15 - Magic

Waking up, Ixtra was still studying the book.

He was around halfway through it it seemed.

Since I had also read the book, albeit without comprehending any of the magic within, I knew the potency of the spells halfway through the book.

Spells worked differently to knight breathing techniques and aura. Spells allowed for unique effects, just like skills.

A mage who knew a lot of spells was a versatile individual who had a spell for any circumstance.

I'd go back to the library today and take the 1st circle spell book home for Ixtra to read after he was done with this one.

Before that, however, I had to know.

"Ixtra..."

"Good morning, Sir."

"Demonstrate [Lock Seal] for me."

[Lock Seal] was a basic sealing magic of the 1st circle, and the first one in the book.

Ixtra pointed towards the door to the room with an open palm and a magic circle appeared in front of his hand.

Another, larger magic circle appeared on the door, and there was a sound of the door's lock locking itself.

I had left it unlocked since I didn't think it mattered with Ixtra around to protect me in my sleep.

With this, not only was the door locked, but anyone who attempted to open it would face a minor resistance from the magic circle, like a spring pushing them back. The more they pushed, the more resistance there would be, until the circle broke from the pressure.

Watching on, I was still confused.

"Ixtra, cast [Barrier]."

Barrier was another simple spell that was slightly more difficult that [Lock Seal]. Like it sounded, it cast a simple, physical barrier around a small space, about 2 meters in radius.

It was the 2nd spell in the book.

Once again, Ixtra cast it, and a barrier appeared around him. The bottom phased through the floor, which might mean it was poking through the first floor ceiling.

A magic circle appeared next to Ixtra's hand again, a different one this time.

'???'

"Ixtra, just to make sure...did you manage to memorize what the magic circles looked lile for these spells, and memorize how to channel your mana-or rather, demonic energy, to make the magic circle, manage to keep it stable, become proficient enough to silent cast them, in quick succession, in under a second each....all in one night?!"

"Yes."

"..."

Speechless did not begin to describe my emotions right now.

"Ixtra, are you perhaps a genius amongst demons by any chance?"

"A genius?...Well, I am the strongest in my region. I don't know if that counts."

Could it be that...people with the talent to reach liquid mana were normally also talented mages? And I was just...awful at it instead?

Could it be?

Was I....

Trash?

No, it couldn't be. I refused to accept it.

"Ixtra, I'm gonna cast [Lock Seal] now, try and see if you can tell me what mistakes I'm making."

I had him undo his spell on the door and went and unlocked the door before casting myself.

"[Lock Seal]!"

I couldn't do a silent cast like Ixtra.

Ixtra watched closely, before having a confused expression on his face.

I finished the spell, and the result was the same as when Ixtra cast it.

I saw the confused look on his face and said,

"What's wrong? Notice anything different?"

"Yes. Why are you using aura to cast?"

"..."

"How else am I supposed to cast? It said in the knight breathing technique to use aura to cast."

"Why would it say that? Isn't it obvious you're supposed to cast with raw mana?"

"How am I supposed to do that? I can't take mana out of my body without converting it to aura first."

"You can't?"

"I can't."

"???"

Now it was Ixtra's turn to look dumbfounded.

I had understood at this point that since Ixtra used demonic energy, that must allow him an easier time casting spells. I just didn't understand how I could follow his advice.

Did normal mages do it like he did? Was there some secret?

The knight breathing technique book never mentioned any other way to cast spells

Now that I thought about it, there was an organization in the capital that monopolized the mages of the kingdom under their service. It was called the Mage Guild.

A book on first circle spells was out in the open in the public library, yet there were almost no mages in the kingdom aside from in the capital. The few there were, a couple thousand or so, all worked for the Mage Guild.

They must be hiding a secret to mass producing mages. A way to learn to cast spells similar to how Ixtra did it, by directly using raw mana instead of aura/aureous mana.

I'd have to look into that later.

For now, I had Ixtra read and practice more in the treasury while I went to the library to borrow the spell book.

Unlike the book on sealing magic, which was purely for, well, sealing magics, the book in the library had a variety of 1st circle spells from various systems.

Magic was based on "magic fields", which were created by the gods. Interacting with a magic field would give way to that god's unique magic system. Not all gods were powerful enough to create universe-wide magic fields. In fact, very few were.

