Magic Basics

Arise grimaced and his eyes darkened. Recalling what had happened before he died. "I died."

Hearing Arise, Mel was genuinely surprised. "Really? That's farther than what I expected." She thought that Arise might have traversed through a portal or simply got transported into Tellus. Then she added, "Then, that body of yours... wasn't you?"

"Yes, I have the faintest idea of who this young man is. But when I was transported into this world, he was already dead." Arise explained, his voice was more casual than it normally would. Like a hum of bees in the afternoon.

"Though, one detail you would find intriguing is the existence of the god." Arise followed.

Mel stopped halfway through sipping tea. She shifted her gaze to Arise with her brows up. Mel placed the teacup down and said: "Go on.'' she flailed her finger.

"A robbed god adorned with stripes of gold and the imagery of the sun and moon, shapeshifting itself to represent what we believed the most. They claimed that they're the sole god," Arise explained, Mel observed his face, it was neutral. Most of the time, Arise rarely exhibited raw emotions. Though, it seems like he has an assortment of things in his mindscape, and he does not outwardly express it. "And he offered us to move into this world with seemingly no strings attached. But it is too suspicious for me."

"Us?" she tilted her head to the side

"Yes, me and my friends came to this world at the same time. Though, it appears we're separated."

Then she sprang from her seat. Mel retreated to her room in a hurried manner as she fetched a large dusty leather book. It thuds as it is placed on the table. A spray of dust danced in the air which irritated Arise's nose.

Achoo!

"Sorry," Arise apologized.

"It is alright, I'm the one who should be sorry for introducing this dusty book."

"What is it?" Arise asked, eyeing the large book; the label's characters rearranged themselves to form the words [Liber Absess Dei]

"A book I stole from the church," said Mel, her tone was casual despite the gravity of what she did.

His face was like the face of an amused child, he calmly said. "Holy, that's rad."

Mel's eyebrow furrowed. "I don't understand what 'rad' meant but from the tone of it, you might be impressed by my haul," her face laced with a toothy grin as proclaiming proudly.

She gently flipped each page before she got to the middle of the book. She looked at Arise and said. "But back to our topic, the description of that god closely resembles Prodimia. This is him right?" Mel pointed to the stained parchment, an illustration of a robbed god. However, Arise noticed that he looked quite different back from Eden. It is undeniable that this god was the one he had encountered before.

A figure clad in a hooded robe, golden ornaments resembling the moon and the sun scattered all around his body. But, unlike what Arise saw in Eden, he does not look like Einstein and Curie like before. Rather, he remained faceless under the robe.

Arise nodded and confirmed, "You're correct, that's him. I learned about this name during my trip to the cathedral. Everything about him is fishy."

"From what I know, Prodimia is the god of the southern skies. He is the main god worshiped in this region, but I do not know details about him, mostly because only clergymen have access to the religious texts." Mel stated.

"So both of us are clueless of his being."

"Right, we're at a disadvantage."

"Totally."

Feeling much better from the refreshments Arise got up, he thought it was a good time. He brought his items from the bag. Noticing the assortment of items Arise had brought. Mel called Arise and asked. "Hey Arise, what are you planning with those objects you brought?"

Still sifting through bags of long skinny brown fragrant beans on the rough rucksack, he didn't pay attention to what Mel said.

Then she repeated louder, "What are you planning with it?"

"Huh?" Arise's purple eyes fell on Mel as he heard her. "Ah, I am planning to create a popular dessert from my world to sell and get my merchant's license."

Her face lit up with excitement like an explosion. She suddenly sprang from her seat and leaned on Arise. "Really? oooh, I wonder what it is?"

"It's called ice cream."

"I see, what is it?"

"It's a frozen dessert typically made of milk. Very popular in my world."

"So, that's why you wanted a cryologist?"

"Precisely."

Mel shook from excitement, words could not describe how she felt hearing a novel that Arise would introduce. Anything from the other worlds intrigues her more than enough. She observed Arise quietly, sipping tea with her servant Faust.

The young man vanished into the kitchen. Mel could her pans clattering as Arise tried to find a suitable metal bowl or anything resembling it to use for the dessert. Then he went out of the kitchen and asked for alcohol. However, he specifically asked for a clear alcohol he could use. To Mel, the only alcohol she could think of that has these properties is the potato wine made by peasants outside the wall of Rosea City.

