Stepping outside, Vallynor immediately looked at the house. "Strange, where are the chicken legs?" he thought. "Maybe they're not here. Or maybe they're under the house?"

Leaving that question behind, he walked onto the clearing where there was no black sand, but gray earth with sparse black grass. Touching the ground, he realized that even here there was no sand. The earth itself was essentially sand.

This thought came to him from the moment he took a bit of soil in his hand. After a while, the soil turned into gray sand. Strange.

Then he turned to the sparse grass. Black grass grew sparsely, but where it grew, the soil was more fertile and not as gray. Taking a small piece of grass, he began to study and sniff it. But finding nothing interesting, he threw it away and went further, where strange sounds could be heard.

Approaching, he saw Annino training, using different techniques and magic, even if the latter was useless. Annino was training with some creatures made of wood. It was unclear whether they were alive or created. But Vallynor assumed the latter, because they were very similar to the other trees of this forest made of rocky trees in color and structure.

Vallynor sat down next to a tree nearby and began to watch as Annino and these creatures fought. At one point, he even summoned his book and used the notepad mode to write down thoughts and ideas related to magic and skills. He also came up with the idea of how to respond with a sword in certain situations.

***

Baba Yaga closed the door and returned to the cauldron, beginning to cast a spell. After a few minutes, she carefully watched the water in the cauldron, nodded, and sat down on a chair, asking, "Tell me, why did you ask to save him?" She asked the question seriously, expecting an answer.

"I tri..."

"Don't try to deceive me. I'm not that stupid. Tell the truth," interrupted Baba Yaga.

"He's unusual..." the old woman fell silent, thinking about how to answer correctly.

"Yes, I noticed. Don't be quiet," said Baba Yaga.

"You know he's not from this world, right?" The old woman began to question.

"I realized it from his reaction, and then he confirmed it with his story. And if you're worried that God somehow found a way to send him here, then don't. No God intervened in this matter. But the question remains, how did he end up in our isolated world?" he replied.

"So, one problem is solved..." she stopped for a moment, then decided to continue, "This boy can help me with my problem. He has all the necessary conditions, but he lacks experience. So I'm teaching him. I know that you're only good at curses, blood magic, and black magic," she begged Baba Yaga.

"You want help. YOU!!! Because of you, the eternal forest died. You are a queen who sold the life of her kingdom for her selfish desires, which were not even fulfilled. And now you are suffering. Where are you now..."

"SHUT UP!!!... Will you teach him?"

"I will. But know that it's not because of your request. This boy can help me with one thing, so I will teach him well, even with the most cruel spells that can bring suffering."

"Understood. Then I will leave him in your care. I will be gone for some time," she said, unexpectedly stopping and quickly saying goodbye, leaving Baba Yaga to contemplate.

"The world doesn't have much time left. Over all this time, only the two of us from the Society of the Emerald Leaf remain," she said, standing up and pricking her finger. A drop of gray blood fell into the pot of soup, causing it to boil and emit steam. The water in the pot diminished before her eyes, leaving a small solid substance in the shape of a ball at the bottom. Taking it in her hands, she left.

Slowly walking, she stepped outside onto the street and gazed at the gray sky, full of clouds that would always hide the sickly sun. Then she looked at the black forest made up of black stones and sighed heavily.

"Oh? When I was walking with Anino and Vallynor, I accidentally noticed a small hole in the ground that had remained untouched for many years. It was filled with gray sand that slowly turned black. Then I noticed a piece of cut grass," she thought.

The earth had not changed for many years, but it only took one person to spoil the grass. She watched this, not knowing whether to smile or be angry, but one thing pleased her - she began to feel again.

She spent a lot of time alone and often visited the last normal city in this world, the capital of the entire world, to chat with her friends. However, each time there were fewer and fewer of them, and she was forced to leave in order not to turn into a frog for several centuries because of men.

"But even that city is dying, having lost its former greatness. Now I have to take care of a dog and a child who are not even from this world," she thought.

