Yuta fervently rubbed his hands together as he stared at the spell slot that now appeared at the top of his status screen. Its little cyan colored rectangle was empty, but just the idea of being able to use magic made Yuta drunk with excitement. Better yet, he had got it through his own craftiness, which made it all the sweeter. Now he didn’t have to waste time trying to save up money to receive a second lesson, and he could get started experimenting with magic right away.

*When I used to play tabletop role playing games an intelligence stat of 16 was pretty good for a mage. So I shouldn’t actually be all that weak if I level up my spellcasting to the same level as those stupid monster hunters. Then if they ever pick a fight again. POW! Burning hands!*

Yuta ventured just outside of town and sat down in a grassy field by the shade of a tree. He quickly scanned through his notes and then rested his book against the tree trunk. He sat down in a meditative pose and began focusing on his breathing.

As he drew in each breath he searched for energy rising within his body, and as he exhaled he searched for energy settling. The rise and fall of the breath was said to influence the mana within one’s humors to ebb and flow like a tide. With stirring of mana it would stimulate tiny sensory points scattered throughout the body like stars in the night sky. As these scattered points were stimulated by the movement of mana, one could then align them into tiny thread-like lines that would travel into the center of the body. Just below the heart and an inch in front of the spine was a place Madeleine had called the nexium anterior. It was the pressure valve that maintained the body’s inherent mana flow. By drawing the little lines into the nexium one could cause a concentration of mana to pool. Yuta continued to inhale and exhale while focusing on each sensory point in his body, hoping to guide the little stars into their little lines, and convince the tiny beads of mana to flow back into his nexium anterior.

A flourish of tiny little cyan lights glowed underneath his skin, streaming through delicate channels back towards his core. As they gathered there the core began to glow with a gentle magical buzz.

In order to channel the mana pooled into the nexium anterior into a quanta, one had to sculpt the energy into a triangle with a circle that touched each of its faces. Then by expanding the circle and squeezing tighter on the triangle but keeping them in the same proportion one could cause the mana to ‘bloom’.

Puffs of magical smoke spewed forth into Yuta’s bloodstream. And his task was to try to draw this energy into a small magical circle in one of his primary gates, like that of his heart, where it could be safely contained without dissipating. Most of the magical essence evaporated quickly but Yuta was able to channel just enough of it into his heart gate. It sealed itself there with a satisfying click, and the rectangle on his status screen filled with a happy cyan color.

Yuta felt a little woozy as he opened his eyes, and the world around rocked back and forth like he was sitting on the deck of a ship at sea. As his vision returned to normal and the last of the magical essence evaporated into the ether Yuta’s body filled with fatigue. His magical channels were now filled with a murky grey substance called ‘brine’. It was the presence of this salty feeling that inhibited further cultivation of quanta and it could only be processed by his body with time.

Yuta’s head began to throb, like it had been tossed through a dry wash cycle in a washing machine.

“Oh gawd!” Yuta said, clutching his head, “Gah!”.

He laid down in the fetal position in the grass, nauseated and suffering from the pangs of a migraine. Madeleine had said it wasn’t uncommon for mages to suffer intense after effects after processing magical quanta, but they only lasted a couple of minutes. Yuta rocked back and forth in the grass for a few minutes, until finally the headache released him from its grip. Yuta stood to his feet, with the remnants of a bad hangover lingering in his body.

“Ugh, the headache is gone. But I still feel like warmed up trash”

Yuta grabbed his water flask and took a few hearty swigs, hoping that the after effects were just a result of dehydration. He then stretched out his jaw and facial muscles, and began doing some calisthenics to wake himself up from the stupor. Doing a couple of star jumps, bending from side to side, and flapping his hands against his body as he twisted side to side.

After a few more minutes the hungover feeling lifted and Yuta picked up his notes to check for the basics of magical circles, and the foundational spell concepts needed for manifesting a cantrip finita.

