How magic works here

Hello, your author here, so… you decided to read my story, thanks for that once again, I'm really happy you're that interested, anyway, onto the topic.

In every single story that uses the idea, magic can work a little or a lot different from the others, and mine is no different.

So, I would like to actually explain how mine works here, so that I won't get comments like, "Actually, author, the way it's supposed to works is…" and for those that are actually interested in how I interpret magic in this fictional world, and the many, many other reasons people may have.

Just gonna warn you though, all this will naturally be introduced into the story when the time comes for it, and the more you read this chapter, the more it'll spoil the future of this novel, not plot points, but more of what's generally going to happen and stuff like that… so if you don't want that and want to experience the story unadulterated with knowing what's possibly going to happen in the future and how things are going to function, skip this chapter, but if not…

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

…

Still here huh… guess your that interested, or something else, probably bored, waiting for the next chapters, I get it(Just a joke, don't sick me with your comments).

As some of you realized, the magical source of energy here is called "Life Force", it is as it's called, the energy that flows through all living things, everything that is or has been 'living' has some amount of life energy, from the trees that grow, to small animals, plants, people, all things considered living have this energy, and depending on the living things size, strength, traits, ect, this can be used to measure the animals amount of Life Energy, and even the air has this energy, but people don't exactly get this energy, I'll explain later.

As some of you guessed, the old ha- respectable woman(just a joke, don't call me out bro), knows about it, and has and still is, a practitioner of it, this does not mean she's a mage or something like that(I'll get more into that branch later, it's gonna be a LONG chapter for those who decide to completely ignore my warning), anyways, with the practice of it, aging has slowed down for her, everyone is born with Life Energy, take humans for example, they are born with average amount of it, which is still a lot… let me explain, think of it as a fire, or more specifically, a fire's fuel; as a normal baby, they have a strong 'fire' with lots of fuel to burn out for the entirety of their life from their parents, but as they live their life, it naturally burns out, leaks out of them, this doesn't mean everyone lives up to 100, this is still similar to our world, health, genetics and all that complicated stuff is still a thing and takes part in how long we live, anyway, this leads to death, they STILL have Life Energy; Death doesn't automatically mean no life energy, as they naturally decomposes, the energy is even more loosely connected to their body, leaking at an extreme rate, leading to them being nothing but bone, by this point, they have very little energy in them, as time passes, it's released into the air, dirt, etc as the bones break down, until the last of the Life Energy disappears into the air as the last parts of the bone(s) decomposes away, this is how Life Energy naturally leaves anything housing it, as anything that contains the energy degrades, dusts, etc, the process of leaking is linked with the living beings lifespan, items durability, etc, this does NOT mean Life Energy is durability, and for those undead fans, there will be skeletons, zombies, and etc, but for learning about how all that works, you'll have to wait for it to actually happen in the story… MWA HA HA(I'm evil {: ).

That's how Life Energy works, well, in the case of plain existence, but what about things that make use of living things parts, like wool and animal parts for clothing, or armor that utilizes Life Energy(or for better words, can 'conduct' the energy easier)? It works the same, as the said item, resource, etc stores the Life Energy, and items with this energy can't leak the energy naturally, it leaks as the said item degrades over time, say, armor made out of Taxkin(totally a real leather in the story, also a special one that channels Life Energy easier, think of copper for electricity) breaks and the shards of the armor get littered on the floor, or said item is grounded to a mist, well, there's the shards, and the mist, as any item that housed Life Energy turns into dust in the face of time, Life Energy is released back into the atmosphere, ready to be used once again by something, you guys can think of how energy works like the cycle of energy but not as strict as an example, also, Life Energy doesn't get 'used up', it's an everlasting resource in the body, the air, etc, all it does is "leak away", one way or another into the air, ready to be reused elsewhere.

What's next, hmmm? Oh, how about how those receive the energy and how it's utilized for power among other uses?

