{Author note} Huge thanks to Blackelements for becoming a Patron! He is now given the noble rank of Duke!

As I got my first patron, You get a bonus chapter :)

Here you have the last info chapter. not fully info, but mostly. Anyway long chapter, but important and kind of fun to read. Do give it a try before skimming it all. Please.

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Time to read the probably most important books. Just by knowing the history of the Empire and the fact that magic could be used in martial arts proves it’s a huge thing. I kind of look forward to learning about it.

It has been something I’ve come to realize as I have been stuck in this hut all my life. I love to learn new things and find out more about things that interest me.

And for some reason, I am so driven towards learning about magic. I want to become the strongest, I want to be able to move without shackles, like this hut. Just like the Empress, she was powerful enough to make it all hers.

I pick up both books left and look at the Magic Theory book. The cover is in all different colors, with a woman with orbs swirling around her. It looks very interesting, so I open it up and start reading.

Magic is believed to come from different places. Some believe it to come from the earth, like the elves. Some believe it to come from the moon, like the werewolves. And some believe it to make up everything, just like the humans. But the one thing they all have in common is that without Magic, also called Mana, we would be nowhere close to where we are today.

Magic is used by drawing on the mana from your magic core and either materializing it in the outside world, or as in martial arts, to apply it to your own body. Mana should be seen as a living organism, as it can be happy, angry, or sad. But the mana usually reacts the same as the user, and is connected to the user’s emotions. So the person in question can’t just wield it without thinking, as that would be dangerous to themselves and others.

The most common way to use magic is to materialize your element in some sort of attack and either throw it at an opponent to deal damage, or affect the surrounding mana in the air with your own mana. An example is to use pure mana to put pressure on an opponent to incapacitate them.

Your magic affinity plays a big role in what you will be able to do, more about that in the magic ceremony book. Magic can change your fate if used correctly, but it is also luck. The most important thing for aspiring magicians or people who just want it for their own goals is one thing. If you don’t have enough willpower, you will never be able to get anywhere as there are a couple of blocks in the way of magic.

Some people describe it as a vast wall that they have no hope of ever crossing, so they become stagnant at their level and will never be able to go any further. Other people describe it as a huge opportunity to become stronger and test yourself. They say that if you cross that wall, you will feel a qualitative boost in your mana, and sometimes even more depending on what your wall is and how you handle it.

[Ding]

[Mission Completed, Reward: 20xp, Mana Control → 5, Mana Capacity → 5]

This is great. And I know it all in my head now, so I will never have to learn all this again. Maybe it can even help me when I acquire magic myself. That I know everything about what I have learned.

If I can find more advanced books, maybe I can learn it just like these books, won’t that make it so much better? System can I do that?

[Does not work unless it is a mission]

Agh, that’s too bad. But it’s great either way. Maybe I sh…

[Does the host want to get the Mana reward right now or save them until the next reward]

What is the difference between them? Is there any reason to wait?

[Host will probably collapse with pain from both of them so if you wait and do it at the same time, you will only feel the pain once]

Oh. Yeah, let’s wait with the mana rewards then. Time to get to the last book. I look forward to learning about the ceremony that May talked so much about. She said it was a huge thing for people.

The cover of the Magic Core Ceremony book was gold, silver and purple split in three. It was a very specific type of cover. It looks like three types of categories or something. Anyway, let’s go. I can’t wait to level up and get the rewards.

The Magic core ceremony can also be called the Magic core awakening ceremony or magic affinity awakening, but the most used is the magic core ceremony. It is different depending on what empire you are in. In this Empire it is done at the closest noble estate every year.

The ritual is done by having a highly skilled mage make a ritual circle on the ground where the person in question sits down and feels the surrounding mana. A bright light will shine in a specific color and that color shows what affinity the person has awakened.

