27.4 Magic 101

Surprisingly, it wasn't her skull that gave way in the brief yet tepid battle between it and the wooden desk. As she rubbed her aching forehead, Natalie made a note to not do that again.

In front of her Ezraphel huffed, "well, now that you've gone and done that, I might as well turn it into a learning experience. Can you feel the mana circulating your body still?"

"Yeah."

"Where do you feel its concentration the most?"

"Kind of like near the center of my chest."

"Try taking hold of it. Just concentrate on the feeling, imagine yourself reaching out and grasping it. That should be simple enough for you."

Natalie didn't believe her until she did it not a moment later.

"Right now, you should already feel some of your mana healing the damaged area."

Now that Ezraphel pointed it out Natalie could feel the pain in her forehead lessening.

"Try to redirect more of the flow towards it."

Natalie followed the instructions, and the pain subsided to a dull ache before completely receding. The area that had before been tender now felt fine.

She was completely healed.

"Whoa," Natalie marveled, "that was easier than I thought it would be."

"All monsterized humans will gain instinctive knowledge of certain skills and attributes inherited from the mamono they are converted into as a means of combating dissonance. For instance, just as a newly monsterized harpy, centaur, or mermaid would have no difficulties traversing the air, land or sea with their new appendages, so too would a Wight not have much issue with directing their internal mana."

"Hmm…"

Natalie's brows raised in wonder before furrowing in concentration as she raised her hands. She concentrated, focusing on her hand, her mana core, and a certain image.

"What are you doing?"

Natalie didn't answer the question, as not a moment later pale blue-white demonic energy formed over hands in the form of pale blue-white clawed ethereal hands.

"Huh, I didn't think that would work, actually," she mused, all the while manipulating the ghostly energy hands.

Her concentration was broken by the sound of clapping, and she looked up to find Lilim with a smile on her face while golfing.

"Congratulations, Natalie, you've performed your first necromancy spell."

"This is a spell? Also Necromancy?"

"It may not seem like it with the ease with which you've performed it, but that is just a result of being a race of naturally sorcerous mamono. And necromancy involves more than just raising and manipulating zombies."

"So what is this, and what can I use it for?"

"That spell is called Spectral Hands and is primarily used to interact with and manipulate souls to a certain degree."

Natalie's eyes widen in shock as she regards the now-named spectral hands with renewed awe and caution.

"Uh… I'm not sure what to think of this."

"Feeling overwhelmed by the idea that you hold that kind of power?"

"A little, yeah."

"That is one of the reasons why I wanted to educate you with theory first before going into spell casting. As the saying goes, you have to learn to crawl before you can walk. Unless you feel you are already equipped enough to forgo wanting information on your abilities and choose to 'wing it' instead,"

"Ugh," the spectral hands dissipated as Natalie leaned back in her chair with a huff "proceed."

With a triumphant smirk, Ezraphel then pointed her ruler to the first bullet point: What is magic?

"Magic is a general term for techniques used to create phenomena via manipulation od mana. 'Mana' is vital energy contained within the bodies of animate beings; all living things have mana."

"Didn't you say that Earth is devoid of mana?"

"Supposedly," Ezraphel frowned, "considering that on Eos mana is life energy and the absence of it would surely spell doom for anyone without it, I assumed the Earth was simply a world in which the presence of mana is antithetical to the world. As in it didn't exist, cannot exist and will never exist at any point on Earth."

"But you don't think that's the case anymore?"

"If it was, then I wouldn't have gotten any spirit energy from Stanley's semen. Of course, the amount of spirit energy was so paltry that I needed to use my own mana to bolster his own production."

"Ugh…"

"What is it?"

"I don't want to hear you talking about my brother's spooge girl," she then sighed, "but I understand this would be inevitable, so... I'm guessing the world isn't as devoid of mana as you thought."