It consisted of three ideas known as the control circle, the glyph key, and the handles. The control was either a simple circle or in some cases a line manifested in the ether, the size of the control had to be in correct proportion to the magical pressure needed for the spell. Smaller control circles were for finer and more precise magics, and larger circles were for broader areas of effect. Line controls were used for magics that were defensive in nature like the shield cantrip or to control a delayed effect or distance that a spell would need to travel before taking effect.

The glyph key was a series of lines made to provoke the property of magic desired. One could think of them like a combination on a lock, and each property needed its specific glyph key to unlock it. One could also think of them like the string of a bow, pulling at certain properties of underlying magic in the ether so that they would manifest.

The handle was a secondary geometry inside the circle that was used to depict relationships between separate parts of the spell that needed to undergo transformation as they interact. They could be seen as containers that manipulate each section of the circle in a specific way. A half wheel for example was a circle with a line down the middle, that when rotated flipped a property like a handle. While a triangle was used to transition a glyph through three different modes, like close, middle, and far. And a plain circle might be used to dial up an effect and create a gradient. Certain spirals might be used to create confusing or illusory effects.

The more complicated spells had many different handles and glyph keys, while the simpler spells often didn’t even have a handle, and the key was rather simple to memorise.

The ‘illuminate’ spell was the easiest of all arcane spells. It did not require exact ratios like other spells, and it could be cast as a cantrip continua or a cantrip finita, the only difference being the intensity of the light and its use in combat. It’s circle was a simple control circle with a line down the middle, and a z glyph at its center.

Yuta didn’t know how to cast the spell as a cantrip continua as he hadn’t overheard that part in the lesson, but he knew how to create a packet of energy called a quanta that he could use to cast the cantrip finita version of the spell. The process was pretty straight forward, you would reduce the pressure of mana flowing through your arm, then as the pressure reduced you would allow your magical gates to open. The residual energy from loosening your gates would allow you to stimulate the ether and cause it to crystallize. You then drew the control circle, the key glyph, and finally the handle geometries to manipulate it.

Yuta loosened his gates and the ether at the edge of his fingertips began to crystallize. He took in a breath and extended his arm out straight so that rotating his arm gave him a control circle. He then drew the midline for the illuminate spell, and swished back and forth to create the z shaped glyph key at its center.

He slowly let out his breath and focused on his heart gate where his quanta was being held. He double checked that his gates were loose, and then focused on the magical pressure behind his heart gate, and released it through his arm. Like the falling of dominoes the magical wave shot through the gates that ran down his arm, and magical essence blasted into the sigil.

As the essence struck the sigil it warbled and warped into little beads of light, and pooled into the center of the circle. The little beads of light grew in size before finally coming together and bursting in a flare of light.

Yuta yelled out the name of the spell to shake out the last of the magical essence and to ensure a full release of the entire quanta packet. “Illuminate!”. As he did so the light grew even brighter, and outshone the sun, causing the shade underneath the tree to disappear.

Yuta screamed in pain as the light burned the back of his eyes. Giant black blobs filled his vision after the light had faded. He sat down under the tree, and focused on his breathing as he waited for his eyes to return to normal.

“Haha, I did it! I’m finally… finally a magician”

“Or an acolyte at least”

“I can only do one spell, but it is a start”

The black marks in Yuta’s vision started to fade and he could make out the grass pasture in front of him once again. He stood up and took a fighting stance.

“In Mirio’s lesson, you would draw the sigil down low, or hold a spell stone gripped in one of your fingers. You then lifted your front hand to keep a space between you and the opponent, making sure to smile and say something to distract the foe, and then POW! You sock them with the spell and attack”

Yuta played back and forth with the lesson he had learned a couple of days prior and carried a satisfied grin after each motion.

“Yes! I can do it!”

“I will have to find Mirio and show him, once I can save up another quanta, and hopefully he will agree to teach me something else”

Yuta gripped his fist and looked up into the sky. “I’ve got this, I will become strong!”

