[A few days ago]

After my mother was taken to another room so that she may rest. I started to ponder upon our conversation earlier. I had asked the old maid earlier as to how did they heal the life-threatening wound of my abdomen so quickly. But she gave a confused look and told me that I was only injured at my shoulders and thighs.

But how can that be? 

I did get my abdomen cut open now, didn't I? So why was I completely fine when they found me? I clearly remember experiencing a terrifying amount of pain too.

I tried thinking but soon gave up. I then remembered the Black Book that I had seen before. I had tried asking about it to the maid too but she said that they found nothing of such sort near the site. I sighed and spoke while making myself comfortable on my bed.

「At the end what was it? I wonder.............」 I muttered to myself in helplessness.

The moment I said that the Black Book abruptly appeared in front of me, hovering in the air.

I was stunned. I started screaming and fell down the bed. It hurt my butt and the injuries from before started to act up but that didn't concern me right now. I took the blanket that I had been using to wrap myself with and hid inside it on the floor.

「AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!」

Hearing my scream, the old maid, who had not gone too far from my room came rushing in and asked-

「W-what happened, Young master? Why did you scream just now?」

「T-there! It's floating there! The Black Book!」

I said while pointing at the place I just saw the book. But to my surprise, she spoke in a tone of confusion.

「What do you mean, Young master? There is nothing of such sorts present there.」

「I AM NOT JOKING! I SAW THE BLACK BOOK LITERALLY FLOATING IN FRONT OF ME JUST NOW!」

However, the old maid told me to rest saying that the trauma from the incident might be affecting me right now and that I would slowly get over it. After tucking me into my bed once again, she left. 

I looked around. I even looked under my bed! Where did the Black Book disappear?

「But I saw it just now........」 

I mumbled to myself. The moment she left the room, the Black Book appeared once again. I was about to scream once more but stopped myself.

Am I really hallucinating?

Thinking so I got up from the bed and slowly moved towards the book. It was giving off a very faint light. I tried touching it. 

However, to my surprise, my hand just passed through the book. I tried to touch it from all different side but each time my hand just breezed through it. I could see it, feel its presence but could not touch it.

「What the hell?........」 I spoke in that empty room dumbfounded.

◆◇◆◇◆

[Present]

I looked towards the Black Book that was levitating in front of me. 

First of all, I had come to realize that this is not some kind of illusion.

I had also come to discover the nature of this book from the past few days. This Book can appear or disappear on my will, however, as soon as it senses any other living being that comes within certain proximity it disappears on its own. Also, I can't physically touch the book, but that does not mean that I can't open it though. The pages of the book flip according to what I desire.

「Left!」

The moment I thought so, the book's pages started to turn from the left. It took me quite some time to come to these observations. However, even if I have come to know the method to use the book, it becomes completely useless because I can't even read what written inside.

I had been investigating this book non-stop for the past few days but I couldn't find anything related to it in the study.

I sighed and look towards the Black Book that was still hovering around me.

「Disappear!」

The book vanished without leaving a trace as if it wasn't there in the first place.

「It's almost as if it is Magic........」

The moment I said so, my eyes opened wide.

Magic! Why didn't I think of this before?

Of course, it has to be Magic! How else could the book appear or disappear out of thin air then?

I smiled but then it hit me.

Wait, if it actually is Magic then how am I able to use it then?

From what I remember, I do not have an aptitude for Magic. But if that's the case then this doesn't explain the current situation. I pondered upon it for a bit more before rubbing my hair in frustration.

「I am not getting anywhere like this, guess the only way is to know is to check my Magic aptitude again.」

Saying so, I started looking for the crystal ball that is lying somewhere in the study.

◆◇◆◇◆

Back in the study, I pulled out the crystal ball. Judging by the state of the crystal ball, I doubt that anyone ever touched it after me a year ago. Well, that makes sense though.

「Let's see... What was the first step again? Ah! First, hold up both hands and cover the crystal ball.」

I followed the instructions that were mentioned in the book from what I remember and noticed that the crystal ball began to give off a weak light that shone with all the colours of the rainbow.

Well, this happened last time too. From what I remember I think this is normal for all people. Anyway, the next step is the one which counts. I need to envision myself absorbing the rainbow light into my palms and imagine it circulating throughout my body.

I sighed. 

Because I had already tried this a year ago and failed, I had almost little to no hope. I wouldn't have ever done this again was it not for that mysterious book that has been eating away at my curiosity for the past few days.

While looking at the crystal ball I tried to do the same. I did it with almost no interest at all. 

The moment I tried to envision myself absorbing it. The rainbow light disappears from the crystal ball and it felt like my body gradually becomes warmer.

「...........Huh?」

I gave a small squeal. My posture suddenly became stiff and my muscles became rigid. A sudden coldness suddenly hit me at my core. There even was a heavy feeling in my stomach. 

I was in a feeling of disorientation, dizziness and euphoria. A slow and shaky smile was building up as the surprise was slowly sinking in. Reaching up a hand to lightly clasp my throat, I spoke in an unsteady voice–soft, halting, disbelieving.

「......I can use Magic?」

I wanted to give a quick bark of laughter but restrained myself. I tried it once more just to make sure. The result was the same.

「I-It's real, I can use Magic!」 

I jumped around in excitement slipped and fell on the floor. I felt pain but it was nothing compared to the bliss I was currently feeling.

What the hell!? How? Why? When?

I was confused with questions that had no answers. I even forgot the reason why I had wanted to check my aptitude in the first place. 

I was so overjoyed that I couldn't even think straight at the moment. I quickly got up and started searching for the Magic book. I finally found it in the most remote corner of the study.

