CHAPTER 25

FENIX AND MY MAGIC TRAINING

In exchange for the reduced time to study etiquette, I requested my parents to let me study magic right away!

So, I begin to learn more about magic and Hartmann’s arts from my parents. Yes, I’m still diligently forging my transformation skills!

For the beginning, my mom told me to learn about the magic circles—symbolism for each element, before I can learn about the chants.

“There are 12 magic circles that you need to know. They will come in handy and there are only twelve available, so you should learn them, Lyra, before we go on to learn the harder part.”

Each magic circle correspondences to each element.

They are like images that have different characteristics, so they are not that hard to remember. The finer detail is quite hard but Mom said it’s enough as long as I remember the bigger picture for now.

In order not to forget them, especially my elements’ magic circles, I usually try to imagine the images each time I learn more about the magic.

You tend to forget things that you don’t use that often, after all.

Before long, the image of [Ice] magic circle appears in my mind when I read the part about [Ice] magic. It’s like a habit now.

Associating words with the images might make it easier for me to remember~

After that, she also let me study the ancient language used for magic chants—[Spraec]. It is quite hard but thanks to my toddler brain, I feel like I managed to learn it faster!

Spraec is the ancient language used in magic chants.

Chant magic takes longer time to cast than chantless magic. It might be inefficient at times. And in case you forgot the Spraec chant? Goodbye~!

However, it is harder to do chantless magic, as it would cost more mana and requires vivid imagination of the desired effects plus—let’s not forget—yes, the magic circle.

Not many people can perform chantless magic.

Spraec language contains an amazing power that lets us produce a magic without having to construct a mental image of the magic circles and the desired effects. Is this what you call the power of words?

Therefore, for the basic magic studies, we should start with learning Spraec.

Besides, I don’t know if I will ever be able to perform chantless magic, so this ancient language really helps us to easily perform magic.

“For the practical training, let’s start with strengthening your mana sensing and mana control skills,” Mom said, when I was still remembering the basic of Spraec language.

“Eh? Just like the one we did during Hartmann’s secret art practice?”

“Yes, but in this case, try to close your eyes and strongly feel the mana—then try focusing them to your hands—let say, the right hand, or more specifically to your index finger.”

“Okay!”

After I am getting used to manipulating my mana, Mom finally lets me chant magic spells.

“But before that, wear this pendant, Lyra.”

“?”

Mom put a simple necklace with a beautiful round and transparent stone pendant to my neck.

“This is...?”

“It’s a safety measure. It’s now common for 4 year-old children to head start and practice magic, although their mana pool and magic is still developing. In order to prevent unwanted things to happen, we designed this magic safety control.”

Oh, it’s like how we are using blunt-edged swords and safety gears for beginner’s practice!

“How does this work?”

“This stone here will detect if excessive amount of mana is being produced. If it detects that, then the magical stone will activate and absorb a portion of the mana and then let the mana out—to return your mana to the nature.”

“Awesome...!”

Mom smiles at me.

“Normally, for first timers, they can only control and utilize a small amount of mana, so you need practice to fully be able to manipulate most of them. Some unfortunate cases happen, though, when their power is out of control, so be careful. Always stay focused. Practice your mana controlling more.”

“O-okay, I will note that!”

“Now, let’s begin with the basic Ice magic...”

***

Occasionally, I also dropped by the Royal Magic Court to learn about magic from Meredea and the other magicians and to look at various magic tools.

The thing about my [Dark] magic has always been dismissed, as if everyone’s already forgotten about that, to my relief.

It seems that my other affinities are as strong as [Dark] or a bit weaker than it, and so far I have no difficulty in my magic training~ How lucky!

During my visit to the Royal Magic Treasure Room, I managed to meet Fenix, Mom’s Phoenix Familiar.

Her body is clad in the bright, beautiful blazing red. Her wings are big and beautiful, as well.

Her long tail can even be used to slam the enemies, if she chooses to. It can also be spread out to show off its beauty, like a peacock’s.

Balls of flames are present near her body. However, it doesn’t burn anything. Seems like she’s controlling the flames to make sure they would only burn whatever she wants to.

Her golden eyes and blue irises reflect the sceneries she’s seeing, and her gaze looks so calm and wise.

“Fenix, you may have seen Lyra several times already but it’s her first time meeting you,” Mom said, as she approaches Fenix and gently caresses her feather.

“Hee? Now that you mention it. Hi there, little lass. I’m Fenix, the embodiment of the Sun.”

Hmmm?

Instead of speaking, it feels more like she’s sending a telepathy to me.

