Enya opened the book up to the first page and began reading. It was about the author, a man named Sable. His last name wasn’t listed anywhere, neither the spine nor the cover. The first page listed the name of a few people, attributing the book in their honor.
“In loving memory…” Enya muttered, “of Sarah… Lyrie. Alex… Aynor… Derrick.”
Enya turned to the first chapter.
> Before we start, I want you to understand that Necromancy in and of itself is not an ‘evil’ art. Necromancy in essence is the manipulation of souls and the dead. Just like how fire is the manipulation of flames and heat. Necromancy is not as evil or as dangerous as the common people makes it out to be. By comparison, Necromancy can raise or manipulate the souls of powerful dead beings, but fire magic can be used to burn down an entire kingdom. Magic is neither good nor evil. As my master once told me, “Magic is used based on how its user wants it to be used.” If you want to use Necromancy to defile the dead and harm others, then it is only a means to an end. You could do the same thing with any other type of magic—even healing magic. Healing magic is much more deadly than you realize if you understand its core principles.
Enya’s brows furrowed as she read through the passage, her mind wrestling with the ideas it presented. The theory made sense—magic wasn’t inherently good or evil; it was simply a tool for people to wield. But why, then, was necromancy seen as evil? It was just magic that brought the dead back to life, wasn’t it? You could even use it to raise someone you loved after they had died. To her, it seemed like an incredible form of magic.
“Why do people not learn necromancy? I don’t see any problem with it,” she muttered under her breath, her voice barely above a whisper.
Leaning back in her chair, Enya tilted her head, lost in thought. “How the hel—oh yeah, Pell told me not to copy him and use ‘curse words.’ How the heck could someone use healing magic to hurt others?”
Her thoughts began to wander, and she let out a small, frustrated sigh. Stupid Pell. How come he got to say curse words, and she couldn’t? “Stupid hippo…” she mumbled, unable to remember the exact term she wanted to use.
Enya, in her own whimsical and determined way, was a bundle of youthful curiosity and enthusiasm. If Pell told her not to do something, it only fueled her desire to try it. Yet, despite her rebellious streak, she had a soft spot for him and didn’t want to disappoint him. She respected his guidance, even when he was grumpy or blunt. After all, he had been quite helpful over the past two weeks. She appreciated his efforts, even if he was foul-mouthed and rude.
Hours slipped by as she continued to read the book. She found herself needing to reread several chapters more than once, trying to grasp the unfamiliar words and the context in which they were used. Now, halfway through chapter three on her second pass, she was deeply engrossed. The book featured several visual diagrams to illustrate the different spell circuits, and these were what Enya spent the most time studying.
Enya closed her eyes, leaning forward with her arms stretched out in front of her. She followed the same motion with her legs, stretching them before tucking them back under the chair, where they dangled just above the ground. She wasn’t quite tall enough for her feet to touch the floor.
She was about to resume reading, but decided against it on a whim. Swinging her legs over the side of the chair, she bounced off with a playful hop, landing in a half-crouch with her arms outstretched like a cat preparing to pounce. Straightening up, she glanced around the room at the marble altars, each one adorned with glowing spell circuits engraved into their surfaces. She walked over to an altar and crouched down for a closer look, examining the circuits as they gracefully looped around the base and top.
Her face scrunched up in frustration. “These circuits are so much easier than the ones in the book,” she grumbled. The diagrams in the book had been intricate and complex, with circuits that used at least five different patterns, while the altar's light spell only used two. Was she supposed to memorize all of them for each spell?
Pouting, Enya walked back to her chair and sat down with a sigh. She enjoyed reading, but there was a big difference between reading for pleasure and trying to memorize complex spell circuits. Overwhelmed, she stared at the book in front of her. Why didn’t Pell just stay with her and help her understand certain aspects?
> -the Witch class for instance, while primarily focusing on curses—they can also learn spells that relate to souls. Although their degree of control over souls is not as profound as those of a necromancer, they still wield the ability to do the same things as a necromancer—albeit at a lesser effect. Remember, although extremely rare, an innate Necromancer class typically has a stronger affinity for souls than a non-innate necromancer.
Enya stared closely at the passage. You could have necromancer as an innate class? She thought about this for a few moments before remembering something else.
Hadn’t Pell mentioned something about innate classes? She hadn’t asked him for details, but he had mentioned that she should have an innate class and could check it at any time. Enya vaguely remembered reading that her innate class was called “Visionary,” but she hadn’t looked into it further. Pell had dismissed it as a “non-combat” class, and because of that, she had also considered it unimportant.
She looked up from the book, curiosity piqued. “Status,” she said aloud. A screen popped up in front of her, listing her stats and her unassigned class.
“What is my innate class?” she asked the floating screen.
The screen flashed briefly before changing to show the information she requested.
Innate Class: Visionary
Unlock conditions: Shatter a spell circuit and reactivate it while analyzing the nature of the mana before it dissipates.
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Enya furrowed her brow. She didn’t know what the word “dissipates” meant, but from the context, she guessed it had something to do with mana disappearing when a spell circuit broke. She recalled reading in an earlier chapter that when a spell circuit broke, it would stop whatever spell was currently active or about to activate, and the mana inside it would explode and scatter. So, the unlock condition probably required her to break a spell circuit and analyze the mana before it scattered.
She squinted her eyes in thought. What did Visionary mean? Vision… that had something to do with eyes, right? So maybe this class had something to do with seeing? Maybe it would let me see better? She thought, then frowned. Seems like a pretty useless innate class. My eyesight is fine.
She got back up and walked over to the nearest corner of the room. The altars were the only things with a completed spell circuit, and Pell had mentioned there was an access spell encasing the room, but she couldn’t see any circuits for that. Either the circuit was hidden somewhere else, or she simply wasn’t experienced enough to detect it. Creating her own spells was still beyond her reach.
