Item #1: Let's Learn Magic! (4)

Yesterday's incident made Sasha realize a fatal flaw in his plan.

Celeste might had taught him how to manipulate mana, but she'd never imparted any detail about conjuring actual magic!

Then again, that lass's head wasn't really normal in the first place...

He remembered when other mages would be amazed after seeing her self-made spells, only to be left dumbfounded when she started explaining the exact working behind them.

Celeste wasn't the type of person who would use mere normal spells. If mages usually prefer practical fireballs to throw at their foes, Celeste would summon flaming meteors from the sky. Nobody had any idea how that worked. Heck, even Sasha had no idea how that worked, and he was practically with her everyday.

If he asked her how to conjure fire, she might just reply with "Fire? just make it. What's the problem?"

...This is why having a teacher is essential for a mage.

It was the last day of the challenge with his father. If he failed to show that he could do magic, with that stubborn character as a father, he would definitely be forced to learn swordsmanship instead.

"...Don't wanna."

He'd already danced with swords for two lifetime. It would be too sad if he had to do it again for the third time...

For now, let's take a short walk around.

Mages who had graduated from their academy in the Mages Tower like to travel around the world. Sasha would always meet at least one or two mages during his journey across the continent. When he asked them, they said that they were looking for inspiration for their new spells.

Because a mage had to accurately imagine what they wanted to create, they had to know a lot of things. Knowledge was a mage's greatest weapon. Thus, Sasha had to open his horizon as well, and force himself to see things in a different light.

What seemed ordinary might hide something else underneath. He just had to observe carefully.

"Young master...? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Did I do something wrong? The head chef was breaking in cold sweat. Their little master had suddenly entered the kitchen, and then silently stared at them like a predator preparing to pounce its prey.

Uh... what was it? He had just had breakfast, he wouldn't get hungry again in such a short period of time, right?

"Ah...!"

A trembling kitchen staff stumbled over and poured a bucket of water over the stove, extinguishing the fire inside.

"Stupid!

The head chef admonished him. The fire was gone now! And to make such a mistake in front of their young master...

Fortunately, the boy didn't seem to mind. He just kept on staring without a change of expression.

"Sigh, be more careful next time."

The staffs rushed to change the wet firewood. Meanwhile, the head chef fetched a tinderbox. Just when he was about to relight the fire, he noticed that Sasha was leaning toward him, his gaze focused on the firesteel.

"Do you... need anything, young master?"

"Don't mind me, please continue."

"..."

He could not not mind, okay?

Anyway, they still need to prepare for lunch, so he just shook his head and returned to the task at hand.

He swung the firesteel, grazing over the flint with a loud clank. The first strike didn't produce enough spark, so he did it one more time. Small trickle of light fell to the charcloth underneath, creating a weak flame. A staff quickly brought it into the stove.

While tidying up the tinderbox, the head chef sneaked a glance at his young master.

The boy's mouth was opened wide in a big circle, while his eyes were sparkling brightly. He looked like a person going through an epiphany.

Honestly, that sight gave the head chef a fright.

"...Young master?"

Without answering the head chef's question, Sasha abruptly stood up, and then he bolted off the kitchen in the blink of an eye, leaving the entire staffs in utter confusion.

---

Sasha slowly began to notice the error in his way of thinking.

He had always regarded fire as a distinct object. However, it might not necessarily be true. Instead, it was closer to a phenomenon.

It could be thought as such: when he want to create a 'wind', what he had to think about is not the wind itself, but the action to create it, for example by blowing with his mouth. It was the same with fire.

The first thing to do when creating a fire is producing a spark.

Yesterday, he was too focused on the superficial process, thinking that he had to create flint and everything else. He needed to think deeper.

"I'll forego the materials. Instead, I'll create the sparks purely with magic."

He began to gather mana, and then stretched out his hands in front of him.

Do not focus on the flint or the firesteel. Do not think about firewoods. Instead, think about what was happening when producing a spark.

A clanking noise. The sound of hard objects clashing with each other.

He willed the mana to simulate that process. In the spot between his opened palms, a dull thud could be heard.

"!"

He did it!

However, the sound was completely different... Moreover, there wasn't any sparks.

"It feels like two stones colliding with each other. It should be... different..."

He tried it again. This time, he imagined the mana becoming as sharp as blades. When they collided, they produced a grinding noise, which was slightly piercing on the ear.

Still, there was no spark.

As he thought back to the scene where the head chef was striking the flint, he remembered that even the head chef had failed on the first strike. Two strikes were needed to start the spark. It was the same when he camped out in the past. Sometimes, they would spend an hour to ignite the flint, especially when the air was damp.

Damp air...

"Back then, we had to strike harder and harder until the blades almost chipped..."

He moved the mana again, increasing the strength of the strikes. As the sound grew stronger and stronger, a tiny white light appeared between his palms.

"Ah!"

A spark!

