NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32 – My First Spell
I finally managed to activate the heater stone Anortha gave me at the end of last year within 36 seconds. Unfortunately, that took a month to accomplish. That also meant it was time to go to the next stage of magic, which hopefully would be a bit more exciting.
When I told the elf of my accomplishments, she told me that it was the bare minimum to cast even the most basic spells, and told me to keep improving the time to five seconds, which would be enough to operate the stove without burning myself.
“Wait,” I wrote. “So you aren’t going to teach me actual magic?”
“Well I could, but since that’s the bare minimum magical throughput needed, you would be struggling a lot more, and then if you fail, you wouldn’t really be sure if you are actually doing it wrong or just didn’t add enough magic.”
I suppose that’s a fair point. But I wondered if I could meet my new years resolution goals, so I asked, “How hard is it to write words in the air with magic anyways?”
“That’s considered advanced magic since it requires very fine control. Light magic itself is just middle or basic tier, depending on who you ask. Practically, you’re probably better off just writing on the chalkboard or on a piece of paper, unless you get really, really good. And even then.”
Well so much for that. That doesn’t mean I’ll give up on it. It just means I won’t obsess with learning to write with magic by the end of the year. Just because it’s a new years resolution doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be achieved in that year, right?
Based on the past rate of improvement, I would guess another month would be more than enough. That was not the case. Progress clearly slowed, and by the time I got to ten seconds, it became hard to tell if I was getting any better.
I couldn't get motivated without any noticeable improvement, so I asked Anortha to teach me actual magic. Surely, trying to cast spells would be more entertaining than getting the magic rock warm.
“Usually the first spells we learn are either wind magic or water magic. Which one would you prefer to learn?” asked Anortha.
“Water, since it’s the more practical of the two.”
“Normally, most elves will do their first magical lesson somewhere outdoors in case of a magical mishap, but in your case, with the low magical throughput you have, you won’t be causing much damage. At best you’d just drench the floors a bit.
Anyways, ummm……….”
“Um?” I wrote.
“Well it’s so basic I have no idea where to start. It’s pretty much second nature for all elves by the time they grow up. You know what water is right? Just, uh, imagine it forming while expelling magic the same way you do with the stone.”
I tried it out, thinking about forming a nice drop of water on my outstretched hands. I could feel mana leaving, but unfortunately, no water was forming. I tried imaging a waterfall, a flood, H2O, an oxygen molecule covalently bonded to two hydrogen atoms, hydrogen hydroxide, blue liquid, a clear liquid, that wet stuff, etc., but all I could feel was my magic slowly leaving me without anything to show for it.
“Whatever you’re doing, it isn’t working. All that’s happening is that your mana is leaking.”
“Say, how did your parents teach you how to use water magic then?” I wrote after giving up on trying.
“Uh, it’s been a while, and I forgot. I remember them referencing some book though, although I don’t think they really used much of it. Maybe I can find that book somewhere,” she said as she left the room.
A few minutes later, Anortha came back with an old book in hand, and said, “So I’m pretty sure it was this book, but I don’t think it’s going to be too helpful. I read the section on creating water and I feel it might confuse you more than help.”
She offered the opened book to me and I read the section:
“How to cast a basic water spell:
If you can read this, you should already know about how to cast one. However, if you need to teach a young child or some less magically endowed beings like humans, this section may help with that. For a young elf, the most useful way would probably let them get familiar with water, and they should quite quickly get the concept.
For non-elves, especially adult ones, it is ironically faster for them to learn it by telling them how to cast a basic water spell by dissecting the process into small processes that no sane elf would ever imagine. It would be similar to trying to describe walking by the motions of various leg parts, yet for some reason, that helps more than confuses.
Normally, it is automatically assumed that that learner would know how to do basic mana manipulation, but in the case they don’t, make sure they can.
First, the caster gathers enough mana into their dominant hand. It technically can be anywhere, but this generally is the easiest place. Next, they should convert that mana into water, which can be split into a few steps. They need to convert that mana into matter. Then, they need to either imbue that matter with the properties of water, or more likely, just use the fact that living things are mostly made of water, and as a result, the matter is likely to already have water attributes, so they should get rid of the other attributes. To get rid of the other attributes would simply involve absorbing them back. If trying to launch the water lump, they will then need to propel the water with wind magic, otherwise they can let the water drop into whatever receptacle they plan to store it in.”
I have some problems with the book’s condescending attitude, but I decided to give their instructions a try. Gathering mana into my right hand was easy. Although I needed to know, how do you “convert mana into matter?” I tried asking Anortha about this, and got back, “this is why I said it would be more confusing.”
Wondering what the book’s instruction about wind magic was, I flipped to the page with it. Just like the basic water spell, it was filled with condescending passages without much substance. The actual instructions read:
“First, the caster gathers enough mana into their dominant hand. It technically can be anywhere, but this generally is the easiest place. Next they should convert that mana into a propulsive force to move the air in the atmosphere. A gradual release of mana should result in a sustained gentle breeze.”
Oh look, another instruction to convert mana into something without describing how. With all these conversion instructions, I wonder if treating mana as a type of energy and converting them into say, kinetic energy for wind, would that work.
I decided to try out my hypothesis and began to release my mana from my hand, while “willing” the air molecules nearby to start moving. I put my other hand nearby, but didn’t feel a gentle breeze or anything. Rather, I felt the air getting rather hot instead. Then I remembered air molecules randomly moving fast equals heat, and air molecules moving fast in a direction would be wind.
Wait, does that mean my magic is working, or is the heat just a byproduct of failed magic? Well, time to try again, except “willing” the air molecules near my hand to move outward. This time, I actually felt the wind, which was stronger than expected.
Excited, I directed the wind toward Anortha instead.
She commented, “Oh, was the passage on wind magic written better compared to the confusing water magic in that book? Well, congratulations on learning your first spell.”
I wrote, “No, the passage on wind magic was equally bad. It’s just I made some guesses and put them into action and it worked.”
“If it works, then it works. Well, until you factor efficiency and speed into account, although at this stage, you shouldn’t worry too much about that. Since it seems you got the hang of it, just practice it until it becomes second nature.”
I fished the heating rock out of my pocket and tried to return it to Anortha, who thrust it back at me, saying “You still should practice your magical output, and the magic stone is probably a better way to do it than casting spells.”
Looks like I’m still stuck with the rock.