Chapter 18 Magics

“Let’s get all the easy ones out of the way first.” Isaac told the young wizard before him. “How do sorcerers normally learn spells, why does saying weird chants and occasionally hand signs make magic happen, and where does mana come from?”

Clayton gulped. “Those are the easy ones?” He asked with eyes growing wider.

“Yes.” Isaac replied simply.

Clayton nodded. “Okay, well mana comes from a divinity of magic who dispersed itself across all of existence in order to never truly die. They didn’t want to be able to be killed by any other divinity and they also wanted to experience everything.” Clayton thought for a second before clarifying. “I do mean everything, they exist in all things at all times.”

Isaac thought about Clayton’s answer for a long moment. “So is mana like it’s flesh and blood?” He asked.

Clayton shrugged. “It always seemed like more of a spiritual entity to me so I don’t think it ever really had flesh and blood to begin with.” He theorized. “Any more questions about that or can we move on to the next one?”

Isaac nodded. “I think we are good on that one for now.” He replied.

Clayton took a deep breath before diving into the next topic. “Spells are like commands to mana itself. For a lightning bolt, you tell magic what you want, envision it in your mind, direct it with your staff, all while powering it with the mana you have inside yourself, which you have some sway over, and then finally the effect happens. Every step of this process had to be discovered via trial and error, that is why the holy versions of the same spells can sometimes have different chants as the mental image as well as the power source are different.” He took another deep breath after finishing his summary. “Some spells are much more direct, there is a whole subset of spells that always start with the word for command in the celestial language and then the desired effect being specifically stated.”

Isaac tilted his head to the side. “Wait, those are in a different language?” He asked and then looked at Lenna for answers.

“Yes.” She replied simply before deciding some elaboration was in order. “Your all-speech was translating it for you.”

“Oh.” Isaac replied, drawing the word out. “That makes sense.”

“All-speech?” Clayton asked.

“Demigod things don’t worry about it.” Isaac replied.

Clayton was frozen in shock for a number of reasons for a few long moments. Eventually he got his head back together enough that his blank stare turned into a blink and then a slow nod. He swallowed and shook his head. “A lot of things are starting to make sense.” He whispered.

“I understand the how but I don’t understand the why.” Isaac told the young wizard to get him back on topic.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Uh, um, what were we talking about again?” Clayton stammered out. “Oh yes. Spell incantations. Honestly as far as I know no one fully understands why magic listens to us in the first place. It could be that it is simply divine power as the mana that we are using is the essence of a divine being.”

“Like how gravity is measurable and people know that larger objects have more gravity but no one truly understands why.” Isaac replied. He seemed to have a much better grasp on physics than magic even after skimming dozens of books on magic and magic theory.

Clayton looked at him dumbfounded again. “Yes.” He replied slowly. “I think so anyway, that analogy is a bit shaky for me as I never was one to study the more strange magics.” His face turned to one of curiosity. “How do you know so much about the most random things?” He asked.

Isaac shrugged. “No idea. Next question. How do sorcerers usually learn spells?”

Clayton gave him a smile and a shrug. “I only have guesses but I think they can more or less cast spells even if they are missing one of the necessary parts. Sorcerers have been known to cast spells silently and without any gestures or even cast spells while out of mana. How it works exactly I do not know but I believe they still have to learn the spell just like anyone else, at least partly.”

“What do you mean?” Isaac asked.

“Imagine if you were a storm sorcerer.” Clayton began. “Lightning, thunder, and weather magics and spells would all come naturally to you. Imagine if you had never seen someone cast a lightning bolt but you knew that lightning should listen to you if you command it. The power is instinctual as it flows through your veins. You imagine lightning forming from your fingertip and flying forwards, maybe the first time you try it you are pointing upwards in a thunderstorm as if you are trying to give the heavens back their lightning. You put power into the mental image and BAM!” He clapped his hands together. “A bolt of lightning goes flying taking a huge chunk of your mana pool with it.”

Isaac nodded thoughtfully. “So for sorcerers they can learn spells like wizards but they have to align with their element to some degree and in some cases can even stumble across new spells?”

Clayton nodded in agreement. “Yes, it is possible for sorcerers to cast spells not from their alignment though but they are often very weak in comparison.” He explained.

Lenna cut in, offering second hand experience. “Many shadow sorcerers learn spells like lightning bolt or fireball. Shadow magic naturally lacks proper offensive spells until at least seventh level.”

Clayton nodded along. “And storm sorcerers lack any non combat spells.” He continued.

Isaac nodded in understanding. “So they aren’t limited like I am but are more skewed towards their matching elemental alignment?”

“Exactly.” Clayton praised. “They also only really need to become more in tune with their elemental alignment as you put it in order to level up where wizards need to study magic, new magic, existing magic, magic theory, magic item crafting, all forms work but it takes an incredible amount of time.”

“So that’s why you all seem like crazed lunatics whenever I walk into a room.” Isaac replied with a cheeky smirk and amusement in his eyes. “You are trying to use me to level up.”

Clayton’s eyes went wide. “No, that’s not, I didn’t mean it like, we all…” His voice trailed off as Isaac started laughing at him. “Oh.”

“Now for the big one.” Isaac said seriously after the moment of humor had passed. “Concepts innate in mana.”

Clayton looked at him in utter confusion. “Concepts, innate in mana?” He parroted. “What do you mean? Mana is mana. People often associate different subtypes to colors of the rainbow and damage types but it’s just mana.”

Isaac sighed sadly. “Well,” He sighed again. “So much for that.” He grumbled.

Clayton narrowed his eyes at Isaac. “I take it you understand something I don’t.” He stated.

Isaac nodded. “Yeah but I don’t feel like trying to explain it. Maybe ask your master if he knows anything about it. I might ask the Court Mage if he knows. I’m no wizard, I don’t feel like teaching you what I know just to get you up to speed so you can make me do a bunch of tests to collect evidence of what I just told you.” He explained.

Clayton looked crestfallen. “I see.” He replied. “Well, I will see what I can get out of Master Thane. If he doesn’t know anything I can always send a formal inquiry to the academy.” He offered.

Isaac’s face lit up a bit. “Can you do that anyway?” He asked.

Clayton nodded. “Yes, maybe they will have some resources on the subject stashed away somewhere or some old wizard who’s dedicated his life to studying it.” He replied. “That happens more than you’d think.”

Isaac chuckled. “I can imagine. Thank you.” He told the young wizard. “With that I believe we need to do a last check over our gear and get to bed early. We need to go hunt a nineteenth level wizard in the morning.”

Lenna nodded in reply. “Agreed. Tomorrow we begin our hunt for the chimera creator.”