Chapter 16: The State of Magic & Mana

"The Ten Great Magic Academies aren't part of the Four Rings, the symbols of nobility, but there's no denying that mages wield a lot of power and influence. They've even managed to secure a special position within the Royal Court, unlike any other faction. I'm not sure of all the details though; after all, this kind of news gets passed down mostly through rumors, and the decision was made before I was born."

As Celia shared this, Magnus listened closely, cross-referencing what she was saying with what he had personally read about the governing system of the Batis Kingdom.

If I remember correctly, the majority of land across the kingdom is already owned by the nobility, with the exceptions being unprofitable areas and the land surrounding the capital, which is owned by the Royal Family. The only people who have a say in the Royal Court are the nobility belonging to the three innermost rings of the four that exist. For the Ten Great Magic Academies to have a say in the Royal Court is enough to prove how valuable they are to the kingdom as a whole.

Magnus was pondering this when Celia went on.

"In any case, using their influence, the Ten Great Magic Academies made a proposal to the court. And as expected, the King, Queen, and a majority of the Royal Court agreed, signing off on the suppression of magical knowledge throughout the kingdom. It was a pretty simple plan, in all honesty, and that's probably why it worked so well. It was a way for the Ten Great Magic Academies to monopolize the knowledge, control, and usage of magic." After saying that, Celia let out a sigh that carried a weight of sadness and helplessness.

"Of course, with the academies being aligned with the crown, it was a boon for the nobility. It reduced the likelihood of rogue mages. It also meant that commoners, like me, would have no access to magic. The only paths towards something like that were having innate talent, being discovered by academies scouts, or being born into a mage's noble family." A dejected look appeared on Celia's face as she spoke those last words.

Magnus had spent a good amount of time chatting with Celia, and he couldn't help but notice the mix of joy and yearning lighting up her eyes whenever he shared what he had experienced. The excitement that sparked within her when he told her about Mia, for example, with her spirit-wielding abilities, was undeniable. Yet, there was also a palpable sense of defeat, the harsh truth that such wonders were things she would never see for herself.

In addition, Magnus gained some understanding from their conversation. He now understood just how tightly bound magic in this world was to the Ten Great Magic Academies and noble families.

Revolts were not uncommon in such times. Typically, a king's power lasted only as long as he kept his subjects content, and blocking people off from the potential benefits of magic was definitely something that could make people angry. At the same time, if a ruler pushed the populace too far, even their own guards might turn their back on them. But here, things were complicated.

Challenging a regular monarchy was one thing; opposing one supported by magic-wielders was entirely different. Success in rebellion would only be possible if the masses were allowed access to magic or if there was external intervention. It was why those in power restricted entrance to the Ten Great Magic Academies to a select few, scouted individuals, or those of noble lineage.

It also explains why I could hardly find any books about magic even in that big library.

Looking at Celia, Magnus also felt like it made even more sense why she suddenly wanted to talk to him. Magic, for her, was out of reach. She couldn't even begin to understand it, let alone learn about it, yet it fascinated her all the same. In this world, ordinary people might only encounter magic in the most extreme situations—either in moments where they were killed by it or saved by it.

Lost in thought, Magnus didn't notice the change in the atmosphere until Celia, who did, hurried to smooth things over.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have dampened the mood like that. You're a guest, and here I am, making things awkward. I'll-" She was abruptly interrupted by Magnus's unexpected question.

"Would you be interested in helping me out?" His words caught Celia completely off guard, leaving her bewildered.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Well, there have been a few comman- I mean magic experiments. There have been a few magic experiments that I've been wanting to do for a while now, but the issue is that I'm not allowed to leave the grounds of this place. So, how about we make a deal?" Magnus saw a spark of excitement in Celia's eyes as she inched closer.

"Are you serious!? You- I mean… Are you really willing to let me help you? With magic stuff, I mean? But isn't that against the rules? You're heading to Takerth Academy soon, right? I thought there were strict rules against sharing anything from the academies without explicit permission." Celia's enthusiasm was palpable, but she hesitated, toggling between excitement and concern.

Magnus dismissed her worries with a wave of his hand.

"So far, I haven't signed anything since I got here, and Gerald said I wouldn't be attending the academy just yet, so it should be fine. Besides, if there is one thing I'm sure of, the experiments I'll be doing will be completely different than what you learn in the academy." He was confident, knowing full well that the Command Console and this world's magic were two separate things.

Hearing Magnus, Celia wavered. Her position as a maid made the idea seem far-fetched, yet the prospect was too tantalizing to ignore. This could be the chance she'd always dreamed of—a leap into the unknown.

She had always wanted to venture beyond the mundane task of dusting off books and shelves. There was more to this world than catering to their so-called betters, and she knew that, and she wanted to look at that world. She wanted to dive headfirst into things that defied common sense and study them.

