“Can you tell me everything you know about magic?”
Eclara, my magic teacher, asked me a simple question. Since I’ve done nothing but read books, I was quite confident in my knowledge about it.
“Magic is a miraculous power that gave us ‘Humans’ so that we are able to survive in this world where many different kinds of races live together.”
“Good, then what about the ‘Magic Language’?”
I knitted my brows the moment I heard that question.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know that.”
Eclara slowly walked towards me and even though she was only 10 cm. taller than me she patted my head to console me.
“That’s okay, it's expected not to know.”
“Then why’d you ask me that question?”
“I thought you knew about it because you were able to talk about magic with such familiarity?”
I started pouting in the middle of her explanation. When she noticed that I was pouting, her expressionless face loosened a bit and a small smile could be seen on her.
“Ok, let’s start by discovering the magic words of the basic spells.”
“Discover?”
Hearing the word ‘Discover’ instead of ‘Learning’ surprised me. I tilted my head to the side and asked her.
“I meant it as it is. Didn’t you say that magic is a miraculous power given to us by god.”
I nodded to her statement and waited for her to continue.
“That means that all we need to meditate and look into ourselves.”
I made a sullen look when I heard the word ‘Meditation’. When thinking about meditating… It's that right… a bunch of monks who are in the lotus position and breathing deeply. It has only been a day and I was already depressed.
“Please sit under this tree, milady.”
I followed Eclara and sat under one of the trees that were lined-up in the garden. When I was about to sit in the lotus position, she stopped me and asked me why was I crossing my legs.
“Weren’t we gonna meditate? Then sitting cross-legged is correct, right?”
“I don’t know where you got that idea, but that's wrong. You only need to sit comfortably and close your eyes.”
“Is that it?”
“Yes.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and sat in a more comfortable position. Like what she told me, I closed my eyes. After a little while, she started talking to me.
“Let’s start with fire. First, imagine how or why fire occurs. Form an image around that thought. Continue doing this and a word will float up in your mind, that word is the magic word for the basic magic spell, ‘Fireball’.”
When she finished talking, I started thinking of the fire triangle. For a fire to start, we need ‘Oxygen’, ‘Heat’, and ‘Fuel’. Since oxygen was plentiful in the atmosphere, I didn’t have to think about it. As for fuel, I set my own mana as the source and for heat… well, let’s just use my body temperature.
Now that that was done, I started thinking where the fireball would appear. The place should be a place that satisfies all those conditions. I then remembered a game I once played in my previous life. It had a magic swordsman whose hand was on fire.
I became satisfied and concluded that it was fine. I stretched out my hand and imagined that it was on fire. I started felt a warm sensation on my hand. Slowly opening my eyes, I discovered that my hand was on fire, but the fire didn’t burn my hand. It transmitted a warm sensation instead.
Strange… should a word float up in my mind? Well, since I was able to cast this magic everything's okay.
“Good, you learn fast. I didn’t hear you say the magic word. I’m quite curious about this fireball though. Usually, a ball of fire would float up in front of the caster. In your case, it was your hand. Could you tell me the magic word for this.”
“...”
My cheeks cramped a bit when I heard her asking me for the magic word and in a small voice I answered her.
“... there was no word for this.”
The moment she heard me, her expressionless face turned to shock before becoming one of disappointment.
“You’re able to do chantless magic? That’s a rare talent that could only be seen in 1 out of a thousand mages. If only you had a large amount of mana, you would’ve become a great archmage.”
“... I’m sorry that I only have a small amount.”
Even though I have just started learning magic, my emotions have been on a wild roller coaster ride. Maybe it is better for me to stop.
“Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault, don’t mind it. For now let’s focus on mastering the basic spells. Since you can cast chantless magic, I think we’ll only be together for four days at most.”
“That’s fast. Is magic really that simple?”
“Well, since I can only teach you basic spells, then I think this speed is quite average.”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Well, at least I can do magic. A thought then floated up in my mind.
“Umm.. what’d happen if I overused magic and deplete my mana?”
“Don’t worry, if your mana is low, the only thing you need to do is to calm yourself and take deep breaths.”
Hearing her answer, question marks started floating on top of my head.
(Deep breaths? Why deep breaths?)
After a few moments, I finally realized why. God created the world and he bestowed mana to each of his creations. So that means, mana exists in the air, earth, water and everything that I see in the world.
Understanding the reason why, I nodded a few times then faced her.
“Please continue teaching me the rest.”
“Yes, milady.”
***
Five days has passed since then. My daily routine during those days were changed because of magic practice.
My mornings were the same as before, but my afternoons took on a drastic change. My magic practices would start in the afternoon. I managed to master all five of my elements.
I managed to master fire magic in the first day and the rest of that day, it heat was just enough to boil water. As for water magic, well, being able to make 3 pitcher full of water could already be considered exceptional for me. For earth magic, I needed to use almost half of my mana to create a chair and a table for two. And lastly, wind magic was in my opinion, the best magic I could use. I was able to cast a cool and refreshing breeze around me.
Since my magic was chantless, I could manipulate the form they would take according to my wishes. And with the amount of mana I have, the most useful way I could use magic is for tea time.
Which is, by the way, what was happening right now.
“Are you really leaving, Eclara?”
I asked Eclara who sat in front of me as I sipped on a cup of black tea.
“Yes, you have already mastered magic. I have nothing else left to teach you.”
“Is that so? It would’ve been good if you stayed with us though, I really enjoyed spending time with you.”
I offered a plate of butterscotch cookies to her.
“I, too enjoyed my time with you, milady. But I have to continue my search.”
She accepted the cookies and bit on it as she finished speaking.
“You still need to find a master who satisfies your criteria, huh.”
“Yes.”
“Then at least for the last time, won’t you enjoy this little tea time with me?”
“It’d be my pleasure.”
When we have finished our tea party, Eclara stood up from her seat and picked up the luggage that lay near her feet. Even before our we had our tea, she was already prepared to leave. Though its a bit sad to part with people, that is a part of life. If I forcefully restrained her, it would have strained our good relationship.
“Then, I’ll take my leave. Thank you very much for the food and for the time.”
“No, no, It's me who should be thanking you, not you.”
She made a wry smile and walked back towards the mansion from our garden while waving her hand. I gave her my biggest smile as a parting gift for her and continued waving my hand till her figure couldn’t be seen anymore.
***
At night, while I slowly closed my eyes, I suddenly remembered something.
“Ahhh! Eclara Dien rot! Isn’t she a game character of the last game, I played before I died in my previous life!?”
In the game, she was an archmage who was able to cast giant fireballs and create tornadoes that could decimate an entire army. She was a servant of the noble house that had the hawk with the red background. In the game, she was 17 years old and she was really charming and cute because of her loli appearance.
“... but she doesn’t have a surname… so she’s a different person? She looks almost the same though, plus during our first meeting, she felt like an adult…. Maybe, she is a different person, I must be overthinking things… haha, let’s go to sleep before any more crazy ideas float up.”
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I wanted to add this in the story but it's really hard to do it, so I'll just introduce it here.
1 month has 5 weeks and 30 days, each week has 6 days and 1 year has 12 months. :D
1 gold coin is equal to 10 silver coins, 1 silver coin is equal to 100 bronze conis. :D
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