"I know some of you are already familiar with magic, but for those who aren't, I will start from the basics," my sister began her lecture after introducing herself.
Since this would take a while, all the recruits were sitting on the floor in front of my sister who remained on her feet. I was sitting facing the recruits. There was nothing for me to learn, but I felt my presence was needed.
"There are two types of known magic, attribute magic and contract magic. Attribute magic has many branches; however, the most practiced type of attribute magic is runic magic. As the name implies, this type of attribute magic is expressed through runes," my sister continued as she paced back and forth.
I studied the recruits while she was giving her lecture, and they all seemed to be enamored by her. Their ears perked up like rabbit ears, paying attention to every word she said, and their eyes followed her every movement, drinking in her appearance. Amongst the gazes of the trainees, I noticed an odd one. It was one of the four females, when she noticed me looking at her, she blushed and looked down.
I wasn't too well versed in the affairs between men and women, but I had seen people display lust enough times to be able to recognize it at least. The look in her eyes, I recognized it to be lust. My sister was frighteningly quick when it came to these things, so there was no way that would've escaped her attention.
"Even though you'll mostly be learning the way to activate this runic magic, it won't hurt you to learn a bit more about the other types of magic," my sister said.
"She isn't wrong, the more you know about magic, the easier it'll be for you to grasp the concepts of spells, and that'll help you visualize them better," I added.
"Yes, just as he said, visualization is one step of activating all types of magic. It is universal, no matter what type of magic it is, if you can't properly visualize them, you won't be able the activate them," my sister continued.
"Excuse me, Minerva, from what I have been told the types of magic engraved in the enchanted weapons are simple ones. Do we need to train to visualize simple magic too?" a voice in the crowd asked. I looked for who it was, and it was the bow user.
"As I said, visualization is one step, there are others. However, what we'll start training first is channeling mana," she answered.
There was some confusion in the crowd. Those who were familiar with magic didn't look perturbed, however, those who weren't familiar with magic murmured amongst themselves, confused by what my sister had said.
"The first step to activating magic is channeling mana," she told the crowd.
"Uhm, what is this mana thingy?" someone asked.
I felt dismayed by the question. I'd thought even if one wasn't familiar with magic at all, one would at least know what mana was. I was proven wrong. Only about six people in the crowd looked like they knew what mana was, the rest were waiting eagerly for an answer.
"Mana is the energy that flows in nature. All things from the moment they come into existence begin to absorb this energy. It flows within every living being, every plant, and every object," my sister answered without missing a beat.
"What will those of us who already learned to channel mana be doing?" another person asked. It was one of the four girls. This girl had fiery red hair, light brown eyes, and pale skin. The freckles on her face made her look young too. She'd introduced herself as Alyssa.
"You'll be practicing with us. It'll help me out a great deal if you could share some pointers with your peers," my sister turned to look at Alyssa and answered with a smile.
"Right, moving on. The other type of magic is contract magic. It is the most used form of magic since it is more powerful," she continued, "brother, can you explain the difference between attribute magic and contract magic?" she asked as she turned to look at me.
"The difference mainly lies in the utilization of mana. The quantity of mana required and its quality is also different," I answered, facing my sister. When I turned around to look at the crowd, it was obvious from their wide-eyed expressions that very few people understood what I'd just said.
"When using contract magic, the god the mage has a contract with acts as a medium. That god provides most of the mana required, and so the mana burden on the mage is almost negligible," I added to try to make the point clearer to the trainees.
"As he said, the major difference between contract magic and attribute magic is the existence of a medium that shares mana burden with the mage. If you've trained to be a mage, but you were trained to use contract magic, the way you were taught to channel mana will be insufficient," she added, looking specifically at Alyssa. Alyssa, finally understanding why she was asked to train with the recruits simply nodded.
"Runcic magic is the most used type of attribute magic because runes act as a medium, however they siphon mana from nature instead," my sister continued her lecture as she began pacing again.
"Then, doesn't that mean runic magic should be as powerful as contract magic?" someone asked. It was the bow user.
He was a boy that looked no older than sixteen. He had black eyes, brown hair, and slightly tanned skin. His physique fit that of an archer very well. He was tall, had a lean body, long limbs, and long digits.
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"Brother, do you want to explain this one?" my sister who was looking at me with a smile asked.
She was more than capable of answering herself, but the grin of mischief on her face told me of her intentions. Perhaps, this was her last bit of resistance. Her pride wouldn't let her admit defeat without a fight. Even though I had successfully roped her into this lecture, she would still make sure I participated in teaching the recruits.
"I mentioned quality, right? The mana that exists in nature in its natural state is impure and chaotic. With contract magic, gods provide pure stable mana that is immediately usable. With runic magic, runes absorb impure unstable mana; this mana needs to be purified and stabilized. It's a process that takes a bit of time, and a lot of mana escapes during this period, leaving only a fraction of the absorbed mana left for use," I told the recruits.
"So, not only is the amount of useable mana reduced, the time it takes for the magic to be activated is also slower," my sister added.
