The 'Secret' of Magic

"You're telling me the 'secret' to increasing a persona's aggregate mana and becoming a powerful Mage is to simply 'keep casting' until they run out?"

A day after her initial encounter with Paul, Roxy had met up with him early the following day to continue their discussion from the previous night. He had promised to disclose to her the 'secrets' of Magic, so she had stayed up the entire night awaiting their chat.

Before answering Roxy's question, Paul emptied the contents of his coffee cup, a contented sigh escaping his lips before he adopted a relaxed smile and said, "It's a little more convoluted than that. The important thing is to start training at an early age, preferably during your developmental years. If you need proof, look at your own situation. I'm sure you can cast many more spells now than when you first started, right?"

"..."

Though she couldn't refute Paul's words, Roxy refused to believe that the secret to becoming a powerful Mage was simply casting more Magic. If that were the case, people would have figured it out a very, very long time ago. Right...?

Understanding Roxy's confusion, Paul said, "Don't misunderstand. Talent and aptitude are tremendously important. However, even they take a back seat to things like general knowledge, intent, and imagination. So long as you understand the physical process of what it is you're trying to do, you can even forgo things like chanting entirely."

Demonstrating his point, Paul held up his right hand to chantlessly cast a Beginner Rank Healing Spell. He wasn't particularly gifted at Magic, but it had become easier ever since he started taking it easy during his training. He imagined his proficiency with Touki was slowly decreasing, but he was confident he could surpass his previous level with relative ease so long as he made an effort.

Seeing Paul use chantless Healing Magic, surprise colored Roxy's face as she asked, "You can cast Magic chantlessly? Weren't you supposed to be a Swordsman?"

Nodding his head in affirmation, Paul allowed his spell to dissipate as he answered, "Yeah. To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty terrible at controlling my magic power. Despite that, I can still cast a handful of spells without the need to chant. If that isn't convincing enough, you just need to look at people like Lisa and Xiangling. They're able to cast Intermediate and even a few Advanced-Ranked spells without chanting."

"..."

Though her instinct was to refute what Paul was saying, Roxy doubted he would attempt to fool her with such a brazen statement. After all, it wasn't exactly difficult to confirm if he was telling the truth. She just needed to ask Xiangling or Lisa to perform Intermediate or Advanced Magic without chanting.

"Okay, let's presume you're telling the truth. What's the most effective way to go about increasing my Mana? I may look like this, but I'll have you know I'm not a child."

Seeing Roxy adopting a somewhat grumpy, ostensibly threatening look, Paul couldn't help smiling as he said, "I'm well aware of that. Still, based on what I've been able to gather, your race's developmental phase should be between the ages of twenty and forty. We somewhat confirmed this with the twins I told you about previously, Rowena and Rianon. It wasn't easy getting them to a point where they could cast even Beginner-Ranked spells, but they managed to advance to the Intermediate Rank after half a year."

Furrowing her brows, Roxy asked, "Half a year? That seems more than a little exaggerated. Where are they now?"

Shaking his head, Paul countered, "It really isn't. All it takes to advance to the Intermediate Rank is time, effort, and access to resources. Since their sole responsibility was helping oversee the Silkie farm, the twins had a lot of free time to practice Magic. They were also provided delicious food and ample time to rest. It would be weirder if they didn't make progress."

"..."

Lowering her head, a pout formed on Roxy's face as she considered Paul's words. She didn't like how casual he was about it, but his words did make a lot of sense if viewed objectively. There was still a chance he was lying to her, but she had witnessed several Beast Race children making use of simple spells.

While Beast Race Mages were not unheard of, they were rare enough that you could live your entire life without encountering a single one. It could be assumed they would be a little more common in a place like the Magic Triumvirate, but they would have eventually spread their influence to the rest of the world.

"It just can't be that simple..."

Shrugging his shoulders, Paul replied, "You'll find out soon enough. I told you before, but you're free to eat to your heart's content now that you're a part of our group. You should cast something like Water Ball over a bucket and exhaust as much of your Mana as you're comfortable with expending. If you keep a record of how many spells you cast, you should notice the number increasing on a near-daily basis. Eventually, you'll get so bored of repeating the chant that you're able to forgo it entirely."

"..."

Imagining herself standing over a bucket and casting the same Beginner Ranked spell dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times a day, Roxy was starting to understand why most Mages didn't pursue such a route. It must be incredibly dull to repeat the same thing over and over again like a muscle-brained Swordsmen...

Noticing the disappointment in Roxy's countenance, Paul asked, "What's wrong?" in a curious tone.

Shaking her head, Roxy replied, "I just thought there would be more to mastering Magic than simple repetition..."

"Ah...that's just a gatekeeping tactic of the magical community. If there were a bunch of powerful Mages roaming about, it would be even harder to acquire already limited magical ingredients and resources. By making people believe that Magic is rare and limited to a privileged few, they're able to maintain a monopoly over it."

