“Remember this, Mary. Although some magic systems are inefficient, there isn’t a wrong way to use magic.”
“What do you mean by that master?”
“The use of magic system is to accomplish a task, for example, you can use the spirits, borrowing their power to manifest fire or you can use the fire elemental and the result is the same as using a lighter,” ____ conjured a small flaming orb with his left hand. “And the energy consumption would be roughly the same, no matter which methods you use. The difference is the medium that you use to accomplish the task, in case of casting magic, the medium is the caster magic circuit and their ability in mana manipulation.” ____ cast another spell with his right hand, an orb of pure mana manifested above his right hand. “And so, the spell that I will have you practice is ‘Magic missile’.”
“Why magic missile?” Mary asked. “Isn’t it the weakest elementary tier spell?”
“Because ‘Magic missile’ only requires manipulating mana to cast and nothing else. In essence, this spell is the core of my mana theory, the power of this spell entirely depends on the purity and quantity of mana,” ____ conjured another orb, this time the orb can be clearly seen through, emitting violent energy waves. “Now practice this spell, until you can manipulate a decent amount of mana.”
***
The sound of lighting resounded through the valley. After disposing of the Kobolds that chased after him, Flama continue mapping the area around him.
He has been traveling for the past two days, figuring how Aseperiot works along the way. Aseperiot works in the same way as magic eyes, it can be switched on or off at will, though it requires a bit of focus. His spells such as far sight and eagle eyes also got strengthened, but he doesn’t use Aseperiot often. The crest is tied to his soul, and he doesn’t like anyone tampering with his soul.
He also tried to fix his magic circuit, but it looked like it got torn asunder. He would need some magical beast parts to help it heal, for now, he wouldn’t be able to use any complicated magics. Creatures in Avalon are similar to the one in some of his memories, the Kobolds are the same as the one he knew, so maybe he could find some phoenix for their bloods. Although he hasn’t found any human settlements, he ran into a couple of goblin villages, which he got some equipment from.
Now his belonging consists of a short metal sword, a black tattered cloak, a notebook and writing equipment. There are some books but he can’t read them, even though there is translation magic, it requires a mage that knew the language to inscribe the rune.
A town is nearby, Flama can sense a large cluster of mana not too far away. He sure hoped that this one is a human town, or at the very least anything that aren’t goblins. He poured more mana into his legs, running in the direction of the town.
As he got nearer, he could see the wall of the settlement. He pulled down his cloak to cover his face, making sure that no parts of his body can be seen outside the cloak and ran toward the wall. There are two men in heavy armor stationed at the gate.
“****! *******************,” one of the men raised their hand in front of him, motioning him to stop. They are speaking in a language that he couldn’t understand.
Flama waves his hand over his face, pointing to his mouth and ear, trying to convey that he can’t understand them.
The guards stared for a minute, one of them seems to figure out what he tried to say and handed him a silver medallion.
“****?” the guard asked, looking at Flama before rotating the edge of the medallion in his hand. “Can you understand what I’m saying?”
“Ah, yes,” Flama replied. “Is that a translation tool?”
“Yeah, do you still have the recommendation letter when you got summoned?”
“This one?” Flama pulled the letter out of his cloak.
“Try crumbling it,” said the guard.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Flama crumbled the letter, it turned into a gold medallion.
“Turned it to number three.”
Flama tried to tuned it as the guard said, then he handed back the guard silver medallion. “Is this a translation tool?”
“Yup, are you a newborn?”
“A newborn?”
“It means that you are recently summoned, I suggest you go to the guildhall if you ask anything, and find some other cloths,” the guard explained, he looked at his tattered cloak and pointed to the guildhall. “As a newborn you don’t have to pay the gate tolls. The guildhall is the building with a sword and book on it.”
Flama took the guard advice and walks toward the guildhall. The town is bustling, the roads are paved with bricks, there isn't any stench of sewage and the building looks like they are built recently. There are a lot of stalls and they sell a variety of foods and equipment. Flama stopped in front of a tall building with a huge book and sword sign on it.
