Rosette was with Hugo in a large empty field located behind the mansion. Grass blades tickled her ankles whenever she took a step forward, a gentle breeze rushed through the plain and her hair swayed with the moving air.

Fresh smell of grass and nature filled her nose. She could hear a steady stream of water flowing nearby, a shallow river passed through the forest and steadily made its way south towards the nearby town.

“Magic uses mana and comes in 6 forms.

4 primary elements: Fire, Water, Air and Earth
2 heretic elements: Light and Darkness

Mana is the spiritual life force energy which permeates in the environment. Living things also possess mana inside them. 

To display magic, you can use the mana you have inside of you, or collect it from the surrounding and channel to use it.”

‘So far, this is following the stream of any other RPG magic system’

“Can we use both? Which method is better?”

“People can use both methods but they inherently tend to lean towards one or another.

Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. 

Using mana you possess tend to limit yourself to the amount you hold - especially if your capacity is low. Although capacity can be increased with training, it’s hard to do so. But it gives you a more stable control over the element.

People believe using mana from the surrounding is more efficient. But assume you’re a fire mage and you’re in an environment surrounded by water. It would be hard for you to collect fire attribute mana in the environment.”

“So mana has attributes.”

‘Should I imagine it like 6 little micro-particles in the environment like atoms in previous world? Do scientific elements and atoms apply to mana?’

“Yes. Depending on the composition of the mana they have within, some people are more suitable to use one element over another"

“Do people with multiple attributes exist?”

“Yes. Usually with complimenting attributes. For example, choosing fire and water, the two opposing attributes would lead to a weak magic user. So people tend to choose one attribute and master it to its fullest.

But people can usually control small amount of all 4 basic attributes - for example, making a small fire for cooking despite being a wind user. People cannot cast either light or dark element unless you're affiliated with it.

Your affiliated element will be easier to control compared to other elements, so it will be obvious after you try casting all of them.”

“What is teacher’s affiliated element?”

“You’re interested?” Hugo gave a smug smirk, which only appeared sinister with his appearance.

‘Looking at his appearance and personality, it’s either fire or earth.’

“It’s wind.”

“HUH?”

“What’s with that reaction?” He scowled.

“But you’re so stoic.”

“What does that have anything to do with my attribute?”

“But stoic and big people always have Earth. And hot-headed personalities have Fire. That’s the law!”

“No it’s not, stop making things up.”

‘NOVELS HAVE FAILED ME. MY WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN A LIE.’

“Wow, so you’re a wind user.…” Rosette blankly stared at Hugo, feeling severely betrayed.

“You can start by chanting minor magic spells. We can start with water attribute and use mana within you, which is easier to control for beginners. I will demonstrate for you.”

Hugo then straightened his arm in front of him and opened his palms.

“With the power of mana within me, I command thee - Water ball!”

Water droplets quickly collected in front of his open palm to a size of a tennis ball and shot forward. It fell to the ground several steps away from him.

"......"

Hugo glanced back at Rosette to judge her reaction to seeing her first magic spell.

“Pfftt”

Rosette tried her utmost best to hold her laughter. Seeing a big man like Hugo chanting magic spells in a chuunibyou manner was giving her second hand embarrassment. 

Whatever intimidating image of Hugo Rosette held completely shattered with one scene.

“Haha- Is there- hahahahahaha - a reason we chant?”

Hugo frowned at Rosette's distorted face red from holding in laughter. 

“Magic involves picturing in your head what you want mana to shape. So it’s hard for someone who has never seen it before. It’s hard to get a grasp of what you want just from reading what is written in the books.”

‘Yes, with books written the way they are I’m not surprised you have hard time imagining anything.’

“It helps if you’ve seen the actual spell being brought to reality. However, not everyone has a chance to witness magic in practice so many rely on books. This is a downside; unless you're one of the '10 magic masters', it's unfathomable to bring a huge scale magic just after reading a book describing it.

With chants, you don't need to have a strong mental image. It helps with strengthen your command.

I’ve heard that the magic masters can cast small spells without chanting.”

I see, so it’s hard to imagine something you've only read and never seen before. Well isn’t this convenient for me?

Do you know how much fantasy tagged anime I've watched? How much supernatural movies I've binged?

Having lived in an era where CGI effects are more realistic than actual reality, where visual effects are at their peak, Rosette have seen the most whacko OP effects she could imagine.

This shouldn’t be hard for me. Am I totally not a cheat character?

Rule #49 of isekai: REINCARNATED PPL ARE NORMALLY CHEAT CHARAS

“Should I try the spell?”

Rosette closed her eyes, feeling ‘mana’ flow inside from the pit of her stomach, travel through her nerves and vessels down her arms and collecting at the base of her palm. A surge of energy pulsated underneath her skin, threatening to spill.

She then imagine small blue particles leak out from her palms and collect in front in a whirling into a ball.

She could probably just throw whatever she’s collected right now without opening her mouth and it’s still get same results, but with how Hugo made a big deal out of ‘magic masters’ she didn’t want to deal with drama that came along with it. 

However, her prideful ego couldn’t bear to chant the whole ‘With the power of mana within me etc’ because she was sure she’d die of embarrassment before she spill a word. Compromising with herself, she finally decided on what to chant.

“Water ball.”

With that, the ball was thrusted forwards, much farther than Hugo's demonstration.

“……...”

“Teacher said a lot of stuff but I forgot what was said so I shortened it…” Rosette scratched her cheek with a guilty smile. “…. teehee?”

Hugo was silent for a long time, probably mentally processing and replaying what happened.

“…. I want my salary raised.”