"Hmmm..."

Though she felt like Paul's words were a gross oversimplification of the truth, Roxy didn't call him out on it. Instead, she asked, "Is there anything else I should be doing? As vital as mana capacity is, there must be other requirements to becoming a powerful Mage."

Shaking his head, Paul argued, "With sufficient magical power and control, something as simple as a Stone Cannon can pierce through rampart walls and smash Saint-Ranked Barrier Magic. If you think that sounds ludicrous, you simply lack imagination."

In an effort to prove his point, Paul activated his Lesser Regeneration, a pale green aura exuding from his body as he explained, "This is a version of Healing Magic that can last indefinitely so long as the person casting it has a sufficient supply of Mana. In this state, anything short of destroyed organs or severed limbs can be healed automatically."

Befuddled by Paul's words, a look of disbelief marred Roxy's expression as she asked, "Where did you learn such a spell? I've visited the capital city of the Holy Country of Millis, and I've never seen or heard of such a convenient spell."

Deactivating the spell, a fairly smug expression developed across Paul's face as he replied, "I didn't learn it, per se; I helped to create it. So long as you understand the process of what you're trying to do, creating spells is surprisingly simple. I just prefer swordsmanship over Magic, so I never really got into it."

"..."

Instead of verbally responding to the ridiculousness of Paul's statement, Roxy took a moment to massage her forehead as she considered what he was saying. Even she could tell that Paul didn't really have an aptitude for Magic, yet, as if it didn't matter in the least, he was able to perform feats even Intermediate Ranked Mages would struggle with.

Taking advantage of Roxy's silence, Paul suggested, "For now, you should focus on confirming whether or not you can increase your Mana using the method my group has pioneered. Once you acknowledge that I'm not just pulling your leg, we can go over deconstructing real-world phenomena to create powerful spells and amplify existing Magics. If you prefer magical research, that's where things should become super interesting."

Hearing Paul speak with such confidence, Roxy couldn't help thinking he knew what he was talking about. Nearly everything she had been taught contradicted what he was saying, but his handsome face and seemingly genuine smile helped to clear most of her doubts.

Noticing Roxy staring at him with an unblinking expression, an awkward chuckle emanated from Paul's throat. He knew she was pushing thirty, but she sure as hell didn't look it.

Realizing she had been staring, a faint blush colored Roxy's cheeks as she averted her eyes and asked, "Is there anything else I should be doing? I would feel guilty if I was just leeching off of you and your group..."

Shaking his head, Paul answered, "Not right now. I was thinking of asking you to help out at the school we're working on, but that can wait until you have confirmed whether or not I'm telling the truth. Also, never consider yourself a leech. If anything, I'm being pretty selfish by asking you to join us and simply trusting what I have to say. Thanks for that, by the way."

Not expecting Paul to suddenly thank her, much less with a borderline smoldering look on his face, Roxy found herself at a momentary loss for words. Her face had become redder than a cherry tomato, but she was too dumbfounded to avert her eyes or attempt to conceal it...

...

..

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After an extended breakfast, Paul accepted Roxy's invitation to observe her first bout of mana increasing exercises. Ei came with them, but Roxy did her best not to ask why as she held her hands over a large bucket and chanted, "Let the great protection of water be on the place thou seekest. I call forth a refreshing, burbling stream here and now. Water Ball...!"

Removing the component of the spell that propelled the water forward, Roxy did her best not to blush as the water from her Water Ball sloshed pitifully into the bucket below. If other Mages were to see her 'failing' to execute such a simple spell, they would invariably laugh at her expense.

Fortunately for Roxy, Paul had a general understanding of when he should and shouldn't compliment women, saying, "Not bad. The rate of formation and general stability of your Water Ball is excellent. I'm guessing you have an affinity with Water Magic...?"

Though she was momentarily surprised to receive Paul's praise, a faint smile soon developed across Roxy's face as she answered, "Indeed. I'm able to use Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Healing, Detoxification, and Barrier Magic, but Water is my element of choice."

Recalling something Paul had said the previous day, Roxy's smile quickly turned into a frown as she supplanted, "But you already knew that...didn't you?"

Instead of playing innocent, Paul nodded his head, answering, "Yeah, but only via word of mouth and some insider knowledge. Even then, you never truly know something until you see or experience it for yourself."

"Hmmm...true enough..."

Deciding to trust Paul, Roxy shifted her focus to the half-filled bucket and began chanting a second Water Ball spell. She didn't know what her limit was, but she was hoping to hit at least twenty before collapsing. It was a slow and repetitive process, but she did her best to remain focused so as not to embarrass herself in front of Paul and Ei.

When Roxy initially invited Paul, she was hoping to have him take care of her after she collapsed. The presence of Ei made that less likely, but she did her best not to let it bother her as a feeling of weakness and fatigue quickly spread through both her body and mind.

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