You can think of it in a sense of cultivation, but not in stages or something like that, people in this world still eat for nutrients and all that, but in fact, Life Energy is one of the things they get with the food that helps living things keep going, the Life Energy can be thought of as a constantly active auxiliary power that helps the body be as active, free of movement, just, the feeling of being vigorous(just the state of having the energy to do anything they put into mind), the body needs both the nutrients of food, and the Life Energy to keep everything in check, the body cannot survive without Life Energy for too long, the same is for nutrients, the energy their born with isn't enough to keep them up forever though, even with food supplementing it, it only prolongs it; as they start to approach their elder years, the body cannot properly absorb all the nutrients and energy starts to lack for this 'auxiliary system' to work at full power, giving another reason to the 'weakness' of being elderly, this isn't the OVERALL reason for weakness in elderly people in this world, it's just another dictating factor if an old person is healthily approaching their older years or just a regular old person, moving on from that subject, normal people usually get Life Energy from eating food, if people eat food made from monsters, the Life Energy provided will be exponentially more(I explain the differences between monsters and regular animals later)(Fun Fact: flesh leaks Life Energy easier than bone or other kinds of body parts), if someone were to eat nothing but food made from monsters, they wouldn't gain the power to CONTROL Life Energy, they'll just gain a surplus amount of it, it would help but not much, there are multiple methods of absorbing this energy, taking it from the air is the most common method, another method is, put simply, just an improved version of eating, but learning to improve the efficacy of the absorption, lastly but certainly not least, is learning to unnaturally take it from anything housing Life Energy(necromancy and the undead, hint hint), these are the three only methods, the first is the most commonly used method while the second is rarely ever used on the count of very limited information, teachers, and the user having to do extreme physical exercise and it being different for every person, lessening the importance on teachers and more on the person themself, and the last one is forbidden as well as highly kept secret, even more so than the first, the knowledge of their existence is only known by the people higher in the hierarchy, making the learning on how to use this method, and even getting a teacher more difficult than it already is(Fun Fact: No matter what, anyone who ends up using this method will have the ability of necromancy, as this method of gaining Life Energy is intertwined with the base idea of necromancy and it'll be their choice to focus on that as their main power and gain the abilities that follow in the class or decide on something else).

Yesh, that one went on longer than intended, but since I hinted at it, I might as well explain how classes and all of that is going to work, to start, I'll start explaining how people can use this 'magic' and how they learn.

