— "You both aren't going anywhere!"

She yelled. I frantically looked at Leo who wasn't even helping at all. The crystal in front of him has lost its light and the runic texts are slowly fading. A few good seconds after that, the crystal lost its structure. We're both screwed! I don't know how to use magic at all! After I lost my composure, the crystal in front of me disappeared as well...

...But another miracle happened. Silven rushed towards the young woman and bashed her into the wall, rendering her unconscious.

— "Silven! You're such a lifesaver!"

We followed Silven back to where the carriage was and immediately mounted it and safely tied Silven in front of the carriage. We wasted no time getting out of that place!

After a while, we found a forest trail and went to follow it to find... Absolutely nothing. I'm terrible at navigation, even with a guide of a map and a trail.

— "Owens, you're terrible at this. I'm starting to wonder how you became a successful travelling merchant in the first place."

— "Shut up! You don't have to tell me, you fox!"

I looked up to notice that it's the middle of the night and we have no choice but to camp. But luckily, I found a clean river to camp by and stay by the night at.

Silven perched the carriage away from the river and I made the fire to keep us warm for the night. And after that, I sat down next to the fire and looked at Leo.

— "What even happened? You said I 'healed myself' and 'busted a wall'. How do you even use magic? More importantly... Who are you? Besides your name."

— "That's a lot of questions, Owens. But I'll answer them: I'm one of Ms. Florenza's servant. I snuck in your carriage when you were talking to her. Sorry but it was an order from my master. She wanted to keep you safe."

— "Well... I can't say I'm not grateful for what you did, I guess."

Leo then stood up and looked at me with a sly grin.

— "But my master said nothing about not getting any compensation for saving you. And if you want to learn about magic, it comes with a price of course. Mwahahahaha!"

This sly fox. He dared try making me buy the information out of him. But I have no choice but to accept.

— "*Sigh* What is it that you want?"

— "I want to accompany you forever! My master would be more than happy if I continue protecting you along your journeys!"

— "Considering you know how to fight, I have nothing to lose here. Do you have an ulterior motive, Leo?"

— "Nope. Nada. I'm just bored in the manor."

Speaking of which... I feel like I should stop by the manor to have a break from adventuring and being a travelling merchant. I need to unwind.

— "Oh yeah, our deal. Now that you accept it, I'll teach you magic. It won't be long, I promise. It starts of–"

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And no, it wasn't short. To summarise fifteen minutes of Leo's rambling, it goes like this:

The basic foundation of magic is summoning a Mana Crystal to use spells. People that can't summon Mana Crystals aren't capable of using magic. Magic spells use runic text which are generated by the Mana Crystal and are spent when casted a spell and the only way to generate more runic text is by waiting for the Mana Crystal to generate more but the Mana Crystal loses its light when used to generate runic texts extensively. The higher the rank of spells, the more runic text it will use.

Magic Tomes, Magic Enhancing Artefacts, and other magic tools speeds up the generation process of runic texts and slows down the Mana Crystal from depleting its light from extensive generation of runic texts. The magic tools lose their durability if used extensively as well. Mages use them as reserves when times are dire.

Spells in general were words from an old language and the prefix and suffix accompanying it enhances the spell. The prefix states the spell if it's multi-target or single target. "Ra" modifies a spell to a multi-target spell which decreases the overall damage of the spell but distributes its power into targeting multiple targets. "Ma" modifies a spell into an accurate and concentrated attack that attacks a single target.

The suffix enhances the damage of the spell instead of the accuracy. Each suffix has tiers from worst to best but with each tiers, it would cost more runic texts. From bottom to top–No suffix, -dyne, -ine, -ile.

Magic spells fall under three alignment categories: Dark, Neutral, and Light. Each person has their own respective alignment from birth but all of them could use Neutral spells naturally. But Neutral spells cost more runic text and aren't affected by suffixes and prefixes.

The way you find your magic alignment is by looking at the colour of the runic text. If it's coloured white, your spells are in the Light aligned ranges. But if it's coloured black then your spells are Dark aligned ranges. The glow of the runic text also matters because it defines your magical specialty—Green for wind, black for dark, blue for water, red for fire, brown for earth,

Dark aligned spells are mainly for defence and for inflicting ailments at targets. And Light aligned spells are used for offence and applying support to allies.

There is another category of magic: Passives. Passive spells are obtained from magic contracts to set your class and are activated without using any runic texts. Although, Leo didn't explain all of the classes because in his own words: "There's too many." And the only example he gave me was the Passive spells I got when I signed my magic contract to be a travelling merchant. Now that I thought about it, I never had the ability to use magic before I encountered her. I'm thankful for her for giving me that ability.

— "And that sums up everything. Did you get all of that, Owens."

— "I'm actually surprised that you know alot about magic considering you're a literal child."

— "You shouldn't have underestimated me, Owens."

I then stood up, confident that I would be able to use magic as well.

I proceeded to summon my Mana Crystal. But then I inspected it. My spells were Dark aligned and my magic was Dark.

What Leo didn't tell me is that being Dark aligned is rare and Dark magic was also rare. But it's the weakest. Only being used in parties.

— "HAHAHAHAHA! How are you this unlucky, Owens?!"

— "Shut up!"

Leo was hysterically laughing, it sounded like an ear-piercing laugh from a fox.

After Leo was done laughing, he looked at me.

— "Well, now it's a good choice you accepted my deal, isn't it, Owens?"

— "You're not wrong there, Leo."

But just then, Leo's stomach rumbled.

— "I haven't eaten anything since we were kidnapped."

As if on cue, rustling could be heard in a nearby bush which made Silven perk up but just as soon as the animal that was rustling the bush popped out, he went back to his sleeping position, curling up near the campfire. The animal that was making the rustling noise in the bush was a Mushroom Boar.

— "Dinner."

Leo was eyeing down the Mushroom Boar who was staring back at Leo. But when Leo summoned his Mana Crystal, nothing happened.

— "I forgot, I exhausted my magic when we escaped. Now it's seriously your turn, Owens!"

— "Yeah! I think I got this!"

Dark aligned magic uses ailments—Paralyze, mute, blind, and other things.

— "Dibilito!"

A runic text was spent in my Mana Crystal but the Mushroom Boar was paralyzed by dark chains coming from all directions.

And after that, we butchered the Mushroom Bore and made our dinner–Stew.

— "I forgot Mushroom Boar meat is tough as nails."

— "Well you shouldn't be complaining too much when eating, Leo."