As she approached Anino and Vallynor, she saw an interesting scene. Anino watched as Vallynor fought with dolls, using a branch. She thought, "Where did he get the stick from? Did it come from these stony trees?"

She quickly approached Vallynor and the dolls and clicked once. The dolls stopped and froze, waiting for new instructions. Then she quickly approached and took the stick in her hands.

Vallynor looked on in confusion as the dolls stopped moving. An hour later, an old woman came and took the stick without even saying hello.

"Where did you get that?" she asked, stroking the stick with her fingers.

"When I first came to this world..." Vallynor replied slowly and incomprehensibly, tearing it apart. He looked at the stick and wondered what was wrong with it.

"I can't believe it. The forest isn't fully dead yet," she muttered to herself.

"What's wrong with this stick?" Baba Yaga couldn't help but ask.

She looked at him for a while, then sighed and began to explain:

"This is an unusual stick. You see this forest? It's called the Evergreen Forest. It's alive, in the sense that it's sentient. Someone took its life and mind away centuries ago, destroying the forest. But the trees that were already strong became even stronger, infused with the rot of this world. It's easier to uproot a tree than to break off a branch."

"Then how did I manage to break it off?" Vallynor asked.

Baba Yaga looked at him, then replied:

"Why are you asking me? You're the one who broke it off, not me... But I have a suspicion. The forest isn't fully dead, and here's a new question: why did it give you this branch?" She returned the stick to Vallynor and said, "Don't show it to anyone. It's very valuable." Then she gave him another item - a yellow ball.

"What's this?" he asked, immediately returning the stick and looking at the ball in his hands.

"You want me to teach you, don't you? So this will help you absorb my lessons faster," Baba Yaga replied.

"How does it work?" he asked curiously, inspecting the yellow ball.

"Very simply, memories and experiences of others will enter your mind. And already having a foundation, you will only need to practice," Baba Yaga explained.

"Will they all enter at once?" he continued to ask, remembering how foreign memories had flooded his mind before.

"No, bit by bit, as you fully cover the topic. So it's safe. Your soul won't be harmed, and they'll enter your mind and soul without any problems or pain. Now come on, swallow it," Baba Yaga said.

Doing as he was told, he tasted the familiar taste. The taste of that same disgusting substance, shit.

"Come back to my hut in an hour," Baba Yaga said, then turned and left.

"A hut? But she has several rooms," Vallynor asked uncertainly, looking at Baba Yaga.

"That's magic," she replied with a shout and disappeared behind the door.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Vallynor looked at the house for a while and tried to understand if it was a joke from Baba Yaga.

Meanwhile, Anino continued to fight the dolls, using only magic and rarely resorting to his skills. Unfortunately, he had to develop and understand how to use magic on his own. After all, Baba Yaga was a person, not a beast, and the same things could be understood differently. All he had was a few pieces of advice that helped him.

About an hour later, Vallynor headed to Baba Yaga's. When he entered the house, he saw her at the table with books and other things.

"Sit," she showed him a stool with her old hand, and he sat down.

Looking at him, Baba Yaga nodded and took one of the books. She looked through it for a while, then closed it and placed it on the table in front of Vallynor.

"Today, we will talk about magic. Specifically, how it all works. In the end, you will take this book and read it. Shall we begin?" Baba Yaga asked, looking directly into his eyes.

"Yes," he replied shortly, looking at the book that looked almost like the one that had the cursed soul or something like that.

Baba Yaga watched for a while, waiting for the outrage that she would not teach him higher magic right away. But she did not notice such a reaction, and it made her very happy.

"Magic is a force that anyone can use to influence the laws, matter, and everything else. But it needs fuel, which is called mana. Mana is a combination of different types of energy and their combinations. For example, necro energy is a mixture of dark, light, life, and death energies. And something that only necromancers know. I know that to create necro energy, a corpse that previously contained mana is needed. Necromancers even used a clever method: they gave the victim special potions to retain mana in the body. And then they infused it with mana until it exploded before killing it. That's a life hack to quickly get a lot of the necessary energy."

Baba Yaga pulled out small stones from her pocket and placed them on the table, starting to examine them.

