‘Lesson 1: Use your natural Mana to create a [Light] spell.’

‘Description: even the stupidest [Mage] can cast [Light]. Even children learn how to do that. It doesn’t matter how humble your profession has been. Whether you are a [Sailor], a [Shopkeeper], or even dumber, a [Politician], it doesn’t matter. Your journey to greatness must start somewhere before you can go slay terrible monsters and live the mightiest adventures!’

‘Requirement: learn how to produce an inferior [Light] in two days.’

'Time remaining: 1 day'

"And let there be light."

Nothing happens.

Yeah, I wish it was that easy, huh?

After another grueling night at work, I stare at the floating book as I listlessly sit on my bed. I'm pretty tired, but I get the feeling the book won’t be happy with me failing the quest.

"Book, what happens if I can't complete this assignment?"

‘Appropriate punishment will be served. It's recommended that you train your resistance to [Thunderbolt] with your master for a few months to avoid dying before starting your learning journey.’

"Mh, I wish I knew about that before," I say, scratching my head, annoyed.

Why annoyed? Well, I don't really want to die now, do I?

And anyway, what's up with magic?

I mean, really, what is up with people wanting to do magic?

And don’t tell me that people don’t want to! Hell, Harry Potter! Come on; we both know how famous it is. It’s like a new religion.

Harry Potter outsold faith!

HA!

That’s something, isn’t it?

And to be fair, I could have simply never opened the book. But... I like the idea of doing magic.

And before you ask why... Humans are kind of pathetic, aren’t they? We slogged in the mud for millennia, maybe even more—I’ve actually never watched much National Geographic or whatever it is you need to watch to know these facts.

But listen, I know we are mortal. I know we are not perfect. I know we will die.

But when you really think about it, how come we are so taken with magic?

What is it that grips us by our most precious jewels and never lets us go?

I mean, we were throwing people into volcanoes for a while just to get more rain for our crops. So, I'd say we are quite obsessed with the idea of magic.

My explanation is the following– we want to know that we can do some magic. We are too ordinary otherwise. Too mundane! If you can’t do some measure of magic, well, you are a failure, duh!

Before coming to Amorium, magic could have been making someone smile with the right jokes or catching a cab without having to scream your lungs out or violently wave your hand for half a minute.

And that’s why Harry Potter sold...

People need magic! People need to believe they are special!

I hate being special, though. I really do.

But I can’t help and stare at those words in my head.

[Mage…

Emphatic pause.

…Level 1]

And.

[Advanced Mana Sense]

It kind of chokes me.

I can’t… I just can’t.

It’s so—so beautiful.

It’s beyond power. It’s beyond any rational explanation.

I see it, and my heart pours out joy I’ve never felt before.

Never!

Never in my entire life have I been so happy about something. I kind of hate it, honestly! Why does this make me so happy?! I am a baker, goddammit! And I should have become a [Baker]! Not a [Mage]!

But still, I can’t tear my eyes off the square-bracketed word in my head.

Goddammit!

I should look at magic as a pain in the ass, not as something to be happy about!

Magic is a pain in the ass! It’s a shortcut to being murdered before my time! No, thank-you-very-much, I don’t want to be murdered!

Come on, Joey, why would you let yourself be dragged into being a [Hero] or something?! And right now? Didn't we already refuse the Dragon Lady? What's up with this craziness about magic?

I could have a life so easy, so beautifully easy. I could get myself a beautiful Elven wife— or maybe two—and just have a bunch of children while I work a couple of hours a day making cakes! I mean, if you want someone to stab your eyes out while trying to steal the ultimate magical device you happened to find by mistake, be my guest, by all means.

Dammit.

Magic is basically women.

They choke me, they make me flushed, they throw a wrench into my life in a way that no other person or thing could ever do.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Even if I won the lottery, I wouldn’t care that much. Sure, I would buy some amenities for my place. Maybe a bigger couch. Not one that you can open, though; I don’t want people sleeping over. Now that I think about it, I would probably buy a couch that disappears inside the floor. That way, I would hide it every time someone came over to bother me.

