Chapter 08
Dark blue skies accompanied by the typical late-dawn/early-morning cold help to cool down the body that is beating fiercely the heart. On the horizon an orange sliver was gradually appearing, it was sunrise and it was my sign that I should get some rest.
I made a commitment to go for a 30-minute walk every day before sunrise, it was as much as I could get right now because this body's stamina was shit.
For my own safety, I chose only the avenue routes I knew from my memories, avoiding unfamiliar areas of the city. After all, there must be stray devils, heretic priests and who knows what else walking around.
Some streets had a steep incline and that created a mixed feeling in me. On the one hand I knew that with greater difficulty my results would be increased, on the other I just said to myself, damn this body's stamina sucks.
"Hufff. Hufff," With my body bent over and panting I rest with both my hands braced on my knee. My clothes consisted of a white t-shirt, dark brown shorts, cloth armbands on both arms, and a white forehead band to hold back some sweat.
One of the things that irritated me the most about wearing glasses is the sweat, because it smudged the lenses every time I exercise and that's why I had to wear a forehead band to mitigate some of this.
After regaining energy and deciding to return home...
I feel a pair of eyes on my back and I turn towards that direction, behind the light pole is a gigantic figure, 3 meters tall, dressed in a purple cape and various other decorations.
Somehow he was still as if such a thin pole really could hide his person.
I just sigh at the ridiculousness and say, "I know you're there, Hikimage-san."
The figure still appears motionless.
"Seriously, you're almost four times as wide as the pole. I can see you clearly."
The purple-robed figure finally moves, he takes a stone out of his cloak, throws it on the ground, and with that a small cloud of smoke forms. At the end of the dissipation, I could no longer see Hikimage's figure nearby.
I refused to try to understand his actions, every morning was pretty much the same.
Mr. Sato was still sleeping so I was able to successfully get home without waking him up. I took a quick shower and then lay in my bed for a while to recover my sore muscles.
Humans are truly amazing, even though we are the most disadvantaged race in strength and energy, many of us are not easy prey.
I almost freaked out when I found out that even the most powerful mages of us only have energy from middle-class demons or a few that reach the high class. My first impression upon hearing this was that we had no hope of dealing with such beings, after all, there are gods and Satan-level devils walking around.
Until I read a book and understood something.
Human magic is far more energy efficient than any other.
Human magic uses much less mana than other races' spells and still offers a power level not far below others.
Our biggest drawback was the inconvenience of having to step-by-step calculate complex spells and formulas during combat. Another problem was our physical limitations, our reflexes are inferior, and that's why many mages use magic to improve the mind. Otherwise it would be almost impossible to do so many mental math and still be able to keep up with supernatural beings that are extremely fast.
Deciding to forget about it and getting out of bed...
I turn on the computer and check my inbox to see if I haven't gotten the answer I was hoping for. In my spare time I had written some anime novels from my past life that I knew didn't exist in this world. I submitted my story called Naruto to a novel contest, and no, it's not plagiarism if I'm in another world.
Seeing that I didn't have any messages, I went downstairs, have to breakfast with Mr. Sato, and I wait for him to leave to go to work.
The day had barely begun, and I had a lot to improve on.
# # # # # # # #
Hikimage House Library.
After Mr. Sato went to work, it became a routine for me to come straight here. Looking at the books I had at my disposal, I couldn't help but smile.
I pull up an armchair that was near the wall in the library and sit down with a book in my hands.
Although quite a bit strange and eccentric in personality, Hikimage really is a great collector. As a magical researcher, he traveled to different parts of the world and collected diverse knowledge.
It was a pity that higher-tier forbidden spells were hidden elsewhere. The teacher/student contract allowed me to read only the books in the library and not Hikimage's personal knowledge and research.
Of course, I wasn't complaining, after all, I had so many books to read that due to my amount of mana, even with Appraise Magic it would take me over a year to finish reading.
I had improved and could use Appraise Magic up to 7 times a day, but I always chose not to spend all my mana on that alone and used it only 4 times a day, as I needed enough energy to train other magic.
"Sigh. Hikimage-san," I say as I look up from my book.
Not far away, standing with a book covering his face as if he were reading, was the same giant, motionless like a statue. It was common for him to come to the library several times and just stand there, as if I hadn't noticed his not-so-discreet attempt to observe me.
"Hey, Hikimage-san," I repeat.
"Huh?" He seems to finally wake up and take the book off his face. "I'm sorry my good student, I was too focused on my studies. I should be mad at you for interrupting me, but -- Come on, tell me what you have to say."
Let's just pretend I believed it.
"I wanted to seek your help on one thing. I found several mind enhancement options, but they are all temporary buff spells and use a lot of mana. I don't know what to do as my casting takes a long time."
Spells are divided into seven categories.
Sphereless: Utility and very low power level spells.
First Sphere: Spells that allow magicians to overpower the power of an ordinary human and weaker sacred users, stray devils...
Second sphere: spells that allow the magician to counter the power of low-class devils, two-winged angels...
Third sphere: spells that allow the magician to counter the power of middle-class devils, four-winged angels...
Fourth sphere: spells that allow the magician to counter the power of high-class devils, six-winged angels...