And now that opportunity was there, right in front of her.

Celia found herself hesitating, torn over her response to Magnus, who waited patiently with a serene yet unmistakable smile. Oblivious to the monumental impact of his proposal on her. Yet, his easygoing nature somehow led to an hour-long conversation between them, and now this.

And upon realizing that, Celia made up her mind.

"If- If you're truly serious, then it would be my honor to assist you, sir," she said, bowing dramatically, which promptly elicited laughter from Magnus, confusing Celia and causing her to look up.

"Alright, first off, stop with the bowing and 'sir'—you're older than me, and it just feels weird. And don't be so stiff and formal. Like I said, I'm no noble, nor am I familiar with your customs. If you can't do that in public, at least try to when it's just us." Hearing the strange set of rules, Celia was going to bring up a complaint, but Magnus shut her down right away.

"These are my two basic rules for helping me; I'm not backing down on them." His tone was serious, compelling Celia to bite her tongue. After debating with herself for a couple of seconds, she agreed, albeit awkwardly.

"Yes, si- I mean, okay... Magnus?" She watched his reaction closely, noting the relief in his expression.

Thank goodness. I couldn't have handled it if she kept up that formal maid charade while assisting me. It would've been too much.

Their moment of understanding was abruptly interrupted by approaching footsteps. Panicked for only an instant, Celia quickly switched back to her professional demeanor as a maid, her earlier self replaced by one of poised efficiency.

Magnus couldn't help but be impressed by her swift transition.

I guess she wouldn't get let off easily if she got caught slacking off as my personal maid. Especially if she was seen chatting with the one she was supposed to be catering to.

As the footsteps got louder, Magnus saw that they belonged to a maid who was leading none other than Gerald.

"Oh, there you are, kid. This maid and I had stopped by your room, but we couldn't find you. Glad you're keeping busy, though. Like I've always said, even if you're good with magic or spirits, you shouldn't ignore your physical strength. It's what keeps you alive when things get really bad," Gerald said.

"Oh, hey Gerald. Ya, I can definitely agree with that. Having power is great in all, but being a glass cannon is the worst," Magnus replied, making Gerald nod in appreciation. Gerald had never heard the term 'glass cannon' before but thought it perfectly described the idea.

"I knew you had a good head on your shoulders. Tell you what, If you ever want to learn how to keep that head attached to your body, come talk to me. It might not seem necessary with your mana core and all, lacking an aura, but knowing how to handle a weapon is always useful," Gerald continued as the maid took her leave.

Magnus nodded, taking note of his offer, and he latched onto what Gerald had just said.

"Hold up, did you just say mana core? What's that? Also, what's an aura?" Magnus was curious. He knew a little about magic and mana in this world, despite efforts to keep that knowledge under wraps. He knew about spirits, too, after chatting with Mia, but those terms were new to him.

"Ah, right, I keep forgetting you're not up to speed on all this. Well, it's going to take us a while to make it to the academy, so I'll fill you in as we go. But fair warning, I'm a bit out of the loop myself with mage stuff, so my details on mana cores might be sketchy," Gerald explained.

"So, you're here for that academy tour?" Magnus inquired.

"Exactly, we got the green light for the tour, so I'm here to fetch you," Gerald confirmed.

Wow, that's sudden. But then again, without phones or anything, it's not like he could have let me know in advance. It's a shame I'll cut my conversation with Celia short, but I guess there will be time for that later.

Casting a glance at Celia, who nodded in silent understanding, Magnus followed Gerald to the front gate of the Major General's Villa, where their carriage awaited. It wasn't overly fancy, but it was clearly a cut above the usual street carriages. Two big gray horses were hitched to the front, obviously a higher quality breed than the ones Magnus, Mia, and the rest had ridden on before. A coachman was holding the reins, nodding at Gerald in greeting.

"Wow, is this for us?" Magnus couldn't hide his amazement.

"Yeah, I'd normally just walk to the academy, but for some reason, the Major General wants to make a good impression on you, so he's lent us this carriage. Still, it's going to take us a good half hour to get there." Arlcliff City was huge; even with a carriage, getting around took time.

Gerald climbed into the carriage first, followed by Magnus. As the door shut, Magnus caught sight of Celia bowing politely, wishing them farewell.

"Safe travels to you both."

With a crack of the whip, the horses set off. In just a few moments, they were weaving through the streets of Arlcliff City, leaving behind the garrison and patrolling soldiers for the regular buildings and the everyday hustle of its citizens.

"Wow, I didn't get a good look at this place the first time we came through, but there are a lot of people living here, huh?" Magnus observed, fascinated by the city life outside the window.

"Definitely, Arlcliff is the hub of this region. I don't know much about its history, though. Mia would be the one to ask about that kind of stuff; she spent a good portion of her life growing up here, after all." Gerald's mention of Mia shifted Magnus's focus from the lively cityscape to the supernatural elements Gerald had brought up earlier.