"These are magical stones. They can be of different types, but there are two kinds. The first type is a magic stone containing mana that can be used for any kind of spell. They are also called mana crystals, mana stones, or simply magic stones. However, to understand which type of stones is needed in a particular world, location is important. The second type is magical stones containing one or more types of energy. For example, a magic stone containing the energy of fire can be used to create a spell based on the element of fire, such as a fireball. However, to create a water ball, a stone containing the element of water is needed. These stones can also be called by the name of the element they contain, such as fire stones or elemental stones, crystals."

Then she demonstrated what mana crystals and elemental stones looked like, and how they could be distinguished from each other by quality and volume. She also explained how one could sense the elements inside themselves. Then she continued:

"Mana crystals appear where there is a lot of mana and can be liquid. They can also form from living beings."

"From people?" my interlocutor asked worriedly.

"Yes, it is possible. There are many reasons, such as diseases, loss of control, poisons, or curses, that can lead to the petrification of blood or body. If a person was a mage, their petrified parts can turn into mana stones. It can be a profitable business, and one can make money by using petrification as a way of obtaining stones containing mana."

Vallynor looked at the sparkling crystals on his hand, then turned his head to the old woman and looked at the stones again, and then at her.

"Yes, I understand. They were created with the help of a curse. The same conditions apply to elemental crystals. But instead of mana, one needs to have a large amount of a certain type of energy... That's all for today, read this book. Tomorrow, I'll talk about curses and black magic. And now, go away."

After leaving the hut, he returned to Anin. He was resting while the wooden creatures sat still like stones. Approaching, Anin got up and quickly walked up to his master. He began touching his body with his head, and the master began petting him in response.

After a few minutes, Anin licked his master's face several times and headed to the wooden creatures where a new round began.

Vallynor watched for about half an hour, then turned and walked away. After ten minutes of leisurely walking, he stopped and a book appeared in his hands, which became very important for his survival. Opening it, he recited the "Forbidden Soul Mantra," which he received as a reward.

Sitting comfortably under a tree, he began reading slowly, sometimes repeating several paragraphs. He gradually began to understand the essence of this technique and why he was given it as a reward.

This technique allows one to turn any soul into runes of their own soul path, while receiving bonuses in the form of parts of abilities, skills, etc., from the victim's soul. The technique is very good, but also dangerous. One of its drawbacks is that the stronger the soul during transformation, the greater the chances of not changing places and becoming the rune oneself, with the enemy's soul possessing the body. In addition, there is also recoil in the form of damage that one receives during the soul processing.

Realizing all the pros and cons, Vallynor understood that this technique is currently too dangerous. It is enough to have only one recoil on his already poor soul to completely disappear. Not to mention that his soul is weaker by several times than all his surrounding enemies. And until he finds a way to get rid of these drawbacks, he will not take any risks. But to be honest, it is too tempting. Remembering only the ability to control time of a butterfly, his greed tried to tempt and make him take risks. But it was only a fleeting risky idea. Nothing more.

Closing the book, he took another one that had been inside the ring. Opening it, he began to read carefully. It was a pity that there were no apples or sausage sandwiches to snack on. Ah, the old life.

After reading carefully, Vallynor began to understand the mana itself more. That he was right, that Mana was all types of energy taken together. And when it comes to a specific type of energy, there can be two cases. The first is when this energy dominates over the others. Mana will still exist, and other types of energy can be used, but they will be weaker than the one that dominates. And the second is when there is only this type of energy and no others. Because of this, only one type of spell can be used.

There is also magic that uses types of energy other than mana as fuel, such as space magic, cosmic magic, or time magic. They do not require mana, but they use another type of energy that is essentially infinite, and only the caster's endurance and experience are needed to use it.

Reading slowly, Vallynor learned a lot about magic and deception. There were also things he knew from his own world, thanks to books, movies, series, and anime. Remembering the past warmed his soul a little. Some of his guesses about the use of magic, which he had in his own world, were confirmed, such as that magic can conflict with technology under certain conditions.

