Mana Theory.

"So? what's your decision?", I asked Jhon, who was still sweating from his forehead.

"I... I'll accept it...", he replied positively.

A smirk appeared on my face.

"Good choice..."

I then immediately transferred the $50M to his bank account and I gave him the theory documents about the mana theory.

The mana theory basically said this:

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Mana is a type of 'Virtual Matter', different from 'Real Matter'. 'Real Matter' follow all the old rules of physics, and it was the only type of matter that humans could see. Mana, on the other hand, doesn't follow any of the old rules of physics. It has its own set of rules.

Mana can be forced to imitate the Properties of 'Real Matter'.

For example, in a fire spell: The mage draws mana out of their bodies and creates a Magic Sigil, which is very similar to Electric circuits, but looks completely different and had different properties. This magic sigil would force the mana to become 'Combustible', a property that some 'Real Matter' have.

The flow of this Combustible Mana will determine the damage done by the spell. For example, a simple fireball is just a lump of Combustible mana that has some velocity. A high-level spell, like 'Vermilion Tempest' creates 3 EF4 tornadoes of combustible mana, which is then burnt with a ridiculous amount of heat, enough to be comparable to the heat of the Sun's surface.

Ice magic forces the mana to take on the properties of 'Kinetic Energy Absorber', which is capable of cooling down things extremely fast. A mid-level spell, 'Glacial Aura' can instantly activate a superconducting magnet, which usually requires at least -140 degree Celsius in temperature.

Now, how is the mage not affected by the insanely powerful effects their spells have? That's simple really:

They are affected. Mages usually cast their spells from a safe distance, so that they don't get caught up in their own spells.

Also, mana can't take more than one property at once and if two types of the same properties mana make contact, they usually nullify each other until the stronger mage's mana wins.

There is another exception to all of this. And that is 'Non-Elemental Magic', like my Energy Magic. But this is also quite simple. The non-Elemental magic actually does follow all of the aforementioned rules. It just does it a bit differently. In elemental magic, the mage uses the mana to create and manipulate fire, water, wind or earth to have a desired effect. In Non-Elemental magic, the Mana is used directly to achieve the desired effect.

For example, The 'Magic Arrow' spell: Gathers pure mana and gives it the 'Collision' property, which allows the mana to directly affect 'Real Matter'.

Also, another very important thing is 'Magic Resistance'. It's a skill some people as well as monsters have. They can basically use Mana in such a way, that it nullifies all the properties of any mana that comes in contact with it. It doesn't do anything to protect against physical attacks though.

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Well, I only gave him a portion of the theory. That theory doesn't explain my gravity magic...

To explain my gravity magic, we need to add the following to the theory:

[Some spells can force the mana to imitate the property of 'Mass', which breaks the most fundamental rule of science, the law of Conservation of Mass, which states that mass can neither be created nor be destroyed. Gravity magic creates 'Virtual Mass', to which the force of gravity responds.]

It's arguably the simplest type of magic, and yet, not a single person other than the dead mage I got the skill-book from could come up with it.

'I wonder who that dead mage actually was...', I thought as I exited Jhon's shop and started walking towards where I had left Evangeline.

It took me precisely 15 minutes to get back to the place where I left Evangeline.

As expected, she wasn't there.

'Urgh... Damnit...', I grumbled as I took out my phone to call Evangeline.

"Hello?~", She answered.

"Hello, it's me, Samuel. I'm back from the meeting, where are you?"

"Ah! Oh... Hey, Samuel... umm... Can you just wait there for a bit?"

"huh? why?"

"Just wait there! Please!"

"Okay, I'm going home alone."

"NO! Wait! Just 10 minutes! I swear I'll be back!"

"*Sigh... okay, come as quick as you can..."

"Jeez! Why are you in such a hurry?!"

"I have my reasons..."

"Tsk! Fine! See you later..."

Then, she hung up.

'I wonder why she did that... Maybe she had to go to the bathroom? haha, it very well might be the case.'

... exactly 10 minutes later ...

"Samuel! Over here!", I could hear a feminine voice calling out to me.

I looked up and saw a girl wearing a beanie, sunglasses and an off-white jacket, waving at me.

'She's back... fucking finally...'

"Come here!", she shouted again, which made some of the people in the park look at her weirdly.

"Stop Shouting, you moron! I'm coming!", I had to be harsh, to make her stop doing that.

I rushed towards Evangeline and finally, we were together again. Wait, that sounds weird...

"You could have just come to me, you know.", I told her.

"But the station is in the opposite direction, I didn't want to walk to you and walk back, it would've been a waste of time!"

'Understandable...'

"Okay. But where were you?"

She suddenly got flustered by this question and started fidgeting the bag in her right hand.

"What's wrong?", I asked out of genuine concern. She was acting erratic, so I got worried that something happened.

"N-Nothing's wrong... um... You asked me to get you a gift... um... h-here! This is it!", she fumbled out while passing the bag to me.

"Oh... thanks... I guess? haha... I didn't expect you to actually give me a present, though..."

"Sh-Shut up! I always keep my promises!"

"Right..."

'Why is she so cute though? it's annoying...', I didn't even try correcting my thoughts anymore. It was the truth, anyway. Evangeline was now officially 'Cute' to me... *Sigh...

"I'm kinda hungry. Do you wanna grab some food before going back?", I asked.

"...Me too... Let's go and eat something...", she answered, looking away from me.