Magic 101
The day began as always with the sound of the morning conch. As usual, we headed to the courtyard for meditation. The sun started peering from the horizon, its golden rays illuminating the night and breaking the dawn. The meditation session had been different since opening the first chakra. We now had to meditate while immersing in the Circle of Life (CoL for short). A challenge indeed as CoL brings us vast amounts of information in the form of strong feelings and emotions. The most important and potent being the inherent will to live. As our expertise grows, we pick up more and more information from the CoL, like coaxing a beast with treats and kind gestures, slowly cracking its wariness so that it opens up to us. With each passing day as the wariness and distance reduce between me and the countless living beings in my vicinity, as they realize I am no threat to them they will share even more - thoughts, memories, and emotions.
Life and death happen in tandem, passing and birth of beings occur constantly and all around us. Meditation in my understanding is to be the tranquil lake even when a multitude of things are happening under the surface. To be the lake even when you can feel all these intense emotions of these many beings, their strong will to live, the fear of prey as it runs away, survival instincts kicking in, and their happiness in escaping with their life and surviving yet another day. The utter sadness of the predator having the prey escape, its energy and patience wasted, their resolution to not let its prey escape next time as they silence the pangs of hunger from its stomach. The glee of a predator of finding prey, and the happiness of sating its hunger. The cries and helplessness of a prey as it ends up as sustenance for another.
Even with their limited capacity to think even beasts and plants too, mourn the death of a fellow whom they have known. Knowing these feelings at once and maintaining tranquillity is not the only challenge that lies before us. The most important part of the challenge is to know, let go, and be calm while not letting go of your ability to empathize. That is the true challenge that is hidden behind the veil.
'Ah, how cruel guru.'
You could in essence just skim past these feelings, and filter the good from the bad ones with training and I feel that might be the passing line. But how far can you truly go just by barely getting through? Sooner or later you will find a block. A wall impossible to scale.
'I suppose the passing line is the guru's way of kindness.'
---
With the strike of a gong, the session ends, the guru stands up and so do we. He bows to us and we promptly return that bow. It is customary for the ones a the top to give respect first to the ones below them here at the Gurukul—a custom to ensure humility and drive away conceitedness.
As he straightens his back and looks at us, his gaze lands on each of us and moves on to the next. "Let me congratulate you once again on opening your first chakra. It is truly a feat you can be proud of. During our time here, I have taught you many things. It is time you choose the path you wish to walk on. Before that, we should shore up our knowledge of how to use magic properly. During your time here we have not gone through much about magic and its applications. We shall alleviate that today. Meet me at the fifth branch after breakfast as that shall be the focus of your studies today." The guru after saying that vanished from his spot with a mere snap.
There was a very good reason for not practicing magic till now except just chi circulation through our bodies and chi infusion to boost ourselves temporarily.
Our studies were largely focused on History, economics, science, mathematics, astronomy, Physical strengthening, basic martial arts, basic weapon arts, Chi circuits, Chi flow, medical science, and lastly botany. All the basics really, the guru wanted us to pick a direction in which we wished to advance during our time as Junior disciples. And the curriculum only expanded in scope after we became Intermediate disciples. The entire duration of being a Junior disciple was some kind of long-winded heavily monitored aptitude test.
Just like any other educational institution worth its salt, we were groomed and our basic abilities were elevated. Currently, none of us have specialized; we all remain all-rounders and our foundations made strong.
Among the nine of us, Shaun and Sasha showed the most potential for specializing in magic. Perhaps my name should have started with 'S' as well. Anyways back to the point, Sasha and Shaun can choose to and are talented enough to specialize in magic casting but that does not mean the rest of us are bums with no aptitude in magic either. It's just that theirs is so high that they can think of specializing in being a mage without much thought. Judging from their grace and classes, it's likely they're leaning towards it.