If a person lives on the land owned by a duke, they will gather at the duchy for the ceremony, and the same with all other ranks. At age 10, people will go to the Magic Core Ceremony for the first time and hope to awaken an affinity with their core. A person can only awaken one affinity and it is impossible to awaken more than one.

The ceremony is also seen as a type of passage into adulthood. So there is always a celebration or ball right after the ritual is performed. This is done as at the age of 12 at the latest, people are fully developed and adults. Their body is almost fully grown and they usually stand at above 160cm tall.

If they are unlucky, they awaken their core, but not an affinity. And if that happens, they will forever never be able to become a magician. They can become a martial artist, but they can’t use an element and only do basic things like strengthening their muscles or gaining more stamina.

The affinity a person awakens will change their future, and they will have to do the best they can with it. As some affinities thrive on emotions and some thrive in complete calmness. Fire is such an example, a pretty common affinity to awaken.

For someone who awakens it, the angrier they get, the stronger their flames become. But that is a double-edged sword as they can burn themselves if not kept in control. Some people will burn from the inside just as they awaken the affinity because their emotions are haywire. That is why a highly skilled mage is always there, so they can prevent that from happening.

A person’s affinity can also affect their emotions. just like a person with the water affinity, another commonly awakened affinity. Their emotions would most of the time be calm and still like an ocean, but when they become enraged, it is just like a storm at sea and hard to control.

Something people should also know is that there are no set attacks or ways to use magic with your affinity. The person has to shape the man into whatever they see fit and or want to use. So, for example, a person with water affinity can make the water boil and use it to kill someone. Or a person with fire affinity can make the fire so calm that it does not even look like a fire. As there are no rules to how magic is used.

The more common knowledge for people to know about the Magic Core ceremony is the different affinities known and their ranks. They go as follows, the common affinities are. Fire, Earth, Water and Wind. Five in every ten people awaken those affinities.

The Rare affinities. Ice, Metal, Wood, Lightning and Lava. 1 In every 10,000 people awaken them. Still in the rare category, but harder to awaken are. Life, Sound and Barrier. 1 in every 100,000 people awaken them.

Next category is the Special category, which is. Mind, Divination, Ilusion and Shadow. 1 in every 20,000,000 people awaken any of those affinities. Still in the Special category, but fewer people can awaken are. Blood and gravity, that only 1 in every 100,000,000 people can awaken.

Lastly, and the most after searched affinities in existence, where only one person alive today has one of these affinities and that being the Empress. That category is called Godly Affinities. Celestial, that the Empress has. Time, Void and lastly Space. Only 1 in every 100,000,000,000,000 people has one of these affinities.

But even with common attributes, people can go far and the Silvermoon duchess is a perfect example of that. She awakened the Air affinity, but used that and perfected her martial arts and is today one of the strongest people in the Empire.

[Ding]

[Last Mission for level 1 complete, Reward: 20xp, Legendary Rank Space Affinity]

[Level up to Level 2, 1 attribute point available for allocation]

[Does the host want to level up and merge the affinity and mana rewards at this moment]

I look at the text in front of my face and read it all. It feels like I have been reading way too much lately. My brain is tired. I also leveled up, so I will check that after I wake up. It is late anyways, so I move over to the bed and lay down. System, start the process.

The wait for a few seconds feeling no pain, is already excruciating. And just as I was about to ask the system about when it was going to happen, it did. It felt like someone was ripping off my skin and placing it in boiling oil, then placing it back onto me.

I clench my teeth as hard as I can not not scream. And the pain continues, but this time it’s in my head. Almost as if my brain wants to crawl out of my eye sockets, ears, mouth and nose. The pain is unlike anything I have ever felt before, and I can only clench my teeth and grip the bed.

I think of the reason for this pain. So that when I am 10 years old and on the magic core awakening ceremony. I can awaken this affinity that will be locked inside my core until then. Same with the Mana capacity and control. It won’t benefit me now, but after the ceremony in two years, it will be huge.

After about two or three minutes, my vision goes blurry and just after, I lose consciousness.