Author's note: Hey, guys! Back with another chapter. So I realised I messed up on chapter 2 and put levels instead of ranks, despite talking only about ranks in chapter 1. My bad, I went back and fixed it. But yeah, this chapter is the main hero(ine) practicing magic. I wanted to focus more on the relationship between mana and spells themselves, as well as intelligence and all that. I find that authors don't focus on it as much and they waste so much potential in developing an interesting world with magic. Often, they resort to using magic as a tool, not as a gateway for the reader to enter the world themselves, visualising themselves there. I'll be focusing more on that aspect later.
Thanks for reading this chapter and enjoy!
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Amaterasu: ‘Well, since I’m now in a world of magic, might as well try it out.’
Amaterasu was actually looking forward to using magic, since her former world obviously had none. She was currently located in the temple, since, according to the note, this place had a special type of mana, divine mana. Amaterasu didn’t know what that meant other than the mana was stronger and purer than other types.
Amaterasu: ‘Here goes nothing!’
She stretched out her hand, palm open, and loudly shouted.
Amaterasu: [FIREBALL!]
She stood there for a couple of seconds… and nothing happened.
Amaterasu: ‘… huh?’
Amaterasu was puzzled by the whole affair. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t the most basic and classic spell, a fireball.
Amaterasu: ‘Hmmm, I guess I shouldn’t have expected it to be that easy. But still, what did I do wrong? I checked my status earlier, and I seemed to have an enormous amount of mana, so I should be able to cast a spell as basic as fireball. Yet, when I tried to, I couldn’t feel anything forming, or any power coming out of me… nothing!’
Frustrated, Amaterasu sat down on the hard and cold stone floor and began to ponder. The main problem is that, though Amaterasu is incredibly smart, she didn’t understand what exactly mana was. After all, she never encountered it in her previous world, nor did she have any opportunity to learn about it in this one.
Amaterasu: ‘Gah, God could have at least told me how to use it. He omitted probably the most important information in his explanation and his note. I have feeling he didn’t forget though, and that he is toying with me right now. Haaah, I guess I’ll have to figure it out on my own.’
For the remaining day, Amaterasu tried various methods of performing spells, but all of them were to no avail. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t get a hang of it.
Amaterasu: ‘Haaah, I’ll try again tomorrow. Mana isn’t that easy to work with after all.’
With that thought, Amaterasu departed for the day.
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The next month went by pretty quickly. Amazingly enough, Amaterasu found the way to absorb mana on the fourth day. When she sat down on the floor to meditate, she imagined a transparent wave washing over her. As soon as she started to concentrate, she felt the mana flowing in the air. It felt as viscous as a liquid, which Amaterasu assumed was an effect of the mana being divine.
What Amaterasu didn’t know was that she performed an amazing feat. Even with a teacher’s guidance, most students took several months to be able to find the flow of mana. Even geniuses usually took a month to find it, with the lowest time ever recorded being three weeks.
Of course, Amaterasu wasn’t completely helpless in her endeavours. While she did take only three days to visualize the flow of mana, she was a lesser goddess, after all. This meant that she naturally had a lot more potential than regular beings when it came to magic. Also, the purity of the divine mana meant that she could sense it would easily than she would regular mana. And finally, she still remembered all the novels that she read in the previous world, so she had some idea in the direction to take.
With that discovery, Amaterasu spent the previous month meditating. The problem was that she came to a standstill. She exhausted every idea she had, but wasn’t able to create a single spell. Confronted with the dilemma, Amaterasu decided that it was best to spend the time doing something useful while she came up with ideas.
Amaterasu was currently sitting in a position similar to the lotus position, except that her feet weren’t on her opposing thighs. The reason was that Amaterasu wasn’t flexible enough to maintain the position for too long and it seemingly made no difference on the effect of absorbing mana, so she gave up trying to maintain it and just sat cross-legged.
Amaterasu: ‘Hmmm, I think I got.’
Amaterasu opened her eyes, full of determination, and stood up. She was ready to create her first spell.
Amaterasu: ‘If I’m correct, the key to casting spell is the imagination. Back when I first tried to cast spells, all that I thought about was the end effect, the fireball itself. But when I started to meditate, I visualised the mana itself flowing around and the way the particles themselves interacted with one another. If I’m correct, then I need to also visualise the creation of the spell itself.’