Furthermore, Arise had asked for a complicated contraption he had sketched. Mel observed the messy lines of charcoal on the faded parchment, the contraptions Arise devised were too intricate.

Her mouth parted as she observed the print further with wide eyes. 'This is not humanly possible, what is this?'

It was a basic glass dome, which is connected to a tall narrow lid which has a protrusion on its side that connects to a flask. She noticed various smudges of black charcoal on the parchment. It was obvious that the initial design Arise had was too complicated for their world. But even this simplified design was too much for their glass smiths. She surmised that it would take several skilled glass smiths to finish this device, and the cost would be abysmal as well.

Feeling confused, Mel approached Arise and asked. "This device, I fear, is complicated even with the most skilled glasssmith in Rosea. But I wonder what it is for?"

"It's a distillation apparatus, and don't worry about it. I'll guide them through the making of it." Arise explained.

She scratched her dark purple hair as her mouth parted. Mel felt even more confused about the words he used.

"Disti- what? I can't really understand what that meant."

"Distillation," Arise chuckled as he explained patiently. "Distillation is a process that purifies liquid substances through heating and condensation. Basically, when a liquid turns into steam, it floats. The steam will latch onto the side of the narrow opening and flow to the condenser."

She nodded as she listened intently. Arise's explanation was easy to understand, but it was because Mel had an academic profession in alchemy.

"The liquid will condense or it will group in the long glass rod on the protrusion and drip again to the other flash."

"But won't all the liquid just turn into steam and go to the other flash. What's the point of using this technique?"

Tsk tsk.

Arise waved his index finger and elaborated, "It all depends on temperature, how hot or cold it is. Each liquid and chemical has a different boiling point. The boiling point is when something is at the point of transitioning into a different state of matter when applied to a certain temperature and pressure. And all liquids have different boiling points."

"Then, what are you planning on using it for?"

"That would be the alcohol, I would purify it further to increase its alcohol content."

"I-I see, but the process you describe was called Albedo. Though, we do not use it on liquids but rather on solid metals and plants."

"So that's what you call it."

Though explaining what it was, he felt like he had made everything complicated for Mel; Arise was amazed at how quick Mel understood his scientific rambling. Maybe that's why alchemy is the predecessor to modern chemistry.

After a few days, Mel had commissioned various glass smiths, most of the glass smith however declined her request, saying it was too difficult to work for and any price was not worth it to work for something impossible. But only two glass smiths accepted the request, they seemed to be intrigued by the intricacies of the print. Furthermore, the fire in their eyes lit like the very furnace they used to shape amorphous glass into something usable.

"This is hard glassware." Even the slightest mistake will cause failure. But this will test my skills in the long run. Right, Erigor?" said the dwarven man. Another glass smith, Erigor, also agreed.

"Indeed, I had never seen such intricate glassware before. Something worthy of my skill had emerged. Ahahaha" Erigor said as both of them cackled afterward.

"And, don't worry about the payment, we can get them after we complete this."

Mel brought out a paper slip and ran her crimson blood on the paper. She casted "[Contract binding]"

The two glass smiths also smudge their blood onto the paper and set their conditions. "If we don't finish this within two months, this contract is void. If we finished it and the commissioner had refused to pay the sum of 6500 sol, she would suffer an excruciating burn under her skin."

The paper combusted into an orange fiery flame and got reduced into ashes.

The two glass smiths withdraw from Mel's house as she also did inside.

During the busy hours of Arise tinkering and procuring anything missing from his project. Stanzi watched them as he sat in the corner. His cryological powers were not needed as of now, so he's currently trying to use his powers.

Beads of sweat formed from his forehead as his vision narrowed. He tried to concentrate aetheric energy through his hands; it only cooled down the vicinity of his hand by a few degrees. Only cold as the crisp midnight wind. Not enough to freeze anything.

It had been years since he used his cryology, since his family's death. He never tapped into it again, but this time, he was needed. So he tried to use it again.

Secretly, Mel had observed Stanzi. She saw a young man struggling to use magic. She approached and loomed over him. "Follow me, it's time you and Arise should learn basic element control."

He followed her as he lowered his head, Arise also came to follow them. He had huge dark bags under his eyes. Stanzi wondered what he did.

