Chapter 4: Assimilation

It's time to finally pursue the most prominent feature of this world: Magic.

I prepared all the necessary things, and slowly made my way towards the front yard to start my lessons with Lady Shirona. Though I said prepare, I didn't actually prepare anything other than myself.

But fret not! Now that I feel the flow of my mana, this should be a piece of cake. To be honest, I hope that I won't spout nonsense such as 'This is way too hard! I'll just practice a sword.' later on...which I highly doubt.

This is way too hard! I'll just practice a sword.

Wait, did I say something earlier? Nah, probably not. Anyway, I don't understand these stuff about constructing runes and such.

"I'm quite fascinated by your mana capacity, Sael."

I looked up to Lady Shirona with glittering eyes. I was struggling to construct even one symbol of the rune, so having hearing her compliment me makes me feel somehow at ease.

"But that's about it."

Nevermind, I take back what I said. What a mean person. However, I do have the right card to play in situations like these.

"Is...Sael bad?"

I gazed at her with teary eyes, accompanied by my childish voice, further complementing the image of a little girl on the verge of breaking down.

"N-No...which is why I'm teaching you."

I noticed her gaze going downward, looking anxious.

Alright, that was kind of mean on my part. Considering I'm the spitting image of her child. But really, I guess this body does have it's advantages.

"Take a break for now, exhausting yourself won't help."

I nodded, and carried myself away. I sat below the canopy of a large tree just outside of the house, and thought about my experience with magic so far.

Apparently, magic is insanely hard to practice. It takes a total of 4 steps to successfully conjure a spell...and that's considering you can do it properly.

Seriously, this wasn't what I was expecting. I thought I just had to memorize some chants, and random stuff will come out of the palm of my hand. Sadly, reality is often dis- I mean, that didn't seem to be the case.

But before I explain the different steps on Conjuring, I will be explaining the different types of magic one can use first. There are mainly 3 types: Conjuring, Enhancement, and Life magic. There's actually one more, but it's not worth remembering about.

Conjuring: Releasing the innate mana one has, and convert them to a physical form outside the body.

Enhancement: Instead of releasing the mana inside, users of enhancement channel the flow of their mana throughout their whole body, enhancing their natural physical capabilities. Magical Swordsmen most commonly use this.

Life magic: A special type of magic that manipulates life.

I don't have much description regarding life magic, as Lady Shirona insisted that it's a bit too early for me. I wonder why though?

The magic I'm focusing on would be "Conjuring". Conjuring magic has different spells of every element, however I know too little about it.

With that out of the way, the 4 steps on Conjuring are as follows: Rune constructing, Perceiving, Forming, Releasing.

Rune constructing refers to the initial structure of a spell. In other words, failing to construct a rune properly will lead to the utter failure of a spell.

It's process however, is straight up hell.

One must memorize the different characters, and place them with one another chronologically according to the spell you will be releasing. So far, I was able to memorize the basic spells of fire and water. Ember and Soak.

But, I was only able to construct the runes in my mind, not conjure it. In fact, I was quite far from conjuring the most basic of spells.

Shortly after I successfully imagined the structure of Ember, my mana was suddenly drained, compressing into one part of my body. It was hard to control, causing me to almost faint. However, Lady Shirona explained what happened: I failed to properly perceive my mana.

Though I failed to reach the stage of Forming and Releasing, she still explained it. As well as how I could reach it.

Forming is exactly what it means. A spell I successfully constructed and perceived, would take physical form outside of my body. But, it is said that it's hard to control, causing the spell to often disintegrate into nothingness.

Releasing is also a straightforward mechanic. I would simply have to maneuver the spell that took form towards my enemy. Can you guess how it's the same as everything else? It's difficult too!

So, I've hit a wall. It's been only a day since I started training, but I can feel this odd feeling circulating deep inside me. It was most likely excitement. Honestly, I'm not sure where this feeling came from as I've never felt it before.

Anyway, I have some difficulties that I must surpass. If I can't do something as simple as Ember or Soak, then I wouldn't be able to uncover the truth.

So, it's time for some intense self-training.

A week has passed since then, allowing me to be able to more or less make my magic take form. Still, releasing it is a bit too hard. Whenever I tried, I would accidentally hit Lady Shirona out of pure sp- coincidence.

Oh boy, I endured so much these past 7 days. I've been non-stop training. Every time I finished training with Lady Shirona, I practice on my own, which takes a toll on my body. Yet, I still can't seem to fire off my magic.

In any case, I've made a lot of progress...with the 2 spells at least. Look, it's already hard to construct two rune structures, and you expect me to blast this world with 47 deadly spells? Anyway, I think my progress isn't lacking in the least.

After all, I noticed that after I mastered the initial steps of making Ember, the process was basically the same when using Soak. Other than the different rune structures, perceiving and forming the spell felt eeriely similar to Ember.

When I asked about it to Lady Shirona, all she said was 'Natural talent...I see.' Though it wasn't the answer I was looking for, I still felt a bit happy. Of course, I didn't let it get to my head and still worked my butt off.