"Right, you mentioned something about a mana core and aura before—what exactly are those?" Gerald paused to stroke his beard as he considered how to explain.

"Well, it's kind of tricky to get into without starting with the basics. How much do you know about mana?" After thinking it over for a bit, Magnus replied.

"From what I've picked up, mana is sort of... well, an essence, maybe? The books I checked out were really heavy on the fancy wording. It all seems pretty complex, and for some reason, regular people can't see it even though it's all around us."

"You've got the gist of it, but there's more to it than that. Whether you're training as a mage or a knight, one thing becomes clear: mana is elusive. It's so intricate that just trying to understand it is a career by itself. If I'm being honest, it confused the hell out of me at first, but that's just how life is, I guess." Magnus, intrigued, followed up with another question.

"So, if you know about all this stuff, did you study at one of the Ten Great Magic Academies, Gerald?" Gerald couldn't help but laugh at the suggestion.

"Me? Attend one of those academies? You're hilarious, kid. But I get it; you're not familiar with how this works. Although those academies do teach both knights and mages, they're really for the nobility or the exceptionally gifted and trust me, I don't fit into either category. I learned everything I know the hard way, through battle. I did have a mentor once, but that's a story for another day."

Magnus frowned at that.

Oh, come on, why bring up something interesting like that if you're not even going to talk about it?

However, his annoyance quickly turned into curiosity as Gerald went on, "Back to your original question, both mana cores and aura are deeply connected to mana, particularly to its ability to change forms."

"Hold up, I get how it could relate to mana cores, but aura too?" Magnus interrupted.

"Yes, think of it this way. Mana adapts to its surroundings, no matter where it is—a city like this, a forest, a subterranean lava pool, or even high up in the sky. Usually, these changes are minor, but occasionally, they're significant enough to cause major transformations and, even rarer, impact living beings," Gerald elaborated, ensuring Magnus was keeping up.

"When such transformations occur, predicting the outcomes is difficult, but humans typically undergo one of two mutations. You've probably guessed by now that those two are the reasons why mana cores and aura exist. There are a few rare exceptions, of course, but they're extremely uncommon. Actually, the Major General speculated you might be one such unique case," Gerald shared, sparking a thought in Magnus.

Huh, I just threw together a bunch of nonsense for my fake backstory, but mentioning mutations seems to fit surprisingly well.

He had only skimmed through a couple of books about magical herbs after Celia made him some tea using some, which was delicious. But there was never a clear explanation of their origins; even Celia didn't know. Now it made sense: mana actively shapes nature in this world, beyond just being harnessed for magic by mages.

And since knowledge of mana was censored, obviously a lot of things about the world were left unknown to normal people.

Seeing that Magnus was still tuned in, even though he was thinking, Gerald kept going.

"Let's start with something right up your alley as a mage: mana cores. I'm no expert since I'm a knight, but mana cores fuel a mage's magic. Of course, they aren't actual cores or physical things you can touch, but more like…" Gerald trailed off, searching for the simplest way to explain. While he struggled for words, Magnus muttered under his breath.

"Sounds pretty metaphysical to me." Gerald caught that comment, giving Magnus a puzzled look.

"Meta-what? You kids, I swear you come up with the oddest sayings." Eventually, Gerald stopped trying to nail down a perfect explanation for mana cores. It was just too complex to boil down to a quick chat.

"Anyway, basically, every mage has a mana core. Think of it as a water tank or a reservoir where they gather and store mana—not from rain, of course, but from the natural mana in the world around us."

"So, every mana core is basically like its own mana pool?" Magnus joked, relating it back to the common concept he'd seen in games, but Gerald agreed with a nod.

"Yeah, you could put it that way; that's a good way of thinking about it. Like I said, my knowledge is limited, and this isn't really my forte, but you seem to get the gist." Magnus nodded; he did get the general outline of what Gerald was trying to say.

So in the end, mana is both the source of a mage's power and a knight's. I guess that means, on some level, the two of them are kind of the same, huh?

After hearing a bit about mana cores, Magnus immediately wanted to ask about aura; however, Gerald spoke up first.

"It looks like we'll have to wrap this up here for now; we arrived sooner than I thought."

"Huh?" Glancing outside, Magnus's eyes went wide. The Major General's Villa was nothing to scoff at, but it paled in comparison to the structure they were getting close to.

It towered so high that it seemed to scrape against the sky, with sprawling grounds and towering walls claiming over a hundred thousand square meters. Various smaller buildings were dotted around, some linked to the main structure, others standing alone. Even for a place as big as Arlfcliff City, it was a colossal amount of space to allocate to one place.

"This is Takerth Academy?" Magnus asked in disbelief.