confused rippling ceased. She was sulking.

“Alrighty, no more distractions. Baby… do not speak,” ordered Curiosity.

Who—Who are you calling Baby!?

The muted spirit hadn’t even planned on speaking—but now she did! All about how mean and wicked this spirit was to her kind, cute, and innocent pupil!

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Now where were we…? Ah yes, mana~!

Lost in her thoughts, the curiosity spirit raised the ominous black rock and slid it across the whiteboard’s surface. As it moved, the rock left behind a clean black line, as if she were using a marker instead of a chunk of volcanic glass. When she was finished, she set down her unusual writing utensil and marveled at her creation.

It was a crudely drawn circle…

Needless to say, the little spirit was extremely bewildered. So much so, that she forgot she was angry.

Curiosity took a moment to gather her thoughts before she began her lecture. “In this world, there exists countless things. From towering mountains to humble ponds, to the beautiful flowers that fill my garden. There is also you, Little Spirit. You also exist.”

Gee… I don’t know about that… Chara lampooned. To be honest, even she wasn’t entirely convinced of her own existence. Regardless, she bobbed up and down to show her agreement.

“Thanks to this, you, along with all other existences, have the innate potential to experience change,” Curiosity passionately explained.

“These changes could take any number of shapes. For instance, take this piece of obsidian. It could move to the left, or it could move to the right. It could spin around in circles or explode into pieces. It could even become blue, turn into a cloud, or wake up, move out of this building, and become an artist,” narrated the swirling teacher, as she tormented her illustration full of arrows and scribbling.

“All of these potential changes are what we call ‘possibilities.’ Capable of happening, but not yet realized. In theory, this piece of obsidian could undergo any one of these possibilities… And yet, not only are none of them happening now; most of them won’t happen in the future either!” harassed the greater spirit, as the countless arrows were inexplicably yanked off the whiteboard and dispersed into a fine mist.

The little spirit couldn’t help but feel melancholic as the already bastardized obsidian’s potential futures vanished from existence. It was too pitiful.

Curiosity lowered the piece of obsidian. “That being said, it’s important to understand when possibilities don’t come to fruition, it’s not necessarily because an existence is lazy or unmotivated. Rather, it’s typically because the conditions needed to facilitate that possibility aren’t being met.

“For instance, why can’t this piece of obsidian move to the right? Because there isn’t a force pushing it from the left~! Why can’t it transform into a cloud? Because its temperature isn’t high enough~! Why can’t it wake up, leave this building, and become an artist? Because it can’t draw~!” denounced the swirling teacher.

No, I don’t think that’s the reason… Chara had her doubts.

“Fortunately… there is a solution. It’s mana~!” cheered the curiosity spirit as she spun in place and released a shower of illusory water droplets that glimmered with an aqueous light before vanishing.

The little spirit felt compelled to clap but she didn’t have hands. So instead, she envisioned a pair of mana tendrils and used them to clap… though this didn’t produce any sound. At this moment, she felt an ethereal weight manifest over her mind.

A spell…?

Intrigued, she pushed on this weight, just to see what would happen, only to get startled when a round of applause echoed across the classroom.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

It was a clapping spell.

“Ahaha~! What are you doing~?” Curiosity burst out laughing.

Overcome with embarrassment, the little spirit had the urge to hide under her desk. Fortunately, she didn’t do this, or else her teacher would have laughed even harder.

Unbothered by her student’s antics, the curiosity spirit delivered her conclusion.

“What I’m trying to say is that by using mana, we can satisfy the required conditions for any given possibility, allowing us to manifest its outcome directly. This is why mana is known as the embodiment of possibility~!” proclaimed Curiosity, her mana swelling proudly.