Mel led the young men to a room they had never seen. It was a wide hall devoid of anything, Mel called it the hall room. She occasionally practiced magic here, which sometimes were volatile. Then she instructed them to line up together. Arise complied and stood beside Stanzi, He squinted his eyes and blotted out his face with his mouth, and yawned. Then he asked in a low humming tone, "What are we doing at this time of the day..."

The young woman frowned, she picked up a flat wooden stick and suddenly struck Arise. "Ow," Arise whined. "What was that for?" he brushed his hand on his head. Though he still felt groggy after being struck by Mel; he straightened his posture when he saw her frown.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Too early for me..." He yawned again.

She beckoned for another blow, what Arise saw was not Mel, but a wild beast. "It's 2 in the afternoon, do you want me to hit you again.

'Ah, fine, you're scary." Arise resigned.

"There we go," She smiled. How scary, she could change her mood in seconds.

"Pay attention."

She held her hands in front and took a deep breath. She concentrated most of the aetheric energy from her body to her hands, radiant ethereal purple energy emanated from her. It flickered and danced in the air like embers around a campfire. Then, Arise observed a band of golden letters and symbols forming with some of the energy. Those bands encircled other energies together and clumped them in one space. The clumped energy took the shape of a circle blob of purple light, but slowly- liquid water seeped from it, it was suspended in the air and other droplets of water formed within the encircled energy.

Slowly, these droplets conjoined into an amorphous mass of water. "Fascinating, so that's basic elemental magic?" Arise said as he observed closely on the magic.

"Indeed, what you can do right now is to direct aetheric energy into parts of your body, but not efficiently turn it into elemental magic. I am here to guide you."

Then, Mel tensed her fingers up. The water in response formed protruding spikes on its surface. Then she hurled the water ball as it flew at blinding speeds.

Crash!

Dust flew into the air as it filled half of the huge hall room. The floor was wholly wet as it felt cool; the walls crumbled as it slowly cracked.

Arise flinched as a piece of wood hit his head. "That was violent," he focused as he directed aetheric energy into his hand. "Then, if I'm doing this right, how do I turn this into elemental magic?"

"It all comes to instinct and intention. Elemental magic is the most primitive type of magic, it doesn't have any order to work. Just chaotically," Mel explained, she gave Arise a sly grin. "Try imagining your element, focus on that, and you Stanzi."

Stanzi's body convulsed slightly and led his gaze on Mel, "Y-yes?"

"Try what I instructed Arise to do. But for you, since you deviate from the 5 elements, try imagining two of your elements violently clashing together, visualize them, and try conjuring it in the real world." Mel instructed.

Arise, visualize highlands, a field of flowers. All bowing to the intense wind of midsummer. Simultaneously, almost the entirety of the aetheric energy prancing on his hand turned into a powerful gust of wind. His hair blew with it as his legs became disoriented.

Step- step.

Mel, who had seen that, approached Arise. She smiled at Arise accompanied by a slow clap. "There, you did it. You're a fast learner."

Arise replied with a smile, he jumped for success. "Yes! thank you, that was fun," Then, Arise gazed at Mel and asked. "But, what about that golden band of symbols surrounding your magic and controlling it?"

"That's what lodestone rings do, those symbols help you form spells in a precise and efficient way. Well, you can still make spells without it but, do you also cross the ocean with just your body?"

"That's fair."

The young woman slid a silver ring off her finger and gave it to Arise. Which he wore on his own. "If it's that important, why didn't you use it earlier?"

"Say, I put you in a scenario," Mel said

Arise nodded as he listened.

"In this scenario, I tasked you to cook. You have no idea how to cook so you tried to learn it from a relative. But, you discovered you can just buy a finished product in one of the restaurants to serve me the food. In the end, you served me the food, but what happened to your skills?"

"I get what you meant, then why are you giving it to me now? I'm learning magic." Arise acknowledged Mel's explanation. The importance of the ring alone does not make magic easier. It is an art form, something someone needs to learn from fundamentals to use effectively. If one does not know the fundamentals of aetheric manipulation, how would one make spells of their own?

Then, Mel demonstrated Arise, a ringless magic. She closed her eyes as she breathed, veins on her head formed as her muscles tensed. Aetheric energy spread throughout the room like smoke from a campfire. Then she shouted: "[Hydrogenic Convergence]"

The air felt dry like a desert. All around the room was a sphere of water orbiting a static sphere. Hundreds were laid in the room as it was suspended in the air. Mel was breathing hard as she cast the spell.