"Oh no, it very much is," Ezraphel assured, "however, I am of the belief that the current state of the Earth and its people was not by design, I don't think."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for a world that has supposedly never known mana, it works surprisingly similar to my own world when mana is introduced. On three separate occasions, I was able to kick-start an Earth human's natural mana production by simply injecting mana into their body. The world itself soaks up mana and as such magic is capable of being utilized as a result. As far as my investigation into the state of Earth vs. Eos goes, there isn't a difference outside of mana being prevalent in one and not the other. Take away mana from Eos or put mana on Earth, and the two worlds would virtually be the same."

"So what you're saying is that something made the Earth like this?"

Ezraphel nodded "that is my theory, though, as to what could do such a thing. I have ideas, but..." She trailed off.

"Well, don't leave me in suspense here," Natalie half demanded.

Unfortunately for the fight, Lilim shook her head and said, "No, I'd rather not get into it."

"Oh, come on!" Natalie complained

"No, however this world came to be this way, clearly it had no bearings on humanity."

There was a note of sadness in her tone as she said this, which Natalie picked up.

"Are you okay there? You sound...not alright."

"Yes, I am. I just..." she paused to bite her lip "if the Earth had been like Eos at one point, then in the absence of mana and magic, the only race to survive the fallout was humanity, and you've clearly flourished."

"Eh, things are a bit iffy on that front nowadays."

"Trust me, compared to Eos, Earth is flourishing. You only think that is not the case because your media chooses to emphasize and sensationalize the negative aspects of the world and its people."

Natalie can acknowledge this, but she wasn't wholly convinced.

"I guess I'll just take your word for it."

From there, Ezraphel got her lesson back on track touching on an earlier point of magic being able to be utilized by any living being with access to mana.

"Of course one's aptitude varies; however, generally, the only thing holding someone back from utilizing magic is their intelligence and knowledge. In human kingdoms, such knowledge is kept hidden from the wider population by nobles in concert with sorcerous organizations, the latter of whom are put in charge of selecting and training potential mages in order to maintain order, leading to the misconception among most humans that only a select few are capable of utilizing magic."

"As for mamono, it mostly comes down to a combination of personal preference and aptitude. Most people generally don't have the patience or dedication to study the magical arts."

"Can Stan use magic?" Natalie questioned.

Ezraphel frowned. "Yes, Stanley has a rather high aptitude for it and is even able to cast a few spells."

"You don't sound too happy about it."

Ezraphel opened her mouth to comment, but she shook her head instead and said, "It's nothing for you to be concerned about."

"If you say so."

After that, she went on to discuss spell casting,

"This is the process of imposing one's will on the world utilizing mana and generally requires a means of issuing commands to one's mana. This can be done in several ways," Ezraphel explained. "The most popular form of casting is chanting out loud, but depending on a mage's mastery of the spell, they could reduce the chant to a short phrase, a single word, or even a simple gesture."

"Like snapping your fingers?" Natalie asked with a raised eyebrow.

That got a smirk out of Lilim, and she did just that, causing Natalie's desk to repair itself.

'Showoff.'

"Large-scale spells are a bit different in that regard and usually require a mage to set up a ritual. This involves spending time laying the groundwork and preparing intermediaries and offerings in advance. No matter what method you use to cast spells, the most important factor is the power of your mind," she said, tapping the side of her head. "You need to focus your thoughts and visualize the thing that you want to happen to make it so."

Natalie nodded, remembering her earlier successful attempt to cast the 'spectral hand'. The spell only really took form when she thought about the image of the Wight on the wiki and how her hand was enveloped by that ghost-like aura and managed to produce a damn near identical version.

"You'll notice many of the artifacts and equipment to aid mages such as wands, staffs and staves are rather specialized in concentrating the castor's focus. For example, ahem," she cleared her throat and spoke, "spirit of fire, I call you forth. Arise from the eternal spark and let your endless streams of light erupt in manifestation to burn away anything that hinders my true will. Fireball!"

After such a long-winded chant Ezraphel managed to produce a small ball of fire over her open palm.

Needless to say, Natalie was underwhelmed.

"All that just for a little ball of flame?"

