Chapter 9: Part 3

- Silas -

"This is….amazing." I whispered as I looked at the scene in front of me.

And indeed it was.

The vast castle in front of me was something right out of fantasy movies and the lines of guards kneeling as we passed by them was awe inspiring.

I mean I had heard that Zeref was an Emperor but the guy was so humble and all, it never felt anything like that.

Now, watching all this, it was striking me suddenly that this harmless looking guy….was really an Emperor.

"This is the capital city of the Alvarez Empire, Vistarion and this is the Vistarion Castle, the place where Emperor Spriggan lives." August, the old man with Zeref explained as we walked through the streets.

Beside me, Sakura and Lavinia were looking at the palace curiously.

Sakura was more composed but I did see the surprise in Lavinia's eyes.

"This really is a different world." She whispered but I was pretty sure that everyone around us had heard.

We were led inside the castle and Zeref commanded. "August, show them their rooms and when they are rested, take them to the library and lend them any help they need with their magic."

"Yes, your majesty."

August led us to our rooms.

I looked in awe as even a single room was the size of my whole Restaurant here.

"If you all require anything, command the servants outside the door. They will take care of all your needs. When you feel like it, ask any of them to send me a message and I will take you to the library and we can check what kind of magic you all are compatible with. We can proceed from there." August respectfully bowed and left us to our rooms.

All our rooms were near each other.

Sakura's room was on my left and Lavinia's room was in front of mine and there were five servants standing beside the doors.

Damn, talk about over the top.

We had already eaten when leaving the Restaurant so there was no need for food that said, all of us were tired from the day's work so we went off to take some rest.

_________________________________x____________________________________

"Wow." The word came out of my mouth as soon as I saw the library.

Even just by eyesight, the library was no smaller than a soccer field with shelves four times taller than me, all filled with books.

I couldn't even imagine the number of books in this place.

"Are all these magic books?" I asked, looking at the place in awe.

"Most. There are also books on other subjects, history, geography, mythology and so on. We have a copy of almost every book available on the continent as well as a large part of the ones from the other continents. Although, magic books consist of more than 70 percent of the total collection."

"Then how would we even find what kind of magic would suit us?" I asked, looking at the old man.

He smiled and led us to a large table with many chairs around it. There were already two girls sitting there.

One was a little green haired girl and the other was a blonde one.

Both of them were looking at us with curiosity in their eyes.

"These are my students, Brandish μ and Dimaria Yesta." He introduced before motioning for us to take a seat and when we did, he explained further. "First we need to learn about the basics of magic and how it works in our world. We can proceed from there."

I nodded and he continued.

"Magic is the physical embodiment of the spirit. When the physical spirit of an organism connects with the spiritual flow of nature, the spirit forms Magic as a product of the connection. Though Magic goes beyond reason, it is still born of reason and it takes an enormous amount of concentration and mental ability to use it. One's Magical Powers are also tied to one's life force."

I nodded as I took in his words. 

"One's strength of feelings plays an important part in one's ability to properly use Magic. The key to Magic begins with a heart that has faith, similar to religion, healing and fortune telling, only those with faith can perceive it. Having faith in the existence of Magic, their own power and faith that they live alongside nature, are the ones who can use Magic."

"In this world, Magic is classified into two types, Caster Magic and Holder Magic. Caster Magic is primarily Magic that is expelled from the body while Holder Magic is Magic that requires a Mage to use an external source such as a Magic Items to do Magic. It usually requires the use of a Mage's Magic Power, though there are some exceptions such as Items that are powered by Lacrima."

I saw that Sakura was taking notes while he said everything.

"Within these two divisions, there are several subdivisions. Ancient Magic, Lost Magic, Magical Items, etc. Ancient Magic is the magic used in the Ancient Times and Lost Magic are Ancient Magics which were erased or were lost in history due to the danger they possessed to their wielders and the high difficulty to learn them. Every mage has an affinity to certain types of magic. We will check your affinity with certain elements and see which ones you are suited to learn."

"Can we learn any magic without having an affinity with them?" I asked.

"Yes. However they will progress much slower than the ones you have affinity with. Although there are many types of magic without any kind of affinity, they are quite hard to learn. We are going to start with something easier to let you get a hang of the magic." He answered as he brought the device in front of us. 

"This is a device that Miss Irene has Enchanted with her Magic. It has several spells of different elements grafted into it. When the user puts their magic inside, it activates the spells to a different degree depending on the compatibility of the user with the specific element. With this we can know which element you have an affinity with."

He started the device and turned it towards us. "Please put your hand on the crystal ball and inject your magic slowly."

Before I could take the initiative first, Sakura stood up.

I looked at her and she nodded towards me before putting her hand on the crystal.

Three bars increased to the top. One black, one silver and the last white and there was another bar with Blue Colour which increased quite a bit. Other bars had much slower reactions.

August saw this too. "Hmm, Curses, Space and Non-Elemental and a High Water Affinity too. That's quite good. In fact, it's extremely rare to see someone with elemental affinities this high. Alright, next."

I went up next. With a deep breath, I injected some of my magic in it.

The device lit up again.

Silver, Blue, Icy Blue, Black and White.

"Oh my, Space, Water, Ice, Curses and Non-Elemental and all are top class although Ice and Water seem to be the best even among these. That's honestly the best result I have seen in all my time. Alright, Miss Lavinia, if you would."

The last girl nodded and placed her hand on the crystal.

Icy Blue, Red and White, although the white one was lower than the rest.

"Ice, Fire and Non-Elemental. This is interesting. Having an affinity with opposite elements is very rare, almost unseen. It is especially so when the affinities are so high." He grabbed his chin as he looked at the device. "Very well, let's start with simple things then." He waved his hand and several books flew from the shelves and landed in front of us.

Over the next hour, August explained several magics to us which we could use.

"So I can learn all the types of magic I have an affinity for?" I asked.

"That would be true. In fact with your affinities, you will probably be able to master several of them although I would advise against that."

"Why?"

"It's better to be a master of one type of magic and novice of a thousand." He replied.

"Ah, the Bruce Lee thing, right?"

"Excuse me?" The man looked confused so I explained.

"There was a great martial artist called Bruce Lee. He once said 'I fear not the man who has practised 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practised one kick 10,000 times.'"

"That's an interesting phrase and a very true one at that but that's not the only reason. There are other factors as well. You see untrained magic doesn't generally have a flavour. As one trains one specific type of magic, their magic gains the flavour and properties of that specific magic and their aura undergoes subtle changes. Over time, these changes become more prominent and affect their magic, further increasing their power."

Everyone listened as the man explained everything patiently.

"That's why it's rare for people to see someone using Fire and Ice magics and be great in both of them. It's because their magic takes on the properties of one element and decreases the power of the other magic. To avoid this, people generally practise magics which have closer affinities with each other like Water and Ice or Fire and Lightning. On the other hand, practising Non Elemental Magic completely bypasses this problem"

We looked at Lavinia and August understood what we were saying. "You don't have to worry. Her case is a bit different. She will not face the same problems."

I selected the simple Ice Magic. According to August this was the best route for me was this magic as my magic already had an icy feel to it. This magic had other variants which could be raised to a very high level.

At the highest levels, someone could freeze even abstract things like emotions, free will and even other magic itself.

I won't lie, that sounded so fucking cool.

Sakura on the other hand wanted to learn Space Magic and Lavinia wanted to work with her Fire Magic.

And thus started our stay in the Alvarez Empire Castle.