…

Mirio hooked his helm onto Rocky’s side and hopped up into the saddle. His armor glinted in the mid morning sun as he trotted through the village streets. Children ahead were swinging sticks, pretending to be knights in a fierce battle for the fate of the world. “Haha, I got you, I got you!”, “Nuh uh! I got you first”. As Mirio passed them by, the kids looked up in awe. “Look, it’s a real knight!”, “Whoa, look at his sword”, “You idiots, that isn’t a knight it is Mirio, he is a guard. My brother told me”, “Nuh uh, look at how cool his sword is”. Mirio flicked two of his fingers in a sigil, and cast ‘Oasis’. The rainbow coloured kinetic tendrils wrapped around his arm as he waved back at the kids. Their jaws dropped and voices hushed as they gazed at the ribbons of magical energy. “Whoa!”. Mirio then squeezed his thighs and brought Rocky into a gallop and headed southeast towards Elmvale.

He saw a flash come from underneath a tree in the grassy pastures up ahead and decided to turn towards it to investigate. He saw a young man celebrating and jumping around and got curious.

“Was that your first spell?” Mirio said.

Yuta turned with a look of shock on his face, “Where the hell did you come from?”.

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Mirio tilted his head to the side. He had no idea what the portly boy was saying, but something about him seemed familiar. “Do I know you from somewhere. Wait, I think we talked not long ago, when I was on lunch break. You are the ‘this world’ guy! I didn’t know you could do magic”.

*The ‘this world guy?* Yuta repeated in his mind *Is that what he thinks of me?*

“Uh yeah that is me, you told me to get better at the basics of swordplay and to figure things out naturally. Thanks by the way, it helped”

“Glad I could help,” Mirio said as he hopped down off of Rocky. He petted Ezee for a moment who was waiting at his feet. “I saw you cast light. There isn’t any reason to cast light in the middle of a field with no one else around, so I figure you were doing it for practice”

“Yeah, I took some lessons after we spoke, the mage at the guild helped me grasp the basics of the basics”

“Wow, you learned how to do it in a day? I think it took me a couple of weeks to get my head around the basics, and most people get frustrated and give up before they cast their first spell”

“Oh, really? I didn’t realise it was fast or anything, I was just anxious to get started you know what I mean?”

Mirio smiled. “Totally”

“Um, when we spoke, you said that I should train, and then I could come back to you. Do you think you could help teach me something so I could get stronger. I mean I have a handle on a bunch of the basics”

“Okay, sure, I’m not in that much of a rush so I can spare a few minutes”. Mirio drew his sword. “Don’t worry, haha, I won’t accidentally cut you”.

Yuta ran over to the tree and picked up his wooden club and drew it into a guard position.

“Wait, you don’t even have a sword? Haha! No way”

“I don’t really have the money to splurge just yet, I’m working on it though”

Mirio nodded, “I see, no shame in it. Shall we?”

Yuta gripped tighter on the base of his club and followed Mirio as he circled to his left. Mirio then changed back to circling the other way. He then stepped in towards Yuta and Yuta quickly shuffled his steps back. Mirio gazed down at Yuta’s feet, observing his footwork, and seemed to agree with Yuta’s choice. He then stepped back away from Yuta, and Yuta shuffled his feet forward to follow. Mirio then nodded firmly “Good, good”.

Mirio raised his sword above his head, and Yuta followed it with the tip of his club. He then lowered the sword to his feet and Yuta poked the tip of his club as far forward as he could and moved towards Mirio. Mirio flicked his sword up to smack away the club, but Yuta circled the club to avoid the hit and stepped forwards.

Mirio then stepped back and sheathed his sword. “Good, you have the basics. And you have magic. Have you slain any beasts or monsters?”

“What is the difference?” Yuta asked as he lowered his club.

“Well, I suppose my question is a little silly now that I think about it. But a beast is a larger version of a dangerous animal, made that way by their connection to magic. And a monster is a creature that isn’t part of the natural world; mutants, aberrations, chimeras, and dangerous humanoid variants”

“Well I killed five bullfrogs for a grade F quest, but I don’t know if they are beasts or monsters. In my world they exist but are just smaller and don’t attack anyone”

“They are a kind of beast. But since they breed fast they can end up becoming dangerous to towns if not kept in check”

“What about the brood mothers?”

