Hak stood near the blackboard and said, “Miss and young master, before we start, I’d like to explain the history of magic. Although the two of you have already studied a lot. Magic isn’t an easy subject and it’s really huge. But that’s exactly why it’s such an exciting subject!” He really sounded excited. I guess it’s because he loves magic that much, huh?
Stella seemed excited too. However, me on the other hand... Well, let’s just say I’m not that big of a fan of history... It’s all just memorization anyway...
“To begin with, magic and the presence of mana dates back almost a thousand years ago. That’s what church’s records state. However I believe that magic has existed for even longer than that.”
Stella, although seeming a bit reserved, asked, “Why is that, Mr. Hak?”
“Hm. To explain why, it’s because there were the temple’s records contradicting the normal records, to a time when The Great War took place. These records show that mages had existed back then. And it only makes sense as some magitech have shown that they are older than a thousand years old. However we can’t predict very accurately as of now.”
So there aren’t proper records showing anything proper. It does make sense since all the records are maintained by a religious organization.
“But aside from that, magic can only be used when one is present with mana. Mana can only be inherited when one is of noble blood.”
“But...” he stopped.
“Hak?” I was a bit curious.
“Ah.. no, nevermind, young master.”
He then continued explaining, “Mana is the energy we use to write and use spells. Mana will always regenerate within a mage given enough time.”
“But, there’s one thing that the young miss should be careful about, it’s called Mana Exhaustion. If a mage’s mana is fully exhausted... I can only tell you through the words I’ve heard. But it is truly horrific. There’s no telling whether a mage can survive after that.”
Stella looked a bit nervous, then I asked “Why is that Hak?”
“Young master, most researchers, like me, agree that it must be due to what we call MVR. Mana Vessel Rupture. The mana vessel is believed to be a part of us, however it does not exist ‘physically’.”
It doesn’t exist physically... But it’s a body part..? How’s that even possible? But I guess we’ll come to know with time... Assuming that magic research is fast enough to do so within my lifespan... Ah well. You win some, you lose some I guess.
“However, to activate magic, one not only requires mana. But also a spell! To explain what a spell is, I want the both of you to imagine a stove. Though you’ve put in the fuel and have a spark ready to light it. If you don’t have the ‘will’ to light it, you wouldn’t be able to. It’s the exact same thing, your mana the fuel, your will the spell.”
So to activate magic you’d need mana, but you also need to have the intention to do so?
“But that’s only with Manual casting. When we deal with Auto-casting, although it isn’t very popular as most mages believe it to be inefficient, is where we don’t need the will and only the formula.”
Ah.
Hak looked to the side, and then said, “Rather than speaking, I should perhaps demonstrate!”
He closed his eyes and calmed himself, he put his hand in front of him, and then opened his eyes, suddenly there was a ball of fire floating above his hand. When he moved his eyes to different places, the ball also traveled there.
Unintentionally I blurted out, “Woah...” I was honestly in awe.
He then clapped his hands together, and then the flame was gone. “Now then, although most people believe that manual casting is superior. I believe in something else.”
He paused, wrote down something on the board and then faced us, “It’s calculation overload.”
Stella raised her hand to ask a question. “I’ll explain it young miss, don’t worry.”
“To elaborate what I just said, calculation overload is when a mage is unable to calculate a spell any further due to the fact that the spell has become cumbersome. That is where automatic casting shines. When it comes to calculations regarding such huge spells, it’s difficult to do so with only your mind.”
I asked, “Then why do most researchers consider it useless?”
“Because I was one of the three people who looked into it and discovered this use.” His face looked sad. I could understand something was wrong.
“Young master, I must state something. This is for the young miss too. The wand and necklace you hold were items given to me by two of my, now passed away, friends. One of them used this wand to write spells mid-air. That was the feature of this wand. And it’d allow mana transfer between the wand and the necklace.”
Hak took the wand and made a base spell, then he defined the variables and I could see the code when I looked at the spell. Because I studied this everyday, I could analyze such a spell in seconds.
Base {
Element {Wind} (
Element {Fire} (
Shape = “Ball”, Direction = B2()
);
);
}
B2 {
Form();
}
Now that it had been a few years since I started, I could see the spell more clearly. It made more sense to me. The syntax was understandable. Before I was a bit more confused.
The way that Hak made the spell didn’t cease to impress me. He swung his wand around, and I could see lines following the tip of the wand that floated and stayed in the air. And once he was done with the Base, he went on to define the next function, which was B2. Once he was done with the Base function, he flicked the wand, and it moved onto another base where he inscribed the location function. Once he was done, he stabbed the magic spell with the wand, and then they activated. Except there was something weird, the spell didn’t float in the air, but rather was inscribed onto a piece of paper that Hak had been holding... So with this wand I wouldn’t need to manually write each down again and again?
“Young miss, do you feel alright?”
Her face looked flushed and she looked surprised.
“What happened to her?”
“Ah... I’m sorry, I had failed to mention this. But the necklace, at least the first time you use it, will make the necklace wearer feel a bit nauseous. I’m sorry again, young miss. I’d forgotten entirely.”
“It’s okay...” She answered back.
I felt a little nervous seeing this.
“Mr. Hak! Can you give the wand to Vira?” She really did become a lot more talkative, didn’t she?
He gave the wand to me, “Erm.. Sure.”
“Vira, try it!”
“S-Should I? A-Aren’t you not feeling good?”
She whispered into my eyes, “I know you really wanted to try, go ahead!”
I didn’t think she was that observant. Although I wanted to use it, I felt nervous about it. But with her encouragement, maybe I should try first.
I took the wand, and thought about the spell I wanted. I reiterated what Hak had done with the wand, the movements, his intentions.
I defined the spell.
Base {
Element {Wind} (
Element {Rock} (
Shape = “Cube”, Direction = B2(), Intensity = 5 𝞪
);
);
}
B2 {
Form();
}
Because I didn’t want to exhaust Stella’s mana, I adjusted the intensity, and thought about everything that I had studied, there must be another way to make this more efficient.
Base {
Element {Rock} (
Shape = “Cube”, Direction = B2(), Force = 20 N, Intensity = 5 𝞪
);
}
B2 {
Form();
}
This was it! Rather than have the wind make it float, I can use the force property. I hadn’t thought about the property since I only recently saw it. But since it’s not instantiating two elements, it should lower the mana usage now! Although now I’ve just made a projectile.
Before I started making the spell using my wand, I said, “Hak, can you put that apple over there?” I pointed over to dad’s table, which had no one sitting right now.
I breathed in, and closed my eyes once again. And then I started, speedily moving my arms making the spell, it felt like those years of simply writing those spells were paying off. I could see my own hard work in front of me. I honestly felt excited and happy. And once I was done defining both functions, I aimed my wand towards the apple, and then stabbed the spell!
The rock that came flying out penetrated the apple, almost like a bullet.
Even I was surprised, Hak’s mouth was wide open, and Stella was excitedly celebrating. Jeez that girl, she really does know how to get someone eager.
