“Your jacket looks nice. Where did you get it?” My teacher asked me. I don’t know if this is a jacket.
“It was given to me by Brian.” I said to him as I pointed at Brian, who had returned to the table and was enjoying tea.
“Is he your fiance?” He asked.
“No…” I can feel my face getting hotter as I answer. He really isn’t. But I guess father did want him to marry me… NO! I need to focus. Brian gave me an attribute and I will act up on it. I WILL cast a spell today.
“I see. So not yet.” Trystan teased me. Follow current novels on ⓝovelFire.net
“Stop that! We need to focus on this lesson.” I bark back at him.
“You don’t usually have this much enthusiasm for our lessons. Did something good happen yesterday?”
“Yes!” I answered excitedly. Well some of it happened today. But I did gain an extra skill yesterday.
“Well then, let’s begin.” Trystan said. “We’ll start with our mana circulation practice.”
“Yes Teacher.” I answered and took his hands.
This was his way of teaching mana circulation and mana control. He would send mana to me through my left hand and I would send it back through my right. This would cause a mana loop between us and was a good way to teach someone who has a lower level of mana control than you. The teacher controls the amount of mana sent and the speed at which it is sent, then the student tries to match it. It’s also relatively safe and doesn’t consume much mana, as the mana is just going back and forth. As the student learns more, they begin to mix their own mana into the cycle instead of just using the teacher's mana. This is why even higher ranking mages would do something similar. They would just adjust the mana on a larger scale.
“Your mana feels different from last time. Did you perhaps gain a new skill?” Teacher asked me.
I don’t know if I should answer or not. I did gain a skill, but what if he asks what that skill is. Or how I got it.
“I did, but…” I said to my teacher.
“But you can’t tell me about it.” Teacher guessed my hesitation. “If your father ordered you to stay quiet, I won’t pry into it. Now, put some more mana into the circle.”
“Yes Teacher.” I do as instructed and send a stronger pulse of mana. These pulses of stronger mana help train Magic Boost.
“Good, let’s keep this up.” Teacher said to me.
Alice’s lesson seems to be going well. I don’t really understand what they are doing, but luckily Laura could explain it all to me. This sending mana pulses back and forth seems like an interesting and efficient way to practice.
(The best way to train magic is simply to cast spells until you are out of mana, and then recover. This gives the fastest results. But to Alice who didn’t have an attribute, that kind of training would be very boring and basically consist of her trying to chant spells that will never succeed.) Laura told me.
(I see. Laura, can I perform magic?) I asked her.
(Master does not have any of the six attributes, so no.) Laura said to me. So I’m like Alice in that regard. (No, you are not. Everyone from this world has at least tiny amounts of each attribute. Alice simply did not have a high enough of an affinity with any of them to cast spells. Master has no affinity at all.)
(So not enough means no spells? And you told me I don’t have any at all. Isn’t that bad?)
(Having no affinities at all also means you don’t have any elemental weakness. It could also be considered a strength, if you don’t use magic.) Laura told me.
(Does that mean that I also gave Alice a weakness?) I asked Laura.
(Every attribute is also a weakness. But it is down to the user to counter that weakness. And as Alice said, you gave her the dark attribute which is rare. As such, counters to it are less known.) Laura answered.
(Doesn’t light simply counter dark?
(Master is thinking of magic too simply. Magic is a complicated system of many skills and spells. Just because one attribute is the opposite of the other, does not mean it is a counter. By Master’s logic dark would also counter light.)
(...yeah. You are right. As always.) I said and took a sip of my tea. I guess it’s not always black and white. And I really should not have assumed that light counters dark. Opposites are not always counters.
(The easiest weakness of dark is fire. Fire can brighten things up, making dark magic more difficult. Same as wind can make using fire more difficult.) Laura told me.
So it’s not opposites that make magic more difficult, but other attributes.
(Could I still train in mana circulation like Alice does?)
(It’s not necessary for Master. I can train Master’s mana control skill if Master gives me permission.) Laura offered.
(You really can do that? Laura, you are amazing. Please do it.) I told her. Free skills. You can’t beat that. Even if I don’t have any attribute, I can gain one with my cards.
(Sorry to tell you about this Master, but you can’t. You don’t have any attributes at all and your cards simply boost what is already there. They can’t make something with nothing as a base.) Laura burst my bubble.
At least I can still do summoning. And use spells like Sparks. Now I wish I could get something like Hinotama or Ookazi so I can place it into a sleeve and a toploader. Well, they would still be only once a day.
(Master, should I add training magic skill to the daily routine?) Laura asked me.
(Daily routine? Do I have one of those?) I asked her.
(Current daily routine consists of accepting daily pack tokens. Nothing else.) Laura told me. So she does it for me. I thought it was automatic. Nice work Laura. Next thing you know and she’ll be opening the packs for me. And sleeving the best cards.
(Yes, you can do that. At least if the magic training won’t bother you too much.) I told Laura.
(If I do it at night, it shouldn’t bother Master at all.)
(Well, let’s try it tonight. Can you do it for a bit right now, so I get an idea of how it feels?)
(Of course, Master.) Laura told me.
I could feel something flowing inside me. Like a small clump of colder blood running through my body. But it’s not cold. It’s … well I'm not really sure. I guess it’s a clump of power. Magic power.
After a little while I can feel myself getting a bit tired. I guess running lower on mana would do that.
(Laura, I think you should stop the magic training for now. Or do it less intensely. I don’t want to run out of mana in the morning.)
(As you wish, Master. But you aren't actually running low on mana. That is mental exhaustion.)
(... Am I that weak? Mentally?)
(Early on, mana control takes a large amount of concentration. Everyone is like that at first.) Laura reassured me.
Looking back at Alice and …Trystan was it, they are getting up from the blanket and seem to be moving to a different part of the lesson.
“Now, spell casting practice. Are you ready?” Teacher asked me.
“Yes!” I answered with enthusiasm.
“Good. Let’s just go through all attributes, like always. Begin with fire.”
“Fire, appear at my fingertip, Torch.”
Nothing happened. I knew nothing would happen. I also know that dark is the last one we will try. I’m not going to skip ahead just to get to the one I have a chance with. I have waited my entire life to cast magic. I can wait a few more minutes. If I knew I could use dark magic, it would be strange and Brian’s secret might be revealed. I’m not going to tell anyone that he is the reason I gained an attribute.