"The words themselves are less important than the effect they have on the caster's mind. Novice mages make the mistake of placing importance on the words rather than the thoughts they invoke. While this does succeed in getting them to cast proper spells, this is only short-term as it handicaps them, and many end up failing to achieve proper mastery as a result. As I said before chants or invocations are only a means of focusing the caster's mind."

"I think I get it. If they're doing a fire spell, then they need to think fiery thoughts."

"Essence of flame, actually," Ezraphel corrected, "but yes. I could just as easily chant fire-fire-fire like a mantra and achieve the same results. In fact, different sorcerous groups across the world even have different chants for achieving the same spell."

"It seems a little inefficient, don't you think?"

"Well, such chants are primarily used by beginner mages for practice. The point is to get them familiar enough with the feel of casting the spell, and verbal invocation is a tried and true method to eventual mastery. Ideally, you'll want to get to a point where you can shorten it to be practical outside of a controlled setting."

She then demonstrated calling out "fireball" and then snapping her fingers to produce the same result.

Yeah, that makes significantly more sense than to wax lyrical every time you wanted to do a simple spell.

"So what exactly counts as mastery? Will you just be able to do spells using your thoughts, cutting out the middle man entirely?"

"Theoretically, you could cut out chants, gestures, rituals, and whatnot to cast spells with your thoughts, but that requires continuous, uninterrupted, detailed thinking about so many complex data and processes that it would be unrealistic for anyone outside of the Gods to attempt."

Ezraphel gave her a brief summary of the complex data and processes for the fire spell, to which Natalie conceded her point.

"Okay, but aren't you basically doing all that already? What's the technical difference between chanting, gestures, and rituals versus just pure thought power? How does the method of the former deal with the disadvantages of the latter?"

"Ah, for that, we'll need to go into the various systems of magic."

"What are magic systems?"

Ezraphel took a moment to consider the question before speaking: "Consider that if you're trying to solve a math equation, then a magic system would be the formula you'll use to attempt solving it. That is the difference between casting spells through traditional methods and using pure thought."

Natalie considered this. "I think I get it."

"And because magic is so diverse and is really only limited to one's imagination, mages have discovered and created magic systems that would best utilize their talents to achieve the desired results. We'll start with the very first one, Archaeomancy."

Just from the sounds of it alone, Natalie could tell it was old, even ancient.

"Archaeomancy is a magic system born in the era of the first recorded history known as the Age of Genesis and is the result of simplifying and improving the originally complex processes of magic originally given to mortals by the gods. It has since been cultivated and refined by countless number of mages of all types over the course of eons. Today, it is considered the most complete magic system, with very few kinks. As such, it is the foundation of all magic utilized by all mages on Eos."

'Called it.'

"It is from this system that the basic knowledge of spell casting as well as all other magic systems are derived. Due to its general purpose, mages specialized in or naturally predisposed to one magic system can utilize spells from it."

"Wait, so you can only use one magic system?"

"Not at all, mages can and have used spells from different magic systems all the time for one reason or another. The issues come in when they attempt to go in depth with their practice. There are variables to account for in studying more than one magic system. For one, you will be sinking a lot of time and resources into the endeavor. Magic is expensive, resource-intensive, and time-consuming to master. Typically, only sponsored individuals, prodigies and/or those races with long lifespans even seriously make the attempt."

"What about learning just enough to be competent and moving on?"

"That is typically frowned upon. No mage wants to become a jack of all trades but master of none in a vocation where mastery is the end goal."

"That sounds a little extreme."

"I feel the same way," Ezraphel spoke up. "I myself have dabbled in several magic systems, and I find myself better for it. They have served me well thus far. Even though, in some cases, I wish I had dabbled just a bit deeper."

"So you're a jack of all trades, master of none, but it's still better than being a master of one?"

Ezraphel blinked at the phrase and gave a beautiful smile. "I could not have said it better myself. Of course, there are natural barriers that would prevent a mage from studying more than the magic system. One such example I can give is with necromancy."

Natalie perked up at that as she listened to what Lilim explained.