When he finished reading the book, he returned it to the ring. Then, sitting in a lotus position, he began to meditate.

After two hours of meditation, he opened his eyes, stood up, and started exercising, muttering to himself, "I hate sports." But even the recent book confirmed that exercising the body helps a mage increase their mana more easily. In addition, during workouts, one can feel how Mana flows throughout the body, making it easier to feel it in one's mind and soul if you know what to look for.

He didn't know how long he spent training, but when he looked up, he saw Baba Yaga sitting nearby and waiting for him to stop. She snapped her fingers, and chairs and plates of food appeared in front of them.

"Let's eat. It will help heal the wounds of your soul faster and also help you develop in all three directions. From what I understand, you have chosen all three paths of development?" Smiling, she placed food in front of Vallynor.

"Yes. I...," he thought for a moment, then continued, "I received a technique called 'Vias Deus', where you have to study and develop all three paths."

"Hmm. The path you have chosen is complex and very dangerous. This path is the enlightenment from the Master of Balance. You should not have one of the three paths of development stronger than the others. If you have done everything right, this technique of development will greatly strengthen you. But if you are weak in one of the paths of development or do not possess talent at all, then expect trouble, they will become your shackles... For your safety, do not tell anyone about your development technique. And now eat, and then we will have the next lesson," Baba Yaga said.

Vallynor looked at Baba Yaga several times, but still began to eat. To his surprise, the food was good and did not have a bad taste. Baba Yaga noticed this from his reaction and surprised eyes.

She waited in silence until Vallynor finished his portion, and when the last spoonful went into his mouth, Baba Yaga clapped her hands, and all the dishes on the table disappeared, leaving it empty.

"Well, shall we begin?" Baba Yaga asked. "Now I will tell you about curses and black magic. I will tell you what they have in common and how they differ. And let's start with black magic... Black magic is a branch of all magic. In fact, black magic is magic that uses dark energy. All kinds of magic that not only humans but also gods consider forbidden belong to it. For example, necromancy is also black magic. But this is only one of its sections, and there are four of them in total: white magic, black magic, elemental magic, and cosmic magic. There are also three types of magic that only demons, angels, and gods can use. Demons can use demonic magic, angels - angelic magic, and gods - divine magic. Although Baba Yaga calls them laws or forces, in fact, it is also magic, but more powerful and using not mana, but, for example, divine energy as fuel."

After that, four tables and three smaller ones appeared in front of the table. The four tables created a square, and the three smaller ones created a triangle. The square was inside the triangle, and they were connected by lines.

"Look, this square represents all four types of magic, and the triangle represents all three races with their unique types of magic. These three special branches of magic are unique to each race, meaning that a human cannot use angelic magic because they are not an angel. If a human claims otherwise, they are lying. The same goes for demons and gods. The other four branches of magic are available to everyone, but not all races are equally good at each of them. For example, angels are experts in white and elemental magic, specifically in light, fire, and water. However, when it comes to black magic or even elemental magic that uses the energy of darkness, angels are not in the best position. They can't even create a dark arrow. If they try to use black magic, they can even die. With demons, it's the opposite..."

Unexpectedly, Vallynor raised his hand and Baba Yaga stopped, gesturing for him to speak.

"You mentioned black and elemental magic, and both have magic that uses the energy of darkness. What is the difference?" he asked, continuing to write in his book, which he used as a diary. He wrote with his finger, which was inconvenient.

Baba saw him taking notes and, snapping her fingers, a silver feather appeared in his hand. She gave it to him, and he thanked her, beginning to write with the feather and waiting for Baba Yaga's answer.

"You are attentive to details. The difference is not too big, but there is a difference nonetheless. For example, destroying a corpse with the help of dark energy belongs to elemental magic, just like dark arrows. But necromancy, blood magic, or life draining are considered black magic. In other words, magic that doesn't violate morality is not considered black magic. However, lately, all types of spells are being sent to prison. People have completely divided dark and light energies into black and white magic, leaving only four elements. This is fundamentally wrong. As for black magic, we've talked about it, now let's move on to the curse."