No, wait, it wasn't a spark... usually, sparks would linger for a bit before dying out, but this light disappeared as soon as they appeared.

A spark was merely the chipped part of a material that had been heated enough to retain the energy for a short duration. The common people, like Sasha, wouldn't understand this. In their mind, a spark was a spark, created after striking flint with steel. They didn't bother studying the process deeper.

However, at the moment, Sasha instinctively noticed that he had gotten closer to the truth.

Indeed, what he had produced was the actual heat itself, hot enough to create light! Instead of pursuing the spark idea, he decided to experiment further in this direction.

First, he noticed that pounding the mana at each other only created a momentary light. It didn't even last a second, a blink and it was all gone.

Pounding multiple times rapidly was an option, but he quickly grew nauseous. Manipulating mana was directly taxing to a human's brain. Forcing such rapid changes almost made him faint.

So he changed the way the mana interacted. Instead of two blades striking perpendicularly at each other, the blades instead touched their edges, and then swiftly moved in opposing direction.

Rather than 'striking', it was more like 'grinding'.

The light could be maintained for a longer time in this way!

"Let's test it."

He gathered dry leaves, surrounding them in a stone circle just in case, and then touched the leaves with his palms. He imagined the blades grinding at each other again, focusing the resulting light on the leaves.

Once, twice, thrice...

As he was about to give up, suddenly a burning smell entered his nostrils.

"Whoa!"

Fire!

A leaf had caught fire!

Soon, a small bonfire was burning in front of his eyes.

"It-it really works!"

Haha... hahaha!

Sasha leaped around like a madman, unable to contain his joy. He would've hugged the bonfire if he hadn't managed to retain his sanity at the last second.

He did it, alright? It might not be as flashy as those fireballs and explosions made by the mages in his previous lives, but he had indeed started a fire with nothing but mana!

This, this is magic!

His burst of joy faded at the same time when the fire consumed the dry leaves whole.

It was a huge first step for him, but if that was all that he could do, then he wasn't a mage. He was just a glorified tinderbox...

As he stared at the extinguished bonfire, he was struck with another revelation.

"Hmm... wait, why did the fire die out again?"

Because all the dry leaves had been burned. Even little kids understood that. Without things to burn, a fire would disappear rather quickly.

Wasn't that the same thing as his white light? It disappeared very quickly. If the same logic applied, then that light was consuming a something in the air, the same way that fire consumed the leaves. And, that something was consumed super fast.

If a fire was about to go out, people would add more tinder into it. It should be the same. He just have to add more of that something in order for the light to remain longer.

"Can I move air around?"

So he tried. It was easier than creating a spark, actually. He rather quickly created a light breeze, although he had to do it slowly lest he would fall from over exhaustion.

But that was enough. He just need to move air, not create a storm.

First, 'grind' the mana. After the white light was created, move surrounding air toward it. The idea was simple, but actually doing it was quite troublesome, because Sasha had to perform two distinctly different instructions. Not to mention, something was wrong with the air. Sometimes, rather than making the light stronger, it dimmed the light instead.

"Maybe it has something to do with damp air?"

If something was damp, then wrung water out of it. Same logic. He tried to imagine 'water' separating from the air, thus producing dry air.

Now he had to process three instructions in quick succession... to be honest, it was maddening.

Still, he persevered on, even though his head felt as if it was about to explode.

Grind, wrung water out, then move air. The light dimmed after a while, so grind again, wrung water out, move air. Rinse and repeat multiple times.

In the middle of the little forest, a young boy sat cross-legged on the ground, entirely absorbed in this craft.

The third day of his young master skipping lunch... at this point, Rufus had already gotten used to it. As usual, he went out to fetch Sasha at dusk.

He had little hope for Sasha to win this challenge against his father. In the Baron and the head butler's mind, it was just a little kid's fascination toward the unknown. Anyway, his young master was indeed talented, judging from his duel with young master Lenard a few days ago. Learning swordsmanship under his father would increase his prowess even further.

He had resolved himself not to panic if he saw more bonfires. After careful inspection, the bonfires that his young master had created were quite adequate. At least, there wouldn't be any concern of the flame spilling out.

He still got panicked though. This time, it was because his young master was lying motionless on the ground.

"Young master!?"

He rushed toward the boy, quickly pulling him into his arms. He pressed the tip of his finger on the boy's wrist, and then on his neck.

Heartbeat... was still normal.

He scrutinized the rhythm of the boy's breathing. Normal.

"..."

Eh... he thought something had happened to the young master. Turned out that he was just sleeping!

"Ngh... Rufus...?"

"...It's me."

Sasha's eyes drooped lazily. Feeling rather comfortable, he leaned at the head butler's chest, and then fell asleep once again.

"..."

What about dinner, then...?

A thousand calculation flashed in his mind. In the end, he decided to let sleeping dogs lie.

"Forget it. I'll just warm something up if he wakes up later in the night."

Thus, Sasha had missed dinner as well.