Following them, Arya and I displayed the next highest level of aptitude for magic. Although mine lay more in the area of the 'summoner' variant than Smack-all Mary Sue level of magic like Sasha and Shaun and so was the case for Arya whose aptitude leaned more towards a 'controller' variant. Our magical aptitude wasn't high enough to focus solely on magic casting, so we needed to develop our melee capabilities. As a result, I resumed practicing archery, a skill I'd dabbled in back on Earth while Arya opted to learn dual-wielding war fan arts due to her childhood experience with daggers.
After the two of us, the ones with the most magical aptitude would be Joon-Ho who had the most balanced ratio of melee and magic. His aptitude and talent go fantastically well with the choice of his grace and class. Another reason he might have picked those, to begin with.
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After breakfast, we headed towards the rear of the gurukul, nearer to the main trunk of the tree. There stood an enormous double door adorned with intricate designs and runes. At the center where the two doors met, there was a sphere embedded within. Aarav, who stood at the front of the group, pressed his hand on it and channeled his chi into the orb, and with a swirl of light within the sphere, the doors began to open. The two doors rotated backward, revealing a winding spiral path that traversed the outer perimeter of the tree's bark, taking us inside the tree itself. Illuminated by magical fireflies, blobs of light, and luminescent moss, the path ahead was bathed in warm, ambient light. After covering a certain distance, the door closed behind us, but our group unperturbed continued to move forward. After advancing a set distance, we reached another door that opened automatically as we approached.
Beyond the door lay a breathtaking scene—lush, vibrant scenery and immensely thick branches sprouting from the central trunk. The air carried a weighty presence, filled to the brim with chi. We ourselves were standing on one of those branches. Right above the central trunk, there was a floating circular platform that was connected to the branches by means of bridges. As we stepped onto a circular platform situated above the trunk, we noticed numbers assigned to segments around the circumference, reminiscent of a clock, albeit with six segments rather than twelve.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
This time Shaun spoke up and said "The fifth branch of the Viridiel" and with a slight delay, a shining path materialised into being out of thin air. The path overlapped with one of the branches that was in front of number 5. Each of us stepped onto the shining road one by one. After walking a set distance the road seemed to end at a portal. After stepping into the portal we found ourselves in front of a huge tower built alongside a humongous trunk of a tree which was likely the fifth branch. This branch was even by the standards of other ancient magical trees thick enough to be called a tree on its own. The tower was majestic going on and on towards the heavens beyond what we could see along with the branch that supported it. A pressure suddenly descended onto us and a voice echoed in our minds.
"What might you be here for Keszang?"
The pressure was oppressive enough to feel like gravity multiplied many times over. Infusing myself with chi, I could barely manage to not have my knees buckle and prevent my collapse on the ground. Regardless my knees were shaking uncontrollably and my heart rate went enough to feel like it would leap out of my chest and start running away to safety on its own. Through sheer willpower, I gritted my teeth and answered. Words came out slowly and one by one as I ignored the fear that threatened to overwhelm me.
"We were... called here to be....taught more about.... magic."
Hearing our reply, the pressure receded and the tower gates opened up with a slight delay. From within a light abruptly shot out towards us which swallowed us all.
We opened our eyes in a room that was very similar to a classroom that can be found in a university back home. The room was circular with a raised platform where the teacher would usually stand. There was a blackboard at the back but no chalk or dusters. The seats for the students were arranged in a semicircular fashion along the raised platform. There were stairs leading to the seating that was tiered, providing each student with a clear view of the instructor and facilitating better visibility for everyone in the class.
Each of us took our place and sat down. The room was enormous and there was no point sitting at the back with our puny class strength so all of us sat in the front two rows. No words were exchanged regarding what had happened just a few moments ago. Silence enveloped us as each of us tried to calm ourselves and school our expressions back to normal. As soon as were comfortable, the guru entered through the doors on the right side of the wall where the blackboard was and took his place on the podium.
"Lir'dal adon Shal'vam" greeted the Guru.
"Nis'hael Tif'orin" the group greeted him back albeit without as much as energy as usual.
