Language of Magic

'350 DP. I mean, that's not bad, I guess,' said Magnus 2.0 in a slightly sullen tone.

Summer had just succeeded learning [Earth Bullet], earning herself 20 XP. Following close after that was Markus, who had just gained a message from the system for leaning [Wind Bullet]. His father's achievement didn't grant him any DP, though. He wasn't a Protagonist, after all.

All in all, the group training had been proceeding quite smoothly. After a bit more guidance from Magnus, everyone had also started to manually recover their mana every time it came near depletion, instead of letting it recover naturally, which took a long time. This repeated practice had caused their mana reserves to expand a bit, slightly increasing their total mana points.

Other than that, some people had also learned more than one skill; these were the people who had two affinities.

For example, Owen had approached his son to give him some teaching went it came to darkness element skills. In the end, the man chose to learn [Death Flame], much to the plight of the lawn. With five fire element users, suffice to say that the grass on the once-green backyard had pretty much been wiped out at this point. Plus, everyone had to constantly watch out for stray [Flamethrower] shots in the middle of their training.

Oh, and there were also the occasional zaps from Matt's and Katja's [Thunderbolt].

In conclusion, the backyard had turned into a zone filled with colorful spells flying around and colliding with the white barrier, as well as people constantly yelling their annoyance for almost being accidentally burned alive.

Maybe this backyard wasn't big enough for everyone.

Nevertheless, Magnus wasn't disappointed for the current result. He had also taken the chance to increase Gina's Strength by five points, so the woman could pick up [Fortitude] sooner. He wasn't able to give her more than that, though, as it costed him an additional thirty points to boost a Supporting Character. He needed to wait until his AP recovered first to be able to increase her Strength again.

After the break, he also planned to boost Summer's stats again, and possibly also her father. Honestly, there were a lot of people who needed boosting, but Magnus didn't have infinite AP, and he could only recover ten points per minute. That was already on top of maintaining the anti-god coating. He couldn't afford to deplete his AP, either, in case the gods suddenly tried something funny.

At least his parents had items that boosted some of their stats, so he could rest easy knowing they weren't in an immediate need for empowerment that would cost him AP.

They had breakfast during the break this time. Everyone had started their training early that morning, after all. Well, it was morning according to the clock. Outside, the world had become perpetually nighttime, with the bright stars providing natural lighting. Thankfully, they still hadn't lost power, yet. Magnus didn't know how long they would have this privilege, since he hadn't been to TJ's house after the Prolog in the original Universe.

The night sky would eventually subside, though, giving way for the sun to rise again. But this would take some time, as the times on all the Realms were still undergoing a few adjustments. After it was all done, there would be a new concept called Universal Time and the first trans-Realm portal would finally be opened.

After the break, everyone took an extra thirty minutes before they would start another training session. Some needed to wash up, and some others just needed a moment to themselves.

Once the half an hour was over, the white dome and the anti-god coating was back up, and everyone was ready to start casting spells again.

Magnus took the chance to tell his father about the skill he'd seen in the past called [Toxic Fume], which combined wind and darkness element. Magnus himself didn't have the skill registered in his system, but he knew roughly how it worked. He was tempted to use manual narration to gift his father the skill, but his AP was already reserved for boosting people's stats. Besides, if his father was able to learn the skill by himself, then all was well.

He could only hope the doctor could try and experiment a little bit by himself and finally figure out how to execute the skill. He then made sure to tell his father to remain in the corner of the yard, just in case he accidentally released the poisonous gas all over the training area once he succeeded in learning the skill.

"This is an area of effect spell, so inform me when you finally get the system message, dad. I'll come to you and isolate the gas," said Magnus.

"Why can't you do it right now? I don't wanna unintentionally hurt somebody."

"No can do, dad. I'm already expending mana for keeping the dome up. Don't worry, at the first level, the skill isn't going to be lethal. At most, it would only cause a bit of slow inflammation on a person's lungs. Nothing that my healing skill couldn't fix."

Meanwhile, TJ had picked up his earth training sword again and began swinging it around. His [Swordsmanship] was very slow to progress, and it seemed to frustrate him a little bit. Therefore, it looked like he had decided to dedicate the rest of the training time into leveling up the skill at least once. He had been smart enough to download more tutorial videos before they'd lost the internet.

Glancing at Lisa and Victoria who were currently trying to balance their bodies in the air, Magnus sat down and planned to learn about divine magic.

He pondered for a bit. 'Where do I start?' He pulled [Wayward] out his Inventory and observed the magic inscriptions engraved on the ridged blade. They glowed blue—the color of Atlantis' Divine Essence, as Magnus understood it. He still didn't know for sure, but maybe if he managed to create magic inscriptions, it would glow white.

'Is divine magic a skill? Can we use manual narration for that?'

'I don't think it's a skill,' replied Magnus 2.0. 'It's just another type of magic.'

'But what makes it divine?'

'Good question. System, do you have an answer?'

[To answer the host's question, system needs to remind the host that Divinity is closely related to the level of influence an individual possesses. The higher one's Divinity level, the greater and long-lasting their influence becomes. Putting this into perspective, divine magic is basically a practice of magic that exerts someone's influence through their imparted will, which is why it has a lot to do with the act of blessing people and objects. By giving their blessing through divine magic, an individual could make the blessed target carry their will, which delivers their influences. These influences would last as long as their level of Divinity allows.]

Magnus fell into thought. He honestly could somehow grasp the concept behind it. However, he needed more explanation to fully comprehend the whole thing. 'I mean, I could already guess that Atlantis used divine magic to engrave magic inscriptions on this axe. That's what blessing an item means, right? Thing is, what do I do in order to learn how to use divine magic?'

[The fastest way to start practicing divine magic is to learn how to speak the Language of Magic.]

Magnus' eyes sparkled. 'Is it a skill?' If it was, he could just use manual narration as a shortcut.

[It is. However, does the host know what effects it has? Without knowing what the skill was truly about, what will the host write in the narration? Mentioning the skill name alone would not suffice, as it will just end up with the narration giving the host zero knowledge on how to use the skill.]

'Right.'

'Okay then, system. What can you tell us about Language of Magic? Are these inscriptions on the axe written in the Language of Magic?' asked Magnus 2.0.

[The answer is yes and no. Yes, the inscriptions use the Language of Magic. No, because the Language of Magic does not strictly consist of these hieroglyphs from Atlantis' cultural language.

Language of Magic is not a language in itself. Any language from any culture can be spoken and written as the Language of Magic. It is the mana used to amplify the meaning and will conveyed that makes it the Language of Magic. For example, the host can speak English either as a form of communication that is derived from a human culture, or as the Language of Magic that carries the host's will and influence.]

'So like, words from any language can invoke a magical effect? And that counts as using the Language of Magic?'

[Correct.]

'So, how do I imbue my will into the words I speak? Using mana, I suppose?'

[Before the host goes any further, the system needs to inform the host that Language of Magic used in spoken form carries minimal effect, as it uses the easily dispersed air as the medium. Which is why, the gods opted to engrave inscriptions on objects, in their respective languages. Imparted with their will, which was empowered by mana during the engraving, the languages become the Language of Magic. And because the medium of the language is a solid and tangible object, it will last much longer. The whole process is the practice of divine magic.]

'I think I get it,' said Magnus 2.0. 'Basically, the formula goes like this. Word (mana + will) = Language of Magic. And then, Language of Magic itself is the tool necessary to practice divine magic. Isn't that right, system?'

[That is a simple way to put it, yes. However, divine magic can also use mediums other than words. For example, music and pictures.]

'Damn, I feel like I have been enlightened,' Magnus 2.0 remarked.