Everyone has the ability to learn this magic, but knowledge of it is tightly controlled and is taught in schools and the like, only for a select few, everyone knows, only those who can pay handsomely & are well informed or those who are gifted, those gifted aren't those who are born with a lot of energy at birth, but those who are born with natural control over it(although being born with both is really nice), also, gifted isn't always the same, some can be somewhat gifted while others are exceptionally born with a true gift in it, but the school takes in all who display a gift nonetheless, as those who don't will develop their own understanding of it sooner or later, all those who learn the basics will automatically lengthen their lifetimes accordingly as they learn to better their bodies efficiency with using the Life Energy, slow down the leakage of the energy, allowing their bodies to gain more power, the more gifted, the more easily they can use their Life Energy to extend their life, this naturally slows/delays the visual and physical effects of aging respectively, even reversing it if the gap between their current age and the new age of death is big enough, then they get taught how to contain the energy they have, focus their body on USING the energy instead of HOLDING it(best visualization is that a normal person is a simple cup holding water and a 'cultivator' is a whole circulation system, this is one of the steps of the basics), the basics teach them to focus their bodies Life Energy through their blood(this means they can start to lose Life Energy through injuries if left untreated) and learn to consolidate their energy, this basically creates their bank of Life Energy, the size of the living thing helps as a factor(a relatively small percentage), another is learning to deal the nausea from expending Life Force(you'll see this later)and finally, to use Life Energy to enhance a part of the body, again, more gifted = more proficient(Fun Fact: The life increase is a percentage increase of their previous lifetime), all the previous factors vary even more when it comes to the race, for example, Orcs are naturally bigger, and they can hold high amounts but have less control, this all holds true for beasts as well, except there's no teachers and schools, each animal fending for themself must learn their own way(Fun Fact: Only under extremely rare circumstances and conditions can an beast become sentient and gain a personality and conscience, normally through evolution), after these basics have been taught and the students can continue practicing on their own, they'll be considered to have passed 'school' and they can select a 'class', however, the school in question can 'alter' their choice, if the school is a prestigious and strict one, they'll force students into a certain class based on aptitude test, if the school is a low tier one and 'loose', they'll let the student decide, these traits can mix, like a highly prestigious school but they aren't as strict, they'll do the aptitude test, and give the results, but the student is still free to decided, it is all up to the school the student is attending, but what all these schools have in common is their under their associated countries rule, so if a impressive student is found in a low tier school, they'll be put in a higher tier one by their country on the behalf they serve their countries interest, as for different countries, they keep under a peaceful banner, but there's a underlining superiority idealism in every high tier school and country, making them competitive with each other(and that's a good thing as we know), leading to when someone with a gift is discovered, they have to go to a school, if someone discovers life force without a gift, say, their parent teaches their child, they're brought in(sorry I went a bit political in this part, so here's some story info I wasn't planning to say as a gift), as the story is going on, there is a problem sweeping across every school, it is illegal to teach people about Life Energy outside of school grounds, and those who start at school take a pledge to never tell it to others that don't know of it, yet, sometimes, users of Life Energy that have kids have started to teach their children and claiming it as a 'gift' so they can get their kid in free of charge without the high price to normally get them in, so now, the staff of these schools are preforming 'Gift Checks' to make sure these are gifts and not the basics or something else taught, which will end with their child still getting in, as they can now start learning on their own from there, but the teacher, being parents in most cases, punished, at least, a fine at least 3x larger than the price to get their kid into the school, at worst… long imprisonment), finally, the classes, there's only two branches, Warrior, and Mage, and in each class, they further teach them like better techniques to 'cultivate' in different methods based on the class you got and the strength of your gift, and teach you skills based on the class, Warrior, as the name suggests, teaches you how to better use your Life Force to strengthen the body, longer time, and even to enhance a body part with an elemental effect, stuff like that, and to using it to bind with a weapon, making it an extension of your body and thus, your Life Force, as for Mage, they learn to change Life Force into something else, Mana, in this world, Life Force and Mana are the same coin but two sides, with Mana just being a changed format, they learn to convert Life Energy into Mana to fuel a spell, and when a spell is cast, no matter what kind of spell, fireball, self enhancement, ect, the Mana will revert back into Life Force & will be expended as in expelled from the users body one way or another thru the usage of the spell, it will NOT disappear, and when Mana is expended from a person like this, the emptiness from the missing energy will naturally be covered by their remaining amount, like when some water is scooped out of a body water, the lake refills this lost water immediately, but in this, it's much slower, this naturally forms someones 'mana pool'(Think of life energy as more of a gas while mana is more of a liquid, but they aren't restricted as you should know), there are a vast library of spells, and mages learn to contain Mana separately from Life Energy, as there is a nasty reaction from each other which can create some side effects on the user if they make contact, this is due to the body trying to reverting the Mana back into Life Energy on its own, Mages have more diversity thanks to the methods to use life energy, some learn to make Mana mid-fight for bursts of spells and attacks, or some learn to store their mana for long periods of time, and to make their own 'bank' for mana, some even learn how to let their body immediately transform the life energy they take in into mana, these are usually referred to as a 'mana practice'(this is its own thing, as people find which way they like making mana the most comfortable, the school teaches them a general method but encourages them to find one themselves as there are countless methods & it is up to the mage themself to find one they like) and finally, as we all know, there is more diverse classes, and these are the sub-types under these two branches, which, if they wish to learn more of, they'll need to find a mentor that already knows and practices the subclass, and have the mentor accept them as their student, and a mentor may only have one student(Fun Fact: One of the sub-types for Mage called "Healer" or "Supporter"(take your pick)uses mana as a sort of healing source, as it meets the target, the mana becomes something in the middle of both life energy and mana as it heals the target, this method is difficult and time consuming to learn, so this class is more rare), all schools have a main teacher for both main branches and a few teachers of a select few sub-type branches, however, if the students wanted subtype branch mentor isn't there, and the student wants it, the school will give info to find a mentor of said branch, or if the student is of high importance, they'll directly find them one(Fun Fact: It is illegal to be in or practice BOTH main branches, as it was deemed "too dangerous" for a single person to have knowledge in both fields, no matter how useful it is, it was too menacing to both the common people and the user, as the two branches methods, skills, and abilities can conflict with one another, and only someone truly talented can successfully control both without repercussions, but the chances of someone being allowed to use both branches and the capability to use both is close to none).