Amaterasu once again closed her eyes and started to visualise the creation of the spell. In her image, the mana particles started to move extremely quickly, causing the molecules in the air to vibrate. As the air molecules moved faster, increasing the entropy of the system, they started to ionise and create energy, which was in the shape of a ball. As she poured in more mana, the fireball started to become bigger itself. Feeling the heat, Amaterasu opened her eyes to see the result and was shocked with the outcome in front of her.
Amaterasu saw a flame in front of her, but unlike her image, the flame wasn’t red, but white. It was also much larger than she anticipated. After the shock and awe faded, Amaterasu realised that she made a critical mistake. Looking around her, she remembered that she was in a closed environment. No matter which direction she should release the fireball – it would always hit either the wall or the glass roof.
Panicking, Amaterasu broke her concentration and accidentally released the fireball in the direction of a wall. Clenching her teeth, she braced for the impact. After all, she had lived here for a month already, and started getting used to this place. To burn it all down over a silly mistake made her wince, the result would leave her homeless and without food to eat. As someone who just learnt how to control mana, the thought of being stranded alone in the middle of nowhere wasn’t a pleasing one.
However, as soon as the fireball reached the wall, it suddenly dispersed. Amaterasu stared at the wall blankly, confused at to what was going on. Just then, a realisation swept over her.
Amaterasu: ‘Ah, I get it. God specifically made this temple for training magic so he probably reinforced the structure with the ability to nullify mana and its effects. I’m so glad that I didn’t cause any irreversible damage.’
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With that thought, Amaterasu noticed that a blue box popped up in front of her.
Congratulations! Due to creating the spell, you have gained access to: Grand Fireball!
Amaterasu: ‘Grand Fireball? Not just Fireball? What does this mean?’
Amaterasu: [Show skill ‘Grand Fireball’.]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Grand FireballABeginner 10%Due to understanding the very nature of how energy works, you were able to uncover the secret to a much more powerful version of Fireball. This pure white flame is much hotter and will be able to incinerate most things in its path.
Amaterasu: ‘Wow. I can’t believe I managed to unlock a more powerful version of the spell. So it looks like the key to magic is not only the imagination itself, but also the knowledge of the particular effect that you are looking for. So instead of just visualising the creation of the fireball through mana, I was able to produce a much powerful fireball by interacting mana with the molecules in the air.’
Amaterasu: ‘Furthermore, it seems that the amount of mana used corresponds to the size of the effect. So, for instance, if I pour in all my mana into the fireball, I’ll produce a bigger one than if I only use a fraction of my mana. Let’s test out this theory.’
Amaterasu decided to check the amount of mana that she used for the Grand Fireball.
Amaterasu: [Show status.]
Status WindowName:AmaterasuAlignment:NeutralRank:EClass:NoneRace:Lesser GoddessGender:FemaleTitlesFuture Goddess of Beauty and LoveFame:0Infamy:0-Health:300 / 300Health Regen:1.0 / SecMana:6050 / 9000Mana Regen:10.0 / SecStamina:50 / 50Stamina Regen:0.2 / Sec-Strength:5Agility:10Vitality:5Intelligence:600Wisdom:600Leadership:0Luck:10Elemental AffinityFire:100%Water:100%Wind:100%Earth:100%Light:100%Darkness:100%Wood:100%Metal:100%Special SkillsCharm
Grand Fireball
Amaterasu looked at the status screen and her eyes widened due to what she saw.
Amaterasu: ‘Did… did my mana almost double over the period of this month? My health, intelligence, and wisdom gained some as well. It seems that by absorbing mana over the period of this month as well as using that spell caused my stats to go up.’
After she observed her stats for a few seconds, Amaterasu looked at her current mana.
Amaterasu: ‘If we take into account my mana regen, then I used about 3000 units of mana. I have about 6000 left, so I’ll pour the rest of it into the fireball and see the effect that the increase will have.’
Amaterasu started to visualise the creation of the fireball again. Since she already did it once before, this time it was easier for her, so she had no need to close her eyes. Amaterasu began to pour all her mana into the fireball and the more she poured, the bigger the fireball became. Finally, when Amaterasu felt spent, she looked at her efforts.
In front of her was an enormous, raging flame that was glowing white. Amaterasu estimated that it was about double the size of the original one. It was so large that if the temple wasn’t specifically built with space for training magic, the fireball would have reached the ceiling.
Nodding in approval, Amaterasu released the fireball and it hit the wall with the same result as before. Amaterasu was excited that her theory was proven correct.
Amaterasu: ‘So it looks like the size of the effect is dependant on the amount you use. This most likely means that intelligence affects the strength of the spell. That is… good… to… know…’
With that thought, Amaterasu suddenly lost conscious and fainted.