"Necromancy is a magic system that allows for the control of life and death. In human settlements, this magic system is considered controversial as it violates the taboo set by the Chief God. It is also one of the few magic systems where the practitioner gets corrupted by the energy produced by the spells; as such, all necromancers are either undead or, in the case of humans, will become corrupted by the necrotic mana generated by each spell, turning them into undead or Incubi predisposed to the undead."

"Oof, sucks for them."

"Another barrier that has to be taken into account is race. As a Succubus, I cannot perform necromancy; however, as a Wight, you are already predisposed to this magic system. There are ways to overcome this barrier; for instance, in the case of learning necromancy, I would have to become a follower of Hel."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

Ezraphel shrugged. "I am not interested in throwing my lot in with any divinity, even if I was interested in necromancy."

"So what magic system do you prefer?"

At this, Ezraphel grinned, "My preferred system of magic is Nymphomancy, of course."

"I wonder what that one's about," Natalie said dryly.

"I'm glad you asked Natalie, for you see, Nymphomancy is a magic system for which the Succubi were the original progenitors and practitioners before monsters became mamono. This magic system requires Succubi mana and is imprinted in a Succubus' instinct, but since every mamono is already part Succubus, it's not hyperbole to say that every individual mamono has an aptitude for it."

'That tracks.'

"Additionally, this is one of the few magic systems where casting spells doesn't require any chanting and is primarily done through gestures. There are even cases where spells can be cast unconsciously."

"What's the catch?" Natalie immediately asked.

"The spells are fueled by your desire rather than your thoughts. You don't even need concentration to fuel a spell's effectiveness; rather, you only need to indulge in pleasure."

"You're not really selling me on this, Ez."

The Lilim shrugged, "I wasn't trying to. In present circumstance, the spells of this magic system are more suited for an intimate setting with your husband than casual practice. Unless you're into charming men and want to gather a harem for yourself."

"You don't have a problem with that?"

"Stanley would. I have met a few mamono who indulge in harem practices with multiple men. Personally, I don't see the appeal beyond a casual romp. Harems with multiple mamono married to a single man make sense because they would all become pregnant. Marrying multiple men just seems needlessly excessive, not to mention messy, and not in a fun way."

Yeah, Natalie can't see herself having more than a single husband.

'But if it's just casual...'

Natalie's thoughts momentarily trailed off as x-rated images of herself with a few faceless pornstar-esque men flashed through her mind.

"Oh…"

She wasn't that type of woman, really; she wasn't, but fuck, she was feeling horny right now.

"Heh~"

That single sound directed Natalie's attention to a smirking Ezraphel, looking like the world's most smug bitch.

"Thinking of something good?" Lilim asked with that infuriating expression.

Lust battled with pride in an internal war within the Wight, ultimately resulting in the latter supplanting the former through an alliance with wrath. Despite her internal conflicts, however, she managed to maintain a calm façade as she answered.

"Nope, and I'm not really into the harem thing either."

"Stanley said something similar."

And on that note, Ezraphel continued going over the other magic systems. It was real fascinating stuff, though it became clear to Natalie that those other systems didn't really offer much use for her.

Elemental Magic is severely handicapped without a contracted spirit.

Hieromancy is useless without divine mana from a god.

Teletomancy is done primarily through rituals that involve long prep time.

Theriomancy wasn't at all appealing or practical to her.

Pharmacomancy seemed interesting enough but lost its appeal when she found herself needing to study a few subjects in the medical field to get the most use out of it. After her whole ordeal with leukemia she wanted to divorce herself from the medical field for a while.

After getting through that lecture, Ezraphel said, "I believe that should be enough theory for today."

'Thank fucking God.'

"We can start your practical lessons."

"Finally."

"At another time."

"…"

The glare Natalie pinned her with could make even an emotionless Lich flinch. Unfortunately for the Wight, it is something the Lilim has experienced enough times from Stanley to be wholly desensitized.

"We've been here for quite some time, Natalie. I can feel the strain these lessons are placing on your mind and heart. It would do you well to rest, and we can resume this at a later date."