"So, is the mana channeling method different from that of contract magic?" the girl who had been staring at my sister with lust asked.
"What is your name?" my sister asked in return instead of answering the question.
"Rosalia," the girl answered.
"Rosalia, a beautiful name. It suits you well," my sister said to Rosalia with an impish smile.
"To answer your question, yes. With contract magic, mages are only trained to release mana; however, with attribute magic you actually need to learn to channel mana through a medium," she finally answered.
"I don't understand, doesn't mana release require one to be able to channel it too?" another one of the girls asked.
Sister who had stopped pacing, and was standing facing the recruits had a permanent smile on her face now. She had stopped finding ways to insert me into the lectures now. I had expected her to ask me to answer Rosalia's question, but she didn't. I could tell she had started enjoying teaching the recruits.
"Well yes, however, the difference lies in how it is done. With contract magic, our mana is acted upon by the mana provided by the medium, so once we have formed the magic, we simply need to release mana into nature to create the desired effect," she said. She turned her head to face Rosalia and asked, "do you think this method works with attribute magic?"
Rosalia looked down, her brows furrowed, he lips in a slight pout. She pondered for a bit before answering, "No."
"Yes, that is the correct answer," Rosalia looked excited to have gotten the right answer. It was hard for me to tell if she was happy simply because she got it right or if it was because she looked to have impressed my sister.
"With attribute magic, our mana needs to act on the medium. The runes don't purify and calm ambient mana, the mana we release do. So, beyond releasing mana, we have to control it better," she said as she turned to face the girl who had asked the question.
"Wouldn't that mean it takes more skill to practice attribute magic?" another voice asked. It was the bow user this time.
"Well, yes. And that is why there aren't a lot of practitioners of attribute magic. It has its advantages, for example, everyone can practice it. However, its disadvantages are numerous and render it almost useless," she answered with a sigh. She had that faraway look in her eye, she was probably imagining a world where everyone could practice magic.
It was a topic that often came up after it was discovered that I couldn't practice magic. My sister always claimed that I would've been the most powerful mage in the settlement had I been granted permission to wield a god's power.
Her claim stemmed from the fact that I understood magic more than most. While we were training to be mages, our tutors often said I'd been blessed by the gods with an immense talent for magic. It sounds funny now, but at the time a lot of people thought so. I understood how spells worked, I understood the concepts that governed them, and my visualization and focus was the best in the settlement.
When it came time to find a god to give me permission to wield their power and I found none, I had tried practicing attribute magic, but I quickly discovered its flaws. Then, Titus took me under his wings and I loved being a warrior. Just like that, I stopped practicing magic.
"It requires more skill to use, but it isn't as powerful, and that is due to mana capacity and mana quality," my sister said with a little frown on her face. She then turned to look at me and added, "if not for the major flaws of attribute magic, Silas would've been a splendid mage."
I go only smile wryly at her statement. I was beyond feeling sorry for myself. It's been years already; I had made my peace with it. Obviously, I still got giddy thinking about magic. It still excited me. Talking about it, solving problems related to magic theory, these things still excited me; but I had made my peace with the fact that I would never be a mage.
My problem wasn't the lack of skill. I could use attribute magic. My problem was with mana capacity and mana quality. The reason why mages were rare was that most humans had very little useable mana. Even though humans start absorbing mana from conception, very few humans have enough mana to actually use magic.
Children absorb mana from nature and from their mothers in the womb. Usually, if the mother was a mage, she had enough mana to share with the baby. So, children of mages usually had more useable. However, different humans had different mana capacities. A child with a higher mana capacity could absorb more mana, so sometimes, children of ordinary humans also become mages.
The quality of mana was another problem. Not a single known human had pure mana. Since we absorbed chaotic and impure mana, over time the mana stabilizes, but it never became purer. Mages had ways to purify their mana, and a lot of it affected their lifestyle; however, even a mage's mana wasn't completely pure.
"Mana purity and mana quantity, these are the two most vital things for a mage. However, humans naturally have little mana, and whatever little we have isn't the purest either. With contract magic, a god's mana purifies our own before it is released. Since they provide such pure mana in large quantities, our magic becomes very powerful," my sister said, pacing back and forth again.
"Practicing attribute magic, those with low mana capacity will lose consciousness after one spell. Even the human with the most mana would probably manage two spells at most," she added, stopping to look at the bow user.
"The one exception is runic magic; however, even runic magic has some disadvantages. The biggest is that any magic one wishes to use must be channeled through a medium the specific rune for that magic has been cast on," she continued as she started pacing back and forth again.
"That creates limitations to the types and number of magic a mage can use, not to mention, it still isn't as powerful as the magic used by a mage under contract," she said, stopping to observe the recruits.
"Any more questions?" she asked.
The recruits all shook their heads. I knew some in the crowd didn't fully understand what she had taught them, but I felt it was fine. These were warriors, they learned better by practicing. However, the theoretical aspects of magic I felt was important to teach to them so they could build a stable foundation to start from. Those that didn't understand now would eventually understand, that was how I felt.
"Good, so now we can move on to mana channeling," my sister said.