Jeez, that took forever, you still here? Alright then, next up on the list, Evolution, the hashtag of it wasn't just for show, you know…

Every living thing has a cap they can reach, this caps amount varies for each living being and a huge difference based on race(Usually this amount is 10 times the amount you are born with, this is why the school takes in those with gifts at an young age because as you grow, you lose Life Energy, however, this amount can vary for other races, like for Orcs who have 15 times the amount due to the higher amount their born with, generally speaking, the stronger a race is, the more bigger this cap multiplier is), this cap limits how long a person can extend their life, as they can't surpass this restraint normally with hard work and the like, for example, humans bottleneck forces their lives to end roughly somewhere around 250 years(2.5x, for some races, this multiplier is more or less) while for Orcs, it's 500(Orcs in this world live roughly 200 years), but, if a person manages to take in a HUGE amount of Life Energy when their at their bottleneck, they'll begin their evolution process, this is where things get interesting, you see, they aren't set paths fixed in a certain way based on race, they would still have physical traits that made them look like their respective race, but evolving increases the total amount they can hold 3 times over, naturally increasing their limiter with that too, along with better tuning their body to absorbing Life Energy, overall increasing their original total expanded lifespan, and it'll make them look different based on what they evolve into, while the evolution is in progress, the being undergoing it must focus on an idea they want or an improvement they want to happen that is in the realm of possibility , and the evolution will take it from there, an overall improvement as a human for example, overall strength, dexterity, speed, intelligence, etc will increase by a good lot(There's always an overall improvement in strength, power, etc, but if one wants specifically that, it'll focus on nothing but an overall improvement), A dwarf wants to make better gear for example, their body will change and will learn a way to tune their senses to finding the stronger, rarer, materials, for example, their body will create a large crystal as a part of their body that can sense the naturally strong Life Force in materials and pinpoint it for the dwarf to find and collect, or it can assimilate a resource for it to sense and find, basically, the body will bend to a feasible idea, trait, or aspect the person wants, and it will be granted, but, this can generate a consequence or weakness sometimes, for example, while the crystal is more hard against attacks, it's more sensitive to pain and the like, and while the body can heal it, it takes longer, or as a human, if all they want is an overall improvement, they essentially don't change, as a evolution should, so they don't really change besides getting a good chunk stronger, while evolving, they get a keen sense on what's possible and improbable for an evolution idea, this is based on the viability of the idea, thing wanted, and if they have good 'connection' with it, be that physically and mentally, like for the dwarves, making equipment and just crafting stuff in general is in their blood, and the idea wasn't so far out of reach, so it was achieved, say for an Orc, they wanted to be overall bulkier, bigger, stronger, more imposing, that fitted already with its both physical and mental trait of being big and strong, battle ready, so of course that evolutionary path was achieved, the amount that allowed for the evolution helps too, if it was an truly big amount or pitifully small that it was barely enough, they get more or less leniency with the idea(s) and amount of improvements, as for when someone makes an impossible demand… unknown(lol), only a small percentage of people in the world have successfully grasped opportunities to evolve, so the information about evolution is incredibly scarce, and just the knowledge of its existence is kept only for the absolute strongest and the top brass to know, usually those who did evolve, so all those that made it to their respective bottlenecks usually only got that far, so all those at their bottlenecks at best are searching for the opportunity to evolve, and at worst? Gave up, and accepted this is the strongest point they'll get as they have only the wildest of guesses on what to do next, evolution is still possible after the first, but as their ability to hold more increased, the bigger amount they need to reach their bottleneck, and the HUGER the amount they need for evolving.