“Also beasts. Made larger and more dangerous by stockpiling mana” Mirio replied. Mirio then turned to Ezee. “Ezee here is a beast too, but he’s still young so just looks like an ordinary wolf for now”.

“Isn’t that dangerous? Aren’t beasts evil?”

“No no, not at all. Most beasts are just like any other animal. They aren’t ever capable of becoming tame of course, but this little guy lost his parents so I’m looking after him for now. If he ever wants to go on his way I won’t stop him.” Mirio replied.

“So why do you ask if I’ve slain a beast then?” Yuta asked.

“Knowing the basics and using them in a fight is a bit different. How did you manage?”

“Oh, well I tripped over when one of them was faster than I expected, but for the most part I was alright”

“That is to be expected, timing is something you can only learn by practicing against different kinds of creatures. If your timing or rhythm is off you will get knocked around”

“Isn’t rhythm about music? What does it have to do with fighting?”

“A fight is very similar to a dance. Like before when you were moving back when I moved forwards, and moving forwards when I moved back. You matched my movements with your own. And rhythm is about how you connect movements together and prepare your motions so that they flow together. It helps you stop getting wrong footed or tripping over yourself, so it is actually really central to fighting”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about it that way, but now you mention it, it makes a lot of sense,” Yuta replied.

“If you killed some bullfrogs, and can cast a light spell, you’d be useful in a party. Have you joined up with any of the other adventurers yet?” Mirio asked.

“No, I don’t really fit in with the others,” Yuta said. As the words came out of his mouth he couldn’t help but unconsciously glance down at the scar on his right arm. “I am just trying to get better first I guess”.

Mirio glanced at Yuta’s arm.

*Hrmm, has something happened to him since we last met? That is a burn mark. He either spilled something on himself, or someone did that to him*

Mirio continued on with the conversation without missing a beat, aware that Yuta might be sensitive about the topic of his arm. “You should just get in there and keep at it. I know it feels like there is a lot of pressure on you, but you just want to keep chipping away at it. Don’t try to be too perfect or anything, just do what you can”.

Yuta nodded, but didn’t really feel like it was the kind of advice he was looking for when thinking of talking to Mirio. What he really wanted to know was how to become strong, not how to get a little bit better. “My status screen started to work by the way, I have parts on it that I can read now” he said while grabbing his notebook “Here take a look”.

Mirio took the book and rubbed his chin as he read.

“Attributes, and the names of the skills you understand. How interesting… My master Gerion told me about attributes. He said that the different magical arts drew their mana pools from different attributes. The arcane mana comes from intelligence which I see you have here, while divine mana comes from wisdom, and innate mana comes from force of personality. Very interesting…”

Yuta reached to take the book back but Mirio held onto it and continued to analyse it deeper. “It tells you how strong or weak you are at each. And talks about stamina in each of the descriptions. Also the way it categorises swordplay is excellent. I think I believe you. You either copied these ideas from a book, or your status screen is genuine, because there is no way you wrote this at your current level”

Yuta snatched back the book and grumbled. “I know I’m just getting started, no need to rub it in”. He then looked back up at Mirio. “But you believe me?”

“Yes, I do. Maybe you were really born here from another world. Either that, or a god really is messing with you”

Yuta’s wide grin turned sour as he heard the second half of what was said. Mirio slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it though, I’m sure that even if it is someone messing with you, if you are clever about it you can turn it to your advantage anyway. You just have to be extra cautious that your choices are your own, and not because you are chasing after more power. If a god is using it like a carrot, you just have to learn when to not bite the carrot and they won’t be able to lead you anywhere you don’t want to be led”.

Yuta looked at Mirio out of the side of his eyes, “You say that like you have some experience with the gods”.

Mirio glanced down at his right arm for a moment, “No, not really. I’m far too insignificant for anything like that”.

Yuta glanced down at Mirio’s arm but couldn’t see anything but plate steel and the reflection of tree branches and leaves. “Well you know how you said you believe me? For some reason I don’t believe you. I mean, c’mon, everyone talks about you in town. I can’t go anywhere without someone mentioning you. People who are insignificant don’t get spoken about like you do”

“Maybe,” Mirio said. He turned off and looked in the direction of Elmvale. “Was there one specific question you had before I head off?”