Who the hell kept this here, huh?

I cursed the person who did this, little the while knowing that it was me all along. But that doesn't matter right now.

While holding it in my hand, I was quivering with excitement. I wanted to scream and tell everyone that I could use Magic! But I shouldn't, not right now. There might be a chance that the crystal ball is just malfunctioning.

Also, the situation of the house is not in the most ideal state due to me.

So, yeah. I will tell them but not right now. I will let the situation settle down a little.

I tried to clear my mind and focused myself as I flipped the pages of the book looking for what to do after determining if we have the aptitude for Magic.

「The next step is to learn to circulate mana within your body. Ideally, you should do so each day while slowly counting to 100.」

According to the book, the next step is to expend mana in large quantities, which will drain my magic sac and stress my magic pathways, which will cause my mana capacity to expand and my magic power to increase.

「Circulate mana. The volume at which you can move mana through your magic pathways will determine the strength of the spells that you can use, and practising circulating mana will cause that volume to increase. Focus the mana into your magic sac. As you consciously feed mana into the magic sac, the magic sac will expand and your total mana capacity will increase.」

The book further explained the above process in a more detail manner with some colourful diagrams.

「However, every person has a limit. If you do not feel an increase in your power and capacity after three consecutive days of practice, it is very likely that you have reached your limit and will no longer experience growth. Once you reach your limit, you should work to improve your mana control and accuracy, as well as learn several different types of magic for which you have an affinity.」

So, in addition to growing my mana capacity, I should work on training my accuracy and controlling my mana output to adjust the power of my spells. This will also eventually cause my mana consumption to become more efficient, allowing me to cast the same spells using less mana.

I see. Research on the topic has reached a fairly advanced level, but the state chooses not to withhold the facts from the public. Apparently, that is because, even though many people have the opportunity to attempt these training methods, very few will ever succeed in becoming magicians. Still, for someone gifted in magic to have access to these texts is a tremendous boon, even if the demand for them will never really increase.

After reading regarding the topic some more, I proceeded towards the thing that excited me the most.

『Introduction to beginner's Magic and its classification』

I read the title out loud and felt like something inside me tingled. I started to smile once again but controlled myself and proceeded to read it.

Reading through it, I understood a few basics.

1. First of all, magic can be broadly classified into three categories.

《Attack Magic》── Attacks a target.

《Healing Magic》── Heals a target.

《Support Magic》── Support can temporarily enhance a variety of a target's performance.

Three types. Easy to understand.

There are various functions, but according to the guidebook, magic was originally developed for war. It still isn't really used much besides battle and hunting.

2. Next, to use magic, you must have mana.

Conversely, as long as you have mana, you could use magic.

There are two ways of using mana.

《Use the mana within your body》

《Draw out mana from something that contains mana》

It must be one of these two.

A long time ago, people used only their mana to use magic; as generations passed, magic was researched into, the difficulty spiked, and the mana required increased exponentially as a result.

This was fine for the people who had a lot of mana, but those with lesser mana couldn't use that sort of magic.

Thus, the magicians of the past thought of ways to draw out mana from elsewhere to fulfil the magic's requirements.

3. There are two ways to activate the magic.

《Incantation》

《Magic Array》

There's really no need to explain here, right? To activate a spell, either to utter a chant through the mouth, or draw magic arrays. What separates magic arrays from incantations is that magic arrays can even be used by people without aptitude for magic. However, the power of an incantation will always be greater than that of a magic array.

4. Magic is said to be divided into 9 Spell tier levels that are used to symbolise its power.

《Basic》(Low-level spells) ── The weakest class of spell. Beginner's magic

《Gou》(First level spells) ── Strengthened Basic spells. Intermediate magic

《Dino》(Second level spells) ── The size of a spell is further increased. Intermediate magic

《Raja》(Third level spells) ── The spell is one that has a wide area of effect. Advanced magic

《Teo》(Fourth level spells) ── The spell gains an increase in destructive power. Advanced magic

《Ma》(Fifth level spells) ── Lost magic.

《Gigano》(Sixth level spells) ── Lost magic.

《Dioga》(Seventh level spells) ── Lost magic.

《Shin》( Eighth level spells) ── Lost magic.

According to the book, the spells for the fourth tier and above were lost thousands of years ago and have no information on them. Therefore they can no longer be used.

After getting a brief overview of the usage of magic. I moved on to learn Basic level spells.

The next thing to do is to learn beginner's magic.

Since it was for beginners, the spells were really quite small, such as conjuring a flame on your fingertips roughly the same size as a burning match, filling a small cup with water, creating a tiny whirlwind in the palm of your hand, or transforming a bit of dirt into a sharp little shard and throwing it at something. The instructions said to keep repeating this sort of low-level magic.

Having read these instructions, I feel that I have all of the necessary tools to attempt low-level spells.

According to the book, it isn't necessary to chant or draw magic circles for small spells. Some people choose to draw circles, chant incantations, shout out a word, or even add a repetitive action, such as swinging the staff or wand in a particular motion.

Nobody seems to look down upon the use of such methods if they result in the magician increasing his accuracy or output.

「Please refer to the intermediate edition of this series if you completed the course of study laid out in this edition in roughly one week」

Since I really did hope to qualify for the Intermediate course, I decided to flip through the intermediate book just in case.

As expected, the Intermediate book has instructions for casting higher level spells, such as fire arrows, ice arrows, wind blades, and rock missiles that can skewer an enemy from a distance, as well as simple body enhancements that can improve speed, strength and agility.

「Since I'm going to be alone for a month anyway, I'll just practise magic every day.」

A week later I had completed the beginner course.