3 The basics of the world

"What is your affinity, young girl?"

Taken aback from the sudden question, Aoi looked up from her book and into the eyes of the old man. "Huh?"

"Every time you're here, you either search books on monsters or magic." He remarked "So, what's your affinity?"

Although they did sit and read together, words weren't a thing that flew around very often. So to hear him talk, and even show interest in Aoi was surprising.

"Oh- umm, Wind magic sir." She replied, her voice unsteady.

"And your rank?"

"Very low…" Aoi admitted, her face adorned a light shade of pink, as she looked at her lap. Her aptitude was the worst that it could be.

"There is no need to look down little one." Helmut said, stone-faced. Aoi looked back up as he continued.

At the snap of his fingers, little orbs started to glow around the room, Illuminating everything around it. "What you see here is mana." He started. "Every being has an affinity towards a specific element or elements. This allows them to change this mana into the elements."

Immediately, about 3/4 of the orbs around the room froze. The temperature plummeted as Aoi began to tremble. "And depending on your aptitude, more of this 'mana' can be changed."

"Now, let me ask you a question young one. Why do people collapse when they use magic excessively?"

Pulled back to reality, Aoi started to think of an appropriate response. It is commonly known that when someone uses magic, they lose mana and collapse from it. That is why it's known as 'mana exhaustion'. But If Mana was always around them, then they would never collapse. So the only explanation would be…

"Something else gets depleted" She muttered.

"Correct." Helmut replied.

"Whenever you use magic, you in conjunction also use something that I call magical energy."

Aoi dead-eyed the old man with his lack of naming sense.

"Don't look at me like that." He chuckled "You may offer suggestions if you want to."

Aoi glanced down at her lap. She wasn't one to criticize others' naming choices; after all, she was named after a color.

The old man let out another chuckle before continuing. "This magical energy reacts with mana to form the elements. But magical energy also has to come from somewhere and that place is mana itself."

"Wha- How?" Aoi stood up in. "That makes no sense."

"Miss Saito." He started. "What is to say that mana cant become magical energy?"

"Huh, but-" Helmut quickly cut her off as he continued his explanation.

"In the absence of mana, people can still use magic. Why is that?"

"But sir, There is no proof of that ever occur-"

Before Aoi could finish speaking, Helmut moved his fingers slightly, shifting the glowing orb away from him. The lack of any mana particles near Aoi unsettled her. But even with the lack of any mana, you could spot some ice crystals forming on the tip of his fingers. "The magical energy inside of your body can be converted into mana. And if that can happen, the vice-versa can also happen."

"So when I casted this spell, half of the magical energy I used was turned into Mana. That is why this spell was slower than the previous one."

Aoi didn't notice that. "How much slower exactly?"

"About… two hundred times slower."

"WAIT WHAT. Shouldn't it be 2 times slower?"

"Converting magical energy takes time, and that time is slow. So of course it will be slower" Helmut replied

'But there has to be ways of increasing it.' Aoi thought to herself

"Any other question?" The old man asked

"Hmmm… how are you able to use magic without a magic circle?"

From what she had seen for the past six month, magic has always been used in the presence of a magic circle. Even the magic instructor, madam shoda always used a magic circle whenever she was explaining magic. It was unheard of to be able to use magic without a circle.

"Before I answer that, you must first ask why magic circles are needed in first place."

"Isn't it so that you can cast spells?"

"I want you to be more specific. How does it help you with your magic."

"Umm…" Aoi tried to rack her brain around the question. After all, a magic circle was required to perform magic, but Helmut single handedly proved that theory wrong. But they still help in performing magic in one way or another.

'Maybe it helps amplify the amount of magic you can cast? No, that can't be it. It instead uses your magical energy to light up. Then it can only be for'

"Visualising." Aoi said out loud.

"Indeed." Helmut replied with a soft smile.

"Wait, but that means that you are just doing it inside of your head. But there are hundreds of symbols you have to remember and you must also be pretty powerful. Just who are you sir Helmut?"

The room fell silent as Helmut scratched his beard, thinking of what to say. "I'm a librarian that has been cast away. And unfortunately, that's all I can tell you." He replied with a downcast look

Aoi nodded in understanding. It seemed that this old man had a lot under his belt. "So, umm… Is it possible to absorb mana to increase your magical energy?"

"It is. But converting mana into magical energy takes an absurdly long time. It is much slower to convert mana into magical energy then the opposite."

"I see"

"But the amount of magical energy one has can also be affected by other things. Such as your class." he stated

"I see." There was a question that Aoi had always wanted to ask, but for some reason, there was only a small amount of information on it. "Sir Helmut, how do classes work?"

Helmut stroked his beard as he answered. "Well, a class allows someone to learn some particular skills faster. Lets take a 'cook' as an example. A cook is able to learn skills such as timing, temperature management, Knife usage faster."

"But these skills don't necessarily have to be used while cooking. For example, you can use Temperature magic while casting fire magic, or knife usage while hunting. In essence, a class doesn't make you become better faster at that specific job but everything around it. Though of course, It would be better to stay with your particular class."

"Since I'm a librarian, I am able to comprehend and sort stuff more efficiently than most people. That is one of the main reasons I am able to use magic without a magic circle. What is your class young lady?"

Aoi processed the information being presented to her as she replied "I'm a bard."

"A bard… That matches well with your affinity." He muttered.

"Hmm, what do you mean?" She asked.

"That is for you to find out." He replied.

"Wait what. You cant tell me all of this only to stop when it gets interesting…" Aoi complained.

"Well, it wouldn't be fun if I told you everything, would it?"

"Thats not fair. Why did you even tell me all of this in the first place."

The old man let out a chuckle before putting on a more serious expression. "Aoi. You must promise me not to tell anybody what has been said here."

Aoi's eyes widened at the shift in atmosphere "Why though?" She asked.

"Else we will both die." His eyes glowed slightly as he spoke.

Aoi nodded. Although a bit worried, but it seemed like Helmut wasn't your ordinary librarian. He held many secrets.

"Good." The atmosphere turned back to normal as Aoi let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.

"Anyways, it's probably time for you to return to your room," Helmut stated.

Aoi looked outside and noticed that the sun had started to settle. "Ah, right," she said as she gathered her things from the table. She pushed the book she had been reading into her bag and made her way toward the door.

"I'll see you later," she waved as Helmut gave a slight wave back. As she closed the door behind her, Helmut spoke to himself.

"Unfortunately, it seems like we won't be seeing each other for a while. I've given you enough hints, I hope you use them wisely young girl."

=== [An:] ===

Hello Readers. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it's a bit late. Unfortunately, I was busy with school so It took a while.

Anyways, Hope you enjoy <3