“Last time you told me about patterns, and the costs of success. That telling me how to become strong would only burden me. But I want to know the truth!” Yuta replied.

Mirio looked down for a moment before meeting Yuta’s gaze. “The price of success is that you do not get to relish in it, you are more concerned with moving forwards, and you move forwards because you are trying to do something more important than to prove something to yourself. You plunge forth into the unknown, and it feels empty and alone as you do. You can’t rely on the comfort of having everything explained for you, but you also have to be sharp enough to use every advantage you are given. You almost hunger for more, pursue it constantly. Not just a certain amount of hours in a day, but always. It becomes a part of you, almost like an unwanted limb. And at first it is horrifying, and makes you feel worse than you have ever felt before, but slowly as you accomplish more, it becomes like a pair of wings. Before you know it, you are flying, and you are too busy to look down, until eventually… You forget who you were before, and even if you wanted to, you can’t ever go back to the ground. That is the cost of success”

Yuta scribbled down Mirio’s words furiously, “Uhuh, and the patterns you mentioned last time we spoke? You said you search for patterns that help you to escape the burdens of learning”

“Oh, yes. You can’t get stronger at a skill by memorisation alone. Who you are changes, and as you change you will see things differently. It is like music, when someone who doesn’t know how to play looks at an instrument they just see strings or different keys. However, when someone who knows how to play looks at strings, or keys, they recall the note it makes as if it lingers in the air already. Before you know it you see the pattern of notes, and they all come together as a song. As you get better, everything becomes like this. Even when I fight, I don’t just choose to move left or right, in my mind I do both. I see different versions of myself spreading out from each action, and each version fades away as it loses that feeling, or that music. Then all of a sudden I know which move is in harmony and I act on it. I also plan and use tactics, but every tactic is informed by knowing that losing rhythm will lead to failure”

Yuta scribbled every word he could like a madman, “That is abstract as heck Mirio, but it reminds me of how magic works. It is at first an essence that has no particular form, but when it travels through a magic circle it snaps into form. So these patterns you are talking about are like glyph keys I’m guessing? And your tactics are like the handle geometries used to do transformations?”

Mirio was a little shocked at Yuta’s analysis, as he had never thought about how magic and swordplay were interconnected, but now that Yuta had said it, it seemed clear to him. “Yes, they are like glyph keys, but for who you are at that moment, and while most people act comfortably in whatever feels best, you take on the task of change, and move towards a purpose. That purpose is a burden, but the patterns don’t just change you, they free you as well”.

Yuta scribbled down all his words again, “I think I might get it. It isn’t about acting like you are skilled, like a noble might for example. It is about having a purpose and being willing to change in order to accomplish it. And the change isn’t a trivial one, it needs to be the right one, and in seeking that change you are burdened, but in finding it you are freed”

Yuta scribbled down even more notes and began muttering to himself. Mirio smiled and then hopped back up onto Rocky. He looked at Yuta pacing back and forth with his notebook and realised that this boy was actually different from the rest of the people who came up to him seeking advice. For a moment, he felt relief as he spoke to him, like something profound about his life, and his soul was being heard.

*Hrmm, I wonder if this was the right way to fulfil the quest? Did I overlook anything? No I asked him about the same topics we discussed before and he elaborated. And as a result I now know that magic and other skills are connected somehow. Is that what this quest is about? Or is there something else*

Yuta turned back to Mirio “Hey wait up, is there any chance I could partner up with you on a quest sometime”.

Mirio smiled, “Who knows? Just do your best, and I’ll see you around”

*Yikes, guess that means I won’t be seeing him around*

*Damn it! No extra rewards. Is that the end of the questline? Well, I guess I learned magic and basic swordplay. Maybe this was part of a tutorial? Hrmm, I wonder if that means we will now start on the main story line?*

Yuta watched as Mirio galloped off towards town.

“I have a feeling something bad is going to happen… So Mirio, don’t get yourself killed...”