For instance, the Goddess Eyja, as far as I could tell with my limited understanding, seemed to have a magic field set up in the center of the western half of the continent. And her magic system was extremely primitive, only bestowing mediocre blessings on a few people here and there.

So, there were only a few main systems of magic and spells in most regions.

Among them, there was a god that specialized in sealing magic, "Darkstar", and the spells in the sealing magic book were from his system.

The book in the library only had 1st circle spells, and only from 4 basic systems: fire, water, air, and earth.

Despite this, it would still be quite useful to learn the basic spells within.

Well, I wouldn't be the one learning them at this point, but it was still useful if Ixtra learned them!

I went, borrowed the book, and came back. I also checked in on the best sealing magic Ixtra had learned, just because I was curious.

In the treasury, Ixtra, Tom, and I were gathered around, and Ixtra was facing one of the treasure swords we had put in front of us.

He placed his hands in front of him and said,

"[Hell Chain Seal]!"

Since it was the strongest he could do, it was also the newest, so he couldn't silent cast it yet.

Suddenly, 5 magic circles with a dark black-purple color appeared in the air around the sword, and dark red chains came out of each of them, wrapping around the sword and causing it to lose its glimmer.

The chains other broke partway through and went back into the magic circles.

The remaining ones wrapped around the sword.

The magic circles disappeared, and Ixtra stopped casting.

He looked exhausted.

I had never seen him look so tired.

Walking up to the sword, I lifted it, and tried to slash out a blade beam with it, but nothing came out. I tried slashing out a blade beam using my own aura, with the sword as a medium, and it still worked.

I asked Tom if the sword's effects were fully sealed, and he said yes.

Amazed, I walked up to Ixtra and patted him on the back.

"That was amazing! Keep going. I'm excited to see what you can do once you finish the book."

The final spell in the book was one called [7th Chaser], and it was something that could even seal the abilities of a dragon.

A dragon. Mythical creatures, the weakest of which was on par with a plasmic mana knight when fully grown.

"Umm, Sir? About that..."

"Hmm?"

"The main reason I could progress so quickly in the book until now was because I had enough mana to practice over and over again. I'm starting to reach my limit on the mana required for some of these more advanced spells, and I have to take long breaks to practice a single cast. I'm afraid I won't be able to make rapid progress like before after this."

...

Well, that was unfortunate. I was hoping I could just have Ixtra become the greatest mage in the lands, but it seemed that was too far fetched.

I had him learn the basic elemental magics instead now that it was like this.

It didn't even take him the day.

In the meanwhile, I went around gathering more information on the Mage Guild.

They had been established at the start of the kingdom and had been around ever since. The current guildmaster, Lucas Forge, was a 6th-circle Mage, which corresponded to the peak of the solid crystal mana stage for knights.

5th circle equated to entry solid crystal mana stage, 4th was liquid, 3rd was gaseous, and 2nd and first were knight apprentice level.

At 7th circle, they would be equal to plasmic mana knights, and were rarer than one in a generation.

Interestingly, I never heard of the knight breathing technique being used by mages of the mage guild, so I was curious as to how they gathered mana.

That's when I heard it.

"The mages of the mage guild use a special mana breathing technique that they don't reveal. It lets them cast spells better."

There it was. I suppose the author of the [Lavencia Knight Breathing Technique] didn't bother to mention that very important detail.

Well, it was a knight breathing technique book. It wasn't about spells or mages in the first place, so I guess he didn't think it pertinent to write about.

Returning to the library once Ixtra mastered all the 1st circle spells in the library book in order to return it, I headed back home and made further plans.

I decided to head to the capital after all.

I had originally been planning to stay in this place for a while, but I changed my mind learning of Ixtra's talents and the Mage Guild's secrets.

Time was of the essence. Although I had so much going for me, I was at the end of the day still a mortal human.

I would only live so many years, and I was 24 already, soon to turn 25.

It was one thing if I had no clues on strange phenomenon, but now that I did, I had to check it out asap.

After all, who knew if one thing would lead to another and I'd end up benefitting tremendously?

With that, I made up my mind and went to sleep. Tomorrow I'd be back on the road.

Ixtra came out to keep watch again, and this time, since the spells were too advanced to not cause a commotion, he stopped practicing and just remained a loyal guard like always.