Fifth Sphere: Spells that allow the magician to counter the power of ultimate-class devils, eight-winged angels...
Sixth Sphere: Spells that allow the magician to counter the power of ultimate-class devils, 10-winged angels.
In addition to these categories, magic can be considered normal or prohibited.
Forbidden spells are usually wildcards and can be much more powerful than the categories themselves are found in. But on the other hand, they are much more dangerous to use.
For example, a forbidden spell from the second sphere can be even stronger than a normal spell from the third sphere. And a forbidden sixth sphere can put the mage on the level of facing gods and satans.
Of course, forbidden sixth sphere spells are only described in legends, such as Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, Leonardo da Vinci and others.
"Casting difficulties, you say," Hikimage says as he briefly ponders my problem. "Aren't you using your 7 magic slots? You must distribute the calculation steps between them evenly."
"Ugh. Isn't it possible to use this with fewer slots and more efficiently?"
"Well--The casting difficulty level increases to three times for every slot you don't use, so don't -- As you're a beginner I don't advise you to do this."
There was a big disadvantage due to my non-stop formulas. One of my magic slots is occupied with Appraise Magic so there are only 6 free slots left.
You can think of the slots as if they were the cores of an Intelcor 7 computer. Because I have one of the cores occupied, I have to share the weight of the calculations of the different stages of a spell beetween them.
As I gather mana in my palm, I start to resolve the formulas for my magic.
Mana Control - 0.2 seconds, finished.
Shape control -0.5 seconds, finished.
Stability - 1.2 seconds, finished.
Vector - 2.3 seconds, finished.
Attracting Elemental Particles- 2.6 seconds, finished.
Final magic circle -- 3.7 seconds, finished.
A blue-colored magic circle forms in front of my palm, which had some trumpet patterns and designs. A ball of water forms from the surface of the drawing, and flies at random speed towards one of the bookshelves.
A magic shield rises blocking and easily absorbing the water ball I had thrown, it was the library's rune security system.
I could freely cast spells in the library as long as they were below the second sphere. Not that it was any risk to me, after all, with my current mana reserves I could only get spells from the first sphere once.
"You're really atypical," Hikimage commented as he moved his palm sharply, a magic circle identical to mine formed in his hand and a ball of water twice the size I threw earlier headed towards the shelf.
Fortunately, the bookshelf's defenses light up more strongly and are able to absorb the attack.
Everything he did was in milliseconds and seemingly without any effort.
That bastard was showing off for me, I was sure.
"Is that still considered first sphere magic?" I asked, as the power levels were very uneven with mine.
"It's certainly the same spell, so it's still from the first sphere. The only difference is my experience and mastery in casting." He approaches me and then starts creating some designs in the air using magic.
"You're really weird, and I'll explain why..."
I didn't know what kind of magic he was using, but it was all for illustrations of him, like it was a brush to be able to write in the air.
"I'll illustrate to make it easier. Pay attention as I'll only explain it once," His fingers were quick and graceful, in a way that surprised me as I didn't know he was so good with drawings. Of course, in Hikimage's house there were several paintings on the walls, but I didn't know that he himself knew how to draw.
Arts like drawings require a lot of delicacy, it was funny to think that such a big being could be 'delicate'.
"Beginners magicians often encounter difficulties in what we call baptism," The drawing in the air comes to life in the form of a hooded figure who sits in a sitting position in meditation, before small glows strike his being in enlightenment. "With that they can finally reach their inner worlds."
It seemed that Hikimage is more competent as a teacher than I previously thought. I didn't know why he was acting serious and so dedicated to teaching me, but I decided not to think about it and just enjoy the lesson.
"You told me earlier that you had no trouble finding your inner world. Which just makes me think that maybe you had a natural, involuntary baptism at some point in your life." He circles his fingers and draws before an adult hooded man starts to lose size until he takes the form of an innocent child. The child in the drawing walks carefree down the street when he suddenly receives a light.
Of course from reading so many books and using Appraise Magic I knew what he was talking about.
Humanity's greatest talents for magic are those who receive a natural baptism.
"The problem is --- Your mana pool was supposed to be much larger than you actually have," The child's figure grew to resemble mine and he fell to the ground in defeat and crying.
"Hey, I don't cry like that," I complained with a slight frown.
This seems to amuse him and so he goes on to say, "Not to mention that one of the other difficulties for beginners is dealing with the accuracy and calculations of the first spells." The drawing now shows the figure of several mages casting spells and failing miserably.
"You seem to evade this rule, after all, on the first few attempts you seem to be able to successfully finish any spell. I mean, at least the ones your mana pool supports."
He waves his hand to erase the designs from the air.
"And this is where things get weirder." He folds his arms right in front of me and says, "For you to be so good at casting spells successfully on your first try, theoretically you would be a natural talent for dealing with complex calculations and formulas. I don't understand why it's difficult for you to cast faster."
That scary.
Hikimage just seeing small details of my spells and experience, he was able to point out the incongruities of my being.
Of course I knew that the reason my cast was slower was because of Appraise Magic taking up a slot, but I couldn't tell him that.
I cannot underestimate Hikimage, his knowledge is even deeper than I thought.