"First of all let us review what we had learned earlier. Before that what are we here to learn today Aarav?"
"To learn about the applications and principles of magic."
"Correct. It is always necessary to remind yourself of the task at hand and have a clear vision of your goals. Then Sasha, what is magic?"
"Magic is the transformation and application of energy according to the user's desire."
"So Shaun, what is this energy Sasha spoke of just now?"
"It is that which is all around us, everything in this world is made up of energy and exists in different forms of energy, even empty space."
"And how is this transformation of energy accomplished Arak?"
"Magic is accomplished by transforming the ambient energy around us with willpower and desire. We can do this either through bending the energy to our whims or letting ourselves flow with the energy guiding it and fuelling it with our desire."
"Then Ying what all are the methods through which we transform the ambient energy or rather chi around us?"
"There are five main methods of using magic. Verbal, non-verbal, assisted, through nature and finally borrowed."
"Yes, these five are the known methods of utilizing magic. There could be even more. We are advancing every day. Some methods might be forgotten, lost to time, waiting to be rediscovered, while others could be safeguarded as secrets of utmost importance. Each of the known five methods also has several branches. Take care to learn them all, but don't mistake them for the only ones."
"Kaito, which method is impossible for mankind to utilize but is extensively used by the Titans in the south and why is it considered impossible?"
"It is magic done through nature as the intermediary and the source. It is believed that the 'Will of the world' retracted this ability from us after being displeased with the destructive and irresponsible nature of mankind."
"Precisely, and that's why we humans can only utilize the chi within us, unlike the titans and their derivatives, the mythical beasts, and the monsters, who can draw power from the environment. However, this also makes them quite easier to track, especially in the case of monsters."
"What must one be most careful of when utilizing magic, Ren?"
"It is control. One must have absolute control over their spells; otherwise, the spell may drain one's chi completely and prove fatal. A caster must partition their chi before using it for magic."
"What happens if there is no chi left within a person and they still try to draw more, Aarav?"
"They will exhaust their own life force in doing so. Since people are usually not trained to handle the flow of their life force, unlike chi, it often leads to death."
"Using a spell is like opening a tap connected to a water tank where the tank is your chi reserve. The spell will remain active as long as the tap is left open, a mage must consciously will the tap to turn off. But many times novices and even some experienced mages use magic beyond their control due to their unfettered emotions. Influenced by the caster's desires and feelings that saturate the spell, it draws more energy from the caster to fulfill the task it was created for. This leads to the drawing of a sudden influx of chi through the circuits which will feel like electricity flowing through your body leaving the caster too stunned to turn off the supply. Even if the caster does manage to retain himself and tries to turn off the source, it would feel like building a dam on a flooding river. For those unfortunate enough to lack sufficient willpower, the flooding chi would attract the life-sustaining chi as well, remove the natural limiters present in the body, damage the circuits, and flow out of the body all at once."
"That is why it is imperative that for every spell you use, you create a fail-safe mechanism for it accounting for this catastrophic outcome. The prudent and the cautious ones are the ones who survive. That is also precisely why the old wizards and witches are so respected and feared. Magic is a life-threatening occupation to study. It is only right you fear the old when men tend to die young."
"Speaking of which, what all methods have I taught you, and which method have I forbidden you to use, Joon-Ho?"
"You have taught us verbal and non-verbal methods of magic and you have forbidden us to use the borrowed method guru."
"And why is it so Arya?"
"Because the nature of borrowed power is volatile and the roots of that power are not within us but outside. The whims of supernatural beings can cause chaos and misfortune even without having any sort of bad intentions. Their sense of morals and concept of right and wrong are vastly different to ours."
"Precisely, you must always take care with such beings. These beings are in constant flux and exist outside our realm. Do we presume to understand the animals, the insects, the plants, or the earth? Can we even completely understand each other despite being the same species? Then how much less can we understand them? They exist in an entirely different reality with intellect and thoughts we cannot even fathom to understand. You are much better off not attracting their attention."