Okay, what next, I talked about classes, what Life Energy is, how people use it, ah yes, beasts/monsters are next.

Beasts are basically regular animals but they evolved once, let me explain, for animals that managed to naturally manipulate and control Life Force(usually when their in a life or death situation, battling for their life, they learn to use it in a moment of lucidity for survival, guess you can call them 'naturally' gifted, ha), they learn on their own to contain and enhance their limbs when needed, extending their lives and, naturally, puts them on the road of evolution as they don't need as much Life Energy to evolve as people thanks to their sole desire for survival pushing them to evolve(Information about animals evolving into beasts is kept secret to the public, but they know how beast are from animals, they just don't know the process, their is limited information on animals evolving in beast and the actual workings behind it), so they have better and more opportunities to evolve thanks to the lowered bar, and thanks to their combat out in the wild to survive and multiple near death experiences from being hunted by people and animals alike, they become more adept at using Life Energy for survival, they know in their most primitive form of thought what they lack and what they need to survive, so when they finally evolve, they become extremely powerful, for example, for deer, their horns aren't sharp enough, and they usually get shot at from a range, so when they evolve, increase in size, toughness of skin, sharpness of horns, and speed, when one evolves, their not restricted in how many improvements they want, however, the more diverse of improvement, the less of a improvement it actually is, 4 is still small enough for each upgrade to stand out plus the regular overall upgrade(for ideas, it's more strict, the most ideas someone was able to achieve in a single evolution was 3, but all the ideas must be viable, and not overpower or affect the other), as for a second and third evolution, as it gets naturally harder to evolve the now beast at this point understands what is driving this force, and will naturally follow the path of increasing the efficiency of eating and will murder everything in its path to grow stronger and reach another evolution, naturally becoming more and more violent(Fun Fact: After the first evolution, no matter what the diet of the animals was before, it can now eat meat to grow stronger), all of this is why monsters are feared… and hunted, it can be for the safety of people as the said beast has gotten too dangerous to be left alive, or for the massive amount of Life Energy stored in its body as it developed its own form of a bank for Life Energy(Life Energy, Life Force, it has multiple names).

That's monsters, is there anything else? No? I guess that's all, if you read this far, congrats, you just got spoiled a lot of the future of this story, how does it feel? Not good? I warned ya, anyways, thanks for reading, hope you continue, have a good day.

(P.S. I know I didn't mention how people in this world measure this 'Life Energy' or 'Life Force', this is because, like I said before, it's somewhat different for each person, much more for each individual race, and their not under one leader yet, fun fact: their currently in peaceful times, and there IS an overall leader for each race respectively, and while most cooperate for mutual interest with others, there's still drama between nations, at worst, some aren't so friendly to the point of there's only peace, NOT mutual cooperation; the point is, there is still discord between the races, and a single agreed upon method on measuring ones "Life Energy" has NOT been reached yet, for multiple races and cultures, and the like, there WILL be different methods on how people will measure ones Life Energy and in suit, power, but don't go thinking there isn't any universal agreement between the races; there is stuff like general currency and conversions between specific cultures money/dough/whatever your term is, ok? Ok, just wanted to make sure you got that, for listening and getting this far, I'll give ya another small factoid about how this energy works, or specifically, how a being CAN'T use it: People can NOT sense the ambient Life Energy in the air, nor the amount in others naturally, sorry, nope, not in this universe you ain't sensing things up to a mile in distance, they can sense their own energy in their body and their energy outside of it, for a good distance based on their power level they have achieved and the amount of energy they put into whatever format of energy they put outside, but nothing more; whatever energy is THEIR energy, they can feel it, at least, to some extent, if they want to do some DIVINE SPIRIT SENSE or some powerful stuff like that, they have to be MC material if they want to do something like that *wink* *wink*… yeah it's what your thinking, (; )