Universal Mage

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"Yeah."

"That fool of a king just took an otherworlder under his wing."

"What an idiot. What does he expect to happen? He will betray us. The history repeats itself."

"Losing 20% of the population again is in no one's favor. We need to get rid of him."

"Of who? The otherworlder?"

"The king, dumbass. Not even I can take on an otherworlder myself. But if the king, who protects him, is gone, who'll be there to protect the bastard?"

"No one."

"Exactly. We're doing this to save our people, keep that in mind."

"Right."

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"A-appleheads, huh?" Mira muttered. "T-those are demonic beings. W-we actually have quite a problem with them."

"What do they look like?"

"T-they are humanoids t-that have their limbs r-replaced by vines, and their h-heads are in shape of fruit, usually apples."

"I see. How strong are they?"

"Individually, they are not strong. B-but when they appear, there's always a bunch, and being the m-most common demon, they are a real threat."

"Interesting." So those kinds of monsters do exist here. I'll keep that in mind.

"Oh yeah. I wanted to ask you. What kind of magic can you use, Mira?"

She suddenly changed. Her akward expression was swapped for a wide grin, like a mood switch.

"I can use any magic! Fire, water, wind, plant, earth, electric, dark, light..."

"Is that so? Is that rare?"

"Yeah, you bet it is. However, my mana capacity is only 30 MP."

So she can pretty much cast anything, but only once, if it works the way I assume. I guess I'll ask her.

"And how much MP does strong spell require?"

"Hmm...Holy Lighting uses up 50 MP."

"What would happen if you were to use it?"

"I'd faint after using it!", she said giggling. "But I wouldn't die, y'know. However, if I were to use a spell that requires over 100 MP, it would use up my life energy as a replacement for my lack of MP. Needless to say what would happen afterwards."

Mira looked down at the ground. Her wide grin was gone and she was wearing the same akward expression as before.

"W-well...I think its about time w-we start our lesson."

"Oh, right. I almost forgot."

The two proceeded to spend a couple of hours in the library, Mira teaching Ryuu the ways of the magic.

"M-mana Power, or MP, is inside of us, in the air, in the g-ground, pretty m-much everywhere. Everyone has mana inside of t-them, but not everyone has the gift to m-manifest it as a spell. People who can are called Magic Casters. O-once you learn at least 10 different spells, you classify as a Wizard, and after m-mastering all spells of one element, you become a Mage."

"Zych called you a mage earlier, right? So you mastered one type of magic?"

Mira nodded.

"S-since your affinity is strictly with plant magic, I'll teach you the easiest plant spell. It's called Bloom. It grows a single small flower from the ground."

"Could you demonstrate?"

"S-sure!"

Mira took a small flower pot that was sitting on a window frame. She closed her eyes and put her index finger on the dirt inside of the pot.

"I pray to the forces of nature that gave me life, as I now do the same. I offer a fragment of my soul and use it to make a new one. Blossom!"

A beautiful, white rose emerged from the flower pot at an unbelievable speed.

"Now you try."

Mira handed Ryuu another empty flower pot.

"I pray to the forces of nature that gave me life, as I now do the same. I offer a fragment of my soul, and will use it to make a new one. Blossom!"

From his spell, however, emerged a much bigger, blood red rose. Mira seemed impressed.

"V-very well. I guess that would be enough for day one."

After that, Ryuu went to his room. As he laid in bed, he thought about what he was going to do now, and how his life is gonna turn out. He took a deep sight.

"I miss my family and friends. I can't begin to imagine their faces when they heard about my death. Who...even was that kid? And what did he gain from my death?"

He took another sight.

"Well, as if I'll ever know."

The tiredness caught up to him and soon enough, he was asleep.