Enya placed her index finger on one of the engraved lines of the spell circuit. Nothing changed visually, but she could feel a subtle shift against her fingertip, like the gentle sensation of water flowing. The mana brushed softly against her skin. Closing her eyes, she focused all her attention on that feeling, directing every sense toward her finger.
The sensation was a steady, flowing power moving past her fingertip. It didn’t falter or vary; it flowed evenly and smoothly. Enya traced her finger along the engraving, following the mana’s path. The flow was consistent throughout, but when she strayed from the path at one of the non-looping patterns, the sensation of mana vanished.
Mana felt smooth—its flow was constant and rhythmic. Enya felt a deeper connection to the mana flow as she focused, as though she may have been drawn into its current.
Enya looked away and summoned her status screen. “What is my mana?” she asked. The screen updated and filled with just her mana value.
Mana: 8/8
This meant Enya had eight points of mana to use. Spell circuits were just one aspect of casting a spell. To use a spell, you had to first form the spell circuit using your mana, and then fill it with more mana.
She wasn’t sure how much mana it would take to recreate the light spell circuit, nor how much it would need to be filled completely. Pell and the books had not explained what happened if you tried to fill a spell circuit with more mana than you had available. Could you fill a spell circuit halfway? Would it explode if incomplete? There were too many questions swirling in her mind. There was only one way to find out.
Enya looked back towards the Altar, placing her finger back onto the spell circuit. She stared at it and focused on the feeling of water flowing throughout the circuit. To understand her own mana better, she imagined it flowing smoothly, akin to water. She felt a change in her body as she concentrated. She tried moving the rushing feeling to her arm, then down to her hand, and down to her finger.
The goal was for Enya to use her own mana to block the flow of the spell circuit. Like building a dam to block the flow of a river. If the spell circuit’s flow was steady, then any attempt to interrupt it would likely disrupt the channel. After a few moments, her internal mana contacted the circuit and began to push against it.
Suddenly, the entire mana circuit flashed brightly before her eyes, and then, with no physical explosion, a bright spark of light erupted outward in all directions. There was no actual hard physical sensation—just a faint gust of wind that brushed against her. The mana that had been flowing through the circuit halted abruptly and shot away from the altar. Enya felt the wave of mana hit her, but it didn’t hurt; it felt like being splashed with a few drops of water. A very faint, high-pitched noise accompanied the circuit's rupture.
Enya felt the mana burst free towards her, while the rest flew out in all directions from the circular altar. Her finger was shaking as she froze up and then frantically looked around her. The small light on top of the altar was no longer there, and the spell circuit was no longer glowing or had any mana flowing on it.
She sat on the ground, legs completely extended out as she tried to relax and calm herself. Although the mana explosion didn’t hurt her, and she was expecting it, it still made for quite a surprise.
That small portion of the room she was sitting in became dim. It was still bright—bright enough to see—thanks to the other altars, but she could now see the shadows at the corner.
She let out a deep breath before speaking, “Innate class.” She looked at a specific portion of the unlock conditions.
-before the mana dissipates
She had felt the mana rush outwards from the altar when the circuit was broken. It didn’t just disappear instantly, but it happened over roughly one to two seconds. This meant that the unlock condition wanted her to rebuild the light spell circuit within roughly one and a half seconds, she thought.
Enya leaned forward, moving her legs behind her as she went back towards the altar—dragging and shuffling her knees on the ground as she moved. Enya had gotten used to moving around in her dress without accidentally becoming tangled in it.
She placed her finger back on the spell circuit engraving and closed her eyes. Focus my mana… and let it flow into the circuit. But before her mana could flow out, she reopened her eyes quickly as she thought about her mana flow.
“Wh-what is my mana? Oh, uh, I mean, Status, what is my mana?” she said, frantically looking everywhere to find the status screen. It popped up in front of her face, revealing her mana pool.
Mana: 7/8
She let out a heavy sigh of relief. She hadn’t exhausted all her mana—breaking the circuit had only cost her one mana point. Now, she needed to figure out how much mana it took to refill the circuit.
The screen vanished, and Enya turned her attention back to the altar. Closing her eyes once more, she focused on the mana within her. She directed it to flow through her arm, hand, and then finger. She pushed the mana out, thinking about how it had moved before—its speed and density. The mana slowly drained from her, filling the circuit. Her breathing grew heavy, as if she had sprinted down a never-ending corridor. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for her to feel her own mana rush past her finger,—a sign of a mana loop being completed.
A burst of light illuminated the room from above, and Enya opened her eyes, seeing the altar's glow return. A bright smile spread across her face. She had recreated the circuit at a rapid pace.
“I-I did it!” she exclaimed with joy. She stared at the completed spell circuit in front of her, pride swelling in her chest. Although she hadn’t cast the spell herself, this was her first real accomplishment in magic.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” she cheered, jumping up in excitement. But her triumph was short-lived as a wave of dizziness suddenly hit her, causing her to lose her balance. She wobbled, arms flailing outward as she tried to steady herself. Apparently, using magic without being used to it yet, caused you to become very weak momentarily.
“Status! Innate Class!” she called out, brimming with anticipation, ignoring her imbalance. The familiar screen flashed into view.
Innate Class: Visionary
Unlock conditions: Shatter a spell circuit and reactivate it while analyzing the nature of the mana before it dissipates.
Enya stared at the screen with a grin. She waited. And waited. And waited.
“Uh, Status? I did it. Why won’t you change?!” she demanded, her earlier excitement fading into frustration as her smile turned into a pout.
Leaning forward, her eyebrows knitted together in a determined frown. "Hello? Change already!" she shouted. Yet, after a few more seconds of waiting—nothing happened.