Natalie kept her gaze fixed for a moment longer before inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her mouth.

"Fine, I could use a break anyway."

That is an understatement.

"Outstanding!" Lilim clapped. "I'll even prepare a snack for you."

Later…

Natalie exited the bathroom which wasn't the usual one but the massive swimming pool style bathhouse Ezraphel created and was gracious enough to enchant so that an entrance would be attached to a door in her room.

'God magic is so fucking convenient.'

Thought on her future as a heh, Wight Mage came to a halt as she looked to her wardrobe in disappointment.

"Wish she could have magic me up something to wear to bed at least."

In the end, she went with a pair of her best (read: sexiest) panties for no particular reason and a tank top that strained against her new assets, forgoing a bra entirely because what would be the point?

"At least I don't have to wait long for it."

Natalie fell on top of the bed with a groan, feeling mentally exhausted.

"That was fucking miserable."

Once again, it was reaffirmed that school is and will always be the bane of Natalie Berkowitz. Not even an interesting topic like magic being taught by a sexy Succubus teacher is enough to change that fact.

'But at least it was informative,' she thought then scoffed a little.

It would be a lie to say that Natalie wasn't grateful for Ezraphel's taking the time to teach her about aspects of her world. Admittedly, the history of the Wight race didn't really do much for her. Natalie didn't really have a particular care for the history of her new race, but the information on the goddess Hel was appreciated.

Natalie wasn't a religious person, but there was lingering comfort in the idea of there being a God, especially recently with her diagnosis. It meant that when she died, there might be something waiting for her beyond this life. To have Ezraphel more or less confirm the absence of such an entity on Earth...

The concept and its implications unnerved her.

As for the goddess Hel, Natalie felt buoyed by her existence, even if she's a literal dimension away and unlikely to even notice her.

Natalie turned her body to lie on her back and gazed at the ceiling. Idly, she noted, she was practically in the same position she was in when she woke up after the conversion. Once again, her hand reached up to her left breast to feel the absence of a beating heart.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this."

Or at the very least, it would be a long time before she did.

The lecture on magic was truly the highlight of the evening.

'Really wish she started with that, but whatever, better late than ever.'

And even if Ezraphel didn't teach her spells, she still managed to practice; she still managed to cast a spell and learn about casting others too.

Raising her hand to partially obscure her vision, she concentrated once again, activating the first and only magic spell she knew. Like a slow-burning flame, demonic energy coalesced into a pale white-blue aura enveloping her hand up to her elbow.

Sure, the spectral hands spell was supposed to be something inherently known by her race, but that didn't take away from the feeling of accomplishment she felt in casting the damn thing off nothing more than a few tips on mana and artwork.

She really wished Ezraphel went into proper casting, but...

Natalie furrowed her brow in thought. "I did technically learn how to cast spells."

And Ezraphel did provide her with the knowledge of how to do it…and an invocation.

Natalie shot up to sit on the bed, her spectral hand spell winking out even as she stared at her hands.

"Surely not," she mumbled before shrugging, "fuck it."

Now she had to know.

Holding up her hand Natalie swallowed a bit then closed her eyes, readied her mana even as she kept an image in mind.

Then she began to speak.

"Spirit of fire, I call you forth. Arise from the eternal spark and let your endless streams of light erupt in manifestation to burn away anything that hinders my true will. Fireball!"

*Fwoosh*

Natalie's snapped open and was startled to find a ball of flame the size of a baseball appeared floating above her palm.

"H-holy shit!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

For a moment, Natalie simply stared at it, too afraid and mesmerized by what she'd done to do much of anything else.

Then…

"Heh"

It started out low but immediately escalated.

"Hehehe…ha…Hahahahaha."

It was a sight to behold, seeing a beautiful corpse woman holding a ball of fire and dancing in her red panties. Eventually, she managed to calm herself down and start fiddling with the damn thing. That was when she realized something that put her in a bit of an awkward position and wiped the smile from her face.

"Fuck yeah! I'm magic now, bitch!"