“Hi, Fenix. I’m Lyra, nice to meet you,” I reflexively bowed down to her.

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“Fufu, as Cass said, you’re one little child full of manner. Well done!”

I straightened my posture and stared at the golden branch specifically made for her.

It suits her so well.

After staring at the branch, I moved my eyes and stared at her, again.

“Uhm, can I ask something?”

“Sure thing.”

“Is it true that you’re born from the ashes of your predecessor?”

“Haha, like mother like daughter! It’s also the first thing Cass asked me after forming a contract.”

I shifted my eyes at Mom, she only scratched her hair and smiled.

“As far as I know, yes.”

“So, is your predecessor your parent, or are you the exact same entity as your predecessor, meaning you are born from your past self?”

“…such a complicated question for a four-year-old. I guess it’s more right to say that I am born from my [past self], rather than my predecessor being my parent.”

“…If you are truly reborn from your past self, do you have memories or knowledge of your past life, then?”

“Yes. But it was not until I reached 100 years old that I could recall everything.”

“…how long is your life expectancy?”

“Around 400-500 years per life time.”

“How many lives have you had?”

“…Perhaps five…?”

“Wow, our calendar only has 900ish years, but you’ve lived longer than that!”

“Your calendar doesn’t start from the beginning of life in Sphaela—the world, dear.”

“So, that means you’ve witnessed the events before our calendar was established?!”

“Hmm, yeah, but I mostly chose to spend my life away from the noisiness of your lives.”

“Heee… So, how many masters have you been with?”

“I don’t really feel comfortable speaking about my previous masters in front of my current master. But rest assured, you can count them with just your hands.”

“Woww!!”

It’s my first time speaking with such a creature! I can’t hide my excitement and curiosity.

Mom only laughed when she listened to our conversation.

“She is really your daughter, Cass. She asked what you asked me, too.”

“Well, Fenix, I think most people would question those things!” Mom said, in her defense.

“Is that so? Perhaps you might as well document my answers, so no phoenix shall spend their time repeating our common knowledge to you humans or other races.”

“Of course, I will, don’t worry, we already have myths written about you phoenixes, so all we need to do is to confirm which one is the real deal from your statements.”

“Very well!”

“Fenix, Fenix! Do all phoenixes have the same size as you?” I asked, after coming up with another question.

To be honest, I thought phoenixes are huger than this.

“Did you just think that phoenixes should be bigger than my size is, right now?”

“Oof! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to mock you or what… I’m only curious!!”

I don’t want her to get offended, if she is indeed categorized as small among phoenixes—at least from the phoenixes in the stories.

“Oh… about that, Lyra…,” Mom wanted to answer my question, but Fenix cut her off.

“Nah, little girl, my original size is much bigger than this. Big enough that your mom can ride on me.”

“HUH? What?!”

“Right now, I might be as big as an Eagle to fit in the room, but yes, my original form is around twice your mom’s height.”

“Awesome… Can I ride on you, some day?”

“Hmm, be careful not to fall, I won’t hold back, okay? And be sure not to wet your pants because you’re afraid of the height, haha! So, maybe, when you’re older.”

“Promiseee?” I reflexively reached out my pinky.

…wait a second, since when have I developed this habit?

Perhaps it’s the influence of both my parents, Alt-nii, Vince, Chloe, Niina, and even Clavis… they are all doing this childish pinky promise thing. Oh, even the other children that I played with, as they made me promise to play again with them someday. Something that I never really did as Reinst.

“…Do I have to do this?”

Fenix seemed to be looking at my mom, so I turned around to look at her, nodding.

Fenix sighed. She reached out one of her talons and touched my pinky with it.

“Alright.”

“Yayyy!!”

I can’t wait to know how it feels like, riding a phoenix!

I can transform to be a bird and fly with the help of my magic (but I need to train it before I can do it). Even so, the feeling would be different than this!

Ah, I can’t wait for when I can get my own familiar!

But before I can get one, I need to train my magic.

After all, familiars are kinda like the symbols for powerful magicians.

Here is another motivation to train my magic!

I can’t wait to discover what I can do with my new magical power~

***

“Lyra, try forming this,” Mom said, while putting a feather in front of me.

Today, Mom is teaching me magic in the middle of her work~ By now, I am getting familiar with the Royal Magic Court.

[Hîwung w¯ælrâp]—I chanted the basic chant for [Ice] magic—‘Ice forming’, used to form something I can see.

After a moment, the replication of the feather—in form of ice, started to take shape.