Imagine that.

They would go, ‘oh, shoot, there’s no couch here, I can’t sleep over, I cannot impose like the little imposing, clingy, and annoying thing that I am.’

Then, I would probably do some 007 stuff to my bed too. Like, unless I need to sleep on it, it will be super uncomfortable and thin. Maybe make it 80% of the size of a single bed. Yeah. Enough to do the dirty deed on it without falling, but not enough to have someone sleep over.

Here we go.

I just had a billion-dollar idea, and I can’t sell it to anyone in this place.

Or can I?.

...

I went to wash my face with some water in the shared bathroom. I don’t know what exactly it was, but I was overreacting.

It actually takes me a while to calm down. I don't know how exactly, but I was getting really riled up about this whole magic thing. I suppose it's the lack of sleep and whatnot.

"Book, could I get an extension on the deadline? I'm tired. I don't want to worry about this too much. I'll do it, sure. But maybe give me a week or so?"

'Due to your continuous complaining and poor diligence, your remaining time has been shrunk to four hours.'

I feel a spark of electricity crawl up my skin as I read the ink-black message the book is displaying to me.

Four hours? Damn, that's... Tim Ferriss would love this. Damn him.

"Book, remind me again, how bad is the zap if I fail..."

'Not something that a future [Archmage] shouldn't be able to take with some high-grade health potion and a [Flesh Mage] on hand to help you restart your heart in case it stopped.'

This is remarkably worse than trying to convince a woman to pick a restaurant to eat out at on a Saturday night and then telling her that you want to split the bill.

Well, four hours and no sleep shall suffice.

As I start whistling I'm Going to Live Forever, I look at the instructions that the book materialized on the page. At least, I can say that this is not about being special, but just about surviving a deadly electric discharge that could most likely stop my heart.

'Per the reductionist approach, every spell has a possible array of moving, living spell matrixes. Every matrix is different; even when you cast the same spell just a few seconds after the first. Even the much coveted simultaneous casting does not generate the same matrixes. Remember, to cast your first [Light], you will need a template, provided by the book, and the [Advanced Mana Sense] skill that you acquired when you first took the matrix manipulation test.'

'Some lesser cultures have started teaching students spells without teaching [Advanced Mana Sense] skill first. Those are generally countries with little to no availability of [Teachers]. Beware, if you ever take a disciple, have him spend all the necessary time to acquire the skill before learning how to cast even the simplest [Light]. Otherwise, they will need to forget everything they have ever learned to become proficient practitioners.'

'Learning new spells through the reductionist approach will always need someone who has learned the spell, or living diagrams of it, and [Advanced Mana Sense] at the very least. [Mana Sense] will never be enough, as it doesn't allow us to visualize the crisp details of matrixes formulated under the reductionist theory. Remember, there are no shortcuts on the path to becoming an [Archmage]!'

I squint to read the small handwriting the book materializes. Does this thing not have Helvetica? 16 pt size? No? Is there any CSS I can tweak here to make the font bigger?

"Book, can you make the writing bigger?"

The book doesn't respond to that.

Great, a feature the author of this stupid Relic never consid—

ZAP!

My body seizes with electricity as I stare at the offending book.

"Are you reading my mind? That's an invasion of my privac—"

ZAP!

As my hair lightly fumes, I just shut up and stare at the rest of the instructions.

'When you are ready to attempt your first casting, simply ask the book to materialize the spell matrix template of a [Light] spell in front of you. Then, slowly recreate the same spell matrix on your own, while still using [Advanced Mana Sense] and the template as a reference. If you succeed, the [Light] should appear.'

Piece of cake.

I mean, how hard can it be to sense Mana and recreate a spell matrix?.

...

Ok, maybe it’s not that easy.

