Circles of Magic

Nine breathed deeply, running through the information in her mind. The ranks of magic in this world was very simple and easy to remember. There were a total of ten circles of magic, one being the easiest and ten being the hardest. It was commonly called the ten circles of magic.

Magic differed in the form of internal and external casting. Magicians who specialized in internal magic such as body magic, which increased strength or speed, etc. were called Body Practitioners or Warriors. Magicians who specialized in external magic such as casting spells like fireball or ice lance were either called Spellist or simply called Mages.

From the starting of time, only the founder of magic had ever achieved ten circles of magic, followed by some legendary Grandmaster Magicians who achieved the ninth circle. Amongst humans, it was hard to find people even capable of producing sixth circle magic.

Breathing out, Nine called magic up to her hand. The simplest magic that everyone in Cosmos City was able to cast.

Visualising the image, Nine pulled water from the surrounding air, forming a ball of water that looked harmless. Examining it, she realized that the water looked blue instead of being transparent. She'd thought that imagery and colour was just off due to the way it was being presented in the books. Thinking about it again, she realized that from some of the books she read containing magic spells or such from outside of Cosmos City, the 'Water Ball' was transparent, reflecting ordinary water.

Baffled, Nine ran through the process in her mind again. She furrowed her brows as she pondered over this strange phenomena. Then, she remembered something she'd read. Mixed in amongst the books, almost as if hidden in a corner, she had read a couple of myths about Elementals existing in this world. She had been skeptical at first, but now she was sure that Elementals did exist in this world. It was just that no one could see them, just like how no one but her could see magic in its entirety.

[Host has acknowledged the existence of Elementals. Obtained High Water Elemental's Blessing.]

[Blessed by the High Water Elemental, increases water proficiency and damage by 20%]

Nine reached out with no expression on her face, grabbing the happily floating Blue, who was acting as if he had done a great favour for his host.

Blue made a squeaking sound as it tried to disappear from existence only to be stopped by his host's fingers. Ah! Why did he have such a bad host? From the Main System, he heard that other system's hosts would be kind and generally happy, but his host was a black belly! It had been lied to! Bad review! He wanted to complain about his host! Blue angrily pinged the Main System a couple of times, only to be ignored. Blue directed tearful eyes to the sky. He was such a pitiful system. Just born and already being bullied by his host.

"So, Blue. Is there anything else you're not telling me?" Nine said, smiling slightly.

Blue trembled slightly. Being in air never felt as threatening as this. He felt like crying. He was obviously being threatened, okay? Host, please treat your system kindly! How could a smile be so threatening?? Ahh, he didn't care anymore!

Blantantly disregarding the Main System, Blue brazenly showed all the information he was supposed to keep hidden until the host unlocked it. He tilted his head up arrogantly, ignoring the Main System's warnings. They ignored him, so he would ignore them too!

Satisfied, Nine patted Blue on the head, causing him to blink in shock. What a good system. He was really to her liking. Luckily, the random personality generation suited her tastes very much.

Scanning through all the hidden information, Nine smirked inwardly as her eyes sparkled slightly. This just made things very interesting.

Putting it aside for now, Nine once again concentrated on the magic swirling inside of her. Going through the motions, she successively cast a bunch of First Circle magic. Fire Ball, Lightning Spark, Water Ball, Light Ball and Dark Shot.

Nine froze them in the air, observing them one by one. The Water Ball was indeed slightly bigger than the rest.

Nine cast the balls of magic at various targets all at once, noting that the Water Ball had the lowest damage amongst all thr magics.

Nine, "..."

What use was the damage boost when its damage was already pathetically low? She summoned the Water Ball again, staring at it critically. She supposed Water was mainly for drinking and cleaning purposes at the lower stages. Off the top of her head, she could imagine certain offensive things Water could achieve.

With a wave of her hand, Nine dismissed it, placing it back in the air casually. If any of the world's natives had seen her do this, they would have dropped their jaws.

Magic reversal was a very specific and difficult skill set. It contained a bit of insight into Space and Time. As a First Circle Magician, Nine had managed to achieve what others could only achieve in the Fifth Circle of magic.

Nine felt puzzled by how easy this was coming to her. Was it because she had lived in a world where imagination about magic ran wild? Even if you weren't immersed in said culture, you heard about it from society all around you. Movies, books, comics. You name it, a person had created it.

"Blade of light," she said in a low voice, visualising the two rings of magic circles in her mind. She watched as a pure white arc flew and cut a straw target in half.

Eyebrow raised, Nine strode forward to inspect the damage caused. Certainly, it did seem like Second Circle magic was a lot stronger than First Circle. Though it was stronger, it cast slower.

Inwardly, she was surprised that she had managed to cast Second Circle magic so easily. Then again, there wasn't much difference between First and Second.

If other people knew what she was thinking, they would wish they could rush forward and chop her to pieces. Easy? Did she know how hard they had to study to cross the threshold of the First Circle?

The amount of runes needed to create a Second Circle magic spell was more than double needed in the First Circle! The runes all looked the same to them. It was only when they squinted that they noticed the very slight differences in the runes. If they found out Nine had already memorized every single rune, they would have looked at her like she was a freak. Since the time Nine had discovered magic until now, it had only been three days.

Contrary to fact, Nine did know that it got harder as one went up ranks. It was just that it had taken her little to no effort that she almost doubted if it really was that hard. Doubtfully, Nine cast Light magic starting from Third Circle to Tenth Circle.

After a round of casual casting, Nine turned around with no expression. No one could know of this. She glanced lightly at Shade in the nearby tree, nearly scaring him out of his wits.

His master was too cool! He was so strong and lowkey! He was lowkey to the point that no one even knew the Crown Prince of Cosmos Empire could cast magic. His eyes widened the more he thought about it. This was Tenth Circle magic, okay? There wasn't a single person besides the founder of magic that could cast it! His master was only thirteen this year! He was practically a monster. Inside, Shade was very happy that he managed to find such a master.

Nine avoided the sparkling eyes of her hidden guard, highly uncomfortable. No one had ever directed such eyes towards her before, so was slightly unused to it.

"Shade, water."

"Yes!" he cried, disappearing from the spot in his zealous mission to get the freshest water for his master.

Slowly, she turned around with a swish of her robe before walking to her bedroom and shutting it, automatically sending the wards up to keep everyone else out once the door was shut.

When Shade returned, he directed mournful eyes at the closed door, silently waiting outside as he held a cup of water in his hand. Speechless, he could only silently practice his magic as the crown prince had instructed him to do every waking moment.

Inside, Nine expressionlessly started reading the books in her bedroom again.