“Hmm, you’re getting faster in chanting and the detail is finer. That’s good! Your pronunciation is getting better, too.”

Yes. To train magic, we can’t just try a single chant once and abandon it after we feel like we can do it. We have to train it so that we will get better results and faster speed.

It’s quite a hassle having to learn another language to be able to use magic—it’s much simpler to learn swordsmanship.

But it’s quite fun to think that we can create something just from our power alone!

“Alright, I think we have covered the basic of ice magic. Before we proceed, I think… you should learn basic life magic as well, Lyra. It’s important to know how to heal,” Mom said.

She opened the book of spells towards the [Life] section and put it down so I could see the content.

That’s right, my strongest affinity after [Ice] is [Life]. That’s good to know! Healing magic will surely come in handy!

Wait a minute…

“Mom, healing magic is to heal wounds, right? How can we practice it if we are not wounded?”

“Good question!”

Mom suddenly turned away from me, and she seemed to be looking for something in her desk.

I tried to catch some glimpses of her, and at that moment…

Mom is grabbing a kitchen knife!!

Wait wait, she couldn’t be doing what I think she will…?

“Mom, wait, don’t---”

Just as I was about to shout and stop her from wounding herself just so I can practice my healing magic on her, she turned around and sliced something she’s holding.

…phew.

Seriously, that kinda scared me off.

Thank goodness she didn’t intend to hurt herself.

Even if it’s for my training, I still don’t want to see my mom getting hurt because of me. Even when she can patch it up herself.

“Hmm, what is it, Lyra?” She asked, oblivious to what I was thinking.

“Errrrr, nothing, never mind it, Mom!” I smiled wryly.

Then, as she approached me, I could see the thing she’s holding.

It is a medium-sized sponge that has a skin-like color and texture.

“Mom, that is…?”

It’s something that I never saw before.

“This is the equipment we’ve developed to practice healing magic, Healtan. Since it seems quite… something… to purposely hurt yourself in order to learn.”

She paused for a bit.

“Oh, right, it seems quite inefficient to do that.”

…I get the feeling like she wanted to say… ‘it seems quite masochist enough’! But that’s a word you don’t want a small child to hear and learn.

Being an avid reader in my past life, I managed to learn lots of words, and have many vocabularies stored in my head!

Yup, it’s all for knowledge, don’t get me wrong!

It’s important to have the knowledge about some inappropriate words or words with innuendos—so others won’t be able to trick you with your nescience.

“It’s constructed to mimic natural skin and meat, but it’s completely synthetic, no worries. For starters, I will try to just graze the skin to cause a first-degree abrasion. It won’t bleed, and it is the easiest type of wound to heal.”

She then used the blunt tip of the knife to lightly graze the healtan.

Oooh, now, it produces a grazed skin that doesn’t bleed.

Perhaps it’s similar to the type of wound we get from falling to the ground.

“Alright, try healing it, Lyra.”

I glanced over at the page Mom opened for me and made sure I’ve memorized the correct spell.

[Gehælan!] I chanted heal in the ancient language.

In my mind, I try to picture the wound healing, so it will guarantee the success of the magic and increase the speed.

Slowly, the wound starts to close.

However, the edge of the wound still remains.

“Aaah…,” I sighed in my disappointment.

“Ah, the edge of the wound isn’t affected, huh? It’s okay, Lyra. Life magic is kinda tricky and tiring, after all,” Mom pats my head.

That’s right, I feel that it’s harder for me to do [Life] magic compared to [Ice]. I can feel fatigue building up in my body. It’s building up way faster than when I tried using ice magic. So, the rumor about [Life] magic being so energy-consuming is true?

If life magic is quite hard to master, just how did Mom manage to master it? From what I heard, she could even do complicated [Life] magic.

Now that I think about it, magicians are amazing.

“Let’s keep trying, but tell me when you feel tired. We can take a break, and you can play with Luca if you want to.”

“Okay!”

To be honest, I felt quite disappointed in myself and didn’t really want to try that hard after the failed healing magic trial. I’m afraid I will get very disappointed if the result is not as I expected.

I am used to dealing with the crushing disappointments during my past life, but before I noticed it, I have started to have expectations again. My perfectionist characteristic is still here with me.

It seems I have quite a high and unrealistic expectation of myself, being the daughter of parents with incredible magic talents.

Like, perhaps I can get it right on my first try, or that I don’t feel that tired at all, compared to other people.

But none of that happened. I should have asked for a cheat before I was reincarnated!!

Ah, well…

I want Mom to be proud of me, so, I will continue to strive in my training!