I've been at this for about an hour, and, believe it or not, I'm stuck on the skill. I cannot seem to activate [Advanced Mana Sense]. I almost pooped my pants at some point from how hard I was trying.

I shouldn't provoke Lady Luck with such stupid statements about how easy this is, should I?

Sweaty and tired as hell, I look at the book. I have asked the question several times, but the book's reply to 'how do I use the skill?' appears to be, 'just use it.'

Very helpful if it wasn't for the small detail that I had never had a class nor a skill in my entire life, unlike the people of this world.

I sit on my bed, confused. I mean, shouldn't thinking about the skill be enough to activate it? What else is there that I should know?

Come to think of it, it's probably because [Mages] are trained to actually sense Mana. Instead, here, I'm trying to use a skill to sense Mana without having tried to do the basic action on my own. I suppose it's kind of like trying to swing a sword while you are actually pooping on the toilet and wielding the toilet brush instead of a real sword.

"Book, how do you sense Mana?"

Black ink slowly appears on the pages.

'The answer to your question lies in your own experience with your teachers.'

This is getting ridiculous.

"Can you at least give me a hint?"

'No. The proper Mana-sensing process should be guided by your teachers. The Omnium Compendium is meant to teach you magic, not the foundations of Mana.'

I'm about to punch the book but decide against it. I need this Relic, and I need to be on its good side. Also, didn't it literally explain the very theories which spellcasting is based upon? What is it about doing this alongside teachers? I thought this book was supposed to be the Udemy of magic, all about learning everything on your own, no? How the hell am I supposed to find out how to use skills? Do [Mages] have their own version of StackOverflow?

"Fine, I'll try to do it without your help."

I close my eyes and try to relax. It's been a while since I actually tried to meditate, and I have to say, it's always been harder than I thought. This world is full of so many things that occupy your mind that just trying to blank it is a feat on its own.

After a few minutes of trying to calm myself down, I start to focus on my breathing. I know it's not the most original method, but it works for me. As I inhale and exhale, I try to focus on the sensation of air flowing in and out of my lungs.

Slowly, I start to feel more relaxed. The outside noise fades away, and I'm only focused on my breathing.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Now, why am I doing this again?

Well, Joey, come on, let's chill with the intrusive thoughts.

Mana is energy, right? It has to be. If it's energy, I could try imagining, like, atoms flowing all around me, perhaps even brushing against my skin. And maybe, I'm trying to get in synch with those atoms or something.

I start visualizing energy in the form of waves, and slowly, I convert every object I visualize in my mind into energy. Energy is everywhere. And if Mana is the same, I'll just go along with this very hippie approach. I could use a rainbow-colored bandana and some New Age music at the moment, to be fair.

After a few minutes, I feel a little... prickle. It's like there's wind brushing against my skin. I pop open an eye to making sure that no wild beast has somehow entered my apartment. All is good, thank God.

Back to trying to psych myself into perceiving the existence of stupid magic.

Now, I focus on the sensation on my skin. And suddenly, I'm reminded of the weird feeling that I got when I was manipulating the spell matrix the book gave me to assess my proficiency. Well, I suppose I could have done better than 23 if I had known about magic before. I mean, I assume 23 is probably on a scale of 100, right? It wouldn't really make sense otherwise.

Anyway, I remember it was a similar pricking sensation. And as I think about that, the sensation moves beyond my exposed skin— now, I can feel it all over my body, heavier in some points, lighter in others.

For a moment, it's like I can hear my mother's voice.

Joey, God is everywhere. Never forget that. It's around you, in your heart, and in you. You should feel it in your voice, in your actions, and in every corner of His creation.

I don't exactly know why my mother's religious rant came to me at this moment, but something clicks in my head, and suddenly, I feel compelled to open my eyes.

And when I do, my vision is completely changed. In one moment, I was expecting to see my apartment's boring room, but in the next moment, I'm looking at pure energy dancing around. I am pure energy. The book is pure energy. I see a world of energy.

A world of Mana.