"What does that spell do?" Arise asked.

Mel pointed at Arise, most water spheres near Arise converged. Before detonating itself near Arise.

Splash~

His lips propped into a frown as he stood drenched in water.

"That,"

"Is that really necessary?" Arise said grumpily

"Demonstrating." Mel smiled.

He rolled his eyes then he asked Mel, "So ringless spell is that energy extensive, then with the inclusion of the lodestone ring, the extensive focus vanishes?"

 "Yes."

"What is the difference between a normal conjuration and a spell?"

"Hm?" Mel put her hand under her chin and said. "Good question, then allow me. Generally, spells are something that has a specific effect. The characteristic of a spell is to have an incantation, a formula for its formation, and the necessary language for it to function and check the perimeter. If you break it down, spells are just basic magic compiled into one cohesive spell."

Like a lightbulb, something illuminated in Arise's head, the basis of the spell sounds similar to a process back in his world. Something so common and versatile. 'I see, that's how magic works in this world. Now, that you think of it, spells are eerily similar to applications. This is intriguing.'

"Another question."

Mel looked at Arise, lips seemingly relaxed. "Yes?"

"Why did you give me the ring then?"

"That's because you're a natural, I can't see why you scored zero in the rite of accord. But, I suggest we take the spell-making sometime later, it is pretty complicated.

"Alright then!"

Meanwhile, Stanzi, eyelids shut. Visualize a swirl of water as it collides violently with a gust of wind. Each mixed like blood on a puddle of water. Like a violent snowstorm energies inside his body whirled. The aetheric energy pooled onto hands. The air condensed as crystals formed in the water puddle created by Mel. He felt the crisp hot air turn frigid as he concentrated more. He took a deep breath. Out of nowhere.

A blinding flash of light escaped through the windows as it filled the room. The rest of [Hydrogenic Convergence] that Mel had not used froze. All suspended in a crystal lattice, the once-wet floor became a shimmering sheet of ice. Both Arise and Mel glanced at Stanzi, mouths parted and frozen in their place.

Then, Mel's lips turned into a smile, and she clapped as she approached Stanzi. "There we go, I know you can do it."

"I did?" Stanzi asked in a meek tone.

"Yes, of course, did you see what you did?" Mel spread her arms like the wings of a bird, looked around the crystalline room, and proclaimed. "The whole room's frozen, and it's chilly here." Puffs of white smoke expelled from her nose and mouth as she breathed.

His eyes widened, and his once-tensed lips relaxed to a light smile. He felt proud, he looked at his hands. 'I thought, I can't do it.'

Stanzi felt a hand on his shoulder, he saw Arise beside him. "I'm impressed, good job Stanzi." He smiled, then he made a gesture, his fingers tucked into his palms, waiting for Stanzi's response.

"I-I don't know what that meant." Reluctantly, Stanzi held his fist exactly like Arise.

"Don't worry," He bumped Stanzi's fist.

"hah!" Stanzi got startled.

"That's the symbol of affirmation, it means you did a great job" The scientist smiled again.

Stanzi brushed his fist with his hands, 'How weird, yet encouraging,' he simpered.

"Hey did I see you g-" The floor thud as Arise collapsed "Aghh, it hurts, what is this?" his body engulfed in a feeling of blazing hell, rolled in a frantic manner.

His skin felt hot like he grazed a hot pot when it was on fire. He cried out as he felt like he was in the deepest pit of hell, "MEL, HELP ME, WHAT'S HAPPENING?"

Mel, who had heard his cries, kneeled down, she raised Arise as he was squirming in pain. "Ahggh, this hurts, help me."

"What happened?" Mel asked.

Stanzi, his body shaking as his eyes widened, told Mel, "I don't know, he became like in a second. I have no idea."

Mel scrutinized as she held Arise. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yet upon closer inspection, his body was enclosed with a thin sheet of aetheric energy. This energy was invisible to the untrained eye. Mel muttered an intelligible spell. She hovered her hand above, his body enveloped with a thick layer of white light.

The pain subsided as Arise blacked out. Mel looked at Arise with doubt as she deduced something. Then the only reason she could think of was.

"I believe he had broken a vow from the binding contract."