He stepped into the building, he walked straight to the table that seems to be the reception. “Is this the guildhall?” he asked.
“Yes, is there anything I can help you with?” the glasses receptionist replied.
“The guard said that I’m a newborn and I should come to the guildhall for information.”
The receptionist mumbled to herself, looking at his attire. “Newborn? Please don’t be another dark mage, I had enough of them.” She called for her colleague before walking out of the receptionist table. “Anna! Cover the shift for me, there is another newborn case.”
“Another one? This is the tenth this moth.” Anna shouted from the back of the guildhall.
“Shall we talk over a cup of tea?” The receptionist asked, leading Flama to the second floor of the guildhall. After sitting down on the seat next to the window, she takes out a stack of documents.
“So first, when and where did you got summoned? You can call me Selph by the way,” said the receptionist.
“Around two days ago, in the middle of a plain.” Flama took a sip of the tea.
Selph raised her eyebrow, “You aren’t summoned in the town?”
“Apparently not.”
“Did you encountered any monster on the way here?”
“Just some goblins and kobolds.” Flama placed goblin ears and kobolds fangs on the table. “ Do you need these for proof system over here?”
“No, we don’t have any bounty system. We only buy monster parts.” Selph adjusted her glasses. “You are a mage before you got summoned?”
“My memory is kinda fuzzy, but yeah,” Flama answered, he takes a look at one of the documents Selph gave him. ‘The guide to Avalon for newbie’ is printed on the front page.
“The guide should answer most of your question. Fills in the information so I can make an ID for you,” said Selph as she waited for Flama, “So you are not from Earth? Most of travelers came from there, and the one that died off the most is from there too. They don’t even know how to use mana or swing their sword but exterminating monster is the first thing they tried to do,” she complained.
“Here.” Flama hand over the document.
Selph adjusted her glasses again. “Let’s see, name : Flama, age : blank, origin : blank, race : undead, calling : Necromancer, subclass : blank. You are a necromancer!?” She shouted. “Oh god, another black mage, and this one is an undead.”
“Well, you should be able to tell from my robe.” Flama took another sip from the tea. “Wow this is some good tea.”
“How are you able to taste it if you are an undead.”
“By sacrificing a virgin maiden.” Selph grimaced at his answer. “I’m joking. You see, I’m a bit of a special case, just think of me as a normal human, but dead. I used magic to simulated taste.”
“Where does the food go?”
“It turned into mana.” Flama sipped the tea once more.
“This is better than a lich I guess, this isn’t the first time an undead got summoned so well, whatever.”
Flama flipped ‘The guide to Avalon for newbie’.
__
“Welcome to Avalon!
This guide will cover everything for your brand-new life!
First, if you haven’t fought with weapons for your whole life, drag your ass back to the guide hall and receive lessons in combats! This is not a video game or whatever if you die, you die!
Second, you are not a wizard! You won’t be able to cast tenth tier spells just because you got summoned, go to the academy!
Third, ….
__
“Isn’t this commonsense?” Flama frowned.
“Yes, but most travelers lack them so this is required,” Selph replied embarrassingly. “I don’t think you will need the guide if you are already a mage, you can ask me anything you want.”
“So why are we summoned? And what exactly is ‘The island of miracle’?” Flama inquired.
Selph rang a bell. Another guild employee came out and took Flama information to make his ID.
“The world we are in is called Eva, and we are on the floating island Avalon. We, traveler, are summoned to fight the void beast in Eva, though there are cases where some accidentally teleported into Avalon but they can’t go back and also got bestowed a crest”
“Void beast?” Flama furrowed his brows.
“They are monsters that turned anything into the void, meaning that they destroy everything, so we are summoned and bestowed the crest to fight them. In about 5 years, the gate to Eva will open and we will descend to fight them.”
“We are stuck in Avalon until then?” Flama asked.
“We are, we are given time to grow stronger, but some do not like combat so they opt for other calling instead.”
Flama started contemplating. “What about the crest?”
“The crest is an authority of Avalon, and the manifestation of our soul.”