Now, I've been thinking of ways to properly manipulate the formed magic I conjure. I couldn't think of any machines like the 'Wake up with Ice machine' so I just went for the primitive option of practicing it over and over again.

Still, no matter how hard I tried, it would still result in failures. Then, I thought back on Salaphiel's memories, and couldn't help but wonder if she was able to conjure magic properly, and how.

Oh, I forgot. I apparently cannot enter the timeless state I was in from before voluntarily. There was some kind of barrier, that I couldn't seem to pass by. In conclusion, I can't rely on that state to progress with my magic studies.

Anyway, what should I do? If only there was something like an encyclopedia here...wait. Are there any? No, that'd be absurd, at best I would find some books.

Yes, that's it! Books.

One minor, extremely minor problem though. I can't read much nor write, I was too busy with magic that I ended up neglecting my studies on language. Oh, I can converse almost perfectly now, so that's one burden off my shoulders.

I learned more and more words while conversing with Lady Shirona, resulting in my proficiency. So yeah, I've almost mastered talking using the human tongue.

Cue the music, it's time for another training session.

Another 3 days have passed, and I finally could use this world's writing system to the level of a high-school student (If there were any here). Not much progress in magic whatsoever, other than the memorization of the different rune characters of other spells. Which I have yet to perfect.

Anyway, it's time to read some books regarding magic. What if Lady Shirona doesn't have books? I hope she has some. I, for some reason, didn't ask her. It's completely out of my nature to be so careless. But, I'll forget about it for now.

I sat up from my bed, and swiftly made my way to Lady Shirona, who was once again elegantly sitting down. Did she practice etiquette or something? Her every movement was so refined, that you wouldn't expect it from an old lady like her.

As my thoughts wandered, she took out something under her robe. It revealed a book of some kind, which in the same time looked completely new. It had a jet-black base, along with a gold outline.

I looked at her in confusion, as if to ask her how she knew...

"I saw you studying the language alone, so I thought I'd gift you this book."

"I shall treasure these, thank you."

Wait, I think I said something wrong, probably a confusion between the demonstratives. Anyway, I don't think it mattered.

I gladly accepted the book, and thanked her as sincere as I could. She simply gazed back and returned a warm smile.

"What are you waiting for? Go read in your room."

I internally smiled as she said that, I felt like I had a mother. Anyway, I made my way back to 'my' room, somehow excited about the book.

I arrived, and instantly went over to the table, which had a lamp supposedly ready. I couldn't help but genuinely smile, and finally placed the moderately thick-paged book on the table.

It's title simply read "Sael", which was imprinted in a crimson, cursive font. Hmm, is the name I'm going by, perhaps a popular one? I'm not sure, but I'll open the book anyway.

When I turned the pages, from the table of contents, up until the glossary, it was all written imperfectly. In other words, it was handwritten. This informative, easily readable, 400+ paged book was handwritten...by none other than Lady Shirona.

But, why? Why would she help me to such lengths? I don't think sh- Ah, I just realized. Of course she would, she thinks of me as the substitute of her late daughter.

What I was experiencing was nothing more than my delusions. She didn't love me, she just loved her daughter too much. To the point that I was forced to take advantage of that kindness.

Perhaps out of the realization of the probable truth, a single tear greeted me...but I wiped it off.

To take my mind off things, I started reading the book. And went to the Conjuring section, 4th lesson, Releasing.

I skimmed through the whole lesson, and found myself in a lost state. Almost all the things written are the explanations Lady Shirona told me, nothing else. I panicked and read through all the lessons on Conjuring, only to be met with the exact same explanations from our magic sessions.

It seems this book is only a means of recalling the lessons, nothing more. But there's one small text written in the bottom-right corner of each page. 'Real combat may prove useful to learn this.'

But then again, I don't think I can properly fight with my current capabilities, nor will I find a fair opponent in this place. Since, there are no other life forms here other than us.

I confirmed this when I did errands such as retrieving herbs outside the house.

There's no other tips stated in the book about Conjuring that will help me break the wall I'm currently blocked with. Learning more about Conjuring seems to be harder than I thought...

"Sael, collect some herbs outside, specifically thyme."

Though she wasn't shouting, I clearly heard Lady Shirona's voice. Magic perhaps? In any case, it's time to run for an errand. I can't just live here for free after all.

I prepared a basket, as well as some gloves, and made my way outside to the mountains.

As I confirmed, there really aren't any life forms here other than us. If that's the case, then how did such an extravagant forest even form here?

Insects aren't found anywhere either. All in all, this place feels more of a simulation rather than reality.

Anyway, I spotted the herbs easier than I thought. It was by the grasslands.

Wait, I might just be picking up normal grass here. After all, doesn't thyme look like weed? The good kind.

As my thoughts were going rampant, I heard bushes constantly rustling from behind.

Footsteps echoed in the forest, as if I was about to be prey.

I immediately took notice of this and backed off as far as I can, but what the bushes revealed was nothing short of...

"Absurd."