Eloise preceded to show me her homework, most of it appears to be writing practice. Fill in the blank type questions. Her other piece of homework seems to be about the history of this town and the surrounding areas. There even seems to be some practice with writing numbers.
While what the numbers represent seems to be the same, the actual numbers themselves are far more complicated to draw. I couldn't imagine myself even attempting to use them for vector calculations, I will be sticking with Arabic numerals for that.
The actual letters are also quite complicated and look like some weird hybrid of Japanese and Klingon. Why must this world use such a complicated form of language...
“Wow big sis Eloise, you must be really smart to be able to read and write!” I say as a way to appease her ego. I want to foster a good relationship with my siblings, because if nothing else I'm stuck with them.
And... it worked, she puffed up her chest and smiled. Feeling proud of herself for getting recognition of her intelligence from her younger sister.
“Don't worry Lyla, you will get there one day too!”
I put on a smile “You really think so?!”
“yup!”
If only she knew the knowledge I possessed. Not of just this world but my last one as well. The only thing in this world that has been giving me trouble has been magic. I am only able to understand the fundamentals, this is in part due to the lack of reading material regarding magic at our home.
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From what I have pieced together, magic is a form of equivalent exchange. The possibilities are quite amazing but the equation must balance itself out, that the other half is mana. Mana acts as a fuel source for magic. The more power, the more mana that is used. I theorized that someone may be able to use resources from the environment to either reduce the mana cost or increase the magic power. But I am unable to test this theory.
Mana is present in all living things to some degree. While what mana is exactly is not understood, I believe that it is some form of chaotic “energy” within an organism's body. This “energy” seems to be required for a living thing to stay alive, in one of the few books we have on magic it makes a point to warn the reader not to use up too much mana or else it could be fatal.
Now, while my mother and Eloise had a significant amount of mana, the rest of the family was less fortunate. Our father and my brother Jacob didn't have much mana, but they didn't seem all too interested in magic anyway. I, on the other hand, am quite curious about it, but it may be for the best. I have heard rumors of something similar to the magic in my previous life, and from what I have heard it was extremely dangerous to espers. It even sounded like it got more dangerous the more powerful the esper, and being on the top of that totem pole means magic may be lethal to me.
Not like I have any way to find out, from what I can tell my amount of mana is minuscule. I probably wouldn't even have enough to create a candle sized flame.
At the end that does not matter, I didn't want the attention anyway. Plus if I really get into a bind I can just use my powers.
I leave my sister to her homework and proceed to grab a book from the bookshelf. I picked one of the history books.
“What are you doing Lyla?”
“Looking at the pictures”
After nodding in acknowledgment Eloise returned to her studies. Seemed my answer was satisfactory, my family still believes I can't read. This way I can keep attention off myself while still being able to learn about this world.
I take the book and bring it over to the big chair next to the bookshelf. Luckily Eloise Was oblivious to the fact that the book I was carrying was way too heavy for a girl my age to be able to lift. I had a habit of using my ability subconsciously to make certain tasks easier, this was one of those instances where I made the book lighter by reducing its gravitational force.
Sitting down on the comfy red chair I put the book on my lap and begin to read.